JESUIT SECONDARY EDUCATION ASSOCIATION FOUNDATIONS Table of Contents
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JESUIT SECONDARY EDUCATION ASSOCIATION FOUNDATIONS Table of Contents FOREWORD REV. JOSEPH F. O’CONNELL, S.J. Father O’Connell, current president of the Jesuit Secondary Education Association, offers thoughts situating this new edition of Foundations in the context of the Jesuit Educational mission in 2005. PREFACE This preface, by Carl E. Meirose, former head of the Jesuit Secondary Education Association, introduced the 1994 edition of Foundations when it was originally issued as a “compilation” of documents “delineating the principles” and elucidating the “dynamic renewal process” that had taken place in Jesuit secondary education in the preceding quarter century. SECTION 1 The Preamble (1970) The foundational document for the establishment of JSEA, it draws on major themes from the Spiritual Exercises to articulate an Ignatian vision for Jesuit schools. SECTION 2 The Jesuit High School of the Future (1972) THE COMMISSION ON RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT The results of a workshop by the former Commission on Research and Development (CORD), this document sets forth certain assumptions about the world, the Church, education and Jesuit schools in order to articulate a contemporary statement of educational values and directions for the Jesuit high school of the future. SECTION 3 Apostolic Consciousness: Key to Jesuit Education (1973) ROBERT J. STARRATT, PH.D. Intended to evoke reflection and conversation among teachers in Jesuit schools, this paper was a follow up to The Preamble and proposes apostolic consciousness as the unifying experience for school faculties composed of lay and Jesuit colleagues. SECTION 4 Men for Others (1974) PEDRO ARRUPE, S.J. Considered radical at the time, the address by then Superior General of the Society of Jesus to the 10th International Congress of Jesuit Alumni of Europe in Valencia, Spain, called for a re-education for social justice and social action in Jesuit schools. SECTION 5 Instrument for Self-Evaluation of Jesuit High School: Principals and Standards (1975) IFSE was designed to help Jesuit high schools reflect on the vision and goals of Jesuit education and examine the means they are using to achieve them under four general headings: Catholic, Academic Center, Community and Finances. JSEA Foundations SECTION 6 Faith and Justice (1976) EDWIN J. MCDERMOTT, S.J. The report reflects on workshops on Faith and Justice conducted in Jesuit high schools in 1975. SECTION 7 Reflections on the Educational Principles of the Spiritual Exercises (1977) ROBERT R. NEWTON, ED.D. The monograph explores the educational principles that underlie the learning experience of the Spiritual Exercises. SECTION 8 Profile of the Graduate of a Jesuit High School at Graduation (1981) THE COMMISSION ON RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT Known popularly as the "Grad at Grad," it proposes as the ideal graduate of Jesuit schools one who is Open to Growth, Intellectually Competent, Religious, Loving and Committed to Doing Justice. SECTION 9 Seeds of Faith and Justice (1980) ROBERT J. STARRATT, PH.D. This document offers some perspectives for integrating the faith and justice mandate of the Society of Jesus into the educational program of Jesuit schools. SECTION 10 Go Forth and Teach: The Characteristics of Jesuit Education (1987) THE INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION ON THE APOSTOLATE OF JESUIT EDUCATION This international document of the Society of Jesus elaborates the characteristics of Jesuit education in order to provide a common vision and a shared sense of purpose for those working in Jesuit schools. SECTION 11 Teaching for the Kingdom: Christian Formation in Jesuit Schools (1987) THE COMMISSION ON RELIGIOUS EDUCATION Written by members of the former Commission on Religious Education (CORE), the monograph offers guidelines for furthering the religious education and formation of students in Jesuit schools. SECTION 12 Send Our Roots Rain (1991) CHARLES P. COSTELLO, S.J. This is a re-edition of The Preamble and includes the address of Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, S.J., and the remarks of Ernest Boyer and Loret Miller Ruppe on the occasion of the 200th anniversary celebration of Jesuit education in the United States. SECTION 13 Four Hallmarks of Jesuit Pedagogy: Prelection, Reflection, Active Learning, Repetition (1991) RALPH E. METTS, S.J. Four Hallmarks examines four basic characteristics of Jesuit education in light of current educational research on solid instructional theory and effective teaching. SECTION 14 Ignatian Pedagogy: A Practical Approach (1993) THE INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION ON THE APOSTOLATE OF JESUIT EDUCATION A follow-up to Section 10 of The Characteristics of Jesuit Education, this