May 2016 Connections: How Jesuit Institutions Help Alumni Live the Mission - Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities

DC Jesuit Alumni Service Day: April 23, 2016 (Photo by Jaclyn Lippelmann, Catholic Standard)

University of Detroit Mercy Jesuit Alumni Service Day: April 30, 2016 (Photo by University of Detroit Mercy)

Loyola University Chicago Jesuit Alumni Service Day: April 30, 2016 (Photo by Murillo B. Gonçalves for Loyola University Chicago)

Loyola University Chicago Jesuit Alumni Service Day: April 30, 2016 (Photo by Ray Manrique/Dong Lu for Loyola University Chicago)

Loyola University Chicago Jesuit Alumni Service Day: April 30, 2016 (Photo by Loyola University Chicago)

We are in the midst of commencement season – a time of great celebration for the thousands of graduates on our Jesuit campuses. But what happens after they graduate? How can they find ways to stay connected to the Jesuit mission and its pillars of service and a faith that does justice?

Thankfully, there are many ways to do just that! In this issue of Connections, you can read about innovative programs being offered by John Carroll University and Spring Hill College. We also feature articles by our good friends at CharisNYC and The Jesuit Collaborative – two organizations whose shared mission is to help young adults, particularly those who have attended our colleges and universities, maintain their ties to Jesuit formation through inspired retreat and leadership programs.

This issue also features a new effort of the Ignatian Colleagues Program (ICP) to help the more than 100 alumni across the country stay connected to each other and share testimonials with future participants. You will also read about the AJCU conferences and related programs taking place across the country this summer and fall.

It has been a very busy spring as well as a time of transition for us here at AJCU. In March and April, more than half of the nation’s 28 Jesuit colleges and universities hosted community service projects for local alumni as part of the National Jesuit Alumni Service Days program.

As you can see in the photos above, a tremendous amount of work was done to help local communities and bring alumni together to share in fellowship and service. We are grateful to the Catholic Standard, Loyola University Chicago and the University of Detroit Mercy for sharing their photos with us and to all of the schools that participated in this year’s program.

In the spirit of “graduation,” we say farewell this month to Patrick Nolan and Karen Larios. Patrick has served as executive assistant to our president for the past three years and will begin a new position in institutional research at Georgetown University next month. We will miss Pat very much, but are grateful that he will continue to stay in the “Jesuit family” and be located just up the road from our office!

Our intern, Karen Larios, has also worked with us for the past three years as an intern for our vice president for federal relations. We congratulate Karen on her recent graduation from Georgetown!

This is the last issue of Connections for the 2015-16 academic year, but we will return in September 2016. To stay up-to-date with news on all things Jesuit throughout the summer, please make sure to check out our weekly e-newsletter, AJCU Higher Ed News!

And if you’re in DC this summer, you won’t want to miss the fourth annual All-Jesuit Alumni Happy Hour at The Brixton on Thursday, July 14th! Our featured guest keynote speaker will be Rev. Kevin Gillespe, S.J., former president of Saint Joseph’s University and current pastor of Holy Trinity in Georgetown. Make sure you check out our Facebook page next week for more details!

Best wishes for a wonderful summer!

Deanna I. Howes
Director of Communications, AJCU

P.S. Want even more resources for Jesuit alumni? Check out the following websites:

Jesuit Volunteer Corps
Stay in Love by Ignatian Solidarity Network
Magis by CLA
Defying Expectations: Reflections from Alumni of Woods College of Advanced Studies at Boston College (bonus recommendation from our friends at Woods College!)

By Cynthia A. Littlefield, Vice President for Federal Relations, AJCU

Overtime Rules Released

Last week, the Department of Labor released final regulations on overtime payment for employees of businesses, institutions of higher education and non-profit organizations. Overtime regulations have not been addressed for a number of years, and the Obama Administration wanted to give additional funding for employees whose incomes are below $47,476 and would now be eligible for overtime pay. The Department originally scheduled a compliance date for September 2016 and pushed that back to December 1, 2016.

Of concern to colleges and universities is the lack of time to integrate these new levels of funding on campus, particularly when budgets were drawn up months ago. Employees who will be impacted include those in the mid-management range, e.g. student aid administrators, admissions officers and athletic trainers. Institutions with many post-doctoral fellows (post-docs), the backbone of research efforts on campuses, will be impacted substantially. Many institutions may very well raise the salary level for post-docs in order to avoid paying overtime funds. Other institutions may alter salaries to hourly rates or other alternatives in order to minimize the financial burden.

