Canada’s English-speaking Jesuits in Ontario are in the midst of two fundraising campaigns aimed at renewing and extending their traditional ministries in spiritual direction, retreats, pilgrimages and education. The Jesuits in Guelph, Ont., have launched a $5-million campaign to renovate and re-equip the Loyola House retreat centre. In Midland, Ont., the fathers who spend their summers at Martyrs’ Shrine have teamed up with the Knights of Columbus to update the suite of buildings around the 87-year-old shrine.

The Martyrs’ Shrine program has been dubbed “The Greening of the Shrine.” The renovations at the Shrine have concentrated on efforts to reduce the operation’s environmental footprint and reduce sky-high energy bills.

They’ve replaced 400 incandescent light bulbs with new LED lights. There’s a new natural gas furnace in the Filion Centre, replacing an old electric furnace. Outdated electric cooling systems have been replaced with new air conditioning units. There are new recycling bins spread around the grounds and the Shrine is planting spruce trees near the Irish shrine where a tornado in 2010 damaged and destroyed 50 trees.

“It’s necessary because we want to be very attentive to our responsibility to take care of the environment, take care of the Earth and respect the wonderful nature God has given us,” said Martyrs’ Shrine director Fr. Bernie Carroll. “This is all an attempt to reduce our environmental footprint — all those things that the Church is pushing us to do. And the Society of Jesus is certainly intent on making this a high priority in all our ministries.”

The Guelph retreat house has a similar green focus in its renewal plans. Its Sacred Ground capital campaign will fund long-term energy efficiency.

Loyola House has already installed the beginnings of a geothermal system while putting in place a new septic tank. New solar panels on the roof now provide hot water. And there’s lots more that remains to be done.

“It was built in 1964, so in terms of any sign of energy efficiency it’s non-existent,” said Loyola House director of operations Lisa Calzonetti.

The Guelph Jesuits began the Sacred Ground campaign about halfway to their $5 million goal. They plan to spend $2.7 million renovating Loyola House and $2.2 million adding to the forest on the property. The Jesuits have created a trust to guarantee the forest will be protected in perpetuity and refer to it as their “future old growth forest.” Calzonetti calls it “a 500-year gift to the community.”

Included in the $2.7 million for Loyola House is an endowment to fund spiritual direction and training for lay spiritual directors.

In the nearly 50 years it has been giving retreats, Loyola House has hosted nearly 70,000 people. A few things are starting to wear out.

The retreat centre has bought new beds and chairs for its 48 bedrooms.

“Retreatants are becoming older and older, so we have to start to appeal to the older ones and not on the same old beds,” said Calzonetti. “And try to get a new base of people to come here.”

The campaign kick-off also unveiled a new painting, Cosmic Order, by Sr. Virginia Varley of the Congregation of St. Joseph. The aesthetic upgrade is part of that renewed appeal to retreatants old and young.

In 1964 Loyola House was on the leading edge of a world-wide revival in the traditional, personally directed, Ignatian retreat. The Sacred Ground Capital Campaign for Loyola House is aimed at protecting and promoting this significant heritage of the Canadian Jesuits.

Up in Midland the Jesuits have been operating the summer pilgrimage site for 87 years. They aim to do more than just carry on.

“We are evolving toward a year-long ministry of the Shrine,” said Carroll.

The Shrine is currently an apostolic ministry to which four Jesuits are assigned for half the year. Carroll looks forward to a future with a permanent Jesuit community which will run the Shrine in summer and travel to parishes and schools to educate people about the Shrine and Canada’s Jesuit history in winter.

“We may not still be able to open the church because there is no heating,” said Carroll. “That would be a prohibitive undertaking, to insulate the church then put in the heating and so on. We hope one day that may be possible. At the moment it’s not possible.”

But the Shrine could also expand its work in Midland to include hosting groups and retreats if it can build appropriate accommodation.

“Currently we don’t have the facilities to house people. But we’re hoping in the future there will be room for that kind of group work,” Carroll said.

Updates to the building should improve the shrine’s bottom line. As less money goes out in heating bills, more money will be available to promote the Shrine, Carroll said.

Well over 100,000 people visited Martyrs’ Shrine this year and the $4 per person or $60 per bus it collects at the gate has to pay for groundskeepers, guides, maintenance and the rest.

Thanks to the Knights of Columbus, the Shrine might finally get some breathing room to plan for its future.

“We’re excited about some of the things that are happening and plans for the future,” Carroll said.