Tag: Reflections

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Recent SCS Graduate Accomplishes Major Feat, Running Down Every Street of Washington, D.C., and Discovering More About Himself and the City Along the Way

The Mission in Motion blog tells the real-time stories of how Georgetown SCS students, faculty, staff, and alumni live out the Jesuit mission and values of the university by putting these values in action in ways that serve justice and the common good. This week, we interview Dion Thompson-Davoli, a May 2024 graduate of the Master’s in Urban & Regional Planning program. Dion was recently featured in a Washington Post story, “He Ran on All* 1,838 Streets in D.C. This is What He Saw,” because of an incredible achievement: He ran down every single street in Washington, D.C., (over 1,400 miles worth of running!) in the last two years. 

What makes this running adventure so compelling as an example of mission commitment is that Dion allowed himself to reflect deeply about the urban realities of Washington, D.C., as he undertook this arduous project and encountered people and places in such an intense way. 

At Georgetown, Dion achieved distinction for his record of academic excellence, including the completion of a novel capstone project about industrial zoning policy and an award from The 2024 Georgetown Public Policy Challenge for a group project about revitalizing downtown through an innovative urban policy proposal. 

In addition to academic commitment, Dion stood out at SCS for his attention to building community and sharing the University’s mission and values, serving, for example, as the SCS standard bearer during the procession into the 2024 Baccalaureate Mass at Commencement. 

In the interview, Dion shares more about his motivations for taking on the multi-year adventure, what he learned, and how his experience shapes his understanding of urban planning, and what, if anything, was spiritually significant about his travels. 

This week’s post is an interview with recent SCS graduate Dion Thompson-Davoli, who was featured in the Washington Post for running down every street in Washington, D.C., over the last two years.
  1. Tell us about what led you to take on this project. As a recent Georgetown graduate with so much else happening in your life, why did you embark on this lengthy adventure? 

Towards the end, when I was running in neighborhoods five or even 10 miles from my home, the project became a huge time commitment. At first, though, it was just a way for me to stay locked into a fitness routine while juggling a pretty challenging work and school schedule. I would go out to jog as normal and try to mix up what streets I was running down, figuring that diversifying the places I went would make me look forward to it more and keep my mind off the mundanity that makes running a difficult thing to stick with. Once I systematized it and started to think that hitting every street in the city might be an achievable goal, I started to spend more time planning routes and biking or taking the Metro around the city to start and end in different places. So the time commitment really ramped up as I got deeper into it, but at the same time so did my feeling that it was actually possible to finish. Those two things really offset each other to keep me plugging at it. 

Dion graduated in May 2024. During his time at Georgetown, Dion achieved academic excellence in the Master’s in Urban & Regional Planning program and contributed to his communities by exemplifying the University’s mission and values. 
  1. I imagine being an urban planner influenced how you experienced your journey throughout this diverse city. How did running shape your view of Washington as a city divided by race and class? 

It’s an interesting question. I didn’t really go around telling a lot of people about the challenge, but when I did they would frequently say things like, “You’re taking a big risk, running in some of those neighborhoods” or “I hope you don’t get jumped.” Which, you know, was often phrased insensitively, but is kind of fair. People I chatted with in D.C.’s more violent areas told me similar things. It’s a very unequal city, one with a lot of concentrated poverty and violent crime. Most people who have the means to stay out of the less well-off areas tend to do so, and not without reason. 

Still, I gained some valuable perspective along the way (and never felt unsafe, fortunately). People in my peer group tend to have a caricatured mental image of poorer neighborhoods that’s totally out of step with the day-to-day life in them. Despite what some teenagers once joked to me once while I was out running off Alabama Avenue, there aren’t just bullets whizzing down the streets. My experience of D.C.’s troubled neighborhoods was mostly of elderly homeowners waving from porches, high fives from kids out playing in front yards, and people just living normal lives in their communities. 

I will say, though, that the wealth inequality between neighborhoods in the city is really shocking when you cross between them as often as I did while I was working on this. As a planner, I actually think it’s kind of a good thing that those disparities exist so close together—one problem I see with the way we live in the U.S. today is that most of our communities are really segmented by class and wealthier folks can wall themselves off from even seeing poverty much of the time. Cities like D.C. are some of the few places that’s less true. This isn’t a policy prescription or anything, but I really do think that people who are exposed to one another across those dividing lines are better able to come together and work on common challenges. The continued existence of grinding poverty in a country as blessed with wealth and dynamism as ours should shock us.  

  1. What do all neighborhoods share in common; and what makes them different?

Besides the socioeconomic issues, I have to say D.C. is lucky to be almost entirely composed of beautiful, diverse neighborhoods. There’s historic reasons for that—including the legacy of not having had much in the way of 20th century heavy manufacturing, and avoiding the worst excesses of the freeway building era—and we also have varied topography, great local architecture, and an overall well-maintained public realm. 

We also benefit locally from being at the center of American governance. There’s an embassy everywhere you turn, even in a lot of the neighborhoods. Historic monuments and public art, too. People vie for attention here with ostentatiously beautiful buildings and homes. The National Mall is a jewel, especially for joggers and walkers. All of this stuff comes together to make it a great city to run in. 

