The International Ignatian Ecospiritual Conference will be hosted online from 25 – 30 April 2022 as part of the celebration of the 500th anniversary of the Conversion of Saint Ignatius of Loyola.

In celebration of the 500th anniversary of the Conversion of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, we will undertake an immersion experience into a conversion of the heart, through the intimate encounter with God in Creation. This will be an opportunity to share with others who have a commitment to caring for our common home. A time to contemplate our connection with the Presence that is God in Nature, which fills us with desire to recommit our lives to reconciliation with Creation.

This is a conference organised by Australian Jesuit Province in collaboration with global Jesuit organisations and non-Jesuit organisations. Here in Africa, the Jesuit Justice and Ecology Network will be having an in-person and online forum. See link {Here} for details.

In line with the Society of Jesus, Universal Apostolic Preference “Collaborating to Care for Our Common Home”, the Australian Jesuit Province in its 2019-24 Apostolic Plan identifies one of the key aspects as, “We commit ourselves to reconciliation with God, with one another and with creation. Hence we commit to embedding reconciliation with creation in all our ministries.” The Reconciliation with Creation Committee is organising the international conference on behalf of the Province.

Central to Laudato Si is the notion of ‘integral ecology’: a new paradigm for justice “which respects our unique place as human beings in this world and our relationship to our surroundings” (LS, n. 15). Indeed, our own Australian Indigenous spiritual tradition holds that their spirituality is ‘a feeling of oneness, of belonging’ and we are interconnected with ‘all that lives and breathes, even with all that does not live and breathe’ (Mudrooroo, 1995, p. 33).

The 2022 International Ignatian Ecospirituality Conference is an opportunity to explore our sacred interconnectedness with all creation through mindful encounters with nature, reflection, authentic listening and prayer. Opening ourselves up to the ongoing ecological conversion we so desperately need to create a hope-filled future, will also inspire commitment to the creation of structures, policies and ways of proceeding that honour and nourish the web of relationships in which we all exist.

“Everything is related, and we human beings are united as brothers and sisters on a wonderful pilgrimage, woven together by the love God has for each of her creatures and which also unites us in fond affection with brother sun, sister moon, brother river and mother earth.” (LS, n. 92)

With Ignatius’ deep desire for conversion in the Spiritual Exercises, the International Ignatian Ecospiritual Conference in 2022 will seek to encourage a deeper “ecological conversion” through a contemplative immersion experience in Nature in different parts of the world that will lead to reconciliation with Creation.

To register for the Jesuit Justice and Ecology Network in-person and online forum click {Here}

The Reconciliation with Creation Committee of the Australian Jesuit Province invites you to consider supporting the 2022 IIEC through prayer, sponsorship & attendance. As we celebrate Ignatius’ 500th anniversary of his conversion, let us all embrace this transformation as Ignatius embraced it, trusting in the Spirit that guides us.