Tag: Jesuit Values

Posted on

SCS Mental Health Initiative Centers Gratitude, Kindness, Self, and Communal Care

A recent article, “Jesuit Education Offers Tools to Meet the Mental Health Crisis,” both illuminates the scale of the mental health challenges being experienced today by students and offers hope by suggesting resources from the Jesuit tradition of education for addressing these challenges. The article’s author, Mary-Catherine Harrison, a faculty member at Jesuit peer institution University of Detroit Mercy, diagnoses the many contributors to high levels of mental distress. These factors include entrenched inequality, climate change, normalization of gun violence, surge in hate crimes, a rise in addictions, divisive public discourse, pervasiveness of social media influence, and the COVID-19 pandemic. For Harrison, there is a temptation to present the “new gospel of ‘self care’” as the solution to this crisis. While taking care of one’s own health and wellness is clearly an important action, the error of presenting this approach as a cure-all for the pandemic of mental illness, according to Harrison, is that it presents an “individual cure for a collective disease.” So what then is the right collective response, especially in a university setting, to the mental health crisis? 

SCS staff members Frances Bajet and Crystal Leung set up an activity table in the C2 atrium as part of a “Share the Love” mental health initiative at SCS. A wall of gratitude captured posted notes. 

The Jesuit tradition of education has a lot to say about caring for a university community at a time like this. Harrison pulls out three particular ideas. First, classrooms that build bonds between students and teachers, between classroom learning and the lived experiences of communities beyond the four walls of the university foster deeper, more meaningful connections for students. This kind of connection creates community that “protects mental health. This is not a peripheral goal of education; it is at the very heart of what we do.” Second, Ignatian pedagogy, or the unique style of teaching and learning in the Jesuit tradition (see this Mission in Motion for more about it), integrates a whole-person approach to learning that can help students make connections between their lived experience and the content of their coursework. The effect of this approach is gifting students with a “framework for self-actualization and meaningful vocation.” Third, a Jesuit education can both prioritize the unique individual needs of students, on the one hand, and challenge social and institutional structures to change their ways, on the other. Harrison invites us to consider and push back against the various ways within universities themselves and in broader society that students might interpret their value strictly in terms of productivity and not in their “inherent value as human beings.” 

This SCS initiative epitomizes an approach to caring for the community that arises out of the Jesuit tradition of education.

This week, SCS put these ideas into action with a multi-day mental health initiative framed as “Share the Love.” An activity table, placed in the C2 atrium, invited students, faculty, and staff to engage with their goodness by sharing it with others. Participants were given the opportunity to write a kindness card to cheer up a child affected by pediatric cancer and cards will be donated to the Valentine Project. Activities also included a gratitude wall to post notes about reasons for gratitude. And finally, the initiative invited individuals to share their health and wellness practices on social media so as to encourage others to follow. All of these activities point to the need in this current mental health crisis for connections and community, self care and community care. 

Some of the creative kids crafted by the SCS community for the Valentine Project.

Current students who are looking to foster even more of these connections should consider signing up for the upcoming SCS student retreat taking place from March 12-13 at the Calcagnini Contemplative Center. Please sign up by March 4, 2022!

Posted on

The Role of Public Communications in Restoring Civility, the Common Good 

Linda LeMura, president of Le Moyne College in Syracuse, N.Y., a peer Jesuit institution with whom SCS has partnered in the past, offered a challenging reflection this week about the crisis of incivility in the public square. Her article in America Magazine, “St. Ignatius has a lesson for politicians: Words and deeds (and nasty tweets) have consequences,” focuses on the prevalence of mean-spirited, truth-less attacks made by public figures on social media that are “inaccurate in its particulars and troubling in its source, an attack that serves no purpose but to heighten the incivility so sadly evident in our public discourse.” Rather than passively accepting this kind of communication in our society, LeMura offers a path forward for Jesuit-inspired education grounded in the wisdom of St. Ignatius of Loyola. 

LeMura points to the guidance that Ignatius offered his fellow Jesuits in the 16th century about how to engage in true and meaningful dialogue within the context of a public setting filled with conflict and disagreement. LeMura summarizes Ignatius’ guidance in this way: 

“St. Ignatius seems to have anticipated the modern era, in which the art of conversation has been replaced by the warfare of the tweet, back in 1546. In a letter to his followers attending the Council of Trent, he instructed them on the art of dialogue. He reminded them to ‘be considerate and kind’ and said that when stakes and emotions are high, they should work to be ‘free of prejudice’ and to understand ‘the meanings, learnings, and wishes of those who speak.’”

