New Mission and Identity Section on Educate Magis

When we enter a school featuring Jesuit symbols, and acronyms such as “A.M.D.G.” and the  “I H S” and phrases like “Men and Women for and with Others”; “Finding God in all things”; “a Faith that does Justice” and “Magis” we easily recognise them as Jesuit or Ignatian symbols;, phrases that help us to identify a Jesuit school community.  They also say something about the shared mission of our schools which is closely related to the mission of the Society of Jesus; a call to become companions of reconciliation and justice – with God, within humanity and with creation (GC 36 Decree #1).

AMDG at the entrance of Belvedere College SJ in Dublin, Ireland

While most Jesuit schools have excellent Mission and Identity Faculty and Staff formation programmes, a continuation of this formation and a need for deeper understanding of this shared Ignatian charisma and ethos is often expressed by educators.  The Mission and Identity Section on Educate Magis  aims to address this expressed need to support our school communities to deepen their understanding and appropriation of Jesuit Education and Ignatian Spirituality. This new section aims to streamline and put into context some of the resources, tools, and courses available in these fundamental areas underpinning “what we do”our mission – and strengthening a sense of “who we are”our identity.

Next to each school’s Ignatian training programme these online resources and courses provide a welcome addition to help with Ignatian formation. These resources, many of which are ground-breaking documents such as the “Characteristics of Jesuit Education”, the “Ignatian Pedagogy – A Practical Approach” and “Human Excellence”, which provide our global community with a common, shared language through the Ignatian spiritual and intellectual heritage.

This section of the Educate Magis site provides inspiration and learning material, through online courses, for the continuous professional and spiritual formation of school administration, faculty and staff.  If you are interested in diving deeper into particular aspects of Ignatian Spirituality and/or Ignatian Pedagogy why not enrol in the online courses shared by experts in our global community?

 

The recently published Universal Apostolic Preferences (UAP’s) are given a place of pride with a dedicated UAP section providing a tool for our schools to discern an approach to respond to these Preferences, which give a new orientation to the mission of the Jesuits and therefore also to our Jesuit schools. Use these guidelines and resources to engage in either a communal or an individual discernment process.

“The Universal Apostolic Preferences are a call to conversion. They are an invitation to rethink how we live, how we work and how we relate to the people we serve.” Fr. General Arturo Sosa, SJ.

Jesuit schools worldwide share the same Ignatian DNA and are striving to live out their Ignatian Mission and Identity within the context of their own culture and community. Educate Magis facilitates the sharing of these models, best practices and resources created by the school communities around the world who bring a rich and diverse perspective.

The diversity of resources coming from our global community of Ignatian educators is reflected by the articles, resources, courses we share on Educate Magis is fascinating and enriching. But the creativity, innovation and inspiration of teams and individuals working in areas such as Jesuit ethos, Ignatian pedagogy or any other area in a school is well alive and new resources are being created continuously.

We invite you to contribute to this “library” of resources to make this a shared space a rich resource on Ignatian Mission and Identity for all to enjoy and be inspired for action.