Newsletter & Recent Highlights
** Our Winter-Spring 2010 Newsletter is available online by clicking here**
ISC Board of Directors Approves Five Year Strategic Plan
On September 25, 2007 our Board of Directors unanimously approved the first Five Year Strategic Plan for the Ignatian Spirituality Center. This plan will enable us to:
* Evaluate the existing services and programs offered by the ISC in light of our mission;
* Make recommendations about the continuation, improvement and possible expansion of the existing programs and services
* Consider additional programs and services consistent with the ISC mission and resources;
* Evaluate the organizational structure and funding of the ISC to ensure that the ISC is properly managed and funded to achieve its mission and successfully implement this Five-Year Plan; and,
* Set forth our current vision and hopes with the understanding that this Five-Year Plan will be annually reviewed and enhanced as appropriate.
The Strategic plan is divided into two parts. Part I outlines the objectives, guiding principles, and plans for the programs of ISC. It proposes goals and plans in the areas of educational opportunities, prayer experiences, retreats, formation opportunities, resource and referral services, program outreach and spiritual direction services. It affirms our mindfulness that justice includes advocacy for the earth, as well as our continuing desire to provide opportunities in Ignatian Spirituality to:
* wider ecumenical and interfaith circles, “to persons of all faiths”
* culturally and economically diverse populations including individuals living on the margins of society
* young and old, especially those who are searching for deeper spirituality and may feel estranged from their ecclesial communities
* those in leadership positions, strengthening their service in a faith that does justice
Part II of the plan lays out the organizational, financial planning, fundraising and management goals for ISC. This also highlights our continuing collaboration with the Oregon Province and the local Jesuit works; strengthening the local community’s recognition of our mission, programs, events, and services; ensuring a solid financial foundation to meet our mission and expanding works; and outlines plans for future staffing, development of our Board of Directors and committees.
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ISC and Oregon Province Jesuits Formalize Relationship of Affiliation
On November 13 th, the Society of Jesus, Oregon Province and the Board of Directors of the Ignatian Spirituality Center signed an affiliation agreement that formally recognizes and further affirms the strong collaborative and spiritual association that the Province and the ISC have shared over the past 13 years.
As Fr. John Whitney, Provincial of the Oregon Province, said, “Our hope in signing this agreement is that we deepen and enrich both of our communities, and strengthen our shared labor of building a world of justice, hope and reconciliation for the greater glory of God”…. “We commit our communities to pursue with a certain ³holy boldness²- greater unity and deeper collaboration.”
As an affiliated work of the province, ISC representatives have the same rights and privileges as those working in Jesuit sponsored ministries, including serving on commissions of the Oregon Province and participating fully in meetings and initiatives regarding planning and direction of the Province.
ISC has been rooted in Ignatian spirituality and in the tradition, mission and vision of the Society of Jesus since our very beginnings in 1994. We will remain an independently governed and incorporated ministry, providing formation programs, retreats, spiritual direction services and program outreach aimed at deepening spiritual growth and in grounding faith to serve Christ¹s mission of compassion, healing, and justice in our world.
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Christian Life Community – Companions on the Journey
Our modern lives are busy, filled with many distractions and competing demands for our time and attention. Our family, work, church, neighborhood, friends, and our own personal needs legitimately may consume much of our energies, and it may often be difficult to remain centered on God’s loving presence. The spirituality of CLC is based on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. Thus, it invites us to be more aware of God’s loving presence through community and the living out of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius in our daily lives.
CLC is a world community located in approximately 60 countries, and has its roots in the lay congregations formed by Ignatius and the early Jesuits in the cities where they ministered. In the Northwest there are currently eleven CLC communities in Anchorage, throughout the Seattle area, in Portland, and on the Oregon Coast. Some of these communities are 20 years old, while the two most recent communities formed just a year ago. These communities of 6-10 members meet twice a month for faith sharing, prayer, discernment, and celebration. They share their experiences and become more aware of and responsive to God’s desire in their lives in ever more authentic ways.
