“In the name of the Father and of the Holy Spirit and of the Son.” That is how the Jesuit who was presiding at mass in a language other than his own started the celebration. Errors like these happen when you are not familiar with the language and, in a way, the whole meeting was just about that: learning a new “language”. No, we didn’t try to change Trinitarian theology, but, together, and, step by step, we tried to explore how to espouse Laudato Si’ and Ignatian Spirituality, and it feels like learning a new language.

From 16 to 19 October, 19 directors of the European Jesuit Spirituality Centres met at Mount St Joseph retreat house in Malta to discuss, pray and discern about Ignatian Spirituality and the much needed ecological conversion. We started off with a presentation by Donal Dorr from Ireland who, in a poetic way, spoke about an Ignatian Ecological Conversion. In the afternoon, we had an input by James Hanvey sj about the Mission of Creation in the Exercises. Both inputs were followed by discussion in small groups and a plenary session.

The following day, Xavier de Bénazé SJ presented "The work that reconnects" and the project about transforming Le Chatelard, Lyon into an Eco-spirituality centre. He led us into an exercise called "The seventh generation" that helped us extend our vision forward while remaining hopeful.

In my opinion, the highlight of the session was the last afternoon, where we had some time for personal prayer followed by spiritual conversation, using the customary three rounds and an exercise of communal discernment in plenary. What came to us as a group was quite clear:

• We need to work together
• Proceed step-by-step
• With Hope and with God.

This group will continue the process started in Malta in follow-up meetings.

If you are a director of a centre that did not receive the invitation to participate, please contact us on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. so that we may update our database.

Christopher Vella SJ