Michael Hansen, S.J., is a retreat leader, speaker, spiritual formation teacher, and spiritual director on the retreat team at Campion Centre of Ignatian Spirituality in Kew, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia. He also works in the post-ordination formation program for the Australian Jesuits. Hansen has served in several schools and parishes, produced radio and television programs, and is the author of five books, including The First Spiritual Exercises, The Gospels for Prayer, and The Land of Walking Trees.
Hansen’s academic background includes degrees in the arts and theology. He has developed creative uses of the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises and, with a large team of spiritual directors, has designed and given these exercises in many different retreat forms—both for groups and individuals. Hansen gives retreats around Australia and abroad, always seeking to make the tools and experience of the Spiritual Exercises accessible to as many as possible.
