Ignatian volunteers, all age 50 or better, commit to work two days a week in service to people who are materially poor, September through June, for a year. Many volunteers return year after year.
Ignatian Volunteers in Chicago are working with refugee & immigrant services, women & children services and in prison ministry. They provide healthcare, food assistance, and work in shelters. Many of our volunteers tutor to youth, adults and men and women with developmental disabilities. Long term community partners include Poder Learning Center, Howard Area Community Center, Our Lady of Tepeyac High School, St. Mary of the Lake Parish School, San Miguel School, Little Sisters of the Poor, and Stroger Cook County Hospital.
Volunteers agree that what sets IVC apart is the spiritual reflection program. Based on the volunteer experience, Volunteers reflect and write in journals daily and meet monthly with the other Volunteers and also individually with a spiritual reflector. The reflection aspect is integral to the IVC experience since when we reflect spiritually, we begin to notice shifts in our own point of view. We begin to see with God's eyes, from God's perspective.
Bill Creed, SJ, currently the chaplain for IVC in Chicago explains that “Community is central to IVC.” He describes IVC as a “ministry conducted entirely by lay persons who are not Jesuits but who are animated by the Jesuit mission of service to the poor and by Ignatian spirituality.
For more information, please contact Regional Director, George Sullivan.