Date of Award
5-2025
Document Type
Thesis
Publisher
Santa Clara : Santa Clara University, 2025
Degree Name
Licentiate in Sacred Theology (STL)
Director
Christopher Staab, S.J.
Abstract
William A. Barry made a significant contribution to the renewal of Ignatian Spirituality following Vatican II. A central theme of his life and work was the experience of a personal relationship with God. This thesis will tell the story of how Barry came to view the experience of a personal relationship with God as central to his own spiritual life and to Ignatian spirituality. It first explores Barry’s upbringing and formation in a pre- Vatican II Catholic Church and Society of Jesus, before turning to his experience of the transformations in the Church and the Society following Vatican II. It then narrates his particular encounter with the 20th century project of recovery and renewal of Ignatian sources and spirituality that was taking place in the Society and how this encounter helped him discover the centrality of the experience of a personal relationship with God in his own life and for Ignatian spirituality. Finally, it will examine Barry’s experience at the Center for Religious Development, where he and his colleagues developed an approach to spiritual direction and training spiritual directors focused on the experience of a personal relationship with God. Their work, rooted in Ignatian sources and inspired by the spirit of renewal of Vatican II and the 31st General Congregation of the Society of Jesus, constituted a remarkable contribution to the renewal of Ignatian spirituality. As a whole, this story reveals how the center of Barry’s own spiritual life and the center of Ignatian spirituality met, resulting in a transformative experience of grace that shaped the rest of Barry’s life and ministry.
Recommended Citation
Williams, Chris, "The Experience of a Personal Relationship with God: William Barry and the 20th Century Renewal of Ignatian Spirituality" (2025). Jesuit School of Theology Dissertations. 145.
https://scholarcommons.scu.edu/jst_dissertations/145
