November marks Jesuit Heritage Month, an annual celebration at Georgetown to highlight the ways that Jesuit identity and traditions animate our lives at the University. Every year, Jesuit Heritage Month features services, programs, and other community experiences that deepen awareness and appreciation for the distinctiveness of an education in the Jesuit tradition. This month we encourage your participation in the following Jesuit Heritage Month events:
Jesuit Heritage Month mass on Sunday, November 15 at 7:00 p.m. EST live streamed on the Georgetown University Facebook page. Fr. Jerry Hayes, S.J., will preside and preach at the mass.
A lecture on faith and science featuring NASA atmospheric scientist Dr. Anne M. Thompson, co-sponsored with the Orthodox Christian Chaplaincy on Thursday, November 19 at 7:00 p.m. EST.
Fr. Hayes will share Ignatian Examen meditations on Friday, November 13 and Friday, November 20 on the Jesuit Heritage Month Facebook page. These Examen meditations are intended to explore our sense of community during these times of isolation and quarantine.
SCS will participate in the month of programming by offering a virtual Examen on Friday, November 20 at 12:00 p.m. EST. Hosted by me, Jamie Kralovec, associate director for mission integration at SCS, this 10-15 Examen meditation is open to everyone in the SCS community. Please RSVP for the Examen meditation here. A Zoom link will be shared with all participants closer to the date.
This election week has been stressful, tense, and anxious. Regardless of one’s political affiliation or preferred candidate, it is a fact that the election has caused people to feel despair, fear, and uncertainty. Some of these feelings are negatively impacting our entire lives, including how we feel about others who do not share our political opinions. Georgetown leaders articulated recently that despite the unimaginable challenges facing our community, we as a university affirm that “during times of division and uncertainty, we are reminded that we find community in diversity and strength in our care for others.” Grounded in our Jesuit values and Ignatian spiritual tradition, the statement encouraged us, this week and in the times that follow, to speak our minds, share our views, and show respect for one another.
So, what from the Jesuit tradition offers us resources and support for navigating the tensions and challenging feelings arising because of this week’s election events? I would like to focus on three practices that might be helpful as we proceed from here. I am indebted to several sources for these ideas, including a webcast given this week by colleagues at our peer Jesuit institution Le Moyne College, “Ignatian Spirituality – Moving Forward Together,” and Fr. James Martin, a popular Jesuit, who provides timely ideas in this article, “Jesuit tools to help you survive the election (and its aftermath).”
Prayer, Meditation, and the Examen: In order to manage the strong emotions arising in us because of the election, we need to create space for a healthy inner life. This means finding intentional times and spaces to pause, reflect, and grow in awareness of how we are feeling. There are many ways to do this, but the practices of prayer, meditation, and the Ignatian Examen (which we’ve reviewed before in Mission in Motion) help us to manage strong emotions. These practices enable us to become more aware of our strong emotions, how they make us feel, and how they might be motivating our actions. Time in silence without the distractions and stimulations of technology, rooted in our own personal relationship with God or the Transcendent (however we want to name that), provides an opportunity to grow in both self-awareness and social awareness. In these times of heightened tension and strained relationships, such awareness and empathy are critical if we are to learn from one another and repair the divisions between us.
Self-Care and Self-Kindness: Ignatius was wise in his time period to note that a person cannot develop a healthy life of prayer or meditation without attending to the needs of the body. Living healthy, balanced lives means paying attention to our daily habits. This is a great time to renew healthy eating and sleeping, and other practices of self-development that bring us fulfillment and joy. SCS has been promoting a series of tips and suggestions for practicing self-care and self-kindness. For me, an especially important form of self-kindness is a walk around my neighborhood at lunch or time to be in nature with my family.
SCS has been promoting Kindness & Wellness with regular messages to the community with recommendations for self-care.
Connecting with Others: Our Jesuit values animate our works of service and our desire to use our gifts and talents to make the world a better place. At the heart of Ignatian spirituality is a commitment to listening; listening deeply to the needs and desires of others. Such active listening is a good first step to “bridging the gap,” as Fr. David McCallum and Karin Botto shared in their LeMoyne webcast this week, between our own perspective and that of others. We bring into such situations the Presupposition of Ignatian spirituality, which requires us to interpret another’s statement by giving the benefit of the doubt about the other’s good intentions. Such humility and empathy is not, however, an encouragement to keep silent about our values when we feel the need to call someone out for a false or harmful statement. Rather, the Ignatian Presupposition challenges us to see each person we encounter as a partner in the shared work of social transformation.
