Conversations · to Conversations: Stephen C. Rowntree, S.J. Secretary to the National Seminar on Jesuit Higher Education Holy Name of Jesus Parish New Orleans 1575 Calhoun Street

On Jesuit Higher EducationFall 2020Number 58

Conversations

Jesuit Education and the Universal Apostolic PreferencesFirst of two issues

FALL 2020NUMBER 58Members of the National Seminar on Jesuit Higher Education

Gerard A. AthaideLoyola University MarylandRonald Bernas, editorUniversity of Detroit MercyChris BrooksUniversity of San FranciscoDiane Ceo-DiFrancescoXavier UniversityAlice V. ClarkLoyola University New OrleansDavid DzurecUniversity of ScrantonTimothy P. Kesicki, S.J.President, Jesuit Conferenceex officio

James McCartin, chairFordham UniversityNancy RourkeCanisius CollegeStephen C. Rowntree, S.J., secHoly Name of Jesus Church New OrleansMichael Sheeran, S.J.President, AJCUex officio

Dung TranGonzaga UniversityRachel WifallSaint Peter’s University

Conversations is published by the National Seminar on Jesuit Higher Education, which is jointly sponsoredby the Jesuit Conference Board andthe Board of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities. The opinions stated herein are thoseof the authors and not necessarilythose of the JC or the AJCU. Comments and inquiries may be addressed to the editor of Conversations Ron BernasUniversity of Detroit Mercy4001 W. McNichols RoadDetroit, MI 48221-3038phone: 313-993-1251e-mail: [email protected] information about subscriptions to Conversations:Stephen C. Rowntree, S.J.Secretary to the National Seminar on Jesuit Higher EducationHoly Name of Jesus Parish New Orleans1575 Calhoun Street New Orleans, LA 70118Phone: 504-865-2781e-mail: [email protected] back issues are available online at conversationsmagazine.orgDesign and layout by Pauline Heaney.Printed by Peacock Communications, Fairfield, N.J.Webmaster: Dung Tran.

The Universal Apostolic Preferences

FEATURES03 A Roadmap to the Future, Joseph O’Keefe, S.J.

SHOWING THE WAY TO GOD06 In Our Bones, Julie Dowd10 Showing the Way to God by Sharing the Exercises with Other Faiths, Erin Cline12 Spiritual Direction and Training for Spiritual Directors, Denis G. Donoghue, S.J. 14 Encountering the Living God, Marcy Dolan Haley18 Discernment Becomes Center of Sophomore Advising Program, Molly P. Loesche20 The Program for Discerning Leadership, David McCallum, S.J.22 Contemplatives In Action, Jennifer Abe24 There are Many Paths to and Through the Spiritual Exercises, Catherine Punsalan-Manlimos

CARING FOR OUR COMMON HOME28 Ignatian Pedagogy for Sustainability, Kathleen R. Smythe36 Libraries are Sustainability Leaders, George J. Aulisio37 Environmental Research at Marquette University, Jeanne Hossenlopp39 Caring for our Common Home Begins With Listening, Dan Pitera41 Outsmarting Climate Change, Rob Verchick43 Recognizing Environmental Racism is the First Step in Fighting It, Nancy M. Rourke

16 STUDENT VOICE10-Week Experience Reflection, Luke Marino

26 AN HISTORICAL MOMENT: Loyola University Chicago, Christian Anderson and Scott Alessi

45 TEACHING THE MISSION: Interruption and Ignatian Discernment, Kari Kloos

33Integral Ecology, Daniel P. Castillo

ConversationsOn Jesuit Higher Education

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FROM THE EDITOR

A Call to a Better World

For more information about the National Seminar on Jesuit Higher Education, its goals,and its members please visit our website at:http://www.conversationsmagazine.org/national-seminar/

For more information on how to contribute to Conversations please see our website at:http://www.conversationsmagazine.org/for-contributors/

The National Seminar on Jesuit Higher Education

COMING UP Issue #59 (Spring 2020) Exploring the Four Universal Jesuit Preferences

This issue is the first of two focusing on the response of Jesuithigher education to the four Universal Apostolic Preferencesannounced in February of 2019 by Jesuit Superior General Fr.Arturo Sosa. They are to serve as a guide for Jesuits – and Jesuit insti-tutions – to follow in their work through 2029. The preferences,debated and decided upon in a consensus among Jesuitsworldwide that Father Sosa says “was guided by the HolySpirit,” are:

1: To show the way to God through the Spiritual Exercisesand discernment.

2: To walk with the poor, the outcasts of the world, thosewhose dignity has been violated, in a mission of reconcil-iation and justice.

3: To accompany the young in the creation of a hope-filledfuture.

4: To collaborate in the care of our common home. This issue explores the first and fourth preferences; ourJanuary 2021 issue will look at the second and third. Father Sosa’s letter presenting the preferences says theyseek to “embody concretely the mission received as the Lord’sresponse to the cry of a wounded world; the cry of the mostvulnerable, who have been displaced and marginalized; theempty rhetoric that divides and dismantles our cultures; thegrowing chasm between rich and poor; the cry of the youngin search of hope and meaning; the cry of the earth and its peo-ples, who have been degraded to the point of having their veryexistence put at risk. The preferences seek to respond to aworld in which entire generations have never heard aboutJesus and his Gospel.” The UAPs, thus, are a call to action that is both wide rang-ing and extremely focused. They are inspirational and aspira-tional, calling Jesuit institutions to do more and to be more. Wethink you’ll be as excited as we were to read about the manyways our institutions are already doing much of this work.

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I’m tempted to point out that this magazine was producedunder extraordinary circumstances, but I think many of youexpect that to be true and can probably top any of my storiesof working virtually. But I do want to explain that all of these articles were so-licited last year and due for discussion by members of the Sem-inar on Jesuit Higher Education right about the time thecoronavirus began its march across the country. The usual week-end of meetings was condensed to three virtual meetings wheresubmissions were discussed and team edited. While we missedthe camaraderie, and had to say good-bye to a couple memberswith words broadcast on tiny portable screens instead of in per-son with hugs, we did what we came together to do.

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I also want to make note here of the passing of a former long-time editor of Conversations. Raymond A. Schroth, S.J., passedaway July 1 of natural causes; he was 86. Father Schroth – Ray, as he was known – was editor of thismagazine from 2004 to 2013. He was well-suited to the role,having worked for Jesuit institutions in various faculty andadministrative roles from Rockhurst University to College ofthe Holy Cross. But it was at Fordham University that Father Schrothspent most of his career. He was remembered there as “abeloved professor, a treasured colleague, a lucid journalist andwriter, and an insightful historian of the University and the Je-suits.” He was the author of eight books and many essays andarticles, many of which were printed on the pages of Conver-

sations. He was buried privately at the Jesuit Cemetery in Au-riesville, New York. The history of this magazine is filled with men and womenlike Ray Schroth, who use their God-given talents to further theJesuit mission of a life lived for service. It is because of peoplelike him that this magazine remains vital as it turns 30. May you continue to see the many blessings of God,

Ron Bernas, editor

2 CONVERSATIONS ON JESUIT HIGHER EDUCATION

Michael Garanzini, S.J., Named President of AJCU

The Association of

Jesuit Colleges andUniversities (AJCU) hasnamed Rev. Michael J.Garanzini, S.J., as itsnext president. His termbegan on July 1, 2020.

“This is anincredible honor for me,and I’m really lookingforward to workingwith the presidents andour institutions aspresident of AJCU,”

Garanzini, who entered the Society of Jesus in 1971 andwas ordained as a priest in 1980, said. “This is achallenging time for all of us, and so the need to worktogether has never been more important. I know that I cancount on our presidents to work closely and support eachother, to ensure that Jesuit higher education continues tothrive for years to come.” Most recently, Fr. Garanzini served as both Secretaryfor Higher Education of the Society of Jesus, and Chair ofthe Board of Directors for the International Association ofJesuit Universities (IAJU). He completed his eighth yearof service to the international network of Jesuit highereducation while working at AJCU. Prior to these roles, Fr. Garanzini was president ofLoyola University Chicago from 2001 to 2015. Under his

leadership, Loyola grew in national recognition as aninnovator in higher education, thanks to theestablishment of Arrupe College, the first Jesuitcommunity college in the United States. During hisfourteen years at Loyola, he served on the AJCU Board ofDirectors, including a term as Chair. While serving as Secretary for Higher Education, Fr.Garanzini led several initiatives to facilitate national andinternational collaboration among Jesuit institutions. In2013, he hosted the first-ever meeting of Jesuitprovincials, presidents and board chairs of U.S. Jesuitcolleges and universities with Rev. Adolfo Nicolás, S.J.,the former Superior General of the Society of Jesus. In 2016, Fr. Garanzini served as a delegate for GeneralCongregation 36: a convening of Jesuits from across theworld to elect a new Superior General and issue a new setof decrees for the Society of Jesus. In response to a call forincreasing partnerships during GC36, Fr. Garanziniorganized a meeting at the University of Deusto in Bilbao,Spain in 2018, to launch the International Association ofJesuit Universities. Fr. Garanzini succeeds Rev. Michael J. Sheeran, S.J.,who served as president of AJCU since April 2013. Fr.Sheeran will now serve in a pastoral role for faculty,students and alumni at Saint Louis University. He said, “Icongratulate Fr. Garanzini on his new role as president ofAJCU. It has been a joy to lead the Association over thepast seven years, and I am delighted to entrust my officeto a new leader.”

James McCartin, Ph.D., AssociateProfessor of the History ofAmerican Christianity at FordhamUniversity, has been named the newChair of the National Seminar onJesuit Higher Education. “I’m absolutely thrilled to berejoining the Seminar, this time asits chair,” McCartin said. “I was a

member of theSeminar from2013 to 2016, and Ilearned howimportant itspublication, Conversations on Jesuit

Higher Education, is in cultivatinglocal and national communities toensure a vital future for the great

project of Jesuit higher education.As Chair, I aim to carry forward theexcellent stewardship of past Jesuitluminaries who have led the group:Fathers Pat Howell, JackO’Callaghan and John Padberg. Letthe conversation continue.” McCartin succeeds the late Rev.Patrick Howell, S.J., who served aschair for nearly ten years at the timeof his death in November.

James McCartin is NewChair of National Seminar

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On February 19, 2019, a remarkable new thinghappened. Father Arturo Sosa, S.J., Superior Gen-eral of the Society of Jesus, announced that PopeFrancis had missioned the Society to embrace fourpreferences for the next ten years. These prefer-ences — showing the way to God though the Spir-itual Exercises and discernment; walking with theoutcasts of the world in a mission of reconciliationand justice; accompanying young people in the cre-ation of a hope-filled future; collaborating for thecare of our common home — will guide the Soci-ety’s internal priorities and the priorities of all ofits sponsored works.

Though the articulation of these four preferenceswas new, they were in no way discontinuous withthe direction the Society and the Church had beentaking for the last 55 years. The Second VaticanCouncil ended in 1965 with the publication ofGaudium et spes (The Pastoral Constitution on theChurch of the Modern World). It set in motion a re-newed emphasis on care for the poor: “The joys andthe hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the men(sic) of this age, especially those who are poor or inany way afflicted, these are the joys and hopes, thegriefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ.” Thesame year saw the election of Servant of God Pedro

The Universal Apostolic Preferences

A Roadmap to the Future

By Joseph O’Keefe, S.J.


Arrupe, S.J., who served as Jesuit Superior Generaluntil 1983. With vigor and determination, he led theSociety to embrace the social justice mission of theChurch. The best remembered of Father Arrupe’sspeeches is his address on education, delivered toalumni of Jesuit schools in 1973, in which he coinedthe phrase “men for others.” Men and women forothers “are persons who cannot conceive of love ofGod without love of neighbor.” The focus on theservice of faith and the promotion of justice wasconfirmed by the 32nd General Congregation in1975 and, with various emphases, in the four Gen-eral Congregations that have taken place sincethen. The documents that emerged from these con-gregations call Jesuits to care for those who aremarginalized, excluded, or on the peripheries. Je-suits and their colleagues are to serve on the fron-tiers where the poor and neglected are to be found.In his address to the members of the 36th GeneralCongregation Pope Francis said, “the joy of an ex-plicit proclamation of the Gospel by means of thepreaching of the faith and the practice of justice andmercy is what drives the Society out to the marginsof society.” On March 13, 2013, for the first time in history, aJesuit, Pope Francis, was elected to have this respon-sibility. The major documents of his pontificate(Laudato si’, Evangelii Gaudium, Amoris Laetitia,

