SCS Doctoral Student Puts Values, Skills into Practice by Contributing to In-Depth Study of Women and the Diaconate

Enshrined in Georgetown University’s mission is a dedication to “creating and communicating knowledge” through education “in the Jesuit tradition for the glory of God and the well-being of humankind.” This aspiration anchors the excellent undergraduate, graduate, and professional education offered across the University. At SCS, learning experiences are designed to maximize impact on the common good by cultivating professional skills that can be brought to bear on the pressing needs facing communities around the world. The Doctor of Liberal Studies (DLS) program demonstrates this commitment by encouraging students to frame issues in ways that cut across traditional disciplines, engaging in interdisciplinary reflection and analysis rooted in Georgetown’s Jesuit values. 

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This week’s Mission in Motion is an interview with Jennifer Sherman, Doctor of Liberal Studies student, who recently contributed to a social science research study about U.S. Catholic women and the diaconate. 

In this week’s Mission in Motion, we sit down with DLS student Jennifer Sherman, who reflects on her learning journey at Georgetown and a research study published this week, “Called to Contribute: Findings from an In-Depth Interview Study of US Catholic Women and the Diaconate,” which she contributed to on a research team with Cella Masso-Rivetti and the study’s primary author, Dr. Tricia C. Bruce. This sociological study relies on in-depth interviews with women in the U.S. Catholic Church whose call or ministry bears similarities to that of ordained male deacons. The motivation for this systematic, social science research arises from the Catholic Church’s growing exploration, evident in the recent appointment of commissions by Pope Francis, about questions surrounding women and the diaconate. In the interview, Jennifer, who is also an alumna of Georgetown’s Bachelor of Liberal Studies program, reflects on her SCS curriculum, what led her to take on this project, and what this experience means for her professional future.

(MiM) Did you ever expect to be involved in a research project like this? Tell us more about the journey that led to your participation in this study. 

(JS) Not at all; it still feels more like a happy surprise or a dream come true than an expectation met. This despite the fact that my coursework and connections at Georgetown not only led me to this work but also helped prepare me for it. 

My involvement in the study began with a directed reading I did with Jamie Kralovec on women’s ordination. One of the readings he suggested that semester was a reflection by Casey Stanton on the Amazon synod. When Jamie and I discussed the article, he encouraged me to reach out to Casey, considering our shared interest in women and the diaconate. When she and I spoke, her Discerning Deacons project was just launching. Casey introduced me to Tricia, who was leading the sociological arm of that project, and the rest is history.

(MiM) In the course of your work on the research team, in what ways did you rely on the skills, knowledge, and values of your Georgetown education? 

(JS) I could provide many examples, but instead I’ll touch briefly on each category. In terms of skills, there were the research philosophy course with James Giordano, the quantitative studies on women’s ordination with Mark Gray, and courses on gender and religion with Lauve Steenhuisen. On the knowledge front, there was the historical study of women’s roles in the Church with JoAnn Moran Cruz. When it comes to values, Jamie Kralovec’s Jesuit Values in Professional Practice course was quite influential in that it allowed me to consider how I might align my values with my professional goals. It may sound cliché, but it’s because of experiences such as these that I was ready when the opportunity arose to work on this study.

(MiM) Can you reflect on how this experience is informing your own ongoing professional discernment?  

(JS) It certainly reinforces my desire to do further sociological work on women’s ordination and other topics in religion. But my interests are broad, and this experience reminds me that what’s important to me is working with others toward goals that support shared values such as those in Georgetown’s mission statement, including cura personalis, justice, and “people for others.” These values come into play in various other projects I’m involved in.

(MiM) Anything else you would like to share? 

(JS) Yes. For anyone who wants to discuss this or another project, or otherwise communicate with me, please contact me at jms354@georgetown.edu. I look forward to hearing from you!

The Importance of Reflection in Professional and Continuing Education

The style and approach of teaching and learning in Jesuit education is known as Ignatian Pedagogy. Mission in Motion has previously covered Ignatian Pedagogy in the context of the University’s research about student learning habits during the pandemic and a faculty workshop at the School of Continuing Studies about how the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm (IPP) is interpreted and enacted across the SCS curriculum. 

The dynamic interplay of context-experience-reflection-action-evaluation occurs in a continuous learning cycle which, inspired by the orientation of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, invites students to consider how best to apply their holistic knowledge in the service of truth and the common good. 

