Ignatius House, a retreat center located on the Chattahoochee River in Sandy Springs was awarded a $6,000 grant from the Catholic Foundation of North Georgia. The grant will fund the retreat center's efforts to develop and promote weekend retreats offered in Spanish and in Portuguese.

“This grant will allow us to share the retreat experience with more men and women seeking a way to disconnect from their daily lives and reconnect with the spiritual,” said Bob Fitzgerald, executive director, Ignatius House. “These much needed funds enable us bring in Spanish and Portuguese-speaking priests and retreat directors to provide a spiritual retreat experience in their native language.”

Ignatius House currently offers more than 40 weekend retreats a year. Three years ago, Ignatius House recognized the growing diversity in the region, and the need to offer more people an opportunity experience the Spiritual Exercises in their native language. The retreat center offered its first weekend retreat for adults in Spanish in 2006. Last year, it added a second weekend retreat for couples in Spanish. With the funds from the grant, Ignatius House hopes to add more weekend retreats in Spanish and introduce their first weekend retreat in Portuguese in 2010.

The metro Atlanta area, where Ignatius House is based, has one of the fastest growing Latin American communities in the country. The U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division reports that between 2000 and 2007, the Hispanic population in Georgia grew by 70% to more than 750,000. Within the metro Atlanta area, the Portuguese-speaking Brazilian population numbers more than 40,000. The numbers in Georgia and metro Atlanta’s growth have contributed to Ignatius House’s efforts to bring more weekend retreats to Spanish and Portuguese speaking men and women.

Open to adults of all faiths and backgrounds, a weekend retreat at Ignatius House allows individuals to take a break from the material world and become closer to God by surrounding themselves with and embracing God’s beautiful creation. During the weekend, the retreat director presents a series of brief 30-minute talks, based on scripture and the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. These exercises are designed to provide an opportunity for personal renewal in faith and an awareness of the love and peace initiated by God. The rest of the time on retreat is for personal, quiet meditation. Individuals value the silence and solitude that are conducive to rest, reflection and renewal.

About the Jesuit Retreat Center at Ignatius House
Ignatius House (www.ignatiushouse.org) is the place to unleash yourself from the digital world and experience the spiritual one. Open to men and women of all faiths and backgrounds, Ignatius House offers silent, guided retreats. It is owned and operated by the Jesuit Fathers and Brothers of the New Orleans Province of the Society of Jesus and is the only center located in Georgia. The retreat center is named after Saint Ignatius of Loyola, a sixteenth-century nobleman and the founder of the Jesuit Order. The Spiritual Exercises that are practiced are based on the notes that St. Ignatius himself made as he underwent his own spiritual conversion at Manresa, Spain. Ignatius House is located on more than 20 peaceful acres along the Chattahoochee River in Sandy Springs, Georgia, a northwest suburb of Atlanta.

About The Catholic Foundation of North Georgia
The Catholic Foundation of North Georgia was established by Archbishop James P. Lyke, OFM, to provide a source of endowment income for the ongoing work of the archdiocese. The Catholic Foundation of North Georgia has given away approximately $3.5 million dollars since its inception in 1992. Its mission is to enhance the long-term financial stability of the Catholic community in North Georgia by diligently building, effectively managing and carefully granting philanthropic assets. For more information contact the Foundation at (404) 497-9440.

Key Web Address:
Ignatius House: www.ignatiushouse.org

Media Contact:
Jenny Schmitt
p: (404) 421-8323
e: jschmitt@cloudspark.com