About the Ignatian Associates
Ignatian Associates are Catholic adults, married and single. Our founding as a Community was inspired in 1991 during the Ignatian Year - which celebrated the 450th Anniversary of the existence of the Society of Jesus and the 500th Anniversary of the birth of St. Ignatius of Loyola, and encouraged by the Document on "Cooperation With the Laity in Mission" from the 34th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus. Begun in 1992, we are an innovative extension of the 450 year Jesuit tradition of service to our Church and world.
Our spiritual formation is rooted in the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. Following a two-year formation program, Ignatian Associates may accept an invitation to make public "Promises" of Simplicity of Life, Fidelity to the Gospel and to our Associate and Jesuit Companions, and Apostolic Availability. Currently there are three communities of Ignatian Associates. These are located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Omaha, Nebraska, and St. Paul, Minnesota. Ignatian Associates serve in schools, universities, hospitals, businesses, social service programs, parishes, and a variety of other settings. Some work in traditional Jesuit institutions and ministries, while others bring the mission of the Jesuits to new situations. As Associates, we learn to stretch our abilities to minister in different cultural contexts, as we walk with the poor and marginalized.
Promised Ignatian Associates and our Jesuit companions meet regularly for Eucharist, faith sharing, hospitality, continued formation and ministry discussions. Our many ministries are bound by one common mission of service, however the Spirit may lead us. ********************************************* The First Principle and Foundation The goal of our life is to live with God forever. God, who loves us, gave us life. Our own response of love allows God’s life to flow into us without limit. All the things in this world are gifts of God, presented to us so that we can know God more easily and make a return of love more readily. As a result, we appreciate and use all these gifts of God insofar as they help us develop as loving persons. But if any of these gifts become the center of our lives, they displace God and so hinder our growth toward our goal. In everyday life, then, we must hold ourselves in balance before all of these created gifts insofar as we have a choice and are not bound by some obligation. We should not fix our desires on health or sickness, wealth or poverty, success of failure, a long life or short one. For everything has the potential of calling forth in us a deeper response to our life in God. Our only desire and our one choice should be this: I want and I choose what better leads to God’s deepening his life in me. --St. Ignatius as paraphrased by David L. Fleming, S.J.
| 
