This week’s post reflects on the Jesuit value of Contemplation in Action, which was on full display at the Welcome Event on Capitol Campus. Students are pictured here enjoying a meal and connecting on the Eleanor Holmes Norton Green.
In his book, Seeing with the Heart: A Guide to Navigating Life’s Adventures, the Jesuit Fr. Kevin O’Brien, S.J. describes the importance of balancing a life of action with a life of contemplation:
“Living with purpose demands that we work through certain creative tensions. We must pay attention both to where we are walking and to the distant horizon: not so focused on our end that we miss out on what is right around us, not so focused on what’s around us that we lose sight of the end that keeps us on track. Like those early Jesuits, we are also meant to be contemplatives in action: not so reflective that we become preoccupied with ourselves, not so active that we miss the meaning that comes with taking time to reflect. Finding the right balance from day to day is challenging, so much so that we might be tempted to simply choose one over the other to make our life less complicated.” (14)
This insightful reflection on the value of Contemplation in Action helps set the stage for my own reflection on this week’s Welcome Back event that took place on the Eleanor Holmes Norton Green. The start of any semester presents this tension between action and contemplation. Students, faculty, and staff can find themselves so focused on the details and logistics about the start of class and other university activities that they miss the opportunity to pause and reflect on the larger purpose of our educational enterprise at Georgetown. On the other hand, there is a temptation to spend too much time reflecting on the larger purpose of our learning that we miss the opportunity to dive into and initiate the pressing work that calls us. Getting the details right, especially in the completely new 111 Massachusetts Avenue building, matters for our end goals.
The Welcome Event on Capitol Campus illustrated this balance between action and contemplation. On a resplendent August afternoon in Washington, D.C., students gathered on the green and enjoyed food, music, lawn games, resource tables, and unplanned connections with students, staff, and faculty in various programs. It was an exciting moment in the life of the growing Capitol Campus as the potential of co-location, agglomeration, and density (all urban planning principles) were realized. By being proximate to one another, the many academic programs that now call the campus home have new opportunities for engagement across disciplines. I personally marveled at the sight of students meeting each other from outside of their programs. The possibilities are endless about the collaborations that may come.
I appreciated that action and contemplation were occurring simultaneously. Students were making important connections with resource offices, including the Office of Mission and Ministry, and signing up for early semester programs. They were in the midst of activity. But students were also resting, soaking up the sun, and finding companions around small circles to enjoy their meals. The overall atmosphere was encouraging and upbeat. It was a prolonged moment of pause and peace, welcomed by all as we get back earnestly to all the sacred work that calls us.
This week, the Mission and Ministry Multifaith Center on the fourth Floor of 111 Massachusetts Avenue opened. You can learn more about the space and Mission and Ministry on the Capitol Campus online.
These have been some exciting weeks at the Capitol Campus. With the move from 640 Massachusetts Avenue for the SCS community and the arrival of faculty and staff from other units and programs at 111 Massachusetts Avenue, there is much anticipation as the fall semester begins next week. 111’s opening to students marks a major milestone in the evolution of Georgetown University. Like all of our endeavors at the University, this growth in Capitol Campus strives to remain anchored in Georgetown’s foundational Jesuit heritage, mission, and values. There are many indications of this commitment on the campus, but two stand out especially.
First, we have opened the new Mission and Ministry Multifaith Center on the fourth floor of the 111 Massachusetts Avenue building. You can learn more about what the Georgetown community can expect from this new space, along with other Mission and Ministry spaces and programs on Capitol Campus, by visiting this website. Adorned with a common area filled with comfortable seating, offices for chaplains and staff, and a contemplative space suitable for individual and group use of a diverse spiritual nature, the Multifaith Center expresses in its design Georgetown’s abiding commitment to sharing its Catholic and Jesuit heritage in a way that is open to all. Soon enough, students, faculty, and staff will begin making their way into this space along with the other shared services offices and suites on the fourth floor of the building. In future posts, we’ll share more about developments in Mission and Ministry on Capitol Campus, including available opportunities in this amazing new center.
