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Ignatian Year Podcast

Welcome to This Ignatian Year, a series of conversations hosted by Seán Bray, former Assistant Vice President for Mission and Dr. Paola Pascual-Ferrá, Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at Loyola University Maryland.

Episode 9: Ignatius' Legacy and the Mission of Jesuit Higher Education

In our last episode, we enter into conversation with Dr. Afra Hersi, Dean of the School of Education and a Professor in Literacy Teacher Education at Loyola University Maryland. Dr. Hersi has 30 years of experience in education and was recently named one of 20 Impact Academy fellows through the Deans for Impact organization.

As we close the Ignatian Year, we wanted to dedicate this episode to one of Ignatius' most important legacies: education as a way to serve God and others. Some of our questions to Dr. Hersi included "What is the role of Jesuit education in healing and recovery from the challenges that people and society at large continue to face?" and "How are Jesuit higher education institutions being called to live out our mission moving forward?"

This Ignatian Year has been a great journey for us, and we are so grateful for all the graces that we have received and to everyone who has given us of their time and generosity to make this podcast possible. Specifically, we would like to thank our guest speakers, Fr. Timothy Brown, S.J., Dr. June Ellis, Dr. Cheryl Moore-Thomas, Rev. Scott Adams, President Terrence Sawyer, Dr. Kaye Whitehead, Dr. Martin Camper, Dr. Afra Hersi, our friends in Campus Ministry and MarComm for their constant support, and everyone who has taken the time to listen.

You can listen to our episode with Dr. Hersi via SoundCloud or via YouTube here:

Episode 8: Humanities, at the center of a Jesuit Education

In this episode, we speak with Dr. Martin Camper, Director of the Center for the Humanities and Associate Professor of Writing at Loyola University Maryland. Dr. Camper is the author of Arguing Over Texts: The Rhetoric of Interpretation and the recipient of the American Forensic Association's 2020 Daniel Rohrer Memorial Outstanding Research Award for the essay "Enthymematic Free Space: The Efficacy of Anti-Stop-and-Frisk Arguments in the Face of Racial Prejudice," which he co-wrote with a former student Zach Fechter. Dr. Camper is a beloved professor and colleague who keep the intellectual life at Loyola vibrant. In this conversation, we asked Dr. Camper why he chose to teach at a Jesuit university, what is the relationship between the Humanities and the spiritual life, and what are some of the challenges for the Humanities in today's higher education landscape. We hope you enjoy this episode!

To learn more about Dr. Camper and the work of the Center for the Humanities at Loyola University Maryland visit https://www.loyola.edu/department/center-humanities/about

You can listen to it via Soundcloud or watch it via YouTube.

Episode 7: Exploring the Magis

We are excited to share our latest episode of This Ignatian Year, in which we explore the 'Magis' with Dr. Kaye Whitehead, Founding Executive Director of The Karson Institute for Race, Peace & Social Justice and Professor of Communication and African & African American Studies at Loyola University Maryland. Rev. Bryan Massingale has said of the term 'Magis': "it's probably the most subversive concept in the Jesuit lexicon because you can never fully put your arms around it because it’s always going to take you to someplace new." In this conversation, Kaye shows how she lives the Magis in her work and throughout her journey in Catholic, Jesuit higher education. She also shares the impact that Ignatian spirituality has had in her life and work. We hope you enjoy this episode!

You can listen to our seventh episode via Soundcloud or watch it on YouTube.

After listening to our conversation, we invite you to reflect on the following questions:

  1. How do you live the Magis in your own life?
  2. How is anti-racism work a part of your spiritual life?
  3. What do you feel called to do in the work for racial justice? Where (in what parts of your life) could you do more/better?

If you want to dig deeper, here are some resources relevant to our conversation:

  1. The Ignatian "Magis" as an antidote for racism by Patrick Saint-Jean, S.J.
  2. The Spiritual Work of Racial Justice: A Month of Meditations With Ignatius Loyola by Patrick Saint-Jean, S.J.
  3. The Ignatian Witness to Truth in a Climate of Injustice by Rev. Bryan N. Massingale
  4. Letters to My Black Sons: Raising Boys in a Post-Racial America by Dr. Kaye Whitehead.
  5. The Karson Institute for Race, Peace & Social Justice

Wishing much peace and joy to everyone.

