McGinn, Anthony, S.J.

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Conversations on Jesuit Higher EducationVolume 47 The Spiritual Exercises as Foundation forJesuit Higher Education Article 10March 2015Mission Matters: What Do Jesuits Mean By CuraPersonalis?Anthony McGinn S.J.Follow this and additional works at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/conversationsRecommended CitationMcGinn, Anthony S.J. (2015) "Mission Matters: What Do Jesuits Mean By Cura Personalis?," Conversations on Jesuit Higher Education:Vol. 47, Article 10.Available at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/conversations/vol47/iss1/10Conversations 17Ivens sheds light on the intended meaning in theExercises: “In the last analysis, consolation ‘consoles’because whatever its form, whether unambiguous orimplicit and discreet, it is a felt experience of God’s lovebuilding up the Christ-life in us. And what characterizesevery form of spiritual desolation is a felt sense of disso-nance which is the echo in consciousness of an influ-ence tending of its nature to undermine the Christ-life,and hence in the case of a person who remains funda-mentally Christ-oriented to contradict their most deep-seated inclinations.” (Ivens, 206) Brackley also fleshes out the meaning of consola-tion and desolation. “Though pleasant, consolation is dif-ferent from pleasure. Whereas pleasure passes with itsstimulus, consolation produces abiding peace and joy.”(Brackley, 48) Consolation can feel like an intense highor it can be a subtle warmth. Brackley writes that conso-lation is definitely not equated with happiness, as it canalso come in the form of “redemptive sorrow that healsand unites us to others – for example, when we aremourning the death of a friend and wish to be nowhereelse but there, sharing that family’s loss.” (Brackley, 49)On the other hand, “Desolation drains us of energy. Weare attracted to the gospel of self-satisfaction. We feeldrawn backward into ourselves. Life feels burdensome,the thought of generous service repugnant, devotionalpractices boring and distasteful. God seems absent,God’s love unreal.” (Brackley, 49-50)Language is fluid, which makes it both fascinatingand frustrating. This is especially true of spiritual lan-guage, which needs to adapt to changing times whilesimultaneously maintaining aspects of the original inten-tion of the author. In The Book Thief author MarkusZusak writes, “I have hated words and I have lovedthem, and I hope I have made them right.” I share thissentiment, and I think Ignatius would concur. If not,then, “Whatever!”.  ■Mission Matters: What Do Jesuits Mean By Cura Personalis?By Anthony McGinn, S.J.When the Jesuits try to explain the background oftheir mission in education, they frequently pointto the experience of their founder, Ignatius ofLoyola, and his early companions. Their spiritual experi-ences provided the ground work for the educational sys-tem that quickly developed after the founding of theSociety of Jesus in 1540.Today the term Ignatian is used to describe all sortsof praiseworthy educational and formational develop-ments; some, however, are only tangentially related tothe experience of Ignatius and his companions.Sometimes the use of Ignatian terms devolves intojargon. One of the most commonly misapplied Ignatianterm is the Latin cura personalis, which means care forthe individual person.The personal care for students is hardly a uniqueJesuit value. Claiming that cura personalis is distinctivelyJesuit is tantamount to trying to copyright the alphabet.Perhaps there have been some cultures and schoolswhere teachers were not expected to care about the stu-dents as persons. They are certainly the exception. TheJesuits have no monopoly on cura personalis, a qualityone expects every teacher to have.The first documented use of the term cura personalis ina Jesuit context appeared in a 1951 letter to provincialsuperiors by Jean-Baptiste Janssens, S.J., Superior Generalof the Jesuits. He urged the provincials to balance theirconcern for the welfare of Jesuit schools and other institu-tions with a care for individual Jesuits. Assignments ofJesuits should not be made solely for the benefit of theworks; the provincial must also exercise cura personalisand consider the personal needs of the Jesuits.Misunderstandings develop when one removes theIgnatian term from its original context. The term cura per-sonalis was not widely used in Jesuit educational circlesuntil about 30 years ago. For centuries, the Jesuits certainlypracticed personal care for their students, but they did notwrite about it as if it were a constitutive part of the Society'scharism. Perhaps the contemporary concern for cura per-sonalis reflects our own historically conditioned contextrather than a value deeply rooted in the spiritual experi-ence of Ignatius and the other the early Jesuits. ■Anthony McGinn, S.J., former special assistant to theMissouri-New Orleans Province, is currently president ofJesuit High School, New Orleans. This article appearedunder “Mission Matters” at the St. Louis University web-site, Oct. 29, 2013.15304_mag_m  1/2/15  9:35 AM  Page 171McGinn: Mission Matters: What Do Jesuits Mean By Cura Personalis?Published by e-Publications@Marquette, 2015

Mission Matters: What Do Jesuits Mean By Cura Personalis?

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Mission Matters: What Do Jesuits Mean By Cura Personalis?

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