Second, the cornerstone of the 111 building, customary for all Georgetown constructions, is marked by AMDG, or Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam, and the year of opening (in this case, 2025). The Spirit of Georgetown tells us that AMDG is the motto of the Jesuits and refers to the primary religious purpose of all Jesuit works, which is to more effectively reveal God’s active presence in the world. It is fitting that the cornerstone of 111, situated as it is the middle of the East End of Washington, D.C.’s downtown and in the shadow of the civic heart of the federal government, communicate Georgetown’s mission to the world that engages with this new dynamic building. There is something appropriate and resonant with Jesuit mission strategy that such a modern glass building, heavily renovated from its prior condition, is anchored by such a classic cornerstone. The mission strategy of the Jesuits has always sought to balance the competing goods of mobility and place, discerning in each situation of work how to be free to meet the greatest good as circumstances change while maintaining a fixed presence in a particular place (as in schools and their brick-and-mortar facilities).
The cornerstone of the 111 building expresses the primary religious purpose of all Jesuit endeavors, AMDG or For the Greater Glory of God.
St. Ignatius was well aware of this tension and constantly guided and counseled his earliest companions, dispersed around the world, to ensure that in running schools, they did not become too attached to particular activities and places. Remaining faithful to the investment needed to establish excellent schools also means deeply resourcing the needs of the land and property where the school is located. 111 represents both the fluidity and mobility of Georgetown’s newly created undergraduate and graduate programs as well as the fixity of Georgetown’s traditions as an exemplar of humanistic education rooted in Washington, D.C.
I hope that newcomers to the 111 building reflect more deeply about the meaning of this AMDG cornerstone and the opportunity it presents for all of us in this dynamic new moment on the Capitol Campus to commit to mission in all that we do.
In this week’s post, we hear from Fr. Taroh Amédé, S.J., a development officer for American Jesuits International, as well as a student in the SCS Master’s in Emergency and Disaster Management program. He reflects on the global mission of the Jesuits and how he is working to realize that mission through his work and study.
Last week, we reflected on the enduring significance of St. Ignatius of Loyola on the occasion of his feast day. This week, we feature a living embodiment of the Ignatian charism by introducing Fr. Taroh Amédé, S.J., a development officer for American Jesuits International, an international organization that helps build just and equitable societies by mobilizing support for Jesuit education and development initiatives that serve marginalized communities in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. In addition to his professional role, Fr. Taroh is currently studying in the Master’s in Emergency and Disaster Management program (EDM) at the School of Continuing Studies and living in the Jesuit residential community at Gonzaga College High School. This academic year, he will contribute to religious life on Georgetown’s Capitol Campus by occasionally presiding at the Sunday, 5 p.m. Capitol Campus Catholic Mass at Holy Rosary Church.
Since its inception, the Jesuits, also known as the Society of Jesus, have been a global religious community with various works situated throughout the world. What binds this universal project together is a shared mission to work for the greater glory of God, or AMDG, one of Georgetown’s ten Spirit of Georgetown values. This blog has previously covered how this global religious order regularly reviews, reflects, and chooses how best to serve its universal mission in light of changing “signs of the times.” The most recent affirmation of Jesuit priorities, the four Universal Apostolic Preferences, reflect how all Jesuit works, including schools, should be responding to the world’s greatest needs in this moment. These preferences include showing the way to God through the Spiritual Exercises and discernment; walking with the poor, the outcasts of the world, those whose dignity has been violated, in a mission of reconciliation and justice; journeying with young people in the creation of a hope-filled future; and collaborating, with Gospel depth, for the protection and renewal of God’s creation.