The IPP attends to the whole person and counters a narrow assumption that content knowledge and technical skills alone represent the highest value of formal education. Rather, teaching and learning in the Jesuit style is a constant invitation to consider the various and diverse ways that learners, in their unique contexts, bring their lived experiences into the classroom as part of the shared educational endeavor. 

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 This week, Mission in Motion takes a closer look at Ignatian Pedagogy and the practice of reflection, which is a relevant professional skill for SCS students. Learn more about Ignatian Pedagogy at Georgetown

In a context like SCS, whose vision is to “transform the lives and careers of diverse lifelong learners by providing access to engaged and personalized liberal and professional education for all,” the lived experience of adult professionals becomes an invaluable basis for deeper learning. In this way, professional practice itself shapes student learning goals and provides a foundation for deeper reflection about academic content. In addition to its critical significance in Ignatian Pedagogy, reflection is an important element of effective professional education. 

Donald Schon’s 1983 book, “The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action,” helped bring attention to the need for greater awareness about the ways that professionals reflect, consciously and unconsciously, about their activities. The book is an important part of the curriculum of “The Reflective Professional,” the community-based learning course I teach at SCS every fall about the relationship between Jesuit mission and values and professional leadership development. 

I would like to make some basic connections between Schon’s ideas and the reflection stage in the IPP. My hope is that articulating the close relationship helps illustrate the congruity between the learning styles of adults involved in professional and continuing education at SCS and the mission of Jesuit education. 

Building off of the learning theories of John Dewey and others, Schon lifts up the importance of life experience in the educational process. By closely examining how professionals solve problems, Schon makes clear that professionals utilize their intuition, common sense, and habits in a range of situations including those of “uncertainty, instability, uniqueness, and value conflict.” Technical reason is not enough to address such situations. The “epistemology of practice” comes from daily experience: 

“When we go about the spontaneous, intuitive performance of actions of everyday life, we show ourselves to be knowledgeable in a special way. Often we cannot say what it is that we know. When we try to describe it we find ourselves at a loss, or we produce descriptions that are obviously inappropriate. Our knowing is ordinarily tacit, implicit in our patterns of action and in our feel for the stuff with which we are dealing. It seems right to say that our knowing is in our action.” 

The notion that knowledge is gained in the midst of action resonates clearly with Contemplation in Action, a core value in the Spirit of Georgetown. The founding Jesuits were clear that their approach to spirituality would be broadly inclusive, paying special attention to busy professionals involved in civic affairs who could not afford to take significant time  away from their duties for prayer.

While research-based theories are necessary, Schon goes on to say that the professionals will depend ultimately on “tacit recognitions, judgments, and skillful performances” in the learning process. This theory of professional reflection closely relates to a Jesuit understanding of reflection. In the IPP, reflection is understood in this way

“We use the term reflection to mean a thoughtful reconsideration of some subject matter, experience, idea, purpose or spontaneous reaction, in order to grasp its significance more fully. Thus, reflection is the process by which meaning surfaces in human experience.”

The layers of understanding that occur in reflection include the “truth being studied more clearly,” “the sources of the sensations or reactions I experience,” “the implications of what I have grasped for myself and for others,” “personal insights into events, ideas, truth, or the distortion of truth,” and “some understanding of who I am (What moves me, and why?) and who I might be in relation to others.” This act of reflection connects up with Schon’s learning theories about reflective practitioners because of the way that daily human experience, including work, is at the root of the education experience. True to the Ignatian tradition, the act of reflection should always implicate a decision or action that magnifies the learner’s gifts and talents and capacity for generous service with others. 

Professional life continues to adapt during the ongoing pandemic. Continuous reflection is called for as organizations, governments, and other entities adapt to changing trends and uncertain circumstances. At SCS, we are fortunate to be guided by and grounded in the tradition of Ignatian Pedagogy and the resources that it offers for forming civic-minded, well-informed, and globally aware students.  

Invaluable Opportunity To Live Jesuit Values at Georgetown: Alternative Breaks Program

With the fall semester already underway, students, faculty, and staff have begun to settle into the rhythms of return. New members of the Georgetown community, especially students in their very first semester, ask lots of questions in these early weeks that range from the quotidian to the existential. A common question that I hear, which animates our work of mission integration at SCS and across the university, goes something like this: So what exactly are the Jesuit values that I hear so much about? What do these Jesuit values mean and how will they influence my Georgetown experience? 