In these times, we can find a depth of support and resources in the Jesuit tradition that animates our life at Georgetown. I encourage you to check out this helpful list of mental health, wellness, and health care resources. You might also consider our SCS Daily Digital Meditations at 12 p.m. EST each day of the work week. (sign up here).
In this week’s Mission in Motion, we spend some time with Tremell Horne, program coordinator for the Planning & Development cluster at SCS. Tremell came to Georgetown in fall 2016, making a quick impact on the life of the community with his creative approach to program communications. During his time at SCS, Tremell has sought ways to develop both personally and professionally and realized his goal of receiving a master of professional studies degree in Sports Industry Management in 2019. In this interview, Tremell reflects on how he brings Georgetown’s Jesuit values into his work and how he has made the most of his gifts to be of service to others in need during the pandemic.
In this week’s Mission in Motion, we hear from SCS staff member Tremell Horne about his work and service during the pandemic.
Can you tell us about your role at Georgetown SCS? Are there particular ways that you bring some of our Spirit of Georgetown values to life in your work?
I jokingly refer to my role here at SCS as the “fixer.” I am technically a program coordinator but I wear many hats. When I first started at Georgetown I was mainly focused on communications. This snowballed into marketing, course scheduling, event management, and advising. Now I pretty much do a little bit of everything while fixing what I can along the way. Cura Personalis has been at the core of my advising strategy when dealing with my students. It’s important to let every individual feel heard and appreciated. The circumstances that bring students my way does not always lead to happy conversations. I have a unique role that falls in between the grey area of customer service and following strict policies. Each person has a story, a family, and problems of their own. Often times my advising calls get derailed because a student just needs someone to talk to. I’m fine with it. Those conversations bring out the humanity in us in a setting that is very formal and transactional.
How are you doing these days? Have you found practices to stay centered, healthy, and inspired in these challenging times?
I am okay. Work has been stressful at times during the pandemic, especially on a small team. My supervisor has really helped support me. He just reassured me that I was doing fine and everyone is adapting to this new way of life with COVID. He said, “Do what you can and when the day is over LOG OFF.” It’s hard to disconnect especially when working from home.
An escape for me has been volunteering. For the last few months I have been volunteering with Dreaming Out Loud. They have a small farm in North East DC. I find that a hard day’s work on the farm can really help reset my mind and body. We are tasked with weeding, planting, and composting. The farm at Kelly Miller Middle school uses 100% sustainable practices. This means no pesticides, no chemicals, and no short cuts. It’s hard work. Very hard work. But it has been nice to get outside and get dirty every few weeks.
Tremell has spent time volunteering during the pandemic for Dreaming Out Loud, an organization committed to food equity in the District of Columbia.
I understand that you have been committed during this pandemic to using your gifts and talents to support those in need. Can you let us know about that work and what inspired you to serve marginalized persons and communities in this way?
Dreaming Out Loud’s mission is to create economic opportunities for the DC metro region’s marginalized community members through building a healthy, equitable food system. We take food for granted. My Dad always says food is love. To eat a healthy meal with family is a blessing. Many inner-city families live in food deserts. We are privileged to frequent Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods for our favorite snacks.
Dreaming Out Loud gives low income families access to fresh produce. Many of the families receive this produce at no cost! At a time where COVID has displaced families and people have lost their jobs, DOL has provided a healthy food option for many in need.
I have a symbiotic relationship with volunteering. It allows me to get dirty and exert some physical energy after being cooped up in my apartment. I have been struggling with an irregular sleep pattern lately. A hard day equals a good night’s sleep. I also get fresh fruits and veggies sometimes for helping out on the farm. At the same time, I am helping families during these strange times where a little bit of kindness goes a long way.
Is there any advice that you want to share?
Ok…
Enough of the mushy stuff! My advice to anyone reading this is to get outside! Go for a walk! Get some fresh air! Close your computer and ignore those emails until tomorrow! LOG OFF. If anyone asks, tell them that my supervisor said it’s ok.