In this reflection posted on the American Jesuits International website, Fr. Taroh invites us to “Learn from Ignatius of Loyola, Work for the Great Glory of God.” I invite you to read his reflection in its entirety. In particular, I wanted to point out a particular image that Fr. Taroh uses, the bridge, that resonates deeply with Georgetown’s own global mission of generous service for justice and the common good. He writes:
“Ignatius understood this centuries earlier. The Jesuits, together with our lay collaborators, know of the transformative power of education. We continue to walk with the poor, ensuring that even those who struggle to afford a meal or pay school fees are not forgotten. We know that providing an education means we are opening the opportunity for a brighter future.
As a Jesuit from Chad working as the Development Officer for American Jesuits International, I am blessed to be a bridge between those in need and those with the means to help them. I am deeply moved each day by the struggles of people in Latin America, Africa, and Asia who lack access to basic education and are often marginalized. At the same time, I am inspired to see the impact of our global mission and grateful to each person who helps us attend to those in need.”
Inspired by Fr. Taroh’s reference to the Ignatian tradition of education for the common good, I wanted to learn more about how his own education at Georgetown has shaped his worldview and preparation for mission. I asked Fr. Taroh the following question: “How has your education at Georgetown’s School of Continuing Studies informed your vocation as a Jesuit? How will your Georgetown education help you better serve the mission of the Jesuits?” Here is his response:
At Georgetown’s School of Continuing Studies, I am studying Emergency and Disaster Management. Whenever I introduce myself and mention this field of study, people are often curious, how does being a Jesuit priest connect with training in emergency management?
The mission of an Emergency and Disaster Manager is to protect communities by coordinating and integrating all necessary activities to build, sustain, and improve the capacity to mitigate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from natural disasters, acts of terrorism, or other man-made crises. The mission of the Society of Jesus is one of justice and reconciliation, helping people to be reconciled with God, with themselves, with one another, and with creation.
What unites these two missions is a shared commitment to the protection and dignity of human life. Both seek to prevent harm and alleviate suffering. I am studying EDM not in addition to being a Jesuit, but to become a better Jesuit. My education at Georgetown is deepening and expanding my vocation in meaningful ways.
Through EDM, I see more clearly how the Jesuit call to be “men and women for others” intersects with the urgent challenges facing our world, especially those affecting vulnerable communities before, during, and after crises. These studies are strengthening my compassion, sharpening my skills, and confirming me more and more in my vocation.
When I reflect on how my Georgetown education will help me serve the Jesuit mission, I see it from two perspectives, present and future.
Currently, I work with American Jesuits International (AJI), an organization that supports Jesuit education and development projects across Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Through this work, I see, hear, and encounter the suffering of people living on the margins. My education in EDM gives me a better understanding of the systemic challenges they face, and prepares me to respond more effectively and with greater empathy.
Looking ahead, I hope to continue using the knowledge I gain through the Emergency and Disaster Management program to serve God’s people and help build a world that reflects the justice, compassion, and hope God desires for all creation.
The post reflects on the meaning of Ignatian discernment in light of the coming move to 111 Massachusetts Avenue and the growth of Georgetown’s Capitol Campus. Georgetown honored the July 31 Feast Day of St. Ignatius with Mass in Dahlgren Chapel followed by a reception. Image: Jesuits.org
Every July 31 is a welcomed opportunity to pause and reflect on the enduring meaning of the life of St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits or the Society of Jesus. This innovative leader revolutionized religious community life, spiritual practices, and mission engagement strategy in ways that still reverberate today. Surely, the global presence of schools, retreat centers, and other works of the Society of Jesus testify to this lasting innovation. But the genius of Ignatius rests, I believe, in something more intangible. I believe that this year’s feast day is an opportunity to honor St. Ignatius of Loyola by utilizing his most significant achievement, a time-tested framework for discerning how to most fully live out our personal and collective mission as a university community.
My affection for Ignatian discernment approaches is based on direct experience sharing this wisdom alongside Ignatian-animated collaborators with students, faculty, and staff through engaging retreats, workshops, meditations, critical immersions, and coursework. I am especially grateful that this discernment framework is adaptable and flexible, an especially important characteristic as Georgetown enters the next phase of growing our Capitol Campus.