The relevance of this Ignatian wisdom for today’s toxic communications culture among public officials, according to LeMura, is the opportunity to cultivate responsible leadership not only in our students but in the faculty and staff that run our Jesuit institutions. We can all participate in this work of fostering a culture of civil communications. A critical first step in this process is a recognition that “every word and deed, be it from the lectern, podium, pulpit, or stage – or cellphone – has weight and consequence. A real leader wields powers with the gravitas it deserves, acutely mindful of the potential to do harm or great good.”  

SCS marketing and communications degree programs have taken up this leadership challenge by educating students to become ethical professional communicators striving to produce content that contributes truth, accountability, and justice to public life. This is evident, for example, in the Master of Professional Studies in Journalism which, “grounded in ethics,” emphasizes the “guiding principles that are inherent to journalism excellence – including accurate and fair reporting, accountability, and sound judgment.” An important way that SCS academic programs, like Journalism, realize this commitment to ethics and the common good is through public conversations intended to spark deeper reflection and action about pressing challenges facing society.

This upcoming event during Black History Month, sponsored by SCS and the Washington Association of Black Journalists, will feature leading Black journalists discussing press coverage of the American presidency. Events like these advance Georgetown’s commitment to fostering understanding and civility in public life, which is being challenged by the spread of misinformation and mean-spiritedness. 

An upcoming example of this commitment is an event hosted by SCS on February 16: “Covering the President During a Time of Great Societal Change.” A collaboration between the Washington Association of Black Journalists, the SCS Master of Professional Studies in Journalism program and the Diversity, Equity, Belonging, and Inclusion Council (DEBIC), the event features leading Black reporters who cover the White House and increase public understanding about a broad range of issues affecting the presidency and the country as a whole. 

In the context of disinformation and incivility among public officials, the kind that LeMura lamented in her article, the February 16 discussion promises to offer important insights about the critical role that Black journalists play in holding public officials accountable for policies that uphold the common good of all. I hope that the discussion inspires greater awareness about how ethically grounded journalism can advance justice and the common good, helping realize the promise of an education rooted in the Jesuit tradition. 

Posted on

The Spirit of Georgetown Animated in New University Campaign 

The University recently launched an exciting new campaign to shine a light on how the Spirit of Georgetown, 10 foundational values that take their inspiration from Jesuit education and spirituality, binds our diverse community together and encourages meaning, belonging, and purpose. In the last few years, in the context of the ongoing pandemic, Mission in Motion has amplified how SCS students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community partners live out Georgetown’s Jesuit mission and values in work and study. This larger campaign at the University is exciting because it provides a valuable opportunity to appreciate how the Spirit of Georgetown, animated in unique ways within the contexts of particular Georgetown schools and departments, is an invaluable resource for addressing the pressing challenges of our time. 

The Spirit of Georgetown campaign launched with this inspiring video. You can find all of the campaign’s content at this website. 

The campaign kicked off with the release of a Spirit of Georgetown video (watch here!). In two short minutes, viewers are introduced to a panorama of images, sounds, and words that inspire. Whether a long-time member of the Georgetown community or completely new to the place, one finds in the video clear indications of how the University presents its mission as a university grounded in a Catholic and Jesuit heritage. Narrated from the perspective of students walking the historic Hilltop and traversing the streets of the monumental city of Washington, D.C., the video presents religious diversity as a central pillar of Georgetown’s approach to mission. 

While so much of the University’s iconography and visible presence reflect Jesuit tradition, it is also obvious to someone watching the video that Georgetown creates spaces where diversity of expression and belief find a home. I feel this most especially in the video’s concluding scenes featuring Georgetown’s team of multi-faith chaplains leading worship for their respective communities. There is unity on display in this diversity as Georgetown lives out its mission principle that “serious and sustained discourse among people of different faiths, cultures, and beliefs promotes intellectual, ethical, and spiritual understanding.” 

These themes are amplified in the first published story of the series, “What It’s Like To Attend Georgetown as a Non-Catholic: Takeaways From Current and Former Students.” The testimonies of the students interviewed for the story reflect how a common set of shared religious values enriches the spiritual, intellectual, and emotional experiences of particular religious communities. 

