Manresa House: A Career Center for Vocations
Manresa House is a former private home, located at 24 Mayflower Road, just west of Boston College’s main campus. Only a year old, it was started as a direct result of a priesthood discussion group begun by University President William P. Leahy, SJ in 1998 for BC students considering a vocation. Manresa House is a place where BC students considering life as priests or members of a religious order can come to get information about different vocational choices, share their stories with others who are thinking about the same options, or simply find supportive counseling as they explore the ramifications of a complex decision.
Located in a quiet section of Upper Campus, Manresa House welcomes every visitor with a warm and open interior. The first floor has meeting rooms and a kitchen and dining room where meals can be prepared. This part of the house is mainly used by representatives from diocesan seminaries and men’s and women’s religious orders who want a convenient place to meet with BC students. The upper floors have guest rooms where individuals can stay who come for overnight visits or longer stays to pursue a discernment process. Many of these visitors are considering entering the Jesuits.
The director of Manresa House is Fr. Jack Butler, S.J., who has an extensive background in pastoral ministry from his years as a campus minister at BC and his training as a counseling psychologist. He has a dual role in Manresa House, supporting BC students in their discernment about diocesan priesthood or life in a religious order and also being the contact person for those thinking of applying to the Jesuits.
Butler would be the first to say that he is not a recruiter in a corporate model. His philosophy is to help students realize their own inner desires and interests. “We are like a career center,” he says. “If a student comes to a faculty member with a desire to become a doctor, the faculty member would likely inquire into their motivations, inform the student of the requirements for this profession, and give them the information they need to make a good decision. We do the same thing.” Often the discernment process leads away from a decision to enter a seminary or a religious order, to an entirely different life choice. That’s a way Manresa House can help students too.
Whether through one-on-one conversations, small group discussions, or presentations by members of different religious orders over the course of the school year, Manresa House helps students explore their vocations and follow their deepest desires.
Article on Manresa House in the BC Chronicle
Article on Manresa House in the Newsletter for the Jesuits of the New England Province
January 2009
In This Issue
A Fire that Kindles Other Fires
Student Affairs at a Jesuit Institution
Office of the Vice President of Mission and Ministry
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