Jesuit Spiritual Centres in corona mode.

How does the pandemic invites us to invent new possibilities? This is the question that the five Spiritual Centres of the Jesuit Province EOF have answered at their annual meeting. They all agree that the pandemic is a source of inventiveness and creativity.

Due to the pandemic, the annual meeting of the leaders of the Spiritual Centres of the Province was finally transformed into a series of three meetings by videoconference. We regret, of course, that we were unable to exchange in an informal way in person, but we were happy to share some current topics: initiatives to adapt to the health situation, the training of animators on the issue of abuse, the progress towards a more harmonised communication of our Centres.

New initiatives

After a period of stupor, often due to the forced closure of the Spiritual Centres, everyone has been able to adapt and the severe health restrictions of the last few months have not prevented some good initiatives: Adaptation of the pedagogy of weekends and retreats for couples in videoconferences at the Manrèse Centre (Ile-de-France); at La Pairelle (Belgium), use of rooms and chapels with the standard of 10 m2 per person (as in shops); negotiation, at Penboc'h (Brittany), with the authorities to accommodate retreatants for thirty days, with strict confinement and room service for the first eight days; continuation, even at a low rate, of the training activity in accompaniment, thanks to the residential trainees confined with the community of Châtelard (Lyon); online artistic spiritual path to support first the relatives of the Coteaux-Païs network (Toulouse) during the Advent period, then widely spread around... The pandemic invites us, thus, to invention and opens up new possibilities.

Dealing with abuse

Abuse, whether sexual, of power or spiritual, is at the heart of the training courses for leaders and fellows. A training course has already taken place for one of the Centres. The writing of a small booklet of good practices for all the leaders and staff of the Centres is in progress. Another project: to draw inspiration from the kits provided by the Province to the Jesuit communities to set up short training modules.

Finally, a reflection is in progress to move towards a more harmonised communication between our different Centres. Since last year, our programme booklets have offered a common presentation of Ignatian spirituality and the Society of Jesus. This visual harmonisation is likely to reinforce our visibility among our different audiences, who appreciate both the common belonging and the diversity of our spiritual Centres.

Arnaud de Rolland SJ (Toulouse)