Dion recorded this incredible feat using a running app that documented all of his running trips throughout the city. 
  1. When I look at the map of the miles you logged, I am reminded of St. Ignatius walking nearly 400 miles as part of his pilgrimage journey in Spain. Did you engage in this running as a pilgrimage of sorts? Was there anything spiritual or sacred to you about taking this on as a practice? 

I’ve always been inspired by the Ignatian tradition, and jogging certainly brings me closer to God. It’s a time where I really feel embodied, where I consider the experience of being alive in this physical, fragile form. Physicality is one of the great gifts that each of us has been given, no matter how we experience it. Jogging is also very solitary, so I think combining those two things makes it feel very spiritual to me. It’s a great time to do an Examen, or just feel apart from the everyday grind.

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5 Steps to Facilitate Meaningful Meetings: Insights from Georgetown’s Summer Programs

This week’s post is about the importance of small group discussions and how effective facilitation can help participants, like the students participating in Georgetown’s summer programs, strive for deeper meaning and purpose in their education.  Image is from Georgetown’s “A Different Dialogue Program.” 

As the summer gets underway, a dedicated team of SCS staff has been preparing for months to welcome students for a wide-ranging set of summer programs. These summer experiences cater to the needs of diverse student audiences, including high school students from around the country coming to main campus for a dedicated experience of university life. Some programs last the duration of the summer months and others are shorter in length. Mission in Motion reflects each year, for instance, on the mission-driven Summer College Immersion Program (SCIP), a three-week residential experience of Georgetown for talented students in the KIPP Foundation and Cristo Rey Network of schools. What is distinctive about Georgetown’s summer offerings is that they present students with the opportunity to engage with Georgetown’s traditions of academic excellence, community, and globally significant position in the nation’s capital. 

Each summer semester requires an entire year’s worth of planning and preparation. As part of this effort, the summer staff reviews and evaluates how it can improve its delivery of services and support for summer students. As part of this year’s effort, I was invited to deliver a training for the staff working for Georgetown’s High School Summer Academies. The Academies are one, two, or three weeks in length and organized around different thematic areas, like Biotechnology, American Politics, and International Relations. Some of the students venturing to Georgetown’s Hilltop campus have never traveled to Washington, D.C., or had the experience of living independently in a college dorm. The summer staff hoped that I might provide some guidance for how to effectively facilitate small group discussions for students throughout the summer. 

Summer staff serve as resources to the students as they navigate classes and life on campus. The convening of small groups throughout the summer is invaluable for many reasons, including the formation of deeper bonds among smaller groups of students outside of the traditional classroom experience. Small groups also help summer students reflect on the learning occurring within classes. I introduced some suggestions for practices rooted in Ignatian pedagogical principles. My view is that facilitating an effective small group is a key skill that is transferable to many areas of professional life. But more than organizational effectiveness, facilitation as a skill relates to helping others experience the deeper meaning and purpose of a Georgetown education rooted in the Jesuit tradition of education. My five-step framework for facilitating can help convert an ordinary experience of group discussion into something more meaningful.

First, Invite: Make sure your attendees know what to expect during the meeting and what they are being asked to do. Too often, we do not consider how a small group conversation can become a rich opportunity for learning and growth. To ensure this possibility, the facilitator needs to set the expectations in advance about how participants are expected to show up and participate. 

Second, Create the Space: Establishing a space as safe, brave, and sacred means making certain intentional decisions about the meeting setting. This means that the facilitator needs to think about the arrangement of chairs and how participants are able to see each other, communicate with each other, and learn from each other. Creating space also means being clear about the community agreements that will govern discussion. For instance, how will the group handle confidentiality, technology, and conflict in the space? Responsible facilitation means being clear about the ethics that will guide the process. 

Third, Maintain the Space: Facilitation is an active practice because it necessitates being involved throughout the experience. The facilitator needs to get involved when community agreements are violated or the group is getting off track. This means reading the room, so to speak, and making judgments about what the group needs in order to sustain the discussion. Effective facilitators also recognize opportunities to healthily work through conflicts emerging in the space. Some conflicts are too big and difficult for a group so must be managed outside the group structure. Maintaining the space also means monitoring time and keeping the group on time. 

Fourth, Check In: Facilitators learn to interact with a group in ways that respond to the group’s particular needs. Each group has a different life and a different culture. It is helpful for the facilitator, especially in a learning experience at Georgetown, to time and again remind the group of the larger purpose of the activity. Why are we here? How does this discussion help deepen the meaning that you are making of your time in the classroom? The Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm puts “reflection” after “experience” because meaning-making of an experience requires intentional interior processing of all that happened during the experience itself. 

Fifth, Transition: How the meeting ends is in the control of the facilitator. The hope is that participants know when the conversation concludes and how this particular meeting relates to the next one. Giving the group good incentives to return to the following conversation is helpful to maintaining the energy and buy-in of the participants. One helpful way to transition is to mark the end of the meeting with some symbolic practice, like a poem or prayer or piece of music. 

