This week, Georgetown honored Sr. Thea Bowman during a naming ceremony of the Copley chapel. Mission in Motion reflects on the significance and implications of Sr. Thea’s life for us today.
As spring semester comes to a conclusion and the joyous celebration of Commencement approaches, Georgetown made time this week for several significant events related to Sr. Thea Bowman. Bowman, a Roman Catholic religious sister considered a “Servant of God” (meaning that she is on the path to canonization by the Church), made important contributions in her lifetime both to her faith community and to the world. University President DeGioia captured some of Sr. Thea’s defining legacies in his announcement:
“[H]er vibrant Christian faith; her Protestant roots; her joining the Catholic community and the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration; her courage in calling the Catholic Church and our nation to more fully engage with Black Catholics and to reject racism; her own academic background and role in establishing scholarship around the Black Catholic experience; her embrace of music as a form of ministry; and her faith-filled service and witness in living the Gospel.”
The context for honoring Bowman at the University is the naming this week of the chapel in Copley Hall in her honor. The chapel in Copley is both a consecrated Catholic chapel and the spiritual home for Georgetown’s Protestant community. An ecumenical service took place to commemorate the naming of the chapel and included the Roman Catholic Cardinal Archbishop of Washington, Wilton Gregory, as well as Fr. Mark Bosco, Vice President for Mission and Ministry; Rev. Ebony Grisom, Interim Director of Protestant Ministry; and Rev. TauVaughn Toney, Protestant Christian Chaplain. The event featured lively music provided by Georgetown’s Gospel Choir along with reflections by President DeGioia and testimonials about Bowman’s life from religious women who knew her well.
The celebration of Sr. Thea continued into the evening as the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life hosted a Dahlgren Dialogue: “Faithful Life, Powerful Legacy, Continuing Lessons.” The panel of distinguished leaders explored key questions about the implications and lessons of Bowman’s life. At the center of the discussion was the recognition of the burdens Sr. Thea bore in battling the intersecting oppressions of racism and patriarchalism. She faced these challenges along with other marginalizations as she sought to lift up the Black Catholic experience in a Church and society that too often excluded and excludes the fullness of Black identity and experience.
As part of the celebration of Sr. Thea Bowman’s life, a panel at Georgetown explored the lessons that we can take away from how she lived. You can watch a recording.
All of the panelists pointed to Bowman’s 1989 address to the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops for insights about how to proceed today with hope in spite of the dispiriting challenges to greater inclusion and justice for marginalized persons and communities. Sr. Thea’s lively and courageous embrace of her own authentic self was a resource for her loving actions in the world and offers inspiration for us today:
“What does it mean to be Black and Catholic? It means that I come to my Church fully functioning. That doesn’t frighten you, does it? I come to my Church fully functioning. I bring myself; my Black self, all that I am, all that I have, all that I hope to become. I bring my whole history, my traditions, my experience, my culture, my African American song and dance and gesture and movement and teaching and preaching and healing and responsibility – as gifts to the Church.”
The panelists described a necessary caution in interpreting the significance of Sr. Thea’s life. It would be a temptation to reduce her life’s work only to the cause of racial justice and fail to appreciate the many other ways that she worked against social structures of exclusion. To honor Sr. Thea in a genuine way, the panelists agreed, is to live out her message by proactively and continuously standing with people of color, through policies, practices, and ways of being community, in the pursuit of justice and the common good. That would truly be honoring Sr. Thea’s legacy!
A hallmark of Georgetown University is a commitment to Interreligious Dialogue. This commitment, enshrined in the Spirit of Georgetown, is evident in many ways throughout SCS and across the campuses. The aspiration to ecumenical and interreligious engagement and understanding is more than theoretical, however. Georgetown seeks to live out the fullness of this value not just because interreligious commitment is integral to a Catholic and Jesuit education but because interreligious understanding is an important skill to be fostered in today’s world.
This week’s post focuses on interreligious dialogue as a key value at Georgetown that is best realized through practice. During Ramadan, members of the University have been invited to join the Muslim community at the Iftar. You can learn more about all of the religious communities at Georgetown at the Campus Ministry website.
