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 materials and reflection on experience personnel new to McQuaid Jesuit will appropriate our Ignatian way of life and mission, enabling full participation in the apostolic work of the Society of Jesus at McQuaid Jesuit. Expert presenters will delve deeply into areas of expertise and personal interaction with materials will 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 mission at McQuaid Jesuit.
At the conclusion of the first year, the cohort will have basic knowledge of the life of Saint Ignatius, Ignatian Spirituality and the Spiritual Exercises, Jesuit History and Mission, the History of McQuaid Jesuit, Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm and Ignatian Service.
Integration of course materials with life experience is central to Ignatian Spirituality. Integration experiences include:
- Participation in monthly cohort gatherings and year end retreat
- Participation in Ignatian Study Day on April 28, 2023
- Participation in the Liturgical Life of McQuaid Jesuit
The Second Year is given to the further formation of an Ignatian Educator/Leader. The cohort will engage in an in depth study of The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything by Fr. James Martin SJ and Standards and Benchmarks. Monthly meetings will consist of Ignatian Prayer, personal reflection for integration, and presentations on both texts.
Integration for transformation experiences include:
- Participation in monthly cohort meetings
- Participation in Ignatian Study Day on April 28, 2023
- Staff one Kairos Retreat
- Participation in the Liturgical life of McQuaid Jesuit
The Third Year of Ignatian Formation is given to the experience and study of the heart of Ignatian Spirituality, discernment. 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. The guiding text, God’s Voice Within: An Ignatian Way to Discover God’s Will by Fr. Mark Thibodeaux SJ and a series of videos produced by Fr. Thibodeaux SJ will assist cohort members in appreciating the beauty and complexity of Ignatian Discernment.
- Participation in monthly cohort meetings
- Participation in Ignatian Study Day on April 28, 2023
- Staff one Kairos Retreat in the 2022-2023 Academic Year if you have not staffed one last year
- 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.
At the conclusion of this year members of the cohort will identify, cultivate and appropriate the ethos and principles that distinguish an Ignatian Leader.
Integration for transformation experiences include:
- Participation in Cohort Meetings
- Staff one Kairos Retreat during the 2022-2023 academic year if you have not done so in the past two years
- Participation in Ignatian Study Day on April 28, 2023
- 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.
Integration for transformation experience includes:
- Retreat: October 17, 2022 in the Mission and Ministry Conference Room from 12-3 p.m. Retreat Staff: Mr. Baber, Coach Bobby Bates and Dr. Zynda. Lunch provided.
- Three Cohort Gatherings meet from 3-4:15 p.m.
- Staff one Kairos Retreat during the 2022-2023 academic year if you have not done so in the past three years
- Participation in Ignatian Study Day on April 28, 2023
- Participation in the Liturgical life of McQuaid Jesuit
- A final three-page paper, guided by the discoveries made in this year of discernment will be submitted to Mr. Baber by March 10. 2023
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.
Ongoing Staff Ignatian Formation
2022-23 Academic Year
Friday, October 7, 2022 Staff Day of Service
Wednesday, December 14, 2022 Praying with Art with Sr. Melissa Gernon SSJ
Wednesday, February 15, 2023 at 3 PM. Mindful Yoga
Wednesday, March 8, 2023 Conversation with Mr. Christian Verghese SJ on Fr. Greg Boyle SJ’s book, The Whole Language: The Power of Extravagant Tenderness
Wednesday, May 17, 2023 Year end evaluation and 2023-2024 Planning
Other than the Staff Day of Service and Mindful Yoga we will meet in the Mission and Ministry Conference Room from 12-1 PM. Lunch will be provided.
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)
This formation process introduces new members of the McQuaid Jesuit Board of Trustees to Ignatian Spirituality and Jesuit Education, providing necessary information and tools to steward the Mission of McQuaid Jesuit.
October 26, 2022 St. Ignatius of Loyola: His Story, Spirituality and Legacy Dr. Damian Zynda
November 15, 2022 The Spiritual Exercises: Intimacy and Mission Mr. P.J. Guisto
February 14, 2023 Faith and Justice at the Heart of the Jesuit Mission
April 18, 2023 The History and Mission of McQuaid Jesuit High School
Dr. Christopher Parks, Dean of Students and Fr. Jack Podsiadlo SJ’58
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.