Jesuit Collaborative

When the provincials of the Eastern U.S. established The Jesuit Collaborative in the summer of 2006, one of its key mandates was to develop new ways of forming people who would be able to direct the Spiritual Exercises and help form others to do so.  The last Jesuit Congregation had mandated the ministry of the Exercises as one of the most important works of the Society of Jesus.

This summer, The Jesuit Collaborative launched a joint effort with Fairfield University, which was a most generous and gracious host for the program; Fr. Jeffrey von Arx, S.J., the President, and Dean Edna Wilson and Registrar Elizabeth Hastings of University College were particularly welcoming and helpful, as were Fr. Walter Conlin, S.J., Rector and the Fairfield Jesuit Community.  For the month of July, a group of twelve participants from all three province areas (four Jesuits, one religious woman, a diocesan priest, five lay women and one lay man) engaged in an intensive study of the Exercises, its text, theological and historical background, and the dynamics of a retreat.  Most mornings Fr. Monty Williams, S.J., of the English Canada Province, led a prayerful close reading of the text; during the afternoons, members of the faculty of the Fairfield University Religious Studies Department (Elizabeth Dreyer, Nancy Dallavalle, Paul Lakeland, and John Thiel) helped people understand the complexities and possibilities of the theological vision of the Exercises.  Late in the afternoon, the program team (Jim Bowler, S.J. of Fairfield Univ., Janice Farnham, R.J.M. of the School of Theology and Ministry of Boston College, and Ron Mercier, S.J. of St. Louis Univ.) oversaw a practicum in direction and supervision, with participants serving at various times as directors, directees and observers.  All of this was wrapped in a spirit of prayer, with daily Eucharist and a communal practice of the Examen keeping us focused on the meaning of our common work.  As one participant put it so well, “Through the provocative seminars of the professors, insights of my fellow classmates, lay and religious, I have been able to deepen my understandings of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius.  My own path to being a spiritual director has been more vividly illuminated and strengthen as well.”

Now a new phase begins.  Participants will put into practice what they have studied in July.  They will direct a retreatant through the Annotation 19 form of the Exercises, while receiving supervision from a local mentor, all the while maintaining contact with the program team.  Using the Angel web service of Fairfield, they will do regular readings on the Exercises, the practice of direction, and the theological/scriptural background of the text; at the same time, Angel will allow participants to share their reflections on these texts with others in the program.  This will lead the way to another three-week residential component of the program at Fairfield next July which will focus on deepening the skills of the directors, exploring more fully the questions raised this past July, and helping all discern how best they can engage in the ministry of the Exercises.  The first fruits have been truly blessed; we can only trust that the Spirit who so helped us in July will bring this initiative to a successful conclusion and help all involved to craft one more way of preparing the next generation of leaders of this ministry.