Georgetown’s summer staff teams gives students an accelerated experience in a short amount of time. Their work is invaluable and critical to ensuring that the University’s Jesuit mission and values come to life in the student experience.

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SCS Retreat Invites Students into Reflection on the Meaning and Practices of the Good Life

This year’s SCS student retreat, “Journeying the Good Life,” sold out and brought together participants from 15 different degree and non-degree programs. 

Every year, SCS hosts an overnight retreat at the Calcagnini Contemplative Center that is made available to degree and non-degree students. There is a certain rhythm to this yearly experience. First, the retreat developers brainstorm a theme around which the event will be organized. Second, marketing, communications, and program staff teams work to amplify and promote the retreat. Third, students across the School sign up and claim their spots. Fourth, participants receive detailed instructions (mostly logistical in nature) about what to expect at Calcagnini. Fifth, the retreat day arrives and participants descend upon the 640 Massachusetts Avenue SCS campus to meet the departing bus and each other. Sixth, the retreat takes place and all who are gathered deeply engage with the schedule and activities. Seventh, the retreat ends with a bus return to the SCS campus, evaluations are shared, and the community disperses back to their respective home locations. Eighth, reflective evaluation of the experience leads to new insights and new ideas about how to meet the spiritual needs of the SCS student community. 

Each of these steps necessitates great leaps of faith and trust that the retreat will be received in nurturing and life-giving ways by all who engage it. There is certainly some doubt that finds its way into the process. Will students actually sign up? Will the retreat theme and the practices inspired by it resonate with the group? How will this seemingly random collection of individuals, diverse in every indicator of diversity, come together in unity and form a group? Will the weather challenge the contemplative spirit and recreational activities? Will everyone find the food and accommodations suitable to their expectations? 

This year’s retreat involved asking all of these same questions and receiving some resoundingly positive feedback about what is possible when SCS students say a big “Yes” to an uncertain experience and allow themselves to be personally transformed.

The 2024 retreat, “Journeying the Good Life,” certainly had some unexpected and unplanned moments. No one could have predicted that a steady and strong downpour of rain would persist throughout the first day of the retreat. But instead of worrying about the weather, the group made a firm commitment to accept the sogginess and make the most of it. This embrace of wet slightly complicated the nature hikes sprinkled throughout the agenda, but it also led to some memorable moments. 

It was somewhat unexpected for the group to gel so quickly, becoming interested from the beginning in each other’s stories and making space for intimate and vulnerable sharing in small and large groups. One measure of a fruitful retreat is the vitality and volume of chatter over meals in the dining hall. In this case, I was struck by the handful of engaged table conversations happening over delicious meals. 

Rabbi Rachel Gartner presented on the good life by sharing “Arguments for the Sake of Heaven” from out of the Jewish tradition. 

The retreat’s principle content is shared through two short talks delivered by me and Rabbi Rachel Gartner, SCS Senior Adviser for Spiritual Care. I shared some insights, “The Good Life from the ‘I’ to the ‘We’ to the ‘Universal,’” based on two primary sources. Philosopher Adam Adatto Sandel’s recent book, Happiness in Action: A Philosopher’s Guide to the Good Life, and Jesuit Greg Boyle’s book, The Whole Language: The Power of Extravagant Tenderness, get at the topics of the good life in slightly different ways. Sandel argues that ends-oriented goal-setting, a hallmark of contemporary economic culture, needs to be upended by three virtues—self-possession, friendship, and engagement with nature—which cultivate flourishing and deeper happiness in the means/practices themselves. Boyle contends that the root of some of our individual and collective despair has to do with the need to recognize the “unshakable goodness” that exists in ourselves and in each other. Finding goodness in this way leads to loving, especially important when loving is made harder by structures that exclude those we allow to be “othered.”  

 Students enjoyed the Calcagnini Contemplative Center in spite of heavy rains on the first day of retreat. 

Rabbi Rachel built on these foundations in her talk about “Arguments for the Sake of Heaven.” She utilized the primary source texts of the Talmud and presented on the Jewish sages Hillel and Shammai. The reflective interpretation exercise invited close and careful reading and a discussion about the ideas of the good life rooted in this spiritual reading of texts. One particular outcome of Rabbi Rachel’s talk was deeper consideration about the importance of healthy and respectful argumentation in making communal claims about what constitutes virtuous living. 

Throughout the experience, the community brought to life Georgetown’s mission values, especially a commitment to Contemplation in Action. By the retreat’s conclusion, it was evident that students would return to their engaged lives refreshed and renewed by this brief interruption in their daily habits and responsibilities. 

As with any retreat, the effectiveness of the effort depends on how participants felt about the experience. Here is a sampling of responses to the question: “How are you returning home?”

  • “I am more grounded. I take away the importance of a community and how we are all connected and can learn from each other.”
  • “I’ve discovered more about myself in the sense I know what my mission is and I should hold onto those I love.” 
  • “I feel more grounded, peaceful, and grateful. I want to hold onto that as long as possible through daily meditation and physical connection with nature.” 
  • “I am definitely more grounded. I have a better understanding of my priorities in life. I know I must continue to explore other worldviews.” 
  • “I am returning as a more open person. I take away more connection and viewpoints. I am taking away an appreciation for Georgetown.” 