A recent report from the International Association of Jesuit Universities (IAJU) makes clear that fostering interreligious dialogue and action is key to the social mission of Jesuit schools around the globe. The IAJU Task Force on Interreligious Dialogue and Understanding issued a document, “Encounter, Dialogue and Action in a World of Religious Plurality,” that emphasizes a knowledge- and skills-based approach to this work:
“Jesuit education should expose students to other cultures to foster critical awareness, innovation and attentiveness by ‘leaving home’ – i.e. exiting their comfort zones of thinking and accepted paradigms. The practices of interreligious encounter have a value that transcends the strictly religious domain and can be applied to a range of fields, including supporting democracy, ecology, and reconciliation. University education can tend to apply scientific post-Enlightenment values as the only valid standard of judgment. In areas of deep secularization, religious literacy lags behind the realities of global religious diversity. In this light, interreligious encounters can be a prime educational tool and a value for our students, leading to enhanced intercultural competency in a rapidly diversifying yet interconnected world.”
The document goes on to consider how fostering an atmosphere of dialogue and encounter contributes to meaningful actions at a Jesuit university in service of the common good, which is at the heart of a humanistic Jesuit education.
During this season’s religiously significant sacred observances for multiple traditions (Easter, Passover, Ramadan, and Pascha), Georgetown has realized a practice-based commitment to interreligious dialogue. One particularly moving example of this is the way the University community has celebrated Ramadan with its Muslim community by actively participating in the Iftar, or the evening meal in which Muslims end their Ramadan fast at sunset.
During the holy time of Ramadan, different offices and groups have sponsored Iftars for the Muslim community, including the Office of the President and Dharmic Life. In sharing the opportunity with the community, Dr. Vrajivhari Sharan, Director for Dharmic Life, encouraged attendance by articulating a present connection between living traditions and appealed to the “examples of our great Dharmic Spiritual Teachers.” President DeGioia’s welcome message for Ramadan to the Muslim community noted that followers of other religious traditions can deepen in their own faith by engaging with the religious practices of others. And Provost Groves’ recent blog post, “The Nurturance of Groups: Large and Small,” reflected that the Iftar was an occasion of value because it was “being with those whose shared experiences at Georgetown, to gather sustenance from the bonds with those shared experiences.”
My invitation is to experience the practices of another religious tradition as an opportunity to grow in your own interreligious literacy and skills. Fostering this competency is especially valuable for students entering professional industries that are increasingly global in their focus. You might take advantage of Georgetown resources for this kind of encounter by first signing up for the newsletters of one of the many religious communities represented and animated at the University.
The 52nd anniversary of Earth Day takes place on April 22 and this annual milestone is an opportunity for us at Georgetown SCS to reflect on the threats facing planet Earth and discern what actions we can take to be part of the global movement for environmental sustainability. More than a single day, however, Georgetown has made this commitment to sustaining the Earth’s natural resources a core part of living out the University’s mission. The most recently added value in the Spirit of Georgetown, Care for Our Common Home, reflects the deepening efforts at Georgetown to make environmental sustainability a core part of both academic life and university operations.
The annual celebration of Earth Day on April 22 provides a welcome opportunity to reflect on how we are called at Georgetown to live into our mission of caring for the natural environment as a core Jesuit value.
This is an exciting time to join the global movement for environmental sustainability at Georgetown. Recently, the University announced the launching of The Earth Commons, an Institute for Environment & Sustainability that accelerates action, research, and education on the most pressing environmental and sustainability challenges both locally and globally. Within these categories of education, research, and action, there are many ways to get involved in the work of The Earth Commons.
Georgetown has also expanded and relaunched its Office of Sustainability, adding key staff members to help direct the University’s ongoing work to cultivate a culture of sustainability on and off campus. The office supports the academic mission of the University, but focuses on solutions to environmental challenges that can be realized and scaled on the campuses and in the community. To follow along and participate in these Georgetown efforts, you might consider signing up for the Earth Commons newsletter and getting involved in sustainability planning at the University.
Earth Day presents an opportunity for each of us to grow in our love for the Earth. Developing this relationship of affection with the natural environment can inspire our actions to care for it and protect it. The more one loves another, the environment in this case, the more one is moved to care about it and choose actions that preserve it. One suggestion for growing in love with the Earth is through a nature walk. This previous Mission in Motion post, “Exploring Nature,” explores this spiritually significant practice and how it relates to living out Georgetown’s mission:
“Walking in nature, admiring trees, creeks, flowers, animals, etc., has helped ground my perspective in this difficult period. The awe and majesty of the environment remind me to reflect on the source of all created things (it makes more sense to me why the natural world has inspired spiritual movements of all kinds, sometimes branded as Eco-Spirituality). As I enter into these reflections, take a deep breath, and soak up the gifts of the natural environment, my horizon and vision expand beyond more narrow daily concerns.