Gaudete et exsultate, Christus Vivit) and his various ex-hortations put forth goals that are altogether consis-tent with the Universal Apostolic Preferences (UAP):A focus on discernment; redistribution of the world’sresources; a spotlight on refugees and prisoners;shifting the church’s leadership to people from theperipheries; accompanying young people; caring forthe earth, which has been so damaged by indifferenceand greed. Just as Ignatius and the first companionsput themselves at the service of the pope in the 16thCentury, so the Society puts itself at the service of this83-year-old pope in the 21st. The UAPs will determinethe agenda of the Jesuit mission not only in the Francisera, but also in the post-Francis era. From the outset, the mission of the Society hasbeen articulated by general congregations and supe-riors general. Fr. Peter Hans Kolvenbach, S.J., Supe-

rior General from 1983 to 2008, named five priorities:allocation of human and financial resources toAfrica; allocation of human and financial resourcesto China; renewed commitment to the interprovin-cial works in Rome entrusted to us by the popes, es-pecially the universities; commitment to theintellectual apostolate in its various forms; and serv-ice to refugees and migrants. These priorities hadmore specificity than the UAPs and thus were moremeasurable. The UAPs are universal, they need to beadapted to local circumstances and we must devisemeasures of accountability. The question before us:How will Jesuit institutions of higher education inthe United States and Canada shape their prioritiesaround these preferences? How will we gauge oureffectiveness? The evangelist Luke records the words of Jesus:“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Wouldyou not first sit down and estimate the cost to see ifyou have enough money to complete it?” Indeed, thepandemic and its resulting economic consequenceshave created havoc in the realm of finances. But whatI want us to consider honestly are the challenges andcosts of moving from preferences to priorities to pro-grams. Otherwise, the preferences could devolveinto pious platitudes. Study after study indicates that we live in a cul-ture that is suspicious of organized religion in gen-eral and Catholicism in particular. The number of“nones” (those who claim no religious affiliation) hasincreased dramatically. According to the Pew Forumon Religion and Public Life, Catholicism has experi-enced a greater net loss than has any other religioustradition in the United States. Thirteen percent of allU.S. adults (32 million) are former Catholics — peo-ple who say they were raised in the faith, but nowidentify as religious “nones,” as Protestants, or withanother religion. Two percent of U.S. adults are con-verts to Catholicism – people who now identify asCatholic after having been raised in another religion(or no religion). There are six former Catholics in theU.S. for every convert to the faith. No other religiousgroup has experienced anything close to this ratio oflosses to gains. In addition, a large number of thosewho still self-identify with an organized religion

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have very low levels of participation. Many people,both inside and outside of Jesuit institutions, see re-ligion as anti-scientific and oppressive. How can weengage them? Since 1548 at Messina, Jesuits have been heavilyengaged in ministry to hand on to coming genera-tions the joy of a purposeful life; they devised waysto capture the imagination of young people. Accord-ing to the Public Religion Research Institute, thenumber of Americans ages 18-29 who have no reli-gious affiliation has nearly quadrupled in the last 30years. Religion is often seen as irrelevant or suspectamong Generations X, Y and Z. We need to under-stand the dynamics of disaffiliation. We need to lis-ten first, then to accompany and teach by exampleand word. What will be our measures of success? If we wish to walk with the excluded, let us re-member the martyrs of El Salvador, those who usedtheir academic status to give voice to those on themargins. In our time and place, the excluded arethose at the bottom of the socioeconomic spectrum,the unauthorized immigrants who have soughtrefuge from violence and death only to meet hostil-ity, those who have lost their jobs at rates unheard-of before 2020, those who are unable to provide ahome for their children, those who have sufferedcruel oppression because of the sin of racism andwhite privilege, too often in our own institutions.History teaches us that there is a cost, often steep,when we place ourselves with those on the periph-ery. In our fractured and acrimonious political cul-ture some may well see this apostolic preference associalism in the guise of religion. What price are we,as individuals and as institutions, willing to pay? In 1963, the world as we know it faced annihila-tion because of the threat of nuclear war. In response,Pope St. John XXIII published the landmark encycli-cal Pacem in terris, a clarion call for the establishmentof universal peace in truth, justice, charity, and lib-erty. As the 21st Century progresses, the world againfaces annihilation, now because of environmentaldegradation. In 2015, Pope Francis published hislandmark encyclical Laudato si’, a clarion call to pro-tect our common home. People of good will, andyoung people in particular, are heeding the warnings

of scientists about the dire impact of warmer oceans,rising sea levels, higher temperatures, and increaseddroughts and wildfires. Yet others, often in positionsof responsibility, either deny the scientific evidenceor are unwilling to sacrifice profit for the sake of sus-tainability. The fourth UAP calls on centers of higherlearning to study root causes of the crisis, contributeto a change of mind and heart, and make sure thatnew generations integrate this issue with their faith. Building on the legacy of the past and missionedby Pope Francis, Jesuits and their colleagues have away forward in the four Universal Apostolic Prefer-ences which, in the words of Father General Sosa,“seek to unleash a process of apostolic revitalizationand creativity that makes us better servants of rec-onciliation and justice.”

Joseph O’Keefe, S.J., is the provincial of the East Coast

Provence. He has spent three decades in higher education,

primarily at Boston College and Fordham University.


In Our Bones

The Spiritual Exercises and Call to

Justice in Jesuit Education

By Julie Dowd

For more than 40 years, Jesuit universities have beensharing the Spiritual Exercises with staff, faculty, andstudents as a tool for leadership development and mis-sion formation. Over this same period of time, Jesuitinstitutions have made a concerted effort to rigorouslyengage a mission of faith doing justice. As the Societyof Jesus reaffirms its commitment to discernment andsharing the Spiritual Exercises in its Universal Apos-tolic Preferences (UAPs), now is an opportune time toconsider what we have learned over these past severaldecades of sharing the Exercises with college and uni-versity faculty and administration. Has the process ofsharing the Exercises with colleagues had an effect onour institutions? Have the Exercises enabled our uni-versities to be focused and bold in living out our Jesuitmission of reconciliation, justice, and inclusion? If you are reading this article you likely share withme a deep desire to build robust programs and conver-sations promoting our Jesuit Catholic mission, identity,and heritage at our colleges and universities. This desire

is heightened financially, politically, and existentially inthese increasingly challenging times. The COVID-19pandemic has disrupted nearly every aspect of our uni-versity communities and human life as we know it inways most did not imagine just months ago. Our citieshave erupted yet again in grief and anger over policeviolence against black people and communities of colorwith desperate calls for racial justice. Leadership at allJesuit institutions will be required to think in radicalnew ways over the next several years about what itmeans to be a Jesuit university, how we will participatein the social and economic recovery of our communi-ties, and how to learn, adapt, heal and teach with a re-newed commitment to facing and abolishing racismand white supremacy. The Universal Apostolic Preferences offer a pathforward by training our eye on four priorities, thefirst of which, “showing the way to God through theSpiritual Exercises and discernment,” is the focus ofthis article. In response to the call from Superior Gen-

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eral of the Society of Jesus Fr. Arturo Sosa, S.J., Jesuitprovincials within the United States are asking Jesuituniversities to consider ways of sharing the SpiritualExercises together with colleagues. Jesuits Westprovincial Scott Santarosa, S.J., asked that higher ed-ucation leaders take discernment “into our bones”and “take the Exercises seriously” as a tool for lead-ership development and decision-making in theyears ahead, even suggesting that Jesuit directors ofworks do the Exercises with their professional teams. There is a long precedent for this. The SpiritualExercises have always been at the root of the Jesuitapostolic mission. Ignatius’ own prayer life, his spir-itual conversion, and his ongoing reflection on God’sactivity in his life as described in the Exercises in-spired and guided the foundation and early growthof the Society of Jesus. Ignatius’ reflection on his di-rect experiences in prayer and with the Exercisesguided his personal and corporate decisions asfounder of the Jesuits. Reflection on the Exercises, in-

cluding faith-sharing with women, enabled Ignatiusto occasionally think outside the box beyond the so-cial and ecclesial restrictions of his time. In recent decades, the practice of using the Exer-cises to guide institutional mission has continued, anotable example being Ignacio Ellacuría’s leadershipof Central American Jesuits in response to the Sal-vadoran political and economic turmoil of the 1980s.Ellacuría recognized the Exercises as a means to re-flect theologically on the current historical reality,which allowed him, as rector of the University ofCentral America in San Salvador, to radically recon-sider the role and purpose of the Jesuit university,arriving at the conclusion that the university shouldbe a social project actively engaged in social trans-formation for the liberation of the poor — a decisionthat had prophetic consequences. Today, the Exercises remain a means throughwhich reflection and imaginative thinking can takeplace to discern our mission in our current contexts


and illuminate future directions. Author Philip En-dean, S.J., describes the Exercises as “a way of han-dling realities as yet unforeseen.” The Exercises havenever been intended as a prescriptive or dogmaticapproach to Ignatian spirituality or Jesuit identity.Quite the contrary. Thereis an inherent flexibility,a dynamic and respon-sive process that ulti-mately trusts the activityof God in human history,as well as in the life ofthe institution itself. Ig-natius and later Jesuitsuperiors set a precedentof using prayer, discern-ment, and reflection onthe Exercises as a way ofguiding not only thebroad vision of the Soci-ety, but also its opera-tional, fiscal, personnel,and strategic functions.Reflection on the Exer-cises was a way of instill-ing a sense of sharedmission and purpose among Jesuits and colleaguesacross vast distances. We have a historical and Igna-tian rationale to turn to the Exercises as a resourcefor helping us understand our mission and our socialcontext today. Yet it may be easier said than done. There are ob-stacles to our consciously sharing faith and spiritualexperiences in professional settings. First of all, it isgenerally considered unprofessional to do so. Sec-ondly, we are multi-religious, multi-faith communi-ties where not everyone shares the same language,experience or sacred texts, a topic which Erin M.Cline, a Georgetown professor of theology, addressesin this issue and her recent book, A World on Fire.Thirdly, Jesuit institutions and the Catholic Churchhave not always stood on the right side of historywhen it comes to the social and racial conflicts weface today; thus, returning to our roots will befraught with tensions requiring great humility andwillingness to face our collective failings. Despite thechallenges, there are some very good reasons —

aside from the specific request of provincials — to atleast give it a try. Two years ago, as part of a research project, Isurveyed and interviewed female-identified facultyand staff from 17 Jesuit universities across the

United States who hadcompleted the Exercises.I asked them to reflecton their experience ofthe Exercises, and toconsider whether any-thing they encounteredmight relate to the mis-sion of their Jesuit insti-tution. My interest wasin whether women’s ex-periences might fill incritical lacunae in the vi-sion and mission of Je-suit higher education,lacunae that prevent usfrom achieving ourfullest potential as Jesuitapostolates particularlyin the area of justice andinclusion. And if we

learned something new from women’s experienceswith the Exercises, what else could we learn fromother voices, especially other marginalized voices,on our campuses. Over the course of a year, I collected stories,words and images that shed new light on our lan-guage around Jesuit and Ignatian mission. One ex-ample came when two women independently sharedwith me that as a result of doing the Exercises, theyrecognized their university as the “beloved commu-nity.” This is not a phrase we commonly use in Jesuiteducation, but it is one that connects us powerfullyto a rich history of faith in action for civil rights andsocial justice. The beloved community is not the sta-tus quo where everyone simply gets along. Thebeloved community represents a new reality wherethe hierarchies and systems that oppress have beendismantled so that all can flourish and prosper. Whata beautiful image for Jesuit education brought forththrough reflection on the Exercises. Individually, the Exercises have an effect on in-

The Exercises, andshared reflection onthe Exercises, is oneway in which we

begin to recognize thesuffering of the worldnot as a they but anus, which is at the

heart of the UniversalApostolic Preferences.

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dividuals by illuminating personal biases and sinful-ness as well as pointing to personal gifts of courageand freedom. Collectively, the Exercises have an ef-fect on an institution by improving teaching, com-munity relationships, and by prompting responsesto social problems that stem from the collective wis-dom of the entire community rather than from onlythe cultural and academic mainstream. Additionally, the Exercises can be a tool fordeepening our commitment to anti-racism work.USF law professor Rhonda Magee, in her book The

Inner Work of Racial Justice, suggests daily meditationand mindfulness “will help you develop the capacityto stay with the challenges of racism as it arises inthe world and strengthen your ability to workagainst it.” There are concrete practices within ourIgnatian spiritual tradition, such as the daily Exa-men, that build one’s inner capacity for mindfulness,courage and freedom. Mission officers might consider inviting individ-uals who have completed the Exercises to meet to-gether and reflect on their experiences. This bringsmore people, more voices, into the work of interpret-ing our sacred texts, traditions and future directions.Shawn Copeland, a Boston College theologian, de-scribes the centrality of genuine conversation in Je-suit education. “Jesuit education,” she writes,“draws inspiration from Ignatius’s penchant for andinsistence on conversation. Conversation requireshospitality, openness, testing, revision, and discov-ery. Genuine conversation may lead as well to thedisruption of conventional opinion, to encounterwith an ‘other’ who may change us radically. Gen-uine conversation lays the ground for solidarity andjustice.” Through conversation, we have an oppor-tunity to gather the graces of the many retreats, spir-itual direction sessions, prayer groups and 19thannotation programs we have held over many yearsso that they may inform our communal, public, andofficial discourse on mission. I learned that the Spir-itual Exercises and reflection on the Exercises canlead us to:

• Thinking outside the box.• Examining unexamined implicit biases. • Working through creative tensions.• Discovering new paths forward beyond our cur-

rent imaginations and perceived possibilities.

• Breaking through social and ecclesial tensions —often by giving individuals a stronger sense oftheir own voice and freedom.

• Engaging depth of thought and imagination.• Sharing stories and discovering a particular nar-

rative as an institution.• Recognizing collective experiences of cross and

resurrection, for ourselves personally and ourcommunities.