Episode 6: Leading With Trust and Love

In this episode we are joined by Terrence M. Sawyer, J.D., Loyola University Maryland's 25th president and first layperson to serve in that capacity. He has been a leader at Loyola for 23 years, assuming increasingly significant responsibilities and advancing strategic priorities that have helped support the growth of the institution. He led the University’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, overseeing the planning and successful reopening and operations of Loyola’s campuses. Given his many years of experience and new responsibilities as president, we had several questions for him including, "How has Ignatian Spirituality informed or shaped your leadership style?" and "What is your hope for the Loyola community during this time?" We hope you enjoy this episode!

You can listen to our sixth episode via SoundCloud or watch it on YouTube (English captioning available).

After listening to our conversation, we invite you to reflect on the following questions:

  1. What came up for you as you were listening to this conversation?
  2. How does the life of St. Ignatius inspire you to lead in your own life?
  3. How do you engage with the Jesuit mission in your own work?
  4. What are your hopes for Loyola (or your own community) at this time?

If you want to dig deeper, here are some resources relevant to our conversation:

Episode 5: Let Us Break Bread Together (Interfaith Action in the Beloved Community)

In this episode we are joined by Rev. Scott Adams, Assistant Director for Interfaith and Ecumenical Ministries at Loyola University Maryland. He leads the university’s interfaith initiatives towards cultivating safe and empowering spaces of faith, educating the community around religious diversity, and acts as liaison between the university and faith communities in greater Baltimore. He also serves as the Senior Pastor of Heritage United Church of Christ, where he is committed to the mission of love, justice, liberation, and peace. Rev. Scott works every day with and for others to help bring about Dr. King's vision of the Beloved Community. We had the chance to ask him several questions, including, "Why is it important for Jesuit, Catholic higher education institutions to engage in interfaith work?," "What is the role of curiosity?," and "Is justice even possible if it's not interfaith?" We hope you enjoy this episode!

You can listen to our fourth episode via SoundCloud or watch it on YouTube (English captioning available).

Reflect

  1. What came up for you as you were listening to this conversation?
  2. In your life, how has faith shaped your worldview?
  3. By the same token, how have the values and beliefs from others’ faith traditions shaped how you relate with others and your own spiritual growth?
  4. Are there things that hold you back from engaging with others from different faith traditions in a loving and respectful way?
  5. How are you working in your own life to help create Dr. King’s Beloved Community?

Dig Deeper

  1. “ Spiritual Exercises in a Pluralistic World” by William Reiser, S.J.
  2. Ignatian Spirituality and Interreligious Dialogue: Reading Love’s Mystery by Michael Barnes, S.J.(also available via Amazon.com)
  3. Loyola’s annual Hope and Renewal Interfaith Prayer Service (HARPS)

Episode 4: Faith and Imagination (Christmas Episode)

In this episode we are joined by Dr. Cheryl Moore-Thomas, Acting Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Loyola University Maryland. She has served at Loyola as program director, department chair, and then associate dean of the School of Education, as associate vice president for graduate academic affairs and diversity, and as the first chief equity and inclusion officer (CEIO). Dr. Moore-Thomas worked in public education as a classroom teacher, school counselor, and district level administrator before coming into higher education. She is a woman of deep faith who has had to reimagine herself continuously in the many different roles she has been called to serve in and, through those roles, inspire others to imagine all the possibilities as well. We had the chance to ask her several questions, including, "What role have faith and imagination played in your life and in your work in education?" and "How have these helped you reimagine the work of racial justice, equity and inclusion at Loyola as its inaugural CEIO?" This episode is dedicated to the memory of Fr. Gregory Lucey, S.J. who passed away on September 30, 2021 and who taught us that God is in relationship, and that we are loved into being. We hope you enjoy this episode!

You can listen to our fifth episode via Soundcloud or watch it on YouTube below (English captioning available).

Reflect

  1. What came up for you as you were listening to this conversation?
  2. In your life, how are faith and imagination related?
  3. What are the things that hold you back from having the freedom to dream the dream that God has for you?
  4. Who are the people that are partnering with you to imagine your most authentic self?
  5. Similarly, who are you partnering with to help them imagine their most authentic selves?