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Apply by September 17, 2021, to one of the 10 critical immersion experiences taking place across the country during Spring Break 2022. The ABP is free for participants and is an excellent way for students, staff, and faculty to more deeply engage with Georgetown’s Jesuit values. Apply here! 

Mission in Motion regularly shines a light on the diverse ways that SCS articulates the meaning of the Spirit of Georgetown and puts these characteristics of a Jesuit education into practice throughout our community. Whether in classroom activities, spiritual programs like meditation and retreats, or community-engaged service and justice opportunities, Jesuit values manifest at SCS in ways that are unique to our context as a dynamic center of professional and continuing education. One of the most essential components of living out the Spirit of Georgetown is through service and a commitment to social justice. This commitment, which is crystallized in the University’s mission statement, is evident in the work done by Georgetown’s Center for Social Justice Research, Teaching & Service (CSJ)

SCS works closely with CSJ to facilitate opportunities for members of the community to engage deeply with Jesuit values by participating in the Center’s mission to “advance justice and the common good” and promote “community-based research, teaching, and service by collaborating with diverse partners and communities.” One of the critical ways that CSJ accomplishes this mission is through critical immersion experiences like the Alternative Breaks Program (ABP). Grounded in the Jesuit pedagogical model of context-experience-reflection-action-evaluation, CSJ ABP immersions are intended to give students, staff, and faculty the opportunity to engage with “diverse and vibrant communities through direct service, immersion, and reflection in a substance-free environment.” Fostering intersectional solidarity and inspiring lasting commitments to service and social justice, the ABP experiences are meant to return to Georgetown by living on through the witness of participants. For years, SCS community members have been participating in CSJ-sponsored immersion opportunities. I have previously reflected in Mission in Motion about my own critical immersion experience along the U.S.-Mexico border and SCS Vice Dean Shenita Ray has shared her reflections about her immersion in Peru. 

This year, there are 10 year-long ABP immersions with in-person travel over Spring Break from March 5-12, 2022. In addition to the immersive travel (which is planned for in-person at the time of this writing), the ABP experience consists of pre-trip learning and community building along with post-trip activities. You can read more about the trip descriptions, which range from exploring the legacy of slavery in Montgomery, Alabama, to rural poverty and the need for economic justice in Pulaski, Virginia. There is no cost for participants or trip leaders as ABP fully subsidizes transportation, lodging, and meals. The application for both participants and trip leaders is due before 11:59 pm ET on September 17, 2021. Questions can be directed to the ABP board at altbreaks@georgetown.edu

I encourage members of the SCS community to consider applying for the ABP. The experience of direct engagement with pressing social injustices can be transformative to one’s ongoing education and discernment of a professional vocation. The theory of social change at the root of the ABP experience is echoed in these words by former Jesuit Superior General Peter-Hans Kolvenbach: 

Solidarity is learned through contact rather than concepts. When the heart is touched by direct experience, the mind may be challenged to change. Personal involvement with innocent suffering, with the injustice others suffer, is a catalyst for solidarity which then gives rise to intellectual inquiry and moral reflection.”

Responding to Humanitarian Crises by Supporting Disaster Relief

The inspiring message of hope from last week’s Mission in Motion was put to the test in recent days as tragic events around the globe demand our attention and response. A humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and the devastating impact of Hurricane Ida on communities along the Gulf Coast point to the urgent need for action in response to human suffering. These crises also illustrate how vulnerable people and communities endure disproportionate harm and are least able to withstand the effects of environmental degradation and war. 

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Humanitarian crises in Afghanistan and in communities impacted by Hurricane Ida call out for response consistent with Georgetown’s Jesuit values. At Georgetown, you can learn more about how to respond to recent disasters. 

Events in Afghanistan and the Gulf Coast can return our attention to a cornerstone commitment of a Jesuit education. The Spirit of Georgetown calls all of us to be people for others and to live out a faith that does justice. An education that does not challenge and inspire action to support vulnerable people in times of need and address the structural conditions that create such need is not consistent with the Jesuit values that animate our work at Georgetown. In their recent proclamation of Universal Apostolic Preferences (UAPs), the Jesuits worldwide have made Walking with the Excluded an explicit orientation of all Jesuit and Jesuit-animated activities. According to the UAPs, walking with the excluded means: 

“To walk with the poor, the outcasts of the world, those whose dignity has been violated, in a mission of reconciliation and justice. Sent as companions in a mission of reconciliation and justice, we resolve to walk with individuals and communities that are vulnerable, excluded, marginalized, and humanly impoverished…The path we seek to follow with the poor is one that promotes social justice and the change of economic, political, and social structures that generate injustice. … We confirm our commitment to care for migrants, displaced persons, refugees, and victims of war and human trafficking.” 