This rule will place a difficult burden on colleges and universities to resolve before December 1, and there will certainly be serious considerations for tuition increases, salary reductions, or possible lay-offs to accommodate the regulations. While AJCU does not have the figures yet for costs to Jesuit institutions, an example put forth by CUPA-HR (College and University Professional Association for Human Resources) realized a cost of $115,000 on average for each campus in a sample of thirty-five institutions. Look for more on this issue throughout the year.

Transgender Student Guidance

The Departments of Justice and Education released Transgender Student Guidance this past week that applied to all of education, including private institutions of higher education. This guidance was propelled by a recent initiative proposed by the North Carolina State Legislature that mandated that students must utilize the restroom of their original gender identity at birth. This case will have to be resolved by the court system, but because the Departments of Education and Justice have released official “guidance,” institutions have to take this issue seriously.

The guidance goes beyond the main points of the North Carolina case and reminds institutions that Title IX violations also include discrimination against gender identity biases. Institutions are encouraged to review best practices including specialized training of staff and correct usage of pronouns.

Religious-affiliated institutions do have recourse to apply for an exemption, but such institutions would have to be “controlled” by a particular church; this is not the case for Jesuit institutions, much less other denominational colleges. AJCU and the higher education community will continue to analyze this issue in coming months with sensitivity for all concerned, not just students, but for the entire workforce on our campuses.

Pell Grant Surplus—Robbing Peter to Pay Paul

The 2017 Appropriations process is now in full gear, with the Senate planning the Labor, H&HS and Education Subcommittee mark-up on June 6, followed by the House Subcommittee on Labor, H&HS and Education in mid-June. At stake is the $7.8 billion Pell grant surplus funding which appropriators want to pay for other programs beyond Pell grants such as NIH grants and ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act) block grants to other potential areas.

AJCU and the higher education community have sent letters to the Hill opposing using the Pell grant surplus funding for other purposes beyond Federal student aid. Pell grant funding has often been difficult to project depending upon demographic changes to Pell-eligible high school students who may or may not attend college. In leaner years, particularly during the recession, Pell grants had shortfalls that were finally taken care of in reconciliation with the addition of mandatory funding. The Budget agreement at the end of last year for FY16 and FY17 set caps in place for discretionary spending which has been difficult for appropriators to utilize since there are limited increases over the prior year.

Another issue of importance to AJCU is the preservation of the Campus-Based Aid programs, such as the Supplemental Education Opportunity Grant (SEOG), Federal Work Study (FWS) and the Perkins Loan program. This past spring, AJCU and higher education led the effort to secure signatures from 75 members of Congress for a letter that was sent to the appropriators in support of funding Campus-Based Aid.

AJCU is encouraging Jesuit institutions to push for SEOG funding and to push against using the Pell grant surplus for other programs beyond student aid. Look for appropriations efforts to culminate in a Continuing Resolution (CR) at the end of September to keep the Federal government running until Congress returns after the National election in November.

By Dave Vitatoe, Executive Director of Alumni Relations, John Carroll University

“As a Jesuit Catholic university, John Carroll inspires individuals to excel in learning, leadership, and service in the region and in the world. The University finds the source of its inspiration in the experience of Saint Ignatius of Loyola and the centuries-long commitment of the Society of Jesus to academic excellence and service to the common good. The Jesuit Catholic character of John Carroll University is a single reality based on the integration of faith and culture. It represents a commitment to a church within the world, serving the human search for truth and value, and for justice and solidarity. It also represents a reverence for the transcendent vision that Christ preached and lived as the ﬁnal best expression of human fulﬁllment. This Jesuit Catholic character inspires and guides the intellectual, professional, and ethical labors that make John Carroll a university.”

Dave Vitatoe (Photo by John Carroll University)

This is the mission statement of John Carroll University (JCU) and this is the formation that occurs during the undergraduate years. But what happens after students cross the stage, are handed their diplomas and depart campus to begin the next phase of their journeys? We believe that the Office of Alumni Relations has an obligation to steward this formation and maintain strong ties with our graduates throughout their lives.

The word that often comes to mind when talking about John Carroll is “family.” As a student body and as an alumni association of more than 40,000 graduates, we act very much like a family. In fact, it is not uncommon to see upwards of 30% of an incoming freshman class composed of legacy students! Our familial history speaks to the special connections and experiences that our graduates have on our campus and take with them throughout life.