Please feel free to shoot me an email if you are interested in volunteering with Dreaming Out Loud! tjh101@georgetown.edu
SCS students have recently participated in several retreats offered by the Office of Mission and Ministry, including “Contemplation in Daily Life,” a week-long inter-faith opportunity which Mission in Motion reviewed here, and “God’s Light and Love,” a six week retreat in daily life modeled upon Ignatian forms of prayer These experiences encourage students to grow in our university value of being Contemplatives in Action. Both retreat experiences include an expectation that participants engage in contemplative practices, like prayer and meditation, on their own for 30 minutes a day. These retreats are also designed for participants to meet regularly with a spiritual director.
Given heightened interest amongst SCS students for these retreats, I want to introduce and explain the practice of spiritual direction and explore how students can meet with a spiritual director during their time at Georgetown. My focus today will be on spiritual direction offered in the Christian tradition, especially the Ignatian style promoted by the Jesuits, but a future post will consider options for receiving spiritual direction or religious advising in the other faith traditions well-represented at Georgetown.
Inspired by SCS student interest in retreats recently offered by Mission and Ministry, we explore the definition of spiritual direction and how the SCS community can learn more about this resource (Image from Ignatianspiritualdirection.org.uk).
Spiritual direction is an ancient practice that involves two people of faith entering into a sacred conversation. A trained guide helps the one receiving direction pay closer attention to the way God is communicating with him or her. A hopeful outcome of receiving spiritual direction is that one sifts through their daily experiences with a particular focus on the religious significance of their interior movements: thoughts, feelings, stirrings, desires, inclinations, disinclinations, etc. The director is not telling the directee what to think, feel, or believe, but rather, helping the other respond to how God might be inviting the directee into a deeper relationship or union.
Someone giving spiritual direction in the Ignatian style will be rooted in the dynamics of the Spiritual Exercises, a theological vision about a world in which each person is capable of uncovering their deepest desires shaped by the Holy Spirit. The Ignatian spiritual director, committed to a partnership that respects the directee’s unique personality, life history, and experience, explores how God is moving in the other’s life. While spiritual direction is considered a helping discipline, it is important to note that spiritual direction is not therapy or counseling. The spiritual director is not helping the one receiving direction solve a problem or diagnose an issue. Instead, the focus is always upon the lived religious experience of the directee.
There are many ways to explore the richness of spiritual direction in the Ignatian tradition at Georgetown. Mission in Motion will continue to promote upcoming retreats as ways for students, alumni, faculty, and staff to experience spiritual direction in the context of a retreat. Outside of a retreat format, ongoing spiritual direction can be offered once per month for an hour. If you are interested in learning more about the possibility of receiving spiritual direction at Georgetown SCS, please reach out to Jamie Kralovec, SCS associate director for mission integration, at pjk34@georgetown.edu.
Over the years, the School of Continuing Studies has deepened its partnership with the Center for Social Justice, Teaching, Research and Service (CSJ). SCS students have participated in CSJ programs, including the Alternative Breaks Program, and CSJ has supported community-engaged curriculum at SCS like the “Jesuit Values in Professional Practice” course. Last year, CSJ collaborated with SCS on its Day of Service by developing a program of awareness-raising and training around the issues of homelessness in the neighborhood surrounding SCS.
The Center for Social Justice is hosting virtual events Oct 19 – 23 as part of Education for Liberation Week. Check out the series here https://csj.georgetown.edu/educationweek/#
CSJ lives out its mission at Georgetown to “advance justice and the common good” as it “promotes and integrates community-based research, teaching and service by collaborating with diverse partners and communities.” CSJ enacts this mission in three key areas: community and public service, curriculum and pedagogy, and engaged research. Next week, from October 19–23, CSJ will host a series of events titled “Education for Liberation.” Consistent with its mission of educating the campus community around pressing issues of social injustice, the series intends to raise awareness about both the challenges and celebrations within the current field of education. This series is a valuable opportunity for SCS students, alumni, staff, and faculty to learn from community-engaged practitioners, scholar-activists, and others involved in culturally responsive and antiracist pedagogy.
Georgetown’s Center for Social Justice has been offering many programs to live out its mission during these virtual times. Check out the website for more information at https://csj.georgetown.edu/
There is an amazing array of virtual programs to choose from next week. From “A Dialogue with Creative Educators” focused on uplifting the voices of marginalized youth, to “The Role and Importance of Community-Based Organizations in Education” addressing community-based efforts in DC to support social-emotional development of K-12 students, the events offer important insights about the challenges facing the field of education. There are even fun and relaxing ways throughout the week to lower stress and tension through meditative dance at a “Joy and Jam Session.” At a time when many are questioning the state and future of education, particularly higher education, there is much to learn from CSJ and its commitment to living out the university’s Jesuit values through programs like Education for Liberation Week.
