Dear Friends in Christ!
Jesus called his disciples friends, and on behalf of the Jesuits of New Orleans, I write to you in the same spirit of friendship to invite you to join us, the global Society of Jesus, and our partners, colleagues, students, and alumni around the world in a very special, Ignatian Year celebration. Between May 2021, and July 2022, we commemorate two important occasions in the history of the Jesuits’ Founder St. Ignatius of Loyola. May 21 marked the 500th anniversary of his wounding at the Battle of Pamplona and subsequent conversion, and on March 12, 2022, we celebrate 400 years since his canonization as a saint. Following the lead of Superior General Fr. Arturo Sosa, S.J., however, we don’t think of the Ignatian Year simply as an excuse for a backward glance at history but a wonderful opportunity for spiritual renewal and rededication to Jesus’s values in the world now and into the future.
A few months before proclaiming the Ignatian Year, Fr. Sosa promulgated four “Universal Apostolic Preferences” (UAPs) to guide the Society’s mission over the next ten years. These UAPs, which address some of the most challenging problems facing the world today, form a “horizon of desiring” for a forward-looking Ignatian Year: 1) to show people the way to God, especially through the Spiritual Exercises and discernment, 2) to walk with the poor, the marginalized, and all those who suffer from injustice, 3) to accompany young people in the creation of a hope-filled future, and 4) to care for our Common Home, i.e., Earth.
Inspired by this four-point vision, an Ignatian Year-NOLA committee has been working for months in collaboration with local Jesuit apostolates and networks to plan programming for New Orleans and the surrounding region that will live up to the year’s motto, “To See All Things New in Christ,” and, especially, highlight its theme of “conversion.” Please join us in this special Ignatian year of celebration and service to do what New Orleans does best: throw a party, draw people together, and spur them to joyful action on behalf of neighbor, community, and planet. Laissez les bons temps rouler…ad majorem Dei gloriam!
In Christ,
Rev. Gregory Waldrop, S.J.
Rector, Loyola Jesuit Community of New Orleans
Chair, Ignatian Year-NOLA Steering Committee