This experience is not unlike that of students at other Jesuit colleges and universities across the country and around the world. The inherent benefit of alumni associations at Jesuit institutions everywhere is that care for the person and the overarching mission allow outreach efforts and programming to have a greater purpose. That is precisely how we operate in alumni relations at John Carroll.

The traditional approach to this relationship between alumni and the University emphasizes what the alumnus or alumna can do for the University. We have all heard the pleas, “give to the annual fund,” “volunteer to recruit students,” “hire a graduate or mentor the next generation.” All alumni associations make these requests because they are critically important to the sustained health and success of our institutions. Our alumni must continue to give back in these ways, understand how their efforts help the university, and feel appreciated. There are, however, different ways to demonstrate to alumni that they are appreciated.

In other words, what can the university do for its alumni? How can the university continue to support alumni in living out its mission? Ultimately, we view the relationship between the graduate and the university as a two-way street. There is much that a university can do for its alumni: through a clear vision, dedication, and a little creativity, the mission will live on.

At the beginning of this decade, John Carroll leadership made the strategic decision to invest in and bolster its alumni outreach efforts. We believe that decision was not only the right thing to do, but has also paid off in many ways. Since 2012, the Office of Alumni Relations at JCU has:

Re-structured the Alumni Association Board and established committees devoted to engagement, marketing and communications and student outreach.
Recruited over 200 new alumni volunteers across the country to become involved with various new initiatives.
Established 18 alumni chapters from Denver to Washington, D.C. and many places in between.
Launched a lifelong-learning initiative offering alumni opportunities to travel the world, learn directly from our faculty and grow spiritually.
Created an award-winning e-newsletter to interact and engage with members of the Alumni Association rather than simply push out information about the University.
Surveyed alumni for their feedback and, in turn, responded with new programs and services to offer support such as the JCU Alumni Business Directory for small business owners, affinity groups for alumni couples, young alumni, military veterans and diverse alumni, as well as creative programming for alumni with young families.
Increased opportunities for alumni to engage with the University and each other through Ignatian spirituality programs, service, retreats and pastoral care.

The last bullet point is not a stand-alone initiative, but a thread that we weave throughout the preceding six bullet points and all of our alumni programming. Everything goes back to mission, community building, mutual support and service to others. Our efforts aim to provide alumni with opportunities to build community, grow professionally and spiritually, and never stop learning.

With each event, new idea or program, our staff discerns whether the endeavor is supporting our alumni and supporting the mission of the University. Doing so puts our staff in the best position to succeed and feel as though they are making a difference in the lives of our graduates. The programs, services, communications and events that emerge allow our alumni to live out the John Carroll mission after graduation and throughout their lives.

By Ashley H. Rains, Assistant Director of Alumni and Development, Spring Hill College

Sodality Chapel at Spring Hill College (Photo by Spring Hill College)

It is a common struggle in Advancement: How do we engage alumni in our college’s mission…now and for life? Certainly that promise or mission statement is only meant for students, faculty and staff – those who are the working veins of a vivacious college campus.

Or is it?

At Spring Hill College (SHC), the Office of Alumni Programs is working diligently to keep the mission statement of the school as a consistent factor in alumni engagement. This spring, the National Alumni Association hosted three Ignatian Formation Retreats for alumni in Atlanta, GA, New Orleans, LA and Mobile, AL. The day-long events were facilitated by Rev. Gregory F. Lucey, S.J. and Dr. Matthew Baugh, S.J., Spring Hill College chancellor and professor, respectively.

The mission of Spring Hill College is “forming leaders engaged in learning, faith, justice and service for life” and resonates throughout the SHC community, whether on campus or through the College’s alumni. “Formation is the heart of Jesuit education. And that is what these retreats are all about – letting ourselves be formed by God, whatever stage of life we happen to be in,” said Dr. Baugh. “You really get to see our promise statement at work in these retreats, where alums in their 20s mix with those in their 50s and 70s. We really mean formation for life!”

The inspiration for the events this past spring came after an inaugural retreat initiated by Fr. Lucey and Dr. Baugh in March 2015 at Loyola University New Orleans featuring a discussion on “Finding God in All Things” with approximately 40 participants. The retreat left those who attended invigorated and eager to learn more, do more and be more: the philosophy of Magis.

