We welcome you on our journey, we who find ourselves blessed to claim the mission of Mt. Irenaeus. We believe that we are one with all peoples, cultures and indeed all creation in the ancient longing to find and to live in peace. St. Francis and St. Bonaventure sought mountains, as we have, as a place of rest and encounter when they felt lost or estranged within themselves, the Church, the world. We too have experienced the many things within us and without us that draw us away and lead us to doubt and division.
Holy places are part of all spiritual traditions.
Through the experience of Campus Ministry at St. Bonaventure University and the life of its students, faculty and others there, the alienation, pain and darkness of life seemed to ask us to find a place of hope and new life. We wanted a place, but more than that, a community founded in the spirit of prayer and hospitality. After years of consideration and gaining friends to proceed, we found this secluded and wooded hilltop we now call Mt. Irenaeus, the Mountain. We believe that we are in the tradition of all other holy places that help persons recognize the holiness of their own lives and indeed the holiness of the world that has come forth from a loving God. We have established this place and community in the Franciscan tradition of love for the Incarnation, wishing to offer prayerful hospitality to others according to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.