About the Partnership.
The Ignatian Spirituality Partnership of Maine was established in 2018. It is open to all interested in sharing and promoting the Ignatian spiritual vision. Members include the Jesuit Community of Maine (Cheverus High School, Our Lady of Hope Parish), the Sisters of St. Joseph in Winslow, the Sisters of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary in Old Orchard Beach, and retreat guides from various Christian traditions who are trained in Ignatian spirituality.
The Partnership and its members offer retreats, both “at-home” and at retreat centers and parishes, periodic public presentations, the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises, a supervision group and continuing formation for spiritual directors.
Come Pray with Us.
Visit our Upcoming Events/Programs page to see what we’re up to and how you can get involved.
Meet Our Leadership Team.
The Ignatian Spirituality Partnership of Maine is a collaboration among those committed to sharing the spiritual tradition of St. Ignatius Loyola.
Our leadership team is a volunteer group representing various Christian denominations and ministries across the state of Maine.
Sr. Ann Boyle, RSR, a Sister of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, received her certification in Spiritual Direction from Cardinal Stritch University, Milwaukee, WI. Sister Ann ministers in Spiritual Formation: spiritual direction, retreat ministry, and the RSR Associate Ministry. In Maine, she completed the Parish Ministry Development Program and has served several parishes as RCIA director, as Eucharistic Minister with ministry to the homebound, as Chairperson for Worship and Spirituality, and as a member of the Parish Council. Sister Ann has a growing appreciation for Ignatian Spirituality. Presently, she is involved as a spiritual director for the Ignatian Exercises in Everyday Life.
Fr. Brian J. Conley, S.J. currently serves as the superior of the Jesuit Community of Maine and as a teacher and chaplain to the faculty and staff at Cheverus High School. Brian entered the Society of Jesus in 1992 and was ordained to the priesthood in June 2001. He trained as a spiritual director and leader of the Ignatian Exercises through courses at Fordham University and internships at Jesuit Retreat houses during his formation. He has been a part of the Retreat in Every Day Life since his missioning to Maine in 2021. Sharing the Spiritual Exercises in this way has been a source of joy and consolation. Brian is an Association for Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE) Certified Educator with over twenty-year’s experience leading CPE and currently supervises the Community CPE program at Holy Family Hospital in Methuen, MA. He has served on the Clinical Pastoral Education faculty at Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston and MedStar Health Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, DC. Brian grew up in Dedham, Massachusetts.
Martha Conroy is a spiritual director and retreat leader who enjoys working with individuals who seek to deepen their relationship with God. She has been involved in Ignatian Maine since its inception and has served as a director for the Retreat in Everyday Life. Martha is involved in Mepkin Abbey programs, including the 6-week Ignatian Retreat and Zip Code Contemplation. She is a guest director at Eastern Point Retreat House. In addition, she provides spiritual direction to individuals, both in person and on line. She currently assists with executive formation for CHRISTUS Health System in Dallas TX.Martha’s previous roles have been as teacher, Diocesan Director of Liturgy, financial analyst at UNUM and director of Ministry Formation for Trinity Health. Her education includes an MA in Liturgy from Notre Dame, and training in spiritual direction from Boston College and at the Jesuit Center in Guelph, Ontario. She is a member of St. John Paul II Parish and is a volunteer with the Dempsey Center.
Katherine Crosson served as the Ignatian Volunteer Corps Portland Regional Director from June 2019 – September 2022. IVC is a national organization founded twenty-eight years ago by two Jesuit priests which invites individuals aged 50+ to use their professional and lifetime experience in direct and indirect service to the poor and disadvantaged while deepening their faith. In 2012, upon retirement from the US Department of Health and Human Services (National Cancer Institute and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality) Kathy joined the IVC Metro DC/Maryland Region and worked directly with asylum seekers before moving to Cape Elizabeth with her husband in the fall of 2017. She is most grateful for a career bookended by Peace Corps Service in Togo, West Africa, and the IVC. Kathy and her husband enjoy hiking, traveling and snowshoeing.