SCS students can learn more about the School’s approach to sharing Georgetown’s mission values on our Spiritual Life page and can learn about more retreat options here.

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Becoming Spiritually Grounded Strategic Thinkers and Discerning Leaders

 This week’s post considers how strategic thinking and leadership can be enhanced by bringing in the ideas and practices of spirituality. The inaugural SCS “Strategic Thinking & Leadership Academy” will emphasize these connections. 

What comes to mind when you hear the term, spiritual leadership? For many, I suspect, this brings up associations with institutionalized religion and following the codes and creeds of a particular tradition’s dogmas and rules. There is a particular association for many people with spirituality as something that is private and potentially not appropriate for discussion in public situations, including the workplace. 

Scholars of spirituality tend to make a distinction between “religion” on the one hand and “spirituality” on the other. The former tends to be related to the institutionalized manifestations of a particular tradition’s efforts to be organized formally. The latter tends to be considered the more experiential and interiorized personal phenomena of being in an intentional relationship with God, or the Transcendent Other, through a set of practices. Spirituality scholar Sandra Schneiders, for example, describes spirituality as “the experience of conscious involvement in the project of life integration through self-transcendence toward the ultimate value one perceives.” 

In recent years, the contribution of spirituality to leadership development has received more and more attention. The interest in this combination is arising not only from spiritually minded practitioners and ministry leaders but directly from the world of secular professional practice. Without going into too much detail, the basis of this interest has to do with what individual spiritual practices, cultivated by employees and members of groups on their own, have to positively offer to the health and vitality of organizations. Spirituality then becomes a well of resources for cultivating strong ethical leadership skills that can help organized groups of all kinds better realize their missions and their bottom lines. 

In this spirit, Georgetown’s School of Continuing Studies is running an inaugural  “Strategic Thinking & Leadership Academy” this March. This comprehensive, intensive 3-day program is designed to “empower aspiring leaders in government, industry, education, and nonprofits with the skills and knowledge needed to make informed decisions, implement strategies, and lead effectively in today’s environment.” What is especially exciting about this academy is that it brings together faculty whose own professional experience and perspectives on strategic thinking and leadership add up to a truly interdisciplinary academic experience, with a particular emphasis on the need to build truly inclusive organizational cultures. I am delighted to offer one of the modules, “Becoming a Discerning Leader,” which will introduce program participants to the critical importance of developing interior practices that help leaders notice their emotions with clarity and acknowledge their blind spots. Discerning Leadership is a purposeful reference to the wealth of resources for professional practitioners that are made available by Jesuit values and the traditions of Ignatian Spirituality. 

One such ongoing example of work at SCS that brings together the richness of the ideas and practices of Ignatian Spirituality and the critical work of personal group leadership development is the facilitated use of the book Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High. Now on its third edition, the book presents a series of practical suggestions for how to skillfully and gracefully navigate conversations that involve opposing opinions, strong emotions, and high stakes. In short, the book argues that such Crucial Conversations, which often end up in seemingly intractable workplace conflicts, can be better managed with more effective dialogue skills, greater emotional awareness, and a willingness to pause during heated situations and calmly assess both the surface-level and underlying interpersonal dynamics. Administrative units at SCS are encouraged to use the book and explore how these practices might shape healthier, more productive, and more mission-driven accomplishment of organizational goals. 

There is a false choice in leadership development praxis between purely scientific or purely spiritual strategies. Using the lens of Ignatian Spirituality to more richly explore the potential connections within Crucial Conversations for the work of SCS faculty and staff leaders brings together these worldviews. The book need not be experienced as an entirely secular framework, even if the authors are not explicit about the contributions of spirituality to the discussion. Chapter 5, “Master My Stories: How to Stay in Dialogue When You’re Angry, Scared, or Hurt,” for example, presents some compelling opportunities for integration with the Ignatian tradition. 

At one point, the authors emphasize the importance of emotional literacy and awareness: “When you take the time to precisely articulate what you’re feeling, you begin to put a little bit of daylight between you and the emotion. This distance lets you move from being hostage to the emotion to being an observer of it” (87). This idea relates well to the Ignatian Examen, a daily practice that encourages self-awareness and discovery by reverentially reviewing one’s emotional experiences, both those that are consoling and those that are desolating, for signs of how one is being called to more loving and generous leadership and service. Noticing and naming the emotions we experience is one step toward healthy indifference and detachment from harmful emotions that get in the way of better discerned action. 

Another Ignatian connection in the book is the emphasis on practicality in terms of how actions of leaders cannot depend on excessive self-reflection: “Why would you stop and retrace your Path to Action in the first place? Certainly, if you’re constantly stopping what you’re doing and looking for your underlying motive and thoughts, you won’t even be able to put on your shoes without thinking about it for who knows how long. You’ll die of analysis paralysis” (85). This point relates directly to the Jesuit value of Contemplation in Action, which stresses the pragmatics of daily life and seeks to cultivate habits of discernment that can be exercised in moments that call for decisive action. A retreat removed from daily life is simply not possible on a daily basis so discerning leaders need to practice the habits of healthy discernment in order to make decisions within reasonable time frames. 

