Archdiocesan Spirituality Center moves near lake

By Christine Bordelon
Clarion Herald

The beauty, the peace and the serenity make the new location of the Archdiocesan Spirituality Center perfect for its ministry of walking with individuals as they delve deeper into their relationship with Christ.
 
It’s been a year since the Archdiocesan Spirituality Center moved to the grounds of the Archdiocese of New Orleans Retreat Center on Lake Pontchartrain at 5500 St. Mary St. in Metairie (the former Cenacle Retreat House), and already those who come for spiritual direction, faith companioning or study to become spiritual directors have noticed a difference.

“People love coming here because after spiritual direction, they can pray in the chapel downstairs or walk the grounds,” said Dominican Sister Dorothy “Dot” Trosclair, executive director. She leads the staff of spiritual directors Teresian Sister Gloria Murillo, who has been assistant director since July 2005, and Doris Melito, who also is administrative assistant. All other staff are volunteers.

“It’s a very private place away from the hustle and bustle of the city,” Sister Gloria said, comparing it to the center’s last home in Metairie that was shared with other ministries. “But, the sense of permanency is the most satisfying one. It feels comfortable.”

Not only is the location perfect for the center, Sister Dot said its ministry beautifully works alongside the retreat center since both encompass spirituality.

“We do different things, but together we are a whole,” she said. “Our interns, who go through the two-year intern program, direct retreats here during the summer.” 

Began for religious
Archbishop Philip Hannan established the Archdiocesan Spirituality Center in 1982 to address a key need to enhance the spiritual life and ministry for religious men and women and diocesan priests, said Sister Dot. While all religious have some form of spiritual direction, Ignatian tradition and discernment are at the core of the center’s ministry.


Dominican Sister Noel Toomey was the first director. She trained several nuns at San Pedro Pescador Parish to be the Archdiocese of New Orleans’ first spiritual directors. Sister Dot was among them and has been a spiritual director for almost 50 years. She also has her own spiritual director.

“A spiritual director is a listener who gives feedback but never makes decisions,” Sister Dot said. “Life changes, and the things that come up in life are different. God is nudging me in different directions, and to have someone listen to what God is doing inside me gives it an objectivity that makes it clearer.”

The first location of the center, at the UNO Catholic Center on Wainwright Street in New Orleans, was officially dedicated in January 1983. Sister Noel lived there and organized a ministry board to plan the direction of the center. She remained director until 2010.

Over the years and through several moves – including to New Orleans East, Notre Dame Seminary’s campus, then the former St. Lawrence the Martyr campus in Metairie – the Archdiocesan Spirituality Center has had priests and lay individuals on its staff and board and added programs, including faith companioning in 1989 and a two-year internship for spiritual directors in 2014.

While initial spiritual directors then were religious, today they are mostly laypeople who meet stringent qualifications just to apply to the two-year internship. Once a director, individuals do monthly study and prayer and annual in-services.

The internship for spiritual direction expanded off-campus to the Jesuit Spirituality Center in Grand Coteau in 2015 and to Franciscan University in Baton Rouge in 2022, but people come to the center to be spiritual directors from dioceses nationwide.

The center didn’t miss a beat with its programs during COVID-19, either, switching to Zoom sessions.

“We worked from our homes,” Sister Gloria said. “You can tell that this is a ministry that is necessary. One of the greatest things I’ve experienced is the support and promotion that the archbishop gives us.”

Hundreds of directors
More than 200 spiritual directors are available to those seeking spiritual direction, with their detailed backgrounds available to peruse, said Melito, who personally felt a nudge from the Holy Spirit to learn what “God’s will was for me” in her late 30s during a rough time in her life and sought spiritual direction. A parish nun’s words that “God’s will for you is whatever God’s desire in your heart is” and spiritual direction changed her life.
 
Melito said anyone serious about their relationship with God needs spiritual direction.

“The Lord is calling them to enter into that relationship, and I don’t think that will ever go away. We are available for that,” Sister Gloria said, adding that being a spiritual director is a sacred space. “I am in someone’s vulnerability and realize how vulnerable I am. I’ve learned to seek God in my life to be in that sacred space so the other can seek God. … I cannot do it on my own.”

The Archdiocesan Spirituality Center is open weekdays from 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m., but directors work with directees in off hours and by Zoom for convenience.

The center is planning the return of its big gala fundraiser – something interrupted by COVID-19 – for October 2023 at Notre Dame Seminary’s Schulte Hall, 2901 South Carrollton Ave., New Orleans. Call (504) 861-3254 for details.

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