Jesuit Retreat House - History of AA retreats at JRH

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The Jesuit Retreat House
5629 State Road
Parma, OH 44134

Phone: 440.884.9300
Fax: 440.885.1055
E-Mail: info@jrh-cleveland.org

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What Is A Retreat? | Calendar | Typical Conference Retreat

The History of Recovery Retreats at JRH

Why does JRH hold Recovery Retreats? The long answer is that alcoholic recovery retreats are a longstanding Jesuit tradition and an integral focus of Ignatian spirituality. The short answer is that Sr. Ignatia asked us to.

Sr. Ignatia Gavin, CSA worked closely with Alcoholics Anonymous co-founder Dr. Bob Smith at St. Thomas Hospital in Akron and helped in the creation of Al-Anon, the support organization for friends and family members of alcoholics. In 1952 she was transferred to St. Vincent Charity Hospital in Cleveland where she founded Rosary Hall, St. Vincent's renowned alcohol and drug treatment center.

In the early 1950's Sr. Ignatia thought that the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola had a lot to offer to people in recovery from addiction.
She called JRH and asked us to hold a retreat for recovering alcoholics.
We have been holding them ever since.

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