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Beyond Horizons within Yourself

 

A literal bright spot in the news --- and the sky --- is the launch of the Artemis II Shuttle to the moon.  Space travel has captured our imagination since Moses described the sun, moon and stars in Genesis 1. Since Alan Shepherd blasted off into space, we have stopped, looked and considered.


Much closer to home we have the opportunity to consider the lives of everyone who built and shaped The Jesuit Retreat Center when we premier our Centennial book on Sunday, April 26 at 5 pm in the Rotunda.


Attendance is free. Family and friends are welcome. 

Along with a festive reception, on hand will be Pat Clough who authored all the articles in A Walk Through Time: The 100 Year History of El Retiro.


In addition to celebrating history, we hope to make history by raising $30,000 for the new Ignatian Spiritual Direction Training program.


To register, make or donation or both, click A Walk Through Time.

While not exactly a trip to the moon, we are offering three retreats that will let you experience God’s Great Expanse as you journey into your soul.


Explore with Heidi Kallen and Grace Salceanu holy themes using storytelling, poetry, film, scripture, embodied practice, Ignatian Spirituality, silence, and spiritual conversation. Designed for a younger audience, anyone young at heart will be interested in

Non-Silent Retreat for Young AdultsFri., April 17, 4 pm — Sun., April 19, 2 pmCost $320 per person


Heidi resides in San Francisco and works as a behavioral health clinician at a medical clinic in the Tenderloin. She is formally trained in spiritual direction, directs The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, and offers spiritual direction for the Jesuit Volunteers Corp. and other young adults in the Bay Area. Her spiritual imagination is largely influenced by her Jesuit formation and the spirituality of the communities in El Salvador, Peru, and the Philippines, where she lived collectively for ten years.


Grace Salceanu teaches theology and directs adult spirituality at a Bay Area high school. She also leads retreats and directs The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. Some of her greatest spiritual lessons come from the resilient and tenacious communities of the Philippines and El Salvador, and of course, her daughter.


Fr. Chi Ngo, S.J., along with Paul and Annette Venables are inviting married couples to take time to reflect and examine their lives together with their ups and downs, their joys and sorrows, to deepen their commitment and foster love that is patient, kind, understanding, forgiving, and enduring. Couples can rejuvenate their love at the


A Non-silent retreat for Women and MenFri., April 17, 4 pm — Sun., April 19, 2 pmCost $320 per person (single or double occupancy)


Fr. Chi trained in The Spiritual Exercises at the Guelph Centre of Spirituality in Ontario, Canada. He worked at the Loyola Institute of Spirituality in Orange, where he engaged in various spiritual ministries and founded a 3-year Ignatian spiritual formation program, training others in The Spiritual Exercises. His experience includes giving numerous retreats, workshops in Ignatian spirituality, and training spiritual directors, with a specialty in Ignatian discernment. He served as the Formation Director for the California Province of the Jesuits before coming to The Jesuit Retreat Center of Los Altos.


Paul and Annette Venables have been happily married for 32 years. East coast transplants, they have called Mill Valley, CA, home for the last 27 years. The fruits of their union include Paula (28), Sophia (25), granddaughter Penelope Marie (2) and Tribe Rising India, a nonprofit that they created to partner with the Jesuits of Kolkata to educate the people of the Santal tribe in West Bengal, India.


Both Paul and Annette are graduates of the Pierre Favre program of the Jesuit Retreat Center of Los Altos, where they were trained to be spiritual directors grounded in Ignatian Spirituality. They now have the absolute privilege of regularly guiding women and men through The Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola. Paul and Annette serve the Jesuit Retreat Center as volunteers, directors on retreats and through Paul’s involvement on the Board of Directors. They are also active in their local parish, Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Mill Valley. Paul is the Founder and Chairman of Venables Bell + Partners, an internationally acclaimed advertising agency in San Francisco. Annette is a former teacher (sweet spot: First Grade) with a Master’s degree in Early Childhood Development who now focuses on the nonprofit and the granddaughter

 

Sr. Ingrid Clemmensen, O.P. and Ms. Anne Grycz, are offering the opportunity to savor the richness of the Psalms. Discover a path into faith by joining


A Silent retreat for Women and MenFri., April 24, 4 pm — Sun., April 26, 2 pmCost $320 per person (single or double occupancy)


Sr. Ingrid is a native of San Francisco and joined the Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose in 1972. She has been engaged in spiritual direction ministry for more than 30 years. Her training includes the Spiritual Direction program at Mercy Center, Burlingame; a Master’s degree in Christian Spirituality from Creighton University, and the Pierre Favre program in The Spiritual Exercises from The Jesuit Retreat Center. Her previous ministry experiences include teaching and college campus ministry.


Anne Grycz came to El Retiro for the first time in the mid-1990’s for a Lenten lecture series. A graduate of the University of San Francisco, she was familiar with the Jesuits. Fr. Bernie Bush, S.J., encouraged her to accept an invitation to serve as a spiritual director on a 5-day retreat. Anne is a graduate of the first of the Pierre Favre class and joined program as a member of the faculty for 10 years. She retired in 2025 to launch the “The Spirituality of Aging” retreats with Mary Spohn Romo. Anne volunteers occasionally as a spiritual director for El Retiro retreats. 


For more information about A Walk Through Time book launch, email dhendricks@jrclosaltos.org.

Dyane Hendricks is the Development Director at The Jesuit Retreat Center.

 
 
 

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