Katie Kilbourne (she/her) is a leader in the JV EnCorps community of Seattle, WA. She serves at the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery and leads monthly meetings with a group of volunteers aged 40+ to reflect on the JVE values of community, simple living, social and ecological justice, and spirituality/reflection.
Katie shared the following at the 2026 JVC Northwest Annual Benefit Dinner. She reflects on how ecological justice as formed her spirituality in the second half of life:
Kelly, thank you for your introduction. I appreciate the invitation from you and Sarah Thompson to reflect on my experience in the Jesuit Volunteer EnCorps. As I look out at this room, I see many familiar faces, and it accentuates my awareness of the gift of connection I experience within this JVC Northwest family.
Unlike many here, I came to my connection with the Jesuits later in life. I grew up in Billings, Montana- one of the oldest of seven siblings in a close-knit family. My early spiritual formation was greatly influenced by the relationships and interactions with the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth (Kansas). These sisters taught our CCD classes, were in leadership roles at St. Vincent’s Hospital where I was born and later worked, and at the Marillac School of Nursing where my mother taught nutrition. Those early memories were of a joy that radiated through their service in education and healthcare and to those on the margins of life. That connection with the Vincentian charism has been a thread in my life and a model of compassionate service.
Fast forward to my Journey with the Jesuits.
10 years ago, as my current job was ending, my sister Maggie Kilbourne-Brook suggested I consider a move to the Pacific Northwest to join her in Issaquah. She generously introduced me to her spiritual circles, several of which were intertwined with the Ignatian communities here, and a new chapter in my life began.
Having lived in some stunning areas of the west, I have long had an appreciation for the beauty of nature and the increasing fragility of the environment. When I read Pope Francis’ Laudato Si shortly after it was published; it was a pivotal moment. The phrases “care for our common home”, “ecological conversion” and “integral ecology” were new for me and represented a merging of my concern for the environment and a growing awareness of ecological justice with my evolving spirituality. I began to seek how I might be more involved.
With my move to the Pacific Northwest, I naturally became exposed to the cultural significance of salmon, the impact of habitat degradation on salmon survival and the issues for indigenous tribes around treaty rights. Living less than a mile from the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery, I started to volunteer as a docent. This engagement with the public through educational tours, classroom presentations and science fairs provides a platform to share “the salmon story” and promote our responsibility for salmon survival. It has also been life-giving and deeply satisfying to assist in the raising of millions of salmon each year. With a maternal sense of pride, I witness their release each spring to begin their ocean journey and celebrate the return of earlier generations each fall to spawn and complete their life cycle.
In one of our spiritual circles, I met Former Jesuit Volunteers Lyn Miletich and Patty James. They impressed me with their longstanding relationship begun decades earlier as young JVs in Alaska and their continued connection to the JVC Northwest family. I had missed the opportunity to be a JV, but here in this new chapter of my life was Jesuit Volunteer EnCorps. I knew this was my moment.
I was drawn to the opportunity to be part of a group of like-minded individuals who aspired to the goals of justice, spirituality, simple living and community. I joined the Seattle JVE five years ago and soon took on a leadership role.
As a leader, I have valued the support of the JVE Program Managers, Karen Beal and now Sarah Thompson, in providing resources for our monthly gatherings and creating opportunities to network with the leaders of the other six Jesuit Volunteer EnCorps groups in Spokane, Tacoma, and Vancouver, Washington and Portland and Bend, Oregon.
It has been a gift to be part of the spiritual growth and inspirational sharing within our Seattle JVE community. I am lifted up by the depth of commitment to service in the areas of food and housing insecurity, immigration and refugee support and advocacy. Our community of 15 averages over 400 hours of service per month. Those individuals who are involved with parish-based St Vincent de Paul programs have provided me with a bridge to my early roots in the Vincentian charism. My fellow JVEs have fully embraced my engagement in salmon advocacy and environmental justice and supported me by their thoughtful interest.
Particularly meaningful has been my involvement in the Northwest Ignatian Advocacy Summit and its focus on the Sacred Salmon Campaign sponsored by the Intercommunity Peace and Justice Center. The Campaign is aimed at walking in solidarity with indigenous communities who have long stewarded the salmon and the waterways they depend on. The Advocacy Summit has provided the opportunity to engage with high school and college students in education and the development of direct-action initiatives in partnership with indigenous and environmental organizations. The passion and commitment of these young individuals brings me great hope for the future.
In the words of Mother Xavier Ross, Foundress of the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth:
It is wisdom to pause,
to look back and see by what straight or twisting paths we have arrived at the place we find ourselves… And Look forward to the Good that is yet to be.
I appreciate the path that has brought me here. I am grateful for the support and encouragement of our Seattle community, the intergenerational collaboration with the JVC Northwest family and look forward to the opportunities to continue to engage in compassionate service and meaningful public action – to continue to say YES.
