George Sullivan and Jesuit Father William Creed are spearheading a new local effort of the Ignatian Lay Volunteer Corps. Only seniors need apply. Catholic New World / David V. Kamba

If you’re a man or woman over 50 looking for a way to “give something back,” George Sullivan has a job for you.

Since March, the retired North Shore lawyer has been coordinator for the Chicago area chapter of the Ignatian Lay Volunteer Corps (ILVC), whose members commit to working with the poor two days a week, 10 months of the year for at least a year, “although we expect many will re-up after that.”

“It kind of grows on you,’’ explained Sullivan, who had been working at the Howard Area Community Center and helping out at his SS. Faith, Hope and Charity Parish in Wilmette even before being tapped to set up a local ILVC program by Father Richard Baumann, the Jesuits’ Chicago provincial.

“I’d always had a close connection with the Jesuits,” said Sullivan, who is not only an alumnus of both Loyola Academy and Loyola University, but has one son graduating from the Jesuit high school at the same time another is finishing his freshman year.

In mid-May, Sullivan held an orientation session for the Chicago ILVC’s first group of more than 20 prospective volunteers after weeks of placing notices in parish bulletins and alumni newsletters from Jesuit universities like Georgetown and Creighton, as well as Loyola.

He had also been meeting with Catholic Charities and other human service agencies; religious orders like the Little Sisters of the Poor; and inner-city churches like St. Procopius, which Sullivan said is now Chicago’s only remaining Jesuit-run parish.

“We’re trying to match the right person to the right job,’’ said Sullivan, noting that all ILVC candidates are screened for what he described as a kind of Jesuit version of RSVP (Retired Seniors Volunteer Program)” and an extension of the Jesuit Volunteers program for recent college grads.

ILVC is also perfectly in keeping with the Jesuit ideal of being “men and women for others,” said Sullivan, noting that the program was started about three-and-a-half years ago by Jesuit Fathers Jim Conroy and Charles Costello after a man whose son had just joined the “SJs” (Society of Jesus) wondered if the order had anything for lay retirees as well.

“There wasn’t, so they started something,’’ said Sullivan, adding that the ILVC now has more than 100 volunteers, mostly on the East Coast. Among them, he said, are a man who makes church repairs, another who teaches computer and English skills to immigrants, and even a dentist who runs a part-time free clinic in Elmira, N.Y.

“You’ve got lawyers, for example, who do pro bono work, while other attorneys might be interested in something entirely different from what they’ve done all their lives,” said Sullivan. ‘’It’s a way to make retirement a series of mini-careers.”

While Sullivan is working to find the right “match,” Father William Creed (in residence at Loyola University where until now he worked mostly with Jesuit seminarians) will supervise the “reflectors” (or spiritual directors) assigned to help ILVC participants with their “journaling’’ and spiritual reading and run periodic retreats for the volunteers.

The idea is to help participants avoid the situation T. S. Eliot was talking about when he said “I had the experience, but I missed the meaning,’’ Sullivan explained.

The volunteers will also be getting encouragement from each other at meetings to be held several times a year “so they know they’re not alone,’’ Sullivan said.

Anyone wondering if the ILVC is
right for them can contact Sullivan at
[email protected] or call the ILVC
national office toll free at (888) 831-4686 or the local office at (773) 975-6923.
The group’s Website is www.ilvc.org.

While he’s doing all he can to get the word out, Sullivan said he has no specific growth goal.

“That’s up to the Holy Spirit,’’ he said.