So where did we go from there? When Pope Francis called for the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy in December 2015, it seemed clear where attention and action should be directed with respect to helping SHC alumni with formation. Fr. Lucey said, “There is a real hunger among [Spring Hill College] alumni for opportunities to enrich their spirituality by engaging in guided reflection and in service.”

Thus the Ignatian Formation Retreats were developed to explore how we, as Catholics, understand, experience and show mercy. SHC alumni, parents, friends and their spouses were invited to gather for a day of reflection including periods of quiet time for meditation, prayer, self-reflection and renewal, all facilitated by Fr. Lucey and Dr. Baugh.

Keeping these formation retreats relevant to today’s practicing Catholics was also of great importance when planning the events. Fr. Lucey said, “It is clear that Pope Francis is having a significant effect on the lives of [so many] people.” Does it benefit the formation retreat that our dynamic Pope is a Jesuit? Fr. Lucey answered, “It helps that he is a Jesuit and such a model of Ignatian spirituality.”

Tori McRoberts, a 2006 SHC graduate from New Orleans was instrumental in shaping the inaugural event as well as the continuation of the retreat into 2016. What gave her the push to make sure the retreats thrived? She said, “The opportunity to revisit the mission as an alum creates a space where we can reflect on the way we live out that mission, share our experiences with fellow alumni, and challenge ourselves to do even more to become leaders engaged in learning, faith, justice and service for life.”

Like Dr. Baugh, McRoberts was thrilled and surprised by the great response to the retreats from SHC alumni. She said, “Though we are in various phases of our lives, our Spring Hill experience offers a sense of solidarity that enables us to relate and connect, overcoming any differences that might otherwise be perceived as barriers to building strong relationships.”

The retreat attendees were not the only ones who came away from the retreats refreshed and eager. Both Fr. Lucey and Dr. Baugh expressed enthusiasm about the passion shown by alumni for these formation opportunities. “To me, the most striking thing about these retreats is that the impetus came from the alumni,” said Dr. Baugh. “We asked them what they wanted from alumni programming, and they said more spiritual formation. That tells me that our folks understand the College’s mission at a very deep level and how central they are to realizing it.”

Again, where do we go from here? It is clear that Spring Hill alumni crave the spiritual nourishment provided to them by the College as students. McRoberts said that being on campus as a student made it “much easier to focus on living out the mission of the College because it was reinforced in the classroom, dining hall, residence halls and ball fields.” The wide variety in demographics of the retreat attendees shows that the College is clearly consistent in carrying out its mission statement beyond graduation.

The two words closing the College’s mission statement, “for life,” are what drive SHC alumni to continue to develop and enrich their faith. A dependent and unfailing Jesuit atmosphere on campus is most certainly being carried into and throughout the lives of those who come to Spring Hill College.

By Dr. Joseph DeFeo, Executive Director, Ignatian Colleagues Program

Aaron Van Dyke of Fairfield University on a 2016 ICP immersion trip to Haiti and the Dominican Republic (Photo by Joseph DeFeo)

“My experiences are still with me. I continue to sift what it all means, and what I will do with all I’ve seen and heard. I left Nicaragua having a deeper appreciation of the Jesuit commitment to a faith that does justice.”

— M.L. “Cissy” Petty, Ph.D., ICP Cohort 5

For the past eight years, AJCU’s Ignatian Colleagues Program (ICP) has been providing an intensive educational and experiential learning program for college and university leaders to deepen their intellectual understanding and engagement of the Jesuit and Catholic mission on their campuses. In an effort to learn how the program has influenced them, the ICP Alumni Narrative Project was launched.

The ICP Alumni Narrative Project was created out of a series of discussions with ICP alumni who were preparing for the upcoming Cohort 8 & Alumni Summer Workshop (August 1-2, 2016) in Chicago. The workshop will center on a question offered by former Jesuit Superior General, Rev. Peter Hans Kolvenbach, S.J.: “Who do our students become?” Committee members raised the idea of having ICP alumni reflect on who they had become as a result of their ICP experience. Beyond the summer workshop and future ICP assessments, the real gift of this project could serve as a powerful response to what Jesuit higher education offers its students, colleagues and academia.

“Jesuit education calls us to walk with people who are very different than we are, to be in solidarity with those who live on the margins. As we seek such opportunities ourselves, and provide such opportunities for our students, we are more likely to grow in our creative capacities to work together to solve the pressing questions facing our cities, country, and our world.”

