The Network of European Spirituality Delegates is a network of Jesuits and lay collaborators committed to promoting Ignatian spirituality across Europe. Their work centers on the formation of individuals and communities through spiritual exercises, discernment, and deeper engagement with the Universal Apostolic Preferences of the Society of Jesus.

The exchanges of this network foster a deep sense of unity and reinforce the first of the Universal Apostolic Preferences: showing the way to God through spiritual exercises and discernment, while also committing to the other three preferences.

Spirituality delegates from twelve of the sixteen European Provinces held their 2025 annual meeting at the Lassalle-Haus at Bad Schoenbrunn near Zug in Switzerland between 20th and 24th January. They were joined by Dalibor Renic, President of JCEP, and James Hanvey, Secretary for the Service of Faith at the Curia in Rome. The meeting was organized by the steering committee (José de Pablo SJ, ESP, Robert Bujak SJ, PMA, and Bruno Brantschen SJ, ECE). The main purpose of this meeting was to consider how the first Universal Apostolic Preference, “Showing the Way to God”, could be of service to, and help further develop, the other three. As a prelude to this, the delegates shared their impressions of how the thirst for God was currently expressing itself in the hearts of our contemporaries in Europe. It was clear that over the last two decades the effects of secularisation and consumerism were being widely felt across the continent. Although this made the context of our ministries challenging, it also meant that we European Jesuits had more in common than was the case at the end of the twentieth century. Our discussion of the influence of spirituality in work related to each of the other preferences was introduced with presentations, by Jesuits and the partners in mission with whom they collaborate, of relevant apostolic projects of the Central European Province. For the second UAP, “Walking with the Excluded”, we looked at the Ukama Centre in Nuremburg and its offer of “church asylum” to refugees. For the third, “Journeying with Youth”, with its focus on fostering the creation of a hope-filled future, at the Vocation Campus and “Zukunftswerkstatt” in Frankfurt, deepening the faith of young people and those who work with them; and for the fourth, “Caring for our Common Home”, at an eco-summer-camp held at the Lassalle-Haus itself, which brings together students and older activists. Each of these projects draws deeply on the resources of Ignatian spirituality and, as the meeting’s discussions made clear, each approach also has something to offer those involved in the more specialised spirituality ministries of the Society. As well as the shared prayer and socialising common in these gatherings, the delegates were introduced to the “spiritual architecture” of the Lassalle-Haus, and the place that Zen mindfulness plays in its programme. Dalibor Renic offered an outline of some of the developments taking place in Europe, and the current concerns of the other JCEP networks, and James Hanvey posed, as a thought experiment, the question of how our work would be different in a world without Christ. On the final evening we met with other members of the resident Jesuit community, and were treated to a meal of “raclette”, a cheese-based Swiss speciality.   In offering the UAPs as a contemporary expression of the Jesuit mission, Pope Francis had spoken of the first of them as fundamental, giving shape to the others. At the closing session, it was felt that this had been clearly demonstrated. The delegates returned to their own Provinces keen to collaborate more fully with those Jesuits and our partners in mission whose work focuses more on the other UAPs, convinced that such collaboration had much to offer our single universal mission.   Paul Nicholson SJ (BRI)