Photo Courtesy of Ignatius House

SANDY SPRINGS—Every Sunday after Mass, aunts, uncles and cousins would gather at the riverside home of Suzanne Spalding Schroder for family reunions. 

The family referred to traveling out to the property as going to “the country.” For a teenage Bill Schroder, his grandmother’s home on the rural road was a place to explore, with deep woods, the Chattahoochee River nearby and a family swimming hole.  

In 1957, Suzanne Spalding Schroder gave her home and eight acres to the Jesuits of the New Orleans Province for the creation of a retreat house. On Dec. 18, 1960, one year after her death, the newly constructed retreat center was dedicated as the Suzanne Spalding Schroder Memorial that was to be known officially as the Ignatius Retreat House. 

Hidden among tall trees, drivers can easily miss the retreat center while passing along Riverside Drive north of Atlanta’s Interstate 285.  

The family’s gift continues to welcome thousands of retreatants to the parcel where those Sunday dinners were shared. Bill Schroder, now 85, called his grandmother a “very loving woman” who would “absolutely love” how her gift continues to invite people seeking God. 

“She was a very giving woman, and I think that what would appeal to her most is how outgoing the retreat center is now with its base of retreats, but also inviting in people of all faiths and other organizations to participate,” he said. 

A growing ministry 

The Ignatius House Jesuit Retreat Center is marking its 65th anniversary, while celebrating the latest campus addition, after a capital campaign that raised some $10.5 million.  

It has moved from a weekend facility into a year-round hub for spirituality. When Maria Cressler started in 2009 as the retreat center’s leader, Mondays through Thursdays were fairly quiet. Today, the center hosts some 78 retreats a year, close to double the number when she started, with events with nonprofits and other faith traditions filling out the calendar.  

“All Ignatius House does is facilitate an encounter with God. We do everything we can so that the conditions are ripe for you to connect with God,” she said.  

Retreatants can walk along the banks of the Chattahoochee River on the trails of the Ignatius House Jesuit Retreat Center in Sandy Springs to spend time in prayer and reflection. The center marks 65 years of offering retreats this year. Photo Courtesy of Ignatius House

Ignatius House has expanded its programming beyond the Catholic community to serve people of other faiths as well as those who consider themselves spiritual but not religious. 

“Silence is where we connect. The legacy moving forward is more needed, more necessary. That’s what we’re seeing as our numbers are growing, and we have more and more waiting lists for retreats,” she said. 

Weekend retreats in silence are its base. Among its offerings are retreats for men and women who are in recovery from addictions and military service members “to find comfort among fellow veterans.” Its Kitchen Curia vocational program teaches people living in homeless shelters all aspects of food service.  

“We put all this technology into the world to make our lives more free,” Cressler said. “We’ve made it such that we can’t get away from our work because people can get us at every minute, every moment of our life.” 

Maria Cressler, executive director of Ignatius House, holds a candle during the May blessing of The Upper Room, a new building for prayer and gathering offering views of the forest. Photo Courtesy of Ignatius House

New campus areas for prayer 

Today, a cluster of buildings is at the heart of the parcel, surrounded by a walking path that meanders through the property and along the riverbank, gardens and an overlook of a waterfall. 

A donation by the New Orleans Jesuit Province of $450,000 as well as from others paid for the original 1950s era brick residential building. A chapel and administrative building have been built since 2000.  

The Upper Room building is the campus’ newest addition, with its warm-colored stonework. The $5.2 million building is a new prayer and gathering space, with oversized windows filled with views of the forest canopy. 

Century-old trees were cleared for construction. An Atlanta artist transformed the reclaimed wood into permanent features, such as the fireplace mantel and several tables. The wood shows exposed lines and knots in the grain to reveal age and growth.  

As part of the project, the former administrative offices were refurbished for $165,000 for spiritual direction meeting rooms and to design the new Slow Faith Reading Room. 

For Cressler, the retreat center offers visitors the “luxury of boredom” with space to spread out, take in the solitude and rest.  

“Imagine just being there for a bit and letting God start to talk to you because lots of things happen when we allow that spirit to work in us,” she said.