work elaborates on an Ignatian approach to teaching and learning. JESUIT SECONDARY EDUCATION ASSOCIATION FOUNDATIONS Foreword By Joseph F. O’Connell, S.J. Hello, I am Father Joe O’Connell, President of the Jesuit Secondary Education Association. In concluding my third and final term in this position, it is my privilege to present you and your Jesuit school community with this electronic version of Foundations, a compilation of seminal documents on Jesuit education first published over ten years ago in 1994. A number of years ago it became obvious that we would soon need to replenish our supply of Foundations which my predecessor Carl Meirose had so adroitly compiled and edited from documents starting with the PREAMBLE of the JSEA in 1970 and concluding with IGNATIAN PEDAGOGY, A PRACTICAL APPROACH, published in 1993. Yet a re-reading of the documents contained within the Foundations suggested that, in order to have greater appeal and wider readership, many of the writings needed to be edited to make the language more inclusive. As it turned out, that proved to be a daunting task for a couple of reasons. First of all, because of a mishap by the graphic designer of the original volume, we discovered we had no electronic copy of the original texts. When we proceeded with an optical scan of the documents, because of the wide variety of fonts and formats used, the results were disappointing to say the least, requiring extensive proofing and re-editing. Secondly, as Carl must have realized and therefore shied away from doing it, revising language so that it is politically correct can be a bit like falling down the rabbit hole of Alice in Wonderland, twisting and turning words and phrases to make sense for the reader and still render the text so that it remains consistent with the author’s meaning. For a couple of years the project languished on top of my desk among stacks of things to be done, awaiting the final proofing and formatting of more than 270 pages of text. Meanwhile, by necessity we had to reissue Foundations in its original format so that schools would continue to have available what is as an extraordinarily valuable resource on Jesuit education. At the same time, technology made it possible, as well as desirable, to shift from print to electronic media so that the documents can be directly accessed via the Internet or from a DVD. I wish to thank everyone who contributed to the final production of this electronic version of Foundations. To Ralph Metts, SJ, Bernie Bouillette and Carolyn Lausch who spent hours reworking the language of documents produced under JSEA’s auspices. We purposely did not JSEA Foundations attempt to revise international documents such as Father Pedro Arrupe’s MEN FOR OTHERS, THE CHARACTERISTICS OF JESUIT EDUCATION and IGNATIAN PEDAGOGY, A PRACTICAL APPROACH. Many thanks to Tom Pesci, SJ, who sacrificed part of his sabbatical year to see this project through to its completion and to Pete Musso as well Bernie and Ralph who patiently gave the new versions a careful final read. In his preface to Foundations in 1994, Carl Meirose quite rightly noted that the fourteen documents or sections that compose the compilation “establish the bases, delineate the principles and provide the hidden supports for the dynamic renewal process, which has been taking place within Jesuit secondary education during the past quarter century,” and now over the past 35 years. Because of that, Carl very smartly named this compilation of seminal documents on Jesuit education, Foundations. Our JSEA Board of Directors has often returned to Foundations as a rich resource for its own board formation in the Jesuit mission and Ignatian vision of Jesuit education. To this day the PREAMBLE to the Association’s Constitutions continues to be a powerful pronouncement on the major themes of Ignatian spirituality that are at the heart of what we are about as Jesuit schools. It is a profound foundational statement that gave rise to the wonderful organization and network that we now know as JSEA. The Preamble as well as the 13 other documents that accompany it deserve frequent revisiting and reflection by everyone in the Jesuit school community. Every time that I personally have gone back to the writings on Jesuit education contained in Foundations I am amazed at how relevant they continue to be for all of us –– faculty, staff, administration, board members and parents –– who share responsibility for shaping the future of our Jesuit institutions. The compilation contains a wellspring of wisdom that, along with What Makes a Jesuit High School Jesuit? by the Jesuit Conference, should inspire us all in our ongoing efforts to educate future generations of youth to be men and women with and for others, persons of competence, conscience and compassion, committed to a faith that seeks justice for all of God’s people. 1 February 2005 JESUIT SECONDARY EDUCATION ASSOCIATION