This week marked an important milestone in efforts at the School of Continuing Studies to address issues of systemic racial injustice in our institution and in our communities.
A newly formed leadership committee of six full-time SCS faculty and staff announced the first public meeting of the Diversity, Equity, Belonging & Inclusion Council (DEBIC). All SCS students, faculty, alumni, and staff, are invited to participate in DEBIC, which will have its first public meeting on September 30 from 2 to 3 p.m. EST (sign up here to RSVP for the meeting). The purpose of DEBIC is to provide direction and leadership for initiatives at SCS that work to fully integrate diversity and inclusion values into all aspects of our academic setting.
Photo of Archbishop John Carroll in front of Healy Hall on Georgetown’s Hilltop Campus. We ask this week: what does our university mission have to do with racial justice?
The formation of DEBIC follows a summer of active listening sessions in which, through circles for faculty and staff, student and alumni forums, and open feedback forms, members of the SCS community expressed their experiences, feelings, and perspectives about racism and social exclusion. While DEBIC will focus on projects and activities that affirm and welcome all members of the SCS community in the diversity of their identities, they will place a particular emphasis on combating racism and racial injustice.
As we prepare for meaningful actions to ensure that SCS addresses the persisting manifestations of structural injustice and racial inequity, I think it would be helpful to reflect on why the shared work of combating racism and racial injustice is inherently a commitment rooted in our university mission. In other words, what does mission have to do with this work of racial justice?
The Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities (AJCU) offers a helpful starting place to explore the connections between mission integration and diversity and inclusion:
“In these days, when the coronavirus pandemic and police violence clearly impact people of color to a disproportionate degree, we implore our campus communities not just to decry injustice and bemoan the lack of opportunity. Rather, we must all pray, listen, learn and act. We are compelled to do all that we can, to make a difference for the better, for justice and equality.
For more than 200 years, our nation’s Jesuit colleges, universities, high schools, and middle schools have taken the slow and deliberate path of educating students for thoughtful, moral citizenship. Our efforts have been well-intended, yet imperfect. The killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and so many others challenge us to act against the covert and unrecognized racism that lurks in the American community and in the recesses of our own hearts. As our Jesuit mission calls us to do, let us use our collective voices as a lever for justice and the common good. We call upon our students, alumni, faculty, and staff to take concrete steps to make a difference in our institutions and in our nation.” (from AJCU Resources on Racial Justice)
This commitment by the AJCU has been joined by statements issued across the Jesuit network, from Jesuits and the colleagues that work alongside them. Fr. Brian Paulson, for example, the Provincial for the Midwest Province of the Jesuits offered this connection with mission:
“Because of our many privileges, we have a voice as individuals, as citizens, as a religious community and as a church, affiliated with often powerful institutions. Let us strive to be part of the solution and not part of the problem when it comes to dismantling systemic racism and promoting racial healing in our country. In the midst of these struggles, may we who have a voice, find a way, wherever we are, to give voice to the voiceless when basic human dignity and decency are violated.” (fromLetter from Provincial Brian Paulson, SJ on the Tragic Events in Minneapolis and Across the U.S.)
And at Georgetown, our Campus Ministry has explicitly put into dialogue the university’s Jesuit values with its commitment to responding to racial injustice:
“As a Catholic and Jesuit institution, we uphold the words of the 32nd General Congregation of the Society of Jesus, that ‘the promotion of justice is an absolute requirement’ of the ‘service of faith.’ As people of diverse religious and non-religious backgrounds, we affirm that these words speak to a deeper, universal call – the call to care for the wounded among us, to seek understanding, and to dismantle the causes of all forms of violence. We commend all those who have responded to this call.” (from Georgetown University Campus Ministry “Our Response to Racism and Racial Injustice”)
All of these words make clear that Jesuit mission and values are integrally related to the ongoing struggle for racial justice. But this connection is about more than words or principles. Orienting our work for racial justice in the resources of our mission reminds us that the full measure of our efforts is action. Just action must flow out of a discerned awareness about how each one of us is called to respond to the barriers to justice.
Our mission at Georgetown inspires all of us into a “commitment to justice and the common good.” And today, as we rely upon individual and communal discernment to reflect and act upon the greatest threats to justice and the common good, we are moved to sustained action to dismantle racist structures in our communities and in our institution. Mission is not an after-thought of this shared commitment at Georgetown, it is central to this work.