In a nutshell, both individual and communal Ignatian discernment invites participants, who are in the midst of civically engaged activity, to step back, pause, and check in on some fundamental questions of meaning and purpose, like:
What is the mission that I am serving with the use of my gifts and talents?
Have circumstances sufficiently changed that require me to re-assess whether my service of the mission needs to adapt in order to fully realize this mission?
What data am I regularly collecting in moments of interior quiet (whether that data be thoughts, feelings, intuitions, social information, etc.) that help me assess my faithfulness to my personal and collective mission in the world?
What is the greater good being served by my individual and our common work? How do I know that I am contributing to these greater goods?
How am I asking God for help in making such discernments? What does my inner life need in order to engage in richer interior practices? What companions do I need to cultivate to help share and collaborate in this vital work of advancing mission?
In a dynamic and evolving external circumstance like the emerging Capitol Campus, which includes a major move and transition for many Georgetown units to 111 Massachusetts Ave. in a matter of weeks, such discernment questions are especially timely and relevant. Ignatius was no stranger to major new undertakings, overseeing the growth of a truly global organization with hundreds of members and many schools founded throughout the world in a very short time. The founding of these schools was not without complications, as the Jesuits had to balance the preferences and prerogatives of a variety of voices in the community about how they wanted these schools to be run.
Check out some of Georgetown’s Jesuits reflecting on the significance of Ignatius’s Feast Day by visiting the University’s Instagram Page.
Ignatius composed a record-setting number of letters, around 7,000, to check in with these globally dispersed Jesuits and make sure that, despite the on-the-ground challenges, these Jesuits were actively reflecting on whether the means of their work were aligned with the intended ends of their work. Across this correspondence, Ignatius routinely reminded his companions that the work of schools was not only about the obvious educational benefits but also about the edification and common good of the cities.
So too today the Georgetown community is about to embark on a new chapter of the University’s life of realizing a universal mission that unites all Hoyas in a shared endeavor. Ignatian discernment reminds us on the eve of the move to 111 Massachusetts Avenue that our mission attends very clearly to the individual (cura personalis), the institution (cura apostolica), and the common good of all.
When you remember the 640 Massachusetts Avenue campus of SCS, which we will bid farewell to at the end of July, what will first come to mind? This post is a reflection on more than ten years of memories in this mission-animated space.
Readers of this blog are no doubt aware of the exciting developments on Georgetown’s Capitol Campus, including the opening in August of the 111 Massachusetts Avenue building (see: “Anticipating the Opening of 111 Massachusetts Avenue on the Capitol Campus”). But anticipating the opening of the new building means reflecting well on the closing of another, the 640 Massachusetts Avenue home of the School of Continuing Studies since 2013. With a Farewell to 640 Celebration planned for July 29 (RSVP here) and an invitation to share your memories of 640 (upload here), I wanted to share some perspectives about the meaning of this campus location from a broader view of the University’s mission and values. Sharing these perspectives involves my own personal and professional experiences of the building and its many spaces.
A thoughtful study of the built environment includes evaluating why certain physical structures have particular historical or cultural features worth preserving. We often think of only certain types of facilities worthy of this kind of designation, especially buildings with notable historical, cultural, artistic, or religious significance. In this way, the highly modern, rehabilitated, and redesigned four floors of the 640 SCS campus, embedded in a larger office building, do not necessarily possess historical attributes of a building worthy of historical preservation. But the 640 campus location does carry significance for its enduring meaning in the life of Georgetown University. A July 2012 Georgetown web story, “University Announces Expansion of ‘Georgetown Downtown’ Presence,” reveals the University’s mission-based vision for the growth of SCS and increasing presence in this area of the city. President Emeritus John J. DeGioia reflected on this meaning and said: “This new home provides us with an opportunity to extend the impact of the university into new parts of the city and to broaden the reach of our work. We are excited to be aligning our interests with this vibrant and growing city.”