Perhaps surprising to some, the presence of vibrant religious chaplaincy for particular traditions fosters more, not less, interreligious dialogue and community. By directly experiencing the practices, beliefs, and imaginations of different traditions, one better appreciates their own. Doha Maaty (NHS’23) captures this well by the way she has connected the principles of her Muslim faith to Jesuit values: “While she was expecting more of a focus on medicine than Jesuit identity in the program, she was surprised by how much the Jesuit values intersected with many in her own faith.” 

 The first article in the Spirit of Georgetown series is about the diverse religious traditions represented at the University. 

This inspiring content has put me in touch with some examples from SCS that illustrate our living out the Spirit of Georgetown. Retreats for SCS students and faculty and staff invite deeper exploration of what a shared mission means for developing our interior lives. Examples of service and justice point to the need for action in a world that desperately needs it. And an abiding commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion demonstrates how the Spirit of Georgetown is indispensably important to meeting social justice challenges arising in our communities. These are just a few examples of the distinctive SCS approach to animating Georgetown’s mission and values. 


Spend some time following the new Spirit of Georgetown campaign. And reflect on how you find yourself moved to explore in more depth what these principles mean for your time at Georgetown.

Posted on

SCS 2021 Dean’s Report Highlights Integration of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and Jesuit Values

The annual SCS Dean’s Report is an opportunity to share a snapshot in the life of the SCS community and communicate a vision for how the School continues to animate the University’s mission and values. The recently released 2021 report, “Bringing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to Life,” testifies to the many ways that SCS – its students, staff, faculty, alumni, and community partners – has committed to the work of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) as a constitutive element of realizing Georgetown’s Jesuit-inspired mission 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.” 

The 2021 SCS Dean’s Report spotlights the School’s DEI work and the ways that Georgetown’s mission and values inspire that work.

What especially stands out about this year’s report is the way that the values of the Spirit of Georgetown and the Jesuit principles that ground the University are explicitly and intentionally named in the School’s DEI work. A simple search of the document will reveal that the terms “Jesuit,” “spirit,” and “values” are employed more than 20 times throughout the report, used by multiple voices reflecting on different aspects of the School’s life. This incorporation of the University values is not an accident but a byproduct of a commitment by SCS leadership to infuse the organization’s management and culture with the guiding principles of a Catholic and Jesuit ethos of education. 

One of the most dynamic and innovative manifestations of the integration of Jesuit values and DEI is an ongoing project led by Dr. Shenita Ray, Vice Dean for Education and Faculty Affairs. The project, “SCS Jesuit Values and Cultural Climate Framework,” seeks to update “the mechanisms (legacy networks, relationships, processes, policies, practices, and tools) that drive the School’s daily work to align with who we say we aim to be as an organization.” By explicitly bringing together indicators of the Cultural Climate Survey, like institutional diversity and culturally relevant and responsive pedagogy, with Spirit of Georgetown values, like Community in Diversity and Cura Personalis, this model’s aim is to create “sustainable systemic structures to facilitate fairness, regardless of who is in any position in the organization.” Unlike a top-down coercive approach, this project invites a change of heart and mind at the individual, group, and local level so as to achieve sustainable systemic structures that better reflect Georgetown’s values. The innovation of marrying Jesuit values and curricular strategy is not new for SCS and Dr. Ray (see this previous Mission and Motion for active examples of Jesuit pedagogy at work in SCS online and on-campus courses). This framework will continue to be refined and utilized across the School, offering important lessons for how to realize the integration of DEI principles and Jesuit values across curricular, co-curricular, and administrative processes at Georgetown and beyond. 

And there are other examples of Jesuit principles serving as a resource for DEI commitments that are named in the Dean’s Report. Regan Carver of the English Language Center (ELC) reflects on how the Center has worked to advance access to English language resources while bridging cultural and geographic divides in a way that is reflective of “inclusive, Jesuit-rooted education.” An alumnus of the Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies program, Chris White, talks about using his gifts and talents in service of the most vulnerable persons through the work of community development finance in Washington, D.C.  And Valerie Brown, a lawyer and lobbyist turned leadership coach, discusses how the University’s Institute for Transformational Leadership (ITL) did not turn away from the racial reckoning following George Floyd’s murder but engaged it out of the University’s Jesuit values. 

