Dear Miriam,

It’s not what you think, or at least not what it says. “Spiritual direction”—the term suggests control, certainty, and authority. In fact, good spiritual direction includes none of this. At the most elemental level, it simply and exquisitely is the refined art of listening. With wonder, compassion, gratitude, trust and love.

For many decades, Loyola House has housed training programs for spiritual directors. Attracted by a reputation built up over several generations of Jesuits and others, people from around the world come to spend the summer in Guelph to learn to listen. As evidenced in the picture above, this year’s class has its fair share of global representation.

Curiously, as modernity trends towards secularization, interest in spiritual direction also grows. This is no accident. Suspicious now of those characteristics associated with institutional religion—the aforementioned certainty, control, and authority—many of our contemporaries know themselves as no less spiritual than their grandparents. However, they want to explore their relation to transcendence or the divine in ways that open up to mystery rather than attempt to define or decide it. Spiritual direction listens for that longing to relate and gives it breadth to breathe deeply.

So many cry out today for listening. The heartbroken, the grieved, the sick, as well as the hopeful. The land itself begs to be heard. IJC, carefully carrying this legacy of spiritual direction, exists to extend its place of peace into the wider world. May all who come go out with ears attuned to others.

Retreat Prices Increase in 2025

During our creation of the 2025 retreat calendar, it has become painfully apparent that rising expenditures in different areas of our operations, such as food and supplies, requires an adjustment to our fee structure. Consequently, appropriate price increases will take effect in January 2025. This difficult choice was not taken lightly, and was made only in order to ensure long-term viability of Loyola House.

With thanks to the generosity of our benefactors, we have been able to provide bursaries to retreatants who struggle to pay the entire cost of a retreat. Your donation of any amount to this cause helps spread the blessings of retreat to a broader segment of our community.

Past support has also allowed us to offer our February 8-day silent retreat at half price to new retreatants. This important initiative has introduced hundreds of new people to Loyola House. We are now looking for donors to continue funding this special opportunity. If you are able to assist us in this act of hospitality, please reach out to Wendy Fraser (wfraser@ignatiusguelph.ca; 519-824-1250 ext. 231).

As always, we are ever so grateful for your continued support.

A July Garden Plot

6 am harvest for CSA

The month of July has been filled with lots of rain, sunshine, garlic harvest, and harvesting a variety of veggies for our CSA members!

• Check out the article about rainfall and water at Ignatius Farm in the July Farm E-News.
• Every Garden Tells a Story - Community Garden Celebration – All welcome to join on August 25 for a tour of community garden plots. Find all the details here.
• Join the Farm Team for a Community Field Day on Saturday September 14. Find all the details and register here.

Spring is in the air here at the Ignatius Jesuit Centre.

Now that summer is in full force, we encourage you to check out the seasonal ecology here at the Ignatius Jesuit Centre: vibrant native flowers and trees, migratory songbirds, and picturesque landscapes. There are also numerous restoration projects that you can observe during your next visit, such as the planting and monitoring of native species on our Great Auk Trail, boardwalk reconstruction across the River Cardoner trail, and the monitoring and removal of invasive plant species, most notably, European Buckthorn.

A Muskrat

You can enjoy a beautiful and peaceful space, perfect for nature walks, dog walking, birdwatching, and hiking! Countless flowering plants such as Milkweed, Chicory, Elderberry, Blue Vervain, Wild Raspberry, among many others, can be found along our trails and meadows. As a result, summer migrants are seen all across the land. Monarchs, Bees, Flycatchers, Swallows, Warblers, Sparrows, Vireos, Finches, and Orioles are just some of the magnificent summer migrants you will find here at Ignatius! Multiple other species can be found living on the land, including groundhogs, muskrats, rabbits, snakes, frogs, and turtles. All of these exciting creatures call this unique and critical ecological land their home. From old-growth forests, to agricultural land, meadows, and wetlands, the Ignatius Jesuit Centre has everything you need for your summer adventures!

Lastly we would like to thank Guelph Horticultural Society for the kind donation which supported the plants installed on the Great Auk Trail.

The Urban Orchardist

After three years working as the Ignatius orchardist, Matt Soltys started his own business in 2021 specializing in all things related to fruit trees, called The Urban Orchardist. He consults on organic orchard care, prunes fruit trees, designs and plants edible landscapes, leads workshops, and operates his own orchard and nursery on land he leases at Ignatius.

In his orchard here are dozens of fruit trees, as well as grapes, blackberries, hazelnuts, pecans, and heartnuts. The nursery contains a couple thousand fruit trees at various stages of production, with varieties chosen for either disease resistance, standout flavour, or a good origin story, as well as unique native fruits like pawpaw and American persimmon. Interestingly, Matt’s great-grandfather was a veterinarian who would occasionally tend to the farm animals at Ignatius in the earlier decades of the 20th century. Matt feels honoured to be working on the same land, three generations later.

