Noted Jesuit John English

Catholic New Times, Sept 26, 2004

ST. BONIFACE -- Father John English, SO., a much loved animator of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, died peacefully in the company of a fellow Jesuit and close friends at St. Boniface Hospital on Wednesday, June 9, 2004 in his 55th year of religious life.

English wrote a number of books on the Spiritual Exercises and was sought after as a Spiritual Director throughout most of his life. He had a special love of Jamaica and spent time in spiritual direction there.

In the last thirty years of the twentieth century, there was an unprecedented renewal in the practice of personal spiritual guidance. John English was one of the major pioneers of this movement in North America. In the summer of 1969, he began the personally directed Spiritual Exercises, with a program at the "Institute on Practical Asceticism" at the Guelph Centre Of Spirituality.

Until the time of his death he conducted spirituality workshops and training sessions there and throughout Canada, the United States, Britain, Ireland, Spain, India and Japan. He served as director of Loyola House in Guelph, Ont. for eight years.

In his last few years he lived in the Jesuit community in Winnipeg, where he continued to foster the work of Ignatian spirituality with its various connections such as Christian Life Communities, communal forms of spirituality, on-going spiritual mentoring, personally directed retreats, spirituality and group processes, as well as consensual and participatory forms of decision-making.

Michael Higgins, president of St. Jerome's College wrote of English in The Toronto Star:

"The deep appreciation for his labours in this field of spirituality, for his persistence and integrity, was amply provided by the large crowd that attended the memorial service in Guelph. The ceremony spoke beautifully and appositely to his predominant passions: his love of nature, his great good humour, his openness to others, his ecumenical sensitivities, and his spiritual resilience."