Networks as New level of Agency

Adaptation to a globalized context is in the Jesuit genes. Already Saint Ignatius promoted a universal vision clearly present in the contemplation of the Incarnation (EE 102), which translates into a hitherto unknown sense of being sent out on a global apostolic mission, and of a dimension of availability and mobility for the greater glory of God. Even the fourth vow itself is a call to universality, to service to the bishop of the world’s Church;and the Jesuit union of minds and hearts is a spiritual means promoting  unity in a mission that inevitably disperses the apostolic body  throughout the world… Aren’t we ready for networking?[pullquote align=”right”]Organizational development today is in fact one of the apostolic keys to the future. [/pullquote] We started calling it interprovincial cooperation around the 50s. What is curious since then is that the growing  awareness of the corporate meaning and universality of Jesuit  mission, crystallized in the apostolic priorities formulated in 1970 (repeated in 2003 and updated in 2008), has not been matched by an updating of our  structures [See Paper]. Organizational development today is in fact one of the apostolic keys to the future. Our  existing structures need to be renewed so that we can respond better to the global challenges and to the international problems of today and tomorrow. This, and nothing else, is the reason why the Jesuits are developing networks: they are networks promoting  the good of the mission. 
[pullquote align=”left”]We need a level of agency in which institutions and individuals see themselves as part of a wider mission transcending the boundaries of their institution or region.[/pullquote] Since the 70s we have been creating networks: collaborative workspaces in the service of the mission. Some operated for a few years and then outgrew their usefulness; others  did not even get off the ground. Some networks simply provide support for individual works, centralizing and integrating services or common bonds between enterprises remaining located in one place. Others, however, may be considered organizational networks in which the members in different places coordinate their efforts and act jointly as a single body.  
It is this level of agency that is at stake in the new impetus towards Jesuit networking, one in which  institutions and individuals see themselves as part of a wider mission transcending the boundaries of their institution or region. We have been given a mission that is universal. To respond to that mission as we should today, we need to develop new kinds of agency and structure. Could networks be the answer?
PHOTO Jesuit Networking composition from an original picture from Flickr by cgarijo. This reflection is part of an article recently published on the 2014 Jesuit Yearbook. Here you can have access to the original article [English] [Spanish] [French] [Deutsch] [Italian]