“Pope Francis, in his teaching document Laudato Si, describes how important it is to simply gaze at the wonders of nature, just like St. Francis, patron saint of the environment and animals: ‘Just as happens when we fall in love with someone, whenever he would gaze at the sun, the moon or the smallest of animals, he burst into song, drawing all other creatures into his praise.’ The peace of a nature walk can translate not only into greater mindfulness and attention but also a deeper love for nature and a desire to protect it against harm. In my nature walks, I am often moved from awareness to gratitude and love for the peace that I feel in the natural environment.”
I hope the occasion of Earth Day grows the seeds of contemplation about how you are called to commit to care for the environment. At Georgetown, there are many ways for us to join hands in this shared work.
This week’s Mission in Motion shines a spotlight on an ongoing partnership between the English Language Center (ELC) at SCS and Georgetown’s Institute for Women, Peace, and Security to deliver virtual English language tutoring, conversation practice, and professional mentoring for many Afghan refugees who either await or are in the resettlement process. Many SCS staff and faculty have signed up for this volunteer opportunity, receiving a crash course in English language teaching and then maintaining a weekly meeting with their Afghan partners. In this interview, Dr. Sherry Steeley, Associate Teaching Professor in the ELC, and Marcel Bolintiam, SCS Associate Dean of Executive and Language Education, offer their reflections on this program and how it relates to Georgetown’s mission and values.
Language Center at SCS and Georgetown’s Institute for Women, Peace, and Security to offer English language learning for Afghan refugees who are in the resettlement process.
1. How did this volunteer opportunity come together? What motivated this project?
Initially, Sarah Rutherford of the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace, and Security approached us at the recommendation of a Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) Certificate alumna. The Institute is sponsoring over 500 Afghan refugees and their families through their Onward for Afghan Women initiative, and they were initially hoping to recruit TEFL alumni to serve as tutors. The majority of the women remain in refugee camps as they await transition to residence in the U.S. or Canada.
Associate Dean Marcel Bolintiam strongly supported this in light of all the expertise we have in the ELC to support such an ambitious project. After discussion with Dean Kelly Otter, who is strongly committed to putting Jesuit values into action, we decided to expand the project SCS-wide to provide a broader pool of volunteers to work with the displaced Afghans.
What motivated us and others in the community was a desire to help. And as educators, particularly at the nation’s oldest Jesuit institution, this is exactly the kind of work that we are uniquely situated to provide: a desire to serve others, a community in dispersion, and meeting individuals where they are. Drawing on the talents of SCS faculty and alumni to serve a population at a critical transition in their lives has provided a unique opportunity to engage in a cultural exchange that embodies our Jesuit values, particularly to a community literally in dispersion.
2. In what ways does the work of organizing and facilitating volunteers who serve as English conversation partners for Afghan refugees animate the mission of the English Language Center?
The mission of the English Language Center (ELC) is to promote global understanding and education through programs and services that enhance English language proficiency, language teaching, and intercultural understanding. Through applied and practical methods, the ELC promotes academic excellence in teaching and learning that is guided by a commitment to diversity and tolerance, and respect for the individual.
Within ELC, the TEFL Certificate program’s mission is to prepare professional teachers for a career in teaching English language learners in the U.S. and globally. The majority of those who enroll in the program are motivated by social justice and a desire to make a difference in the lives of individuals by empowering them with the language skills that will enable them to more fully participate in civic, economic, and social life. Teaching English language learners is a joyful and all-encompassing process, a perpetual source of learning, and a powerful ongoing connection to cultures and peoples from around the world. The opportunity to share this kind of work with a broader community of volunteers while engaging with Afghan partners whose stories have been so moving has invigorated our commitment to the central values of our work.
Insofar as leaning into our mission, ELC was able to pull on its subject-matter experts in teacher training to provide a short-term crash course in best practices for teaching, in order to prepare the new volunteers for their role. Certainly teaching and supporting Afghan refugees’ language development is at the core of this project, but we have found that the tutors themselves have also engaged in a potential life-long friendships with their language partners that continue to build intercultural and global understanding, and this is a key theme underpinning of all our programming at ELC.
3. What have you learned so far? Any insights that inform future efforts with this student population?
Volunteer participants joined this initiative at varying levels of language proficiency and teaching ability, but what we have learned is that both are eager to learn more; participants’ willingness to improve their language skills as well as tutors’ desire to engage at whatever level is needed to support the refugees’ own transformational journey.
