Joseph Palacios
Rev. Joseph A. Palacios, Ph.D., is a sociologist, writer, coach, consultant, and Catholic priest. Through Higher Calling, he helps individuals and organizations reflect deeply, discern wisely, and live with greater purpose, integrity, and contribution.
For more than four decades, I have accompanied individuals, families, communities, professionals, and organizations through moments of transition, discernment, challenge, and renewal. My work is rooted in the conviction that every person has a higher calling: a vocation to live with greater clarity, courage, integrity, and love.
My background brings together ministry, scholarship, coaching, and public life. I earned my Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley, where I studied religion, culture, civic life, and social and organizational change. As a Catholic priest, I have served diverse communities in Los Angeles, Oakland, Washington, DC, Guadalajara, Santiago and beyond, preaching, teaching, celebrating life’s most sacred moments, and walking with people through grief, joy, struggle, and hope.
As a professional coach and consultant, I help people reflect deeply on their lives, clarify their values, tell their stories, and make decisions aligned with who they are becoming. My coaching is especially shaped by the belief that leadership is not simply about performance or advancement, but about meaning, responsibility, and contribution. Whether I am working with executives, professionals, law firms, faith communities, or individuals seeking a new direction, I bring a reflective, practical, and deeply human approach.
Higher Calling is the place where these strands of my life come together. It is a platform for coaching, consulting, writing, teaching, retreats, seminars, and public reflection. Through Higher Calling, I hope to help people and communities ask better questions: What am I called to do? What kind of person am I becoming? How can my gifts serve something larger than myself? How do we build lives, institutions, and a society worthy of human dignity?
At this stage of my life, I see Higher Calling as both a professional practice and a legacy project. It gathers the wisdom of my experience as a priest, sociologist, coach, teacher, writer, and activist into one mission: helping people listen more deeply, live more intentionally, and respond more faithfully to the call of their lives.
John McAndrew
John McAndrew, MA, MDiv, is a spiritual teacher, counselor, theologian, musician, hospice chaplain and poet.
With a background in literature, theology, music, and counseling, he served as a parish priest for nearly 20 years, and has also worked in educational settings, corporate consultancies, detention facilities, and treatment centers. During his tenure as Director of Spiritual Care at the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, CA, he began to incorporate all these experiences into foundations which took shape in Sensible Spirituality Associates — a consultancy created with Joseph Palacios. John currently resides in Arroyo Grande (San Luis Obispo County), CA and recently retired from full-time Spiritual Counseling for Wilshire Hospice. He continues to facilitate Retreats and Workshops for people in recovery, and offers Spiritual Counseling, Grief Counseling, and Recovery Support services for individuals and organizations seeking deeper spiritual development.
John is a skilled meeting organizer and has helped non-profit and religious organizations in designing and implementing leadership and membership meetings. With his creative skills he provides high energy team building dynamics to help organizations move toward their mission, objectives, and vision.
"Let us go from strength to strength! For it is to be hoped that the one who begins to serve God will not grow weary, but advance more and more each day." Saint Ignatius of Loyola
Testimonials
"I have had the pleasure of working with Joseph as my coach for the past 20 years. He is simply outstanding. During these two decades, he has helped me make the transition from a student struggling to find my own voice to an executive leading people at a top global company. What makes Joseph exceptional is his unwavering commitment to getting to know his clients on a deeply personal level. His coaching approach is grounded in the Ignatian tradition of cura personalis, or care for the whole person. He recognizes that our personal and professional lives are complexly intertwined, and he helps clients navigate both spheres to gain clarity and purpose. Using Socratic questioning, Joseph guides you to identify your passions and rank their priority. He then helps you create actionable plans to achieve them. His approach is gentle but effective, providing you with the support and guidance you need to achieve your objectives. In summary, I highly recommend Joseph as a thoughtful, caring, and effective coach. He has helped me achieve significant personal and professional growth, and I am confident that he can do the same for you."
“It’s such a pleasure and honor of having Dr. Palacios as my coach in the past 6 months. he’s a distinguished academic scholar, a religious leader and wise philosopher who also lived the corporate world. As you can imagine he has a lot to offer as a coach. I clicked with Joseph (as he prefers to be called) right from our very first session: he has such a nice personality who make you feel you are talking to a friend that you trust, with whom you can share whatever you are going through. He’s a attentive listener who always seeks to understand the context and bigger picture before offering his perspective and guidance. His coaching has been tremendously helpful.”
"Joseph brings a rare combination of heart and intellect to every situation in which he has worked. This thoughtful open-heartedness has guided him as an academic, a minister, a trustworthy companion and now as a Coach. He is always able to provide mature insight which enables individuals to find the right questions and tap into their own perhaps unsuspected inner resources. I have benefited from Joseph’s assessments and reflections and would recommend him to anyone who is sincerely seeking a fuller life."
"Dr. Palacios and I first met at the University of Southern California in October 2017. Dr. Palacios provides support to anyonr who is looking for help to persevere in life. As a 55 year old man, compared to my younger peers, I am able to better recognize those individuals who have the unique ability to provide assistance to those in need of guidance in a multitude of areas. Dr. Palacios is the epitome of coaching guidance. If you are looking for a person with an open mind, and with life and academic experiences, look no further than Dr. Joseph Palacios. I would never have been as successful as I am, were it not for Dr. Palacios’ support and encouragement, and his belief in my ability to be successful. Due in part to his ongoing coaching and support, I will soon be defending my doctoral dissertation degree at the University of Southern California."