The Rev. Timothy Brown, S.J. Ignatian Life Center
The Rev. Timothy Brown, S.J. Ignatian Life Center is the organizational locus for the promotion of the Jesuit and Ignatian spiritual tradition at Loyola University Maryland and in service to the broader Baltimore community. The Ignatian Life Center supports and advances the extant Spiritual Exercises in Everyday Life (SEEL) and Loyola Ignatian Formation Experience (LIFE) programs.
The Spiritual Legacy of Saint Ignatius Loyola
St. Ignatius’s greatest gift to the Church and the world is his simple manual of prayer known as the Spiritual Exercises. Ignatius envisioned that Jesuits would pray the Spiritual Exercises in their month-long format twice during their lengthy formation. This intensive retreat requires at least four weeks of dedicated prayer, typically in a retreat center and with daily direction from a trained spiritual guide. Ignatius recognized that most people – with work and family commitments – could not possibly retreat from the world for a month’s time. Thus, from the outset, he envisioned and describes in the 19th Annotation of his forward to the Spiritual Exercises a way for lay people to make the Spiritual Exercises in daily life over the course of nine months.
There is a pressing need to creatively and flexibly offer similar programming for our community. Through lectures, workshops, retreats, pilgrimages, faculty, staff and alumni formation seminars and other academic symposia, the Ignatian Life Center envisions ways to adapt, and flexibly and appropriately share the legacy of St. Ignatius to a diverse and changing world.
Ignatian Life Center Programs
- SEEL Program: For the last seven years, Loyola’s Office of Mission Integration has supported vital Jesuit work through its Spiritual Exercises in Everyday Life (SEEL) program.
- LIFE Program: In an effort to broaden the reach of Loyola’s SEEL program, the Office of Mission Integration launched the Loyola Ignatian Formation Experience (LIFE) program in 2020, offering a rigorous three-year training program to enable those who have prayed the Spiritual Exercises to direct them for others.
Support the Ignatian Life Center
Loyola’s robust future as a faithful and thriving Jesuit and Catholic university will depend in no small part on our efforts now to share the riches of this great spiritual tradition. The Ignatian Life Center will aid in the critical work of helping to integrate the intellectual, social, and spiritual formation of the Loyola community.
If you are interested in supporting the Ignatian Life Center project, please contact Liz Hertneck Stier, director of leadership giving programs, at 410-617-2901 or ehertneck@loyola.edu. To make a gift online, visit our Ignatian Life Center giving form.