In his historically significant 2000 address at Santa Clara University, then Superior General of the Jesuits, Fr. Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, S.J., provocatively reflected on the service of faith and the promotion of justice in Jesuit colleges and universities in the United States. Part affirmation, part challenge to Jesuit higher education, Kolvenbach’s remarks are famous for his articulation of how Jesuit colleges and universities should be measured in terms of their effectiveness in meeting the mission of the Society of Jesus. According to Kolvenbach, Jesuit schools strive to form students not just for world success but for a deeper personal and social commitment: “The real measure of our Jesuit universities lies in who our students become. For 450 years, Jesuit education has sought to educate ‘the whole person’ intellectually and professionally, psychologically, morally, and spiritually…Tomorrow’s ‘whole person’ cannot be whole without an educated awareness of society and culture with which to contribute socially, generally, in the real world. Tomorrow’s whole person must have, in brief, a well-educated solidarity.”
In this week’s Mission in Motion, we take a closer look at how Georgetown SCS has been forming students for such a “well-educated solidarity,” an especially needed disposition in these times to address the multiple, intersecting challenges of social injustice facing our communities. We asked Karim Trueblood, an alumna of the Master of Professional Studies in Emergency & Disaster Management (EDM), about her time at Georgetown and how her Jesuit education has informed her personal and professional life since graduation. I have been blessed to know Karim both as a student in the SCS Jesuit Values in Professional Practice course described here and as an advisee for her Capstone project, “Integration of Ignatian Principles in Emergency and Disaster Management Education,” which contributed to Karim being named EDM’s Outstanding Student of the Year at the 2019 Tropaia Ceremony.
Karim Trueblood, 2019 Georgetown SCS Alumna of the Master of Professional Studies in Emergency and Disaster Management, reflects on her Jesuit education in this week’s Mission in Motion.
What are you up to since graduating from Georgetown? How has the global pandemic affected you personally and professionally?
Since graduating from Georgetown in Spring 2019, I took some time off for reflection and family time. My son graduated high school and enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and is now living in California. I am very proud of his service to our country. I also completed a graduate certificate in education at the University of Central Florida. I am currently furthering my education at Creighton University, where I am pursuing a Doctor of Education in Interdisciplinary Leadership. In addition, I launched my own consulting company, guided by Jesuit values. I am very passionate about this project because I am able to incorporate my dedication to Ignatian spirituality, emergency and disaster management, and education.
As we are faced with a global pandemic, it has been a struggle, personally and professionally. I had to move on from previous projects and readjust my goals and expectations for the near future. The isolation restrictions, like for many other people around the country and the world, had a negative impact on my mental and physical health. But the pandemic has also forced me to develop new skills and learn to express gratitude for what I used to take for granted.
I also have reconnected long distance with old friends, and I was able to attend a five-day silent retreat at Ignatius House in Atlanta. This was very meaningful and beneficial because it allowed time for contemplation, reflection, and healing. Silence urged me to be still and develop a deeper, more meaningful relationship with God. It also gave me a different perspective for those affected by the pandemic and discern who I am and where I belong.
Since graduating from Georgetown, Karim has pursued additional education and started an EDM consultancy guided by the Jesuit values she encountered at Georgetown SCS.
What are the knowledge, skills, and values that you find yourself using most from your Georgetown education? How did your time at Georgetown form who you have become?
The academic skills that I learned from Georgetown are fundamental. Academic excellence and seeking meaning from my educational journey to better serve the community and for the greater good are why I continue to further my education. The better prepared I am, the better I will be able to serve the community.
The comprehensive approach of Georgetown’s educational programs and the concept of educating the whole person served me well because I try to continue to apply that approach to everything I do in my life. I am on a journey to become a better person, seeking internal peace and detachment. I am more aware of God’s presence, as my time at Georgetown helped me become more reflective and present. It also gave me the tools and skills to use my voice and advocate for those living in the margins.
One of the most important lessons I learned at Georgetown is that God meets you where you are. God loves me as I am, imperfect, and a constant work in progress. The concept of community in diversity in Georgetown, an inclusive community where everyone belongs and everyone is accepted, taught me to be more mindful of every individual’s unique journey. And as I reflect on my journey, I learned that God calls us to serve in different roles, and all calls for service are all as essential, and we must be alert enough to discover what our call is.