There are many more instances in the book in which a spiritual lens might deepen the conversation about how to become a strategic thinker and discerning leader who is capable and skilled during a Crucial Conversation. This exercise in connecting these seemingly secular ideas with the roots and heritage of our Jesuit values is another manifestation of the unique ways that Georgetown SCS inspirits the University’s mission in how it delivers applied professional education to a continuum of learners at various places in their careers.

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There is Always Light Somewhere: Rabbi Rachel’s Reflection to Begin a New Year

Friends,

The Hasidic masters taught that as hidden, elusive, or otherwise hard to find, there is always light somewhere. The world could not exist without it.  Sometimes we only find the light after we crack open all that obscures it. 

Life teaches us that the cracking is so often a bitterly painful thing.  Shattering hurts. And religion teaches that we must become better, wiser, more compassionate people—people who protect light, nurture light, guard it from that within us and among that threatens to obscure it—so we need not go through shatterings again and again and again.

Judaism enjoins that as we grow into better versions of ourselves, we not let our despair that we are not yet there overcome us and snuff out the search for the light that already inheres in our world, again however obscured. Judaism insists we remain unflinching in our seeking, even when we feel so very lost in the dark. 

This tenacity in the search for light and resistance to being overcome by despair is what Hanukkah has always signified for me, and it does so now more than ever.  

This is what I pray that all lights of all the holidays of the season will reignite in all of our souls.

Particularly during these heartbreaking times, I find glimmers of hope in all efforts to humanize and connect across vast differences and seeming impasses—efforts both longstanding and entirely new.  Recently, I joined such an effort as Associate Director for In Your Shoes™ Research and Practice Center.  I am moved to share with the SCS community what I wrote in the piece welcoming me to the role:

In Your Shoes™  offers me a way to double-down on my commitment to pursuing a better world, and to contribute to the ongoing, tenacious peace and justice work of the countless individuals and organizations I have been privileged to engage with over the years. Along with all those doing this work, I refuse to give up on the values and visions that we have worked so hard to bring to each other and our communities. It isn’t easy. But it is the best way I know to remain fully alive and to live purposefully, openly, and with hope in this broken and blessed world.  

For those particularly invested in engaging with the issues facing Israelis and Palestinians, I commend you to learn more from this small sampling of co-existence organizations and resources I have personally worked with over the years, including: 

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An Examen To Review 2023

This week’s post invites quiet reflection on our year together by using the Jesuit spiritual practice of the Examen. The May 2023 student retreat stands out as a moment of great gratitude. 

Readers of Mission in Motion recognize the Examen as a common feature of the blog. Many articles describe this core Jesuit spiritual practice or use it to inspire reflection about an event or program at SCS. Sometimes, the blog even constructs a post as a form of Examen. This practice is one that invites interior reflection on the events of a period of time with the purpose of prayerfully and sensorially re-engaging with those experiences and making spiritual meaning of them. 

The reflective steps of the Examen process involve settling in and becoming centered in the presence of the Divine and then growing in awareness of particular encounters with gratitude, consolation, desolation, and a hoped-for resolve for the future. The point is to sift through the data of experience to discern how one is called to move from reflection on experiences, both the joyful and the challenging, toward choices and actions of greater love and generosity. Individuals can do the Examen and so can entire groups or organizations, like Georgetown, which is currently undertaking its own Mission Priority Examen, a reflective self-assessment of the University’s commitments to Jesuit mission and identity.

As we sit on the precipice of a new year, I offer a brief Examen on SCS in 2023. In next week’s post, Rabbi Rachel will offer some reflections about the year we had and the year to come. In this spirit of deeper meditation on the meaning of our shared Georgetown experiences in 2023, I invite you to join me in this Examen. Take a few minutes to settle into some quiet. This is especially important as we transition from a long semester of work and study and prepare for some time of quiet and rejuvenation. As you settle in, I invite you to ask for insight and new self-knowledge during this time of quiet. When you feel grounded in the silence, I then invite you to ponder these questions slowly: 

  • Take a few minutes and notice all of the significant events of the last year. These might be personal events or events you experienced with a group (for example, a class, a work team, family, community organization, etc.). Allow these significant moments to flow by in your consciousness one-by-one as in a parade. Do not yet judge or assess the moments, just allow them to pass back into your present awareness. 
  • As you sift through all of these significant moments, what experiences rise to the surface? In particular, what encounters with Georgetown feel most important to you at the end of the year? I invite you to focus on the most important moments and let the less significant experiences move to the side. 
  • What is one significant moment from this last year that brings you deep gladness and joy? A moment that, in Jesuit spirituality, brings consolation? These kinds of moments stir within us an impulse and an inclination to savor more greatly, express more gratitude, and share ourselves with others with more magnanimity. 
  • Take a moment to explore a moment that brings the opposite feelings of desolation. Was there a significant experience in 2023 that challenged you to the core of your being, perhaps causing you to doubt your self-purpose or become skeptical about the good intentions of others? Did times arise in this year that drained you of energy and led to nagging self-doubt or disbelief? 
  • As you consider the year ahead, what from 2023 would you like to do differently, or better, or more lovingly in 2024? Grounded as we are in the Spirit of Georgetown, how are you called in the next year to be an agent of more justice in the world and more generosity and understanding in your communities? 