But how to go about this personal accompaniment when the injustices on display this week may seem distant from our daily experience? In order to live out this mission of reconciliation and justice, Georgetown has provided useful information for anyone who wants to respond to the refugee and asylum crisis arising from the conflict in Afghanistan and the destruction caused by Hurricane Ida. 

The Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace, and Security (GIWPS) has long worked in solidarity with Afghan women and has created protectafghanwomen.org. Through the site, you can donate to help the evacuation of at-risk Afghan women, call your representatives to urge further action, and spread the word about the conditions in Afghanistan for women, civil society, and human rights leaders. Georgetown’s Center for Social Justice Research, Teaching & Service (CSJ) has provided information on its website about how to support Afghan allies through Lutheran Immigrant and Refugee Service and the Jesuit Refugee Service. And the GU Veterans Association has provided information about how to support Afghan refugees

In the wake of Hurricane Ida’s destruction, many people in Louisiana and the Gulf Coast have been left with no power and few resources. To find out how you can support disaster relief efforts during this time, please visit this Disaster Response page by the CSJ.   

Responding generously, creatively, and courageously to social, environmental, and economic injustices is a characteristic of Jesuit education. You can see this demonstrated in how Spring Hill College, a Jesuit institution in Mobile, Alabama, responded by providing temporary housing for students at Loyola University New Orleans, a peer Jesuit institution directly impacted by Hurricane Ida. Actions like these are necessary to sustain hope. 

“We Can Be Hope for One Another” – An Inspiring Message to Begin the Academic Year

This week, as has been the tradition at Jesuit academic institutions since 1548, Georgetown celebrated the opening of the academic year with the Mass of the Holy Spirit. The Catholic mass, which was offered in Gaston Hall on the Hilltop, provided an opportunity for students, staff, and faculty to thank God for the gifts of creation and to seek the guidance and the wisdom of the Holy Spirit in the coming year.

Mission in Motion previously reflected on last year’s Mass of the Holy Spirit, which was a virtual event and a different setting than this week’s in-person celebration. The context for the gathering was a Catholic worship service, but consistent with the University’s commitment to interreligious dialogue and multi-faith chaplaincy, chaplains from various faith traditions were present in the congregation and were recognized during the service. Along with SCS Dean Otter, I was able to attend the mass with staff colleagues from the Office of Mission and Ministry, who I have not seen in person since March 2020. 

President DeGioia (L) and Fr. Greg Schenden offered reflections at this year’s Mass of the Holy Spirit, which traditionally begins the academic year at Georgetown and other Jesuit academic institutions. You can watch the recording on Facebook. 

The reflections offered at Mass addressed both the challenges and the opportunities of Georgetown’s return to campus in the context of the continuing pandemic. Fr. Greg Schenden, S.J., director of Campus Ministry, and President DeGioia pointed to the uniqueness of this particular moment in the life of the University and how we are invited to respond. 

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University chaplains representing various faith traditions were recognized at the end of the worship service. 

Grounded in the example of the early apostles of the Church, Fr. Schenden’s homily highlighted how all members of the Georgetown community are being invited to some kind of personal transformation in the midst of this “return” to campus. It would be a mistake, he offered, to see this new academic year as a “return to normalcy.” Instead, each of us in the community, regardless of our work or learning modality, can stretch ourselves into becoming more authentic to who we really are. In listening and responding to how we are individually called to deepen in faith, we are then in a better position to be of service to one another. 

According to Fr. Schenden, the opportunity inherent in this new semester is to resist old, unhealthy habits and grow into new ones that make us better colleagues to one another. Linking Jesus’s greeting of “peace be with you” to his frightened followers with our situation today, Fr. Schenden reflected on the peace that we are called to share with each other: 

“Peace that is Shalom, not the absence of violence, but peace that is a wholeness, a harmony, a rightness of relationship, within ourselves, with one another, and with God. We are being invited more deeply into that new role…Go forth! I’m sending you forth to be heralds, of right relationship, of peace.” 

