Saint Joseph’s University and Loyola Jesuit Center Graduate First Cohort of Ignatian Spiritual Directors
Graduates were acknowledged at a closing Mass on the Feast of Pentecost.
This May, Saint Joseph’s University’s Office of Mission and the Loyola Jesuit Center in Morristown, New Jersey, graduated 11 members of the inaugural cohort of the Spiritual Exercises in Everyday Life (SEEL) formation program. The two-year training program was designed to meet a growing demand for Ignatian spiritual directors.
Graduates will serve at institutions including Old St. Joseph’s Parish, Saint Joseph’s Preparatory School, Saint Joseph’s University, the Loyola Jesuit Center, as well as parishes and organizations across the Northeast and Midwest – bringing Ignatian spiritual direction across a breadth of Catholic institutions.
“There is a tremendous need for trained spiritual directors in our region,” says Daniel R.J. Joyce, S.J., BS ’88, vice president for mission and ministry at SJU, who is leading the program alongside Beverly Delleart, adjunct spiritual director at the Loyola Jesuit Center. “If we want to continue realizing the rich spirituality of St. Ignatius and his Spiritual Exercises, we need a wide variety of people to step in and carry it forward in all aspects of society.”
The SEEL program is rooted in a formation model developed by Jesuits approximately 45 years ago and first implemented on the West Coast. This is the first time it has been offered on the East Coast.
Through monthly sessions combining virtual and in-person instruction, directors-in-training engaged with guest presenters, readings, peer reflection and a practicum in which each candidate guided an actual retreatant through the 19th Annotation of the Spiritual Exercises — a 32-week retreat embedded in everyday life. The program concluded with a capstone project and formal assessment.
The Spiritual Exercises are a body of meditations, prayers and scriptural encounters designed to help retreatants understand their unique identity and mission as beloved creatures of God. The 19th Annotation makes this experience accessible outside of a traditional retreat setting, meeting people where they are in daily life.
“Witnessing those moments when someone experiences a spiritual breakthrough — wrestling with the big questions of life — is a remarkable gift. It deepens your own spiritual life as much as it does theirs,” says Michael Matulewicz, BA ’09, a 2026 SEEL program graduate and assistant director of programs and operations in Saint Joseph’s Office of Mission.
The second SEEL cohort is filled and the third cohort is now forming, with enrollment beginning in September 2026. The program is open to individuals who have engaged in the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius and are discerning a calling to serve as Ignatian spiritual directors.
For more information, or to apply, contact program co-directors Daniel R.J. Joyce, S.J., or Beverly Delleart at https://sites.google.com/sju.edu/seel.