Christopher Pramuk of Regis University writes,“for Jesuits and laypersons alike, the spark that setsour common vision aflame is freedom itself, personaland communal, sustained by grace, centered in theheart, and the desire to join our freedom with othersin a story larger than ourselves.” This engagementwith suffering, this authentic empathy with the ex-cluded, the poor, the suffering in the world, is what,in my view, gives Jesuit education its teeth; it is whatkeeps us distinct. The Exercises, and shared reflec-tion on the Exercises, is one way in which we beginto recognize the suffering of the world not as a theybut an us, which is at the heart of the UniversalApostolic Preferences. Over these weeks I have seen that our practiceof “showing the way to God through discernmentwith the Exercises” was our hard-wired response inthe midst of unprecedented crises. In the midst of thecoronavirus pandemic, and grief over the killing ofGeorge Floyd and too many others, Jesuit-educatedstudents and institutional leaders have shown up increative and surprising ways to express support, sol-idarity and love to one another, and to build com-munity across distances. In the midst of panic andfear, our students, faculty, and staff turned to ourspiritual foundations, sought comfort and guidancefrom Ignatian prayer and texts, led Examens onYouTube, prayer services on Zoom, stood up for themost vulnerable in our communities, and presentedcreative innovations to maintaining community withour students, faculty, staff, and alumni spread farand wide. It makes me prouder than ever to be en-gaged in this work and more convinced than ever ofthe value of Jesuit education. In these uncertaintimes, I find consolation and hope in our future.

Julie Dowd is Director of University Ministry at

University of San Francisco.


In September 2015, Pope Francis stood alongsideJewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, and Chris-tian religious leaders in an underground chamber atthe 9/11 memorial where the victims of the WorldTrade Center attacks are honored. In one of the mostmoving scenes from his historic U.S. visit, each oneoffered prayers or meditations first in their sacredlanguages, then in English, and Pope Francis calledon the religious leaders who surrounded him to bea force for reconciliation. “In opposing every attemptto create a rigid uniformity,” he said, “we can andmust build unity on the basis of our diversity of lan-guages, cultures and religions, and lift our voicesagainst everything which would stand in the way ofsuch unity.” How timely his words are for us today. Jesuitcolleges and universities are more diverse than everbefore, including faculty, staff, and students rootedin a wide range of religious and cultural traditions.One way AJCU institutions can bring to life the firstuniversal apostolic preference — showing the wayto God through the Spiritual Exercises and discern-

ment — is to make the Spiritual Exercises accessibleto a wider range of faculty, staff, and students. Thisincludes adapting the Exercises in ways that willallow members of other faith traditions to benefitfrom them. In my recent book, A World on Fire: Shar-

ing the Spiritual Exercises with Other Religions (TheCatholic University of America, 2018), I discuss whyand how this should be done, and offer an overviewof what adaptations of the full and complete Exer-cises might look like for members of different reli-gious traditions. When we pursue the first Preference by workingto share the Exercises with those of other faiths, we aretaking up a challenge described by the previous supe-rior general of the Jesuits, Adolfo Nicolas, S.J.: “Whilethe Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius Loyola are radicallyChristo-centric, centered on the core notion of disci-pleship and the Kingdom of God, experience and thetestimony of non-Christians suggest that important el-ements of the Spiritual Exercises, especially those con-cerned with spiritual freedom, equipoise anddiscernment, can be fruitfully appropriated even bynon-Christians. I would like to underline this idea thatthe Spiritual Exercises can be shared by non-Chris-tians. … This is something I would like to see exploredmore and more. We particularly experienced this chal-lenge in Japan when non-Christians came to visit andasked if they could make the Exercises. This triggereda reflection, and it is one that we need to continue.What are the dynamics in the Exercises that nonbeliev-ers might make their own to find wider horizons inlife, a greater sense of spiritual freedom?” Fr. Nicolas’ words remind us that the SpiritualExercises can be life-changing not only for Chris-tians, but for members of other traditions, as well.In my book, I argue that the full and complete Exer-cises can and should be adapted for members of

Sharing the Exercises with Other Faiths

By Erin Cline

11

other faiths who are in-terested in them, but thatthis ought to be donecarefully, in ways thatmaintain their integrityand effectiveness. Wemust distinguish be-tween this task of adap-tation and the separateand distinct task of inno-vating new contempla-tive practices that areinspired by or draw cre-atively upon the Exer-cises. I explore examplesof both, and make the ar-gument that both areworthy endeavors. Yet inconsidering the task ofadapting the Exercisesfor members of otherfaiths, and in outliningadaptations for membersof other traditions, wemust consider a variety of difficult questions: Whatif you don’t believe in God, or your conception ofGod differs from conceptions of God in the Christiantradition? Can you still benefit from the IgnatianSpiritual Exercises? One of the reasons the Exercises are a worthy en-deavor for members of other traditions is preciselybecause they offer a different spiritual experiencethan those offered by other contemplative practices.It is helpful here to consider what Christians arelooking for when they seek contemplative practicesfrom other traditions, such as Buddhist or Hinduforms of meditation. In many, if not most, cases, theyare reaching beyond their own tradition in the hopeof finding something enriching to deepen their lifeof faith. The same is true for members of other faithswho are interested in the Exercises. So, instead ofadapting the Exercises in ways that remove or seekto avoid God, I argue that it is best to follow Ig-natius’s lead, and allow people to encounter God di-rectly through the Exercises for themselves. As theyencounter stumbling blocks related to their own re-

ligious background,adaptations should bemade just as they wouldbe for Christians. Formembers of other faiths,this may involve a fur-ther range of adaptationssuch as the addition ofreadings from their owntradition — something Iexplore in detail in theadaptations outlined inmy book. This is one wayof working to show theway to God through theExercises, even for thosewho may conceive ofGod differently.

The Exercises alsooffer resources for dis-cernment that are accessi-ble to those who comefrom different religiousbackgrounds. They offer

a way of learning to recognize God’s ongoing pres-ence and discerning God’s call in one’s life andwork, of deepening one’s relationship with God, andmaking decisions based on that relationship. Assuch, the prospect of sharing the Exercises withmembers of other religions invites us to a deeperform of inter-religious dialogue. Indeed, it invites usto move beyond dialogue to genuine understandingthrough practice. This form of dialogue is not boundup in technical terminology or confined to the arm-chair reflections of theologians and religious leadersbecause it beckons us to inter-religious understand-ing through religious experience. And so, when we share the Spiritual Exerciseswith those of other faiths, we are responding toPope Francis’ call for us to build unity on the basisof our differences — including our different reli-gious backgrounds.

Erin M. Cline is a professor of Theology at Georgetown

University.

The full and complete Exercisescan and should be

adapted for membersof other faiths whoare interested in

them, but this oughtto be done in waysthat maintain their

integrity and effectiveness.


At one point, there were plenty of Jesuits at our in-stitutions who could fulfill the call of the UniversalApostolic Preference to “show the way to Godthrough the Spiritual Exercises and discernment.”That is no longer the case. Accordingly, the MurphyCenter for Ignatian Spirituality of Fairfield Univer-sity has begun to train spiritual directors to providedirection and carry out this part of the mission of theSociety for years to come. Spiritual direction focuses on helping a personwith his or her relationship with God. In their bookThe Practice of Spiritual Direction, William A. Barry andWilliam J. Connelly sum up spiritual direction in twoquestions: “Who is God for me, and who am I forGod?” Spiritual direction is about what happens whena person listens to and responds to a self-communicat-ing God. Participating in spiritual direction enablessomeone to pay attention to God’s personal commu-nication and to respond to this personally communi-cating God. It facilitates growth in intimacy with God.Spiritual direction focuses on the interior life, the heart,the depths out of which a person lives, moves, and has

his or her being. The goal of spiritual direction ulti-mately aims at fostering union with God. The engagement of mind, body, and spiritneeded in becoming a spiritual director, makes it farmore than an intellectual project. We refer to theprocess of educating spiritual directors as formation,which necessitates that the person being trained isopen to growth and change. Formation focuses upthe spiritual director’s personhood in relationship tothe living God as it emerges out of the spiritual di-rection relationship. Throughout the formationprocess, the narrative of the spiritual director is con-stantly in dialogue with the course material. Didac-tics occur within an adult learning model thathighlights spiritual directors’ questions and insightsrather than lectures and presentations. Thus, forma-tion serves the dual purpose of developing characterand deepening the spiritual director’s faith. At Fairfield, we use a contemplative, evocativeapproach to teach our spiritual directors. Contem-plation means paying attention to the actions of Godin the world. Once the Spirit is noticed in contem-

Spiritual Direction and Training for Spiritual Directors

By Denis G. Donoghue, S.J.

The engagement ofmind, body, and spiritneeded in becoming a spiritual director,makes it far morethan an intellectualproject.

13

plation, the directorholds the experiencewith a reverence that in-vites the directee todeepen her or his rela-tionship with God. Thisdeepening takes placewhen the spiritual direc-tor helps the directee siftthrough his or her expe-riences by asking ques-tions that evoke theessence of God’s rela-tional presence in the ex-periences of the directee. Spiritual directionprimarily focuses on aperson’s experience ofGod, and that experienceis the starting place forunderstanding the unfolding dynamics. This makesspiritual direction ripe for using the Jesuit Pedagogywhich includes experience, context, reflection, ac-tion, and evaluation. The role of the spiritual directoris to receive the directee’s experience — often occur-ring in prayer but not limited to formal prayer, helpthe directee understand the context of the experi-ence, facilitate reflection upon that experience, aid indiscerning an action, and evaluating the outcome ofthe reflection and action. A parallel process takes place in the spiritual di-rectors. The formation of spiritual directors includesdeveloping their capacity to name their own experi-ence of providing spiritual direction, understandingthe context in which they are directing, reflectingupon what is going on between the directee and God,and discerning an action that emerges from this new-found understanding. The evaluation happens in re-lationship to the reflection and action taken by thespiritual director. That is why we keep our spiritualdirectors in the ongoing process of reflection outlinedby the Jesuit Pedagogy throughout their formation. In the second year of our two-year program,spiritual directors start to sit with directees. At thispoint, the spiritual director’s learning is enhancedby individual supervision. Here we see Jesuit Peda-gogy in full bloom. Through the use of verbatims

like small snippets of conversation from a spiritualdirection session aligned with the interior move-ments of the spiritual director, the director finds him-self or herself in the cycle of experience, context,reflection, action, and evaluation. After setting thecontext, the supervisor and the director combthrough the director’s reactions to the experience ofproviding spiritual direction by reflecting upon cer-tain parts of the verbatim to identify areas of unfree-dom, transference, and countertransference. Thisleads to a new way of being present (action) to his orher directee. Through the evaluation process, thespiritual director and the supervisor locate areaswhere change and growth need to take place. Because of the attrition of Jesuits, the spirituallegacy of our institutions must be carried on bylaypersons: What a gift to the Church and the Soci-ety. This shift provides the opportunity not only toaddress the first apostolic preference, but also to en-able Jesuit institutions to live up to their essentialvalues and mission.

Denis Donoghue, S.J. is the Director of the Murphy

Center for Ignatian Spirituality of Fairfield University.

He has practiced spiritual direction for the more than 20

years he has been a member of the Society of Jesus.


Each semester at Fairfield University’s Murphy Cen-ter for Ignatian Spirituality, we invite students to par-ticipate in “Encountering the Living God,” a 10-weekadaptation of the Spiritual Exercises of St. IgnatiusLoyola. This directed prayer experience offers stu-dents an opportunity to sit with a spiritual directorevery week to develop, deepen, and reflect upon theirrelationship with God. They focus on a growing inte-rior awareness of affect, imagination, and intellect.The majority of students come through one of two re-ligious studies classes taught each semester, “FindingGod in All Things” and “Christian Spirituality.” Theencounter is open to people of all faith backgroundsas well as those who are seeking a spiritual path. It isnot a requirement, but students are encouraged toparticipate with the enticement of not having to writean extensive research paper. Instead, they reflect ontheir personal experience of spiritual direction. Why the students come and how they come is asvaried as their personalities and backgrounds. Whilesome of the students come from families of faith inthe form of religious tradition, a very small numberidentify as churchgoing, sacramental Catholics.More often than not, students identify as spiritualbut without an understanding of what that means orhow that is being experienced. There is a sense ofdisconnectedness and anxiety that sits just below thesurface of social profiles, even for those studentswho consider themselves religious. Yet, the desire formore wells up from deep within them. Their com-ments suggest that what stirs them toward a spiri-tual journey is representative of any population

seeking to connect with God, themselves, and others.That noted, they are uncertain how to find supportand direction for their way on the path. In their ownwords, the students tell us:

• “I want deeper meaning in my life and connec-tion with God.”

• “I would like to become more spiritual. I feel likeI am running around and not appreciating theworld around me.”

• “I had a traumatic injury and am seeking hope,healing, and guidance.”

• “I would like to see where reflection and prayercan lead me.”

• “I want to get a better understanding of howGod is present or how I can make Him presentin my life.”

