I Pellegrini di Speranza sono stati creati per ripristinare e conservare gli spazi naturali e sacri del Jesuit Retreat Center. I sostenitori hanno raccolto più di $400.000 in meno di nove mesi per l’uso della ristorazione delle statue, il miglioramento degli spazi per le preghiere e la costruzione di un sentiero attorno alla proprietà. L’edifizio centrale ha fornito alle persone guide spirituali per oltre 125 anni, con un totale di oltre 6.000 visitatori all’anno. L’Associazione Italiana di Nord-Est Ohio e i Monumenti e Restauro di Milano hanno lanciato un progetto per la ristrutturazione di numerose statue storiche. Il progetto aiuterà l’ambiente tranquillo per tante generazioni nel futuro per le loro preghiere, riflessioni e riconnessione con la loro fede.

The Pilgrims of Hope initiative began with a simple but powerful vision: restoring and preserving the natural and sacred spaces that lie within the Jesuit Retreat Center’s expansive 57-acre property in Parma.

This is an exciting time for the Jesuit Retreat Center (JRC), which recently celebrated its 125th anniversary of serving those who come seeking God’s guidance, love, and grace through programming rooted in the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, written more than 500 years ago. Over the past year, a quiet but generous group of supporters rallied around that vision, raising more than $400,000 in less than nine months. Their gifts will allow the JRC to restore 12 historic statues and outdoor prayer spaces, complete a full-perimeter trail system, and establish a plan for the perpetual care of the retreat center’s grounds.

Each year more than 6,000 people—from high school students to retirees—come to the Jesuit Retreat Center for retreats and spiritual programs. The retreat center serves as a crossroads of communities: Catholic schools, parishes, ministries, and individuals seeking time for reflection and renewal.

The Italian American community in Cleveland has played an important role in this effort. Brook Park–based Milano Monuments & Restoration was instrumental in helping launch the initiative. Mike Milano, President of Milano’s Restoration Division and a member of the Northeast Ohio Italian Association (NOIA), visited the retreat center and walked its wooded grounds, identifying several ways the sacred statuary—much of it more than a century old—could be restored and preserved in a sustainable way.

“Places like the Jesuit Retreat Center are rare today,” said Paul Lederer, a JRC board member and committee member with the Northeast Ohio Italian Association. “For more than a century, people have come here to step away from the noise of daily life and reconnect with their faith. Restoring these statues and prayer spaces ensures that future generations will be able to experience the same sense of peace, beauty, and reflection that so many of us have found here.”

Within two weeks of his initial visit, Milano Monuments & Restoration pledged a Giving Tuesday matching gift of up to $20,000, ultimately helping raise an additional $10,000 in support of the project. With those funds, the Jesuit Retreat Center and Milano’s began a pilot restoration of a 107-year-old statue of St. Stanislaus Kostka, SJ, the retreat center’s original namesake.

The dedication of the beautifully restored statue became a ministry opportunity for students from St. Ignatius High School, who gathered on the grounds to learn about the life of the young Jesuit saint—close to their own age when he chose to join the Society of Jesus.

Momentum continued to grow. Through the generosity of a small group of donors and a $25,000 matching gift from Bill Murman and Mary Kay Cabot, the retreat center expanded its Giving Tuesday efforts the following year and successfully completed the funding needed to move the entire Pilgrims of Hope initiative forward.

Today, that work is underway. Milano Monuments & Restoration has already begun restoring two additional historic statues on the grounds: St. Joseph and St. Ignatius of Loyola. Plans are also in motion to install new walking trails later this year, allowing retreatants to more easily access the wooded prayer spaces that have been part of the retreat center’s landscape for generations.

As these efforts move forward, the Jesuit Retreat Center continues its long tradition of welcoming people seeking spiritual renewal in a setting of beauty, quiet, and reflection.

The Jesuit Retreat Center is a work of the Catholic Church and an independently operated nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide opportunities for prayer, reflection, and discernment. Rooted in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and inspired by the spirituality of St. Ignatius, the retreat center seeks to help all people respond to God’s loving invitation in their lives.

To learn more about retreats or the Pilgrims of Hope initiative, visit www.jesuitretreatcenter.org/pilgrims-of-hope or call (440) 884-9300.