What is a Spiritual Direction: Spiritual direction is a sacred, confidential conversation with a trained guide who accompanies you in noticing God’s presence, discerning meaning, and deepening your spiritual life.
Life is often complex — filled with both beauty and challenge. At times, we long for a quiet place to pause… to reflect… and to be deeply heard.
Spiritual direction offers a sacred, confidential space to explore the questions that stir the mind and weigh on the heart. It is an opportunity to slow down, listen more attentively to the movement of God in your life, and gain clarity amid uncertainty.
With the gentle guidance of a trained spiritual director, you are accompanied — not advised or fixed — but supported as you discern meaning, navigate life’s transitions, and deepen your relationship with God.
Sometimes we simply need a trusted companion for the journey: Spiritual direction can be that companion.
Pallottine has partnered with gifted people to help you on your journey.
- Persons of all backgrounds are welcomed with respect and care.
- The conversations are confidential.
- Some choose to meet for only a time or two. Others continue longer-term, typically monthly or every other month, or even "as needed."
- Scheduling is arranged by contacting Ron.
- Pallottine offers a sacred, quiet and safe place to meet.
Bio of Ron Knapp:
Ron Knapp brings to spiritual companioning a range of experience: retreat facilitator; parish/congregation minister with youth and families; teacher/advocate/guide with Veterans Upward Bound; high-school teacher/advisor; college campus minister; and admissions director & dean of students at Aquinas Institute of Theology (St. Louis). He finds rich blessing in deep listening in relationships, in the sights and sounds of nature (birdsong is a favorite), in centering meditation, in accompanying friends naturally through the joys, challenges, and transitions of life – plus the unique moments of curiosity, connection, awareness, and delight sprinkled along the way.
He also holds an M.Div., integrating theology, ministry, prayer, liturgy, pastoral care, and spirituality. His approach is to be a spiritual midwife, leaning in to listen with empathy and to offer clarifying questions, so that new life emerges, even within the pain, overwhelm, and anxiety that so often is the reality. He seeks, within all, to be an understanding, supportive, and encouraging presence.
From a first marriage, he has three sons, one of whom died at 18 after a long journey with cancer, which colors Ron’s compassion. Ron and his wife live in St. Louis with their teenage daughter. For restorative leisure, he enjoys “simple” things: a book with a cup of coffee, a bi-monthly evening with his siblings, playing guitar & singing (amateurishly), “porch time” with close friends, and biking/hiking with his family.
Some areas of particular expertise:
- Suffering, Loss, and Grief
- Vocation / Purpose
- Chronic Pain
- Life Transitions
- Prayer Styles
- Self-Discovery
Bio of Alfreda Pulley, BS Pharm, MBA, MAPS, GCSD:
Alfreda has worked as a pharmacist for more than thirty years. She has also been actively involved in ministry within her parish, serving on the Health and Wellness Committee, as a lector, on the Parish Council, assisting with OCIA, and as co-chair of the Spiritual Life Committee. She has been trained in the Ignatian Exercises and has served as a prayer companion.
She is an attentive listener who seeks to create a space that fosters genuine connection for those she accompanies in spiritual direction. She provides a nonjudgmental environment that encourages each person to grow in self-understanding and to discern who God is calling them to become. She strives to be fully present to those she serves in ministry.
Alfreda recently received her Master’s degree in Pastoral Studies (May 2026) and a certification in Spiritual Direction from Aquinas Institute of Theology.
She is married to her husband, Kevin, and they have three adult daughters. She and Kevin live in Florissant, MO. She enjoys reading, watching movies, and spending time with family and friends.
Bio of Laura Weber:
Laura Weber, Ph.D., has accompanied adults on spiritual journeys for nearly four decades in retreat centers, higher education, and holistic health settings. Rooted in Ignatian spirituality, she offers deep listening, interior awareness, and discernment around life’s complex questions, challenges, and vocational longings. A founding member of Ignatian (Jesuit Lay) Associates, her personal and professional life is shaped by attention to consolation and desolation along the spiritual path. Her ministry includes service at three Midwestern Jesuit universities as Director of University Ministry, professor of theology, philosophy, and classical languages, resident chaplain, pastoral minister, and spiritual companion to faculty, staff, and students.
A lifelong learner with a deep love for Nature, Laura works in environmental justice consulting and nature-based solutions that support individuals and organizations navigating significant change while protecting people and creation. Through her business, Environmental Soulutions, she integrates spiritual wisdom with ecological responsibility, guided by the conviction that loving Creation fosters an integral ecology and care for our Common Home. She also serves as a conservation project manager with Open Space St. Louis, assisting landowners in protecting land through conservation easements and watershed preservation.
A certified Nature and Forest Therapy practitioner, Laura offers Shinrin-Yoku (forest bathing), nature-based retreats, and programs for those whose spiritual journeys are nourished through immersion in creation. She also designs “Soulscapes”—sacred spaces in gardens, homes, and workplaces that awaken reflection and vitality. Her approach to spiritual companioning centers
on compassionate listening, mindfulness, gratitude practices, sensory awareness, gentle questioning, and breath-centered, embodied spirituality that honors holistic health and organic growth.
Integral to her spiritual listening is breath-centered awareness, embracing embodied practice and holistic health as constitutive of the spiritual life. Some modalities include:
- Vocational discernment and transitions
- Nature-immersive spiritual practices – Shinrin-Yoku (forest bathing), patch birding, gardening, bioacoustics
- Spiritual journaling, art, photography, poetry, music, sand mandalas
- Ignatian spirituality
- Tai chi/qigong movement
- Dreamwork and spiritual archetypes
- Mindfulness
- Ritualizing grief and loss
- Threshold and Wisdom rituals
An avid Cardinals fan, lover of all creature-kin, lush gardens, pristine forests, flowing rivers, and teeming oceans, Laura can usually be found in her free time seeking Nature’s quiet places for reflection, walking, fun, and blessed rest!
Spiritual Direction is offered by trained and credentialed directors who uphold recognized standards of formation and practice. A suggested stipend of $60 is invited for each 50-minute session to honor the director’s preparation and to reflect the participant’s personal investment in this sacred time of listening, discernment, and spiritual growth.
At the same time, we believe access to spiritual accompaniment should not be limited by financial circumstances. Pallottine’s Pass it Forward Fund can help make adjustments to ensure that all who seek this level of attentive listening and guidance are welcomed.
An email will be sent to the spiritual director/companion of your choice, along with your contact information. Please allow 1 week for a response to schedule a mutually agreeable date and time.
