Jesuit Spirituality Center
Grand Coteau, Louisiana
Grand Coteau, Louisiana
The Jesuit Spirituality Center specializes in personally directed retreats based on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola. Solitude and silence are important aspects of these retreats. Retreats may range from three days, five days, or eight days, to a full month. Costs vary according to the length of the retreat.
Each retreatant receives one-on-one attention from an experienced retreat director, so that the retreat is tailored to the needs of the individual.
The Center also hosts special retreats featuring nationally known speakers and writers on a number of weekends during the year.
The Center is located in south central Louisiana, Cajun country, near Lafayette, Louisiana. It has spacious grounds with beautiful oak trees and pines with paths for walking and bicycling.
This Roman Catholic Jesuit retreat center welcomes people of all faiths.
About the Center
The Jesuit Spirituality Center shares historic St. Charles College with the Jesuit Novitiate for the Central & Southern Province of the U.S. Jesuits. Since 1972, the Center has offered directed retreats based on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, bringing the centuries old Ignatian Spirituality into the modern world.
Mission Statement
The mission of the Jesuit Spirituality Center is to assist individuals and groups to further their spiritual development and to keep alive the charism of Ignatian spirituality as embodied in the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus. The Center strives to fulfill this mission by:
- providing individual direction of the Spiritual Exercises over various periods of time;
- offering ongoing spiritual direction;
- offering programs that complement the Spiritual Exercises and meet the religious needs of specific groups.
Sponsored by the U. S. Central and Southern Province of the Society of Jesus, the Jesuit Spirituality Center provides a quiet and restful environment for those seeking to listen to God and to respond to God with generosity and openness through the Spiritual Exercises.
Individually-Directed Retreats
Three, Five, and Eight-Day Directed Retreats
A directed retreat is a personally guided prayer experience in which the retreatant follows the dynamics of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius while listening for God’s personal word spoken through the Sacred Scriptures. Each retreatant is assigned a director with whom the retreatant meets daily for reflection and spiritual discernment. Retreatants may request specific directors, although it may not be possible to comply with these requests. Nonetheless, each retreatant must have a director in order to get the most out of his/her spiritual experience.
There are usually two 8-day periods set aside each month for individuals who wish to make a directed retreat of three, five, or eight full days, not including the day of arrival and departure. Please plan to arrive at the Center between 4:00 and 5:30 p.m. on the afternoon your retreat or program begins. You will depart after breakfast on the day following your full three, five, or eight days of retreat. In addition to these, three 32-day periods each year are set aside for those who wish to make the full Exercises. All these scheduled retreats are individually directed by staff members.
SILENCE, both interior and exterior, is a necessary condition for the efficacy of a directed retreat.
The experience of the Spirituality Center Staff has suggested that retreatants have a better retreat experience if all retreatants begin their retreat together, with an introductory session and prayer service. Therefore, we ask all retreatants to begin the retreat on either of two dates indicated for each retreat period listed below. Three and five day retreats can begin on either of the two dates, while 8-day retreatants must begin on the first date listed.
Thirty-Day Directed Retreats
An experienced director guides the retreatant through the complete program of “spiritual exercises” that St. Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, formulated as the fruit of his own conversion experience and intended as a way to come to spiritual freedom and maturity. The thirty-day retreat begins with a day of preparation and ends with a day of reflection and discussion. Thus, it involves 32 full days.
Please call or write for further information and a special application form to make this retreat. Applications must be submitted at least a month prior to the retreat date itself.
