Above: A map displayed at the JSN Colloquium shows
the global network of Jesuit schools.

Creativity, Compassion, and Care:
Reflections on the JSN Colloquium on Ignatian Education 

By Deena Sellers

The Jesuit Schools Network Colloquium was held on the campus of Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio, from June 20-24. This week-long event brought together representatives from Jesuit high schools, middle schools, and Nativity schools throughout the continental United States, Canada, and Australia. Colloquial gatherings take place every four years, with Xavier sending a delegation of nine members to participate.

This colloquium’s focus was on the Four Cs that Superior General Adolfo Nicolas, S.J. helped to define, as taken from Fr. Kolvenbach’s Letter Regarding the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm in 1993. There, Fr. Kolvenbach's message was to form “men and women of competence, conscience, and compassionate commitment.” Fr. Nicolas states that these Four Cs are terms that express the “human excellence” that the Society of Jesus wants for the youth who greater society has entrusted to us. Each day during the Colloquium, the keynote addresses and each Ignatian Educator Fair session spoke to these Four C’s that we see in our world, use to share our worlds, relate and connect to a wider world, and fearlessly enter a new world where we teach, learn, love, and understand.

This being my first Colloquium, I really didn't know what to expect outside of what usually happens at a similar conference I had been to before. But I was happily surprised to find that this was so much more. The group of people I met, shared, learned from, and laughed with every day was dynamic, passionate, highly intelligent, and ever gracious, and I was bursting with pride to share the connection of Jesuit education with them all. It truly reaffirmed my commitment to being an Ignatian educator, my Catholic faith, and the profession I have chosen. The experience was remarkable and priceless, and I will take the lessons I learned with me always.