— Gretchen J. Van Dyke, Ph.D., University of Scranton, ICP Cohort 3

“Education with a mission. A heightened education focused on making a difference for others, particularly the most disadvantaged.”

— Aldo Billingslea, Santa Clara University, ICP Cohort 7

ICP is an approximately eighteen-month program that includes a series of online learning workshops, each with 10-12 hours of preparation material. Participants also engage in teleconferences; international immersion trips; a silent Ignatian retreat; capstone projects and more. Nearly 400 administrators and faculty members have participated in ICP. Given these rich opportunities for learning and the many meaningful relationships that are formed among cohort members across our Jesuit institutions, the insights can be transformative.

“ICP opened me to an understanding of Jesuit higher education as a vehicle primarily for affecting that kind of change in both my students and myself. I came to appreciate the difference between information and formation/transformation. Whereas designing a syllabus used to be an exercise in figuring [out] how to shoehorn as much content into a 14-week semester as possible, I came to gradually realize that any subject matter can furnish an opportunity for engaging students in dialogue that leads them to interrogate their own attitudes and values and that that was ultimately vastly more important than their mastery of my content area. I now understand my role as a teacher to be that of a facilitator of an encounter between the material and the student in a way that prompts reflection on the values that give meaning to life and prompts a student to action. This is entirely the result of my study of Ignatian pedagogy through ICP.”

— John Sebastian, Ph.D., Loyola University New Orleans, ICP Cohort 1

2016 ICP Immersion Trip (Photo by Joseph DeFeo)

These responses are providing windows for understanding key aspects that make up the Jesuit charism. Some reflect on the experience as a whole, while others share how one particular experience or moment has remained with them.

“The Spiritual Exercises have continued to be the way into the Ignatian experience for me. They mirror in ways that are uncanny the psychoanalytic process that Sigmund Freud articulated 400 years after Ignatius described them…they serve as a model for our pedagogy in ways that I don’t think we are generally conscious of. So, in a certain sense, I got what I signed on for, and in another sense, I experienced something that was utterly surprising; I found a home in what felt initially like foreign territory.”

— Karl Stukenberg, Ph.D., Xavier University, ICP Cohort 4

“In studying Ignatian discernment, I struggled with the concept initially [but] then, in a small breakout session, had a discussion with a colleague in my cohort. He explained that it seemed to him that part of my job was to assist others with their discernment process. It was a watershed moment in my ability to fully grasp the concept, and recognize what I had been doing in my work all along.”

— Aldo Billingslea, Santa Clara University, ICP Cohort 7

Since their participation in the program, many ICP alumni have taken leadership roles in areas related to mission at their institutions. These include leading new faculty at orientation, participating in conversations related to hiring for mission, and developing seminars and programs for students, faculty and staff. Combined with their particular area of expertise and/or discipline, ICP alumni are well poised to model and teach the Jesuit mission to the next generation of administrators, faculty, and students.

Nuevo Amanecer (New Dawn)

“In the eyes of the children
The future of hope and promise lives.
Laughter rings in an unfinished school yard.
It echoes in my mind, as I think of our state-of-the-art gym.
No cares as one small girl twirls across a barren field,
And a young boy chases a barely inflated ball.
Teachers beam with pride and passion.
All eyes bright, while envisioning the new dawn.””

— M.L. “Cissy” Petty, Ph.D., ICP Cohort 5

ICP invites all past participants to complete the ICP Alumni Narrative Project survey: click here to fill it out online. All alumni and members of Cohort 8 are also invited to the ICP Cohort 8 & Alumni Summer Workshop on August 1-2, 2016 in Chicago. For more information, please click here.

By Molly O’Neill, CharisNYC “What Next?” Retreat Team Member

Back row (l-r) Chris Adams, Martin Lopez, Hillary Clark; front row (l-r) Bobby Karle, S.J., Molly O’Neill, Kerry Weber, Anthony SooHoo, S.J., Vivienne Joyce, S.C. (Photo by CharisNYC)

At the heart of Marquette University’s campus stands the Joan of Arc Chapel: small, intimate, made of stone, strikingly beautiful in every season—a place where it’s practically impossible to not have an encounter with God. During my four years as a Marquette undergrad, it was the living, breathing center of my faith life. My friends and I gathered there for Mass regularly, where we sang, held prayer groups and went to adoration. We even stopped by between classes, for quiet conversations with God.

