Entering its sixth year of service to the St. Louis Region, IVC St. Louis has more than tripled in size, placing Ignatian volunteers in grade schools, housing assistance, caring for infants and preschoolers, counseling women in transition, working in food pantries and distribution, and in many other venues, all of which minister to those in need.
In 2005, Fr. Kevin Cullen, SJ and an enthusiastic advisory council launched IVC in this region. The program continues to flourish thanks to the generous support and interest from Ignatian volunteers and partner organizations throughout the St. Louis region.
As with other Ignatian volunteers throughout the country, St. Louis Ignatian volunteers commit to work two days a week from mid-September through June. The pairing of an Ignatian Volunteer and partner agency is the result of a discernment process with the Regional IVC Director, the volunteer, and in mutuality with the administrator of the service site.
IVC participants meet monthly for a morning of prayer and reflection, sharing their experience of service, and discussing insights gleaned from a book selected for Ignatian volunteers nationally. This book selection is on a three year cycle of themes: 1) Ignatian spirituality; 2) theology, 3) and social justice.
Additionally, Ignatian Volunteers meet monthly with a spiritual reflector to talk about the meaning of their work, beyond the service experience itself and how it is contributes to growing their faith. Because our members are asked to keep a journal of their service experience, the fruits of this journaling practice and aspects of what may be gleaned from personal prayer are also integral to this monthly experience.
Communal and personal prayer and reflection in the Ignatian tradition opens fresh perspectives on faith, nurtures the hope and aspirations of each IVC participant and thus further empowers each one to make charity a way of being.
This year there are 28 Ignatian volunteers working at 20 different IVC partner organizations in the St. Louis metro area in direct service to our brothers and sisters in need, adults and children alike. Our members say over and over again that they receive back so much more than they give.
If you have a desire to give back, if you are curious about Ignatian spirituality, if you have ever thought about attempting Christian service, or desire to see God in action, we invite you to consider the Ignatian Volunteer Corps. We are a community which supports all of its members in service through prayer, reflection and shared experience.
Want to know more? Please find our quarterly newsletter on this site. We welcome your feedback and expressed interest in our program. Also, we encourage you to contact Maria Rodgers O’Rourke, IVC-St. Louis Regional Director, for more information about how you might join this important endeavor on behalf of those who are in such great need. We also ask for your prayer, for continued courage and grace to live out the spirit of the following prayer from St. Ignatius:
-St. Ignatius of Loyola
