Going to the Frontiers

Last week, Pope Leo XIV held his first official meeting with Jesuit leaders from around the globe. His words to that gathering are an eloquent summary of what he sees as the distinct role of the Jesuit order – and Jesuit education – in the world. 

He told them, “The Society of Jesus has long been present where humanity’s needs meet God’s saving love: through spiritual guidance, intellectual formation, service among the poor and Christian witness at cultural frontiers…. Saint Ignatius of Loyola and his companions did not fear uncertainty or difficulty; they went to the margins, where faith and reason intersected with new cultures and great challenges….Today, I repeat: the Church needs you at the frontiers — whether they be geographical, cultural, intellectual or spiritual. These are places of risk, where familiar maps are no longer sufficient.”

Going to the frontiers. This is the beating heart of our work in the Ignatian Center at Santa Clara. Encountering people on the edges, the margins – of society, of politics, of the economy, of dominant cultural narratives. And looking to our shared humanity, and the tools of reflection and discernment and prayer that are central to our Ignatian spirituality, to propose “new models of solidarity and the common good.” Indeed, Pope Leo singled out the promise of Jesuit universities to serve as “powerful channels to promote systemic change.”

Santa Clara students live out this “going to the frontiers” everyday, both in our local communities and in the ways they engage one another across differences. Each year, we choose a few of them for an even deeper engagement – the Jean Donovan Fellowship Intensive. In these experiences, students commit themselves full-time for the summer to work and live immersed with partner organizations in the US and abroad. 

In this issue of our newsletter, I invite you to read about four extraordinary SCU students who took part in these transformative experiences last summer, two in collaboration with the Catholic Worker in Los Angeles, CA, and two in partnership with the Jesuit-run Hogar de Cristo in Santiago, Chile. Their reflections help us see the amazing impact these fellowships have as they live out Pope Leo’s call to “go to the frontiers.”

Reflection and Transformation

This past summer we sponsored four Jean Donovan Fellows on an intensive experience - literally. The Jean Donovan Fellowship Intensive (JDF+) seeks to align SCU’s mission, the Jesuit Apostolic Preferences, and high impact practices of community-engaged learning to expand on the existing Ignatian Center relationships with community organizations through the global Jesuit network. The Fellowship provides support and full funding for student leaders with demonstrated commitments to social justice. Two of the JDF+ students worked with Hogar de Cristo in Santiago, Chile and two with Catholic Workers in Los Angeles, CA. As each of the students closed out their fellowships and reflected on their experiences, they all recognized a transformation in themselves and a desire for continued growth.

Read their reflections

Rooted in a faith that does justice, the Ignatian Center's Arrupe Engagement partners with local community organizations whose members and clients serve as co-educators for Santa Clara University students. Informed by and in conversation with Catholic social tradition, the Center facilitates community-based learning opportunities that underscore commitments to the common good, universal human dignity, justice as participation, and solidarity with marginalized communities.