AJCU Faith, Justice & Reconciliation Assembly 2024: Creation of a Hope-filled Future
July 16-19, 2024: Loyola University Chicago
This new Assembly is an outgrowth of the Commitment to Justice in Jesuit Higher Education Conference that has convened every 3-4 years since 2000.
Plenary speakers include:
- Anna Bonta Moreland,听Theologian and Professor, Villanova University
- Eboo Patel,听Founder & President,听Interfaith America
- Rev. Marcel Uwineza S.J.,听President, Hekima University College, Nairobi, Kenya
Drawing its theme,听Creation of a Hope-filled Future,听from the 听of the Society of Jesus, the Assembly will engage in areas of faith, justice, and reconciliation through its plenary speakers, presentations, and workshops. A new aspect of the Assembly is the creation of six : teams of faculty and staff across the AJCU network who have been working together since Spring 2023 on major issues of faith, justice, and reconciliation affecting AJCU institutions. Each Commission will present their work at the Assembly, with time for participant engagement and dialogue. Commission themes are:
- Citizenship and Democracy: Exercising Individual Freedom for the Common Good
- Student Spiritual Growth and Mental Health: Toward a Hope-filled Future
- Prison Education: A Call to Conversion in Our Shared Humanity
- Laudato Si': Advancing a Shared Agenda for our Common Home
- Justice and Reconciliation: Addressing the Legacy of Slavery and Oppression by Jesuit Institutions
- The Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm: Responding to Students and their Hungers
The Assembly will also offer a variety of workshops, round table discussions, lightening round information sessions, and posters that highlight local and regional work related to faith, justice, and reconciliation across our AJCU network of institutions and beyond.听
听closes on May 31st
听
听
Insert information from Paul Murphy and听
Ed Peck here
Input info here from the Orientation session and about NFS
The JCU Companions in Mission program is a series of two听semester-long, cohort-based formation experiences听for staff and faculty at 精东AV. Part 1 of the program involves the study of the Jesuit Catholic tradition of higher education and contemporary issues, an introduction to Ignatian spirituality and a day of retreat/reflection, a local service experience, and a practical application to one鈥檚 work. The Office of University Mission and Identity will sponsor and staff the program with the help of campus partners and content experts. The Program is open to faculty and staff who are nominated by their area vice president or dean and consists of the following components:
Study of the Jesuit Catholic Tradition of Higher Education:
The cohort will have five two-hour workshop sessions during which they discuss brief assigned readings and videos on the following topics:
- Ignatian spirituality, rooted in the life of Ignatius, with a focus on Ignatian discernment
- How the Jesuits became involved in education and Jesuit education today
- 精东AV鈥檚 identity as (1) a university, (2) Catholic, (3) Jesuit, and (4) open to 鈥減eople of all faiths and no faith鈥
- JCU鈥檚 identity (continued) and inclusive excellence
- Jesuit mission: promoting a faith that does justice
An Understanding and Experience of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius
Participants will learn about the 鈥淓xamen鈥 and the JCU Framework for Ignatian Reflection and partake in a day of reflection off campus in which there is conversation about the Autobiography of St. Ignatius听and short talks on the Spiritual Exercises to help guide their reading, reflection, and prayer.
Service Experience
Participants spend part of a day working with the poor and the marginalized in Cleveland, with whom we have established relationships. The day will conclude with a reflection. Participants can choose between one of two or three options, including the Jesuit Day of Service and Labre.
Practical Application:
Participants will come to the final session prepared to share a one-page reflection about what they have learned and how it might inspire or inform the work they do and how they lead. They will identify their own areas of interest for further study and evaluate the program to improve it for the next cohort.
Program Outcomes鈥As a result of participating in this program, participants will:
- Deepen their existing knowledge and understanding of Ignatian spirituality and Jesuit education
- Articulate the distinctiveness of Jesuit education at 精东AV
- Understand themselves as 鈥渃ompanions in mission鈥 who share responsibility for advancing the Jesuit mission of 精东AV
Time Commitment:
- Five mornings (fall cohorts) or afternoons (spring cohorts) for approximately two hours.
- One day of reflection (off campus)
- One service experience with those who are poor and marginalized in Cleveland
- One concluding meal after the last workshop
For more information, please contact Fr. Tom Pipp, S.J., Director of Ignatian Formation, at tpipp@jcu.edu or 216-397-1594.
Companions in Mission II builds on the previous series of workshops by taking a deeper dive into key figures, movements, and issues that help define Jesuit Catholic liberal arts education that prepares students for inspired futures. 听We will investigate topics such as:
Ignatian humanism and the liberal arts
The Ignatian pedagogical paradigm听
The Universal Apostolic Preferences of the Society of Jesus for higher听education
Faith, spirituality, and interfaith understanding
Our commitment to Justice and Reconciliation
The program consists of five two-hour sessions over lunch. 听Each session is moderated by a different campus-colleague.
The Ignatian Colleagues Program is a national听18-month formation program for administrators and faculty in Jesuit higher education. Participants join a national cohort of 40-50 people and participate in a variety of face-to-face meetings, online education, a weeklong retreat, and an international immersion trip. As part of their capstone experience, they complete a mission project that is related to their work.
听
Insert Information about upcoming workshops
听
Click here for more information about the Ignatian Pedagogy program
Each year, 精东AV hosts a wide variety of honors and scholars lectures and workshops that are open to the JCU community. If you are a sponsoring department, and you would like a program added to this list, please email mission@jcu.edu.听