What the students experience is an encounterwith a trained spiritual director who accompaniesthem without judgement, expectation, or agenda.They grow in their understanding of self, God, andothers though silence, contemplation, discernment,and prayer. For many, this experience of sitting withanother who is there to help them discover the sa-cred, to listen attentively and reflect back the pres-ence of God, to reverence spiritual movements, togently nudge one toward wisdom and love, and tohelp articulate longings of deepest desire is noveland often disorienting. The experience brings a newsense of appreciation and gratitude for the simplegift of being that is at the heart of our humanity.They learn that spiritual direction is not therapy,which is designed to help work on thoughts, emo-

Encountering the Living GodOrganizing and Directing

the Spiritual Exercises in College Students

By Marcy Dolan Haley

15

tions, and behaviors that impact life and relation-ships. Rather, the Spiritual Exercises help focus theirawareness on spiritual desires, sacred experiences,and invitations to respond lovingly. A 10-week com-mitment to prayer and reflection leads to a deepen-ing trust in their interior experience and a growingsense of the light and love God. This is often thegrace they pray for and receive. “I find myself looking forward to my weeklysharing with my spiritual director and can honestlysay that I have received much more than I expected,”stated one participant. From another, this: “Sittingwith my spiritual director is so freeing because it isthe only time someone doesn’t want something fromme. I can just be with God.” We do not ask them to find God. We let God findthem. Ninety-nine percent of students who partici-pated indicate the experience broadened their senseof prayer. Ninety-eight percent have a better under-standing of how and where God is present in the

world and their lives. Ninety-five percent have adeeper relationship with God and a greater aware-ness of self. Inviting students to participate in thisencounter of God’s grace is steeped in the Ignatiancharism and the mission and identity of FairfieldUniversity. As St. Ignatius called his friends to leavethe monastery to engage with souls in the streets andbeyond, our modern Catholic, Jesuit institutions arebeing called to move beyond the altar, to find ourlost sheep, and bring them home to God. It is a hope-ful endeavor; and while we don’t have long-termdata on the impact of this experience on the lives ofour students, we trust in the grace that an encounterwith God will plant the seeds of conversion and bearspiritual fruit for years to come.

Marcy Dolan Haley is a trained spiritual director and

Assistant Director of the Murphy Center for Ignatian

Spirituality at Fairfield University.

Photos by Cassidy Kristiansen, courtesy of the Murphy Center for Ignatian Spirituality at Fairfield University.

I did not know much about the 10-Week Ignatian Ex-perience when I signed up for it. Although I haveworked at the Murphy Center for Ignatian Spiritualitysince my first semester at Fairfield University andhave seen people come in for appointments with theirspiritual directors, I never really knew what happenedduring those sessions. However, as soon as I met myspiritual director at my first appointment, I knew I hadmade the right decision about signing up for the pro-gram through my Christian Spirituality class. At my first appointment, my director greeted mewarmly and, when she introduced herself, I saw howpeaceful and happy she seemed. Once we sat down,I knew I was in a confidential space where I couldsafely be myself without having to worry aboutjudgement. The experience is different for everyonebecause the directee is essentially in control of the con-versation and can focus on whatever aspect of spiri-tuality he or she chooses. I grew up in a very religiousfamily, attending Catholic school my entire childhood,so I personally found myself focusing on the “where”

and “how” God was working in my life. Once my di-rector helped me identify times God had worked inmy life in the past, I looked forward to the process ofbeing able to recognize how He was continuing towork with me on a daily basis. As the weeks went on,I began noticing times where He was actively work-ing in my life. Decisions became easier to make as Igrew to understand the natural purpose of God’s willand His influence through others in my life. My director introduced me to different prayers,poems, and techniques along with morning andnightly prayer routines that I still practice today. I hadalso been dealing with a personal issue in my prayerlife for as long as I could remember, and I felt com-fortable enough to share it with my director. I reallyfelt that she understood what I was saying becauseshe immediately came up with a solution that I putinto practice that very night and I am glad to say ithas worked great ever since! With the help of my di-rector, I was able to get in touch with my personalspirituality on a deeper level and be more aware of

God working in my life. Ilearned that God’s will issomething truly magnificent.

The 10-Week Ignatian Expe-rience really taught me to livein the present moment and tohave gratitude for the blessingsGod has given me in my life.

Luke Marino is a member of the

Class of 2022 at Fairfield Uni-

versity, majoring in English with

minors in German and Business.

He was born and raised in

Delaware, grew up loving

hockey, and is a die-hard Philly

sports fan.

10-Week Experience Reflection

By Luke Marino

STUDENT VOICE


Murphy Center for Ignatian Spirituality at Dolan House, Fairfield University.

1. How does your institution treatthe Universal Apostolic Prefer-ences (UAPs) – is it yet anotherchallenge to add to the work youalready do or is it a way of bring-ing a focus and renewed vigor toprograms that already exist?

2. The UAPs are interconnected insuch a way that, when focusingon one, you might discover youare really looking at several. Dis-cuss the ways they are uniqueand the ways they build andsupport each other.

3. In what ways are the SpiritualExercises and Ignatian discern-ment manifest on your campus?Is group discernment used whenmaking decisions about the fu-ture of the institution? Why orwhy not?

4. Are formal Spiritual Exercises regularly available on your cam-pus to staff, faculty, students,and the community? Shouldthey be? What might the benefitsbe of offering them more widelyfor each of these groups?

5. As the pandemic has forced sep-aration, and classes, advising,and meetings are done remotely,how do you think the personalrelationships that Jesuit institu-tions work so hard to build willchange?

6. Who are the writers, thinkers,doers and artists whose workshelp you find God or becomemore spiritually aware? Why?Do you share their work withothers? How?

7. Pope Francis’ Laudato Si’ servedas the launching point for manyauthors writing about “caringfor our common home.” Whatdo you think it is about this en-cyclical that is so inspirational?

8. Many Jesuit institutions in theUnited States may seem out ofplace and perhaps out of touchwith the communities that sur-round them. What is your insti-tution doing to build andsustain meaningful relationshipswith its neighbors?

9. In what ways does your institu-tion incorporate climate changeinto the curriculum? Is it a topiconly for science classes or is itsomething English or economicsclasses can address?

10. Research is such an importantpart of the work of many Jesuitinstitutions. How will this bechallenged and changed by thepandemic?

Ten Questionsfor Continuing the Conversation

In the

spirit of

reflection,

we pose these

questions as

an opportunity

to extend the

conversation.

We hope that

by offering

these ideas,

the discussion

continues on

your campus—

with colleagues,

with students,

and with your

community.

We would love to keep the conversation going with your thoughts onthese or other topics online at conversationsmagazine.org. Have an ideayou would like to see on our website? Email [email protected].

17


Like our colleagues at other Jesuit institutions, weat Creighton University strive to holistically supportevery one of our students throughout their fouryears with us. Also like many other institutions, Je-suit and otherwise, we have discovered that our sec-ond-year students pose a particular challenge whenconsidering comprehensive advising and mentoringprograms. Considering their unique needs is impor-tant for both our mission and for retention. In recent years, universities have seen an in-creased focus on retention and graduation rates, asthese measures are considered important to under-standing the success of our students and of the uni-

versity overall. Retaining students every year is im-portant and, up until recently, sophomores had beenwhat many describe as the forgotten middle child.We all have first-year programs, we all have greatadvising within the major, but what is in place forour sophomore students, especially if they haven’tdeclared their major? Advising and supportingour sophomores is a challenge not because they aredifficult to work with, but rather because they aresuch a diverse group of students. Most are beginningto question just about everything around them –themselves, their beliefs, their family and friends, andtheir place in this world. It is a critical year in their de-

Discernment Becomes Center of Sophomore Advising Program

By Molly P. Loesche

Grand Entrance, Creighton University, Omaha. Photo by Raymond Bucko, S.J.

19

velopment, but each student is at a different stage inthis discernment process. It is our job, as a Jesuit uni-versity, to help our students through this process –help them reflect on who they are and discern wherethey belong. We had all of this in mind as we developed thesophomore year of our Haddix Ignatian AdvisingProgram, our four-year, comprehensive advisingprogram in the College of Arts and Sciences. Thisprogram, which is funded by a donation fromGeorge Haddix, ’66 and his wife, Susan, is rooted inIgnatian reflection and discernment. So how do wehelp this critical group of students reflect on their ex-periences and on themselves? How do we open theirhearts and minds to the possibilities, big and small,that lie ahead of them, and guide them to discerningtheir path forward? Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as having stu-dents attend an Ignatian reflection and discernmentretreat – trust us, we tried that. Our students struggleto manage their already very busy schedules andadding one more required event or activity is nothelpful. Along the same lines, we found that, becauseof their diversity, they prefer – they need – a more in-dividualized approach. As a result, we decided tobuild reflection and discernment into the relationshipsand experiences or activities they already have. We now kick off the sophomore year with an op-portunity for reflection and goal setting in a familiarspace – with their freshmen seminar groups – recon-necting them with their classmates and advisor. Ad-visors organize this class session however they wish,but they are given the option and guidance to do anExamen through Campus Ministry. Regardless of

how the time together is structured, the intention isthe same: Sophomores reflect on their first year atCreighton and plan for their second year. With theguidance of their advisor in a group meeting and ina follow-up one-on-one meeting, students identify afew goals for the year that are important to them. Advisors encourage their sophomores to worktoward their goals, checking in throughout the aca-demic year. For example, if a student sets a goal toget an internship, their advisor may suggest thatthey arrange an appointment with the Career Centeror attend the Career Fair. Following these activities,advisors have students reflect on the experience, ei-ther written or in-person. The goal is to restructurethe conversation between advisor and advisee,teaching students to think about their experiences re-flectively, whether formally or informally; our advi-sors play a critical role in this. We don’t yet have the data to suggest that thisprogram improves retention of our sophomores, butwe do think it is a step in the right direction. Severalsophomores shared with me that they enjoyed recon-necting with their freshmen seminar peers and theiradvisor at the beginning of the year. Anecdotally, itseems that by focusing the program on the relation-ships and experiences of each individual student,our students have felt cura personalis in their sopho-more year in a much more real way. This program has allowed us to put into actionCreighton’s mission to care for each student person-ally and holistically that we haven’t done before forour sophomores. Our hope is that the sophomoreyear of the Haddix Ignatian Advising Program pro-vides our students with the space to really explore

and reflect on the things that areimportant to them and their jour-ney. The reflective skills they de-velop with the guidance of theiradvisors will help them discerntheir path forward and will bevaluable for the rest of their lives.

Molly P. Loesche is the Assistant

Dean for Student and College

Programs at Creighton University.


“I dream of a ‘missionary option,’ that is a missionary

impulse capable of transforming everything so that

the Church’s customs, ways of doing things, times and

schedules, language and structures can be suitably

channelled for the evangelisation of today’s world

rather than for her self-preservation.”

- Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium n.27

What role can Jesuit higher education play in sup-porting this bold vision for a missionary, outward-facing Church that is not just reformed, buttransformed in every dimension? In this dream fora synodal Church, a community of disciples “on theroad together,” Pope Francis challenges clerical priv-ilege, autocratic bureaucracy, and the defensive, in-stitutional centricity still characteristic of much of theChurch today. These are, in fact, the very factors heidentified at the root of the twin crises of clergy sex-ual abuse and the mismanagement of the scandalsby Church authorities. It is in light of these realitiesthat Pope Francis calls the Church to conversionfrom these “diseases” at the personal, communal,and structural levels and calls forth a distinct kindof authority and leadership going forward. This “transformed” way of doing things de-mands a mature form of authority that humbly andgenerously serves people and also bears responsibilityfor the institution. It calls for a joyful, courageous, and

creative leadership, one that embraces vulnerabilityand acknowledges the need for grace. It is Pope Fran-cis’ call and his request for the Society of Jesus to sharethe gift of discernment that inspired the founding ofthe Program for Discerning Leadership. This special project of the International Associa-tion of Jesuit Universities is done in collaboration withthe Office of Discernment and Apostolic Planning atthe Jesuit General Curia, Le Moyne College, George-town University, the Escola Superior d’Administracioi Direccio d’Empreses (ESADE Business School) inBarcelona, Spain, and the Pontifical Gregorian Uni-versity, as well as the Union of Superiors General andthe International Union of Superiors General. The first Program for Discerning Leadership wassponsored by the Office of Discernment and Apos-tolic Planning at the General Curia and offered as apilot in 2019 with 30 carefully selected participants.Module 1 was held at the Curia over five days inMay 2019. Module 2 occurred over the course of fourdays in October 2019. The program brought togethermen and women from over 20 different countriesaround the world, including personnel from variedVatican dicasteries, superiors general of different fe-male and male orders and congregations, and somemembers of the Jesuit General Council. After the ini-tial pilot of the cohort-based, two-module program,Fr. Arturo Sosa, Superior General of the Jesuits, for-mally instituted the Program of Discerning Leader-ship as a special project of the InternationalAssociation of Jesuit Universities, working in part-

The Program for Discerning Leadership

A Project of the IAJU

and the Society of Jesus

By David McCallum, S.J.