Our hope is to share the grace of CLC and offer opportunities for those who may be interested in CLC to learn more. CLC is collaborating with the Ignatian Spirituality Center and other Ignatian ministries in the area to offer an informational night on CLC later in the spring and to support the formation of new CLC communities this year. For more information about CLC see the CLC-USA website (http://www.clc-usa.org) or contact Rick Kunkle (rickkunkle@comcast.net), Northwest Coordinator.
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SEYA KING AND PIERCE COUNTY HIGHLIGHTS
KING COUNTY
The survey results from last fall are in! ISC is responding by implementing the suggested topics and venues this winter and spring. For example, surveyed young adults desired gatherings to rotate beyond parishes in order to “reach out to different groups and those on the margins.” Thus, “Spirituality on Tap” is scheduled for a pizza place in February and a hip bowling alley in May. Also, this past month ISC co-sponsored with MAGIS at Seattle University an evening “mini-retreat” within the sacred space of the Ecumenical chapel complete with a reception for forty persons in the Student Center Fireplace Hearth. Others surveyed suggested a mix of both creative, new, modern approaches –and traditional themes. For a good number a “main interest was to participate/explore sports.” The February theme will be Finding God in Writing – with two local authors, one, Gary Graf, who writes books which find parallels between the Bible and sports such as baseball and football. Requests for a social justice theme will be addressed by the second Author, John McLaughlin, whose award winning novel, Run in the Fam’ly, takes a gritty look at a black family struggling on the urban margins. In response to the desire of some to be nourished in a more traditional prayer style we are inviting young adults to participate in the annual Lenten Novena of Grace and gather afterwards for faith sharing and discussion with one of the this year’s Novena presenters. For spring, ISC staff and team are exploring an ecumenical event with a dialogue between Catholic AND protestant groups in a social setting.
Over the last year we have seen increased collaboration and larger numbers of young adults participating; 40 turned out for both the November and January evenings. By popular demand we added an event on the Eastside in December with a spirited evening of multi-ethnic Christmas music and potluck foods with over thirty participants representing heritages from around the world. Evidently, the word is getting out! Young adults from numerous Seattle parishes as well as increasing numbers from the Eastside, Edmonds, and Tacoma parishes are joining us.
PIERCE COUNTY
The seeds are planted and starting to sprout in Pierce County! We are continuing to nurture this growing Pilot program and plans include monthly “Spirituality on Tap” evenings as well as social and faith sharing events in venues outside of the parish setting to broaden our outreach to young adults. Surveys indicated interest in more of the latter, and thus planned are Snowshoeing at Mt. Rainier and bowling in the winter months as well as an “art and faith walk” for spring. Surveys also have reflected a desire for topics such as “finding joy and meaning in suffering” which will be facilitated in March by new parochial vicar of St. Leo’s Parish, Fr. James Harbough, SJ.
A core element of the Pilot Project involves young adults becoming facilitators for future events so that a resource pool of presenters is in place for events next year. Thus, a half-day training entitled, “How to lead Ignatian prayer with other young adults” is scheduled for April. Invitations will go out to youth ministers and young adult leaders, as well as faculty members at Bellarmine Prep and other young adults with an aptitude for leading prayer. Some participants from this training will be invited to play a role in May’s workshop, “Rooted in prayer,” which the SEYA Pierce County leaders will present at the annual Archdiocese Convention for Young Adults. An exciting way to bring this year’s SEYA participants together in prayer will be through an “online” retreat in every-day life: May 28 th – June 1 st. The final social activity before the fall will be another “Walk in God’s Creation” in June. Young adults from at least two counties will gather at a state park for an opportunity to enjoy and pray amidst “God’s grandeur”.
Over the course of this year SEYA will touch young adults in seven parishes and every corner of Pierce County. “Spirituality on tap” facilitators include two members of the faculty Bellarmine Prep, retreat leaders from the Spiritual Exercises in Everyday life (SEEL) Program, as well as staff of St. Leo’s Parish. T he Grant period for this SEYA pilot project in Pierce County will be ending this summer, so ISC staff will meet with representatives of the Jesuit Institutions in Pierce County to brainstorm ways in which we might continue to offer Ignatian spirituality to young adults in the future. A “visioning committee” of the ISC Board will work with the Pierce County SEYA team to how best to structure, staff and fund SEYA Pierce County to hopefully ensure its firm foundation beyond the grant period.
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