The needs of the Afghan partners vary widely, each significant and unique. Some have only basic English skills and, as they await their onward resettlement, they are eager to develop the language they need to find their way in their future homes. Others have advanced language abilities and are focused on professional mentoring so that they can navigate the very different business culture in North America.
Tutors and Afghan partners alike have demonstrated incredible creativity and have undertaken extensive learning in order to overcome technological barriers. Tutors have demonstrated flexibility and generosity in planning and Afghan partners have evidenced incredible commitment and motivation in very challenging circumstances.
Learning has been perhaps most crucial at a deeper level, as U.S. tutors and Afghan partners have forged strong ties across cultural, linguistic, geographic, and circumstantial divides. The impact on tutors has been deeply emotional—moving, humbling, and inspiring.
A GU tutoring partner noted the Afghan partners’ positivity, their passion, their resilience. “They are just so focused on being the best versions of themselves that they can be. They don’t focus on their struggles; they focus on moving forward. They are truly inspiring. And when we click on a subject (such as practicing interviews), the sense of worth it inspires is almost unexplainable.”
Another reflected on interaction with her Afghan partner regarding events in Ukraine, and how personal they felt to her in the wake of her flight from Afghanistan.
More difficult news was shared by a GU partner who was unable to stop thinking about the fact that her Afghan partner did not know which of her children would be able to migrate with her, and whether those left behind would be able to join her later.
Embodying the resilience of many in the Afghan group was an update from another GU partner: “The Afghan couple I tutor is currently living in [the U.S.]. They are amazing and inspire me every time I talk to them. They arrived in December, and they have spent the past three months scurrying to find jobs and pushing themselves to learn English in order to adapt to life in the U.S. Every time they address me, they say, “Dear teacher,” and it melts my heart. They are so grateful to be my students and to be here in the U.S. And we are so lucky to have them: the husband was a journalist in Kabul; the wife was an artist. Eventually, they want to get their master’s degrees here, and they want to do so much: to support the families that they had to leave behind and to integrate into life in the U.S. as much as possible.”
Working with Afghan partners has inspired and renewed our passion for and commitment to education as the key to creating global dialogue, understandings, and opportunity, the core values that brought many of us to the teaching profession. What we’ve learned for ongoing expansion of this work is to prepare both sides for flexibility in working through technological and logistical challenges—scheduling across time zones, rescheduling when other life demands compel this—and to avoid becoming discouraged. Above all, bringing and holding a spirit of openness and mutual respect that lie at the heart of this work is critical. We are profoundly grateful for the opportunity to engage in this partnership and to interact with this resilient community.
This question has become common in recent weeks as the war and humanitarian crisis in Ukraine grow. Observing images of human suffering and senseless destruction on television, in newspapers, or on the web is dispiriting and potentially demotivating. One might feel like there is nothing that can be done in response to a conflict half-way around the world. And when one appreciates that the war in Ukraine is only one of nearly a dozen other armed conflicts occurring in the world at this very moment, the sense of hopelessness in the face of human suffering and unnecessary loss can only grow.
What can we, as a Georgetown University community, do in response to these events? What might we discern as action steps, individually and collectively, in response to the war in Ukraine?
This week’s Mission in Motion explores what can we do as members of the Georgetown community in response to the war in Ukraine and the growing humanitarian crisis it has caused. Tetiana Stawnychy, president of Caritas Ukraine, participated from Ukraine on a virtual Georgetown panel and offered ways to support the people of Ukraine (watch the recording).
The University’s mission and values offer insights about how to proceed. Georgetown students are educated “to be reflective lifelong learners, to be responsible and active participants in civic life and to live generously in service to others.” We live out these commitments through values like “People for Others,” “Faith that Does Justice,” and “Interreligious Understanding.” These principles are being animated at the University in the weeks following the beginning of the war.
Georgetown’s official University landing page details several ways for members of the community to support growing humanitarian needs arising from the war. In addition to statements and expressions of support, one finds at that site resources for supporting mental and spiritual well-being in response to these destabilizing world events. Consistent with the University’s academic mission, the page also features timely scholarship, commentary, and public convenings that shed light on the many dynamic issues that the war brings up for the global community.
