Featured Programs

Have a program you wish us to highlight?  Ignatian-related programs are highlighted each month in the Jesuit Identity Resource newsletter and homepage.  You are invited to submit a program to be featured by clicking the link below.

In February, students at Rockhurst High School surpassed their previous record for donations by over 45%.  During the drive, the Student Government Association put a "face" to the goal by posting letters and images of past drives' recipients in Belize and Honduras as well as testimonials by Rockhurst High students of their service experiences.  Not content with their extraordinary efforts in the February drive, in late Spring 2008, eight Rockhurst High students and two chaperones will travel to the Toledo District of Belize to build a school in the village of Sunday Wood and continue their work in the small village of Punta Gorda.  Click Mission Week, Making a Difference and Trip to view school newspaper articles.   

The LUNO Office of Alumni and Parent Relations and the Student Government Association hosted their 7th annual Wolves on the Prowl Community Service Day this past November. Students, alumni, parents, and friends in 14 alumni chapter cities worked together for the benefit of others spending time with the elderly, feeding the homeless, cleaning schools and parks, and educating underprivileged youth.

For the Bannan Institutes' luncheon speaker series, one individual is invited to give an informal 20 minute lecture that answers the single question: What matters to me and why? Not only do attendees learn about the life of a colleague but each reflects upon their own life too. Paul Woolley, Associate Director, describes the introspective experience when he states, "I sit there and think about my own story and take a self examination of what is important to me, what values drive me, what people have formed my values. What would I be saying if I were speaking?" The series has been an overwhelming success; audiences have ranged from 50 to 125 people.

Image Right: Dean of Admissions, Sandra Hayes, was a recent featured speaker

The staff of the EVOKE office at Loyola University Chicago know a good thing when they see it.  It was in 2006 that Bill Creed, S.J. adapted the original materials authored by Marybeth Kearns-Barrett & Chris Barrett for the Lilly Endowment-supported vocation project "Making the Parts Whole" at the College of the Holy Cross.  Since then, the EVOKE office has made the material for this five week self-guided retreat available to the faculty, staff and graduate students at LUC.  "Considering Our Lives as Vocation" provides "a daily respite in which you can pause, listen, and tap into the voice of vocation in your life, savoring the varied ways that God calls you to live a life of service that contributes to the good of God's world." "This was exactly what I needed this Lent," writes a staff member, "a chance to slow down and reflect on my relationship with God."  A faculty member commented, "The self-guided format of the retreat worked really well for me.  I could take the time I needed with this daily according to my own schedule.  My Lent was richer for the experience." 

For more information on the retreat, contact Jennifer G. Haworth, Ph.D., Executive Director of Evoke, at:  jhawort@luc.edu

This Thursday morning, as it does every Thursday morning, at 8:57 am, business as usual comes to a halt in the offices, halls and classrooms of St. Xavier High School, Cincinnati, Ohio. The public address system will fill the rooms and halls with the voice of a member of the school community leading the EXAMEN.

Inaugurated in November, 2007, the EXAMEN was created as the spiritual component of St. Xavier's accreditation process by the Ohio Catholic School Accrediting Association.  "We looked at similar programs at Saint Louis University High, Saint Ignatius College Prep in Chicago, Rockhurst High, Creighton Preparatory, and Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory," says Mike Dehring, Assistant Director of Admissions and a faculty member, "and came upon a form that worked for us."  While all, including visitors, are encouraged to participate in the weekly 10-minute led-reflection period, those who do not wish to do so observe a respectful quiet period of self-reflection.  The comprehensive cessation of business has occasionally startled, especially visitors.  Most adapt instantaneously and readily join the school community in the reflective moment.  For students and adults alike, the responses have been enthusiastically positive.

It is hoped," states Dehring, "That the EXAMEN, this manifestation of the Spiritual Exercises in microcosm, will encourage the individuals at St. Xavier, whether student, faculty or staff, to individually make time in one's day and life to be reflective with God's calling and one's vocation, awareness of gratitude and thankfulness for life and setting goals to be a better person." So, while on its surface, the EXAMEN comprises just a small portion of the school week, it has the potential to have lasting impact on the spiritual development of the individuals at St. Xavier High School.

view EXAMEN term

Six times each summer, 2 minivans carry Loyola Academy students from Wilmette, Illinois (a suburb of Chicago) to Harlan, Kentucky, to immerse themselves in the culture and lifestyle of a rural and often impoverished Appalachian community. Each morning, these "women and men for others" are taken from the Christian Outreach for the Appalachian People camp to a worksite where they dive into physical work of building houses while talking with the carpenters and local residents who take interest in what they are doing for their community.

Mike Hugo, Director of Campus Ministry, states that while participation over the past 10 years has steadily increased, the student reaction has reminded consistent - "I learned more about myself, and got more from this experience than I could ever possibly give to them."  Max Spread, an alumnus of L.A. and Summer Service, adds, "I am reminded of what I learned interacting with the locals about their lives and their days - that every act of selflessness was service."

As part of the Jubilee Year celebrations, which honored 3 founders of the Society - Ignatius Loyola, Francis Xavier and Pierre Favre - beginning on Dec 3, 2005, Canisius College chose to display new symbols of the Jesuit mission. During the Year, a statue of Ignatius Loyola "traveled around the campus." It is now permanently housed in the Student Advisement Center of the Bagen Administration Building. According to Patricia Coward, Director for the Center of Teaching and Learning and a Mission & Identity Committee Co-Chair, plans are now underway to enhance mission representation through banners, computer wallpaper and other web pages, and a peace/meditation garden.      

On four Saturdays during the academic year, 30-40 students and 5 faculty, assist in the continued post- Hurricane Katrina clean-up of Bayou La Batre, Alabama (hometown of movie character Forrest Gump), under the coordination of Campus Minister Sr. Patricia Huffman. The small fishing town - home to Vietnamese, African American and Anglo communities - experienced particularly significant devastation. Residents appreciate the special care and attention offered to their neighborhoods and homes.

In keeping with SHC's focus on Experience, Reflection, and Action in the Jesuit Pedagogical Tradition, these weekends are surrounded by student preparation and reflection. "Volunteers did this for my family and I wasn't around to help or thank them. Today I have said thanks to people I have never met by doing what I did. That is why I came," reflects a SHC student from New Orleans. "Most of the students lived the Katrina experience and they understand there is work that remains. It is a reality that has not gone away quickly," states Maureen Bergan, Director of Campus Ministry. She adds, "The dirty-dirty work is done. Now we are reflecting and acting on what was unearthed - racism and poverty."

The Collaborative Ministry Office at Creighton University has translated Ignatius' Spiritual Exercises in a 34 week on-line retreat. Thousands of people from around the world will do their retreat each year which "invites people to let the material of each week become part of the conscious background of one's daily life and to interact with the material of one's daily experience". People can begin the retreat at any time, but if begun during the middle of September and proceeding until the end of April, the retreat lays out well with the Liturgical year. Retreatants can do it alone or with a spiritual director. They form groups themselves or with a guide. It is easier than an 19th Annotation Retreat or a "Retreat in Everyday Life," requiring an hour and a half of prayer each day. See their website home page at: http://www.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/online.html.  

The retreat is also available in Spanish, Japanese and Russian as well as audio versions for downloading onto CDs or MP3 players.

Questions can be directed to Andy Alexander, S.J., Vice President for Ministry, (alexa@creighton.edu) and  Maureen McCann Waldron, Director, (mwaldron@creighton.edu).