EnCorps Overview
What is Jesuit Volunteer EnCorps? Jesuit Volunteer EnCorps (JV EnCorps) engages women and men ages 50 and older in a transforming experience of volunteer service and spiritual growth. Jesuit Volunteer EnCorps members (JVEs) commit to a year or more of significant service in their local communities and to JVC Northwest's four core values (see below).
What's required?
- At least 4 to 6 hours of volunteer service per week
- Monthly meetings with other JVEs
- Participation in three group retreats
- Commitment to a personal discipline of prayer and reflection
- Assigned readings for personal and community reflection
What are the program's core values?
- Community
- Simple living
- Social and ecological justice
- Spirituality
What kind of volunteering do EnCorps members do? Volunteers work directly with people who are marginalized by society, and address issues of social and ecological justice. Witnessing and combatting injustice or opression often transforms the JVEs, inspiring them to live more deeply in solidarity with the people and places they serve. Many JVE sites have specific needs and desirable skill sets for which they need volunteers. JVEs lend their skills and talents to crucial community needs, while opening themselves to new works, new skills and new insights.
How are service sites determined?
If prospective volunteers already have a community organization where they'd like to volunteer, you might do so as a JVE if the placement meets the following criteria:
- serves persons who are materially poor or marginalized or addresses social, educational and ecological issues that impact the quality of community life,
- meets the minimum annual service hours requirement (200 hours)
For those who'd like our help in finding a good service site : JVC Northwest has been placing talented, committed, and well-supported volunteers in critical community work for over 50 years. Through partnerships established by JVC Northwest, JV EnCorps has volunteer opportunities where JVEs can make significant contributions to a community organization. Prospective JVEs can complete a questionairre during the application process which helps JVC Northwest Staff find volunteer positions that fit the applicant's skills and interests.
Do I have to be Catholic or follow a particular faith practice or tradition? Not necessarily. Jesuit Volunteer EnCorps is grounded in the Catholic Ignatian tradition, and was founded in the spirit and tradition of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits). The founder of the Jesuits is St. Ignatius of Loyola, whose spirituality - or way of living out his faith in God - invites us to become more deeply aware of our experiences in everyday life, discovering the Divine in all things. JVE. From and within our Ignatian, Catholic roots, we value and welcome those whose spiritual journey is influenced by other traditions and practices. In fact, we believe that richness in community comes from the sharing of diverse spiritual beliefs and practices. JV EnCorps members are invited to reflect on the meaning and purpose of their lives through the core values of community, simple living, social and environmental justice, and spirituality. The program draws on the wisdom and expertise of local Jesuits, as well as lay women and men well-versed in the Ignatian approach to service and spiritual growth.
What does community mean for JV EnCorps? JVE's remain in their own living situation during their term of service. JVE community is not built through shared housing, but through a mutual investment in one another's growth and success, and a shared commitment to the transformative power of Jesuit Volunteer EnCorps. Each JVE community meets monthly for reflection and discussion, and participates in three community retreats per year.
Is there a cost to participate? JVC Northwest (through the generosity of a grant from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust) will cover the costs of monthly meetings, books and educational resources, retreats and administrative expenses. EnCorps volunteers are asked to provide their own transportation to and from their service site and the monthly meetings. JVEs are also asked to pay any costs for individual spiritual direction, if possible.
How do I apply? Our first Encorps community gets underway in early January, 2012 but the application period for that group is closed. In the spring of 2012 we'll begin accepting applications for our fall communities. Please check back then for application availability. Meanwhile, it's never too early to learn more about the program. For more information or to speak to a member of our team, please call 503.335.8202, ext. 35, or email us by clicking here.