This week, for instance, Georgetown’s Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life hosted an event, “War in Ukraine: Human Agony, Global Crisis, Moral Principles.” The event, which featured speakers from around the world, including Tetiana Stawnychy, president of Caritas Ukraine, who was participating from within Ukraine where she is leading humanitarian assistance on the ground. This event was focused on practical questions, namely “what is the best way for event viewers to help?” But the discussion also pointed to the need for deeper individual reflection about the meaning of the war. One panelist offered that discerning what one is called to do in response to this war depends on first understanding the underlying issues. How did this war come to be? And what are the implications for the people of Ukraine in the short, medium, and long terms? Such reflections, which can occur in interdisciplinary curricular and co-curricular ways at Georgetown, bring up critical questions about globalization, religion and nationalism, international governance, economics, etc.
There are many international humanitarian organizations addressing the human needs arising from the war in Ukraine. The Jesuit Refugee Service has set up this page with suggestions for how to become more involved in the humanitarian response. And from April 6–9, 2022, Loyola Press, a Jesuit publishing company, will donate all of the proceeds from book sales on its site to the JRS.
This past weekend, over 20 SCS students from across 11 different programs experienced an overnight retreat at the Calcagnini Contemplative Center, “Going Inward, Growing Outward, Seeing Things New.” The first in-person SCS student retreat since the global pandemic began, the experience invited registrants to say “yes” to a weekend of rest and to recharge along with interior spiritual practices taking place in individual and group activities.
The 2022 SCS Student Retreat, “Going Inward, Growing Outward, Seeing Things New,” took place at Georgetown’s Calcagnini Contemplative Center.
A series of pre-retreat readings and preparation activities framed the weekend. Students had a chance to read in advance about silence as the foundation for meditative practices by exploring some of the wisdom offered by the Center for Action and Contemplation, a contemplative teaching organization grounded in the Christian tradition that explores interior practices from an inter-spiritual lens. In addition to silence, students read about the relationship between meditation practice and inter-religious dialogue from the book, “We Walk the Path Together: Learning from Thich Nhat Hanh & Meister Eckhart.” More than reading, registrants were also encouraged to practice mindfulness meditation in advance of the retreat and to select a sacred object to bring along to help them more deeply introduce themselves and their sacred stories to their fellow Georgetown classmates.
The weekend offered some surprises. A mid-March snow and wind storm made for an unexpected background throughout the overnight event. And while the spring retreat did not feel “spring-like” in a certain sense, the packed snow offered a layer of natural beauty in the already breathtaking setting of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Retreatants explored the snow while taking advantage of the Calcagnini Contemplative Center’s many walking paths and trails during solo and group nature walks. Much of the retreat took place indoors in the Arrupe Community Room with chairs arranged in a circle and a fireplace warming up the space. Group mindfulness and Examen meditations encouraged participants to experience silent reflection in a community setting. And a time for individual contemplative reading about Jesuit notions of interior freedom helped realize the retreat’s theme of “seeing things new” in the spirit of the Ignatian 500 year.
A snowfall made for a beautiful natural setting on the SCS student retreat.
Beyond the potential mindfulness and spiritual benefits, the retreat was also fun! Delicious meals and the ever presence of snacks, coffee, and tea made for enjoyable conversation and fellowship among students, many of whom had never met others outside of their program at SCS. By the time the retreat concluded, a common refrain was a wish that it had lasted longer.
Students enjoyed the fireplace in the Arrupe Community Room, using the space for individual and group reflections and meditations.
Making time and space for such an intentional physical retreat from daily life is an important ingredient of the whole person education articulated in the Spirit of Georgetown. Students had an opportunity to reflect on what the time away meant to them and how it shaped their self-understanding. This is a sampling of what the students shared:
“I feel more calm and centered.”
“The retreat brought about some important interior awareness that I should further explore and contemplate.”
“I feel grounded in my sense of peace and community here at Georgetown.”
“I feel more conscious about not judging myself so harshly. I feel more conscious about the importance of leading a balanced life.”
“I am more grounded in the present moment and noticing things that I want to work on in myself. I feel great about the connections that I made with others.”
If you missed this year’s retreat but are still interested in exploring opportunities for spiritual growth at Georgetown SCS, you might consider:
signing up to receive newsletters from the different religious chaplaincies operating at the University (sign up)
registering for the SCS Daily Digital Meditation that I lead on Zoom Monday-Friday at 12 p.m. ET. I offer a version of the centering mindfulness meditation on Monday through Thursday and an Examen on Fridays (sign up)
President DeGioia delivered a Sacred Lecture as part of Georgetown’s Ignatian Year 500. You can watch a recording.