The commitment to DEI is firmly rooted in the University’s Jesuit mission and values and reflected in the diverse religious traditions that have a home at Georgetown. An example of the moral urgency of anti-racism work espoused by religious leaders is evident in recent statements by Pope Francis, who has compared racism to “a virus that quickly mutates and, instead of disappearing, goes into hiding, and lurks in waiting.” Pope Francis has also expressed solidarity with the movements for racial justice in the wake of the murder of George Floyd and others, saying: “Do you know what comes to mind now when … I think of the Good Samaritan? … The protests over George Floyd … This movement did not pass by on the other side of the road when it saw the injury to human dignity caused by an abuse of power.” 

SCS Dean Kelly Otter invites us to read the report and “learn, reflect, and join the conversation” so that we can together “continue the good work of fostering a more just, inclusive community.” I hope this invitation gives life to an even deeper individual and collective effort to advance DEI at SCS in the years ahead.  


Check out the 2021 SCS Dean’s Report

Posted on

SCS Spring Series “Shift Your Career Into Gear” Presents Opportunity for Jesuit-Inspired Discernment

The first event in our SCS Spring Series, “Shift Your Career into Gear,” offers an opportunity for personal reflection about how professionals can live values-driven lives of meaning and purpose. Jesuit discernment techniques can support reflections on careers. 

This spring, SCS is helping students jumpstart their career development by offering a series of events focused on resources, interview tips, and networking opportunities that leverage Georgetown’s considerable alumni network. These events demonstrate the holistic commitment at SCS to live out its unique mission to “improve employability and develop workforces” for a “diverse array of communities and individuals throughout their academic and professional careers.” In addition to the practical knowledge, skills, and networking potential that students may develop by participating, this career series presents a valuable opportunity to consider how the resources of discernment in the Jesuit tradition can assist students in their vocational decisions while at SCS and beyond. 

At its core, a Jesuit discernment framework for a career is about making professional development choices that align most closely with an individual’s most authentic and truest self. In this worldview, every human person has a unique calling or vocation in work, but realizing this calling takes lots of self-reflection and conversation with trusted guides and mentors. In Jesuit discernment, the idea is that God has specially implanted in each person a distinct vocation that can be uncovered by paying close attention to interior movements and following the direction of these movements. Ultimately, the hope is that discernment in this style will lead individuals to career opportunities that maximize one’s gifts and talents and promote greater generosity and justice in the world. It is very possible to do work that is both personally meaningful and socially good. But we must always enter into this choice by considering the practicality of our context (e.g., family obligations, skills required for certain fields, etc.) and the hopeful possibilities of realizing our deepest desires and flourishing as human beings. 

Jesuit Fr. Kevin O’Brien, S.J., in his book The Ignatian Adventure, describes how making discerning choices requires getting in touch with both our own desires for our careers and God’s desires for us. Gaining such awareness necessitates regular practices of prayer or meditation to pay attention to the various interior movements when we consider different choices along the path of professional development. For example, we might consider reaching out for an informational interview at an employer we’ve long considered as a dream job. In discernment, we will spend some time quietly reflecting on how this possibility of having an informational interview makes us feel. Does the possibility fill us with excitement, joy, pride, contentment, challenge? Or does the prospect of an informational interview, and imagining ourselves working at this organization, fill us with uncertainty, doubt, and desolation? 

The questions we ask, according to Fr. O’Brien, are ultimately practical, but require vulnerability on our part in order to honestly listen to the answers. He offers the following: 

“As we’ve seen, the Election [a Jesuit term that refers to the process of making a significant choice] can be an exercise in determining what your vocation in life is. Frederick Buechner, a popular theologian, writer, and Presbyterian minister, offers one of the most quoted definitions of vocation: ‘The place God Calls you to is where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.’ 

“Similarly, Rev. Michael Himes of Boston College distills discernment about vocation to the following three questions: What gives me joy? Am I good at it? Does the world need it? This kind of discernment requires us to dig deep inside us, to be honest about our gifts and limitations, and to be generous with what we have.”

