BELLARMINE JESUIT RETREAT HOUSE - Key Persons

Fr. Michael Sparough, SJ is a retreat director and spiritual director at the Bellarmine Jesuit Retreat House in Barrington. He holds an MFA from the Yale School of Drama and a Doctor of Ministry from St Mary of the Lake in Mundelein, IL. He is the founder of Charis, a national Jesuit retreat ministry for young adults in their 20s and 30s, and has trained spiritual directors at Loyola University-Chicago. A prolific writer and speaker, Fr. Michael has published books, CDs, and DVDs on prayer, discernment, and the sacraments with Franciscan Media, Paulist Press, Liturgical Training Publications, Loyola Press, and Heart to Heart. He is seen regularly on Shalom World Catholic Television and is heard regularly on Sacred Heart radio in Cincinnati and WSFI Catholic Radio in greater Chicagoland. His latest co-authored book is What's Your Decision? An Ignatian Approach to Decision Making and is published by Loyola Press. Fr. Michael's weekly video homilies can be seen online at www.HtoH.US.

Fr. Jim Dixon

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Member of the Board of

Fr. Richard McGurn

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Member of the Board of Directors

Fr. Roc O'Connor

Since 2018, and with his provincial's direction, Roc O'Connor, SJ has been composing and writing nearly full-time. In June of 2020 OCP published his collection of eight new songs, All Shall Be Well: The Hand of God. During the lockdown from COVID he submitted a three year writing project on liturgical spirituality for publication. It twins with his article to be published in Worship magazine, July 2021.

Grant Shumway

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Member of the Board of Directors

John Duffy

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Member of the Board of Directors

Kathryn L. Caudill

kc..@jesuitretreat.org

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Director of Donor Relations

Lauren Hackman-Brooks

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Vice - Chair of the Board of Directors

Lauren Hackman-Brooks remembers the unexpected yet providential way she found her way to Bellarmine Jesuit Retreat House. In 2009, the then twenty-something Ohio native boarded a yellow school bus to accompany and lead a group of Cristo Rey Jesuit High School students on the 50-mile journey from Chicago's Lower West Side neighborhood of Pilsen to the sprawling retreat grounds surrounded by the equestrian farms and estates of Barrington Hills. "It was such a privilege to witness the students sharing their stories in the beautiful space and setting of Bellarmine," says Lauren, who was a Jesuit Volunteer at the time.

Lea Dacanay-Rodriguez

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Development Director

Lori Jones

For 40 years, Lori Jones says her faith had fallen off to the side. She remembers being in third grade CCD classes and not really getting what being Catholic or religion was all about and why it mattered. Even though she grew up in a strongly Catholic family where traditions, rules, and Mass were to be followed and not questioned, the rote practices made her feel even less connected to God. Over the next four decades, the Des Plaines resident focused on how busy her life was caring for her two aging parents and working at FedEx Express near O'Hare International Airport, where she has worked for 35 years.

Mandy Dillon

md..@jesuitretreat.org

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Retreat Coordinator

Margaret Baer

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Member of the Board of Directors

Maureen Garvey

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Retreat Master

Maureen Garvey holds an MA from the Institute of Pastoral Studies at Loyola University and a Certificate in Spiritual Direction from the Siena Retreat Center in Racine, Wisconsin. She and her husband, Kevin, completed the Diaconate Training Program in 2004 at the University of St. Mary of the Lake. Maureen completed a 30-week at home retreat of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius and volunteering twice a week as a member of the Ignatian Volunteer Corps. Maureen meets with people seeking spiritual direction in person at Holy Cross Church in Deerfield, IL and online.

Maureen Kennedy Barney

As the oldest of six growing up in an Irish Catholic family on the East Coast, Maureen Kennedy Barney's faith has influenced her life since the day she was baptized. At bedtime every evening, she would join her siblings to kneel before the Blessed Mother statue perched at the top of the stairs, saying their prayers and giving thanks for the day's blessings. She attended Catholic schools and prayed before every meal and silently through the day when needed. Sundays were for Mass, and volunteering to serve "the poor" was the backbone of the family's moral code. How God cares for us and how we are called to care for others are themes that inspired Maureen's personal and professional life for the next six decades. She graduated from Boston College, directed admissions for Seton Hall University, married her husband Dan and, 10 years ago, mourned his passing. She taught AP English for high school students and volunteered at the Career Transitions Center of Chicago. She is an Ignatian Volunteer Corps member, one of 65 men and women in Chicago who are dedicated to serving the marginalized in society. Through that role, she has spent the last five years leading the Trinity Volunteer Corps, an Ignatian non-profit volunteer site that brings adults with disabilities together through volunteerism to express their unique talents and gifts. The organization is one of numerous Outreach ministries at Old St. Patrick's Church in Chicago. A daily Mass attendee, Maureen has always striven to live St Ignatius' belief of finding God everywhere... in all things.

Michael Pederson

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Member of the Board of Directors

Nancy Hulsebosch

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Member of the Board of Directors

Nikki Bjorgo

nb..@jesuitretreat.org

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Marketing Coordinator

Pat O'Hagan

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Buildings & Grounds Manager

Paul Horcher - Chairman

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Chairman of the Board of Directors

Peg Anderson

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Member of the Board of Directors

Rachel Forton

rf..@jesuitretreat.org

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Women 's Ministry Coordinator

Rev Carol Ann Munro

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Spiritual Director

Rev. Dr. Carol Ann Munro is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ. She has served as a parish pastor, hospital chaplain, development officer, retreat leader and spiritual director. Primary areas of focus for her ministry have been 12-step spirituality, adult faith formation and biblical literacy. She is currently a volunteer with the Ignatian Spirituality Project, which provides spiritual companioning for people recovering from homelessness and addiction, and she serves as a spiritual resource for the Peace and Justice Ministry of St. Gertrude Roman Catholic Church in Chicago.