Jesuit education is well-recognized and highly-regarded for its academic rigor, with schools throughout the world dedicated to caring for the whole person of each student they educate. Jesuit education follows an Ignatian pedagogy that includes five key elements—context, experience, reflection, action, and evaluation. Jesuit alumni should have a lifelong commitment to being open to growth, intellectual competence, faithfulness, love, and justice.
Ignatian Pedagogy
Jesuit Higher Education
Jesuit Secondary Education
Arts and Sciences
Ignatian Pedagogy
Society of Jesus Education Documents
Repository of presentations on education by Fathers General Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, SJ, and Pedro Arrupe, SJ. Most available as Word documents in English, French, Spanish, or Italian.
Reflections on the Educational Principles of the Spiritual Exercises (PDF)
By Robert R. Newton
This study reflects on traditional Jesuit strategies in education in order to outline the norms by which Jesuit schools could discern whether they are being faithful to and drawing full value from the Ignatian spiritual and educational tradition.
Jesuit Higher Education
Why Jesuits Are in Higher Education
By William J. Bryon, SJ
“In education, as in all else, the Jesuit is not content with simple efficiency—doing something right. Rather, he wants to be effective, which means doing the right thing. Accordingly, in all things the Jesuit way involves a search for God’s will.”
Jesuit 2.0
One in a series of well-produced videos on Jesuit and Ignatian themes from Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI. It provides a refreshing take on how and what a Jesuit education can contribute today.
What Is a Jesuit Education?
Kate Metcalfe, Assistant Dean of Admissions at Marquette University, explains what a Jesuit college education is all about—how it’s rooted in service learning and educates students by exposing them to different perspectives and dialogue.
Highlights of Social Justice Work in Colleges and Universities
Collegium and the Intellectual’s Vocation to Serve
By Thomas Landy
The director of Collegium discusses workshops that engage university faculty in conversation about the mission of Catholic higher education. At the heart of Collegium is a desire to work with faculty and to nourish their own sense of vocation.
Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities
World Union of Jesuit Alumni
This Web site—with pages in English, Spanish, and French—aims to contact and connect with alumni from Jesuit institutions worldwide. Useful for those searching for a Jesuit presence in various parts of the world.
CJBE Documents
Document library of the Colleagues in Jesuit Business Education includes conference papers available for download as Word documents.
Ignatian Spirituality in Jesuit Business Schools (PDF)
By Fabio Tobon Londono
The President of the World Union of Jesuit Alumni/ae challenges deans of Jesuit business schools to work diligently to assure that their students learn and follow Ignatian principles in becoming people for others.
Jesuit Spirituality: The Civic and Cultural Dimensions (PDF)
By John W. O’Malley, SJ
O’Malley would like to see that the understanding of Jesuit/Ignatian spirituality encompasses not simply issues of personal conversion, but also recognizes the social and civic dimensions of the contributions Jesuits have made to the world.
Jesuit Secondary Education
Why Jesuits Are in Secondary Education
By William J. Bryon, SJ
Article describes in broad strokes the experience of education in Jesuit high schools.
Jesuit Secondary Education Association
Cristo Rey Network
Schools providing a college prep program to economically challenged and minority young people.
The Mission of Jesuit High Schools
Eileen Wirth discusses the goal of Jesuit high schools—educating men and women for others.
Arts and Sciences
The Artistry of God
By Peter Knott, SJ
The author explores the art of words, music, and painting as pathways into mystery. However, God’s culminating work of art is man and woman. As God’s unique works of art, we find our fulfillment by following the way Jesus Christ modeled for us.
Can God and Evolution Co-exist?
By George Coyne, SJ
A Jesuit scientist reflects on evolution and faith.
The Continuing Significance of Bernard Lonergan
By Gerard Whelan, SJ
The author reviews the life and teaching of Bernard Lonergan, SJ. Lonergan worked to teach faithfully the Catholic tradition in light of the advances in modern science and philosophy. In addressing the modern world, Catholic teaching must be faithful to classical culture in a way that appreciates its insights but is open to the realities of the present day.
Articles by Guy Consolmagno, SJ, Vatican Astronomer
Astronomy, God, and the Search for Elegance
Vatican Astronomer Guy Consolmagno, SJ, notes that at the center of the tension between science and religion is the human being who is the scientist. He explores how being human informs scientific inquiry and how “doing science as a Jesuit” gives him joy in getting to know and play with God.
God and the Mystery of the Universe
Consolmagno gives a brief survey of the history of cosmology, from Babylonian times to the present. He notes the turning points and discusses that while some theories of the cosmos could not be taught in Jesuit philosophy classes, they were taught in mathematics classes. Ends with a helpful distinction between the nature of examining scientific “problems” and exploring “mysteries.”
Couldn’t God Have Designed a Gentler Universe?
In this third article in a series for Thinking Faith, Consolmagno asks why God created a world with natural disasters, exploring the tension between scientific discovery of nature through equations and the “joker in nature,” the human family born with the capacity of free will that can change the course of nature’s future.
Heaven or Heat Death?
In the fourth article of a series for Thinking Faith, Consolmagno traces the development of “Big Bang” theory of the creation of the cosmos, first articulated by Fr. Georges Lemaître. While the universe is now expanding, at some point in time the energy keeping it going will run out, and all will contract. What are the implications for our belief in eternal life?
Techies in the Pews
Besides his credentials as an accomplished astronomer, Consolmagno’s identity as a Jesuit helped techies to be open with him about their experiences in faith. He discovered that the incidence of belief in God among professional scientists and technicians is not much different than that of the general population.
Jesuit History
The Jesuits, 1534-1921: A History of the Society of Jesus from its Foundation to the Present Time
By Thomas J. Campbell, SJ
Fairly detailed and honest survey of the history of the Jesuits from Ignatius until the suppression in 1769. The author defends the Jesuits from the slanders and misunderstandings that appeared in articles, histories, and textbooks in the 1920’s. Full text of book from 1921, available in several formats.
The Jesuits in North America in the 17th Century
By Francis Parkman
LibriVox audio recording of the 1867 book. The Jesuits in North America in the 17th Century tells the story of the North American Martyrs. This is one volume in Parkman’s massive seven-volume history of France and England in North America. While his 19th-century Protestant prejudices color his judgment of Catholic beliefs, Parkman vividly tells the stories of these men whom he admired for their dedication and bravery.
