The inclusion of living contemporary authors or specialists is not meant to imply endorsement or any connection with the person or ministry. These are included as the bulk of their work (at the time of this writing) has been faithful to the teachings and traditions of the Catholic Church given in Scripture and Tradition and as handed down by the saints.

Spiritual Direction

You want a director who is faithful to the teachings of the Catholic church. Spiritual directors are guiding people to grace and themselves must know and understand grace to do so! Some resources for you:

Seek-Direction.App https://seekdirection.app/ Seek-Direction.app has vetted the directors in their listing to ensure they have knowledge of Church teachings. They are endorsed by Dan Burke of the Avila Institute/Divine Mercy Radio and others knowledgeable of spiritual direction.

Divine Mercy Univ. Alumni Directory: Graduates of DMU’s Spiritual Direction Certificate program have been trained in the orthodoxy of the Catholic Church including a proper understanding of the human person. Those who have agreed to be listed https://divinemercy.edu/?taxonomy=degree-conferred&term=spiritual-direction-certificate

Other spiritual direction programs

While some of these programs do not have alumni lists on their websites, if you have difficulty finding a spiritual director you can contact them and see if they have a method of connecting requests to their alumni:

• Institute for Ministry Formation https://imf.saintvincentseminary.edu/
• Lanteri Center for Ignatian Spirituality will help to match you with a trained graduate https://www.omvusa.org/lanteri-center/about-us/spiritual-direction/find-trained-graduate/
• Heart of Christ (Avila Institute partner) https://heartofchristspiritualdirection.com/
• Direction for Your Soul (for women only) provides spiritual direction (Divine Mercy Univ alumni), life coaching, fertility and wellness mentoring via Zoom. https://directionforyoursoul.com/book-with-us
• Franciscan University’s School of Spiritual Direction, email ssd@franciscan.edu
• Archdiocese of New Orleans https://nolacatholic.org/seeking-spiritual-direction
• Mary and Elizabeth House of Prayer and Formation (for women only; ask to be put in contact with a director on their network) https://maryandelizabeth.com/network-directors-page/
• Hopes Garden spiritual direction & life coaching (for women only, emphasis on trauma healing) https://hopesgarden.com/resources-for-healing/

To learn a little bit more about spiritual direction:

• You may want to watch this video from Divine Mercy Radio https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQl_42a38ik
• The three-part series Spiritual Direction and the Remodel of the Heart may be helpful.

Article 1: https://spiritualdirection.com/2025/08/30/spiritual-direction-and-the-remodeling-of-the-heart-part-1-the-nature-and-purpose-of-spiritual-direction

Article 2: https://spiritualdirection.com/2025/10/09/spiritual-direction-and-the-remodeling-of-the-heart-part-2-what-should-i-look-for-in-a-spiritual-director

Article 3: https://spiritualdirection.com/2025/10/14/spiritual-direction-and-the-remodeling-of-the-heart-part-3-spiritual-direction-is-a-dynamic

