AJCU Faith, Justice & Reconciliation Assembly 2024: Creation of a Hope-filled Future
July 16-19, 2024: Loyola University Chicago
This new Assembly is an outgrowth of the Commitment to Justice in Jesuit Higher Education Conference that has convened every 3-4 years since 2000.
Plenary speakers include:
- Anna Bonta Moreland,Theologian and Professor, Villanova University
- Eboo Patel,Founder & President,Interfaith America
- Rev. Marcel Uwineza S.J.,President, Hekima University College, Nairobi, Kenya
Drawing its theme,Creation of a Hope-filled Future,from the of the Society of Jesus, the Assembly will engage in areas of faith, justice, and reconciliation through its plenary speakers, presentations, and workshops. A new aspect of the Assembly is the creation of six : teams of faculty and staff across the AJCU network who have been working together since Spring 2023 on major issues of faith, justice, and reconciliation affecting AJCU institutions. Each Commission will present their work at the Assembly, with time for participant engagement and dialogue. Commission themes are:
- Citizenship and Democracy: Exercising Individual Freedom for the Common Good
- Student Spiritual Growth and Mental Health: Toward a Hope-filled Future
- Prison Education: A Call to Conversion in Our Shared Humanity
- Laudato Si': Advancing a Shared Agenda for our Common Home
- Justice and Reconciliation: Addressing the Legacy of Slavery and Oppression by Jesuit Institutions
- The Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm: Responding to Students and their Hungers
The Assembly will also offer a variety of workshops, round table discussions, lightening round information sessions, and posters that highlight local and regional work related to faith, justice, and reconciliation across our AJCU network of institutions and beyond.
closes on May 31st
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Ed Peck here
Input info here from the Orientation session and about NFS
The JCU Companions in Mission program is a series of twosemester-long, cohort-based formation experiencesfor staff and faculty at ֱ. Part 1 of the program is focused on Belonging and Beooming as inspired by our Jesuit Catholic identity. The Office of University Mission and Identity collaborates with the Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging to sponsor the program with the help of campus partners and content experts. The Program is open to faculty and staff and will consiste of the following components:
Study of the Jesuit Catholic Tradition of Higher Education:
To be a Companion in Mission at ֱ is to embody a spirit of belonging and becoming so we can share it with one another and with our students. The Companions in Mission Program is our way of helping people understand the basic elements of our Jesuit Catholic mission and the work of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging. There are four basic themes of this semester-long, cohort-based program that draw upon the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola and weave together elements of belonging and becoming.
First Week: Who Are You/Name and Story- Showing the Way to God (Image of God) Second Week: Discipleship/How Will You Contribute (Caring for Our Common Home and One Another) Third Week: Facing Hardship/Addressing Injustice and Inequity (Walking with the Excluded) Week Four: Engagement and Empowerment in Hope (Accompany Young People Toward a Hope-Filled Future)
An Understanding and Experience of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius
Participants will learn about the “Examen” and the JCU Framework for Ignatian Reflection and have an opportunity to partake in a half-day retreat or online experiences of the spiritual exercises
Practical Application:
Participants will come to the final session prepared to share a one-page reflection about what they have learned and how it might inspire or inform the work they do and how they lead. They will identify their own areas of interest for further study and evaluate the program to improve it for the next cohort.
Program Outcomes–As a result of participating in this program, participants will:
- Deepen their existing knowledge and understanding of Ignatian spirituality and Jesuit education
- Articulate the distinctiveness of Jesuit education at ֱ
- Understand themselves as “companions in mission” who share responsibility for advancing the Jesuit mission of ֱ
Time Commitment:
- Four 75 minutes sessions over lunch
- One half (or full) day usage of Mission Leave for a service activity or experience of retreat/reflection
- A half-day of mission leave from a list of options
For more information, please contact Ed Peck (epeck@jcu.edu) or nsigg@jcu.edu
Companions in Mission II builds on the previous series of workshops by taking a deeper dive into key figures, movements, and issues that help define Jesuit Catholic liberal arts education that prepares students for inspired futures. We will investigate topics such as:
Ignatian humanism and the liberal arts
The Ignatian pedagogical paradigm
The Universal Apostolic Preferences of the Society of Jesus for highereducation
Faith, spirituality, and interfaith understanding
Our commitment to Justice and Reconciliation
The program consists of five two-hour sessions over lunch. Each session is moderated by a different campus-colleague.
The Ignatian Colleagues Program is a national18-month formation program for administrators and faculty in Jesuit higher education. Participants join a national cohort of 40-50 people and participate in a variety of face-to-face meetings, online education, a weeklong retreat, and an international immersion trip. As part of their capstone experience, they complete a mission project that is related to their work.
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Click here for more information about the Ignatian Pedagogy program
Each year, ֱ hosts a wide variety of honors and scholars lectures and workshops that are open to the JCU community. If you are a sponsoring department, and you would like a program added to this list, please email mission@jcu.edu.