Jesuit Fr. Kevin O’Brien, S.J., in his book The Ignatian Adventure,

As you engage with the SCS Spring Series on careers and continue to pursue your professional aspirations at Georgetown, I encourage you to consider the deeper dimensions of career discernment. Our University mission invites us to this depth as we are about forming “reflective lifelong learners” to be “responsible and active participants in civic life and to live generously in service to others.” 

Regis University offers a helpful definition of Personal Discernment. Please reach out to Jamie Kralovec, SCS Associate Director for Mission Integration, at pjk34@georgetown.edu if you would like to discuss the role of discernment in your career development. 

Posted on

Teaching MLK’s “I Have a Dream” Speech in 2022

An annual activity of the University’s MLK Initiative: “Let Freedom Ring!” is to take one of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s signature speeches and use it as a curricular launching pad for deeper reflection about the enduring legacy of Dr. King and what his movement building for economic and racial justice means for living out our Georgetown mission today. Mission in Motion reflected on last year’s efforts that included speeches from both MLK and Congressman John Lewis (D-Ga.), timely selections for locating hope amidst the desolations of social injustice, particularly manifested in the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. 

For this year’s MLK Initiative: “Let Freedom Ring!” at Georgetown, Dr. King’s 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech will be the focus of Teach the Speech, an annual effort at the University to encourage reflection within curricula about the meaning of MLK’s legacy. Join the Teach-In via Zoom on Tuesday, January 11 at 11:30 a.m. ET (RSVP).

This year’s speech, the famous “I Have a Dream” address in 1963, is a fitting choice for 2022. Georgetown’s Center for Social Justice Research, Teaching & Service (CSJ), one of the co-sponsors of  the initiative, commented that this “choice might seem cliché or obvious.” But the inspiration for choosing it arises in part from an article by Dr. Ibram Kendi, who lamented the myriad ways that Dr. King’s dream speech has been distorted by intentional efforts to convert the landmark speech into advocacy for “color-blind civil rights.” Rather, Dr. King’s speech is actually a challenging and demanding call, issued then but still reverberating today, to work for justice in a multiracial democracy by directly addressing the roots and effects of structural racism. 

In his own lifetime, Dr. King would address some of these distorted impressions caused by a single line in the speech that he dreamed “that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” He remarked in 1965 that “one day all of God’s Black children will be respected like his white children” and in 1967 that the “dream that I had [in 1963] has at many points turned into a nightmare.” 

As the United States continues to experience social, cultural, and political polarization around persisting racial injustices in all facets of society, MLK’s iconic 1963 speech presents a valuable opportunity to renew the discussion in 2022 and re-commit to tangible actions at Georgetown. For SCS students, staff, and faculty, integrating the “I Have a Dream” speech into classes and co-curricular spaces can spur critical reflection and action about racial inequities in the various professional industries that are the subject of SCS academic programs. For faculty and staff interested in Teaching the Speech in their classrooms and educational spaces this year, please fill out this form to learn more about the pedagogical resources to support this work. 

If you want to more deeply explore Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, you should also attend next week’s annual Teach-In event over Zoom on Tuesday, January 11 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:45 p.m. ET (RSVP). The Teach-In will feature:

  • 11:30 a.m.: Community Gathering with Music
  • 12:00 p.m.: Welcome by Ryann Craig, Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs followed by a student reflection by Veronica Williams (C’23) and mini-keynotes by Virginia State Senator Jennifer McClellan and Neonu Jewell (L’04) of the African American Policy Forum
  • 1:00 p.m.: Dialogue with our three speakers facilitated by Ijeoma Njaka (G’19), Senior Program Associate for Equity-Centered Design at the Red House
  • 1:40 p.m.: Gratitude by Maya Williams, Office of Student Equity and Inclusion

Faithfully celebrating the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. means more than taking a day off from work. To witness to Dr. King’s legacy is to make a commitment to carry on his movement efforts for social justice and the common good. I hope you are able to attend the January 11 Teach-In and find ways to reflect and act at Georgetown on the enduring lessons of “I Have a Dream.”

Posted on

An Examen Reflection on 2021

With 2021 coming to a close, now is a good time to invite deeper personal and collective reflection at SCS about the year that we have experienced. A helpful resource for such a reflection, which comes out of our Ignatian heritage as a Jesuit university, is the Examen. This style of reflection has been highlighted many times by Mission in Motion, including posts about Examen formats customized for transitioning back to in-person learning during the fall semester, committing to the daily work of anti-racism, and navigating difficult emotions in the midst of the pandemic. The Examen helps us move forward by looking back.