Self-knowledge and self-acceptance are only possible once we learn to be our true selves. I am still seeking more, but my Georgetown experience helped me develop skills to recognize God’s presence where there is a need for service and education.
What do Georgetown’s Jesuit Values mean to you? How have you grown in your understanding of them and their application to your personal and professional life since graduating?
Georgetown’s Jesuit Values mean that the university’s foundational moral compass was built on a tradition of working for the greater Glory of God and for the greater good. The Jesuit tradition of tolerance and understanding people of diverse religions and cultures embedded since inception in a tradition of service and promotion of justice sets a standard that I must follow to try to be better. As a flawed individual, I believe Jesuit values guide us to be the best version of ourselves.
Overall, Georgetown Jesuit Values are vital because they align with my core values. It is critical to go to a school or be part of an organization that models ethical values that will be part of your internal moral compass regardless of religious background.
Georgetown’s commitment to social justice and to work for the community impacted me immensely since it paved the way for me to develop into further research and application of Ignatian spirituality into the education of emergency and disaster management and public service.
Georgetown’s promotion of justice led me into my current project working on the application of Ignatian spirituality to guide better decision-making for the greater good in emergency and disaster management. Also, to focus on fostering better relationships between vulnerable populations and stakeholders, to bridge gaps respectfully and sensitively, and by promoting reflection.
The inequalities our country is living regarding social, racial, and law enforcement controversies motivated me to seek implementation of Ignatian spirituality to serve the communities and serve public service by practicing discernment and reflection as tools for self-care. Embracing our emotions and feelings to act more compassionately towards others and ourselves generates a more positive work environment and, consequently, a stronger community.
If you could share one message with SCS students during this challenging period?
Embrace the trying times as an opportunity for service. Write in a journal and allow time for reflection. Be open-minded and compassionate with others and with yourself.
This week’s announcement by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Student and Visitor Program (SEVP) unsettles our learning community and contributes to feelings of uncertainty for our international students at Georgetown. Both President DeGioia and Dean Otter issued statements this week decrying the SEVP guidance and expressing solidarity with our international community. This news compounds other distressing news–in addition to intersecting pandemics of COVID-19 and systemic racial injustice, we find ourselves confronting another profound challenge. Feelings of confusion, disappointment, and concern are pervasive, which might give rise to hopelessness.
The newly designed SCS home page reflects Georgetown’s commitment to meeting students, faculty, and staff where they are in these challenging days by providing care, comfort, and fellowship.
We are again in a position to ask how our university mission, values, and heritage might provide resources for hope in this time. Last week, I reflected upon the legacy of Jesuit higher education in the United States and invited you to more deeply consider what being a student, staff, or faculty member at a Jesuit institution means to you. This week, I’d like to share a framework for helping engage constructively with your emotions. Here is my invitation: How best to move from feelings of disappointment to discerned action about how to proceed in these times of challenge? Whether the difficult feelings rising up for you are about the SEVP guidance, racial injustice, fall operating plans, COVID-19, and/or other inter-related challenges facing our Georgetown community and the broader world, this framework for meaning-making may be helpful to you.
Anchored in both Jesuit spirituality and experiential learning theory, this approach is intended to help you reflect and learn from your experiences. Utilized in community-based learning courses, including the SCS Jesuit Values in Professional Practice course described here, the framework assumes that all experiences, including the raw data of our feelings, provide an opportunity for deeper learning, self-growth, and social transformation. Even the most difficult emotions can be formative to your growth and development. The model moves through this pattern: Awareness (What?) > Understanding (So What?) > Action (Now What?). Let me briefly explain each stage in this theory of reflection.
Awareness (What?): There is power in naming the feelings of disappointment. Feelings are temporary and go away. Being explicit about naming feelings is the first step toward finding balance because your feelings may be indicating other concerns in your life that need to be addressed. In this first stage of growing in awareness of your feelings, I invite you to breathe, identify, observe, name, and withhold judgment. If possible, write out all of the feelings that you are noticing in yourself. You might consult a feelings vocabulary list to help you explicitly articulate your interior emotions. There is power in naming feelings.
