IJC Voice
February 2022
Volume 12, Issue 5
We give thanks for you who sustain us in our mission of cultivating spiritual growth and ecological engagement. Your generosity is astounding. You have made it possible for us to undertake Loyola House upgrades this year. Our gratitude abounds!
 
We are grateful to those of you who pledge recurring donations through the year – either monthly or quarterly.
 
We are thankful to our donors who give through donor-directed foundations such as Benefaction, Link Charity, Gift Funds Canada, United Way of Greater Toronto, Benevity Community Impact Fund and “The Mary Anne and William Shipley Fund” and “The Peter and Jean Jackson Fund” at The United Church of Canada Foundation.
We give thanks for the bequests that have assisted us with our financial challenges these past two years. As I shared with you in September last year, our Centre has partnered with Will Power to assist a national effort to show Canadians that you have the power to do more with your Will. The Will Power campaign has free resources to assist you such as a “Guide to Talking to Your Advisor”. I encourage you to explore other free tools and resources on the Will Power website such as the legacy calculator to see your potential impact.
 
Together we can move through the challenges of these times. We look forward to opening our doors to you and reciprocating your generosity through spiritual nourishment.

We keep each and everyone of you in our daily prayers, and thank you for being our friends.

Fr. Roger Yaworski, SJ
Executive Director
Loyola House - Retreats & Ignatian Training
It's exciting to share that the opening of Loyola House to on-site retreats and programs is just around the corner!
 
We can't wait to welcome back those of you returning to your beloved retreat house and to welcome those who are new to us.
 
There are lots of changes and still some unknowns...read about it here!


In the attitude of silence
the soul finds the path in a clearer light,
and what is elusive and deceptive
resolves itself into crystal clearness.

Our life is a long and arduous
quest after Truth.
- Mahatma Gandhi

Picture - a Common Goldeneye on the Speed River, Old-Growth Forest Project (N Krete)
Ignatius Farm - Preparing for 2022's growing season!
Get the Water Flowing!
Are you part of the community who loves Ignatius Farm? Support the “2022 Get the Water Flowing” fundraising campaign for the completion of the farm irrigation well. The well project will increase current Ignatius Farm horticulture’s resilience during drought years, and create new water capacity for additional small plot agricultural enterprises. Our small plots give the new farmers we are training an opportunity to implement and scale out their enterprises.

In 2021, with over $60,000 donated by Ignatius Farm friends and grantors, we were able to:
  • dig a new Farm well beside the laneway to St. Brigid’s Villa
  • erect a pump house for the well
  • install new water lines for a new community garden field that opened up 108 new garden plots

In 2022, the Farm wants to raise $60,000 to:
  • install the well pump
  • connect hydro-electric service
  • connect plumbing
  • install large water storage tanks
  • install an irrigation pump and waterlines for distribution from the storage to the fields

Will you help Ignatius Farm create new irrigable plots and resilience in drought years?

Any contribution at any time during the campaign is sincerely appreciated. The community’s love of this land and ability to work together really is creating new opportunities for sustainable small plot enterprises!

With gratitude,
Heather & the whole Farm team
CSA & Community Gardens
Registration is now open for the 2022 Season!

Register for CSA vegetable shares and Community Gardens here!
Ignatius Farm Internships
The opportunity for that ideal learning combination of hands-on experience and practical instruction for aspiring farmers and food advocates is around the corner. Ignatius Farm Interns participate in the full New Farmer Training Program in addition to working on the farm.
 
Look for the 2022 Ignatius Farm Internship application on our farm training webpage in early February.

E-mail farmeducation@ignatiusguelph.ca for more information.
 
We look forward to hearing from you!
The Old-Growth Forest Project
Wholistic Restoration Webinar and Documentary Series
Thanks to an Ontario Trillium Foundation SEED grant we were able to offer a series of ‘Wholistic Restoration’ trainings. Due to COVID-19, we had to pivot in-person programming to a series of online webinars, which were shared live in November and December.

These webinars and their associated documentaries highlighted the importance of being open to different ways of seeing and knowing. In order to support the journey toward a more sustainable and reciprocal relationship with Mother Earth, perspectives were offered from Indigenous and non-Indigenous professionals from a variety of backgrounds and fields.

Feedback from attendees was very positive! They were thankful for the opportunity to explore new ways of thinking about their connection to the land and to reconciliation.
The Wholistic Restoration documentaries and recorded webinars can be found on the Ignatius Jesuit Centre’s YouTube Channel.
Join our Team!
Looking for a new job experience?
IJC encourages applicants from all walks of life. Consider one of these opportunities and apply!

  • Farm Field Coordinator
  • Ignatius Farm Internship (multiple)
  • Farm Associates (multiple positions)

See our Employment webpage here for more information and how to apply.
Poetry - by Greg Kennedy, SJ
twice and counting
only twice in my life have i got drunk
first being a twenty-something in Germany
formerly East plied with green-faced 
Jägermeister in the shadow of a wedding
second in Spain much later on the eve
of the feast of St. Ignatius when with quiet diligence 
i drank the last inches of many orphaned bottles 
to save their wine from a wanton destiny with the drain
only twice
but now that i listen a little closer 
to the tavern-chanting these neighbourhood mystics
slur i’m sure i’ve lived too sober
so i vow to intoxicate my remaining days
with as many divine sun-ups and sets
as in my thick bloodstream i can get.
Sharing some other opportunities with you...
Ignatian Spirituality Conference
500 years of spiritual richness to use in our lives today

The Jesuits of Canada are hosting their first-ever online Ignatian Spirituality Conference this spring! Register to take part in this free event from April 2-3, 2022, and experience time-tested methods to delve deeper in the spiritual life, recognizing our call to collaborate in Jesus’ project of hope, reconciliation and justice.

Why Attend?
·        Make meaningful connections
·        Benefit from 500 years of spiritual richness to use in your life today
·        Eight sessions with speakers including James Martin, SJ, Laurence Loubières, XMCJ, and Greg Kennedy, SJ

Learn more and register today: https://bit.ly/3oD1J0m
Hope and Resilience in Uncertain Times
February 27-March 5, 2022

The Week of Guided Prayer and Spiritual Exploration is an opportunity for people to learn more about prayer and explore their spirituality.  Find out more here.

The Week of Guided Prayer began in a chance conversation between a Protestant minister from Guelph and a Jesuit priest from Loyola House in 1983. It's now an almost 40-year tradition of sacred stories. The Ecumenical Week of Guided Prayer and Spiritual Exploration is provided by volunteer Prayer Guides, both lay and clergy. These volunteers come from a wide range of Christian denominations: this ecumenical nature of the gathering provides a unique experience rarely found in our Christian life.