The Jesuit Retreat Center of Los Altos

Our Story

We are The Jesuit Retreat Center of Los Altos. The only Jesuit Retreat Center west of the Rockies and the largest Catholic center of its type in the western half of the United States. Our mission is to bring people closer to God. We fulfill our mission by providing numerous retreats, workshops, training programs, and individual direction to thousands of individuals every year.

For over five centuries, The Spiritual Exercises has been a most fruitful means to cultivate a deeper relationship with God, accessing God’s love and grace that radically transforms the human spirit. 

The JRC has faithfully fulfilled this mission for 95 years by providing numerous retreats, workshops, training programs, and individual direction to over 7,500 individuals every year.

The spiritual foundation of the retreat center has remained unchanged since hosting its first retreat in 1925. We consider the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius Loyola as a blueprint for spiritual progress. 

Ignatius of Loyola developed an approach to Christian spirituality that emphasized “finding God in all things,” an understanding that God is ever-present and active in the world and that each person can have a close personal relationship with God and thereby develop lives of service in mission to a world in need.

The JRC is committed to maintaining retreats and training programs with themes of forgiveness, ways to pray, and Ignatian Spirituality. Leading retreatants to make a difference, that not only changes hearts and minds, but changes lives.

It inspires "ordinary people to go out and do extraordinary things.”

--Ms. Patricia Dillaway

Our Jesuits on staff, partnered with religious and laypeople, offer encouragement and direction as they invite each person to find God in his or her experience and live in gratitude and generosity. 

What We Offer

In order for us to accomplish this, we offer;

· Weekend and 5-Day Retreats and Workshops during the September-June period (30 events for 2019-2020)

· 8-Day and 30-Day Retreats (The Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius) each summer

· Individually Directed Retreats of varying lengths (overnight to 30-Day) from September-June

· 19th Annotation — a form of The Spiritual Exercises experienced over a 9 month period

· Annual 8-Day Retreat for the Jesuits West Province

· Days of Prayer — a half day program offered 4 times per year with a particular topic of the Catholic faith

· Pierre Favre Program — a three-year program training people to give The Spiritual Exercises

· Summer Internship — a five-week summer program training young Jesuits to give 8-Day retreats

· Spiritual Direction — individual direction by a member of the Pastoral Staff of the retreat center

Why Retreats?

Men and women come to the Jesuit Retreat Center for retreats, as they all have something in common. Some feel overwhelmed by their daily lives and feel depleted and drained physically, emotionally, and spiritually.  They seek rejuvenation.  The Jesuit Retreat Center aims to encourage their retreatants to enjoy their time with God and not put pressure on themselves to decide or discover a breakthrough. These men and women are pulled in so many directions that their prayer lives suffer or go by the wayside. Retreats and workshops allow them to recommit to what they have committed to before – their families, their relationships and the fruitful means to cultivate a deeper relationship with God, accessing God’s love and grace that radically transforms the human spirit.