It’s Been Two Years Since We Met in JESEDU-Rio2017!

Jesuit Education is born out of Ignatius’ Spiritual experience who learned that any authentic knowledge or understanding must lead to personal and social transformation. Knowledge that is only “academic” is not real knowledge. As the IPP (Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm) teaches us, any educational experience requires reflection that leads to transformation (action). In this sense, the idea of the cycle of global gatherings is a CALL TO ACTION!!!” Fr. Jose Mesa, Jesuit Education: Today and Tomorrow

It’s been two years since the Education Delegates and other Jesuit educational apostolates gathered in Rio de Janeiro, convened by the Secretariat for Education of the Society of Jesus to continue conversations that begun in a Virtual Congress held six months earlier through Educate Magis and which followed upon the previous global gatherings: the SIPEI Seminar and the ICSJE Colloquium.

The first cycle of the Jesuit Education Global Gatherings, “Discovering Our Apostolic Global Potential” brought us two Vision Statements (ICJSE 2012 Vision Statement, SIPEI 2014 Vision Statement) and one Action Statement (JESEDU-Rio2017 Action Statement).

Today we celebrate the journey of ongoing awareness and implementation of the 13 Actions that were recommended to the Education Delegates by ICAJE (the International Commission on the Apostolate of Jesuit Education) “ICAJE calls each delegate and regional network to elaborate a 5-year-apostolic-plan (2018-2022)” with the proposed actions around the four themes of the Congress” (JESEDU-Rio2017 Action Statement).

With joy and enthusiasm, we invite you to celebrate this second anniversary by watching the following videos, which were recorded back in 2017 at the JESEDU-Rio2017 Congress. Watch some Education Delegates sharing their main take-aways on the four themes covered each day at the Congress. “Our Experience of God: in Dialogue with Diverse Points of View”, “Tradition: A Call for Innovation”, “Caring for our Common Home: Ecology and Social Justice” and “Sent in a Global Network”.

In this video, filmed at the JESEDU-Rio2017 Congress, Education Delegates share their main take-aways on the theme of Tradition: A Call for Innovation. 

In this video, filmed at the JESEDU-Rio2017 Congress, Education Delegates share their main take-aways on the theme of Our Experience of God: in Dialogue with Diverse Points of View.

In this video, filmed at the JESEDU-Rio2017 Congress, Education Delegates share their main take-aways on the theme of Caring for our Common Home: Ecology and Social Justice.

To continue this celebration, we also invite you to watch these thoughtful and heartwarming messages especially recorded by Education Delegates for the schools of their region. Enjoy!

It is fascinating to see that the CALLS being made in the videos recorded 2 years ago still apply today and, in some ways these CALLS seem to be even more relevant in today’s context.

Since the celebration of the first anniversary of JESEDU-Rio2017, Education Delegates from around the world have been sharing, with Educate Magis, how they are implementing the different actions from the JESEDU-Rio Action Statement through a series of interviews. We have compiled all interviews shared during 2019. Read the interviews here.

Journey towards the 3rd Anniversary.-

A new cycle, “Walking as a Global Network at the Service of the Mission”, will start next year with the II Colloquium JESEDU-Jojga2020 in Jogjakarta, Indonesia. The message for our schools is clear: “Our institutions need to be aware of the anthropological and cultural change we are experiencing, and they need to know how to educate and train in a new way for a different future.” Fr. General Sosa, JESEDU-Rio2017, 2017

In this video Fr. José Mesa SJ shares his reflections and sends a message to all schools of our global network. “We need to respond with all our energy and creativity to make our education relevant to a world that is deeply divided but at the same time in need of a profound reconciliation with others, with creation and with God. “

This new cycle is framed within the recently announced Universal Apostolic Preferences (UAPs) for the next decade (2019-2029). The new Preferences are four areas vital for our world today:

·  To show the way to God through the Spiritual Exercises and discernment.
·  To walk with the poor, the outcasts of the world, those whose dignity has been violated, in a mission of reconciliation and justice.
·  To accompany the young in the creation of a hope-filled future.
·  To collaborate in the care of our Common Home.

The UAPs reinforce the JESEDU-Rio Action Statement since the 13 actions easily align with them. However, the UAPs are not actions but really “a spiritual path. They do not seek merely to establish static apostolic ends or actions but, rather, they are dynamic means for us to continue to be led by the Spirit of renewal that inspired GC36… [they] are orientations not priorities… [they] are not just about doing but about being; they involve our entire life.” Fr. General Sosa, Letter to Major Superiors, April 21, 2019