Understanding (So What?): The next stage invites you to make meaning of your feelings and subjective, personal experience. This step in reflection critically considers, analyzes, and understands your feelings. The goal is to obtain a deeper form of knowing about your experience and the implications for your life. In this second stage of reflection, I invite you to connect your feelings in this moment with other experiences you’ve had and learned from in the past. For example, do you have memories of dealing with similar feelings? Are there resources in your education, including books, theories, projects, mentors, or other meaning-making structures like your faith community, family, etc. that might help you make sense of your emotions and reactions? How can you engage these feelings at a deeper level?
Action (Now What?): The final stage is one of transformation, a movement from feelings of frustration into discerned action for the future. This is not possible until you have named and accepted your feelings. Having done that, you can grow in greater interior freedom. Such detachment frees you to practice compassion for others. Herein lies the truly transformative potential of confronting difficult feelings. How do you make difficult feelings a learning experience that deepens your commitment to social transformation, to acting for justice?
Consider signing up for SCS Daily Digital Meditations offered over Zoom each day of the work week at 12 pm EST. Georgetown’s Office of Campus Ministry also offers spiritual and religious programs that you can learn more about here.
Reach out to your peers to inquire about how they are doing. Consider forming a small support group to create open space for sharing and reflecting on your feelings.
Develop your own interior practice of naming your feelings. You might consider practicing the Ignatian examen, a structured form of regular reflection as a way to get in touch with your emotions.
Since 2016, the School of Continuing Studies has annually offered degree-seeking students in the Master of Professional Studies and Liberal Studies programs a unique course opportunity to deeply engage with both their own personal values and the values that animate the mission of Georgetown University. The course, “Jesuit Values in Professional Practice,” has become a popular offering among SCS students and satisfies degree plans as a free elective.
MPS-Human Resources alum Rashada Jenkins speaking in past offering of the “Jesuit Values in Professional Practice” course. The course will be offered for the fifth this fall semester in a remote format.
With the help of Georgetown’s Center for Social Justice Research, Teaching & Service, the class is designed as Community-Based Learning (CBL) so that students take on direct work with a community-based organization addressing identified needs of marginalized persons and communities in the DC area. This community service outside of the classroom provides students with data for ongoing individual and group reflections that sustain the 15-week course.
Diverse learning activities in the class include presentations by officials responsible for advancing Jesuit mission and values in their work at Georgetown and beyond, regular individual and group reflection, and learning materials that make the Jesuits’ 500-year old tradition come alive for contemporary professionals. The class is open to and welcomes students of all faith traditions or no faith tradition at all, utilizing a “whole person” approach to education that considers the intellectual, professional, moral, and spiritual aspects of human development.
As “Jesuit Values in Professional Practice” enters its fifth fall semester, the course will be delivered this year in a remote format. The CBL requirement will also become virtual for students, who can serve in community-based organizations with opportunities for such virtual service coordinated by the Center for Social Justice (an example of how the CSJ has already promoted these remote service possibilities for students can be found here and here). We can embrace and adapt to virtual forms of teaching and learning consistent with the spirit of a “community in dispersion,” a concept that arises out of the early Jesuits’ history of “remaining intimately connected through the technology” of the day in spite of their own disruptions and separations.
Fr. Matthew Carnes S.J., associate professor in Georgetown’s Department of Government and Walsh School of Foreign Service and past presenter in the SCS course, describes more fully the uniquely Jesuit contribution to the motif of a “community in dispersion” here.
Photograph of Bishop Mark Seitz of the Diocese of El Paso participating in a Black Lives Matter protest. The SCS Jesuit Values course explores pressing issues of social justice and invites students to develop a plan of action to serve justice and the common good in their professional lives.
Given the social challenges facing our communities at the intersection of the COVID-19 pandemic and systemic racial injustice, the course’s objective to help students “identify ways to serve justice and the common good in both a professional and personal context” is particularly relevant today. I have found that students tend to enjoy the class because of the extended opportunity it provides for guided and structured discernment about developing one’s personal mission and values as a professional. I have also found that students at SCS enjoy the interdisciplinary nature of the learning and the occasion for engaging with students outside of their professional disciplines and degree programs.
More than any advertisement, perspectives from course alumni testify to the curricular value. Here is a sampling of what past students have had to say about the class:
“I finally understand what makes Jesuit spirituality unique. It is a spirituality that is externalized, that actively shapes one’s choices and actions, it is contemplation in action, being people for others and aspiring for the Magis (the more).”
“The speakers who moved me the most had journeyed deeply inside their humanity and touched mine.”
