Ignatian Educators Reflect on their Recent Facilitated and Shared Global Learning Experience

Two global cohorts of learners journeyed together over eight weeks between October 18th and  December 6th, 2022 to explore and dive deeper into Ignatian Spirituality through their participation in the « Four Key Practices in Ignatian Spirituality » course.

This global learning experience was provided in English and two groups participated concurrently. Participants formed two groups as this suited better their schedules coming from all around the world.

Participants of Group 1 joined from Australia, India, Ireland, Lithuania, Malta, and Spain.

Participants of Group 2 joined from Italy, Ireland, Portugal, USA, Brazil, Mexico, and Honduras.

The « Four Key Practices in Ignatian Spirituality » is a foundational Ignatian Spirituality course consisting of four modules or lessons. Each module provides participants with material on the life of Ignatius (following Ignatius’ biography from « Alone and on Foot » by Brian Grogan SJ) and an introduction to key Ignatian practices, such as Reflection and the Examen, Spiritual Conversation, Ignatian Discernment, and becoming Contemplatives in Action.

The global cohort-based courses are facilitated by Ignatian Formation practitioners, most of whom already experienced the course themselves and now volunteered to accompany their colleagues from around the world in this retreat-like interior journey.

There were three facilitators for Group 1: Jacquie McCabe from Saint Ignatius College, Athelstone, SA, Australia, Anne Slingo from Xavier College, Melbourne, VIC, Australia, and Michael Tod from Saint Ignatius College, Geelong, VIC, Australia. For Group 2 there were also three facilitators: Christine Rossi from St. Aloysius College, Birkirkara, Malta, Kiara Desmond from Gonzaga College SJ, Dublin, Ireland, and Kinga Rivasz-Tóth from the Fényi Gyula Jesuit High School and Kindergarten, Miskolc, Hungary.

Participants and Facilitators shared their reflections and takeaways at the end of the course, which we share below.

« My recent participation in the Four Key Practices in Ignatian Spirituality was a well facilitated, guided and reflective process.  It allowed for reflection on how Ignatian spirituality can impact and be applied in both my personal formation and the education context.  The facilitators guided our group reflections, adding thoughtful discussion and unpacking of the comprehensive course materials and readings.  The global nature of the course added a special and unique element, uniting a group of participants from different part of the world through sharing the common connectedness of Ignatian spirituality, I really appreciated this.  » Emma Lilley, Saint Ignatius’ College, Adelaide, Australia (Participant)

« The invitation to co-facilitate the recent Four Key Practices course on Educate Magis bore much fruit for me.  It was quite a heady experience, working with people from Malta, Spain, Lithuania, Ireland, and Australia, all with this wonderful common Ignatian ‘way of proceeding’.  Together we created a sacred space, where we could accompany each other, through Ignatius, to God.  What would Ignatius say, if he could see us working online, in this way, I wonder? » Anne Slingo (Facilitator) 

« It was an honour for me to cofacilitate with Kinga, Kiara and Gellert, each committed to a passion for Ignatian Spirituality. What really struck me was that although we were given the foundational basis for the course, we each embroidered further detail onto it with so much ease. The course was indeed a pilgrimage, because it was a journey of pilgrims sharing their story of how God has been revealed to them in their daily life through the invaluable tools of the four Ignatian practices. « 
Christine Rossi, (Facilitator) 

« I felt immediately drawn to the course, but I also didn’t know what to expect.  We had to do some work before each online session, and I found the website easy to navigate and the content very interesting and thought-provoking.  It gave my brain a good work-out!  I was a little nervous before the first online session in case I wouldn’t be able to manage but was instantly set at my ease.  The facilitators were so welcoming and were brilliant at relaxing us and getting us all talking.  I found it reassuring that, even though we were all from different types of schools and might have slightly different approaches, we were all ‘on the same page’.  It was wonderful to be talking to people on the other side of the world and to be part of this community. »  Eileen Lumb, Clongowes Wood College SJ, Clane, Ireland (Participant) 

« This 8-week  spiritual and  learning journey provided me with some key Ignatian practices and  helped me widen my spirituality; more than anything, now that I reached the end,  I would choose one word to describe my personal journey and understanding: ‘healing’. Sharing Consciousness Examen, reflections and prayer exercises with this amazing group of colleagues made me experience deep gratitude and awareness.  Talking of God and not about God, I felt lonely but not alone and I finally filled my ordinary school bag with personal, spiritual and professional growth.  » Steffi Brunelli, Istituto Massimo, Rome, Italy (Participant) 

« The activity of God is everywhere and always present, but it is visible only to the eyes of faith. This course has encouraged me to seek and see the Lord first in my day. This new approach made so much sense to me and filled me with hope! I want to thank the resource people of this course who conducted all the sessions so compassionately. The breakout rooms gave space to all individuals and enhanced the confidence of the participants too.  » Neelam Chopra, St. Xavier’s Sr. Sec. School, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India (Participant) 

From these short paragraphs by participants and facilitators it transpires that while the course involves an intellectual, or “heady” aspect through the readings and video content, it also creates a shared and “sacred” space through the facilitated, live group sessions, where there was time carved out for both personal and communal reflection and offered periods for listening and sharing through spiritual conversations in smaller groups. These sessions are framed by Ignatian prayers and reflections.

This year we are planning to run further global cohort courses with faculty, staff and administrators joining this Ignatian spirituality course and learning experience from around the world. If you would like to know more about the upcoming courses, please leave a message in the comment box below or email us at info@educatemagis.org