As I look back on our SCS 2023, I notice lots of gratitude that arises from my prayerful Examen. I recall the generous availability that students demonstrated during our annual retreat (“SCS Student Retreat Steps Outside of the Ordinary into Rest and Reflection”). I also remember students, staff, and faculty coming together to support one another after the tragic loss of a member of our community (“Coming Together in Times of Challenge and Loss”). I remember the inspiration I felt during Jason Kander’s 2023 Commencement address when he challenged us to reconsider what it means to be brave by acknowledging our needs for mental health support (“SCS 2023 Commencement Emphasizes Celebration, Care for Self, Commitment to Others”).  

There are so many other important moments from the year that rise to the surface of a longer reflection on our SCS commitment to Jesuit mission and values. For now, I am going to look ahead with gratitude and hope for another year of journeying together with you in this sacred work. 

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A Thanksgiving Reflection on the Spirituality of Gratitude

A view from Georgetown’s Calcagnini Contemplative Center during last month’s Graduate, Professional, and Law Student Retreat. This week’s post invites pre-Thanksgiving reflection on the meaning of gratitude. 

The last month has been a time of profound challenge for so many. The war in Israel and Palestine, along with so many other conflict situations throughout the world, has surfaced deep divisions within our spaces and the visible and invisible suffering that many are carrying with them. For years, Mission in Motion has attempted to communicate the myriad ways that Georgetown, through an abiding commitment to its mission and values, seeks to accompany everyone on their journeys of life, especially during times of adversity and challenge. This offer of “care for the whole person” was especially evident during the COVID-19 pandemic and in response to the increasing awareness of the need for greater racial justice and urgent social change that leads to greater diversity, equity, and inclusion. 

In many ways, then, next week’s celebration of Thanksgiving might not have its usual glow. It is incredibly difficult to force a spirit of thanks and gratitude at a time when such dispositions seem so far away and unnatural to our lived experience. In this post, I would like to affirm that it is ok to feel less than enthusiastic about the coming holiday. I would also like to offer a reflection about how a spirituality of gratitude, which is at the root of Ignatian spirituality, has to be appreciated in a larger context. Gratitude alone is not sufficient to making our way through difficult times. We have to find ways, individually and collectively, to become more aware of the challenges that divide us as human beings and then work together, aided by the knowledge, skills, and values cultivated during our time at Georgetown, to repair harms and restore healing in the world. 

The Ignatian practice of the Examen, featured many times on the blog and practiced each Friday during the SCS digital meditations, revolves around gratitude. The cornerstone of the practice is becoming aware of our gratitude. We might ask ourselves during a regular practice of Examen: For what am I grateful as I look back at the last day/week/month? When I let myself be washed over with gratitude looking back at a period of time, what comes to the surface? The idea here is that locating a gratitude becomes an opportunity to self-reflect on my own giftedness and how I might be invited to share that thanksgiving through generous actions in the world. Gratitude is the soul of generosity and loving kindness in the world. It is difficult to express gratitude for others when we are not finding it within ourselves and our experience.  

There are so many possibilities to living life in a spirit of gratitude. But there are also some cautionary lessons about this way of proceeding spiritually. In their article, “Ignatian Spirituality and Positive Psychology,” Phyllis Zagano and C. Kevin Gillespie pick up on the work of Jesuit psychologist Charles Shelton, who is concerned about the potential to over-idealize gratitude. For Shelton, the gratitude disposition can lend itself to “optimistic exuberance” that covers up personal challenges that need to be addressed or more realistic engagement with a complex world that needs to be reappraised. Zagano and Gillespie maintain that gratitude has to be balanced, recognizing that the goal of life is not always the “simple pursuit of happiness” and “personal self-development.” Instead, spiritually mature people qualify happiness when situations of injustice and moral complication arise. 

So how does this connection to Ignatian spirituality relate to your Thanksgiving holiday? My hope is that you can take some time to recognize that while you might desire to feel gratitude, this feeling might not arrive. Instead of forcing it, I invite you to consider what you need in this moment of life to address the challenges you’re experiencing personally and professionally. We do not journey alone and this little Thanksgiving respite from work and study might be a good time to reach out for more support on your path ahead. 


Resources at the University are available to help you navigate the path ahead. In addition to professional counseling services (for faculty and staff, please consult the Faculty & Staff Assistance Program; for students, please consult Counseling and Psychiatric Services) and pastoral care resources (please consult Campus Ministry chaplains and staff), we are here to listen.

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This Veterans Day, Reflecting on the Military-Connected Patron Saint of Jesuit Education

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St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, was a military veteran like many SCS students. This week’s post considers the relevant connections between this saint of the 16th-century and the military-connected population at the University. 