President DeGioia picked up on these ideas in his concluding reflection. More than islands of individuals, the University is strong because of the unity that comes with supporting one another in difficult and uncertain circumstances like this moment in time. President DeGioia’s remarks focused on a critical ingredient for this coming year: hope. Recognizing that hope might have been in short supply during the last 16 months, the University’s president invited us to reflect on the challenging but necessary task of locating reasons for hope today. He reflected: 

“Hope is what lies ahead… I think as we all know, at times hope can be difficult, hope can be challenging, no doubt we all experienced moments in these past 16 months when hope seemed hard to imagine. Hope may have been a little more than we thought possible. Endurance in hope. Hope can be very demanding. Fr. Otto Hentz, S.J., who has been a beloved member of this community since the 1960s, in his book “The Hope of the Christian,” begins the introduction and concludes the last sentence of the last chapter with this sentence from Peter: ‘Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you a reason for your hope.’ 

“Daunting? Well, not with the words we hear today. Not with what we know. Not with what brings us together at the Mass of the Holy Spirit. From Acts: you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. We need this power. A power that is promised to us. A power we need for each other. A power of the Spirit that helps us in our weakness, the Spirit that intercedes for us. We need to be hope for each other. From Fr. Hentz: ‘Hoping is always hoping in others. Hoping is always hoping with others because we need each other’s support to maintain our belief and sustain our commitment with courage and perseverance.’ In gratitude we celebrate the gift, the breath, the gift of the Spirit and we celebrate this community, this place that enables us to be here for one another. We’re not alone. We have each other. And together, we can be hope for one another.” 

As we continue to journey into the newness of this semester, I invite you to reflect on your reasons for hope. Where are you finding consolations in your life? How are you responding to personal challenges? What resources in our Georgetown community give you hope this fall? 

You can find a recording of the Mass of the Holy Spirit on Facebook. For more information about spiritual accompaniment resources, visit Campus Ministry. For more information about the Jesuit mission of Georgetown University and the resources of Ignatian spirituality, visit Mission & Ministry

An Examen To Help Us Prepare for a Transition to Something New

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 With Georgetown SCS returning to regular operations next week, we turn our attention to a customized examen for this time of transition. The examen is a resource that helps us reflectively engage with a range of emotions https://trinity.org/ignatian-spirituality/pandemic-year-examen 

As Georgetown SCS and the entire University prepare for a resumption of in-person activities in the fall semester, community members are experiencing a range of emotions about this change. Some are overwhelmed with excitement about the prospect of being back together, or “returning to one another” as one of Georgetown’s Jesuits described it recently. Others are filled with trepidation and worry, concerned about the continuing unpredictability of the global pandemic and how it might interfere with plans for “return.” This last year and a half has been a challenge, with the pain and suffering of the coronavirus disproportionately burdening the most vulnerable in our society. Mindful that the pain of the pandemic has been uneven and it continues to cause hardships throughout the world, all of us at Georgetown have journeyed in some way through significant uncertainty since spring of last year. This current moment calls for flexibility, creativity, community, and a sense of realistic hope about how we might transition to something new in the weeks ahead. 

With SCS’s official return of the building to full-time operations next week (which was announced by Dean Otter in July), I want to share a special examen crafted by Catherine Heinhold, pastoral associate for Ignatian spirituality & prayer at Holy Trinity Church, the Jesuit parish just beyond the gates of Georgetown’s Hilltop campus. Catherine’s examen, which invites participants to use whatever language is comfortable to them, is titled “An Examen for Transition From the Pandemic Year.” You can reflect and pray through the 20-minute guided examen in one sitting or space out how you proceed through the stages.  

The beauty and the brilliance of this examen prayer is that it helps us name our strongest pandemic-related feelings and pay attention to how these feelings are stirring us, moving us, and challenging us to consider some changes for the better in our daily actions. The examen is especially helpful for working against the inclination to be controlled by the most negative, desolating emotions that we are experiencing in the continuing pandemic. By naming challenging emotions and getting in touch with how they are influencing us, we begin to find more balance and more reflective distance so as not to be overwhelmed. By naming the positive emotions, those that console us, we make it possible to discover gratitude in our lives, even in difficult and uncertain circumstances. The examen is a helpful opportunity to pause, especially when it feels like the world around us is moving too quickly. 