After college, like many a Jesuit university grad, I spent two years doing post-graduate volunteer work. The team I worked with was the center of that experience: a vibrant, tightly-knit group of young people, committed to helping one another grow in our personal relationships with Christ while together we lived out a radical example of faith.

But when I moved to New York City to pursue my dream career, after such profound early experiences of community and lived faith, I couldn’t seem to find the center. I found friends, yes, and colleagues, but I lacked community. Despite the millions of people sharing the streets and subways, I struggled to find others who lived and expressed a faith anything like my own. “Perhaps this is what adult faith is,” I erroneously thought. “Maybe it’s just supposed to be about me and God now, and about maintaining habits of faith amidst a busy professional life.” So I went to church; I tried to pray. But it was a lonely, isolated time, and slowly my faith began to feel frozen, stagnant, more something that I remembered wistfully than something active or awake or alive inside of me.

Sometimes we lose God for a little while. It’s not that we love Him, or our Catholic faith, less, it’s just that life moves us on from the known to the unknown, and away from the places where we once could know precisely where to look for Him, or from the people who always helped us see Him and His invitation in our lives most clearly. We grow up, and faith asks different things of us, challenges us to recognize and claim God in new and deeper ways.

One of my favorite parts of Ignatian spirituality, since I first learned about it in college, has always been the understanding it offers of our interior lives: that even in our times of spiritual desolation, God is quietly at work, preparing our hearts for future experiences of spiritual consolation, and planning for us to discover Him in our todays and our tomorrows as much as we once did in our yesterdays. Despite the comfort I take from the constancy inherent in the idea that consolation will always follow desolation, at times—like those early years in NYC—I can forget to trust in God’s presence. But God does not forget. And it is never His will for us to remain in endless desolation, so He calls to us in ways He is sure we will recognize.

And so a few years ago, when a friend (knowing I’d just started a new job, moved into a new apartment, and ended a relationship, all in a short timespan) mentioned that she was part of a Jesuit retreat ministry called Charis NYC and that there were a few spots on an upcoming retreat, it stirred up a quiet familiarity, a hopefulness, inside of me. I hadn’t known where to find God in the magnitude of New York City, so at last He urged me toward a place I’d be sure to recognize Him—a retreat that was, quite aptly, focused on transitions.

Walking into the retreat center that weekend, I found myself at home among strangers. Here it was, then, when I was most ready to claim it: community, connection, consolation. Charis Retreats bring together young people whose lives span all kinds of careers and backgrounds, who have come to know and understand God through an endlessly-diverse set of experiences. But the unifier is that there are common longings: a desire to work in service of others; an urge to live for something greater than themselves; a yearning for depth, for Magis, more, in their lives; the desire to find God in all things.

I first learned about Ignatian spirituality in an academic way, at the hands of priests and professors, in classrooms and from pulpits. And it gave me a grounding for which I will always be grateful; an understanding that one’s spiritual life is at its best when integrated fully with one’s daily life, orienting all of the things you have come to love best about the world, and all of your own gifts, together in service of faith. On Charis Retreats, which are by and for young adults, I was reminded about Ignatian spirituality in a personal way, as others in their 20s and 30s shared discoveries of God’s explicit work in their lives and offered examples of how Ignatian spirituality was helping them journey toward becoming the truest possible versions of themselves. Encountering the evidence of God’s work in and through others makes us more able to recognize His patterns and movement in ourselves—that’s the gift of community. That weekend, it began waking me up to myself, and to a renewed comprehending of faith.

I needed the catalyst of Charis NYC to recognize who God had always meant for me to become as an adult Catholic, and how he was calling me to live as that person. My first Charis Retreat led me to new friends in faith, to subsequent retreats, and eventually to becoming part of the Charis Retreat Team itself. It connected me to other young adults who sought the same things I did. And when asked to speak about my own experiences of faith at the following year’s Transitions-Themed Retreat, I was able to claim God’s work across every part of my life, and share the powerful understanding that even in the seeming years-long lull of my faith, God had been working toward a moment of profound recognition: returning me to a faith that looked both the same as it always had, and yet entirely different. Today, I walk in an adult faith that is rich with revelations and encounters of God, and a deepened awareness of His faithfulness and presence. And finally, I am no longer looking for my spiritual center in memories of the past, or even somewhere out in the vastness of New York City. Finally, I have realized that the center of my faith is found wherever and however I choose to actively participate in the life of the Church. The experience of that choice has looked different at each stage of my life, and I know now that it will continue to grow and evolve in tandem with me. But now that I have found the center, I hope I will never be lost again.