This week’s post invites us into an Examen of the past year. Follow the suggested reflection questions to review your experiences and consider how you are being led into 2022. At Georgetown SCS, many events rise to the surface, including celebrating the Ignatian Year in October, honoring graduates in-person at Nationals Park in May, and promoting Black History Month. 

At the heart of the Examen reflection practice is the idea that engaging with the data of our interior lives, including our memories, desires, emotions, stirrings, repulsions, and attractions, can help us live authentic, nourishing, and generous lives. By paying attention to our interior movements we put ourselves in position to respond to our deeper callings in life. In a spirit of openness to how God is at work in our lives and in our world, the Examen asks us to engage honestly and directly with all of our interior experiences. This type of reflection surfaces both consolations and the desolations, requiring that we be generous and loving with ourselves in the process. The hoped-for outcome is that we come to see more clearly how we can commit to personal and communal actions that convert our deeper gladness into gratitude and our adversity into self-growth and community connections. Such a year-end reflection is all the more necessary as we grapple with the stress, exhaustion, and uncertainty presented by the continuing COVID-19 pandemic. 

I invite you to enter into an Examen on the past year by considering these three questions:  

  1. Where have you been this year?;
  2. Where are you now?; and
  3. Where do you want to go in the coming year?

Looking back: Settle into a time of quiet, allow your body and mind to calm. Then engage with all of your senses and, in your imagination, go back through all of the relevant experiences of the past year. Allow yourself to let each of the most significant moments of 2021 float by as if in a parade of memories. Hold off on judging or analyzing these experiences – just let them come to the surface. What events of this year brought you the most joy? What challenged you or caused you to feel disconnected from yourself, others, and God? As a member of the SCS community, where did you find yourself in 2021 feeling the most gratitude for your Georgetown experiences? When and where did you find yourself struggling in your life as a member of the University community? You might refresh your memory about the significant experiences that we lived through as a community, including the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, an in-person Commencement at Nationals Park, and the celebration of the Ignatian Year. 

In the present: As you sit in the current moment, how do you find yourself as a result of this year’s experiences? Do you feel in touch with your true, authentic self? Are your work, your study, and your personal life bringing you energy and motivation? Are there parts of your life in need of healing and change? Have the realities of social injustice caused you to feel disconnected and hopeless? Are you feeling inspired and encouraged by the people in your life who support you and provide you with loving attention and care? How have you changed this year? Do you feel closer to living out your vocation and purpose in life and work? 

Looking ahead: An Ignatian Examen is always oriented to making choices and committing to actions. As a result of your reflection on this last year, how do you want to grow in the next year? Are there particular challenges you are being invited to undertake? Are there habits of mind and heart that you want to engage in order to live a healthier, more grounded, and more generous life? Are there things that you learned in 2021 that you want to continue into the next year? How do you feel called to work for justice in your communities and in the world beyond? 

I hope this Examen helps you recollect your experience of 2021 and inspires a renewal and a recharge for 2022! 

Posted on

Hoyas, Hope, and the Holidays

It is that time of the year. The final push in classes as final exams, projects, and papers loom. Colder, darker, wintry days are upon us. And students, staff, and faculty across Georgetown eye the exits to the break as we enter into a holiday season at the end of a year that few will ever forget. Many are anticipating time away from campus duties and welcoming the opportunity to take some rest and reset from a challenging semester. Georgetown, anchored as it is in its mission and values, encourages all of us not to rush this precious time period but pay special attention to the themes of this spiritually significant season. As the Jewish community celebrates Hanukkah and Christians enter into Advent in anticipation of Christmas, now is a gifted opportunity to reflect on the gratitude we have experienced together as a learning community and the possibilities of hope at the end of 2021. 

The holiday season at Georgetown is a festive time of year. The Jewish community celebrates Hanukkah and the Christian community enters Advent in anticipation of Christmas. 

