DeFeo, Joseph

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Conversations on Jesuit Higher EducationVolume 47 The Spiritual Exercises as Foundation forJesuit Higher Education Article 25March 2015Talking Back: Ignatian Colleagues AdvancingPartners in Mission for the Future of Jesuit HigherEducationJoseph DeFeoFollow this and additional works at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/conversationsRecommended CitationDeFeo, Joseph (2015) "Talking Back: Ignatian Colleagues Advancing Partners in Mission for the Future of Jesuit Higher Education,"Conversations on Jesuit Higher Education: Vol. 47, Article 25.Available at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/conversations/vol47/iss1/2538 ConversationsAs Jesuit colleges anduniversities seek tointegrate mission intothe life of their cam-puses, many areramping up their uni-versity leaders’knowledge of missionrelated areas including their personalencounter with Ignatian spirituality. TheIgnatian Colleagues Program (ICP) wasdesigned to offer time, space, and asupportive community for participantsto delve deeper into Jesuit and Catholichistory, spirituality, and pedagogy inorder to advance the future of Jesuithigher education.Conceived through a collaborativeeffort among presidents, provincials, mis-sion officers, and rectors from theHeartland Delta region, the 18-monthprogram engages senior administratorsand faculty from Jesuit colleges through-out the United States in a curriculum ofonline workshops, a silent retreat, animmersion experience, a mission-cen-tered project, and a capstone experience.Ignatian colleagues keep a journal oftheir experiences and post online sum-maries of their reflection essays. Sharingan Ignatian reverence for human, spiritu-al freedom, ICP avoids anything likeindoctrination and welcomes diverseparticipants. Now under the Associationof Jesuit Colleges and Universities(AJCU), ICP is currently housed on thecampus of Fairfield University.The high quality of the programsince its inception six years ago owesmuch to the leadership of executivedirector Edward Peck, Ph.D. (JohnCarroll University). Additionally, collab-orative efforts and significant dedicationto fostering mission between Peck andother senior leaders across many Jesuitcampuses have made ICP a great suc-cess. Mission and identity officers, cam-pus presidents, theologians, spiritualdirectors, senior administrators andother experts have served as workshoppresenters and leadership team mem-bers for the program. Key companions to IgnatianColleagues are their campus coordina-tors. Coordinators meet monthly withcurrent members to help them reflecton and integrate their experience. Theyalso act as a sounding board as partici-pants plan their final projects.Additionally, coordinators bring togeth-er current and former ICP members toconnect with one another and to dis-cuss how they can further the Jesuit andCatholic mission on their own campusand beyond.Ignatian ColleaguesAdvancing Partners in Mission for the Future of Jesuit Higher EducationBy Joseph DeFeo Joseph DeFeo is the new executivedirector of the Ignatian ColleaguesProgram. Special thanks to ThomasKelly, professor of theology atCreighton University and ICP immer-sion coordinator, for contributing tothis article. For more information onthe Ignatian Colleagues Program andto view mission project outlines seewww.ignatiancolleagues.org.15304_mag_m  1/2/15  9:35 AM  Page 381DeFeo: Talking Back: Ignatian Colleagues Advancing Partners in Mission fPublished by e-Publications@Marquette, 2015Conversations 39Online LearningA series of six online workshops pro-vides a foundation for learning aboutand reflecting on key Jesuit andCatholic concepts. Developed by the-ologians, Jesuits, and staff, each work-shop contains approximately 10-12hours of material including articles,videos, and reflection essay prompts.Some workshops topics includeIgnatius as a spiritual administrator,Ignatian humanism and pedagogy, faithand justice, secularity, Jesuit education,Catholicity, and discernment.Teleconference conversations guid-ed by a facilitator invite colleagues todig deeply into the material, listen toexperts, and engage in conversation inlight of current issues facing campuses.Topics have included how Jesuit and/orCatholic our schools are or “should be”and a case study about the Mass of theHoly Spirit with the goal of remainingwelcoming to persons of other or of nofaith perspectives. Conversations likethese help participants consider alterna-tives and integrate mission in ways thatfit their campus culture.Silent RetreatAn in depth experience of Ignatian spir-ituality is foundational for helping col-leagues better understand the spirituali-ty that animates the Jesuit educationalsystem for which they (and all) areresponsible. The Magis retreat is aneight-day silent retreat based on theSpiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius ofLoyola. Each day, talks are given on aparticular Ignatian theme and partici-pants are accompanied by a spiritualcompanion to discuss their ongoingexperience. While initially some col-leagues have concerns about remainingsilent for an entire week, attendees areoften pleasantly surprised at the manygifts received through this experience. One retreatant has commented:The Magis retreat was a wel-comed gift that allowed me tostep back and enter deeply intosilence and prayer to rememberand renew my commitment tothe work that I do [at SU]. Therewas something about being onretreat with those who sharethe commitment to JesuitHigher Education and whocome with such openness tothe experience that made theretreat especially meaningful. Itwas a grace-filled week of restand re-centering punctuated bysurprises, like a tornado siren inthe middle of Mass and a doeand her fawn in the morningfog. (Catherine Punsalan-Manlimos, Seattle University)If colleagues are unable to attend theMagis retreat they attend other retreatssuch as the Ignatian Leadership forMission coordinated through the JesuitCollaborative or other retreats availableon their campus. Colleagues of all faithand spiritual backgrounds are invited toparticipate in one of these retreatopportunities. ImmersionOne of the goals of this program is tohelp foster a well-educated solidarityand an appreciation of the Jesuit com-mitment to a faith that does justice.Ignatian Colleagues travel to countriessuch as Nicaragua, El Salvador, and theDominican Republic and to our ownborder to encounter the marginalized,to