On February 17, 2022, in Dahlgren Chapel, Georgetown President John J. DeGioia contributed to the University’s celebration of the Ignatian Year 500 by offering a Sacred Lecture: “Formation and the Practice of Discernment” (you can watch a recording). President DeGioia delivered the lecture at the invitation of Ignatian Year 500 working group co-chairs, Fr. Ron Anton, S.J., Superior of the Georgetown Jesuit Community, and Kelly Otter, Ph.D., Dean of the School of Continuing Studies, along with Fr. Mark Bosco, S.J., Vice President for Mission and Ministry. This event was conducted in coordination with the Office of Mission & Ministry, who produces the Dahlgren Chapel Sacred Lecture Series. These lectures imitate a tradition in the early history of the Jesuits when lecturers, outside of the context of formal preaching and liturgy, sought to instruct, edify, and challenge their listeners to apply the content of religious education within their daily lives. The lectures functioned then as now as a kind of adult education or adult faith formation. This feature of early Jesuit history, like the fact of St. Ignatius being a military veteran who suffered wounds in battle, is another meaningful connection between Jesuit tradition and the characteristics of SCS.
President DeGioia framed his presentation in response to this question: an injury suffered in Pamplona launched Ignatius of Loyola on a journey that we honor five-hundred years later. What is the meaning of this moment for a University community? The lecture covered a wide range of territory, including the biography of St. Ignatius and the cannonball moment that gives life to the Ignatian Year, the Jesuit framework for the “discernment of spirits,” and the relevance today of St. Ignatius and Jesuit spiritual tradition. One of the primary takeaways, based on President DeGioia’s reading of early Jesuit and spiritual master St. Pierre Favre, is that the spiritual life is rooted in affective movements. Not discounting the intellectual, Favre raised important awareness about the need to pay attention to “felt understanding” or “experiential and affective knowledge” in discerning our interior movements. This understanding of human experience, which is informed by the Spiritual Exercises, a guided retreat that St. Ignatius designed out of his own experience that continues to be shared today at Georgetown and throughout the world, gives rise in Jesuit education to a focus on caring for the whole person.
There were many moments of significance in the Sacred Lecture, but some of the most important exchanges of ideas occurred during the question-and-answer session. Four Georgetown students had opportunities to share questions with President DeGioia. The issues and concerns on the minds of these students reflect common questions raised often at Georgetown, grounded as it is in the Catholic and Jesuit tradition, but meaningfully committed to multi-faith chaplaincy, inter-religious dialogue, and a respectful pluralism of ideas and philosophies. One student inquired about how a Jesuit discernment framework is relevant to those who do not profess a belief in God. President DeGioia’s answer is instructive and points all of us at Georgetown, regardless of our religious identities, to the enduring practicality of Ignatian spirituality:
“Whether you believe in God or not, I believe that we all have these interior movements. Interior movements that may lead us to a greater sense of fulfillment, or a sense of flourishing or meaning. And other experiences that may lead us away from that. Now what Ignatius offers, and what the Jesuit tradition offers, is a way of making sense of that in relationship to God. For those for whom that does not resonate, there is still the interiority that is calling for your care, calling for your attention, calling for your engagement. I said in the remarks that we come up with other words to describe this experience in modern language. This moment in the life of Ignatius for the life of a university like Georgetown. But you can no doubt think about what words might work. Contemporary psychology, for example, the work around ‘flow’ or integral psychology, it’s secular, it doesn’t really presume a belief in God. Some of the fusion of Eastern and Western traditions, not clear for me how a spiritual reality might fit in that moment, but those are questions that you can live with. Questions that you can explore. What I would encourage you is to live with the question you just asked me. Because that’s your question. And coming to terms with that, that’s where meaning will be for you, in your life.”
As SCS students prepare for this weekend’s retreat at the Calcagnini Contemplative Center, “Going Inward, Growing Outward, Seeing Things New,” we will take to heart this lesson that all of us can grow as individuals and as a community when we commit to interior practices that help us journey the questions that have meaning in our lives.
This week’s post takes up the Christian season of Lent, which Georgetown marks with a daily devotional that you can sign up for here. Lent is a special time for the Christian community, but its meaning and practices can apply to anyone.
Christians around the world entered into the time of Lent this week, a 40-day preparation for the celebration of Easter. While the significance of this sacred time has a particular meaning for Christians, the observance of Lent also offers spiritual insights that people of all religious and humanistic traditions can integrate into their daily practices.