Operating for more than a decade in a dynamic area of downtown Washington, D.C., we can confidently say that 640 has become a home. I can remember the first time I entered the building in 2014 when I interviewed for a staff position in the Master’s Program in Urban & Regional Planning: I was struck by the building’s light and air, polished modern amenities, and the surprising way that the dynamic modern environment pointed my attentions back to Georgetown’s long history and heritage as a Jesuit institution of higher learning. I knew then, and continue to know as we embark on a new phase of Georgetown’s life, that our Catholic and Jesuit mission, with its abiding commitment to interreligious dialogue and multifaith programming, would be animated in a distinctly Ignatian way in this urban campus location.
But I will remember most the human connections and the relationships of meaning that occurred in this building. I will savor the memories of staff-organized potlucks, with colleagues in pre-COVID 19 times regaling in each other’s company over a diverse, homemade spread of delicious food. I will savor the memories of learning the craft of teaching in the classrooms of 640 and getting to know new students semester after semester as they began their academic journeys at Georgetown. I will savor the memories of growing the bonds of colleagueship with other staff and faculty through spontaneous interactions, impromptu communal uses of the space (like watching the World Cup on the projector in the atrium), and planned gatherings like all-staff meetings and new student orientations. I will also remember my particular trip to campus, enjoying (usually!) my walk up and down 7th Street from the Gallery Place Metro Station. I will remember the feeling of pride at showing friends and family the incredible learning spaces in 640 and watching as visitors marveled at the touch and feel of a truly technologically-enabled modern urban campus building.
Buildings are more than buildings if we take to heart that it is the people who make the physical experience of a place into something much more. I have found my own deeper connection to Georgetown’s mission, heritage, and identity through the people I have encountered at 640. I feel such an enormous privilege to have called 640 home for a little over a decade. And now I’m ready for another home at Georgetown, and I pray that 111 Massachusetts Avenue will become a home to so many in the way that 640 has been one for me, my community of colleagues, and a generation of Georgetown students.
With over five years of posts, this Mission in Motion blog now observes some annual traditions. This week, I would like to revisit two traditions: spiritual practices especially suitable for the summer months (see “This Summer: Learn to Pray, Read Slowly and Spiritually, and/or Explore Nature”) and learning more about the deeply mission-aligned Summer College Immersion Program (see “Vocation, Discernment, and Decision-Making with the Summer College Immersion Program”). The occasion for discussing both things is my experience this week of providing an introduction to reflection in the Jesuit Tradition to the students in the Summer College Immersion Program (SCIP). This three-week college prep program for rising high school seniors from the Cristo Rey Network, the KIPP Foundation school systems, as well as other select schools, networks, and community-based organizations helps prepare high-achieving students for the college admissions process.
My introduction to reflection in the Jesuit tradition included an Examen meditation about the students’ initial experiences of SCIP and their encounters in the first week of the program with the Georgetown campus. By modeling this core reflective practice, I sought to introduce these rising seniors to a contemplative tradition that serves as a needed antidote to the distractions and preoccupations of our heavily technologically-dominated digital age. It is my common experience that sharing the Examen with large groups, especially with persons who have never engaged with the practice, can cause participants to realize just how much need they have in their lives for more quiet and concentrated attention. This week’s experience of the Examen with the SCIP students was no different.
The session also involved a bit of teaching about the identity and mission of Georgetown as a university founded in the Jesuit tradition. At the very least, my goal in an engagement like this is to make students aware of Georgetown’s Catholic and Jesuit identity, mission, and heritage. I always relish when students appreciate that the University’s enactment of its core values includes an abiding commitment to religious diversity and hospitality of differing views, identities, and life experiences. I use Georgetown’s mission statement as the point of departure for growing awareness about this characteristic of the University’s commitment to pluralism and dialogue across differences. And like the Examen, this exercise of introducing the mission becomes an embodied spiritual practice: Lectio Divina (or the tradition of sacred reading).