The pandemic continues to surface tensions in ourselves and in our communities. How to make sense of the reality that for many, but not all, this has been a time for healthy slowing down and getting into closer touch with the things in our lives that give us greater joy and fulfillment? I have heard many people describing how new work- and study-from-home routines have simplified their lives and led to more family time and more time for prayer, meditation, and silent reflection. It is important to remember that the journey has been unique for each of us. As we prepare for something new at Georgetown in the coming weeks, I invite you, with the help of this transition examen, to notice whatever has awakened anew in you, both consoling and desolating, in this pandemic year. 

New Certificate Programs in Mental Health of Children and Families Advance Georgetown’s Mission and Values

Mission in Motion often highlights SCS degree and non-degree programs that advance Georgetown’s mission and values by offering professional educational opportunities that respond to pressing social and economic needs. Given the School’s experience in developing technology-mediated certificate education, SCS is uniquely positioned to leverage university resources and community partnerships to create these kinds of socially responsive programs. This way of proceeding as an educational entity at Georgetown is an important way that SCS contributes to the common good, deepening the commitment in the University’s mission statement to educate “women and men to be reflective lifelong learners, to be responsible and active participants in civic life and to live generously in service to others.” 

SCS, in partnership with Georgetown’s Center for Child & Human Development, Medstar Georgetown University Hospital Department of Psychiatry, and the Center of Excellence for Infant & Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation, recently launched certificate programs intended to address the mental health needs of infants, children, and their caregivers, and families. 

There are three new non-credit professional certificates: 

The intended audience for these certificates indicates in a powerful way how a Georgetown program, working in collaboration with subject matter experts and community resource providers, has the potential to serve critical needs while building capacity in a community to sustain more lasting change. By targeting professional clinicians, consultants, and community health workers in the field of infant mental health, these programs are working in a holistic manner by focusing on the ecosystem of care for infants and young children. The programs also reflect a pressing need surfaced during the global pandemic to create healthier, more resilient communities that can provide care and attention for children and their families, especially the most vulnerable. 

Jeffrey Warner, Senior Director of Professional Development & Certificates at SCS, articulated the mission commitment of the infant and early childhood mental health certificates when he said: 

This program embodies the spirit of Georgetown University as an opportunity to learn to support more effective caregiving of all children, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, or class. Our University’s Jesuit tradition of cura personalis is emphasized throughout the curriculum as it encourages care and individualized attention to the needs of children and their families, distinct respect for their circumstances and concerns, and an appropriate appreciation for their particular gifts and insights.” 

These new certificate programs reflect the valuable ways that SCS lives out the University’s Jesuit values in partnership with others at Georgetown and beyond. 


You can read more about these exciting new certificate programs on the SCS homepage: “Georgetown Launches New Infant & Early Childhood Mental Health Certificate Programs.” Learn more about all of the professional certificate programs offered by SCS. 

The Olympics Highlight the Role of Sports in Fostering the Common Good

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This week’s Mission in Motion, on the occasion of the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, explores the spiritual, ethical, and social dimensions of sports with the help of Pope Francis. 

Few global events bring people together quite like the Olympics. And while the summer games in Tokyo lack large in-person crowds because of the pandemic, the events still delight excited fans tuning in from all over the world. I relish the occasion of the Olympics and have transmitted my enthusiasm to my family. During the two weeks of competition, you can safely bet that I am regularly refreshing results and waiting until after work to turn on the live coverage. 

Georgetown is also celebrating these summer games by highlighting the Hoyas who are participating in them (you can visit the #HoyaOlympics site). At SCS, we are especially proud of Rachel Schneider, a graduate of the Master’s in Sports Industry Management program and a runner competing in the 1,500-meter race. The dedication required by athletes to qualify for the games, let alone compete in them, engenders enormous pride and respect. 

More than pride and national spirit, I have been wondering about the purpose of the Olympics and what we all can learn from them. Are there important moral and spiritual lessons to be gleaned from this intensive competition? How do sports, and particularly the industry surrounding them, relate to Georgetown’s mission and values? 

To help appreciate some answers to these questions, I would like to focus this week on some of Pope Francis’s reflections about the deeper purpose of sports. An avid soccer (he’d say fútbol) fan himself, energetically dedicated to his Argentinian teams, Pope Francis has not been shy about expressing the spiritual, moral, and social value of athletic competition. A few years ago, Georgetown hosted a Vatican-sponsored conference on these very questions: “Sport at the Service of Humanity.” The three pillars of that conference reflect a helpful framework for appreciating how sports can build community and foster character: inspiration, inclusion, and involvement. The conference schedule, which included an interfaith service with participation from Georgetown student-athletes and panel discussions featuring leading experts in religion, sports, and culture, demonstrated the deep linkages between sports, mission, and values. 

