Dear JST-SCU Community, Friends, and Partners in Mission:

Christian scriptural tradition associates the song “Magnificat” with Mary of Nazareth (Luke 1:46-55). She makes a lyrical prophetic statement about the beneficent grace and power of God to upend the settled structures of oppression and injustice in favor of the oppressed, the downtrodden, and the outcasts. Mary’s canticle rouses flailing faith and excavates sunken hope to elevate them to the heights of wonder, praise, and worship. Mary is not alone in singing Magnificat. Other ordinary people chant the irresistible power of God to save God’s people – Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, Elizabeth, Simeon, Zecharia…. The list of biblical canticlers is long. Together they bear testimony to the saving power of God made visible to all the ends of the earth.

As we begin the new year and a new semester at JST-SCU, we have innumerable reasons to join the magnificent chorus of our ancestors in the faith and proclaim Magnificat!

Magnificat!

You have all heard about the splendid $10 million gift from Lilly Endowment Foundation to Santa Clara University. Although the monetary value of this gift is enormous and unprecedented, it does not tell the whole story. When we declare with audacity in En Camino our vision of “Becoming All God Imagines,” we can point to this amazing feat as one of several powerful testaments on the long-term vision and goals of JST-SCU and the centrality of Jesuit Catholic values that animate the mission and identity of Santa Clara University. As we integrate more strongly into SCU, resources like the Lilly grant stimulate, strengthen, and reinforce the collaboration among schools and units at SCU. It validates our aspiration in Impact 2030 to become “the leading Jesuit theologate for the changing face of the global Catholic Church.”

Magnificat!

I have almost lost count of the plentiful gifts that we have received from our donors, benefactors, and funders. “Our cup runneth over!” (Psalm 23:5 KJV). Thanks to a generous gift from GHR Foundation, this spring JST-SCU will host the bishops of the San Francisco Ecclesiastical Province to an inaugural bishops-theologians roundtable. Bishops and theologians will encounter one another as fellow pilgrims and seekers of the face of God for a deeper and more meaningful service of the evangelizing mission of the Church. Also, this spring, we will host the second edition of “Together at the Table” (An International Gathering Inspiring Synodal Action), with Cardinal Timothy Radcliffe OP as special guest, alongside hundreds of members of SCU and surrounding ecclesial communities. As I write, the flyers are going out to advertise the new MTS in Synodal Leadership for Catholic Sisters, generously sponsored by the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. It complements a parallel program by JST-SCU to fund additional  scholarships, available to all students, to attain the MTS with a concentration in synodal leadership. The combined gifts from our funders have positioned JST-SCU as a global hub for promoting the knowledge, understanding, and practice of synodality in the Church. In October 2025, with a generous gift from a family foundation, JST-SCU launched a pilot MOOC on the platform Synodality.scu.edu, titled, “Key Topics From the Synod’s Final Document” – the first of its kind, offered in three languages (English, Spanish, and Portuguese), and attracting over 5,000 enrolled participants. Last fall, the Vatican Secretariat for the Synod of Bishops recognized JST-SCU’s initiative in its report on global efforts to promote synodality.

Magnificat!

The Collaborative Theology Initiative (CTI) which was dreamt and born at JST-SCU is scaling new heights with the generous support of foundations and supporters. JST-SCU has led the planning of a new four-week course, titled History and Charisms of the First Jesuits: Discovering our Friends in the Lord and our Friendship in Lord, which will be held at Hekima University College in Nairobi, Kenya this summer, with students participating from eight Jesuit Theology Centers across the world and one non-affiliate member institution (Sophia Institute). JST-SCU professor Chris Staab, S.J. is developing and co-teaching the course with other faculty from the CTI. The CTI was designed with our students in mind as a model for collaboration in teaching excellence, ministerial formation, and pastoral leadership.

Magnificat!

How is all this possible? “For the One that is mighty hath done to us great things; and holy is God’s name” (Luke 1:49 KJV). God is good and faithful. JST-SCU enjoys the unwavering support of the leadership of Santa Clara University of which we are an integral community. Our Board of Directors are people of unbounded generosity, deep solicitude, and thoughtful leadership. Our cloud of partners, supporters, and benefactors continue to expand from Alums to foundations and philanthropic individuals who seek to invest in the compelling vision of JST-SCU. We continue to develop our faculty strengths with the recent addition of Paul Fitzgerald, S.J. and Chris Grodecki, S.J. Our faculty are among the best in their class, our staff are fonts of creativity, and our students are women and men imbued with passion for serving and leading in the Church and in the world.

Magnificat!

A lizard who jumped from the Iroko tree said, “I will praise myself even if nobody else does.” At JST-SCU, we are grateful and proud beneficiaries of God’s extravagant inspiration and capacity to birth new things. In our journey is God’s promise fulfilled: “Lo! I am about to do something new” (Isaiah 43:19). May we renew our strength in the God of our longing, mount up with wings like eagles, run and not be weary, walk and not grow faint! (Isaiah 40:31). Magnificat! “O come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before God’s presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto God with psalms!” (Psalm 95:1-2 KJV).

I encourage you to make some noise however you can about the many blessings that our JST-SCU community has received from God’s bounty.

Agbonkhianmeghe E. Orobator, S.J.
Dean
Jesuit School of Theology
Santa Clara University

Becoming all God Imagines

JST-SCU is a premier Jesuit theology center and the graduate school of theology of Santa Clara University that forms women and men from across the world to lead and minister in the 21st-century global synodal Church. We bridge rigorous academic contextual theology with lived realities of faith and equip lay and religious students with synodal tools of spirituality, discernment, dialogue, and collaboration to make a difference in the world.