General News

Where We Are in the Transition Over the past year, Ignatius Jesuit Centre has been working to clarify its future direction. Increasingly, the farm, conservation work, spiritual programming, and community engagement are being brought together as part of a more connected vision for the land. Much of the work of the past several months has focused on laying the groundwork for that future. Alongside the visible work happening on the land, there has also been a great deal of behind-the-scenes effort to strengthen finances, improve planning, and build the partnerships needed to support this next chapter. What’s Been Happening Centre…

The sixth in series of blog posts for Lent from Sr. Madeleine Gregg, fcJ Under the influence of the Holy Spirit, Lent invites us to look particularly at certain areas of our lives from an Eco spirituality perspective. Our first step is to cultivate awareness of what’s missing that is causing suffering in people and other creatures. Alternatively, we can closely consider how what is real in creation and in the structures, policies, and practices of people is creating suffering in our world. We want our awareness to lead us to compassion, to a desire to look beyond what currently…

The fifth in series of blog posts for Lent from Sr. Madeleine Gregg, fcJ As part of the created world, human beings rely on other created things to support us. The generosity of God towards us is communicated to us through the generosity of the created world in meeting our needs and providing for us. Earth’s atmosphere, soils, fresh water, and sunlight are the foundation of all life on this planet. Ecosystems, rich in diversity of plants and fungi, offer medicine, as well as food. They also act as carbon sinks, currently absorbing about half of all human-produced carbon emissions…

The fourth in series of blog posts for Lent from Sr. Madeleine Gregg, fcJ An ecospiritual perspective of Lent invites us to more closely examine our relationship with THINGS and make changes in our use of them. Think for just a moment about the dominant system of production in our world today:  we spend enormous time and energy digging resources out of the ground or chopping them down or harvesting them in one way or another; then we use more time and energy to transport them to other locations on the Earth’s surface; then we use yet more time and…

As winter begins to loosen its grip, many of us start to feel the quiet pull of the soil again. The days grow a little longer, the light shifts, and thoughts turn toward seeds, seedlings, and the work of preparing the land for another growing season. At Ignatius Jesuit Centre, this change in season also means that registration for our Community Gardens is now open! Each year, the Community Gardens become a place where people from across the region gather to grow food, spend time outdoors, and connect with others. Some gardeners arrive with years of experience. Others are planting…

The third in series of blog posts for Lent from Sr. Madeleine Gregg, fcJ The Ecospiritual perspective shifts our Lenten focus for conversion from a self-focus to an outward focus, an ecological focus, in which we widen our gaze to consider ourselves as just one part of the much larger cosmos. There are many, many ways this shift can be facilitated. But for those of us just starting to take Pope Francis’ invitation to ecological conversion seriously, I offer here a description of a simple, four-part dynamic that might be a stepping stone. Essentially, the dynamic of the Ecospiritual perspective…

The second in series of blog posts for Lent from Sr. Madeleine Gregg, fcJ Past generations of Christians were taught that human beings are the “crown of creation”. We were the ones who were made in the image and likeness of God—the Bible said so, right in the book of Genesis. We didn’t consider ourselves as part of creation; the mind-set that humans have “dominion” over the Earth served to separate us from creation. And because of that we have treated the world around us as nothing more than a source of raw materials from which we can fashion anything…

The first in series of blog posts for Lent from Sr. Madeleine Gregg, fcJ Today the Church begins the great season of Lent. For some people, this is a very much-loved season of the liturgical year when they can consciously focus on inner work, opening themselves to the Holy Spirit, deliberately setting aside extra time to connect spiritual awareness to action and movement in their lives, uniting themselves in new and fresh ways to the teachings and example of Jesus. For other people, Lent is a season of dread, filled with rules and obligations, guilt and regret, anger about hypocrisy…

People find their way into relationship with Ignatius Jesuit Centre in different ways. Sometimes through a retreat, sometimes through volunteering, sometimes through work on the farm or time spent walking the trails. What they often discover is that the connection stays with them. Over the years, thousands of people have formed a real relationship with this land and the community that gathers around it. We are launching Friends of Ignatius as a new way to recognize and support that relationship. Friends of Ignatius is a simple, open community program for people who feel connected to this place and want to…

This update was first shared in person at our Winter IJC Gathering and potluck, where friends, neighbours, volunteers, staff, and partners came together around shared food and good company. It was an evening marked by warmth, curiosity, and a deep sense of care for this place and what it is becoming. What follows is a written version of that reflection, offered here for those who couldn’t join us, and for anyone who is walking alongside Ignatius Jesuit Centre during this season of change. Over the past year, we have been letting go of familiar structures while slowly giving shape to…