S. Martha Alken OP is a Sinsinawa Dominican Sister currently on sabbatical and writing her second book. The first was The Healing Power of Forgiveness. S. Martha has offered talks and retreats throughout the United States for the last twenty years. She has experience in parish ministry and in leadership of her own community.

Linda Anderson is an Oblate of St. Paul's Monastery who serves as the Director of Faith Formation at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish.

Steve Arnold, Ph.D. is a chaplain at St. Anthony Senior Living and a spiritual director. His doctoral work is in adult education and educational gerontology.

S. Kathleen Atkinson OSB is a member of Annunciation Monastery in Bismarck, North Dakota. She has experience in education, parish ministry, Christian leadership, and ministry to those on the margins. S. Kathleen holds a doctorate in ministry from the University of St. Thomas and is the author of God is Always There: Psalms for Every Moment (Ligouri Press), as well as a contributor to the third volume of Illuminating Ministry (Liturgical Press, forthcoming)

Michael Dennis Browne is professor emeritus of English at the University of Minnesota, where he taught for thirty-nine years. His most recent publications include Give Her the River, a picture book with paintings by Wendell Minor (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2004); Things I Can’t Tell You, poetry (Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2005); and What the Poem Wants, essays on poetry (Carnegie Mellon, 2008). Browne’s poems have been published in many magazines and anthologies, and his awards include fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Bush Foundation, the Jerome Foundation, and the McKnight Foundation. Two of his collections have won the Minnesota Book Award for poetry. As a librettist, he has written many texts for music, working principally with composer Stephen Paulus. Their post-Holocaust oratorio, To Be Certain of the Dawn, was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in music by the Minnesota Orchestra and issued as a CD in 2008. Some of the best-known short choral works by Paulus and Browne include “The Road Home,” “Pilgrims’ Hymn,” “Hymn for America,” and “Hymn of the Eternal Flame.”

Jaci Bush is an Oblate of St. Paul's Monastery and a faculty member of the School of Business for The College of St. Scholastica. She volunteers in the music ministry of the Monastery and also serves as a facilitator of a women's faith sharing and Scripture study group.

Fr. Michael Byron is associate professor of theology at the Saint Paul Seminary School of Divinity of the University of St. Thomas. He is also pastor of St. Cecelia’s parish.

Kathleen Cahalan, Ph.D., is professor of theology at Saint John’s University School of Theology∙Seminary in Collegeville, Minnesota. Her most recent book is Introducing the Practice of Ministry (Liturgical Press, 2010). She is currently teaching a course on contemporary spiritual practices.

S. Joanne Dehmer SSND is a spiritual director on the staff of the Loyola Spirituality Center.

Dr. Lois Faraq is a Coptic nun and an Associate Professor of Early Church History at Luther Seminary, St. Paul. She also serves as Chair of Coptic Christianity Consultation, Chair of Christianity in Egypt: Scripture, Tradition, and Reception, and Advisor to the editorial board of the Journal of World Christianity.

Bernie Evans is associate professor of Christian ethics at Saint John’s School of Theology*Seminary.

S. Mary Forman OSB is a member of the Monastery of St. Gertrude, Cottonwood, Idaho; currently she is Associate Professor of Monastic Studies and Theology at the School of Theology-Seminary, Saint John’s University, Collegeville, MN and is also the Chair of the undergraduate Department of Theology, College of Saint Benedict-Saint John’s University. She is an author, retreat director and teacher of Benedictine monasticism.

S. Meg Funk OSB is past prioress of Our Lady of Grace Monastery in Beech Grove, Indiana, and a popular teacher and retreat leader. She has written books on the Christian contemplative tradition, including Humility Matters, Thoughts Matter, and Tools Matter, and most recently Lectio Matters: Before the Burning Bush.

S. Paula Hagen OSB is a member of St. Paul's Monastery, a national retreat leader, and the co-founder of Ministry of Mothers Sharing.

Mary Martin is a spiritual director and a hospital chaplain. She holds graduate degrees in theology, counseling psychology, and library science and has been in direction herself for over twenty-five years.

Fr. Mark McCormick is pastor of St. John the Evangelist Church in Fort Pierre, S. D. He is a graduate of St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota. Fr. Mark has worked extensively to incorporate art and resources like The Saint John’s Bible into his teaching and preaching.

S. Jacqueline Leiter OSB is a member of St. Paul’s Monastery and a teacher in St. Paul.

Cathy Scherer Stubbs is a local writer and musician with experience in parish ministry. She received her B.A. in communications from St. Catherine University and her M.A. in theology/pastoral ministry from St. John's University in Collegeville. She and her husband have three children and four grandchildren.

Barb Sutton is Adjunct Professor of Theology is Associate Professor of Theology at Saint John's University School of Theology*Seminary and the Associate Dean for Ministerial Formation and Outreach.

Peggy Thompson is a teacher and retreat leader in arts and spirituality. She is known in the art community as Margaret Carroll.

Peter Watkins, M.Div. is a high school teacher of twenty years, author, musician, spiritual director, and little-league soccer coach. He is presently in the midst of raising three sons. Peter is a member of the Benedictine Center’s spiritual direction team.

S. Mary White OSB is both a licensed psychotherapist and a skilled teacher of Christian meditation. Her works draws on the wisdom of the world’s great spiritual traditions as well as her extensive background in psychology and sociology. Email Mary.