WomanWell Center

Founders of the Spiritual Guidance Training Program...

In 1989, people were waking up spiritually, exploring a variety of ways to pray, to share their story and to find places where a community shared meaningful and relevant celebrations. The concept of spiritual formation or spiritual direction began to emerge from monastic practice only to become a felt need for many folks on a spiritual path.

 

Cil Braun, Roseann Giguere and Elizabeth Toohey, mid-life seekers and theologians, began to talk about the need for a new model of training spiritual guides -- a model rich with images of the divine feminine and inclusive of body-spirit-heart connections. And so, the planning began! Using their own life experience and the writings of women theologians, wrestling with the limitations of traditional sin/salvation views and the growing awareness of the depth, beauty and holiness of all creation they began to fashion what is now the Spiritual Guidance Program.

In 1990, the first group of 18 met in a small room on the garden level of a converted home in Minneapolis. Wonderful folks they were from a variety of backgrounds, 16 women and 2 men, the latter found it a little too "different" and moved on. It was a learning experience for staff and participants, a work in progress, and in May of 1992 the first 15 graduates celebrated the new fruits of this unique program.

As the good news spread and graduates enthusiastically passed on their story, Cil, Rosie and Elizabeth realized this was a "keeper" and they needed more staff. Dennis Galvin and Maureen Rocheford, recent graduates, joined the staff in 1994. The group of five continued to build and to enrich programs for the next ten years, passing it on in 2004 to the current staff, two of whom are graduates. The first dream is now 16 years old and appears to still be in the hearts of folks who come.

 

 

Priscilla W. (Cil) Braun, M. Div
I am proud to be one of the three women who conceived and created the Center for Spiritual Guidance Training Program. In the beginning ( i.e.1990!) I felt there was a need for a spiritual direction program that would foster the freedom to explore and express the many facets of spirituality and theology that were emerging. It had to be inclusive, experiential in nature, and a place of community, as well as provide an opportunity for growth, change and spiritual deepening. I was excited to join Elizabeth and Roseann in creating a new model for Spiritual Direction training.

 

My roots in the Protestant tradition, added to the traditions of Elizabeth and Roseann, both of whom were R.C. nuns, was a fine combination. My background included a Master of Divinity from United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cites, certifications in Pastoral Counseling, Jungian Sandplay Therapy, Gestalt therapy and in spiritual direction from Shalem Institute, all of which were integrated into what I brought to the Program. I am grateful for all I learned from the participants and the other staff in my 14 years of participation, and to the Program as a whole. The great satisfaction for me is to know how the 250 graduates are using their training in their life work and bringing spiritual awareness to those around them.

 


Roseann Giguere
Roseann is one of the founders, along with Cil Braun and Elizabeth Toohey, of the Spiritual Guidance Program. Her "checkered career" includes junior high education and middle school development, junior college professor, prison chaplaincy and spiritual director. Roseann holds an M. Div. from United Theological Seminary, along with a BA from the College of St, Catherine and an MA from the U of MN.

 

It was in Seminary that she realized the need for a creative and challenging program for spiritual development and began planning with Cil and Elizabeth in 1989. They launched the first class of 18 brave souls in the fall of 1990.. The rest is history! Roseann is a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph, involved in the life of her family and friends and lives with her aging cat Cocoa!

 

 

Elizabeth Toohey
A founder’s recollection...

We launched Center in the City in 1987, as a wholistic spirituality center whose mission was to foster the exploration of spirituality by honoring diverse traditions and strengthen relationships to empower, heal and spark transformation.

 

The Spiritual Direction program grew out of this experience. In 1990 Cil, Roseann and I experienced collaboration through creating week-end classes that were unique and typified the diversity we’d envisioned. Most powerful for me was the experience of being part of a circle where the building of trust and the commitment to honest sharing created transformation in individual lives and in the community.

My professional life began with teaching elementary school music. I spent six years in Florence, obtaining an M.M. in musicology. Counseling and spiritual direction training was obtained at Aquinas Institute in Dubuque, IA. and a Master’s in Theology at the College of St. Catherine.