The students took turns reading each paragraph of the mission slowly and intentionally. I then asked the group to let the statement’s words and phrases simmer. What stands out to you? What captures your attention? What energizes you? What confuses or distracts you? Without realizing it, the students were using all of their sensory experience, not just their cognitive processing, to engage with this exercise. The result? Students shared insightful responses to particular ideas in the mission statement and how these concepts related back to their actual experience of Georgetown and their time in SCIP. In this way, the students were beginning to appropriate the mission in their own lives. And hopefully students leaving this program with an intention to apply to Jesuit colleges and universities will have more vocabulary and more understanding about the mission and values of institutions in the network.
Sacred Reading is a powerful practice because it can illuminate the deeper meaning and personal resonance of individual words and phrases. Even something we regularly read, like the University’s mission statement, can present new transformative insights when we give the words our disciplined attention.
This week’s post is a reflection about the much-anticipated opening of the 111 Massachusetts Avenue building on Georgetown’s Capitol Campus that will begin operations in the Fall 2025.
In his classic work, City, Church, and Jesuit Urban Strategy, Rev. Thomas Lucas, S.J. describes the approach to the city taken by the founder of the Society of Jesus, St. Ignatius of Loyola, and says that:
“Ignatius’ improvisational genius cannot be appreciated if removed from its proper proscenium, the ancient tradition of the Roman Church as aedificatio aedificans et semper aedificanda, building in process and ever in need of rebuilding…Ignatius was the first founder of a major religious order in the history of the Church to locate his headquarters in Rome and the first to opt deliberately for complete insertion of a religious order’s works and residences in the center of the urban fabric.”
The key idea here is that for mission-driven institutions there is something more happening than the physical construction of buildings and spaces that house the works. In this sense, there is always some building in process for an organization discerning how best to realize its mission in new conditions, especially “in the center of the urban fabric.” And often, because the circumstances of the city’s needs change and evolve, just like the downtown of Washington, D.C., the physical buildings need to be rebuilt in order to address these new challenges. Being located in the heart of the city gives institutions like Georgetown important opportunities to be rebuilt in greater service to meeting the civic, economic, and political challenges facing D.C.
I took this lesson to heart this week as staff from the School of Continuing Studies and other units on the Capitol Campus had dedicated building tours of the new 111 Massachusetts Avenue building, which is slated to open for the Fall 2025 Semester. This rehabilitated and remodeled eight-story building will be the home to several Georgetown schools and units, including SCS, McDonough School of Business, the Earth Commons Institute, the School of Health, the School of Nursing, the Capitol Area Learning Labs (The CALL), and executive education programs. This is a pivotal moment in the ongoing build-out of the Capitol Campus and the 111 building is set to anchor this next phase of development. This was the first time that many staff were able to experience the new space and concretely imagine what work could feel like in the coming years. Eager questions and excited observations abounded during the brief tour of the floors.
Staff at SCS and other units and schools at Georgetown had an opportunity this week to visit the almost completed building and imagine the future of their workspaces and classrooms.
The reflection by Lucas opens up important ponderings for the populations preparing to move into the 111 Massachusetts Avenue building and begin a new phase of the University’s life in the downtown of Washington, D.C. As I consider the mission significance of 111 Mass. Ave opening up this fall, I wonder about how we as a university community can make good on the strategic urban location of this new growing campus. The Capitol Campus is situated between monumental expressions of civic architecture in the forms of the U.S. Capitol and the Supreme Court and long-time residents and communities striving to flourish in the midst of so much urban change. I hope these contrasts and occasional tensions continue to inspire the mission-animated decisions of the Georgetown community on the Capitol Campus.
The new 111 Mass. Ave building represents a new opportunity for Georgetown to deepen its mission commitment in the city.
