Volunteers aged 20 and up will be placed at a social justice organization to work full-time and will live in community. For the first year, all volunteers will reside at the Anishinabe Spiritual Centre in Espanola, Ont.

“What makes Jesuit Volunteers Canada unique is very much the faith-based perspective. A lot of programs take a secular view… But in JVC, it’s an integral part,” said Andrea Weerdenburg, the program’s new co-ordinator, adding that Western culture does not greatly recognize spirituality. “What does your faith mean in your broader life in your commitment to service? That is really the strength of our program.”

Volunteers can be stationed in different locations. If volunteers are placed in northern Ontario, they may work with aboriginal communities or aid in inter-cultural education between aboriginal communities and non-native students. If volunteers are stationed in Toronto, they could work with refugees and the homeless.

There will be four retreats — one in the beginning, in winter, in spring and in summer — during the program to integrate faith and teachings of Ignatian spirituality. The program is still in development, but volunteers are likely to have regular contact with spiritual directors and advisors.

Weerdenburg is looking for volunteers who are open to discussing their faith, to service, to living in community, to committing to the program for at least a year and to discerning their vocation, as well as be “willing to work for a more peaceful and just world.”

“Pope Francis is leading this call for the Church to be with the poor and disenfranchised of today and tomorrow. A year of service (or two) allows people to live and work for positive change in the present and address those inequalities,” Weerdenburg said.

For more information, visit www.jesuitvolunteers.ca.