listen and learn from those who livethere. The ICP immersion is not intend-ed to “save,” “help” or “fix” anythingbut rather to encounter and to learn, tohold a posture of being learners whoknow very little about where they areor about the reality faced by the peoplewho live there. After direct contact with and listen-ing to the poor and to experts on thesocial, economic, and political historyof a given context, time is set aside forprocessing and ultimately reflecting onquestions such as:• What does this have to do with usas administrators and faculty atJesuit universities and colleges? • What does this encounter demandfrom me as an administrator or fac-ulty member at my institution? • How far do we extend our respon-sibility to others outside of ourcomfort zone? What many often realize is that allare in solidarity with someone or somegroup. As one participant wrote: Our immersion trip to ElSalvador has had a profoundimpact on my faith and under-standing of the Ignatian mis-sion to serve “wherever theneed is greatest.” What standsout for me now is how we, asleaders committed to a faiththat does justice, will answerthe call of those who asked usto share their stories. (JeremyLangford, Chicago-DetroitProvince office)Thus a “well-educated” solidaritybecomes a possibility when participantschoose to learn about a place, encounterthe people there, and recognize a call towalk with them on their journey throughhow they walk their own.Final Project andCapstoneOne of the outcomes of the ICP is forparticipants to design, implement, andevaluate a strategically significant work-related project that advances the mis-sion of their institution in light of whatthey appropriate through the program.Mission projects have engaged under-graduate and graduate students, faculty,staff, and administrators and are asdiverse as the participants.ICP projects integrate mission inareas such as faculty, staff, board oftrustees, student development, studentconduct, employee orientation, strate-gic planning, marketing, and courseredesigns to include Ignatian pedagogy,Talking Back15304_mag_m  1/2/15  9:35 AM  Page 392Conversations on Jesuit Higher Education, Vol. 47, Iss. 1 [2015], Art. 25http://epublications.marquette.edu/conversations/vol47/iss1/2540 Conversationssocial analysis, catholic social teaching,diversity, and/or reflection. Additionally,several projects have integrated missioninto our graduate and professionalschools. The capstone experience brings thecohort together one final time wherethey share their projects and explorehow to foster the Ignatian heritage ontheir own campuses. A missioning cer-emony signifies the successful comple-tion of the program.Outcomes & LookingAheadThe outcomes for ICP are both person-al and institutional. For some, theirexperience have been transformative,as noted by one participant: I came to the experience readyto engage on an intellectuallevel, but it wasn’t until Iopened my heart that I becamea learner. In doing so I mademyself vulnerable to the experi-ence, my colleagues and theNicaraguan people. From thatvulnerability came strength –strength in character, strengthin conviction, strength to usemy voice for justice andstrength to be a woman in serv-ice with and for others. (TanyaWinegard, Creighton University)In addition to assessing the pro-gram to learn which experiences aremost powerful for participants, the pro-gram seeks to understand more aboutthe long-lasting and sustaining influ-ence of participants and their missionprojects related to integrating missionacross our universities.Six years of the Ignatian ColleaguesProgram have produced over 300 partici-pants throughout most of our campuses.Each year, participating universities find agrowing number of senior administrators,faculty, and staff who are well groundedin our Ignatian heritage and are ready toengage decision making and strategicplanning in ways that authenticallyreflect our Jesuit and Catholic sensibili-ties. As Jesuit schools respond to JesuitSuperior General Fr. Adolfo Nicolás’s callto better utilize our Jesuit network, per-haps one of the best contributions ofICP is the many long-lasting profession-al and personal relationships formedamong participants. These relationshipscross titles, roles, responsibilities, andcampuses. The more these multicampusrelationships are formed, the more col-leagues at each school are aware of,think, and act in ways that go beyondany one campus and foster in all adeeper identity as an association of Jesuitcolleges and universities. Moving forward, ICP hopes toassist campuses, individually and col-lectively, in taking advantage of thisrich resource of Ignatian ColleagueProgram alumni/ae and leveraging oneof Jesuit higher education’s strongestvalue propositions. ■Talking BackAlpha Sigma Nu is the honor society of the Jesuit col-leges and universities in the United States, Canada, andKorea. For 35 years, Alpha Sigma Nu has designatedawards for outstanding books published by members ofthe Jesuit higher education community. The awards in2014 were for works in the category “the humanities.”This year’s winners were announced in October.For theology: Icons of Hope: The “Last Things” inCatholic Imagination by John E. Thiel, FairfieldUniversity. (University of Notre Dame Press, 2013).For philosophy/ethics: The Ethics of Interrogation:Professional Responsibility in an Age of Terror by PaulLauritzen, John Carroll University (GeorgetownUniversity Press, 2013)For literature/fine arts: The Children of 1965: OnWriting, and Not Writing, as an Asian American byMin Hyoung Song, Boston College. (Duke UniversityPress, 2013)For history: The Maroons of Prospect Bluff and TheirQuest for Freedom in the Atlantic World by NathanielMillett, Saint Louis University (University Press ofFlorida, 2013)The category for the 2015 awards will be “the sciences.”The honor society is celebrating its centennial through-out 2015. Information on the awards and on other top-ics is available on their website: www.alphasigmanu.org. Alpha Sigma Nu 15304_mag_m  1/2/15  9:35 AM  Page 403DeFeo: Talking Back: Ignatian Colleagues Advancing Partners in Mission fPublished by e-Publications@Marquette, 2015

Talking Back: Ignatian Colleagues Advancing Partners in Mission for the Future of Jesuit Higher Education

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Talking Back: Ignatian Colleagues Advancing Partners in Mission for the Future of Jesuit Higher Education

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