Page 7 - Calendar and Prospects

PROSPECTUS

THE JESUITS

The Society of Jesus (Jesuits) is a religious order within the Catholic Church
founded by St. Ignatius Loyola and nine companions in 1540. Today there are
around 16,000 Jesuits in 112 countries on six continents. Jesuit priests and
brothers live in community and do a wide variety of work including in
universities and schools, spirituality centres, parishes and missions, the media
and creative arts, in prison, hospital and military chaplaincy and working with
refugees. Their work in schools and universities began in 1548 when a small
group of Jesuits was sent to Sicily to begin a school at the request of the town
council of Messina. Other towns and cities followed suit and, over the next two
centuries, a network of some 850 Jesuit schools and universities was
established across the world. Today, Jesuit schools are staffed largely by
people who are not themselves Jesuits but whose work continues and builds
upon the 450 year old tradition of Jesuit education. Jesuits, are those who
work with us, follow a spirituality that comes from the little book of ‘Spiritual
Exercises’ which St. Ignatius began in 1521. Ignatian spirituality is rooted in the
Christian gospel and the desire to give greater glory to God by following Jesus
Christ and serving others as He did. It encourages us to be attentive to our
lived experience and to discern what is truly good for us and what is not, and
to act accordingly. It encourages basic attitudes of gratitude and generosity.

JESUIT EDUCATION

What makes a Jesuit school different or distinctive? Saint Ignatius Loyola (the
16th century founder of the Society of Jesus and Jesuit schools) gave the
answer that a Jesuit school should be about “improvement in living and
learning for the greater glory of God and common good.”

Jesuit education has its core principle of cura personalis –care for each person
so that they may flourish academically, emotionally, socially and spiritually.
Jesuit schools strive to offer an excellent intellectual formation through
outstanding teaching and a Magis curriculum that is as broad and deep as the
school’s resources will allow, together with a rich offering of extracurricular
activities, so that as many as possible each child’s interests, gifts and talents
are developed.

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