The Catholic University as a Social Project: Reflections on Jesuit and Catholic Higher Education

A vision for Jesuit institutions for a just future rooted in faith and adaptable to change

The mission of the Society of Jesus―its gift to the Church, its charism―has been expressed for 450 years through its sustained commitment to the education of young people. This mission, which promotes character formation and academic excellence, continues to this day in hundreds of Jesuit institutions worldwide, at all levels of education. This commitment to developing leaders for civic, private, and ecclesial institutions has required a continuous discernment process characterized by reflection and engaged in by the Society of Jesus's leadership and its many collaborators.

The Catholic University as a Social Project presents a collection of essays that reflect on an address given by Arturo Sosa, SJ, the current superior general of the Society of Jesus. In this address, which opens the book, Sosa advocates that Jesuit institutions meet the challenges of our times through the Ignatian practice of discernment―a commitment to reflection, innovation, and openness to the new. Presented after Sosa's address, the book's contributions explore themes such as intergenerational collaboration, intercultural dialogue, and the enduring relevance of Jesuit spiritual principles in tackling contemporary challenges. This volume highlights the tension between tradition and transformation, calling on Jesuit institutions to approach the future with clear eyes on the world's problems, inadequacies, and injustices, along with a clear sense of a responsibility to work toward a better world.

This book will interest senior leadership, faculty, administrators, and trustees at Jesuit universities and colleges. Readers eager to cultivate their own hope as they embrace the vocation of serving the common good will find in Sosa's address and the accompanying essays a source of wisdom and an invitation to generative reflection and action.

Michael J. Garanzini, SJ, is former president of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities. He served as president of Loyola University Chicago from 2001 to 2015.

James P. McCartin joined Fordham University's Theology Department and its Center on Religion and Culture in 2011. He previously taught in the History Department at Seton Hall University. He is the author of Prayers of the Faithful: The Shifting Spiritual Life of American Catholics.