Spiritual Direction is an ancient tradition. Its main purpose is to allow individuals to deepen with God by journeying alongside a soul friend.  These one to one monthly meetings gives the directee a sacred time to explore their personal relationship to God by discussing how they experience or don’t experience the movements of Holy Spirit in their daily lives. The spiritual dimension can be mysterious and tough to navigate at times, so in this practice one’s discernment and reflections are closely listened to. The Spiritual Director is trained and experienced in sacred conversation and are able to hold the space in prayer for God’s grace.  Spiritual Direction does not tell you how to act or pray in a particular way, nor is it psychological counseling or psychotherapy.

Personal Sessions

If you are interested in exploring one-to-one spiritual direction, contact Ellen Roberts at eroberts@stbenedict.com or by phone, 773-588-6484 to schedule a preliminary meeting with a spiritual director. During the meeting, you will learn more about spiritual direction and financial contributions. (Financial contributions generally range between $35 to $65 per session depending on individual financial resources.)

Meet the Directors:

Rachel Winborn is an artist and holds an MA and MFA in Fine Art from the University of Iowa.  She is part-time faculty at Loyola University Chicago. She is a certified Spiritual Director through the Haden Institute and Mt. Carmel Spiritual Centre in Ontario.  In addition to contemplative prayer practices, Rachel has been working dreams for 10 years and is the Spiritual Dream Group facilitator at St. Ben’s. Rachel’s gifts reside in teasing out the unique voice authentically found within the Self as expressions of God.

Laura Field is a lay leader of Old St. Patrick’s Church’s acclaimed Beloved Retreat since 2002.  She earned a Master’s in Spirituality at Loyola University Chicago in 2011. Laura is steeped in Ignition Spirituality and offers the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius for people desiring a more intimate relationship with God and richer prayer life. A business owner too, Laura transitioned a career in corporate communications with Fortune 500 and smaller companies into a thriving self-owned PR firm in 2001 and today focuses on Corporate Responsibility communications. Laura also holds a BA in Journalism and Economics from Indiana University.