Silent Retreat for Men and Women
We are entirely human, with our faults and hopes and
regrets and desires. How can we learn from the women
and men who have gone before us to entrust our lives to
God, who calls each of us from sin to saintliness?
Fr. Ken Hezel, S.J. was born in Buffalo, NY, in the mid 1930’s and graduated from Canisius High School. He has been a Jesuit since 1953.
He studied at Fordham University, New York; Loyola University, Chicago; Woodstock School of Theology in Maryland; and Catholic University, where he was involved in marriage tribunal work. Fr. Ken has earned the following degrees: STL; Masters in Religious Education; Masters in Teaching.
His ministry from 1960 to the present has been as a missionary in the region of Micronesia, Western Pacific. Fr. Ken has served as Trainer of Lay Ministers, as Hospital Chaplain and as a Campus Minister.
Fr. Ken worked in administration as Jesuit Regional Superior and as President/Principal of Xavier High School, Chuuk. He has served as an Archdiocesan Consultor and as a member of the presbyteral council in Agana, Guam.
Fr. Ken's experience has focused on Diocesan clergy, religious sisters, and men and women lay leaders in Guam/Micronesia. He has occasionally directed retreats for Religious Sisters.
Fr. Ken has wide experience of the Asia/Pacific area and has enjoyed travel for meetings to most countries of East Asia and Pacific. He is interested in the relationship between science/evolution and faith, and he enjoys golf. During the Fall, Fr. Ken was on sabbatical at Boston College.
Ms. Leelamma Sebastian, JRC Program Director, has an international background. She holds an Economics degree from the University of Calicut (Kerala, India) and an M.S. in Counseling Psychology from Chaminade University of Honolulu. Working in administrative and direct service positions for Catholic Charities Hawaii and the Diocese of Honolulu, Leelamma taught in Hawaii's Catechetical and Pastoral Institute and in the Deacon Formation Program. She has a lifelong relationship with the Missionaries of Charity. She is currently a participant of the Pierre Favre Program. She has two daughters, Sindhu and Anjali.
Assisting
Fr. Bernard Bush, S.J. is a spiritual director and psychotherapist by training— background that he believes enables him to see people's lives in a rich and diverse way. He says he enjoys the challenging adventure of helping others find God in their lives— something he recognizes is different for every person. He defines a spiritual director as one who is a servant to others as they grow in their relationship with God.
Born in Humboldt County, California, Fr. Bernie entered the Society of Jesus following graduation from Bellarmine College Preparatory, San Jose, CA. He was ordained in 1965, and then trained as a spiritual director and psychotherapist, earning a Ph.D. in human science (psychology and theology) from the Saybrook Graduate School, San Francisco.
Early in his career, Fr. Bernie taught at St. Ignatius High School, San Francisco, and assisted the chaplain at Alcatraz, San Francisco. For 13 years, he directed the House of Affirmation, a clinical treatment center for emotionally troubled clergy and religious. Fr. Bush is the author of the Book called Living in His Love: Essays on Prayer and Christian Living, and the Editor of Coping: Issues of Emotional Living in an Age of Stress for Clergy and Religious. He joined the Jesuit Retreat Center staff in 1993 after working in the Diocese of Norwich (Conn.), developing continuing education programs in social justice and the prevention of child abuse for the clergy.
Fr. Bernie continues to advocate for children. He also looks back fondly on his piloting days when he was truly "out of reach, looking down on the world a sort of God's eye view."
Fr. Joseph Fice, S.J., spent 25 years as a religious educator in Jesuit high schools in California and Arizona. He taught at Jesuit High School in Sacramento, Loyola High School in Los Angeles, and Brophy Preparatory School in Phoenix. His academic interests evolved from mathematics to a deep interest in scripture and ethics. After earning a B.S. in Mathematics from Loyola University of Los Angeles, he received an M.A. in Philosophy from Gonzaga University and an S.T.M. in Theology from the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley. A lecturer in Philosophy at Loyola University of Los Angeles from 1967 to 1969, his subsequent high school teaching focused on Scripture and Catholic Christianity.
Fr. Gerald F. Hudson, S.J. was, for many years, a mathematics teacher (at
Loyola High School, Loyola Marymount University, and St. Ignatius College
Preparatory). He has served several times as a director in the JRC 36-day
program. He joined the staff of the JRC in August of 2006 and has been
involved in retreats and spiritual direction.
Kathy Piasta grew up in San Francisco and graduated from USF in 1975. She and her husband, Joe, have been married for thirty-three years and have raised seven children in Santa Rosa. Kathy has focused her life on the care and education of her children, Cursillo and assistance to her three family members in the Army. She is a member of the Pierre Favre Program.