This week’s post reflects on the passing of Pope Francis and how services held on the Capitol Campus helped the university community grieve this transformative global leader.
The world grieved this week for Pope Francis. Tears of sadness flowed not only from Catholics but from diverse communities of goodwill across the globe. There was something transcendent about the broad and cross-cutting appeal of Pope Francis, a leader that the world needed at this period in time. We seek to live in hope that his legacy of leadership, service, and moral example will endure. Georgetown was particularly impacted by the life of Pope Francis, which the university memorialized in this webpage detailing the myriad ways that Georgetown has been inspired by his moral and spiritual leadership.
This week, in addition to services occurring on the Hilltop Campus, multiple events taking place on Capitol Campus honored Pope Francis and assisted our downtown community in grieving. Taize Prayer, which is an ecumenical style of meditative worship through song, took place on Tuesday evening in the St. Thomas More Chapel in McDonough Hall of the Georgetown University Law Center. A portion of that prayer was reserved for reflecting on the life of Pope Francis and hearing aloud a portion of his last public address. On Wednesday morning, Catholic Mass in the St. Thomas More Chapel continued honoring Pope Francis by dedicating that service to him. Special petitions and a homily about how Pope Francis brought the Gospel to life in his devotion to lifting up the most marginalized and vulnerable people, particularly migrants and refugees, focused the community’s attention on how living up to his example means standing up for these communities today.
As an urban planner trained in Ignatian spirituality and devoted to the mission of Jesuit education, I think one of the most underappreciated legacies of Pope Francis is his commitment to sustainable urban development. Pope Francis was an insightful urbanist, which is evidenced by his writing in “Laudato Si,’” a formative teaching document about the environmental crisis created by human-induced climate change (see especially paragraphs 147-155). Pope Francis understood the major challenges facing cities around the world because he experienced them from the perspective of the poor and the people most negatively impacted by inadequate urban systems like housing, transportation, and public space. He literally rode the buses of Buenos Aires as its archbishop. As a result of his bottom-up, lived experience, Pope Francis assessed the wellness of urban communities on the basis of how they advanced justice, sustainability, and equity for those most overlooked by those in power. The most recent SCS Dean’s Report explored how the School has answered this particular call of Pope Francis in supporting sustainable urban development.
A special mass was held on the Capitol Campus for Pope Francis. One of his many enduring legacies will be his powerful teachings about sustainable urban development.
I hope this time of transition in the leadership of the Catholic Church provides opportunities to remember the indelible marks that Pope Francis has left on the world. May our university community discern well how we want to put into practice all that we have learned from his earthly example.
A virtual training at SCS this week explored the Ignatian contributions to the development of ethical leaders.
One of the great strengths of the SCS approach to professional education is the intentional emphasis on Georgetown’s Jesuit mission and its relevance to the tasks of lifelong learning. The connection between Ignatian values and continuous education is well-established in the biography of St. Ignatius of Loyola. The Jesuit founder experienced a transformative conversion after a life-altering battlefield injury that ultimately led him to re-chart his life’s journey in the service of his ultimate purpose: praising, reverencing, and serving God in all things. This new direction demanded different skills, capacities, and knowledge than those required by his former, pre-conversion lifestyle. St. Ignatius went back to school, quite literally, in order to fulfill his noble purpose.
The virtual training considered how spiritual leadership has received more attention by management and leadership scholars.
In this way, St. Ignatius presents an exemplary case of continuing education in action that continues to inspire our approaches today. It is with this Ignatian inspiration in mind that I reflect on this week’s Knowledge@Noon program hosted by the professional certificates team at SCS. Branded as a presentation about “Discerning How to Be an Ethical Leader,” the training served as an entry point for participants to discover more about the professional certificate offerings at SCS, including the newly designed “Master Practitioner in Leadership” in which I serve as an instructor. I spent the hour making the case for spirituality as a key ingredient of leader development, a recommendation supported by scholarly research in management and leadership studies. I then offered Ignatian discernment and its practices as a practical bridge between theoretical support for spiritual leadership and an applied approach to integrating spirituality into leader practices.