Dig Deeper

  1. Pray with your imagination by David L. Fleming, S.J. (Ignatian Spirituality)
  2. The Visitation: A Resource for Imaginative Prayer - We invite you to read Luke 1:39-44 and to imagine yourself in that scene. This resource uses the work of artists from around the world as they’ve imagined it. Consider different forms of imaginative prayer.
  3. Imaginative Prayer (Additional resources from The Ignatian Journey)

Episode 3: Cultivating a Hope-Filled Future

In this episode we are joined by Dr. June Ellis, Professor of English and Chair of Loyola University Maryland's Commitment to Justice Committee. She has spent over two decades working and advocating for justice in Jesuit higher education. She is a source of inspiration to many of her colleagues and students and embodies qualities of joy and hope, so necessary in this work. We had the chance to ask her several questions about hope, including, "What does hope mean when we are in the midst of all these very monumental things going on in the world- climate change, mass incarceration, poverty, racism?" and "How do we hold on to and promote hope in our work for justice?" We hope you enjoy this episode!

You can listen to our third episode via SoundCloud or watch it on YouTube (English captioning available)

Reflect

  1. What does hope mean to you in your own life and spiritual practice?
  2. Have there been times when you lost your grip on hope?
  3. How does attachment hinder our ability to hope?
  4. How do we nurture hope amid brokenness?
  5. How can we hold on to and promote hope in our work for justice in the face of increasing demands and taxing circumstances?

Dig Deeper

  1. Statement by Ms. Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner, Civil Society Representative from the Marshall Islands at the opening of the United Nations Climate Summit 2014
  2. Our Sea of Islands (Essay) by Epeli Hauʻofa
  3. Journeying with Youth, one of the four Universal Apostolic Preferences (2019-2029), Society of Jesus

We invite you to take a look at some of our programs focusing on Ignatian Spirituality.

At the end of our conversation, Seán offered the following prayer by SR Ita Ford:

I hope that you come to find that which gives life a deep meaning for you.
Something worth living for — may be even worth dying for –
something that energizes you, enthuses you, enables you to keep moving ahead.
I can’t tell you what that might be – that’s for you to find, to choose, to love.
I can just encourage you to start looking and support you in the search.

Amen.

Episode 2: Walking Together in Prayer

In this episode we are joined by Fr. Tim Brown, S.J., an Associate Professor of Law and Social Responsibility and Director of the Office of Mission Integration at Loyola University Maryland. We asked him several important questions about the role of prayer: Is prayer the place we should enter into our Ignatian Year journey? In the midst of so much suffering going on in the world, what is the role of prayer? How do prayers influence actions? How is prayer tied to friendship, faithfulness, and fidelity?

You can listen to our second episode on SoundCloud or watch it on YouTube (English captioning available).

Reflect

  1. What does it mean to come into this Ignatian Year with a sense of faithfulness? With a sense of hope?
  2. How do we come into this year with appreciation, care, and empathy for each other?
  3. Have you considered saying “Thank You” as the simplest form of prayer?
  4. Was there something in this conversation that was difficult?
  5. What do you need to move forward with hope?
  6. Where is it that God is speaking to you today?

Dig Deeper

Take a look at some of our programs focusing on Ignatian Spirituality (scroll to the bottom of the page).

In closing this episode, Fr. Brown offered us the following blessing:

Go forth in peace.
Have courage.
Hold on to what is good.
Return to no one evil for evil.
Strengthen the fainthearted.
Support the weak.
Help the suffering.

Honor all men and women.
Rejoice in the power of the Holy Spirit;
And may almighty God bless us,
in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Thank you.
Amen

Episode 1: Welcome to this Ignatian Year

In our first episode we talk about what this Ignatian Year means, the healing power of spiritual conversations, and ways in which the life of Saint Ignatius has helped us navigate ‘cannonball moments’ in our own lives.

You can listen to our first episode on SoundCloud or watch it on YouTube (English captioning available).

Reflect

  1. What was the fruit of this conversation for you?
  2. What consoles you from this conversation?
  3. Was there something in this conversation that was difficult?
  4. What do you need to move forward with hope?
  5. Where is it that God is speaking to you today?

Dig Deeper

Here are links to some of the references mentioned in this episode:

In closing, we offer a short prayer adapted from the film “A Limping Pilgrim” by Chamika Nipun, SJ:

Lord, through your mercy, set me free from my illusions
and purify my attachments so that I may experience
true freedom to live.
Amen

Contact Us

General information: 410-617-2222
Email us: campusministry@loyola.edu