In his introduction to this year’s Lenten Devotional (sign up to receive the daily reflections), produced by Georgetown’s Office of Mission and Ministry, Fr. Mark Bosco, S.J., summarized the Christian story at the root of this observance:
“It is time, once again, to enter into the holy season of Lent – a time of preparation and repentance in which we ponder our own brokenness and sinfulness, and thus ponder our need to die and rise with Jesus. Christians everywhere begin the ancient spiritual practices of self-denial and fasting, prayer and reflection, and almsgiving to those in need.”
Fr. Bosco goes on to situate this year’s Lent in the larger context of our current time in history:
“As we continue to negotiate a world brought low by pandemic, as we ponder the injustices of racism, poverty, and environmental degradation, as we look at our own pettiness and wounded hearts, we pray that we might see and touch the Lord, who enters into our weaknesses and failings, who enters into the darkness of our world in order to shed His light and His merciful love.”
It is within this broader frame that we can appreciate how the Lenten journey can resonate with each of us regardless of our religious identity. At its heart, Lent is an invitation to deeper recognition of the ways that we are all in need of forgiveness, mercy, and love. We grow in this awareness through the three foundational practices of Lent: fasting, prayer and reflection, and almsgiving.
Fasting: Taking this Lenten journey seriously depends on taking stock of what in our lives is in need of healing and repair. One of the pillars of Lent, fasting, helps with this recognition. A common practice of giving something up for the 40 days of Lent often means taking a break from chocolate, social media, wine, or other pleasures that we can easily go without. We can become overly attached to anything in our lives, even the good things, when these things become an excessive focus and get in the way of our generous activity in the world. Lent helps us make more room in ourselves for generosity by acknowledging how some of our habits have become unhealthy or too much a center of our attention. Fasting can even help us grow in greater solidarity with others in the world, especially those in greatest material need, because we can inventory what we have in abundance that can be shared with others.
Prayer and Reflection: Lent invites us to create intentional plans for regular interior practices like prayer and meditation, which help us grow in greater self-awareness. Regular silent reflection actually fosters more other-centeredness because that time for self-examination leads to more recognition of how we can be of service to others. In the same way that fasting makes room in our lives by getting rid of some things holding us back from leading more authentic lives, time for silent reflection makes more room in our interior lives to focus on the things that matter to us and help us live out our deeper purpose. Next week’s SCS Student Retreat, “Going Inward, Growing Outward, Seeing Things New,” is a good example of making space in our inner lives as are our ongoing SCS Daily Digital Meditations hosted at 12 p.m. ET every weekday.
Almsgiving: Serving with and for others is a hallmark of the Spirit of Georgetown. In light of the global refugee crisis, exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, there is a great need in our world for generous action. This can mean taking up acts of charity or contributing to the work of justice in our communities and in the broader world. We might ask ourselves in this season: How am I called to greater love of the people around me – my family, friends, neighbors, community members? How am I called to greater love of the people in the world suffering because of systemic injustices? Lent invites us to move beyond our own concerns to the cares and concerns of the larger world.
In whatever ways you mark this season of Lent, my hope is that this spiritually significant time can raise our individual and collective awareness about the need in our lives for healing, mercy, and justice.
A recent article, “Jesuit Education Offers Tools to Meet the Mental Health Crisis,” both illuminates the scale of the mental health challenges being experienced today by students and offers hope by suggesting resources from the Jesuit tradition of education for addressing these challenges. The article’s author, Mary-Catherine Harrison, a faculty member at Jesuit peer institution University of Detroit Mercy, diagnoses the many contributors to high levels of mental distress. These factors include entrenched inequality, climate change, normalization of gun violence, surge in hate crimes, a rise in addictions, divisive public discourse, pervasiveness of social media influence, and the COVID-19 pandemic. For Harrison, there is a temptation to present the “new gospel of ‘self care’” as the solution to this crisis. While taking care of one’s own health and wellness is clearly an important action, the error of presenting this approach as a cure-all for the pandemic of mental illness, according to Harrison, is that it presents an “individual cure for a collective disease.” So what then is the right collective response, especially in a university setting, to the mental health crisis?
SCS staff members Frances Bajet and Crystal Leung set up an activity table in the C2 atrium as part of a “Share the Love” mental health initiative at SCS. A wall of gratitude captured posted notes.
