Our Mission: to inform, form and transform adult members of the McQuaid Jesuit Community through the vision and legacy of Saint Ignatius Loyola.
Initial Ignatian Formation
McQuaid Jesuit provides a comprehensive five year formation process for faculty, staff and administration to carry forward our mission of inspiring young men to pursue excellence in all things, service to others and life-long justice. Why such a comprehensive program?
If the faculty at a Jesuit school is men and women whose lives are inspired by the Ignatian vision, then the question about the percentage of Jesuits on the faculty is not an overriding issue. It is more a question of the quality of the lives of all the faculty, both Jesuit and lay. The school will be Jesuit if the lives of its teachers exemplify and communicate to the students the vision of Ignatius.
Through exposure to resources and the practice of reflection on experience, personnel new to McQuaid Jesuit will appropriate our Ignatian way of life and Jesuit mission, enabling full participation in the apostolic work of the Society of Jesus at McQuaid Jesuit. Expert presenters from among the McQuaid Jesuit community will delve deeply into areas of expertise and personal interaction to inspire living and educating with a heightened sense of awareness and intentionality, leading to personal growth and development. Forming lay collaborators within this matrix will yield more effective Jesuit educators, administrators and support staff imbued with a sense of Ignatian identity and Jesuit mission at McQuaid Jesuit.
Texts for this Year of Formation:
The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything. Fr. James Martin SJ. HarperCollins, 2010.
Our Way of Proceeding: Standards and Benchmarks for Jesuit Schools in the 21st Century, 2nd Edition.
Integration of course materials with life experience is central to Ignatian Spirituality. Integration experiences include:
- Participation in monthly cohort gatherings
- Reading of course materials and group presentations
- Participation in Ignatian Morning of Service and Sponsorship Review Recommendation Committee Meetings on April 24, 2026
- Participation in the Liturgical Life of McQuaid Jesuit
This year of Ignatian Formation is a study of the Spiritual Exercises, the foundational formation experience of Jesuits, Ignatian Colleagues and Partners in Mission.
Texts for this year’s formation:
Seeing with the Heart: A Guide to Navigate Life’s Adventures. Kevin O’Brien SJ. Chicago: Loyola Press, 2022.
Our Way of Proceeding: Standards and Benchmarks for Jesuit Schools in the 21st Century, 2nd Edition.
Integration for transformation experiences include:
- Participation in monthly cohort meetings
- Reading of course materials and group presentations
- Participation in Ignatian Morning of Service and Sponsorship Review Recommendation Committee Meetings on April 24, 2026
- Participation in the Liturgical Life of McQuaid Jesuit
The Third Year of Ignatian Formation is given to the experience and study of the Jesuit Way of Proceeding, discernment of spirits. This cohort will study the fundamentals of discernment and distinguish between consolation and desolation, understand the concept and process of Spiritual Conversations and Communal Discernment.
Texts for this year’s formation:
Finding God Within: The Ignatian Way to Discover God’s Will. by Mark Thibodeaux SJ. Chicago: Loyola Press, 2010.
Our Way of Proceeding: Standards and Benchmarks for Jesuit Schools in the 21st Century, 2nd Edition.
- Participation in monthly cohort meetings
- Reading of course materials and group presentations
- Participation in Ignatian Morning of Service and Sponsorship Review Recommendation Committee Meetings on April 24, 2026
- Participation in the Liturgical Life of McQuaid Jesuit
Prepared with a firm foundation in Ignatian Spirituality and Jesuit Education, the Spiritual Exercises and Ignatian Discernment, the focus of this year’s formation is Ignatian Leadership. Ignatius formed people to confidently and boldly step into the frontiers of education, the arts and sciences, ecology, politics, economics and religion to influence learning and living with an eye toward developing the whole person, contributing to making the world more humane. Members of this cohort will be formed for leadership, fortified with the necessary tools that distinguish Ignatian Leadership.
Texts for this year of Formation:
Pope Francis: Why He Leads the Way He Leads – Lessons from the First Jesuit Pope. Chris Lowney. Chicago: Loyola Press, 2013.
Our Way of Proceeding: Standards and Benchmarks for Jesuit Schools in the 21st Century, 2nd Edition.
Integration for transformation experiences include:
- Reading of course materials and group presentations
- Participation in Ignatian Morning of Service and Sponsorship Review Recommendation Committee Meetings on April 24, 2026
- Participation in the Liturgical Life of McQuaid Jesuit
At the conclusion of the Spiritual Exercises, Saint Ignatius invites us to “take the long look back.” Through this exercise a person more clearly identifies experiences and gifts to help discern future steps. Since this year brings the cohort to the threshold of a deeper commitment to McQuaid Jesuit, formation is in service of the question, “What do you desire?” And, since discernment happens through dialogue initial formation culminates in a conversation between each member of the cohort and principal Adam Baber.
At the conclusion of the year members will appropriate aspects of Ignatian formation and professional development through a year-long discernment process.
Texts for this year’s formation:
Pope Francis: Why He Leads the Way He Leads – Lessons from the First Jesuit Pope. Chris Lowney. Chicago: Loyola Press, 2013.
Our Way of Proceeding: Standards and Benchmarks for Jesuit Schools in the 21st Century, 2nd Edition.
Integration for transformation experience includes:
- Participation in four cohort sessions
- Half Day Retreat:
- October 24, 2025
- Mission and Ministry Conference
- Retreat Staff: Mr. Baber, Coach Bobby Bates and Dr. Zynda
- Lunch provided
- Individual spiritual direction/discernment meetings with the Vice President for Mission and Ministry from November – February
Ongoing Ignatian Formation
“Life and mission are inseparable. On the one hand, we know that we are a fragile body. […] On the other, we live as pilgrims, always seeking to draw profit from the tensions that arise from our mission as it is carried out in complex and ever-changing contexts.” (Fr. Sosa S.J., Superior General)
“The Pilgrim” (the term Saint Ignatius used to refer to himself in his autobiography) would certainly assert that tensions are opportunities to discern creative ways to respond to the demands of our mission. Mining the treasures of our Catholic, Jesuit Traditions, the Office of Ignatian Identity offers several educational, spiritual and service opportunities to support ongoing formation for our adult community, contributing to the formation of persons dedicated to excellence in mission.
All adult members of the McQuaid Jesuit administration, board, faculty and staff, parents/guardians are welcome to attend the opportunities provided below.
A Jesuit school has a governing board which holds the Jesuit and Catholic mission and identity of the school in trust for the Society of Jesus by setting direction, establishing policies, and ensuring programs that build and manifest the school’s Jesuit and Catholic identity.
Standards and Benchmarks (Standard 4)
Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius
The Spiritual Exercises form an Ignatian identity for the Mission of Christ. We are proud that one-third of the current McQuaid Jesuit Board of Trustees have made the Spiritual Exercises. Following initial formation (Mission Formation for New Board of Trustees) members of the Board are invited and encouraged to share the wealth and legacy of St. Ignatius by making the Spiritual Exercises. The retreat is given in a 30 week format (modeled upon the original 30 Day Retreat) which begins in early September and ends mid-May.
If interested please contact Dr. Damian Zynda.