From July 6 to 10, 2025, the Mwangaza Jesuit Spirituality Centre in Nairobi became a sacred space of dialogue, discernment, and hope.

Hosted under the theme “Spiritual Exercises in an African Context”, the international symposium brought together Jesuits, lay collaborators, scholars, spiritual directors, and young seekers from across the continent and beyond to reflect on how the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises can be rooted more deeply in the African spiritual and cultural soil.

The gathering began with a warm welcome from Fr. Terry Charlton, SJ, who reminded participants of the centrality of love and discernment in Ignatian spirituality. “Our key charism,” he emphasized, “is the discernment of spirits—a gift for the Church in her journey of becoming a listening, synodal Church.” His words set the tone for a gathering shaped by both the richness of Ignatian heritage and the vibrancy of African spirituality.

In his opening address, Fr. José Minaku, SJ, President of the Jesuit Conference of Africa and Madagascar (JCAM), framed the symposium as a moment of grace—a true kairos. Drawing on both scripture and the socio-political realities of Africa, Fr. Minaku urged participants to grapple with the spiritual hunger and socio-economic challenges facing the continent. He emphasized the need for a spirituality that heals, liberates, and speaks to African hearts shaped by ancestral wisdom, trauma, and deep longing.

One of the central themes emerging throughout the symposium was vernacularization—the creative reimagining of the Spiritual Exercises in African languages, narratives, and cultural forms. In his provocative keynote, Fr. Agbonkhianmeghe Orobator, SJ, explored how Ignatian spirituality could be “brewed in the African pot.” He challenged participants to move beyond mere translation toward true contextualization, invoking African proverbs, storytelling, and ritual as tools for deepening the Exercises. “Language is political,” he noted, “but it is also spiritual—it carries our imagination, our memory, our reality.”

Scholars and practitioners echoed this call for creative adaptation. Fr. Festo Mkenda, SJ, highlighted the urgent need for more translations of the Exercises into African languages, noting that even widely spoken tongues like Swahili, Malagasy, or Kinyarwanda remain underrepresented. He reminded the audience that Ignatius himself constantly revised his text, inviting us into a living tradition.

Women’s voices brought further depth. Sr. Anne Arabome, SSS, in her presentation from the United States, emphasized the need to read the Exercises through the lens of African women’s embodied experiences. She underscored imagination, storytelling, and the affirmation of female agency as transformative entry points into the Exercises. “The heartful knowledge of God,” she said, “is not disembodied or abstract—it is alive in our bodies, in our prayers, in our stories.”

This experiential and inclusive approach was echoed by other speakers such as Puleng Matseneng, who shared insights from working with Gen Z youth in South Africa, and Catherine Waiyaki, who reflected on integrating the Spiritual Exercises into family life and African domestic rituals such as the hearth circle.

One of the symposium’s most innovative contributions was the exploration of digital and alternative modalities for retreat-making. Fr. Aurelien Folifack, SJ, described a powerful online retreat model that has reached hundreds across Africa, blending email accompaniment, fasting, and prayer with the Exercises. Likewise, Annemarie Paulin-Campbell emphasized the need for robust training of spiritual directors capable of adapting Ignatian methods to African realities, especially in underserved regions.

Theological reflections anchored the symposium in depth and tradition. Fr. Gauthier Malulu, SJ, highlighted connections between the Exercises and African theology of liberation and development. Fr. José Garcia de Castro, SJ, offered a compelling reflection on the Ignatian sources, calling them “the second incarnation” of the Jesuit charism—texts not just for study but for spiritual transformation.

In a moving keynote to close the event, Fr. James Hanvey, SJ, Secretary for the Service of Faith for the universal Society of Jesus, positioned Africa at the heart of the Church’s future. With urgency and tenderness, he reflected on the Exercises as tools for healing Africa’s historical traumas and reclaiming its narrative dignity. “The Exercises,” he stated, “are a re-narration of the self through the gaze of Christ.”

Throughout the days, plenaries, workshops, and keynotes were interspersed with rich conversation and moments of silent prayer. Participants shared struggles—such as resistance to inculturation, lack of African spiritual literature, and the burden of language barriers—but also a shared vision: that the Spiritual Exercises, when authentically adapted and courageously reimagined, can nourish a more rooted, liberating, and inclusive African Christianity.

The symposium concluded not with final answers, but with a collective sense of mission. Participants called for more collaborative research, African-authored resources, and the establishment of long-term platforms—including journals and training programs—to sustain this movement. It was clear: the African Church is not merely receiving the Exercises. She is transforming them—and in the process, being transformed herself.

To access all the live-streamed material visit the JHIA YouTube [HERE]