Hi, I’m Teresa
I think most people wear a lot of hats, and I am no exception. My husband is a retired Air Force Huey pilot who now has a government job, so I have a soft spot and get military life. I battled with infertility to get my three kiddos who are now 13, 10, and almost 9.
I have always been a pet lover, and we’re on set two of two Australian Shepherds. My kids have two cats, so I am also a caretaker to them.
For my full-time job, I teach high school journalism and English at a Jesuit high school. I also run a photography business, TCJ Design, where I document people’s stories capturing everything from newborns to weddings to military retirements and everything in between.
I recognize other callings in my life, too. I’ve always felt drawn to writing and would love to publish a book and publish my photography art. I’ve also been a high school and college campus minister and have recognized a tug throughout my life to weave in ministry.
My newest hat is that of a spiritual director, though! I am currently in training to be an Ignatian spiritual director. This website will reflect how I navigate that call to live an Ignatian lifetylse with my family in the 21st century.
I currently live in Maryland about an hour outside of Washington, DC.
My Call to Spiritual Direction
A call to ministry has been there for me since I graduated from college. I cherished the experiences I had leading Christian Life Communities when I was a high school campus minister, and the one-on-one encounters I had with students in those communities really led me to feel that first call to learn how to be a better spiritual director for them.
I felt that call strongly again in my late twenties and very early thirties when I was a parishioner at Holy Trinity, but I felt like I needed more life experience. That nudge to be a spiritual director never left, though. Before doing the 19th Annotation myself in my mid-forties, I talked to people where I teach about my call, but I knew I needed to finally complete the 19th Annotation myself first. That call came up consistently in my time in the exercises. I just wasn’t sure what the timing would be, but I felt it was in my future.
When I finished the exercises, my spiritual director and a colleague pointed me towards a few spiritual direction programs. The university programs seemed out of reach with my family life, and the local Jesuit parish was putting their program on hold. I was accepting I maybe needed to wait a bit longer and that my call to ministry was in other ways — youth ministry at my parish, a CLC, or writing.
Then, a new Jesuit came to my work place and told me about an Ignatian spiritual direction that would work for my work and home lives. I knew instantly it was God’s way of telling me to answer the call to being a spiritual director.
Professional Bio
I have been a high school teacher most of my life; I started in 1999, right after graduating from college. For most of my teaching jobs, I also find myself called to ministry, serving as director of campus ministry and retreat coordinator at various high schools. In addition to teaching at the high school level and working in ministry there, I have also taught at and worked in ministry at the university level. I have taught in English and Education departments at a number of universities, and I have served as Graduate Student Campus Minister at Saint Louis University.
I hold three master’s degrees: a master’s of arts and teaching from Webster University with an emphasis in communication, a master’s of arts in English from Saint Louis University, and a master’s of education in instructional technology from Regis University. I am currently working on my certificate in Ignatian Spiritual Direction with Ignatius House Reterat Center in Sandy Springs, Georgia.