This semester, a group of SCS staff are going through the four-part Ignatian Tradition Seminar, a deep exploration of the enduring meaning and significance of St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits. The four-part series takes place over the span of a semester and invites close reading, group discussion, and discernment about how to make Jesuit mission and values, as they arise from the life of Ignatius and the development of the Jesuit order, a part of one’s work at Georgetown. The seminar examines the history of Ignatius and the founding of the Jesuits, the origins of Jesuit education, contemporary Jesuit commitments to social justice, and the ways that Jesuit universities like Georgetown bring to life their Ignatian identity. 

Each Jesuit institution is unique, reflecting the context of its operation. This particular seminar at SCS emphasizes Georgetown’s abiding commitment to multi-faith and inter-religious dialogue. Of particular interest to the SCS participants is the opportunity to consider the relationship between the School’s hallmark incorporation of technology into learning and the heritage of Jesuit history and values. In other words, what can a 500-year-old tradition of humanistic education offer the ongoing development of innovative online and technology-mediated learning like at SCS? 

Through all of the seminar’s many conversations,St. Ignatius remains a central character in the narrative. Participants engage with the many personae of the patron saint and what relevance this 16th-century Spanish figure bears today for our work and study at Georgetown. Mission in Motion has previously reflected, as part of the Ignatian Year 500, about the aspects of the Ignatian biography that most align with the culture and characteristics of SCS. There are four ways that St. Ignatius and his story align so closely to the community of learners at SCS. St. Ignatius was: an adult learner, used technology as part of his leadership strategy, developed a model for incorporating contemplation into a busy and active civic life, and served in the military. It is this last attribute, Ignatius as military veteran and wounded warrior, that motivates this week’s reflection in light of the Veterans Day holiday.

Georgetown honors its military-connected students and faculty through dedicated resources and celebrations of the stories of these individuals that focus on their service. The core of the University’s efforts extends from student veterans to military spouses, caregivers, and other military-connected persons. A sizable military-connected population exists at SCS and has access to a comprehensive set of resources provided by Georgetown’s Military and Veterans’ Resource Center. 

The whole-person approach to caring for student veterans is evident not just in tangible resources but also in intentional messages and the creation of hospitable spaces for this community. At last year’s SCS commencement, for example, Jason Kander, military veteran and accomplished politician, gave a stirring address that focused on the particular mental health challenges facing military veterans. Kander made the point that self-care is not selfish, an idea that might seem anathema to a community that is so accustomed to putting others’ needs before their own. This emphasis on self-care provides a relevant connection to the military meaning of the Ignatian story. 

In their article in the magazine Conversations on Jesuit Higher Education, “Wounded Warriors: Ignatius of Loyola and Veteran Students,” Thu Do and Mary Dluhy make explicit the contemporary relevance of St. Ignatius for modern military veterans: 

“Ignatius is recognized as the patron saint of veterans because of his knighthood and military experience. Like Ignatius, veterans, service members, and wounded warriors experience both physical and spiritual sufferings. Leaving the military and returning to the civilian life, veterans often miss the sense of commitment to an important mission, deep fellowship, and intense stimulation on the battlefield.”

Ignatius provides a set of discernment resources and a structure for spiritual development that can help any person grow into the meaning and purpose of their life. The Ignatian biography, which included dramatic shifts in vocational choices—from courtier to soldier to pilgrim and finally to administrator of a global company—reveals that a person’s deeper meaning and purpose can stay the same even as the circumstances of one’s life can change. The important takeaway for veterans and other military connected students is that the entire University community has an important role to play in helping this community reconnect to their sense of mission and purpose after military service is complete.

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“I Didn’t Want to Let More Time Pass” – Emergency & Disaster Management Alumna Reflects on Her Values-Based Commitment to Protecting Vulnerable People

This week’s Mission in Motion is an interview with Aideé Stephanie Jiménez Ávila, an alumna of the Executive Master of Professional Studies in Emergency & Disaster Management. Currently serving as the Resilience Policy Coordinator in the Government of Mexico City, Stephanie reflects on her inspiring journey to Georgetown’s program that required her to overcome a personal health challenge by seeking out the care and support of others. She offers thoughtful insights about the need for human-centered decision-making in disaster prevention and response and shares about the importance of trust in building healthy, resilient teams. 

  1. Tell us a little bit about your inspiring story and what led you to the Executive Master of Professional Studies in Emergency & Disaster Management? 

In a way, I believe it was destined. I had worked in international cooperation, and my experience was that several social programs would be disrupted when disaster strikes, though previous and emerging needs increased. This led me to have an interest in finding a multi-sectoral program with a managerial vision that targets this lack of coherence in local development.

Initially, I found spaces for certain careers or programs that focused on first-response activities. That’s how I found the program, signed up for the newsletter, and saw the bulletin listing the trips they took to share the experiences of practitioners. It seemed unique to me. Later, I took on another position and postponed the plan of pursuing a master’s degree. With the occurrence of the 2017 earthquake in Mexico, I was working for the United Nations system, and as I learned that disasters were on the rise, I didn’t want to let more time pass without being able to guide governments.

