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Manresa Jesuit Retreat House
 

THE PEOPLE OF MANRESA
Jesuits & Ministerial Staff, Support Staff, Board

Associates

Fr. Timothy Babcock is a priest of the Archdiocese of Detroit who serves as an adjunct member of the Manresa Retreat Team. He attended U. of D. Jesuit High School, Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, and St. John Provincial Seminary in Plymouth. He was ordained a priest in 1968, and holds a BA from Sacred Heart Major Seminary, an MA from University of Detroit, and a MDiv from St. John Provincial Seminary. Fr. Babcock served as Pastor of St. Eugene Parish, Detroit, St. Mary Parish, Royal Oak, St. Andrew Parish, Rochester, and St. Mary Parish, Monroe. He currently serves as Chaplain for the Felician Sisters of Livonia, Michigan and a part-time member of the Clergy Life and Ministry Office for the Archdiocese. He also assists as a part-time Judge of the Metropolitan Tribunal for the Archdiocese.
Kathleen Budesky, IHM was graduated from Mundelein College with a Master's Degree in Religious Studies and Spirituality. Kathie has served in secondary schools both in religious studies departments and administration, most recently at Marian High School. She is currently a presenter and facilitator at Visitation North Spirituality Center in Bloomfield Hills, of which she is also the director.
Fr. Norm Dickson, SJ , a Jesuit priest of the Chicago-Detroit Province, a former teacher and president of Walsh Jesuit High School in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, pastor of Gesu Church in Detroit, Michigan and missionary in the Sudan and Kenya, is presently working with the diocese of Gaylord at Saint Mary of the Woods Church in Kalkaska, Michigan.
Sr. Linda Fischer, ASC, is a member of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ, in which she made her final profession in 1994. She worked for 15 years as a fourth-grade teacher at an inner-city Catholic school in Lancaster, PA. And while happy there she wanted to do something in the field of alcoholism and recovery, particular giving to others by going into retreat work. Overcoming great fear of public speaking she gave her first 12-step retreat in November 2005. By 2007 she had led 25 retreats and booked 22 more for 2008. "Being an Adorer, and reaching out to people who are really hurting or who have lost everything because of their addiction and letting them know that God loves them, that there is hope for them and that they are good enough, that God does walk with them on their own journey no matter how difficult it is—for me, that's what it's all about."
Fr. Benjamin Hawley, SJ, a Chicago-Detroit Province Jesuit, originally from Brookline, MA, has a BA in British literature from Tufts and an MA in regional planning from Cornell. He had taught at the University of Detroit Mercy and worked with homeless teens in both Chicago and Portland, Oregon. An accomplished singer, he has performed lead roles in some of Gilbert & Sullivan's operettas. Ben was ordained in 2000 and in August of that year became president of Brebeuf Jesuit Prep in Indianapolis. After being stationed at Loyola Academy in Wilmette, IL, Ben is now the pastor of St. Mary Student Church in Ann Arbor and Director of Campus Ministry for the University of Michigan.
Fr. Si Hendry, SJ teaches religious studies and philosophy, directs the Catholic Studies Program, and is the superior of the Jesuit Community at the University of Detroit Mercy. At Loyola University New Orleans he directed the university's office of Mission and Identity. He holds a doctorate in Christian Spirituality and has lead faculty, administrators, and staff through Ignatius Loyola's Spiritual Exercises at both universities. He has also worked with the Jesuit Volunteers Corps for almost 3 decades, directing a regional office, presenting workshops and retreats, and serving on their board of directors. He has a special interest in the connections between spirituality and social justice and in the societal dimensions of religious faith.
Sr. Mary Ann Flanagan, IHM, PhD is a theological educator and retreat presenter now living in the Rochester Hills, MI area. She is a consultative member of the Visitation North Spirituality Center in Bloomfield Hills, and is responsible for their wonderful website www.visitationnorth.org. Her interests are varied and creative; prayerful presentations are her joy to provide.
Katherine Hill, RSM: received her Doctor of Ministry from Chicago Theological Seminary in Spirituality. She has an MA in Theology from the University of St. Michael's College in Toronto. Sr. Hill received her training in the Enneagram from the Institute of Spiritual Leadership in Chicago. She was a teacher for most of her professional career at the secondary level where she taught Religious Studies. Presently, she serves as a Campus Minister at the University of Detroit Mercy and does Vocation ministry part-time. She offers individual and group Spiritual Direction, and is Companioning a Class through the Grand Rapids Dominicans Program and giving classes in Dream work.
Denis Naeger spent 26 years as a counselor at U of D Jesuit High School in Detroit, and over the same period, he was Family Minister and Marriage Prep Coordinator at Our Lady of Refuge Parish in Orchard Lake. He received his Master's Degree in Counseling from St. Louis University, he is a Licensed Professional Counselor, and currently has his own private practice in West Bloomfield. Denis and his wife have four adult sons.

Fr. Thomas Ryan, SJ, has been a teacher of theology and Scripture and a campus minister and counselor in Jesuit High Schools and at Regis University in Denver, and after a year and a half giving retreats at Manresa, has moved on to the Jesuit Spiritual Center at Milford, Ohio. E-mail

Fr. Jim Serrick, SJ, former Director of Manresa Jesuit Retreat House for 14 years, is now associate pastor of Gesu Church, Detroit, but he graces from time to time his old haunts to help us with retreats.
Fr. Tim Shepard, SJ, a former director of Jesuit novices of the Detroit and Chicago Provinces, has a Master of Divinity from Loyola University and a Master of Sacred Theology/Spirituality from the Jesuit School of Theology. He is currently involved in spiritual ministry at the Colombiere Center in Clarkston, MI.

Joe Shoots is a Certified Advanced Addiction Counselor with more than 20 years experience in the drug and alcohol addiction field. He has been assisting people who love people with addiction problems in many types of clinical settings. He has worked as a therapist in rehabilitation centers for over 20 years and now works as an out-patient therapist in a private practice. He has a firm understanding of the hold that addictions can have on a person because he is a recovering person himself for over 25 years. Along with his vast experience in the addiction field, his passion is to help others who have addictions the same way he was helped 25 years ago. Joe has a Master's Degree in Humanistic and Clinical Psychology.
Sr. Sally Smolen, RSM, and other Sisters of Mercy were invited by the Detroit Mercy Leadership Team in the fall of 2002 to establish an intentional inter-regional Mercy residence and ministry site. Sally and four others—the "founding five"—moved into their new home in November 2003. Though their ministry at House of Mercy is in its early stages, the sisters developed an initial mission statement that guides their role in the University community. In part, the mission reads, "...the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas offer to provide a place of hospitality and creative community activities for UDM students and faculty in collaboration with our Jesuit brothers at UDM and Gesu Parish..." Sally has moved her private practice in psychotherapy to the site, brings an extensive background in nursing, psychology and music. An affiliate assistant professor at UDM, she has facilitated groups within the College of Health Professions and has taught in the Parish Nurse program. She is eager to enhance current UDM services by offering individual therapy, facilitating small groups and developing educational sessions on topics of interest to students, faculty and staff.

Fr. Joseph F. Wagner, SJ, is Associate Professor in the Department of Mathematics & Computer Science at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio, teaching mathematics and mathematics teachers. As a Jesuit priest, he also works in Campus Ministry, and lives as residence hall chaplain in Buenger Hall. Joe spent a month working with us at Manresa as part of his tertianship, the final year of Jesuit formation.