Non-silent Retreat on the Arts for Men and Women
Ignatius invites us to look at the expansive Love into which, and to which, we are called. We will explore this Ignatian theme in the Church's wealth of hymns, chant, and song, exercising both hearts and voices.
Fr. Thomas Carroll, S.J., a San Francisco native, has served as Executive Director of El Retiro San Iņigo, the Jesuit Retreat Center of Los Altos, since 2005. Long on the faculty of Loyola High School of Los Angeles, where he developed a vital choral music tradition, Fr. Tom also ministered for five years as Director of the Jesuit Urban Center and Church of the Immaculate Conception in Boston. Fr. Tom enjoys playing the organ, especially for singing congregations.
Ms. Julie Paavola is a writer, retreat leader and trained spiritual director. She has a Masters in Religion from the Graduate Theological Union and studied Carmelite spirituality for ten years. She is bilingual and has spent years ministering to the Hispanic community, serving as Assistant Director of Religious Education for Hispanics in the Archdiocese of San Francisco and as Minister to Community for the growing Hispanic community in North Carolina. There she worked at a Franciscan parish doing community organizing, social justice education and ministry to the Hispanic community.
Julie has contributed to retreats and conferences nationwide on a variety of subjects from prayer and discernment, to peace and justice, stewardship and family life. Her most recent work is a book on the spirituality of motherhood for our times and she is currently working on a book about motherhood as vocation. Julie feels blessed to also be taking part in the Pierre Favre course at the Jesuit Retreat House in Los Altos, which provides training in giving the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. She makes her home in Northern California with her husband and two children, Joseph (7) and Daniel (4).
Assisting
Fr. Gerald F. Hudson, S.J. was, for many years, a mathematics teacher (at
Loyola High School, Loyola Marymount University, and St. Ignatius College
Preparatory). He has served several times as a director in the JRC 36-day
program. He joined the staff of the JRC in August of 2006 and has been
involved in retreats and spiritual direction.
Fr. Kevin Ballard, S.J., was born in San Francisco and raised in a traveling military family, joined the Society of Jesus in 1972 and was ordained in 1985. His ministry, mainly in parishes, has also included community organizing, high school teaching, and retreat work. Three years in Kathmandu, Nepal were a highlight and delight. His ongoing interest in Ignatian Spirituality has entailed directing the Spiritual Exercises in their various forms. Since 1981, the blessings of the 12 Steps have been key to life and work. Judaism has been an ongoing inspiration. He is blessed to live sober, one day at a time, since 1981. Kevin is recreated by languages, bird-watching and "staring into space!"
Fr. Peter Togni, S.J., born in King City, CA, and raised on a dairy farm in Greenfield, graduated from Yale before entering the California Province of the Jesuits in 1975. He has taught in the theology department at USF and served there as an Associate Dean for students' issues.
A volunteer at San Quentin for six years, Fr. Peter helped to set up
and coordinate for the prisoners the offerings of the School of Pastoral
Leadership for the Archdiocese of San Francisco, also teaching in that
program.
Fr. Peter has a deep devotion to the working of the Holy Spirit and wrote his dissertation on a novitiate in the early Society of Jesus.