However, I wouldn’t have known that months later I would stop walking due to spinal injuries, causing that dream and interest to be left behind once again. I was fortunate to find a surgeon who, even though I couldn’t walk, said, “You need to go fulfill a dream, what would you like to do?” At first, I thought he was crazy, but he changed my treatment and physical therapy. During those days, a newsletter from the Program arrived, and I applied. A few months later, I was in the Program, which allowed me to continue my treatment, learn, and be in a practical, multicultural program with a humane and quality staff, faculty, and my cohort.

I never imagined that I would be fulfilling a dream while learning to walk and be independent again. My personality before this condition would have never considered it.

  1. You have also received some important awards for your leadership. Can you share more about this recognition and what it means to you? 

Of course! Recently, in September 2023, the Women of the Future organization awarded me as a Rising Star in ESG. This is a global initiative and I’m very happy to be one of the 50 women whose work is not only endorsed by allies who nominated me for the projects I’ve driven in Mexico throughout the years, but it was also evaluated by leading experts from various sectors and regions globally. 

Knowing that issues like partnerships for accountability in disaster prevention and empowerment of young women, like me, in mid-level careers in disaster risk reduction, is not only critical but also inspiring for further Initiatives. With the Program, I now have a network of allies with whom I can learn, raise visibility, and express concerns. That guidance and support are invaluable and desirable for any professional.

  1. Of the 10 core values of the Spirit of Georgetown, what value do you think most expresses how you are putting into professional practice what you learned at the School of Continuing Studies?  

Undoubtedly, “cura personalis.” I usually have clear boundaries between my professional and personal life, but when collaborating and leading teams their environments also influence their performance. If we can take five minutes to engage, offer our support, or exchange ideas, then we can find further opportunities to be better humans and professionals.

Currently, I am looking through several ways to give back the care and support I received at home, from the faculty and my cohort in the Program in daily life, so that my teams and professional networks know that we are in a trusting environment with support and looking out for their well-being and growth.

  1. What advice would you share with other students, especially those students whose journeys to Georgetown involve similar challenges to the ones that you overcame? 

I know that having a network of care and support is a significant privilege, but there’s an entire community of professionals who are interested in building a sense of community and teamwork during and after the program. In SCS, I recognize what “we got your back” really means.

My advice would be: First, TRUST in yourself. In SCS, there’s a whole community during and after the program that is interested in supporting your potential. Second, make every moment an opportunity to propose projects and ideas. In my case, I believe I’ve been very fortunate that even while learning to live with a chronic condition, I received job offers during the program from people who were aware of some of my limitations. This is invaluable and a practice I now seek to adopt in my initiatives. Third, share and create new ways to contribute to society; the networks in SCS will undoubtedly help you continue to grow.

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SCS Hosts Event Focused on Young Professionals: How Can We Live Faithfully in Our Personal, Professional, and Political Lives?

The post this week is a reflection on a recent panel event hosted at SCS by the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public life about the public contribution of faith. You can watch a recording.

One of the many blessings of the SCS campus is that University offices and initiatives on the Hilltop like to host events in the 640 Massachusetts Avenue space. Proximate to Capitol Hill and centrally located in the Downtown, the SCS building is situated in the heart of this capital city.

One consistent University partner organizing dynamic panel conversations at SCS on wide-ranging topics is the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life and particularly its Salt and Light Gatherings for young professionals. This week, a Salt and Light Gathering brought together an interesting mix of young leaders, ranging from a former political journalist on a new journey of self-discovery, an active duty U.S. Army major, a Congressional staff member, and a recent Georgetown graduate working in journalism.

The question that animated the hour-long conversation and community-building reception that followed was: What do the resources of faith offer individuals in their professional and political lives at a time of increasing polarization and loneliness?

The beauty of this convening was that the conversation did not pretend to have an easy answer to this difficult question. Each commentator expressed a humility about not having the answers but drew insights from their reflections on life experience and observations of the world. A theme of the discussion (you can watch a recording) was an affirmation of discernment, a core practice of Ignatian spirituality, which can be cultivated through regular prayer, meditation, and other self-awareness exercises.

The panel also challenged social and cultural assumptions about what it means to have “faith” and to be a “person of faith.” One of the panelists described faith in a way that I had not heard before: “Faith is showing up for others in their suffering.” I found this to be a far more effective and imaginative definition than most explanations found in expert writings or in textbooks. 

But why does such an event matter to the lives of the members of our SCS community?

First, I think it is helpful to raise awareness about how SCS leverages its space and strategic location in D.C. to make connections with mission-oriented programs based on the Hilltop. Second, I believe that the SCS mission of contributing to the building of a “civic-minded, well-informed, and globally aware society” comes alive when spaces are intentionally created to reflectively consider a diversity of viewpoints and life experiences.

The question of how personal and communal structures of faith should influence participation in the public square is a pressing question that unfortunately receives too little attention in the media and the wider culture. Georgetown, given its spiritual tradition and its commitments to religious pluralism, dialogue, and the common good, is uniquely positioned to host critical conversations like this.

I hope you check out the recording and ponder a bit more about what “faith” means to you and what it has to positively offer our current political reality.