I am a prison chaplain and am exploring how to enable prisoners to experience the power of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. I would be glad of any discussions of other people's experiences. I expect that if you have used the SPExx with teenagers at school this may be the sort of thing that could be adapted for use in prisons.

Aln,

Here is a reply to your post from a Loyola Press staff member, Rev. Paul Campbell SJ, who is our Vice-President of Mission and Identity.

Hopefully his comments are helpful!
The Forum Team


There are many ways of adapting the Spiritual Exercises and I’d like to suggest a few approaches. One preparatory step might be to take a book by Paul Coutinho, S.J.’s, How Big Is Your God? [http://www.loyolapress.com/how-big-is-your-god-freedom-to-experience-divine.htm ] The book has proven very popular among both people in 12-Step programs and those who are in prison. We have many extraordinary emails from the incarcerated telling us how much the book has meant to them.

As far as the Exercises themselves are concerned, one of the great adaptations is at Creighton University’s Online Ministries page. http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/cmo-retreat.html This retreat is also available in book form from us as Retreat in the Real World. [http://www.loyolapress.com/retreat-in-the-real-world.htm]

The Ignatian Spirituality Project, headquartered in Chicago, specializes in offering the Spiritual Exercises to the homeless and some of their adaptations may be helpful when dealing with the imprisoned. You can contact them at http://www.ignatianspiritualityproject.org/contactus.shtml.

Loyola Press’ sister site www.IgnatianSpirituality.com has a section on the Spiritual Exercises which you might find helpful. [http://ignatianspirituality.com/ignatian-prayer/the-spiritual-exercises/] There is, for instance, an article by Mark Rotsaert, S.J. on “Adapting the Spiritual Exercises.”