In his opening reflection for Georgetown’s 2021 Advent Devotional, Fr. Mark Bosco, S.J., Vice President for Mission and Ministry, sets the context for the challenges we have endured as a University community: 

“We enter this liturgical season having struggled and survived through almost two years of the COVID pandemic – a time that has kept us sober about the fragility of life, yet aware of the hidden graces that God has revealed to us amidst this new reality. … Indeed, as we have found ourselves in close and sustained proximity with our family and only the closest of friends, we have been challenged to think more deeply about the preciousness of life, as well as the profoundly new ways in which we can support and sustain one another. … We anticipate coming out of our own COVID fog yearning for God to come and set the world right with perfect justice, truth, and peace. Welcome to this season of hope.” 

This reason for hope – the possibility of a more peaceful and just world – gives life to this season and animates the religious traditions celebrating their special holidays. Mission in Motion reflected at the beginning of the fall semester about this theme of hope expressed during the opening year Mass of the Holy Spirit. The takeaway message from President DeGioia’s remarks, rooted in the writing of Fr. Otto Hentz, S.J., still resonates in this holiday season: We can be hope for one another. The next few weeks, filled as they might be with final projects and parties, can also be a time to grow in generous service with and for others.  

SCS helped the community celebrate the holidays by programming a series of events. 

At SCS, this commitment to others as a reason for hope has been actively on display in recent days. The SCS Programming Task Force has put together a series of community-building events intended to help us take a short break from the press of end-of-semester obligations. From a scavenger hunt to a trivia game and much in between, including decorating holiday cards for kids at Children’s National Hospital, the SCS community has been spending quality time with one another. These events pointed us to what is possible when we invite others into our lives and make space for new encounters and new friendships. 

For me, in this season of anticipation and waiting, the greatest joy comes from savoring the gifts in my life – friends, family, and community. This gratitude can then give life to greater generosity and inclusiveness, wondering if I can be more hospitable in sharing these gifts. As we journey deeper into these December days, I hope you can find a little time to savor some gratitude and generate some generosity toward friends and strangers alike.

Posted on

English Language Center Celebrates Thanksgiving with Gravy and Some Gratitude

A now annual SCS tradition is the English Language Center’s (ELC) hosting of a panel discussion about the meaning of the Thanksgiving holiday. For several years, ELC has put together this dynamic event, which features SCS staff and faculty offering their insights and perspectives to an audience of ELC students learning about the diverse ways that America celebrates Thanksgiving. Moderated by Stephanie Gallop, associate director of ELC’s Intensive English Program, the panelists explored different preferences and customs that families engage in throughout the country. Turkey or stuffing? Family over football? Black Friday or Cyber Monday? The interactive discussion revealed some regional differences (sweet potato pie, for example, is more popular in the South) and some heartfelt reflections about why this is such an important holiday. 

The English Language Center hosted their annual panel on the meaning of the Thanksgiving holiday. SCS staff members (seated L-R) Jocelyne Quintero, Jamie Kralovec, and Katie Weicher shared their perspectives. 

The celebration of Thanksgiving is an opportunity to consider the central place of gratitude not only in this holiday but also in the Ignatian spirituality that gives life to the Spirit of Georgetown. I love Thanksgiving because of the way that it invites us to make space for naming the gratitude in our lives. Family, friends, and food come together around a table, a setting for deep pondering about the ties that connect us to each other and to the deeper purpose of our lives. This setting also becomes an opportunity to consider how we might move beyond our comfortable boundaries and invite others to the table, with particular attention to persons in our community in need of food, family, and fellowship.  

Set against the consumerist tendencies of our culture, the practice of Thanksgiving can help remind us of our gifts and how our gratitude for these gifts can inspire our generous action in the world. Such gifts do not require any payback or recompense. Instead, as Johanna Williams, executive director of the Jesuit-affiliated Kino Border Initiative, a transnational organization that works for humane, just, and workable migration between the U.S. and Mexico, reminded us recently: 

“Gratitude is key to Ignatian spirituality. It is not just a feeling, but a disposition. An attitude. Part of fostering gratitude is thanking God for all of the blessings and gifts He has given us. … Processing a life experience through a lens of gratitude does not mean dismissing grief and pain. Gratitude allows migrants and all of us to reframe loss and trauma into an opportunity for consciousness and power.”  

Such an attitude of gratitude animated the ELC panel and the joyful celebration that followed, a sampling of traditional Thanksgiving foods on the ground floor of the SCS building. The carefully selected spread of Thanksgiving tastes, the students enjoying their plates, and the staff that served them generously all point to a gratitude about how mission and values come alive at SCS. I found myself simmering in gratitude for the opportunity to share in this learning experience with the ELC students and the staff and faculty that care for them. A student later shared her reflection about the event, offering thanks for the opportunity to learn about a new holiday and create some lasting memories of Georgetown. 

