Secretariat for the Promotion of Ignatian Spirituality

(The Secretariat for the Promotion of Ignatian Spirituality (SSI) is less well known than its predecessor, the Centre for Ignatian Spirituality (CIS), founded by Father General Pedro Arrupe in 1969 and entrusted to Fr Luis González of the Toledo Province. The purpose of the Centre was “to provide information on problems related to the spirituality of the Society of Jesus, stimulate reflection and study to help find practical solutions, and establish contacts with other works of the Society to offer one another mutual support”. One year after the beginning of the CIS, the International Secretariat for the Exercises joined and became part of it, and undoubtedly this was one of the causes that led to the creation of Centres of Spirituality in a number of Provinces and the renewal in the giving of the Spiritual Exercises.

The Congress of Marian Congregations (changed now into “Christian Life Communities”) held in Rome in 1963 asked Fr Arrupe to set up a Centre of Jesuit Spirituality. The aim was to allow laypeople to have access to the Spiritual Exercises in their authentic form, and to promote the solid formation of ecclesiastical assistants and spiritual directors. Shortly afterwards, moved by the exhortation from the Second Vatican Council that Religious should renew their inspiration from their original sources, the Jesuits assembled for the XXXIst General Congregation (1965) adopted a similar resolution. Without wasting time Fr Arrupe called a meeting in Rome of 25 experts in spirituality, drawn from all the Assistancies. With Fr Maurice Giuliani in the chair they gave their opinions. Eventually the Centre, though keeping open possibilities of research, diffusion and formation, took for its main objective the encouragement and promotion of Ignatian spirituality. During more than twenty years the Director of the Centre visited the Provinces to see for himself the work that was being done, published books, founded the CIS review, and organized annual courses in Rome, which gave the opportunity to make retreats, and, in the same context, to visit Ignatian sites and/or the Holy Land. During the years that immediately followed its foundation the CIS proved to have a remarkable pulling power, and it aroused great interest in the Autobiography and the Letters of Ignatius, in the Spiritual Exercises and in the Constitutions. The theme of spiritual discernment – used individually and in communities - became a focus for study, and an improved knowledge of it led to a new way of looking at things.

The successor to Fr Luis González, S.J., as Director of the CIS (1980), was Fr Herbert Alphonso, S.J., from the Bombay Province. An acknowledged expert in Ignatian spirituality he brought a more systematic approach to the work of the Centre. But it was Fr Arthur Vella, S.J., from the Maltese Province, who, at the request of Father General Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, organized the transition from a Centre of Spirituality functioning in Rome to a Secretariat for the Promotion of Ignatian Spirituality. The new Secretariat, under Fr General, was to reflect on the help to be given to Jesuits and their apostolic works so that that they might be imbued with Ignatian spirituality. The first Directory of Centres of Spirituality and Retreat Houses belonging to the Society was drawn up at the time of Fr Vella.

Fr Joe Tetlow, from the Province of New Orleans in the U.S.A., was director of the Secretariat from 1996 to 2004; he was known for his book, Choosing Christ in the World (published in 1989), on the Exercises given according to Annotations 18 and 19. This period saw three achievements: (1) an improvement in the format, purpose, and content of the CIS review; (2) the practice of occasional meetings of directors of retreat houses and spirituality centres with other experts in Rome; this led to the publication of a much-enlarged Directory, with mention of more than 250 Jesuit Spirituality Centres; (3) the publication of Notes on the Exercises, a real guide to the way the Exercises are being given nowadays; this was achieved over several yeas, with contributions from many people.

The work of the Secretariat in promoting Ignatian spirituality is orientated by three dimensions that act as a backdrop to the life and activity of the Society of Jesus:

the overall way in which Jesuits and other religious or laypersons actually live their Ignatian spirituality: this has to take account of the spiritual ethos of the Society as an apostolic body; each Jesuit lives out his Ignatian charism which finds expression in the work each is undertaking;
the specific slant proper to each apostolic work; e.g. when the Exercises are given to students, teachers or parents in our schools; workshops on Ignatian prayer; Retreats in Daily life, and in Parishes; spiritual discernment put into practice in social centres, etc.;
the organization in institutes of Ignatian spirituality: Centres of Spirituality, Retreat Houses; the “Fe y Cultura” [Faith and Culture] Ignatian Centres; Formation Teams to train laypeople in the Ignatian tradition; there are today some 260 such centres scattered through all the Provinces of the Society. The actual work of the Secretariat today includes a wide range of services: to carry out any tasks entrusted to it by Fr General; to fulfil other duties suggested by the General Curia; to visit Centres of Spiritualty; to attend meetings, organize consultations, and edit the CIS review … But there are three major challenges facing us:

1 how to promote the effective influence of Ignatian spirituality as a key element in the direction and style of all the apostolic enterprises of the Society: our aim is to make this Ignatian “tonality” ever more explicit; this has led to the publication of The Characteristics of Ignatian Education (1986), and The Characteristics of the Jesuit Social Apostolate (1998); thus the Spiritual Exercises become the inspiration and touchstone of all apostolic endeavour;

2 how to encourage Jesuits, other religious, and especially laypeople to work together: this collaborative effort includes both the work of laypeople with Jesuits and of Jesuits with laypeople – and of both in works common to both; this is a “sign of the times”, a gift requiring discernment and a task for us all; we are faced by serious and difficult challenges – how to put on an equal footing religious and laypeople in a common mission and task, how to educate both to work as a team with complementary functions, how to recognize the identical spiritual experience gained through the Spiritual Exercises;

3 how to ensure the quality of spiritual directors and companions in retreat work: the Spiritual Exercises given in their different forms – closed retreats, retreats in daily life, guided and preached retreats – are now to be found all over the world; similarly there are courses to train retreat givers (whether Jesuits, religious or laypeople); this training should be guaranteed by serious on-going formation; a related area is that of “spiritual accompaniment” in the Ignatian manner, “spiritual direction”, as it was traditionally called; the rediscovery of this ministry is arousing great interest.

Today the best known work of the Secretariat is the publication of the Review of Ignatian Spirituality [CIS], three issues each year with editions in English, Spanish and French. Our review is distributed in over ninety countries, and is therefore of exceptional importance for spreading Ignatian spirituality and providing information on significant initiatives. The articles, chronicles and other accounts give a clear picture of the way in which the Spiritual exercises are being given today, but also of recent studies on the Constitutions, descriptions of attempts to put into practice “the faith that works justice”, and of the experience of Ignatian spirituality as discovered in retreats in daily life. CIS is aimed at a public that includes Jesuits, other religious inspired by Ignatian spirituality, and the wide network of laypeople that form the Ignatian Apostolic Family.

In 2006 (January – February) a workshop lasting one month was organized in Rome on “Spiritual Direction in the Ignatian Tradition”. There were 100 participants (55 Jesuits, 2 secular priests, 1 Lutheran Pastor, 1 male and 24 female religious, and 17 laypeople). This trial run was judged a great success. As a result we hope to organize a similar workshop next year (15 January – 2 February) as part of continuous formation.

Two other projects are under way: a Directory of the 26 reviews on Ignatian spirituality published world-wide, and a Web-site making available all the articles published in CIS (Review of Ignatian Spirituality), 112 issues (from the early 1970s to the present day).

Finally, we would like to mention the renewal seen taking place in our parishes, where more than 2000 Jesuits work full time. Our aim is to investigate at greater depth the Jesuit “Characteristics” of this great apostolic work. It is hoped that it will be possible shortly to collect and divulge the pastoral initiatives and formation courses that are allowing Ignatian spirituality to become available to the People of God gathered in parish communities.)