An Integrated Perspective of Jesuit Education

Jesuit educators have numerous documents that guide their work: the letter of Fr. General “A Living Tradition” (2019), “The Characteristics of Jesuit Education” (1986), “Ignatian Pedagogy: a practical approach” (1993); the final declarations of Boston (2012), Manresa (2014) and Rio de Janeiro (2017), the Universal Apostolic Preferences….

Discernment has driven an important moment of renewal and creativity in the schools. However, it has led many administrators to ask themselves some important questions: Should we as a Jesuit school focus on the final agreements of Rio de Janeiro in 2017 and taken up by Fr. General? On the Universal Apostolic Preferences? On the new document of A Living Tradition with its invitation to ongoing discernment? On the 4 Cs that describe the human excellence that guides our education? What about the challenge that Pope Francis has pushed for through his call for a new Global Compact on Education?

In addition, the current health, social and political crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has put our schools in a delicate situation full of pedagogical, financial and social challenges. However, precisely because of these great challenges and the complexity of our reality, it is necessary for schools to be clear about the holistic education proposal that guides us. This is the only way to stay focused on the mission and maintain the creative fidelity of our educational tradition.

To help clarify the holistic educational approach, the International Secretariat for Education of the Society of Jesus, in collaboration with Educate Magis, has created an infographic that represents an integrative view of all the elements:

1. The Mission, which currently describes the purpose of the apostolic endeavor of the Society of Jesus and orients its apostolic work as presented in General Congregation 36.

2. A Living Tradition, with the 10 global identifiers that today describe the characteristics of a Jesuit school.

3. The 4 universal apostolic preferences that Pope Francis has entrusted to the Society as how we can best serve our mission in the next 10 years within the Church.

4. The 13 actions that the Education delegates agreed upon in 2017 in Rio de Janeiro as a response to our current challenges and opportunities.

5. The Human Excellence (2015) document that describes the 4Cs that expresses the ideal of the educated person we invite our students and educators to become: competent, conscientious, compassionate and committed persons.

The purpose of the graphic is to show how all these elements, which might be thought to be independent, are actually connected and pointing in the same direction: a more qualified apostolic service to the current mission of the Society of Jesus resulting from the ongoing discernment of educational works. This mission is represented as a circle in movement and next to it are the 4Cs, expression of the human excellence that comes from the Mission. This center is surrounded by the first apostolic preference “Showing the way to God” to highlight what Pope Francis expressed: “The first preference is capital because it presupposes as a basic condition the relationship with the Lord, the personal and community life of prayer and discernment”. 

The other three PAUs, “Walking with the Excluded”, “Caring for our Common Home” and “Accompany young people in the creation of a hope-filled future”, form the next circle and connect with the 13 actions of Rio de Janeiro that show concrete ways to implement these preferences. These agreements are in turn related to the 10 global identifiers of A Living Tradition, which represent the most significant features of integral education as it is conceived today in our schools.

Finally, the chart presents a last band highlighting the most characteristic elements of the contemporary way of proceeding in the Society of Jesus: conversion, discernment, collaboration, networking, intellectual depth and Ignatian pedagogy. All of these elements express the how of the educational proposal of the Society of Jesus and point towards the path we should follow in order to achieve consistency between the educational goals and the means by which we can achieve them.

None of the elements presented in the infographic, on its own, is sufficient to understand the proposal of integral education: only when taken as a whole and in their dynamic relationship is the complex and fascinating challenge of Jesuit education today understood. Each school may enter through a different door, but it must necessarily lead to all the other dimensions. In this article, Educate Magis presents some practical examples.

The graph expresses that, although the documents respond to different moments and contexts, they are truly pointing in the same direction. They all respond to discernment processes that have been guided by the same Spirit. 

Educate Magis makes different versions of the graphic available for educators to consult and download. You can find them at this link. Let us remember that this graphic shows us the fascinating path of Jesuit education today and invites us to walk it together.