Molly O’Neill is a literary agent living in Brooklyn, New York. She is a graduate of Marquette University.

Since 2011, CharisNYC has been offering peer-led retreats for people in their 20s and 30s, helping young adults grow in their relationship with God, deepen their experience of Ignatian spirituality, and reconnect with a community of faith. Retreatants come from throughout NYC and NJ Metro area to learn spiritual tools to help them lead healthy, balanced lives and to make better choices. Each year, CharisNYC offers two or three different retreats on themes of interest to young adults. For more information on upcoming retreats, visit www.charis.nyc or email CharisRetreatNYC@gmail.com. The next Charis Retreat is the Still+Silent Retreat, which will take place on Nov. 11-13, 2016 at Mariandale Retreat Center. Click here to learn more.

By Sean Sanford and Sr. Lisa Buscher, RSCJ, The Jesuit Collaborative

CLA Participants in Atlanta, GA (Photo by The Jesuit Collaborative)

Community. It’s the word that comes up over and over again. Participants in Contemplative Leaders in Action (CLA) come from diverse backgrounds and careers, but when asked why they applied to be part of this transformative program sponsored by The Jesuit Collaborative, the answer is almost always, “community.” Over the course of two years, in cohorts ranging in size from twelve to twenty, CLA participants delve deeply into Ignatian spirituality and learn what it means to be a leader in the Ignatian tradition. Through the experience, they form a tight-knit group of people committed to sharing their lives with one another.

For many young adults who are graduates of Jesuit schools and programs like the Jesuit Volunteer Corps (JVC), CLA answers a great need. The emphasis on community throughout the Ignatian world leaves many alumni seeking people and places to build relationships, explore their faith, and share their joys and struggles. Some are fortunate to find parishes with active young adult or retreat programs, but failure to find such welcoming communities leaves many feeling unsupported or frustrated.

CLA Participants in PHiladelphia, PA (Photo by The Jesuit Collaborative)

One Jesuit university alumna described her passion for the Ignatian way of being in the world, but found that without a support system, “it’s easy to fall away from that.” Many others are looking for ways to understand the call to serve and lead in their careers and communities. More are seeking to embrace fully what it means to live the Jesuit dictum to be women and men for others. These hopes and desires are being addressed through CLA, which gathers young adults together to reflect upon integrating their faith and work lives, explore Ignatian spirituality, and discern what it means to be principled leaders committed to the Church and the world.

CLA is a program of The Jesuit Collaborative, a spirituality ministry of the USA Northeast and Maryland Provinces of the Society of Jesus. Through prayer and retreat programs in the tradition of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the Collaborative helps people grow closer to God. With a curriculum rooted in The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, CLA engages young adult leaders between 25 and 35 years old in a twenty-four month process of discussion, discernment, and community building. Chris Lowney, a leadership development professional and author of Heroic Leadership and Pope Francis: Why He Leads the Way He Leads, started CLA with the support of the Collaborative in New York City in 2008. Under the leadership of Mary Tracy, CLA quickly grew with new programs launching in Boston and Philadelphia in 2009, Washington, D.C. in 2010, Atlanta in 2012 and, coming this fall, St. Louis. Buffalo and Baltimore are currently preparing to launch programs in 2017 and affiliate programs have been started in Seattle, Orange County, CA, and Detroit. With well over 200 participants annually, CLA sustains a vibrant alumni network and community of supporters.

Where do these participants come from? CLA utilizes a process wherein Jesuits, pastoral and business leaders, and alumni of the program, nominate potential candidates. Nominees attend an information session and are interviewed for the program by local Regional Directors and members of the Regional Advisory Committees. The committees are comprised of local supporters – many of whom are graduates of Jesuit schools – program alumni, and members of the Society of Jesus. In addition to helping the Regional Director with recruitment and selection, committee members work with CLA to build a network of support, spread the word about CLA, and help to make each region’s program financially sustainable.

CLA Participants in Boston, MA (Photo by The Jesuit Collaborative)

Participants in CLA attend monthly meetings and an opening and closing retreat. (There are also many opportunities for prayer, socializing and service outside of the scheduled program). Among the themes covered, cohort members learn about spiritual practices such as the Examen and Lectio Divina, and how to incorporate them into daily life. Even so, the focus of CLA is not only on personal spiritual development, but also on fostering leaders with the intellectual knowledge and practical skills to serve others. To that end, participants discuss ethical leadership, consider the themes of Catholic social teaching, and share the challenges of leading in the workplace, family, or local community.

