Father Bill Creed, SJ, and Ed Shurna, the former executive director of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, had an idea in 1998. They thought if they combined the 12-Step program of Alcoholics Anonymous with the Spiritual Exercises developed by St. Ignatius of Loyola, they could offer hope and healing to Chicagoans recovering from homelessness and addiction.

In the fall of that year, they did just that, hosting their first small overnight retreat. Now, 25 years later, the Ignatian Spirituality Project (ISP) is a global network of more than 20,000 alumni, with retreats and spiritual reflection programs offered in 23 cities across the United States, Canada and Ireland.

ISP overnight retreats, held at retreat centers across the country, invite 12 participants to gather with four volunteer facilitators, including a retreat alumnus, and tell their stories. The hope is that the participants will have an opportunity to reflect, connect with each other, notice some common struggles and ideally spark transformations of their own.

“ISP invites people to reflect on their experience in the light of faith,” Fr. Creed says.

First offered to men, ISP began hosting women’s retreats in 2006. Today, in Chicago alone, there are six overnight retreats a year for women, and four for men.

“You look at your brokenness, your sinfulness, and you do that knowing you’re loved unconditionally by God,” says Tom Drexler, ISP’s former executive director, now a Midwest province major gifts officer for Milwaukee and the Twin Cities.

Current ISP Executive Director Christine Curran remembers a retreat when a participant, now a team member, first heard St. Ignatius’ story of begging. He was blown away, she said, because he had lived on the streets himself in Boston. For many years, he had relied on the generosity of strangers. “He said, ‘I was expecting to hear a story about a saint, and someone I couldn’t relate to,’” Curran says. “He said, ‘But I’ve done a lot of begging. I know what that’s like.’”

YOU LOOK AT YOUR BROKENNESS, YOUR SINFULNESS, AND YOU DO THAT KNOWING YOU’RE LOVED UNCONDITIONALLY BY GOD.

Many participants are surprised to find that ISP retreats don’t include a preacher trying to throw the fear of God into them, Fr. Creed says. Instead, ISP invites people to find God within their own experiences, and to trust that God has not abandoned them but has been with them their whole lives—even now.

It’s a way of making meaning out of the dark places, which we all must do,” Curran says. “Why did this happen? How do I make sense of this? ISP creates spaces for people to develop a relationship with God that they can trust. Participants come out with a palpable sense of hope and joy. You can just see it, and feel it, and you’re like, ‘What magic just happened here?’ It’s the spirit that comes, and people are holding onto something they didn’t have before.”

After retreats, ISP supports participants through various programs, including follow-up days and weekly or monthly spiritual reflection sessions. The two-year Ambassadors of Hope program helps alumni deepen their spiritual journey while learning pastoral leadership skills.

Another way ISP stays connected to alumni, and helps them stay connected to each other, is via the mobile and web-based versions of its ISP Journey app. The app offers Daily Inspiration, which could be a Scripture passage, a prayer, a poem or a thought-provoking quote; and Reflecting Our Light, which aids in facilitating small faith-sharing groups.

Future plans for ISP include deepening collaboration with parishes and universities, so the ministry can reach more people and have a greater impact in the local community. ISP also hopes to raise $2 million in this 25th anniversary year to support programs and create a sustainable future.

To learn more, or to become one of ISP’s 600 current volunteers, visit www.ispretreats.org or email info@ispretreats.org.