21

nership with the Office of Discernmentand Apostolic Planning in the GeneralCuria of the Society of Jesus, and the Gre-gorian University. Georgetown Univer-sity, ESADE and Le Moyne Collegecontribute to the Program by offering lec-turers and staff to facilitate the coursemodules in Rome in both English andSpanish. The Gregorian University sup-ports the Discerning Leadership Programby offering course meeting rooms, facili-ties and spaces, and supplies faculty re-sources where needed. The program actively engages partic-ipants through a range of spiritual prac-tices from the Catholic faith andtemporal tools taken from the disciplinesof management and business. Fromguided reflections, spiritual conversations, and thepractice of discernment individually and in com-mon, the program is grounded in a commitment todeepening trust, which leads to an environment con-ducive to team spirit, peer learning, and community. Leadership that is marked by discernment im-plies a holistic way of living and, according to Fr.Sosa, enables participants “to enter in communionin the only body whose head is Christ.” When pairedwith the models and practices drawn from businessand management disciplines, discernment helpsChurch leaders grow not only in their leadership ef-fectiveness, but also in their ability to faithfully andjoyfully enact the Gospel mission given to theChurch by Jesus Christ. This transformed leadership is more character-ized by listening than speaking, and approaches de-cision-making as a creative and collaborativeexercise for the service of the world and especiallythose who are most marginalised. Calling for per-sonal humility and boldness in serving the mission,this emerging model of leadership requires self-awareness, maturity, and inner freedom from the at-tachments that derail one from the service andoutwardly-facing orientation characteristic ofChrist’s own ministry. As decision-making is an es-sential function of leadership, Pope Francis has sug-gested in Laudato Si that the principles, values, andprocesses that influence our decisions must reflect

broader concerns than efficiency, effectiveness, bot-tom-line growth, or quantifiable success. Instead,Francis is calling for leadership guided by the essen-tial inquiry, “what is the Holy Spirit calling us todo?” As a result, the capacity for and the practice ofindividual and collective discernment is at the heartof this emerging mode of leadership. The program will facilitate and support the par-ticipants acquiring the attitudes, skills, and knowl-edge required to lead in a synodal manner, in a wayof proceeding that is discerning, process-oriented,collaborative, and creative. In defining leadershipcompetencies that include communications, conflictmanagement, strategy, change management, andhuman resource management, we do not intend tosubstitute what participants might learn through anMBA program. Rather, the goal is to help them un-derstand and practice the integration of these skillsin a discerning, reflective manner that involvesprayer as an essential feature. We believe thatChurch leaders enabled and empowered to lead inthis manner will, over time, transform the Churchand enact the synodal ecclesial community that PopeFrancis is calling forth from all of us.

David McCallum, S.J. serves as the VP for Mission

Integration and Development at Le Moyne College and

as the Executive Director of the Program for Discerning

Leadership.

The Program for Discerning Leadership began with 30 carefully selectedparticipants from over 20 countries.

Each November, the seven small white crosses rep-resenting the Jesuit martyrs of El Salvador appear ona patch of green lawn on our campus. I had heardtheir story many times. I admit, however, with cha-grin, that it took me a long time to make the connec-tion between their lives and my work as a facultymember at a Jesuit university. That began to change during an immersion tripto El Salvador, when I was introduced to the field ofliberation psychologies and, specifically, to thefounding work of Fr. Ignacio Martin-Baró, S.J. Hewas a social psychologist and department chair atthe Universidad Centroamericana — José Simeón

Cañas (UCA) in San Salvador. On Nov. 16, 1989,while working on a manuscript late into the night,he was pulled out of his office and shot alongside hiscolleagues and friends. Somehow, the fact that hewas a fellow psychologist, a colleague killed for hisconvictions and commitments, struck a new chordin me. I discovered that his work deeply resonatedwith me — his call to historicize and contextualizepersons in their cultural, political, and social reali-ties; to question how and from whose perspectiveswe frame our research questions; and most of all, hischallenge to orient our work toward the margins.His goal for liberation psychologies was no less thanthe transformation of society itself. In his life andwritings, I found renewed meaning for how I con-ducted my own research and teaching at LoyolaMarymount University, and how I could contributemore fully to the university’s mission and values, es-pecially the service of faith and promotion of justice. Studying and teaching liberation psychologies at aJesuit institution felt right for many reasons. Yearsbefore, as I was completing my pre-doctoral intern-ship as a clinical psychologist in Los Angeles, I re-member watching the city erupt into chaos andflames at the pronouncement of a “not guilty” ver-dict in response to the brutal beating of Rodney Kingby three white police officers. I was finishing up aday of seeing clients when the news came out, andwas deeply shaken as the limits of my training anddisciplinary horizon seemed suddenly, harshly re-vealed to me. From that point onward, I experienceda sharp disconnect from my chosen field with itsfocus on the personal wounds and consequences ofinjustice while lacking equal attention to the sourcesof this systemic wounding in our society. Psychology has often contributed to obscuringthe relationship between personal estrangement

Contemplatives In ActionA Liberation Psychologies Perspective

By Jennifer Abe


23

and social oppression, presentingpathology of persons as if it were some-thing removed from history and society,and behavioral disorders as if theyplayed themselves entirely in the indi-vidual plane. When I finally read his work, I felthow precisely Martin-Baró named the ab-sence I had long experienced about myfield: the gap between personal and col-lective experience, and between individ-ual well-being and social justice. Hiswords pierced me. Fast forward 10 years, and I foundmyself also thinking more about our in-terdependence and interconnectedness ashuman beings, not just with each other aspart of a social fabric with different reali-ties, but also our relationship to other liv-ing beings and the natural world. I beganco-teaching an interdisciplinary class,Contemplatives in Action, which in-cludes attention to our relationship to na-ture and the life around us, as well aswithin us. This dual task of looking in-ward to our own struggles and emotions,as well as outward to the realities of en-vironmental degradation, suffering, andoppression, represents both invitationand challenge. In both places, beauty andbrokenness, oppression and solidarity,exist side by side. In closely consideringthese multiple realities, we and our students havebeen invited into a space where we learn to valueand practice being “simul in actione contemplativus.”

Inner experiences and outer conditions. Personalwell-being and social healing. Gradually, I also feltpieces of my own experiences and history gettingstitched back together into a more integrated whole. Pope Francis has called us to reach toward an“integral ecology” in which the complex realities ofthe environment, social injustices, and human rela-tions, are understood and experienced as part of alarger, deeply interconnected whole. Liberation psy-chologies has been a pathway that has invited meinto such a perspective that leads to “painful aware-

ness” yes, but also other unexpected consequences.Humility. Gratitude. Vulnerability. Connection.Martin-Baró and his companions have left us witha rich intellectual legacy, one that insists on seeingthe whole, challenging us not only to connect thedots, but to respond accordingly, with mind, body,and soul. Education of the whole person. This is theeducational experience I want to be part of — find-ing possibilities for wholeness, healing, justice, andrenewal in our world in the company of studentsand colleagues.

Jennifer Abe is vice president for Intercultural Affairs at

Loyola Marymount University.

Fr. Ignacio Martin-Baró, S.J. Illustration by Suzanne Ouellette.


I was first introduced to the Spiritual Exercises of St.Ignatius at the close of my senior year when I partic-ipated in a silent retreat to close out my college ex-perience. There were other ways in which I wasintroduced to the Exercises as a student, this silentretreat was the first time I had the opportunity toenter them deeply through eight full days of silenceand prayer. The experience of the retreat, and yes thesilence, was so rich, I came back for more, participat-ing in an annual Ignatian retreat whenever the op-portunity presented itself. I cannot emphasize enough that it is only in doingthe Exercises that one can begin to understand whatthey make possible. This should come as no more ofa surprise than if I said that it is in going to the gymand working out rather than reading about workingout that one can really understand the benefits ofphysical exercise. To a point, one can learn about theExercises from reading about them. I have learned

most from communities of learners accompanied bythose who have also experienced the Exercises. Butexperiencing them is even more valuable. The written work of the Spiritual Exercises of St.Ignatius is a how-to book for those who wish to ac-company others. There are a number of translationsavailable, but I find I turn to Draw Me into Your Friend-

ship: The Spiritual Exercises a Literal Translation & a Con-

temporary Reading by David L. Fleming, S.J., (Institutefor Jesuit Sources, 1996) most often. Fleming offers aside-by-side translation of the Exercises that allowsreaders to benefit from the fruits of his many years ofgiving them in his contemporary rendering. Morevaluable for those who will not become spiritual di-rectors but want to learn about Ignatian Spirituality isa much smaller volume he has written titled simplyWhat is Ignatian Spirituality? (Loyola, 2008) that in-cludes chapters with titles like “A Reflective Spiritu-ality” and “A Way to Clarify Your Values.”

There are Many Paths to and Throughthe Spiritual Exercises

By Catherine Punsalan-Manlimos

25

I want to highlight three other books that gothrough the movement of the Spiritual Exercises andbring out their adaptability. The Spiritual Exercises Re-

claimed: Uncovering Liberating Possibilities for Women

by Katherine Dyckman, Mary Garvin, and ElizabethLiebert offers a helpful guide that highlights thechallenges, if not dangers, and opportunities of theExercises for women. Dean Brackley’s The Call to Dis-

cernment in Troubled Times: New Perspectives on the

Transformative Wisdom of Ignatius of Loyola is a workthat, as someone originally from the global south, Ifind especially compelling and challenging. It is suf-fused with the wisdom the author gained from yearsof accompanying and being accompanied by themost vulnerable Salvadorans like the campesinos. Fi-nally, The New Spiritual Exercises: In the Spirit of Pierre

Teilhard de Chardin (Paulist, 2010) by Louis M. Savaryengages the Exercises from the vision of Teilhard, acosmic vision that invites an appreciation of diver-sity as the expression of increasing unity. The article “Ignatian Spirituality” by HowardGray, S.J., is one in which I found clarity aroundwhat Ignatian Spiritualty could bring to my teachingand scholarship as well as my everyday encounters.it can be found in Ignatian Spirituality Reader ((LoyolaPress, 2008) edited by George Traub. It succinctlysummarizes what Ignatian Spirituality invites interms of attention, reverence and devotion. The en-tire volume is a rich resource.

Other works that Ihave found helpful indeepening my experi-ence of the Exercises in-clude the poetry of MaryOliver, which invites at-tentiveness in just theway that Gray describes.Margaret Silf’s works, es-pecially Inner Compass:

An Invitation to Ignatian

Spirituality (Loyola Press,1999), which demon-strates the practicality ofIgnatian Spirituality. The works of Greg Boyle, Tat-

toos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion

(Free Press, 2010) and Barking at the Choir: The Power

of Radical Kinship (Simon & Schuster, 2017), are suf-fused with stories that illustrate elements of the spir-itual journey from brokenness through kinship to aprofound awareness of the depth of God’s love. The key to reading these texts is to be attentivein exactly the way they invite.

Catherine Punsalan-Manlimos, Ph.D., Assistant to

the President for Mission Integration at the University

of Detroit Mercy is a systematic theologian and

spiritual director.

In the fall of 1871, St. Ignatius College— along with the rest of the city itcalled home — found itself in thecrosshairs of the Great Chicago Fire.The college had opened just one yearearlier to serve a burgeoning immi-grant population in a booming city. Itsvisionary founder, Father ArnoldDamen, S.J., was on business in NewYork as the flames blazed acrossChicago, and when word of the firereached him by telegram he respondedin the best way he knew: praying toGod to spare his school and its adjacentparish, Holy Family. Whether or not it was a case of di-vine intervention, the church and col-lege were indeed spared by the flamesthat ravaged the city. As one of the fewbuildings to survive, St. Ignatius —which would be re-chartered in 1909 asLoyola University Chicago — becameboth a refuge for citizens and a re-source for rebuilding a great city. Fa-ther Damen, a nationally renownedJesuit preacher, leveraged his networkof business leaders and philanthropiststo bring new investment and ambi-tious entrepreneurs to Chicago, andthe city rose from the ashes.

From those humble beginnings,Loyola has remained deeply inter-twined with the life of the city. The uni-versity’s urban Jesuit mission hasfostered the aspirations of generations,and Loyola alumni, faculty, staff, andstudents have helped drive Chicago’semergence as a global center of educa-tion, commerce, and culture.

Early Years

Father Damen had come to Chicago in1856 to establish Holy Family Parish,the first Jesuit church in Chicago. Butin the spirit of the Jesuit mission, his ul-timate calling was to establish a collegefor the immigrant families pouringinto the city. Erected in 1869 on thecity’s near west side, St. Ignatius Col-lege opened on Sept. 5, 1870, with aclass of just 37 students. The college grew quickly andmoved from a single building to itscurrent campus on the lakefront inChicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood,then spread into the downtown Looparea with the establishment of its firstprofessional schools. The university’sfootprint later stretched into the west-

ern suburbs, where a health sciencescampus was created.

Urban Focus, GlobalReach

As it grew, Loyola reached out to stu-dents from all backgrounds and faithtraditions. In an era when elite univer-sities had quota systems for Jewish stu-dents and other minorities, Loyolaopened its doors. When it dedicated


Called to Inspire Hope

Loyola University Chicago at 150

By Christian Anderson and Scott Alessi

AN HISTORICAL MOMENT

Arnold Damen, S.J.

27

one of the first schools ofsocial work in the UnitedStates in 1914, Loyola en-rolled its first female stu-dents. In the post-WorldWar II drive for civilrights, Loyola increasedefforts to recruit African-American and Hispanicstudents with programsaimed at meeting theiracademic, social, and fi-nancial needs. The fa-mous interracial “Gameof Change” — which the1963 men’s basketballteam played en route towinning the NCAAchampionship — sig-naled a watershed in race relations andsymbolized Loyola’s legacy of educa-tion and social justice. And most re-cently, Loyola’s Stritch School ofMedicine became the first medicalschool in the country to establish a pro-gram for openly accepting DACA-sta-tus students. Over the decades, Loyola has be-come one of the largest Catholic re-search universities in the nation,conducting groundbreaking scholar-ship in business, law, medicine, educa-tion, public health, and sustainability.

