Ludwig to Lead Audire 2024
Dear Alums and Friends of Audire,
On behalf of the Board of Directors and staff of Audire, I am excited to announce a new chapter for our organization.
Last month, Audire founder and Board Chair Tim Arsenault moved out of leadership to expand his spiritual direction practice and ease into retirement. During his thirty-five-year tenure, off and on, Tim launched the Audire program, focused the organization, inspired the team, and led many new initiatives such as our website makeover and our ongoing re-visioning process. Tim’s service took Audire to a new level of commitment and opened Audire to a larger, more diverse audience.
On his departure, we needed someone who could build on Tim’s foundation and take Audire to the next level. The role demanded both a deep understanding of our mission and a strong track record of leading and growing a non-profit organization. We found that in Carol Ludwig, who joined the Audire team in 1999 and took over Board leadership in July. Carol has also served in leadership at the Vero Beach FL Center for Spiritual Care since 2000, taking on the Executive Director’s position in 2012. This experience further enhanced her nonprofit organizational development skills.
Prior to her work in Florida, Carol had a twenty-eight year career in the U.S. diplomatic service with tours in Tokyo, Manila, Mexico City, Rome and Washington, DC. She also coordinated the U.S. Foreign Press Centers in Washington, DC, New York and Los Angeles from 1988-1991.
Carol holds BA, MA and ABD degrees from Clarke University,
the University of Dayton and the American University. She also has certificates from the Shalem Institute, Mercy Center Burlingame and the Washington Theological Union. She served from 2001-2007 on the Coordinating Council of Spiritual Directors International, and continues on the Presence journal Editorial Board. Her numerous Presence interviews over the years include spiritual leaders Richard Rohr OFM,, Joyce Rupp OSM, John Philip Newell, Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, Greg Boyle SJ, RonRolheiser OMI, Jeremy Taylor and Krista Tippett. In 2002, she authored the two-part “Brief History of Spiritual Directors International.” With this background, it was not surprising that Carol was chosen to lead Audire. We will soon let you know of some of our new initiatives that are sure to inspire your engagement and support.
- Mary Manrique, Audire Board Treasurer
Warm Summer Greetings to the Audire Community!
Welcome to the relaunch of Audire’s newsletter The Listener, which went on hiatus when COVID-19 set in.
It’s been a very eventful summer for our program:
Audire founder and outgoing Board President Tim Arsenault retired this summer. His replacement is former Board Secretary Carol Ludwig. Tim had been with the program on and off for 34 years; Carol joined the team in 1999.
We graduated five new spiritual directors during our year-end contemplative retreat at the Franciscan Center in Tampa. They
CAROL LUDWIG
Silence, Stillness and Solitude… just what we need now
Revs. Louise and Frank Samuelson holding their granddaughter Hannah
Audire’s annual contemplative retreat was led this year by Revs. Louise and Frank Samuelson, Audire 2007 and 2010 graduates, respectively. Their theme, “Silence, Stillness and Solitude: Making Space for God & Others,” took students, staff and graduates to a new level of spiritual depth, incorporating ancient wisdom from the Desert Mothers and Fathers.
The Samuelsons are Episcopal priests and Associate Rectors at their respective churches in Houston. They met at Texas A&M, and after college served 15 years as
missionaries in Kenya, where they raised their 3 children.
Upon returning to the US, Louise and Frank were trained at Audire and practiced spiritual direction until leaving for seminary in 2014. They each received a Master of Divinity degree from The Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas, in 2017.
Louise and Frank are grateful for the formation they received at Audire, knowing it helped shape them into the priests that they are becoming for the church and the world.
Testimonials from the Retreat
“Thank you for guiding us through such a transformative retreat. Your gentle leadership and thoughtful structure created a safe space for deep contemplation and personal growth.”
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“Deep gratitude for your wisdom and your gentle, contemplative style. You brought ancient wisdom forward to today - and it is still relevant.”
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“I wasn’t familiar with the Desert Mothers and Fathers and thought they were a great example to use for the weekend.”
“Thank you for your gentle guidance throughout this weekend. Your insights and prompts were very helpful for starting a conversation with God during the periods of silence.”
Vicki Knight
“This image was created in response to a workshop called “The Body Sings” by Topaz Weis. We made sounds by imagining the sound of our Chakras. I started at my root chakra and worked my way up through my crown chakra, making a sound at each. As I did this, I imagined what the sounds look like and drew the sounds out on paper.”
ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT | VICTORIA “VICKI” KNIGHT
This month, we spotlight Victoria “Vicki” Knight: Spiritual director. Supervisor. Mother. New grandmother. Dog mom. Creative thinker. SoulCollage® facilitator. Year 1 Audire instructor. Faculty Lead. Expressive Arts facilitator. What’s that last one? It’s Vicki’s passion. She offers Expressive Arts as part of her spiritual direction practice, if a directee or supervisee wants it. She describes it as an “intermodal process”--combining two or more creative modalities such as guided meditation, writing, movement, sounds/music, poetry, and visual arts-as a way for a person, such as a directee, to get in touch with what they’re feeling and connect deeply with the Divine in their life.
LET US KNOW…
Vicki says, “The layering of two or more creative modalities helps a directee open up a deeper awareness of the Sacred moving in their story.” She’s quick to add, “People may say they’re ‘not creative’ or have ‘no artistic abilities’—but it’s not about the art that comes out during a session; it’s about the awareness that comes out.” No artistic talent whatsoever is needed to derive deep benefits from the experience.
She says, “Intermodal Expressive Arts is a surprising, deeply transformative, and healing process. It taps into your inner wisdom and makes it become visible!”
Vicki’s training as an EA facilitator
is through Expressive Arts Florida Institute (EAFI). Her interest in this illuminating practice came about while an intern in the Audire program. “I became aware that art can be a form of praying. I wanted to delve into that, especially for group spiritual direction.”
She found the book Praying In Color, by Sybil MacBeth, and that began the journey that, today, has her facilitating workshops and retreats as well as EA sessions during Year 1 and Year 3 Audire classes.
“The arts are the language of the Soul and intermodal Expressive Arts is a powerful way to listen authentically to our soul,” Vicki concludes.
We love knowing about our community! We hope to spotlight a graduate in each issue, telling us how they’re using their skills these days and what they’re up to. Or let us know of a story idea that would be of interest to your fellow grads. Just drop a note to Paige Hinton, hintonpaige@gmail.com, to let us know.
hail from Ruskin, St. Petersburg, Altamonte Springs, Palm Coast and Longwood.
Retreat leaders and Audire alums Revs. Louise and Frank Samuelson led the June retreat, focused on the desert Mothers’ and Fathers’ themes of “silence, stillness and solitude,” important themes in today’s chaotic world. You’ll find a bit more about the retreat on page two in this newsletter.
We’ll be in touch in the coming months as we prepare for Audire’s 35th anniversary celebrations! © 2024 Audire, The Central Florida Foundation for Spiritual Direction, Inc. Audire is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization AudireSpiritualDirection.org www.facebook.com/AudireSpiritualDirection Mailing address: 521 Belted Kingfisher Dr. N., Palm Harbor, FL 34683 GREETINGS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1