During the last “semester” of the program, cohort members prepare a capstone project that attempts to synthesize their experience and what they have learned in a way that both advances their vocational discernment and serves others in their local communities. Capstone themes have included outreach to undocumented immigrants, an anti-death penalty initiative, retreats designed for working women, a blog on imagination, and an undertaking that fosters ethical fundraising, to name only a few!

CLA is part of a broader Ignatian outreach to young adults that includes ministries like JVC, CharisNYC, Jesuit Connections, alumni programs, and more. By attempting to nurture a generation of Catholic young adult leaders, CLA is reaching out to a distinctively under-served part of the Catholic community – young adults – and is targeting those leaders best positioned to make a positive impact on the world in which we live.

The Contemplative Leaders in Action program is currently accepting applicants for new cohorts starting in Fall 2016. For more information, please visit jesuit-collaborative.org/cla or contact CLA Director, Seán Patrick Sanford, at ssanford@jesuitcollaborative.org or Assistant Director, Sr. Lisa Buscher, RSCJ, at lbuscher@jesuitcollaborative.org.

The Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities (AJCU) sponsors over 30 conferences (affinity groups) within the AJCU Network. The conferences provide a forum for the exchange of ideas, information and best practices; support the professional development of their members; and present opportunities for AJCU representatives to discuss collaboration and challenges in Jesuit higher education. Most of the AJCU conferences host meetings at least once a year, and many of them facilitate regular communication among members through listservs. The following conferences and affiliated programs will meet in summer / fall 2016:

The Jesuit Leadership Seminar
Director: Jeanne Fielding Lord, Georgetown University
(202) 687-2912, lordj@georgetown.edu
June 14-17, 2016, Loyola University Chicago

Click here to register.

Jesuit Enrollment Managers (JEM)
Chair: Deborah Stieffel, University of Detroit Mercy
(313) 993-1245, stieffda@udmercy.edu
June 8-10, 2016, University of Detroit Mercy

Conference on Diversity and Equity (CDE)
Chair: Rodney Parker, Loyola University Maryland
(410) 617-2310, RParker1@loyola.edu
June 19-22, 2016, Santa Clara University

Click here to register.

Financial Aid Directors
Contact: Eileen Tucker, Saint Joseph’s University
(610) 660-1346, tucker@sju.edu
July 10-13, 2016, Washington, D.C. (held in conjunction with the annual NASFAA Meeting at the Marriott Wardman Park)

Deans of Communication Programs
Sonya F. Duhe, Loyola University New Orleans
(504) 865-3450, sduhe@loyno.edu
July 13-16, 2016, Loyola University New Orleans

Click here to register.

Jesuit Advancement Officers (JAA)
Chair: Peter Wilch, University of San Francisco
(415) 422-4461, pwilch@usfca.edu
July 17-19, 2016, Marquette University

Click here to register

Ignatian Colleagues Program Alumni Workshop
Contact: Joseph DeFeo, Ignatian Colleagues Program
(203) 254-4000 ext. 2147, jdefeo@ajcunet.edu
August 1-2, 2016, Chicago, IL

Research & Sponsored Programs
Chair: Stacy Riseman, College of the Holy Cross
(508) 793-2741, sriseman@holycross.edu
August 11, 2016, AJCU National Office, Washington, D.C.

AJCU Federal Relations Conference
Contact: Cynthia Littlefield, AJCU
(202) 862-9893, CyndyLit@aol.com
September 21-22, 2016, Washington, D.C.

Education Deans
President: Dr. Joshua Smith, Loyola University Maryland
(410) 617-5310, jssmith2@loyola.edu
September 21-23, 2016, Gonzaga University*

*Gonzaga University’s dean will assume the role of conference president on July 1st.

Arts & Science Deans*
Chair: Rev. Bob Grimes, S.J., Fordham University
(212) 636-6300, rgrimes@fordham.edu
September 29-October 1, 2016, Fordham University

Graduate Deans*
Chair: Dr. Eva Badowska, Fordham University
(718) 817-4400, badowska@fordham.edu
September 29-October 1, 2016, Fordham University

*The AJCU Arts & Science Deans and Graduate Deans will join together for this meeting.