Become A Companion
A Spiritual Journey

      For more information about the Companions or to submit an application for the program please contact:
      Kay Mascoli
      Program Coordinator
      408-666-7506
      kmascoli@scu.edu

      Download an       Application
      Download a       Brochure

To be a companion is to be a person who:

…desires to give back to one’s community

    XXXXXXXXXXXXX…desires much from life, holding the conviction
    XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXthat retirement from one’s life labor is the beginning of a new journey

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX…desires to draw nearer to the love of the Lord
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXthrough the experience of service to Christ’s poor

To be a companion is to be a person of deep desires, generosity, and faith.

Service

To be a Companion one must have a strong desire to work with the poor and marginalized in our community. It is expected that a Companion would provide minimally six hours of service per week, from September to June, to individuals who are poor and marginalized.

Spirituality

To be a Companion one must also have a strong desire to deepen one’s spiritual life through the experience of prayer and reflection based on The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. Each Companion commits to a period of daily prayer and reflection, a monthly meeting with a Spiritual Director, and a monthly meeting of sharing one’s experiences and celebrating the Eucharist. In addition, our year begins and ends with a one day retreat. The heart of The Companions is to be found in the experience of ministry to Christ’s poor.

If these desires in any way touch your heart or imagination then The Companions in Ignatian Service and Spirituality program may be a way for you to make your deepest desires a reality.

Companion's Program Serves Two Bay Area Regions - South Bay & East Bay

Companions in Ignatian Service and Spirituality, now in its fourth year, has as its mission, to enrich the experience of committed volunteers involved in community service, through a program of prayer and Ignatian spiritual reflection. The program is based on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, integrated with a commitment to serve in direct ministry to Christ’s poor. The program started with six Companions, who insisted after they completed Year 1, that they wanted to keep growing together in spirituality and ministry. The Companions now has over 60 participants, and offers a separate "curriculum" for years one through three, which becomes more self-directed each succeeding year.

Companions is a partner with Santa Clara University’s Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education (ICJE), and an “endorsed work” of the California Province of the Society of Jesus, within the Social Ministries Office. The Companions is also affiliated with Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County and the Diocese of San Jose's Institute for Leadership in Ministry. These organizations provide invaluable support and resources for the program. Santa Clara University’s Jesuit Community supports Companions in the South Bay with the use of their Residence for the monthly gatherings with Liturgy and lunch, and with staff for spiritual direction. Fr. Jeffrey Baerwald, S.J., and Susan Votaw, co-facilitate the south bay program, along with Anne Grycz and Mark Potter.

The Companions program also expanded to the East Bay in the Fall of 2010, serving the counties of Alameda and Contra Costa, in addition to Santa Clara County in the south bay. The Jesuit School of Theology-Santa Clara University, in Berkeley, has graciously offered to host the program with facilities and staff as well. Fr. Kevin Burke, S.J., Executive Dean of JST-SCU, co-facilitates the program with Anna Horan, who is currently a Chaplain Resident at the California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco. In 2011 they have been joined by Julia Prinz.

Both locations run the Companions program from September through June of the following year, with beginning and ending one-day retreats, facilitated monthly gatherings, including Liturgy and lunch, monthly spiritual direction, and a weekly commitment to serving the materially poor, the voiceless, and the powerless.

As a recent Companion noted, “Companions has deepened, strengthened, and made me more conscious of the connectedness of daily life, especially through my service, spirituality and prayer.”

Program Locations, Meeting Days & Maps

ignatiusSouth Bay:

Santa Clara University
Jesuit Residence
St. Clare Room
801 Franklin Street
Santa Clara, CA 95053

Monthly Gatherings – First Friday of each Month, Sept-June

Link to Download SCU Campus Map

Co-Facilitators:

ignatiusJeffrey Baerwald, S. J., Ph.D.

Jeffrey is a member of the New York Province of the Society of Jesus. He is also the Department Chair and an Associate Professor at Santa Clara University, Department of Counseling Psychology. Jeffrey directs retreats both nationally and internationally and speaks and writes on the topics of integration of neuropsychiatry and Ignatian spirituality. Before moving to Santa Clara, Jeffrey was founder and clinical director of the Loyola Clinical Centers in Baltimore, MD. He was born and raised in Minnesota and is happy to live where snow is experienced and enjoyed from a far distance on the mountains.

ignatiusSusan Votaw

Susan's experience teaching art, special education, and English in secondary schools led her into administration at both continuation and comprehensive high schools in San Jose. During her last six years of principalship, she participated in the Advanced Lay Leadership Program offered by the Diocese of San Jose’s Institute of Leadership in Ministry, receiving an MA in Pastoral Ministries from Santa Clara University in 2005. After retirement, Susan worked at St. Francis of Assisi, working in liturgy and spirituality. Her training in directing the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises in the Pierre Favre program at Jesuit Retreat Center in Los Altos, CA, led into her current ministry as a spiritual director.

ignatiusEast Bay:

Jesuit School of Theology-SCU
1735 LeRoy Avenue
3rd Floor, Loyola Board Room
Berkeley, CA

Monthly Gatherings – First Saturday of each Month, Sept-June

Link to Download JST-SCU Facility Map

Co-Facilitators:

ignatiusKevin Burke, S.J.

Kevin is Executive Dean at the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley. He came to JST-SCU from Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he taught from 1997-2006. An associate professor of systematic theology, he also directed the Licentiate degree program and Doctoral program while at Weston Jesuit.

A fundamental and systematic theologian, Fr. Burke teaches courses in Christology, Liberation Theology, Spirituality, Ecclesiology, Theological Method, and Theological Synthesis. In recent years he has lectured and published on a number of themes, including the philosophical and theological vision of Ignacio Ellacuría, the witness of Archbishop Oscar Romero, the theological significance of martyrdom, the theological dimensions of peacemaking, the faith that does justice, cultural diversity in the American Catholic experience, and Ignatian spirituality.

ignatiusAnna Horan

Anna serves as a Chaplain Resident at the California Pacific Medical Center in San Francsico.
Her past experience includes working as a Pastoral Associate at Catholic Community of Pleasanton, as a faculty member at Diocese of Oakland School for Pastoral Ministry, and as a Director of Adult Faith Formation at St. Joan of Arc Parish and St. Isadore Parish. She received her MA in Theology at Franciscan School of Theology in Berkeley. Her specialties include scripture study, the theology and pastoral challenges of Lay Ecclesial Ministry, mentoring, spiritual direction, spiritual writing, teaching, and facilitating workshops. Anna has two grown sons and lives with her husband in Pleasanton.

ignatiusJulia D.E. Prinz, V.D.M.F., Ph.D.

Sr. Prinz is the Provincial of the Verbum Dei Missionary Fraternity in the U.S. She received her Ph.D from the Graduate Theological Union (GTU) in Berkeley, as well as Masters degrees from the PUU in Rome and the Georg-August University in Goettingen, Germany. Prinz taught in Madrid, Spain and is currently a lecturer in Christian Spirituality at the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley. Her areas of interest include biblical hermeneutics, political theology, and Christian spirituality. Julia co-facilitates the Year One program for Companions, along with Kevin Burke, S.J., at JST.