Sr. Janet Gagnon, CSJ is a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Lyon in Winslow, Maine, Sr. Gagnon trained in spiritual direction in a program with Sr. Kathleen Murphy, in Long Island, New York, as well as in a program facilitated by Sr. Joan McCarthy in Boston, Massachusetts. Janet has a background in teaching grade school with more than 20 years in religious education and parish ministry. She has served as Regional Director for the Office of Catechetics (five years), Diocese of Portland, and 20 years in Congregation Leadership as Provincial and general superior at the international level. Janet has been engaged in some retreat work and spiritual direction, in Winslow. She is particularly interested in bringing more awareness and increasing interest in Ignatian spirituality in Maine.
Nash Garabedian, Jr. is a spiritual director and retreat leader. He trained at the Center for Religious Development in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He has served as a maritime and racetrack chaplain and minister with churches in the United Church of Christ in Maine. Nash is a guest director at Eastern Point Retreat House in Gloucester, Massachusetts and is chaplain for the Portland Police Department, Portland, Maine. He serves as a spiritual director for the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises in Everyday Life.
Alison Gingras is a recent participant in the Ignatian Retreat in Everyday Life (RIEL). As a new board member, she would like to help the Partnership promote the spiritual exercises. Alison lives in Jay and is a member of the St. Rose of Lima parish. She is married, is mother and step-mother to four adult children, and has one grandchild. Alison works at the Maine State Police Crime Laboratory as a Forensic Chemist. When she isn’t solving crime, you will find her helping people feel their best with Reflexology, playing Middle Eastern music on the clarinet and qanun, or gardening.
Jennifer Hansen has enjoyed listening to faith stories for more than a decade, initially as a small group facilitator and more recently as a spiritual director. Her certificate in spiritual direction comes from the Spiritual Direction Internship Initiative, St. Joseph Spiritual Ministries, Boston. Jennifer considers it a gift to hear people’s stories and an adventure to walk with them in their journey with God. She provides administrative support for the Ignatian Maine and leads small groups. She enjoys a good book, gardening, and activities in the great outdoors. Jennifer is married, mother of two adult children, and a resident of the Portland area.
Holly Hoffmann has a passion for accompanying people as they deepen their personal relationship with God, discover their gifts, and live whole-heartedly in response to God’s invitation in their lives. Following a nearly twenty-year career in secondary education in Maine, Holly earned her Master of Divinity at Yale Divinity School. She served as a parish priest in the Episcopal Diocese of Maine for six years. Her formation as a spiritual director was through Creighton University, earning a Certificate in Spiritual Direction and Directed Retreats and a Master of Arts in Christian Spirituality. She sees individuals for direction and serves in a variety of retreat settings, including being a guest director at Eastern Point Retreat House. She has been a retreat director on the Retreat in Everyday Life and now serves on the leadership board of Ignatian Maine. Holly is a PhD student in Formative Education in the Lynch School of Education and Human Development at Boston College. She and her husband live in Roslindale, MA and attend Holy Name Parish when in Boston, MA and St. Michael’s Parish when in Jefferson, Maine. She enjoys cooking, walking, biking, reflective writing, creating art in a variety of media, and regularly visiting her family in Maine.
Fr. John Michalowski, S.J. is an assistant pastor at Our Lady of Hope in Portland. He was an assistant at St. Peter in Charlotte, NC for eight years and a pastor at Saints Mary and Joseph in Salem, MA for nearly ten years. Before that, he was the director of Campion Renewal Center in Weston, MA, and earlier taught theology at Cheverus H.S. In Portland. He did tertianship under Fr. Joseph Tetlow, S.J. Later he completed the Associates Program in the Spiritual Exercises at Loyola in Guelph, Ontario. Besides his work in Ignatian spirituality, he has spoken on the Eucharist and Social Justice, on Christology, and on the Seamless Garment of Life.