Ongoing Innovation

Perhaps Loyola’s greatest strength hasremained its ability to innovate andevolve. Much like Father Damen sawthe need for a college to serveChicago’s immigrant population in thelate-19th Century, the university recog-nized a similar issue of college comple-tion among low-income minoritystudents in underserved areas of thecity. In 2015, Loyola responded withthe creation of Arrupe College, a two-year, associate-degree program thatwas the first of its kind in Jesuit educa-tion. Not only have Arrupe studentsoutperformed national averages forgraduation rates from two-year col-leges, they have gone on to earn bach-

elor’s degrees from prestigious univer-sities, while Arrupe itself has become anational model for supporting first-generation students on their way to ac-ademic success and a college degreewithout daunting financial hurdles. Today Loyola has more than17,000 students across three Chicago-area campuses and the John FeliceRome Center in Italy. It is home to 14schools, colleges, and institutes. It isamong the top schools in the nation forgraduating women in the STEM fields,and the Institute for EnvironmentalSustainability has established Loyolaas a leader in green technology andpolicy development. In 2019, Loyolaestablished the Parkinson School ofHealth Sciences and Public Health to

address the increasing demand forskilled health care professionals andgrowing demands in the field of publichealth — needs that were only provengreater as the coronavirus pandemicspread worldwide just 12 months later. As it enters its next 150 years, Loy-ola continues to look forward toemerging challenges with its legacy ofeducation, innovation, translational re-search, access to compassionate healthcare, civil discourse, and social justice.“The essential energy of the Jesuit tra-dition is a forward momentum that an-ticipates and adapts to the future,”Loyola’s current and first lay presidentJo Ann Rooney told a campus audiencerecently. “We head into our 150th an-niversary at a time eerily similar to that

of our founding, withglobal conflict, culturalcomplexity, and eco-nomic volatility. But ourmission is unchanged.We are called as a Jesuitinstitution to shed ourintelligence upon oursocial realities, and useour time, talents, and in-fluence to transformthem. We are called toinquire and educate. Weare called to inspirehope.”

Photos courtesy of Loyola University Chicago.


“I don’t know how to think about college or careerin light of the coming apocalypse,” Leo, a first-yearstudent from rural Indiana said to me during a per-sonal conversation about five years ago. As an early leader of sustainability on Xavier’scampus, I was familiar with students’ anxietiesabout global climate destabilization and thought Iwas prepared. But there it was, something I thoughtof every day, even as I avoided facing it head on. Ihad never had a student, certainly not a first-year,put so bluntly what he or she feared. Even thoughLeo expressed his thoughts poignantly, his statementsounded like what many other faculty members inthe Ignatian Pedagogy for Sustainability (IPS) groupwere saying about their students.

Even before that conversation with Leo, I knewstudents deserved a different kind of education thanI had received. I am still uncertain what such an ed-ucation is, but with my colleagues in IPS, we arefinding some answers. Even more importantly, weare finding the courage to teach and accompanyyouth with truth, action, and thus, hope.

Jesuit Education and Sustainability

Leo’s troubling reality fits squarely within what Ithink of as a global Jesuit moment. In 2013, a Jesuitwas named pope. Then Pope Francis wrote an en-cyclical on the environment. Laudato Si’ has been

Ignatian Pedagogy for Sustainability

Global Crises and the Jesuit Moment

By Kathleen R. Smythe

29

read and used by religious fig-ures and educators, and not justCatholic ones, worldwide. Ami-tav Ghosh has noted in The Great

Derangement that Laudato Si’

makes a more meaningful call toaction than the Paris Climate Ac-cord. A German filmmaker madea documentary, “Pope Francis: AMan of His Word.” Last year, theSociety of Jesus released the Uni-versal Apostolic Preferences. These preferences speak to aglobe in crisis, not just economi-cally, ecologically or politically,but also spiritually. And this, in-deed, is what sets these Jesuitpronouncements apart from somuch that we hear about ourtroubling times. What strikes meabout the four preferences istheir powerful interconnected-ness. The fourth, “to collaboratein care of our Common Home,”seems absolutely fundamental toachieving the third, “accompany-ing young people in the creationof a hope-filled future.” Leo’sdeep existential crisis can onlyease in a world where large-scaleimmediate action for carbon re-duction is taking place. And thiswork, as the Jesuit moment at-tests, requires “a way to God” asindicated in the first preference. This marrying of political,spiritual, and economic action ispathbreaking. Much public at-tention is on solving global cli-mate change by technology,engineering, and electing theright politicians. And eventhough sustainability educationis increasingly common, it al-most always ignores the humanspirit. At the Sustainability Cur-

riculum Consortium, for exam-ple, core competencies for sus-tainability degree programs havebeen identified: systems think-ing, futures thinking, valuesthinking, strategic thinking, in-terpersonal competence, andproblem-solving competence.Such competencies assume, ifyou will, a citizen or studentstripped of emotion, anxiety, em-beddedness; a person withoutspirit or the capacity to soar withhope and promise and to hit rockbottom with grief and challenge.It assumes that Leo and otherslike him do not exist. And this iswhere the Jesuit moment ispoised to offer a much-neededcorrection to ideas and action inthe face of global instability.Without attention to our spirits,sustainability education and ac-tion will not be successful.

Ignatian Pedagogy for Sustainability

The Ignatian Pedagogy Para-digm (IPP) calls for integration ofcontext, experience, reflection,action, and evaluation. Twenty-five years ago, the InternationalCommission on the Apostolate ofJesuit Education wrote that weneed a pedagogy that endeavorsto form men and women for oth-ers in a postmodern world whereso many forces are at work thatare antithetical to the Jesuit mis-sion. In light of our mounting en-vironmental challenges, those ofus involved in Ignatian Peda-gogy for Sustainability believe

A Quick Explanationof Terms

The IPCC (the acronym for the “Con-ference of Interested Parties”) is abody created in 1988 by the UnitedNations and academic societies totrack scientific research of climatechange and to communicate thesefindings to the world. They read re-search from many branches of sci-ence, looking at causes of climatechange, the consequences, and ideasfor protecting us from those conse-quences. Every few years they meetwith the heads of their 195 memberstates to discuss any changes, exam-ine the action plans already in place,and to hear about the progress ofeach nation’s work towards its own cli-mate goals. Their searchable reportsare all online at ipcc.ch.

The IPP is a five-part model of teach-ing based on Jesuit traditions of per-sonal formation. It asks faculty andstaff to reflect on and integrate stu-dents’ contexts into course planning.This model asks us to help studentsbring their experiences to what theyare learning and to have some experi-ence of what the new ideas feel like tothem. In this paradigm, students learnto reflect on what they learn and howthey learn it, and they are challengedto act on what they have discovered.Finally, as a part of helping students togrow into life-long learners, they areguided in learning to evaluate theirwhole learning process.


that given the severity of the present situation, an ex-plicit broadening and deepening of this pedagogy tolink personal growth (expansive self-understanding)to civic responsibility is imperative to guide studentstoward resilience and the capacity to act, both re-verse course and adapt. We believe that anythingshort of a radical educational response is unfair toour students and fails our mission. We stress that civic responsibility is as importantas social justice, which too often takes the form ofeasier, short-term palliative remedies rather thanmore difficult and lasting institutional change. Igna-tian pedagogy and the Jesuit mission generally, intheory at least, have been aimed at social systemsand social structures but this work — and the actionit implies — is not as prominent in our institutionsas it must be.

IPS in Action

I have been using the five themes as a foundation formy teaching for the last five years and draw on myown and my colleagues’ experiences with it as I dis-cuss the IPS themes that parallel the IPP. The first theme — context from IPP — is truth,honesty, and humility. It calls for being honest withourselves and our students and being co-learnerswith everyone; assuming a position of humility inthe face of planetary challenges that remind us thereare no simple answers. My colleagues and I do notskirt the fact that the weather outside is weird, thatit frightens us, that it makes us wonder if we have afuture to which we can look forward. We talk aboutchoices we make in terms of food, consumption, en-ergy, and transportation but also the need to join or-

Photos by Gregory Rust, courtesy of Xavier University.

31

ganizations and work collectively. We question thebedrock assumptions of Western knowledge, such asscientism, progress, and aversion to physical labor. Experience, the second theme, is multiple meth-ods of knowing: scientific, embodied, spiritual, cul-tural, artistic, humanistic, and experiential. It callsfor integrating multiple modes of knowing to ensurethat we and our students are engaged heart, soul andbody. Breaking disciplinary boundaries is not easyfor those of us trained rigorously in one disciplinebut doing so models for students both truth and hu-mility, as we learn alongside them. It also models thekinds of complex problem-solving our students needto learn. Ideological and disciplinary divisions aswell as short-term, campus-bound teaching only re-inforces the crises facing us. A theology professor atLoyola University Chicago incorporates NativeAmerican spirituality and political protest into hiscourses; an African historian at Xavier teaches aboutthe deep history of agriculture; and a sociologist atCanisius about urban gardening near campus. The third theme, reflection, is time, concentra-

tion and imagination. It calls for taking time forprayer, reflection, meditation, self- and other-com-passion, for focusing on what really matters and en-visioning and then moving into the lives we want tolive, removing the barriers in everyday life that limitfocus on important concerns. Colleagues atCreighton University have structured an entire sus-tainability seminar around practices that permit stu-dents to slow down and take care both in terms oftheir own wellbeing and that of the planet’s. Theymeditate in class and spend several weeks in “mediafasting,” fasting, reducing waste, seeking alternativetransportation and local food. I open all my classeswith a few minutes of silent mindful breathing anda statement of gratitude, explaining. I note St. Ig-natius’ belief that ingratitude is the worst possiblesin. It feeds manic consumption and social isolation,among many other things. Action, the fourth theme, is community, service,and obligations. It calls for service to communitiesto which we feel a sense of belonging and obligationand to which we devote some of our energy and


time for common goals and purposes. These can befamilies, neighborhoods, cities, religious communi-ties, political parties, nonprofit organizations,schools, universities, or any others. This theme as-sumes a long-term obligation to others regardless ofuncertainty. This is the hardest one to implement ina semester-long course, but it is certainly possible toexpose students to people who belong to communi-ties and to communities themselves of which theycould be a part. Some of the same colleagues atCreighton have spent class time supporting andspreading the word about the recent Divest Creightonmovement, communicating to students that their ac-tions are appreciated and in line with some faculty’sinterpretation of the Jesuit mission. In a course in oneof Xavier’s honor programs, a colleague has studentswork on a political campaign one semester and pro-mote a local policy issue another semester. Studentsat Loyola University Chicago created a biodiesel gen-erator from products that would have been disposedof in their community. It now provides fuel for theirinter-campus buses. The fifth theme, evaluation, is integrity with na-ture. It involves recognizing and acting upon the sci-

entific truths of our interdependence on the naturalworld around us and being attentive to the lessons wereceive when we are reflective about being part of andinteracting in nature. Meeting in an outdoor classroomconsistently and being explicit about the classroomand institutional setting as an integral part of the edu-cational environment; taking students for a hike or acanoe trip; even creating classes based on cycling andwalking are ways of meeting this fifth theme. A col-league at a private liberal arts college in Vermont whohas attended several of our gatherings is offering awalking class where students will consider the philo-sophical, physiological, psychological, and environ-mental aspects of walking. We want students to feelthey are of nature rather than different from it. Like IPP, the IPS is meant to be a living formulafor teachers and students. Everyone will make useof it differently depending on the discipline, course,and personality of the teacher and classroom.

Kathleen R. Smythe is a professor and chair of the

History Department at Xavier University. More about

the IPS’s members and efforts is available at Xavier

University’s Mission and Identity website.

33

The theological conviction at the heart of Laudato Si’

is that God creates the human person to be in intimateand loving communion with God, neighbor, andearth. Moreover, the encyclical affirms that God callsthe human person to preserve these bonds of com-munion through attentively caring for “the garden ofthe world.” Pope Francis, thus, surfaces a keydimension of the character of human morallife that, too often, has been submerged in themodern Western Christian imagination: loveof earth (not simply love of God and neigh-bor) is constitutive of the universal call to ho-liness. Following the encyclical’s line of theo-logical reasoning one step further, one findsthat the reality of sin does not simply impairor distort one’s relationship with God andneighbor, but also with the earth itself. Thisis most profoundly captured in Francis’s in-terpretation of the Cain and Abel narrative,Francis writes:

God asks: “Where is Abel your brother?”Cain answers that he does not know, andGod persists: “What have you done? Thevoice of your brother’s blood is crying tome from the ground. And now you arecursed from the ground.” Disregard for theduty to cultivate and maintain a proper re-lationship with my neighbor, for whosecare and custody I am responsible, ruinsmy relationship with my own self, with oth-ers, with God and with the earth. When allthese relationships are neglected, when

justice no longer dwells in the land, the Bibletells us that life itself is endangered.

From this perspective, then, bearing witness toGod’s desire to save the world from sin demands thework of confronting and repairing not only social in-justice but also ecological injustice within history.

Integral EcologyThe Call to Conversion in the Age of Cain

By Daniel P. Castillo


It is against this theological backdrop that onecan best understand the concept of integral ecology,which is the organizing concept of the entire encycli-cal. Integral ecology is a political ecological concept.It expresses Pope Francis’s vision of how humanityis called to organize rightly the interrelated ecologi-cal and socio-economic dimensions of the world, sothat the world might reside more deeply within thefullness of life. For the pope, the realization of an in-tegral ecology demands that societies be fundamen-tally oriented toward making a preferential optionfor the earth and the poor. In other words, in learn-ing to hear and respond to the cries of the earth andpoor in history, the human person also learns torightly care for the garden of the world and, thereby,can begin to repair the bonds of communion forwhich the human has been created.