After the panel, ELC students enjoyed a sampling of Thanksgiving flavors on the ground floor of the SCS building. School staff and faculty prepared and served the meal. 

As we enter into a week of Thanksgiving, I invite you to spend some time in gratitude for all of the gifts of your life, including the community at SCS. You might consider using a special Examen created for this purpose by the Jesuits: “An Ignatian Examen for Thanksgiving.” 

Posted on

From Collision to Conversion: What’s the Significance Today of the Cannonball Story?

The Ignatian Year at Georgetown kicks off on October 28 with a special event exploring the meaning of the “cannonball moments” in our lives. RSVP here!

Ahead of the event, “What’s Your Cannonball Story? Story-Telling in Georgetown’s Ignatian Year,” I want to consider the significance of the Ignatian “cannonball moment” as it relates both to the life of St. Ignatius and to our lives today. For some, relating this historical image to our contemporary human experience is a fitting way to enter more deeply into the principles and practices of the Ignatian Year. For others, the cannonball theme may feel distant, remote, or even dissonant with a desire for healthy spiritual development. In whatever way you relate to this image, I offer some insights that can hopefully help make this Ignatian story come more alive for you. 

The cannonball was literal for Ignatius, but it does not have to be so for us. One of the potential stumbling blocks of relating this 500-year-old story to our present lives is its dramatic nature. Not all of us can relate to the monumental wounding of St. Ignatius in battle, a war-time injury that earned the respect of rival forces because of Ignatius’s bravery. Some of us have had similarly significant life experiences – especially for many at SCS connected to the military. But it might feel like an unachievable high bar to have a similar cannonball experience in order to enter into the personal reflection invited by this Ignatian Year. That is not the point of relating this story to our lives today. 

The point is that we all have had some foundational event or experience that has caused us to question our existing beliefs or behaviors. This is especially the case in the context of the ongoing pandemic and how it has forced greater awareness of our feelings and the changes in our interior dispositions, attitudes, and beliefs as we have adjusted to unpredictable exterior conditions. The enduring meaning of the “cannonball moment” is that reflecting on our own examples can help set in motion a process of profound personal transformation. Here is an example of a relatable transformation offered by a prior student in the SCS “Jesuit Values in Professional Practice” course: 

“During a difficult consolidation of an organization where I used to work that divided employees and company leadership, I decided to pause and think very carefully about whether I wanted to survive through political maneuvering or doing the right thing for the company and myself. I discerned that the right thing was to continue to perform, collaborate, share information, and support the needs of the business. I chose this path and the decision was a relief. Ultimately, this path led to me to consider a more honorable path forward in my career.”

For Ignatius, the cannonball was a singular event, but for us personal transformation can take a long time and we might not consciously realize that it is even happening. While the fact of the cannonball collision is a salient detail in the Ignatian story, what matters most is how Ignatius responded over time. The injuries he sustained led to a deep shift in perspective that was possible because he committed to regular habits of prayer and self-examination. Battlefield wounds facilitated this process of conversion and enabled Ignatius to take time to imagine a different future for himself more aligned with God’s calling. 

For many, there is not a single moment that explains a deep change of heart that leads to reforming our habits, behaviors, and courses of action. Sometimes the interior transformation is a slow and patient process. It is only much later, with the help of dedicated reflection, that we understand what transformations actually occurred within us. One SCS alumna of the Jesuit Values course reflected on a slow change in her life in this way: 

“After a disappointing experience as a college athlete, I had to give up the sport that I loved. I became angry, disappointed, confused, and doubtful as a result of that decision. It took a long time for me to accept what felt like I had lost the most important thing in my life. Through much reflection over time I eventually embraced the decision, but it took a lot of patience with myself and others. I also later converted my passion for athletics into other ways of using my gifts and I became a mentor and have found other ways of helping people.” 


Over the course of the coming year, Mission in Motion will continue to bring to life the cannonball story by offering opportunities to make relevant connections to its enduring meaning. Please join us on October 28 as we mark Georgetown’s Ignatian Year by making some time and space to pause and reflect on your own cannonball journeys.