Pope Francis emphasizes the ways that sport can encourage a practice of encounter where people of different backgrounds and traditions meet one another and grow in belonging, inclusion, and solidarity. This theme of encounter, which Francis has echoed throughout his writings and teachings including the recent encyclical Fratelli Tutti, can become a powerful antidote to the cultural, political, and economic tendencies toward separation and isolation. The pope’s 2013 comments to the European Olympic Committee capture this idea: 

“Engaging in sports, in fact, rouses us to go beyond ourselves and our self interests in a healthy way; it trains the spirit in sacrifice and, if it is organized well, it fosters loyalty in interpersonal relations, friendship, and respect for rules. It is important that those involved at the various levels of sports promote human and religious values which form the foundation of a just and fraternal society. This is possible because the language of sports is universal; it extends across borders, language, race, religion, and ideology; it possesses the capacity to unite people, together, by fostering dialogue and acceptance.”

Sports have the transformative potential of bridging differences through a common language that is universally recognized. In this way, sports are, according to Pope Francis, a valuable resource.

While the sports industry is capable of ethical lapses and corruption in many forms, sports can also build the bonds of community and personal integrity. Teamwork and overcoming one’s own preferences provide valuable opportunities to transcend tendencies toward selfishness and intolerance of others. On this theme of inclusion, Pope Francis made news in 2020 by meeting with leaders from the National Basketball Association (NBA) to discuss their efforts around racial justice and inclusion. 

With more exciting Olympics coverage to come, I invite you to reflect on the deeper purpose of sports and how your role in sports, whether as fan, participant, or industry manager, can “rouse you” to go beyond yourself and contribute to the common good. 

SCS Fall Elective Course, “The Reflective Professional,” To Explore Mission-Driven Leadership

Since the start of the global pandemic, Mission in Motion has provided resources, information, and reflections about how the School of Continuing Studies, rooted in the Spirit of Georgetown, is addressing the needs of our diverse community. For more than a year, the blog has shared inspiring examples of work at SCS grounded in a commitment to educate the whole person. SCS students, staff, faculty, and alumni have sustained the bonds of community despite being dispersed across the country and the globe. SCS and larger Georgetown efforts to promote racial justice that aspire to our University value of Community in Diversity have been a major focus of these weekly reflections. Along the way, the blog has hopefully helped readers understand what is distinctive about an approach to professional and continuing education animated by the Jesuit tradition. 

This week, I call attention to a course opportunity this fall that incorporates the University’s Jesuit values in a holistic way. Since 2016, “Jesuit Values in Professional Practice” has been offered as a free elective open to any degree-seeking student at SCS. The course, which Mission in Motion highlighted last year, is a unique option in the SCS curriculum in that it is truly interdisciplinary by bringing together students from across the academic degree programs. The course is also unique in that it is community-based learning, organized around opportunities for students to address the direct needs of vulnerable persons through service opportunities facilitated by Georgetown’s Center for Social Justice Research, Teaching & Service.  

The course has been renamed “The Reflective Professional: Journeying Toward Mission-Driven Leadership” to signal how critically important reflection and leadership are in the development of professional students. The pandemic has demonstrated how necessary it is to form SCS graduates who are prepared to take on the economic and social justice challenges facing their communities in the U.S. and around the world. Inspired by the Jesuit tradition, an important motivation is an understanding that generous action in the world flows from habits of reflective self-awareness and self-discovery. This is an invaluable opportunity for students to pause and discern their values and how they want to apply these values in the workplace. The course, which is organized around the foundational concepts and applications of Jesuit education and spirituality, features professionally relevant topics like: 

  • Frameworks for professional reflection
  • Theories of leadership, including spiritual leadership
  • Discernment as a strategy for professional decision-making 
  • Exploration of Georgetown’s mission and values 
  • Models for inter-faith collaboration 
  • Contemporary social justice issues, like immigration reform and the climate crisis 

The class is open to and welcomes students from all faith traditions or no faith tradition and presents an important opportunity to engage with mission-driven leaders at Georgetown and beyond. An alum of the course described the transformative experience of hearing directly from such a diverse set of guest presenters: “The speakers who moved me the most had journeyed deeply inside their humanity and then touched mine.” 


