Adult Spirituality

Along with the many dramatic changes that all Jesuit schools, including Loyola High, have undergone in the past 20 years, perhaps the most interesting has come in the diversity of the people who make up our administration, faculty and staff. These people come from very diverse backgrounds in terms of religious affiliation, gender, and education, resulting in the minority of Jesuit religious being offset by a majority of lay people, working in both the classroom and in positions of authority. In this reality, not only have these lay men and women assumed the day to day operation of the school, they have also, and in a remarkable fashion, assumed the “work” of the Ignatian vision in their interaction with one another and with our students. Therefore, in order to help the Ignatian/Jesuit character of Loyola continue to flourish, the Office of Adult Spirituality was opened this year to focus on the faith development of our lay faculty and staff. The emphasis is on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the basis for the charism that is at the heart of a Jesuit school, and in providing as many opportunities as possible for the adult members of the Loyola community to experience them.

As the documents of the Thirty-Fourth General Congregation of the Society of Jesus state in discussing these changes in our schools, “The present moment is a moment of grace.” They further state that Jesuit institutions, in order to preserve their unique charism, have a responsibility to provide those who work in them with an understanding of Ignatian spirituality. The transformative power of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius and the education of our faculties regarding the relationship of this spirituality to our common work is primary. The Administration of Loyola High School, in supporting the formation of this office of Adult Spirituality, places itself at the service of the mission of the laity by offering the rich spiritual resources that are at the heart of our common work.

The specific tasks of the Office at present:

1. Coordinate the 19th Annotated Retreat (a form of the Exercises done during a person’s everyday life). This is offered to all faculty and staff members.
2. Offer spiritual direction to any and all faculty and staff members who seek it with the ultimate goal of channeling those faculty members and staff into a full experience of the Exercises.
3. The Faculty retreat.
4. The coordination of Ignatian Evenings for faculty and staff members. The purpose of these evenings is to educate the community in the Ignatian tradition in our schools. Dinner is provided by the Jesuit Community. Faculty may choose to attend one of nine scheduled meetings within the academic year, and there will also be at least one such evening offered to the alumni and parent communities of Loyola.
5. The coordination of Faculty Prayer groups.
6. Pot Luck liturgies in the homes of faculty and staff members.
7. The Arrupe project, named after the late General of the Society of Jesus, Pedro Arrupe, which will consist of monthly meetings organized around either a speaker or theme that is focused on a specific aspect of Jesuit/Ignatian education and the role of the Exercises in that endeavor.
8. Listening sessions with faculty and staff in order to establish their needs in this area, as well as the needs of the larger parent, alumni and other adult commnities attached to Loyola, to see how this office might best serve them in the future