Page 12 - The Gonzaga Record 1989
P. 12
JESUIT EDUCATION
Fr Peter-Hans Kolvenbach SJ, General of the Society of Jesus, addressed
an assembly of US Jesuits and some of their lay colleagues in higher
education at Georgetown University, Washington on June 7, 1989. The
following are some excerpts from that address, which develops some of
the themes from the 'Characteristics of Jesuit Education~ issued by Fr
General in 1987:
Our own enthusiasm about the future may depend on how much we feel
that the schools we now call "Jesuit" still retain their Jesuit identity.
While some people in our institutions may care little about Jesuit ideals,
many others do identify strongly with Jesuit education, and still more
will want the university or college to retain at least its identity as a
"Jesuit" school. But what do we mean by Jesuit education? To answer
that, to establish Jesuit identity, we must link our work in education with
the Ignatian spirituality that inspires it.
Here let me mention but a few lgnatian themes that enlighten and give
impetus to our work in higher education: the lgnatian worldview is
world-affirming, comprehensive, places emphasis on freedom, faces up
to sin, weakness and evil, is altruistic, stresses the essential need for
discernment, and gives ample scope to intellect and affectivity in forming
leaders. Are not these and other lgnatian themes also essential to the
values a Jesuit college or university endorses? And in so doing Jesuit
education challenges much that contemporary society presents as values.
Change is Real - How do we face it?
In the past three decades the social, cultural, educational context in
which you exercise your mission has changed irrevocably. Religious
changes have accompanied changes in society, national life, and
education. We do ourselves no service by lamenting or denying this fact,
or, on the other hand, by claiming that every change has been an
unmixed blessing or the result of wise decisions. Whatever the case, this
changed world of ours is the only one in which we are called to work out
our mission. How best to exercise our apostolic influence in the present
is the only question worthy of our attention ....
Jesuit Education is Value-oriented
It is my belief that awareness exists that there is no aspect of education,
not even the so-called hard sciences, which is neutral. All teaching
imparts values, and these values can be such as to promote justice, or
work, whether partially or entirely, at cross purposes to the mission of
the Society.
10
Fr Peter-Hans Kolvenbach SJ, General of the Society of Jesus, addressed
an assembly of US Jesuits and some of their lay colleagues in higher
education at Georgetown University, Washington on June 7, 1989. The
following are some excerpts from that address, which develops some of
the themes from the 'Characteristics of Jesuit Education~ issued by Fr
General in 1987:
Our own enthusiasm about the future may depend on how much we feel
that the schools we now call "Jesuit" still retain their Jesuit identity.
While some people in our institutions may care little about Jesuit ideals,
many others do identify strongly with Jesuit education, and still more
will want the university or college to retain at least its identity as a
"Jesuit" school. But what do we mean by Jesuit education? To answer
that, to establish Jesuit identity, we must link our work in education with
the Ignatian spirituality that inspires it.
Here let me mention but a few lgnatian themes that enlighten and give
impetus to our work in higher education: the lgnatian worldview is
world-affirming, comprehensive, places emphasis on freedom, faces up
to sin, weakness and evil, is altruistic, stresses the essential need for
discernment, and gives ample scope to intellect and affectivity in forming
leaders. Are not these and other lgnatian themes also essential to the
values a Jesuit college or university endorses? And in so doing Jesuit
education challenges much that contemporary society presents as values.
Change is Real - How do we face it?
In the past three decades the social, cultural, educational context in
which you exercise your mission has changed irrevocably. Religious
changes have accompanied changes in society, national life, and
education. We do ourselves no service by lamenting or denying this fact,
or, on the other hand, by claiming that every change has been an
unmixed blessing or the result of wise decisions. Whatever the case, this
changed world of ours is the only one in which we are called to work out
our mission. How best to exercise our apostolic influence in the present
is the only question worthy of our attention ....
Jesuit Education is Value-oriented
It is my belief that awareness exists that there is no aspect of education,
not even the so-called hard sciences, which is neutral. All teaching
imparts values, and these values can be such as to promote justice, or
work, whether partially or entirely, at cross purposes to the mission of
the Society.
10
