The Rocky Mountain Collegian

Media Credit: Raj Joshi Raj Joshi/The University News [Click to enlarge]

During the SGA debates about whether or not to impeach Senators Kim Hong and Matt Zapf, several senators made reference to the University's Jesuit mission to argue that forgiveness was the proper response to their failure.

Several times this school year, I have seen anti-ROTC protesters near the clock tower, holding signs that read, "ROTC is not AMDG." Last week, during a keynote address for the Golden Key induction ceremony, a professor from the communication department suggested that any SLU student who is not involved in advocacy for the marginalized, which include minorities, women and homosexuals, is failing to live up to the University's Jesuit mission of inspiring "men and women for others."

Since I admire the Jesuit character and mission of this University, in one sense it pleases me to see that students and faculty make reference to the Jesuit mission in their deliberations about what should and shouldn't happen at SLU. This is certainly as it should be. At a Jesuit school, the Jesuit identity and mission ought to inform and influence our ways of thinking and acting.

However, it alarms me that, too often, references to the Jesuit mission are vague and imprecise. It would seem that all the vast majority of our students know about the Jesuit identity is summed up by the phrases "men and women for others" and "for the greater glory of God."

These are mottos that are central to the Jesuit character and identity, particularly with respect to the formation of students in Jesuit schools. However, it is impossible to reduce the richness of the Jesuit tradition to just these two mottos.

The meaning of what it is to be a man or a woman for others is understandable only in the wider context of the Jesuit tradition and, in particular, in light of the mission of the Society of Jesus itself. Any good Christian seeks to be a man or woman for others, but there is a particularly Jesuit way of trying to be a man or woman for others. Likewise, it is not enough to say that we want to work for the greater glory of God. All Christians and Catholic religious societies would certainly think of themselves as working for the greater glory of God. But there is a particular Jesuit way of seeking the greater glory of God, just as there is a particular Dominican way and a particular Franciscan way.

Forgiveness is not particularly a Jesuit value as much as it is a Christian one. Might not the senators arguing for clemency have just as well appealed to universal Christian values as to the Jesuit mission? When the anti-ROTC protesters argue that "ROTC is not AMDG," are they making any particular appeal to the Jesuit mission, or are they simply employing a motto associated with the Jesuit character of the school for rhetorical purposes? When a professor argues that any student not engaged in liberal social advocacy and lobbying is failing to be a man or woman for others, is this claim really consistent with the Jesuit mission, or is it just the professor's way of interpreting the motto, "men and women for others"?

There is a lot more to the Jesuit mission and the traditions of the Society of Jesus than an undergraduate can put into a 900-word commentary. However, it would be remiss not to write, albeit briefly, about some of the ideas from the Jesuit tradition that, as a general rule, our University does not adequately impress upon our students.

The First Principle and Foundation of the "Spiritual Exercises" of St. Ignatius reads as follows:

"Man is created to praise, reverence and serve God our Lord, and by this means to save his soul. And the other things on the face of the earth are created for man and that they may help him in prosecuting the end for which he is created. From this it follows that man is to use them as much as they help him on to his end, and ought to rid himself of them so far as they hinder him as to it."

This principle is perhaps the most important in defining the Jesuit mindset and method as St. Ignatius and his brethren envisioned it. It is the principle upon which the whole of the "Spiritual Exercises" rest, and, more than anything else, it is Ignatian discernment of spirits that defines Jesuit spirituality. Following from the First Principle and Foundation, the Formula of the Institute (the foundational document that preceded the Constitutions of the Society of Jesus) speaks specifically to the purpose of the Jesuits by saying that the Society of Jesus is "a society founded chiefly for this purpose: to strive especially for the defense and propagation of the faith and for the progress of souls in Christian life and doctrine."

At the bare minimum, it is in light of these two principles that the phrases "Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam" and "men and women for others" must be understood. If we are interested in acting in a distinctively Jesuit manner, then, following the First Principle and Foundation and the mission of the Society of Jesus, the principle aim we must seek is the salvation of souls and progress in Christian life and doctrine. All other things are to be considered good or bad to us, inasmuch as they help or hinder us in this mission of evangelization and spiritual progress.

Whether or not impeaching senators who fail to turn in wrongdoers, having ROTC on campus, or participating in liberal social advocacy are essential to the Jesuit mission are debates worth having. I think impeaching the senators, supporting ROTC and opposing many forms of liberal advocacy are all consistent with (but not necessarily mandated by) our Jesuit identity and mission. I welcome debate and discussion of these questions; I only ask that when appeals to the Jesuit identity are made, substance and real argument take the place of vague associations and wordplays.

I call upon the University community to do more to conceive of and act upon its mission in a distinctively Jesuit manner. I admire the efforts that Campus Ministry takes in sponsoring silent Ignatian retreats, and I wish there were more on our campus that were distinctively and deeply Jesuit. The more truly Jesuit the University becomes in its identity and mission, the stronger and better it will be.

Brian Carl is a senior studying philosophy.

Article Tools