Health and wellness

• The Open Therapy Institute: “clients are encouraged to explore the full range of their thoughts and feelings, with an open-minded clinician, even on topics that are difficult to discuss publicly. As society becomes more politicized, the Open Therapy Institute remains committed to the traditional healing ethos of therapy.” They have member clinicians in most states of the US.   https://www.opentherapyinstitute.org/therapy
• The Catholic Psychotherapy Association has close bonds with Divine Mercy University (DMU) and endeavors to incorporate the proper anthropology of the human person (as taught in the Catholic tradition) into its work https://cpa.ce21.com/directory
• Catholic therapists can be found at https://www.catholictherapists.com/ The founder, Allison Ricciardi also started a website for vetted Catholic Life Coaches https://www.catholiclifecoaches.com/a-note-from-the-founder
• Catholic therapist and life coach Dr. Bernard Streisselberger provides online individual and group support centered in the work of Dr. Conrad Baars within the context of Thomistic psychology. https://threshmountains.com/ His wife Anna is a functional medicine nurse whose online ministry is licensed in 43 states https://threshmountainshealth.com/thresh-mountains-health–services
• Metanoia Catholic both trains Catholic life coaches as well as provides an online directory of Catholic life coaches. They work under the auspices of their Bishop and take a solidly-faithful approach to living Catholic. Founder Matt Ingold also graduated from our DMU spiritual direction program. https://metanoiacatholic.com/certified-catholic-coaches/
• Marge Fenelon is a life purpose coach which has a bit different perspective and approach. She is trained in multiple modalities https://margefenelon.com/life-coaching/
• Life-Giving Wounds is an excellent ministry for adults who were children of divorce (ACOD). They have online sources and onground retreats, and are approved by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Many people are unaware how their parents’ divorce in their childhood continues to affect them in adult life. Healing this can eliminate many challenges in itself. https://www.lifegivingwounds.org/
• The online ministry Souls And Hearts https://www.soulsandhearts.com/toc/ run by Dr. Peter Malinowski. Their table of contents organizes their materials by challenge making it very accessible and helpful. They run online groups for Catholics using the Internal Family Systems (IFS) model, modified (from its new age foundation) to a Catholic foundation.
• PSYPACT is an interstate consortium which, once approved, the doctor can provide telemed services to all participating states. You can see on their map approx. 40 states participate https://psypact.org/mpage/psypactmap While these are not specifically Catholic or Christian, it does open up possibilities for finding help. Two DMU graduates who do participate in PSYPACT are Dr. Jonathan Marcotte and Dr. Matthew Rochefort.
• Red Bird Ministries is USCCB approved to minister to parents of child loss. Parents who have lost a child, whether pre-born, born, or even adult, can receive online support as well as attend onground retreats. 80% of parents who lose a child end up in divorce, and even the most ardent church-goers drop out of their faith practices. Red Bird’s program was developed in conjunction with DMU’s trauma team and is excellent. https://www.redbird.love/
• The Path to Healing Broken Hearts by Fr. Shawn Monahan OMV is an outstanding self-paced video series that steps the viewer through understanding God and healing, with aids on taking wounds to prayer. The videos can be found at https://www.omvusa.org/watch-path-healing-broken-hearts/?eType=CommSeriesComponent&eId=9dafd610-459d-4ca6-8a6e-8e605a14402c However, it is best to engage this series with their workbook, which can be purchased by registering at https://www.omvusa.org/our-work/virtual-workshops/path-healing-broken-hearts/

Sources for growth in the spiritual life

Journaling: the written memory of grace

Part 1 https://spiritualdirection.com/2023/08/09/journaling-the-written-memory-of-grace-part-1

Part 2 https://spiritualdirection.com/2023/08/20/journaling-the-written-memory-of-grace-part-2

Part 3 https://spiritualdirection.com/2023/08/29/journaling-a-written-memory-of-grace-part-3?_hsmi=272237838

Spiritual life and prayer

Shedding light on the dark night: https://spiritualdirection.com/2024/05/20/shedding-light-on-the-dark-night

A Rule of Life for the Heart: Creating a Spiritual Life Plan https://spiritualdirection.com/2025/10/21/a-rule-of-life-for-the-heart-creating-a-spiritual-life-plan

For help with the Ignatian Examen of Consciousness, this is an excellent video. She provides examples and takes each step realistically. She is integrating discernment of spirits into the review of her day. “God speaks through reality all day long.” The Q&A is very good too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=215erjN7pKY

Fr. John Bartunek explains the examen prayer in his easy-to-understand style. It begins at the 40 minute mark of this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnzYBNoxYks

A six-part series on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. The retreat that never ends:

Article 1 The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola https://spiritualdirection.com/2024/01/08/the-retreat-that-never-ends-the-spiritual-exercises-of-st-ignatius-of-loyola

Discernment

• Timothy Gallagher OMV on EWTN: The original video series on St. Ignatius of Loyola’s first set of 14 rules for the discernment of spirits https://www.ewtn.com/tv/shows/living-the-discerning-life-the-spiritual-teaching-of-st-ignatius-of-loyola
  • Scriptures to accompany the first set of rules https://thefaceofgraceproject.com/scriptures-for-the-discernment-of-spirits/
  • Several other video series on prayer and spiritual life are available at ondemand.ewtn https://ondemand.ewtn.com/Home/Search?query=gallagher
• The Ignatian Discernment Institute explains the 14 rules, linking to an article for each. https://www.discernment.institute/the-first-week-rules
• Gallagher OMV teaching Ignatius’ 2nd week rules for greater discernment (his book is entitled Spiritual Consolations):
  • Fr Gallagher’s presentation 6 videos on 2nd week rules for Spiritual Direction Symposium https://spiritualdirectionsymposium2025.spiritualdirection.com/
  • Gallagher series on Discerning Hearts with Kris McGregor https://www.discerninghearts.com/catholic-podcasts/fr-timothy-gallagher-the-second-week-rules-for-the-discernment-of-spirits-discerning-hearts-podcasts/
• Gallagher on the discernment of God’s will: Making decisions (Ignatius’ 3 modes of discerning a vocation or important choice) https://www.discerninghearts.com/catholic-podcasts/fr-timothy-gallagher-discernment-of-gods-will/