JOURNEYING WITH YOUTH
By Fr Tom Renshaw SJ, Rector, Saint Ignatius’ College Riverview
Last week, I was in Auckland at a meeting of Principals and Rectors of the Jesuit and Companion schools in Australia and New Zealand. The meeting was hosted by Saint Ignatius of Loyola Catholic College in Auckland. This school opened last year and is the newest member of our network of 11 Australasian schools. There are five Jesuit-owned and governed schools (Xavier College Melbourne, St Aloysius’ College Sydney, Saint Ignatius’ College Riverview, Saint Ignatius’ College Adelaide, and Redfern Jarjum College in Sydney) and six Jesuit Companion schools: Xavier Catholic College, Hervey Bay; Xavier Catholic College in Ballina; Saint Ignatius College in Geelong; Loyola College in Watsonia, Melbourne; John XXIII College in Perth and the new school in Auckland.
Our network of 11 schools is part of a larger network of Jesuit schools across the globe, including 870 Jesuit schools across the world educating over 870,000 students. In addition to this there are another 1600 Fe Y Alegria schools educating over 630,000 students in 22 countries. Jesuit Refugee Service also runs a further 55 schools educating approximately 130,000 students in 20 countries.
Fr José Mesa SJ, the Secretary for Jesuit Education globally, joined our meeting in Auckland before visiting Riverview. Fr Mesa met with senior and middle leaders of the College to learn about how we live our Jesuit charism, help form our students and staff in Ignatian spirituality and pedagogy, and bring to life the Jesuit vision for education. He also met with student leaders at lunchtime and observed a number of our classes in action.
Fr Jose Mesa SJ (centre) with Riverview Rector Fr Tom Renshaw SJ (left) and Principal Mark Tannock. Photo courtesy Riverview.
At our Auckland meeting, Fr Mesa invited us to reflect on the fact that we are part of the living tradition of Jesuit education. This living tradition has inspired students, teachers and families for over 475 years, flowing from the establishment of the first Jesuit school in Messina in 1548. In breaking open the living tradition, Fr Mesa reminded us that since the earliest days of the Society, our vision is one where we see the world as being our home. Moreover, innovation and adaptation are at the heart of our tradition as we seek to respond to different places and contexts, while encountering different ecclesial and societal challenges.
We are fortunate to belong to a global network of schools that form part of the educational mission of the Society of Jesus. Since the beginning of Jesuit education, there has been a focus on forming both the mind and the heart of the student. Our hearts are formed when we are moved by what we see and experience. We seek to form within our students a desire to be a person for and with others, presenting Jesus Christ as the best expression of this.
From 2011-2018, Fr Mesa and other Jesuit educational leaders spent nearly 10 years reflecting upon the question of how they could help school communities understand and respond better to their present context, drawing upon the fruit of the long conversation the first Jesuits began in the late 1540s when they opened their first school. The fruits of this discernment are expressed in a document titled ‘Jesuit Schools: A Living Tradition in the 21st Century – An Ongoing Exercise of Discernment’. This document outlines 10 global identifiers – or 10 key characteristics – for Jesuit schools across the world.
In launching the document, Fr Arturo Sosa SJ, the current Superior General, wrote the following: “The document follows this tradition of assisting our educational apostolate in reflecting and discerning the particular challenges and opportunities of our time. It continues the necessary process of renewal, innovation and re-imagination that our education requires during this change of epoch that we experience today. The best tribute that we can offer to our long tradition in education is to explore new models, creative and imaginative ways to offer our spiritual vision and educational experience.”
Here at Riverview, the Living Tradition is one of our foundational documents that helps guide and inform the way we seek to respond to and live out the Jesuit mission of education that has been entrusted to us.
Banner image: CASEZY, Canva.
To enquire about becoming a Jesuit in Australia, contact vocations@sjasl.org.au and for more info, visit our Vocations page.