Ignatian spirituality, which emphasizes how to make choices that align one’s values with one’s ultimate purpose, can enhance the study and practice of ethical leadership.
The Ignatian spiritual tradition offers so many valuable insights to the discussion about ethical leadership. One of the main points I tried to emphasize in this virtual training is that Ignatian discernment, rooted as it is in a faith tradition, gives professional education of leaders a deeper range of resources beyond those of purely secularized approaches like emotional intelligence. My intention here is to help prospective students appreciate how Georgetown’s religious heritage as a Catholic and Jesuit university and its commitment to interreligious dialogue is unique in the marketplace of continuing education programs. There is so much more to say about these connections but I recommend that you inquire about professional certificates, like the Strategic Thinking and Leadership Academy and the Master Practitioner in Leadership, to learn more about how Ignatian principles manifest in SCS programming.
This week’s post reflects on the recent staff appreciation day taking place on Capitol Campus with the help of some guidance offered by St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits.
In a letter written in 1541 to fellow Jesuits on mission, Jesuit founder St. Ignatius of Loyola gives advice about “dealing with others.” Ignatius wrote almost 7,000 of these correspondences over his lifetime, a record that rivaled the great letter-writers of the period. What is striking to me about this five-centuries-old communication is its enduring relevance to us today. Ignatius writes:
“Be ready to listen for long periods and until each other has had his say…We should be kind and compassionate with those who are sad or tempted, speak at length with them, and show great joy and cheerfulness, both interior and exterior, to draw them to the opposite of what they feel, for their greater edification and consolation…In business matters be generous with your time; that is, if you can, do today what you promise to do tomorrow.”
This Ignatian messaging came up for me this week during Georgetown’s Staff Appreciation Day taking place on the Capitol Campus. Mission in Motionhas reflected in the past about this event and considered the mission significance of this convening of gratitude for the work of university staff.
What stood out for me in Ignatius’s letter is his encouragement to the Jesuits under his care to be “generous with your time.” Ignatius also emphasizes speaking “at length” as well as showing “great joy and cheerfulness” and listening for “long periods.” These encouragements are hardly novel nor is Ignatius the first supervisor and manager to ever give this advice. But what makes this instruction useful for us today is that these encouragements provide insights about how we might advance Georgetown’s mission on the Capitol Campus in the years to come.
The accelerating development of Capitol Campus (evident this week by the launch of a new website) and the anticipated opening of 111 Massachusetts Avenue (the new home for SCS and several other university units) make these particular suggestions for mission animation especially relevant. The growth of Capitol Campus, which will bring together representatives from all of Georgetown’s academic units in one location, will require long periods of listening. A vision for interdisciplinary collaboration between these different schools and units will depend on faculty and staff creating space to listen and listen well. Such collaboration will take time to develop organically, and events like the one make mutual understanding more likely.
Realizing the ambitious vision for the Capitol Campus will depend upon some of practices that St. Ignatius encourages, like listening for long periods of time and expressing joy and compassion.
Building a hospitable campus that welcomes both undergraduate and graduate students in a range of programs will take some of the kindness and compassion that Ignatius encourages. This week’s staff appreciation event showcased how all of Georgetown’s employees have an important role to play in building such an inclusive culture for current and future Hoya students. Staff are already being called on and will continue to be called upon to collaborate in new ways to meet the needs of the diverse student populations that will call Capitol Campus home. There will be opportunities for increased coordination amongst staff as community formation on Capitol Campus evolves and changes over time.
Staff Appreciation Day is a welcome opportunity to pause and reflect on the many ways that university staff work together to realize Georgetown’s mission. Relying on the resources of our Ignatian heritage and tradition, including the voluminous correspondence of St. Ignatius, can support all of us in the staff community as we guide an ambitious vision for Capitol Campus.
