Our Spiritual Directors
Tom Allen
Tom has served as a spiritual director for close to 25 years. As an organization development practitioner, he supported others in their transformations. He sees the world with a different set of eyes and experiences all of life as sacred, including the tragic. He was led and taught by “the least of these” from the streets. He came to see Alzheimer’s caregiving for his wife as a spiritual practice and his wife as a spiritual teacher.
Susanna Bertelsen
“Personally, the practice of Spiritual Direction has provided a safe, sacred space to explore my own life story; my own journey toward faith, hope and love. Spiritual Direction provides a dynamic process that empowers me to unravel the threads of my past, make sense of my present circumstances and approach the future with hope. Grateful for God’s mercy and grace moving me forward, I continue as a pilgrim on the spiritual path, willing to share wisdom, guidance and companionship with fellow travelers.
I invite those who are ready to explore their life issues, nurture resiliency and rediscover hope…amid loss, grief, transitions or mental and physical illness… to the sacred, prayerful space of Spiritual Direction.”
Reina Brekke
Reina has a background
in nursing which has provided a foundation for offering listening companionship to others as a
director. She is also on staff at Christos Center, supporting alumni of the Tending The Holy training program for spiritual direction. Reina’s upbringing within an atheist home and her journey into faith have gifted her with a capacity to sit with others who ask tough questions around spirituality, and how it fits into life and culture. She offers individual spiritual direction, group direction, and accompaniment through the extended Ignatian exercises.
M.A. in Spiritual Formation and Spiritual Direction from Richmont Graduate University, Atlanta
GA. Reina also completed the Renovaré Institute for Spiritual Formation.
Amy Campbell
“I have received so much from each spiritual director in my life. Through trauma, grief and loss, I have been held lovingly by those who accompanied me. Life has also held joys and mountain top experiences that were enhanced by direction. I am grateful to be able to take my place now as a listener to the holiness, wonder, awe and delight of others’ journeys. The ‘God threads’ of my own life tapestry keep me coming back to prayer, spiritual direction and now to holy listening with these same intentions.”
Rosemary McManus Carlsen
Rose received her Spiritual Direction Certification from the Center for Spiritual Guidance and is a trained End of Life Doula and certified Enneagram practitioner. In 2021, she retired from her career as a physical therapist to pursue her calling as a Spiritual Director. Her interest in the Enneagram and end of life ministry developed in response to her own painful and transformative experiences of letting go. Rose tends to Spirit through a daily practice of prayer, meditation and journaling and is nourished by her close relationships, movement, and nature. Rose and her husband live in South MInneapolis and are parents to three beloved adult children.
Linda Cherek
Linda’s work in bringing God’s presence to those she encounters is grounded in her understanding and commitment to notice the Holy in everyday life especially in the significant challenges we experience. She embraced the gifts of spiritual awareness and the opportunities for growth in her spiritual journey following the unexpected death of her oldest daughter. Her spiritual journey has provided the sacred space to encounter God in unexpected places through journaling, music, poetry, prayer and the body. Linda has a special interest in the impact of loss and trauma and understands how it impacts the body, the heart, the soul and one’s relationship with God and the world.
Joanne Dehmer, SSND
Joanne is a native Minnesotan, having grown up in St. Michael. She and her twin brother are the youngest in a family of six children. Her years with the School Sisters of Notre Dame have spanned a wide variety of activities and ministries. With extensive skills in teaching and training…
Mary Noble Garcia
Mary received her Spiritual Direction Certificate and MA in Theology from St. Catherine University and is trained as a supervisor for spiritual directors.She is a Certified Enneagram Teacher in the Narrative Tradition.
Her spiritual direction ministry is rooted in a desire to be active in creating a loving, compassionate world.In the Enneagram she discovered a compassionate tool for growth that integrates spirituality, psychology, and body wisdom.
Mary offers spiritual direction, Enneagram consultations and workshops, and supervision for spiritual directors.
Dan Johnson
Dan has been listening to people’s spiritual stories for over twenty years. He sees this reflective listening and the prayer-filled dialogues that emerge from it as the central work of spiritual direction. Dan’s ecumenical sense and welcoming persona in direction have been well received by women and men, clergy and laity, as well as those just starting direction and those who have been in direction for some time.
Through the years, Dan’s practice as a spiritual director has been bi-vocational. Early on he worked in construction management during the week and would do direction in the evenings and on weekends. He also became an instructor and group facilitator for the spiritual direction training program at Christos Center for Spiritual Formation. Most recently, he completed four years as executive director at Christos.
Carolyn Kolovitz
Carolyn’s life work is accompanying people through life transitions. Whether working with young adults embarking on new career or relationship paths, people at midlife feeling stuck on autopilot, or the dying as they review their lives and let go of the earthly realm – Carolyn focuses on tapping people into self-compassion and into their own deepest values. Her background with trauma survivors informs her faith in intuitive wisdom and in resiliency of the human spirit. Connecting people with their own inner knowing is key to her work. Special interests include the Christian mystics, creativity as spiritual practice, celebrating the sacred feminine, exploring nighttime dreams, facilitating guided visualizations and the Enneagram. MA in Theology and Spiritual Direction Certificate from St Catherine University.
Barbara Leonard
Barbara has been involved in spiritual direction for more than 30 years. She believes that spiritual direction invites us to view our lives as gifts from the Creator and to live them with discernment and great joy. Ignatian spirituality is the foundation of her approach to direction. This spirituality keeps us waiting and watching for God to surprise and enliven us.
Barbara is married with two daughters and four grandchildren. She is a member of the Episcopal Church and the Society of St. Francis in the Anglican Communion.
Barbara’s spiritual direction education is from The Center for Religious Development at Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge. Massachusetts. She has a PhD from the University of Minnesota where she is professor emerita in the School of Nursing.
Barbara offers 5th step meetings and the Spiritual Exercises. She is especially interested in second half of life questions and issues and aging.
Brian Mundt
Brian served in the Air Force before serving as an ELCA Lutheran pastor. He retired from parish ministry in 2024. His Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry degrees were from Luther Seminary.
He completed spiritual director training through Christos Center. He completed the course in directing the Extended Ignatian Exercises through Sacred Ground.
A spiritual director is a companion on your journey through life with God. Our question is, “What is God up to here?”
A director’s role is to facilitate one’s awareness of God, to deepen one’s relationship with God. That God is for you is certain, yet much of our daily interactions and decisions remain cloudy, obscure. When and how we experience God often feels like we accidently stumble into it. Yet we can be more ‘accident prone’! Such core practices include Examen, Lectio Divina, and Centering Prayer.
God is for you.
Karen Treat
Karen has been a spiritual director, trained at Christos Center for Spiritual Formation, for over fifteen years and joined the Loyola Spirituality Center community in 2015. Prior to Loyola, Karen was a spiritual director at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, companioning students and spouses to listen and notice the presence of the Holy Spirit in an often overwhelming vocation. Karen offers both individual and group spiritual direction.
Karen is a second career pastor with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America after decades of working as a Registered Nurse. Two wonderful vocations that have brought her great joy.
Our Administrative Staff
Dan Johnson, Managing Director
Through the years, Dan’s practice as a spiritual director has been bi-vocational. Early on he worked in construction management during the week and would do direction in the evenings and on weekends. He also became an instructor and group facilitator for the spiritual direction training program at Christos Center for Spiritual Formation. Most recently, he completed four years as executive director at Christos.