Degree-seeking students who are interested in “The Reflective Professional: Journeying Toward Mission-Driven Leadership” (LSHV 480, CRN: 40526) should reach out to me, Jamie Kralovec, course instructor and SCS Associate Director for Mission Integration (pjk34@georgetown.edu).

This Summer: Learning to Pray

Last summer, I offered a suggestion for “spiritual reading” as a way to grow in self-discovery during months of public health restrictions. My intention was to provide some insights about how the act of slow, sacred reading – both literal texts and the texts of our experience (like nature) – can be spiritually rejuvenating in a context that limited travel and social interaction. 

In a similar spirit, this summer, as the easing of pandemic limitations continue, I invite you to consider the practice of prayer as an opportunity to grow interiorly. Summertime, typically filled with pockets of rest and relaxation, is an opportune setting to develop healthy interior practices. I am aided in this effort by a new book from popular Jesuit spiritual writer Fr. James Martin, S.J., whose Learning to Pray: A Guide for Everyone presents valuable insights about a concept and a practice that is too often misunderstood. 

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This week, Mission in Motion explores the often misunderstood practice of prayer by taking a closer look at popular Jesuit writer Fr. James Martin’s new book on the topic. 

Given the variance in understanding of this topic, Fr. Martin has to first define the subject matter and articulate the intended audience for his writing. Thankfully, Martin’s conclusions to these points, which are largely steeped in his Catholic understanding as a Jesuit priest and spiritual director, affirm that persons of diverse spiritualities and faith understandings can benefit from his practical, experience-oriented approach to praying. In terms of audience, Fr. Martin has a large community in mind: 

Learning to Pray is written for everyone from the doubter to the devout, from the seeker to the believer. It’s an invitation for people who have never prayed. It’s designed for people who would like to pray, but are worried they’ll do it the wrong way. It’s meant for people who have prayed and haven’t found it [as] satisfying as they had hoped. It’s also aimed at people who might be afraid of prayer (9).”

Martin goes on to say that the book is “meant for people of all faith traditions and none” and uses language purposefully familiar to the general public for this reason. This is an important point because it anticipates skepticism about prayer from people who might be agnostic in their theological beliefs or who might object to the project in the first place because of bad prayer experiences or their own resistance to religious traditions. 

Another challenge for the book and for any effort to encourage a practice of prayer is definition. Fr. Martin brings together multiple strands of spiritual history from different thinkers in defining prayer through these common elements: 

  • A Raising of the Mind and Heart to God
  • A Surge of the Heart
  • A Sharing Between Friends
  • A Long, Loving Look at the Real
  • A Personal Relationship 
  • Conscious Conversation 

In this effort at definition, there is a recognition of a multiplicity of approaches and language differences, but Fr. Martin emphasizes that what matters more than precise language is the actual, personal experience during prayer: “As with love, learning to practice it is more important than knowing the right definition.” The book goes on to describe in accessible details various ways of praying, including the examen, the well-known Jesuit practice of prayer offered each Friday at 12:00 p.m. ET as part of the SCS Digital Daily Meditations (sign up here). 

The book offers a wealth of helpful suggestions about developing a regular prayer habit. Along the way, Fr. Martin relies on his own experience as a spiritual director to point out some of the more common misgivings, challenges, and misunderstandings about how to pray that he has heard from persons attempting to pray. As a spiritual director, I identified with several of these points, including a confusion about what is supposed to “happen” in prayer and the common reason that people do not pray because they “consider prayer something reserved for holy people, not them.” If you find yourself in these categories and do not believe that a practice of prayer is worth considering, you might find consolation in Fr. Martin’s point that “God’s love does not rely on us and what we do.” 

As we continue to move through summer and transition into more and more “regular” social activities, I encourage you to take a look at this book. In addition to specific spirituality programs offered at SCS, like daily meditation and regular retreats, Georgetown’s Campus Ministry programs a diverse range of activities intended to foster a deeper life of personal and communal prayer. If you are a member of the SCS community and would like to explore your life of prayer, please reach out to me, Jamie Kralovec, SCS Associate Director for Mission Integration, at pjk34@georgetown.edu

For more on Fr. James Martin, S.J., please check out his Facebook and Twitter pages. Some of Fr. Martin’s recent events at Georgetown might be of interest, including: “Writing As Spiritual Practice” and “Building a Bridge: Welcoming the LGBT Catholic with Justice.”