If you’re interested in learning more about his work, you can visit theurbanorchardist.com.

Pruning trees in the Community Orchard

Book Launch - The Jesuit Disruptor: a personal portrait of Pope Francis

Wednesday September 11

Loyola House 7-9 pm

Acclaimed scholar, columnist and author, Michael W. Higgins, launches his new biography on Pope Francis. The Jesuit Disruptor traces the Ignatian roots of the remarkable Pope who continues to work for compassionate health and integrity within the Church, the global economy, and the biosphere. Dr. Higgins will read from his work, answer questions, recount personal anecdotes as a long-standing Vatican correspondent, and sign copies of the book on sale at the event.

More information: Book Launch with Michael W. Higgins - Ignatius Jesuit Centre (ignatiusguelph.ca)

Cedar Circle Sunday Afternoons

Augusts 18, 2:30-4pm

Meet at Ignatius Farm Workshop

In August, Cedar Circle will visit Origin Native Plants, an organic nursery located on IJC land. Owners Alex and Zach will explain the importance of native plants for local ecosystem health. The Circle will include a 2 km walk.

Find out more here at ignatiusguelph.ca under events.

The Pilgrim’s Bell

The bell,

Fixed forever

At forty-five degrees,

Sends out

its silent peal.

A lightning strike did that.

While just below,

Ignatius,

Cast in bronze,

Limps forever

on his pilgrim way.

A cannon ball did that.

Eric Jensen, sj

15 July, 2024

Loyola House celebrates 60 years in 2024. If you have your own stories of transformation experienced here, please send them to tpacker@ignatiusguelph.ca.

This is the fifth “Land Lovers” profile, compiled by local Guelph artist, writer and Ignatius land lover, Dawn Matheson. Please reach out to us If you are a lover of our fields and forests, flora and fauna and want to share in the wonder. We’d like to profile you.

“North 44° Academy” (north44academy.com ) is a nature-based preschool and K-8 elementary school, located right here at Orchard Park. Jess House, Program Supervisor & Facilitator, introduced me to three students full of delight: Olivia, Otis and Benjamin, caretakers to magical places such as Muddy Mountain, The New World, and Dinosaur Tree; locations you won’t find listed on the property map, but, very real.

In this interview, the threesome decide to tell me about Belly Bridge. Permission was given for this article and pictures.

Who are you? What do you want us to know about you?

Olivia: I’m Olivia, and I like playing A LOT, and I’m five. I’m going to go to the forest next.

Otis: I’m Otis. I like picking flowers for my mom. I’m four.

Benjamin: I’m Elsa [for today] and I want you to know that I love to pick buttercups. And, I’m five.

How do you spend your time out on the land?

Benjamin: I spend my time playing with Jess’s hair. [the teacher]

Olivia: I like playing with Otis. 

Otis: I make mud pies. You make it out of mud and it turns into a pie and you cook it in an oven.

Olivia: Yes. You put water and load sand in with a shovel and you have to mix it like this. [gestures stirring] Then, you put it in a spoon and serve it into your hands.

Benjamin: Once my dad saw a bug and he cooked it for lunch. It was actually good.

Olivia: We also climb trees [just to three feet] and we grow carrots, lettuce, onions and potatoes.

Otis: Over there in those gardens, there. [points]

Olivia I chase Ivy at the Outdoor Kitchen.

Otis: Yeah, and we put more water in for the tadpole, yesterday.

Olivia: Look at me! [puts headband over her eyes]

Benjamin: We get the tadpoles from Belly Bridge Creek.

Otis: Belly Bridge is where we lie on our bellies to be close and see the water more deeper. Like, to see fishes like this. [puts hands to face]

Benjamin: And, crocodiles.

Olivia: Hey, there is a wasp behind you!

Olivia: Guess what? This is not about our school but once we saw the older kids jump in the river.

Benjamin: Yeah, and once I saw my friend squish things.

Olivia: There’s actually no crocodiles.

Otis: We saw a beaver.

All together: It made a dam!

Otis: It is super close to the bridge. It is this close. [gestures]

Benjamin: No, it's this close. [gestures]

Otis: No. This close. [gestures]

Olivia: The beaver makes its dam out of mud but with branches in it. A lot longer than mud pies.

Benjamin: I hope this is over soon so I can go play.

L-R: Otis, Tree Friend, Olivia

How do you give back to the land?

Olivia: I hug the trees. They feel it.

Otis: I say thank you to the land. I give the land flowers.

Olivia: I just climb the trees.

Otis: I say thank you, thank you, thank you, I love you, land. I wish. I love you and thank you for the fruit and vegetables.

Benjamin: Thank you, land, and, I give the land a car. 

L-R: Otis, Benjamin, Olivia, Tree friend