It is of paramount importance to recognize thatFrancis finds that the political ecology of the contem-porary “global system” does not make manifest theinterconnected options for the earth or poor. Instead,the neoliberal global system, governed by a destruc-tive form of technocratic logic, encourages the selfishexploitation of both the poor and the earth in the serv-ice of seeking short-term financial gain for a small mi-nority of humanity. To appeal to Ignatius of Loyola’sSpiritual Exercisers, we might say that Francis findsthe global system is organized around “the Standardof Satan” seeking first and foremost wealth and hon-ors, for the prideful exaltation of the architects of theglobal system. Or to place it into the theological termsoutlined above, Laudato Si’ presents the global systemas a system that has sprung out of the heart of Cain.As a result, “life itself is endangered.”

Photos courtesy of Loyola University Maryland.

Given the encyclical’s judgment of the state of theworld, it is unsurprising to find that Laudato Si’ em-phasizes the urgent need for the radical conversion ofthe global system. The encyclical’s call for the trans-formation of the status quo is a call not only to per-sonal conversion but also to cultural andsocio-economic conversion at the structural level. Torealize these profound and profoundly challengingforms of conversion, the encyclical intimates that theworld must confront and redress its exploitive colo-nial and neocolonial heritages that have incurred vast“ecological debts” that are owed to exploited peoplesand the lands upon which they live. Likewise, theworld must confront and denounce obfuscating ide-ologies that serve to justify the status quo even as thatstatus quo steers the world toward catastrophe. At this point, it should be apparent that Laudato

Si’ is not simply an “environmental encyclical” butis better understood as a holistic theological reflec-

tion on the complex character of nature, history, andsociety. By this same token, when Jesuit universities— their students, faculty, staff, and administrations— approach this encyclical, they should not view itsimply as an object of interest for courses in ethicsand, perhaps, the environmental sciences. Rather,the encyclical recommends itself to the university asa tool for organizing the mission for the institutionas a whole. Likewise, Laudato Si’ challenges all dis-ciplines in academia to work toward producingknowledge that can hasten our conversion towardthe preferential options for the earth and poor in ourworld today. These tasks are of the utmost urgency.

Daniel P. Castillo is Director of the Master of Theologi-

cal Studies Program at Loyola University Maryland

and author of An Ecological Theology of Liberation: Salvation and Political Ecology.

35


Libraries are organizations based on the principleof sustainability because they exist to share limitedresources with a multitude of people, many ofwhom may not be able to afford access to thosesame materials. The University of Scranton’s Weinberg Memo-rial Library has been directly participating in sus-tainability initiatives for more than a decade now. Itleads by example in implementing green measuressuch as LED lighting, motion sensors, double-sidedprinting, print quotas, water bottle filling stations,hosting sustainability lectures, and environmentallythemed art shows well before they became common-place. In addition, the library attempts to collaboratewith students, staff, and faculty on sustainability ini-tiatives whenever possible. A somewhat recent and notable collaborativesustainability project is Bike Scranton, a bicycle-shar-ing program initiated by the Lackawanna HeritageAuthority (LHVA), a county municipal authority, andthe University’s Sustainability Coordinator, who is aleader in the facilities and maintenance department.

In 2015, the LHVA secured funding to purchasebicycles for lending to the local community. In thispartnership, the Weinberg Memorial Library servesas a stable lending location that is open throughoutthe week and into the late evenings, which allowsLackawanna County residents, as well as ScrantonUniversity students, staff, and faculty, expanded ac-cess to the bicycles. Today, the bicycles are used forriding local heritage trails, and also for travel aroundthe city by students interested in learning moreabout the area, and by community members to runerrands around town. To make Bike Scranton possible, the libraryleverages its technology, staff, and operations totrack and lend materials such as bicycles and hel-mets in the same way we check out books and lap-tops. The program is highly successful, and we haveadded bicycles each season to accommodate in-creased demand. Though the program is successful, it is not with-out its headaches. The circulation staff regularlydeals with mundane issues such as loose brakes,chains, and seats, but also more complex issues, suchas filing police reports when bikes are stolen. Fur-thermore, the library is in near-constant contact withthe Sustainability Coordinator so bicycles receiveregular maintenance to ensure that they are safe forour riders. Though there are headaches involved, the libraryweighs the staffing burden and general woes againstits commitment to sustainability and the benefit to ourcommunity. Every year we conclude that the positiveimpact of the program on our community and ourshared home is well worth the extra effort.

George Aulisio is associate professor and chair of the

Department of Faculty Librarians at the University of

Scranton. He is currently completing his doctorate in

philosophy at Temple University.

Libraries are Sustainability Leaders

By George J. Aulisio

Photo courtesy of University of Scranton.

37

“The urgent challenge to protect our common homeincludes a concern to bring the whole human familytogether to seek a sustainable and integral develop-ment, for we know that things can change.” With this inspiration from Pope Francis’ Encycli-cal Laudato Si’, researchers at Marquette Universityare engaged with community partners to addresssome of the world’s most pressing environmentalsustainability issues. Environmental engineers, sci-entists, water law and policy experts, educationscholars, political scientists, economists, and data sci-entists, among others, are collaborating with corpo-rate partners, community organizations, andindividuals whose lives are directly impacted by en-vironmental concerns. The work of Stefan Schnitzer from the Depart-ment of Biological Sciences exemplifies how globalresearch activities can impact the education of stu-dents in urban Milwaukee. With funding from theNational Science Foundation over the past decade,the Schnitzer lab has developed a successful TropicalForest Research Experience for Teachers program. Todate, nearly 20 teachers from the Milwaukee PublicSchools (MPS) have participated in his team’s eco-logical research program in the Republic of Panama,where they have participated in data collection andhypothesis testing. In addition to hands-on experi-ence in cutting-edge ecological research, these teach-ers have also developed creative and dynamicmulti-unit lesson plans and teaching modules on

tropical biology guided by the Next Generation Sci-ence Standards (NGSS). These teaching modules andlesson plans are then shared with other MPS teachersduring post-trip teaching workshops hosted at Mar-quette University. More than 50 teachers have par-ticipated in the workshops and, to date, the teachingmodules and resources have been used to educatemore than 500 MPS students. Another partnership with MPS was developedby Kyana Young, a postdoctoral researcher in envi-ronmental engineering who applied to the Univer-sity’s Explorer Challenge innovation fund to createProject Water, a program designed to empower highschool students from groups historically underrep-resented in science, math, and engineering to be fu-ture leaders and problem-solvers. This programtrains students with knowledge and technical skillsin environmental science and microbiology that willbe needed to solve and prevent future environmen-tal crises. The program normally runs in Marquette’soff-campus labs in Milwaukee’s Global Water Cen-ter, where industry partners also participate by pro-viding internships for the students. MilwaukeeMarshall High School, a multicultural school on thecity’s northwest side, features pictures of its bio-chemistry students participating in Project Water onits website. Young is now a faculty member at Wake ForestUniversity and Project Water has continued underthe leadership of Krassi Hristova and Jennifer

Environmental Research at Marquette University

Engaging Community in

Caring for Our Common Home

By Jeanne Hossenlopp


LaManna from the Departmentof Biological Sciences who wererunning the program with Mar-shall students this semester.COVID-19, which public healthrecords show disproportion-ately impacted the city’s northside, led to an abrupt transitionfrom hands-on learning to on-line learning, at the request ofthe Marshall teacher whowanted to keep her students en-gaged in this program. The on-line curriculum focuses onresearching water contaminantsand pathogens that affect Mil-waukee communities, how totest for contaminants in localwater, and how to remove thosecontaminants from watersources. While the transitioncreated challenges in quicklydeveloping appropriate remoteactivities, it also created someunique opportunities for en-gagement focusing on environ-mental justice. The students arestudying the science of epi-demiology, pandemics, and theevolution of novel pathogens inreal time. A final example of researchthat engages the community inunderstanding and respondingto environmental issues is an in-terdisciplinary campus projectthat has been exploring waterquality issues in rural KewaneeCounty, a Wisconsin regionwith extensive large-scale dairyfarming. The project started in2015 when Hristova heard alocal farmer and water activistspeak on the apparent impact ofrunoff from concentrated feed-ing operations on the region’swater quality and the chal-

lenges in obtaining evidence tosupport efforts in the commu-nity to address these issues.Hristova’s response includedengaging citizen scientists fromthe county to help collect sam-ples for testing in her lab. JillBirren from the EducationalLeadership and Policy Depart-ment interviewed residents,elected officials, state and localagencies, clean water advocatesand farmers to explore how thecommunity and governmentofficials attempted to resolveconflicts. Political scientistAmber Wichowsky is leading ateam of social science and datascience colleagues using artifi-cial intelligence algorithms tobetter understand how publicefforts to resolve the contro-versy evolve over time. Hristova, Birren and Wi-chowsky have also launched aModes of Inquiry Core Curricu-lum course – Science, Policy,and People – examining thecompelling questions of theirwork in Kewaunee Countyfrom the perspectives of multi-ple academic disciplines. Thecourse gives Marquette under-graduates the opportunity tolearn from people directly im-pacted by the KewauneeCounty water issues. These are just a few of themany ways the Marquette com-munity of scholars learns thelessons our common home canteach us on how we can all carefor it.

Jeanne Hossenlopp is Vice Presi-

dent for Research and Innovation

at Marquette University.Dr. Kyana Young and her high school students sam-pling water from the Kinnickinnic River system.

39

It seems very appropriate that I am sequestered athome as I write this reflection on the fourth apostolicpreference of the Society of Jesus: Caring for our Com-mon Home through collaboration. I start with this no-tion of being “sheltered” because the use of the word“home” in the context is intended to conjure up feel-ings of safety, nurture and refuge. But a home is notnecessarily a safe space for everyone. It may be arefuge for some, but it can be a prison or perhaps evenharmful to others. The current situation of isolating athome puts into crisp perspective the issues we as ed-ucators, architects, and community developers needto identify, which directly shape and influence ourwork and our decisions in relation to our personalhome and our common home. There is obviously a difference between house

and home. A house is a thing that shelters our manythings. A home can be defined as more than the roofover our heads. It is common to conflate the two. Ahouse can be a place where nurturing or abusive ac-tivities occur. I would suggest that a home is a placewhere we can dwell, which can be physically differ-ent than a house, condo or apartment. For the pur-poses of this short reflection, I define “dwell” as “tobe meaningfully connected to yourself and to aplace.” Spiritual comes to mind. Obviously, the fourth preference is referring to

much more than our physical houses. It is about ourCommon Home, where we dwell collectively. We atthe University of Detroit Mercy School of Architec-ture see the potential of this collective home at manyscales: the neighborhood, the district, the region, thecontinent, the globe. Sheltered at home, it is clear that there are many

issues that are threatening the opportunity for a

common home and which we need to creatively andcollaboratively tackle. Climate change. Discriminationfor any reason. Systemic racism. A viral pandemic thatplaces the world on hold. These situations ignoreproperty lines, building codes, and local and nationalpolitical boundaries. These situations are what ourstudents are being prepared for by our faculty andcommunity partners. But to many new students orpeople in general, these things may seem ambiguousand have little or nothing to do with the art of build-ing and creating inspiring communities. I would sug-gest that on the contrary, they have everything to dowith how our disciplines will serve society beyondthe bottom line of a financial spreadsheet. An archi-tect’s and a community developer’s ethical responsi-bility is to a world that does not see boundariesbetween properties, neighborhoods, cities and towns,states and nations. The implications of the work of ar-chitects and community developers extend far be-yond the physical limits of any property lines andencompass our common home.

Finding Ways of Amplifyingthe Diminished Voices

Detroit Mercy’s School of Architecture has alwaysbeen a school that has understood the future of ourdisciplines of architecture and community develop-ment as something more than the things people seeor touch, more than visually pleasing buildings andspaces. As we educate the people who will be creat-ing our future communities, I asked us to be pre-pared to answer three general questions: Who istaught? What is being taught? How is it beingtaught? I will focus on What is Taught, which is di-

Caring for our Common Home Begins With Listening

By Dan Pitera


rectly connected to Caring for our Common Homethrough collaboration. When our students are working with our com-

munity partners, they learn to ask questions such as:Who is left out of the decision-making process?Where is their voice in this process? Although, giventhese types of questions, it can be common to hearstudents say that they themselves are giving this per-son or this marginalized group a voice. Our commu-nity partners and faculty help illustrate to thestudents the limitation of this way of thinking. Everyone has a voice. It is our power structureand social construction that allow some voices tospeak louder than others—in some cases much, muchlouder than others. If a person is left out of the collab-orative process, they lose the sense of being meaning-fully connected to a place. They will not be at homein their own community. The students begin to learnthat their work can create a feeling of home, which inturn can lead to caring for one’s (common) home. Car-ing for something occurs when we feel something forit; when we have a connection with it. This on-the-ground teaching makes it clear that our actions havedirect impact over the quality of life surrounding ourcollective home. Students learn to establish processesto “amplify the diminished voice.” With respect to the built environment, the stu-dent learns to bring this diminished voice into an eq-uitable dialogue with previously more dominant

voices. This form of community design engages thepeople who are often marginalized or underrepre-sented, and bridges the gaps between people ratherthan further separating them. By amplifying dimin-ished voices, other voices are not excluded; they aresimply not the only ones heard. Like tiles in a mo-saic, each person in a community influences andconnects with other people to create a bigger pictureof the community. Each person still retains their in-dividual identity while building larger communityimpact. They bring with them their own individualexpertise that can enrich and connect to other peo-ple’s expertise creating a more complete strategicsystem of thinking. Each person’s expertise is impor-tant. But when people of varying backgrounds withvarying expertise make bridges and connect, othercreative and unique responses are possible. Likesminds rarely develop new ways of thinking. This current situation has made very visible to

our students that the future is now and the future ismore than designing things. Design can result inthoughtful systems, meaningful experiences, effec-tive processes, digital reviews, singing from bal-conies, virtual happy hours, online processions andconcerts, town halls with people spread across thecountry and a renewed sense of our common home.