The Jesuit tradition of education has a lot to say about caring for a university community at a time like this. Harrison pulls out three particular ideas. First, classrooms that build bonds between students and teachers, between classroom learning and the lived experiences of communities beyond the four walls of the university foster deeper, more meaningful connections for students. This kind of connection creates community that “protects mental health. This is not a peripheral goal of education; it is at the very heart of what we do.” Second, Ignatian pedagogy, or the unique style of teaching and learning in the Jesuit tradition (see this Mission in Motion for more about it), integrates a whole-person approach to learning that can help students make connections between their lived experience and the content of their coursework. The effect of this approach is gifting students with a “framework for self-actualization and meaningful vocation.” Third, a Jesuit education can both prioritize the unique individual needs of students, on the one hand, and challenge social and institutional structures to change their ways, on the other. Harrison invites us to consider and push back against the various ways within universities themselves and in broader society that students might interpret their value strictly in terms of productivity and not in their “inherent value as human beings.”
This SCS initiative epitomizes an approach to caring for the community that arises out of the Jesuit tradition of education.
This week, SCS put these ideas into action with a multi-day mental health initiative framed as “Share the Love.” An activity table, placed in the C2 atrium, invited students, faculty, and staff to engage with their goodness by sharing it with others. Participants were given the opportunity to write a kindness card to cheer up a child affected by pediatric cancer and cards will be donated to the Valentine Project. Activities also included a gratitude wall to post notes about reasons for gratitude. And finally, the initiative invited individuals to share their health and wellness practices on social media so as to encourage others to follow. All of these activities point to the need in this current mental health crisis for connections and community, self care and community care.
Some of the creative kids crafted by the SCS community for the Valentine Project.
Current students who are looking to foster even more of these connections should consider signing up for the upcoming SCS student retreat taking place from March 12-13 at the Calcagnini Contemplative Center. Please sign up by March 4, 2022!
This week’s post is a promotion of the upcoming SCS student retreat to be held at the Calcagnini Contemplative Center from March 12–13, 2022. All SCS current students are invited to RSVP by March 4.
Retreats exemplify Georgetown’s commitment to a whole person education. During their time at the University, Georgetown students are invited to grow and develop beyond the classroom, paying attention to all aspects of their lives, including their spirituality. At the heart of the Spirit of Georgetown, uniquely expressed in the value of Contemplation in Action, is a recognition that leading lives of generous action in the world requires taking time for silent reflection. In simple terms: our doing depends on our being. We have an opportunity to lead deeper lives of meaning, belonging, and purpose when we make time and space for intentional quiet. The beauty of a group retreat is that it encourages both personal and communal growth, which is especially important at SCS where students come from a diversity of academic programs. We are fortunate at the University to be able to facilitate this kind of experience for students at the beautiful Calcagnini Contemplative Center, a spiritual home away from home that is nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.
This year’s SCS weekend retreat for students will take place at Calcagnini from March 12–13 (current students should RSVP here!). Offered in-person for the first time since 2019, this relatively new annual tradition at SCS has become a welcomed touchstone in the student life experience. The retreat’s theme this year, “Going Inward, Growing Outward, Seeing Things New,” reflects how societal realities like the ongoing pandemic, the persistence of social injustice, and the continued fragmentation and polarization in our culture are profoundly affecting our interior lives. Over the last two years, Mission in Motion has highlighted the many health, wellness, and spiritual resources that Georgetown offers to support students during these challenging times. The upcoming retreat is another opportunity for SCS students to develop habits of reflective self-awareness that are so important for cultivating ethical leadership in a world that desperately needs it.
Students can expect 24 hours filled with intentional meditation, reflection, relaxation, contemplative conversation, nature, and discernment. Even this short time away from home, work, and other obligations can create needed space in one’s interior life. The retreat’s focus will be on interior practices, like mindfulness meditation, the Ignatian examen, nature walks, etc., that can support us as we journey through life. A particular emphasis will be on the potential for healing the polarization that ails our society through the practice of deep, active listening. The art of dialogue, especially dialogue across differences, requires this kind of listening and learning in a spirit of mutuality.
The retreat will also pick up some themes from the Ignatian 500 Year, which we have been exploring this year at SCS and across Georgetown. In the same way that St. Ignatius saw things new as a result of his own response to the adversity of a cannonball collision, we too are invited to broaden our imaginations in response to the social, economic, public health, political, and cultural divisions that we continue to experience.
Sign up for the retreat by March 4, 2022, and direct any questions to the retreat leader, Jamie Kralovec, SCS Associate Director for Mission Integration, at pjk34@georgetown.edu.