Sheila Murphy is a spiritual director and retreat leader. She has a Masters in Pastoral Ministry from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and has served in parish ministry for four decades. She has certificates in Spiritual Direction from Boston College and the Spiritual Direction Intensive Internship program of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Brighton, MA, and training in leading the Spiritual Exercises from Boston College. Sheila is most interested in accompanying people as they become more aware of the presence of God in their lives and make decisions on how to respond to that love. Sheila lives in Brunswick, is married, has two adult children, plays violin and writes poetry.
Fr. Paul Sullivan, S.J. is a member of the Jesuit Community of Maine and pastor of Our Lady of Hope Parish and St. Brigid School, a Jesuit Ministry in Portland, Maine. Paul has been in parish ministry for over 20 years, has training as an Ignatian spiritual director and retreat giver, and was for four years a member of the staff at Eastern Point Retreat House in Gloucester, MA, a Jesuit retreat house. He serves as Co-coordinator and a spiritual director for the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises Retreat in Everyday Life. He is currently in the New Members Program for the Iona Community, a dispersed world-wide ecumenical Christian Community based in Scotland and is looking to be made a Full Member in June 2025. His interests include cooking and music and he is learning to play the Celtic harp.
Kathy Tosney, MSW, is an Interfaith Spiritual Director practicing in Portland, Maine, with an experienced background in Ignatian Spirituality and Contemplative Prayer Practices. Kathy brings a spiritual/psychological integrative approach to Spiritual Direction to help you explore your unique spiritual journey. She offers both in-person and online individual Spiritual Direction, Supervision, and Ignatian Directed Retreats. For 10 years, Kathy has taught Contemplative Prayer Practices & Centering Prayer for Mepkin Abbey’s “Institute for Contemplative Eldering Retreats.” Mepkin Abbey is a Trappist monastery located near Charleston, SC. She has been an Ignatian Retreat Director at Eastern Point Retreat House in Gloucester, MA., for 30 day and 8 day retreats, Yale Divinity School in CT, Mepkin Abbey in SC, and Nazareth Retreat House in Louisville, KY. She has spent several stays living with a group of Carmelite hermits in Ireland exploring Carmelite Spirituality and the Christian mystics. Kathy received her Spiritual Direction training through the Sisters of Saint Joseph SDII Program in Boston, MA. and is a Guest Teacher in their program. She is a member of Spiritual Directors International and the Ignatian Spiritual Partnership of Maine. Kathy is the proud mother of two adult sons and grandmother of 4 very young grandchildren who are a constant source of joy, awe & wonder!
Merle Marie Troeger is a spiritual director, retreat leader and Bible study mentor. She received the M.A.R. degree from Yale Divinity School and worked as Associate for Spiritual Life at an Episcopal parish in Connecticut before moving to Maine. She received her training as a spiritual director from the Sisters of Mercy in their School of Spirituality and Practicum in Spiritual Direction. In 2020, she completed the 19th Annotation Intensive Course offered by the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry. She is active in the Episcopal Church of St. Mary in Falmouth and the Episcopal Diocese of Maine and serves as spiritual director for a small group in the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises Retreat in Everyday Life. Her desire is to accompany and guide individuals, groups and congregations as they reflect on the Holy Spirit’s action in their lives, gain fresh language to express their experiences and discern faithful ways to respond to their discoveries.
Tracy Winkeler is a mother to four adult children and wife to a diaconate candidate in the Diocese of Portland, Maine. She moved to Falmouth, Maine from Oklahoma in 2011. Tracy has a BS in Sociology and a MA in Special Education, and she is currently pursuing a MA in Pastoral Theology. She is the coordinator for adoration and nursing home/homebound ministry for the Parish of the Holy Eucharist. She has participated in the Ignatian Retreat in Everyday Life (RIEL) three times and wants to encourage others to experience the beauty of Ignatian spirituality. She is excited to be a new member of the board!