Dan Pitera is Dean of the School of Architecture at

University of Detroit Mercy.

Architecture students at University of Detroit Mercy are encouraged to listen to all voices when designing spaces.

41

Fifteen years ago, my life upended by Hurricane Ka-trina, I decided to devote my career as an environ-mental law scholar to a singular effort: helpingcommunities prepare for the impacts of climatebreakdown. We had known for decades that theworld was getting hotter, drier, wetter, and weirder.Still, most climate-change strategies then focused onpreventing the breakdown, not preparing for it. It’strue that deep cuts in carbon emissions are neededto stave off a nightmare scenario. But even if westopped carbon pollution tomorrow, that would noterase the suffering many are experiencing today, orwill be shortly. Decades of future fires, storms, anddrought are already baked into the system. (Unlikea pie on the window sill, the Earth would need manydecades to cool.) Years ago, when I first started teaching and writ-ing about climate disaster, many people assumedyou might manage those risks by just avoiding thedangerous places. That’s part of the package. Butthere are limits. At Loyola University New Orleans, I teach acourse called Disaster Law and Policy, whose scopeincludes fires, floods, and pandemics. Much of thecourse is backlit by global warming. On the first day,I start with an ice-breaker exercise I call, “Escapefrom Climate Change.” Take rising seas and hotter summers as a given, Isay. That’s bad news for warm coastal cities like SanDiego and New Orleans. So imagine you lived in sucha city and wanted to escape? Where would you go? Someone always picks Seattle. It’s wet andclammy, they say, but in the future you’ll be able togrow oranges. Sorry, I say, western Washington islosing its snowpack to warmer weather; the localcounties are panicked over water shortages. Did Imention the region is overdue for a massive earth-quake and tsunami?

How about Rapid City? It’s far from the coast.Plus it’s close to the Sturgis motorcycle rally. ButSouth Dakota’s Black Hills forests are drying up, Inote, increasing wildfire risk by 600 percent. You’llneed more than a biker bandana to keep that smokeout of your lungs. Alaska? Nope. The permafrost is softening, andtribal villages are skidding into the sea. As the soilthaws, scientists expect a release of millions of an-cient bacteria to which humans have lost immunity. Then I tell the class about a recent study sayingthat 13 million people displaced by sea level rise inwarm coastal cities can be expected to move inlandto places like Las Vegas, Orlando, and Houston. Butyou’d be wrong to follow those crowds. Vegas iswarming faster than any other American city, break-ing records for heatwaves and heat-related deaths.Orlando is bracing for more inland flooding andmosquito-borne illness. As for Houston, HurricaneHarvey offers a grim reminder of what happenswhen unchecked development and juiced up stormsjoin forces. “We’ll never outrun climate change,” I tell mystudents. “We’ve got to outsmart it.” The way to outsmart climate breakdown is tobuild climate resilience. That means inventing a wayto cope with and recover from climate impacts whilemaintaining the capacity to learn, adapt, and thrive.Depending on the circumstances, resilience might re-quire restoring natural protective features like sanddunes and barrier reefs, or building artificial oneslike levees. It might mean adjusting design standardsto fortify roofs, widen storm drains, or update thepower grid with computerized switches to avoidblackouts. And, yes, it will sometimes mean retreat-ing from places that cannot be feasibly saved, likethe Alaskan native villages I mentioned earlier. As my last examples suggest, climate break-

Outsmarting Climate Change

By Rob Verchick


down punishes the powerless first. While New York-ers consider designs for a multi-billion seawall toprotect Wall Street, working class folks have feweroptions in Biloxi or East Baton Rouge. Let alone inKiribati or Bangladesh. Already, global warming isshaping a “climate underclass” whose property, cul-ture, and well-being are under threat. Building cli-mate resilience, you see, is more than a smart choice;it is a moral duty. Jesuit universities, I believe, are especially suitedto answer this call. Preparing for climate change isso much more than a technological challenge. It isprimarily a problem of mindset and collective action.

Climate resilience requires ethical discernment, em-pathy for the excluded, youthful energy, and ashared dedication to saving the planet — all qualitiesemphasized in the Universal Apostolic Preferences. I suggest that, whatever your role in a Jesuit uni-versity, you begin by picking some mission or activ-ity that is important to you and asking what I call“The Climate Question.” That question has twoparts: How could climate breakdown affect thisthing I care about? and How can I prepare for thenegative effects, while taking advantage of any pos-itive ones? Maybe you research grain production. Ask your-

self how a monsoon could affect cornyields across the world. Is there some-thing else people should be growingand eating? Maybe you are a studentstudying international finance. Manycities will be looking for new financialinstruments to protect lives and prop-erty. What might they be? Two yearsago some smart folks at Swiss Re andthe Nature Conservancy invented an in-surance policy to protect Mexico’s bar-rier reef. Maybe you work in youruniversity’s daycare facility. If yourcity’s “smog season” lengthens becauseof warmer weather, what will that meanfor the children with asthma on theplayground? Once you start asking“The Climate Question,” you will seethe importance of resilience nearlyeverywhere.

The takeaway here is that grapplingwith the climate is not a fad. It is the newnormal and we’ll have to get used to it.But with clear eyes and open hearts wecan persist and, just maybe, prevail.

Rob Verchick holds the Gauthier-St.

Martin Chair in Environmental Law at

Loyola University New Orleans and is

the author of Facing Catastrophe: Environmental Action for a Post-Katrina World.

43

What does care for creation have to do with Jesuithigher education? Everything! Because we are people, we are always in a placeand we share every place we inhabit. Therefore ourway of inhabiting places matters. What we bring intothese places matters. Everything we absorb or emitinto our places changes these places and touches allwho share them. The spread of COVID-19 has re-minded us of this, quite forcefully. But we also absorb and emit our hopes, dreamsand visions. Our fears, blindness and thoughtless-ness also spread. Among these is racism. Throughour blindness, ignorance and internalized assump-tions, we bring racism into all the places we inhabit.Racism kills people. It also worsens ecological harm,sickening our very places even as it prevents the col-laborations we need in order to help heal our world. In 1987, the United Church of Christ released astudy that described the racism involved in industrialwaste dumping. This study, “Toxic Wastes and Race,”demonstrated that the racial demographics of a re-gion’s residents correlate with more dangerous andmore illegal dumping of toxic waste. Racism steershow we choose where to dump and when to enforcelaws regulating toxic dumping. Environmental injus-tice, of which this form of racism is one example, con-tinues today. A region’s “blackness” correlates morestrongly with these forms of ecological harm than anyother factor, including economic status. It can be frustrating to recognize how differentforms of injustice aid and abet one another, but thereis good news that comes with this recognition. Re-membering one community’s fight against environ-mental injustice shows us a way forward.

When PCBs were illegally dumped along NorthCarolina roads in 1978, officials chose the town ofAfton in Warren County as the place to build a landfillto store the toxic sludge. This area was home to thehighest percentage of black residents of all the sitesthat were considered. The chosen site did not have theright conditions for safe dumping but the state ob-tained waivers from the EPA in order to proceed. From the earliest stages of this plan, WarrenCounty residents organized to protect themselvesfrom this plan. They raised funds and hired a scien-tist to evaluate the site. They conducted voter regis-tration drives, educated state and federal officials,and supported lawsuits to stop the dump. After thesite was built they planned, rehearsed and carriedout direct action and civil disobedience for weeks.By 1982, national nightly news was covering theirprotests, airing clips of the human blockades thathalted the trucks arriving to bring the sludge into thenewly built landfill. When North Carolina’s gover-nor called the resistance a mere disturbance of “out-side agitators,” residents announced an “OutsideAgitator Day” theme and hosted national activistsand politicians. Nevertheless, the sludge was dumped and storedat the site and soon the PCBs began to leech throughprotective layers into the groundwater. Preparing torelocate the PCBs again, officials chose a new dumpsite in another impoverished black community. Thistime, the citizens of Afton organized to oppose theplan to move the PCBs away from their land. Instead,they insisted, the problem must be mitigated onsite.They secured the governor’s promise to detoxify thePCBs and required officials to carry out the plan in a

Recognizing EnvironmentalRacism is the First Step

in Fighting It

By Nancy M. Rourke


way that benefited their own community. By 2004 thesludge had been detoxified. What can we take from this exemplary solidarity,from this story of strategic and hope-filled love andstruggle? Lots. We are, after all, the “common home”of the United States’ Jesuit colleges and universities.The Apostolic Preferences call us to be aware of thelinks between social and ecological injustices. We canall learn to recognize the ecological manifestations ofour “town and gown” relationships. Learning the his-tory of our institutions’ interactions with their neigh-borhoods is a great starting point. Linking studentswith community elders for mentorship couldstrengthen students’ Jesuit education. We can also emulate the example of the Afton re-sistance. This community’s processes of fund-rais-ing, organization, education and action helped themto recognize and halt an ecological threat against an-other community. Their efforts created additionalbenefits. The Warren County Commission gained ablack majority with the 1982 elections and imple-mented legislation to prohibit any new landfills. Because racism and environmental harm worktogether, we can oppose both by working againsteach one. Recognizing the links is a good way tobegin. Faculty can develop curricula that value andencourage interdisciplinary scholarship. Studentscan network through their justice work, looking forconcrete points of collaboration among student or-ganizations. Staff, in particular, hold the most inti-mate knowledge of how and where the different

layers of our common home interact: facilities withfood service, registration with research, librarieswith labs, athletics with alumni. Staff should be rec-ognized and held up as mentors, work-study super-visors, and role models for the way they leadstudents through the university and into the worldwith creativity and grace. The Apostolic Preferences together make a “hori-zon” that can feed our imagination as we cultivate ourshared future. Our relationship with creation itself canteach us to notice the connections between justice,health, joy, and love and we can tend to that relation-ship when we practice caring for creation.

Nancy M. Rourke is Associate Professor of Religious

Studies and Theology and former Director of the Col-

lege’s Catholic Studies program at Canisius College.

A region’s ‘blackness’correlates more

strongly with theseforms of ecologicalharm than any other

factor, including economic status.

TEACHING THE MISSION

As I write, I am teaching from myhome, as I do every day now.Most universities in the countryhave moved their courses onlinein response to the coronavirus. Itis an unprecedented interruptionin higher education that has de-manded that all of us, with littlenotice, quickly adjust our peda-gogy. Daily, I receive emails aboutteaching tips for this pedagogicalshift. But what of Jesuit mission?How might principles of Ignatianspirituality inform how we re-spond to interruption and crisis,faculty and students alike? From Ignatian spirituality, Iembrace two things — opennessand desire. What Ignatius calledindifference, I understand as afoundational attitude ofopenness, being willingto choose different op-tions to meet one’s goaland to adapt in any cir-cumstance. Desire, onthe other hand, is themotivator of our choices.The problem is that notall desires are the same:some are transient andshallow, while others aresustaining and life-giv-ing. The goal, then, is tosift one’s desires to iden-tify what is primary,which Ignatius identifiesas deeper life with Godand in right relationshipwith others.

In interruption and crisis,then, how do we cultivate open-ness and desire? In two courses— one on vocation, the other onecotheology — I ask studentsthrough reflection and experien-tial learning to discern what islife-giving for them, where theirobstacles are, and how to reason-ably and emotionally workthrough them using Ignatian dis-cernment. Fear is usually theirbiggest obstacle, leading them tolimit their vision of what is pos-sible and even what they mightdesire for their lives. Empow-ered, reflective, and active learn-ing is critical for this; I can’tanswer these questions for them. As a teacher, I need to iden-

tify my primary desire for stu-dents and be open to differentways to best achieve it, even tothe point of giving up some ofmy pre-designed plans and con-tent. I also need to stay rooted inmy desire to be in right relation-ship with students and to helpthem imagine their lives moreboldly. While I did not choosethese interruptions, they gift mewith the opportunity to re-imag-ine what is most important to myvocation as a teacher.

Kari Kloos is Assistant Vice

President for Mission and

professor of religious studies at

Regis University.

Interruption and Ignatian Discernment

By Kari Kloos

Georgetown UniversityWashington, DC, 1789

Saint Louis UniversitySaint Louis, 1818

Spring Hill CollegeMobile, 1830

Xavier UniversityCincinnati, 1831

Fordham UniversityNew York, 1841

College of the Holy CrossWorcester, 1843

Saint Joseph’s UniversityPhiladelphia, 1851

Santa Clara UniversitySanta Clara, 1851

Loyola University MarylandBaltimore, 1852

University of San FranciscoSan Francisco, 1855

Boston CollegeBoston, 1863

Canisius CollegeBuffalo, 1870

Loyola University ChicagoChicago, 1870

Saint Peter’s UniversityJersey City, 1872

University of Detroit MercyDetroit, 1877

Regis UniversityDenver, 1877

Creighton UniversityOmaha, 1878

Marquette UniversityMilwaukee, 1881

John Carroll UniversityCleveland, 1886

Gonzaga UniversitySpokane, 1887

University of ScrantonScranton, 1888

Seattle UniversitySeattle, 1891

Rockhurst UniversityKansas City, 1910

Loyola Marymount UniversityLos Angeles, 1911

Loyola University New OrleansNew Orleans, 1912

Fairfield UniversityFairfield, 1942

Le Moyne CollegeSyracuse, 1946

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