Improving education through the UAPs

The 2022 edition of the Colloquium by the Jesuit Schools Network has joined people willing to exchange their experiences on the education of young people by following the Jesuit mission and the Universal Apostolic Preferences

At the end of June 2022, Jesuit Schools Network welcomed more than 400 members from across the network to Colloquium 2022: Seeing All Things New In Christ. This triennial meeting was hosted at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles (United States). The sunshine-filled week gave Jesuit educators the opportunity to engage in meaningful conversation about the Universal Apostolic Preferences (UAPs) and additional topics in Jesuit secondary and pre-secondary education. Participants gathered in several collaborative ways from prayer, reflection, and Eucharist to Ignatian Inquiry Sessions, Experiential Activities, and Spiritual Conversation.

The Colloquium offers Ignatian educators a chance to exchange ideas about a variety of issues in the educational area. An essential component to the Colloquium is the Ignatian Inquiry Sessions, where Ignatian educators have the opportunity to present effective teaching methodologies and outstanding programs to fellow educators. On the first day of Colloquium, participants chose from one of four Experiential Activities for a portion of the afternoon, including a guided tour of Ballona Discovery Park, Los Angeles’ only remaining wetland.

Each day of Colloquium, participants listened to a keynote address on one of the UAPs, then reflected and prayed personally for a half hour before partaking in Spiritual Conversation with a group of about 10 people for another 30 minutes. Broken into four stages – prayer, listening, response, and discernment – groups elected a scribe to take notes during discussions which were submitted via email at the end of each session. The four keynote speeches are available at the Educate Magis website. These keynote addresses touched on various topics such as showing the way to God, helping those excluded, youth and how to care for our common home.

On the last day, Verbum Dei High School offered a perfect ending to Colloquium 2022, with activities such as a student panel, a group scavenger hunt around campus to dinner and dancing, the fun experience helped bring a close these four days of exchanging and working towards the future of education.

JSN is developing a comprehensive outline of the themes gathered from Spiritual Conversation, each correlating with a UAP. Be on the lookout for this resource which will be shared out to the wider network upon its completion.