“CBL truly opened my eyes to the ways people dedicate their time to fight for justice everyday. I enjoyed serving those in need and getting to know them and their stories. It was an experience that I will carry on into my own work and life.”
“I learned the foundational aspects of Jesuit values and caring for the whole person. In working to develop a right relationship with all, I learned much about Jesuit spirituality in practice and about the process of accompanying, serving, reflecting on data, researching, communicating and raising awareness in order to transform the life of another, one person at a time.”
Degree-seeking students with questions about “LSHV 480: CBL Jesuit Values in Professional Practice” (CRN: 31553, meets Thursdays at 5:20 pm in the fall) should reach out to course instructor and Associate Director for Mission Integration, Jamie Kralovec (pjk34@georgetown.edu).
Two seemingly unrelated pieces caught my attention this week. The first was an article by Steven Hickman, a psychologist and teacher of mindfulness, about an increasingly acknowledged phenomenon of fatigue with our virtual tools: “Zoom Exhaustion is Real. Here are Six Ways to Find Balance and Stay Connected.” The second was Georgetown’s celebration of the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, which included a set of helpful online information and reflections about the implications for stewardship of the environment in the middle of a global pandemic.
As I pondered the recommendations of the article about Zoom exhaustion, I realized in a deeper way just how much the natural environment offers some important resources for overcoming the challenges of our virtual lifestyles in the era of COVID-19. Enjoying our natural environment, and protecting it from harm, is not only a way to stay healthy during these difficult times but it is also a way of honoring our university’s commitment, as a Jesuit and Catholic institution, to care for God’s created world.
Georgetown celebrated the 50th anniversary of Earth Day with some helpful resources offered by the Environment Initiative and the Office of Sustainability, available at https://sustainability.georgetown.edu/earthday2020/
Hickman diagnoses the major drawbacks of an excessive reliance on Zoom technology to conduct our work and our study in these days of maintaining continuity. Acknowledging that tools like Zoom do present some incredible benefits, including the opportunity to foster increased inter-dependence and new ways of learning, Hickman argues that online meetings can actually lead us to feel more distant and absent from each other. Our bodies and our minds, consciously and sub-consciously, are grappling with more information in a Zoom session than is typical for a face-to-face interaction: “And when we start to be over-stimulated by extraneous data that we haven’t had to process in the physical world, each new data point pushes us just a little bit farther way from the human-to-human connection that we all crave and appreciate.”
The author’s six suggestions for coping with Zoom fatigue feature some important insights about maintaining balance and perspective. For me, Hickman’s most helpful suggestions are to give the Zoom session and its participants one’s full attention, fighting against the tendency to multitask, and to take breaks between sessions. I have tried to observe these remedies for Zoom fatigue in the last few weeks with varying success. Taking breaks by walking in nature (at a responsible social distance, of course) and gazing at the natural world has been my go-to source for nourishing my attention and energy necessary for a day filled with Zoom meetings.
In 2015, Pope Francis published a landmark encyclical, Laudato Si, which reflects on care for the environment as a religious and spiritual obligation. Laudato Si has inspired many actions at Georgetown and across the globe to support environmental sustainability.
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. This is where Georgetown’s 50th anniversary celebration of Earth Day connects and offers some suggestions for how to make environmental protection a part of our lifestyle even in the midst of this global pandemic.
Georgetown presents many ways to grow into greater appreciation for the gift of the natural environment. Some of these creative ideas including taking a virtual sustainability tour of the campus, exploring 50 actions for 50 years that universities in the D.C. area can take to increase their sustainable practices, and reading reflections from university students, faculty, and staff about how they approach environmental sustainability. Always anchored in the university’s commitments to our Catholic and Jesuit values and the common good, as demonstrated by Pope Francis in Laudato Si, Georgetown is a leader in the local and global efforts to protect the natural environment. Flowing from Georgetown’s commitment and inspired by the personal benefits of walking in nature, here is my invitation for this week:
Spend some time reflecting on the possibility that you are experiencing Zoom fatigue. Are you finding yourself drained after a day of online interactions? If so, name the feelings associated with your experiences.
Take some time to review Georgetown’s Earth Day resources. Do any of the suggested actions resonate with you and move you to take action on behalf of the environment?
Try to take some breaks from Zoom meetings with a socially distant walk in nature. After your walk, find a little time to reflect on your experience. Did being surrounded by nature give you greater perspective on your day? Do you feel more recharged?
