A Global Partnership Initiative of the Jesuit Schools Network
Dear Global Companions:
In 2019, the Secretariat of Education Global Taskforce defined global citizens from an Ignatian perspective: "Global Citizens are those who continuously seek to deepen their awareness of their place and responsibility in an increasingly interconnected world, both locally and globally; those who stand in solidarity with others in the pursuit of a sustainable earth and a more humane world as true companions in the mission of reconciliation and justice." The UAPs help guide us on this mission of reconciliation and justice while definitions and practical, on-the-ground examples from all of you, help us to operationalize the work in our schools and classrooms.

This issue is a beautiful showcase of that process, opening with a very moving article and video clip from St. Paul’s High School for Canada’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. It continues with manifestations of Caring for our Common Home, Walking with the Excluded, Journeying with Youth, and Showing the Way to God. All four UAPs are present and glorified in these October Hemispheres’ articles. 

Thank you for your continued brilliant effort of putting words into action. Thank you for this work that transforms not only our students and school communities, but also ourselves. 
"To act as a universal body with a universal mission" GC35, D.2 #20
Catharine Steffens
Director of Global Partnerships and Initiatives
Jesuit Schools Network
NATIONAL DAY FOR TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION
By Stacy Dainard from St. Paul's High School in Winnipeg, MB
Canada’s colonial history with Indigenous people became globally apparent when the remains of 215 school children were discovered in unmarked graves on the grounds of the former Kamloops Residential School on May 31, 2021. Sadly, since that day, more unmarked graves have been discovered at former school sites in many parts of Canada and Canadians have become much more aware of the thousands of children, including my wife’s relatives buried on the grounds of the former Brandon Residential School, who never made it home from these schools.

While these discoveries were shocking to many in the non-Indigenous community, they reinforced what survivors of Residential Schools and their children have been saying for years. Namely, that the conditions these schools operated under were deplorable; children became sick, died, or went missing at alarming rates while the Canadian government and Canada’s churches (Anglican, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic and United) ran these schools.

Canada’s Residential School system did not seek to educate but to assimilate. More than 150,000 children attended these schools; many thousands died, and many, many families were forever changed by the damage these schools did. Former Senator Murray Sinclair, Chair of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (which operated from 2008-2015), has repeatedly said that with approximately seven generations of children going through these schools it will take at least seven generations for Canada to fix things. One of the key components of “fixing things” is education.

Orange Shirt Day has been growing in recognition across Canada, especially in schools, since 2013. On June 3, 2021 the Canadian government declared September 30, 2021 the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. In some parts of Canada school systems further declared September 27 – October 1 of this year to be Truth and Reconciliation Week. Here at St. Paul’s High School, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, we recognized Truth and Reconciliation Week with a series of events and activities organized by a number of talented students along with a school assembly on September 29 where I was asked to speak to the school community. We held the assembly on the 29th because September 30 was a Manitoba-wide school holiday as "a way to encourage reflection and meaningful discussions about the impacts of residential schools."

It was with the ideals of "reflection and meaningful discussion" in mind that I spoke about an issue that each and every person listening at St. Paul’s High School that day could directly relate to. While much of what is discussed around Truth and Reconciliation happened in the past, elements of institutional racism are current and ongoing. In Canada’s 2021 federal election, the incumbent Liberal government was criticized for an ongoing crisis in Indigenous communities that, if it occurred in non-Indigenous communities, would have been dealt with a long time ago. Specifically, the issue that was raised in the election was the lack of access to clean, safe drinking water. On September 29, with much help from a family friend, Sharon Redsky, a member of Shoal Lake 40 First Nation, I shared the story—both past and present—of Winnipeg’s water supply as an example of the ongoing marginalization of Canada’s Indigenous people.

St. Paul’s High School is located on Treaty One territory, the original lands of the Anishinaabeg, Cree, Dakota and Dene peoples, and the homeland of the Métis Nation.
 
St. Paul’s High School is committed to a respectful promotion of reconciliation and collaboration with all Indigenous and Non-Indigenous communities.
CARING FOR OUR COMMON HOME THROUGH INDIGENOUS ACTIVISM
Indigenous cultures for centuries have placed care for our common home at the center of their faith traditions. With the publication of the Universal Apostolic Preferences, all Jesuit institutions have been called to become better stewards of our environment. Frankly, we have a lot of catching up to do with our indigenous brothers and sisters whose faith has long been leading the way. We must partner with indigenous communities as we move forward in ministry that addresses the environmental crisis. So what does that look like? The answer is to build relationships and elevate voices.
 
Within our own schools we undoubtedly have Indigenous students. Do they have opportunities to share their culture and develop their identity in affinity spaces at your school? Providing these opportunities at Brophy College Preparatory has led to incredible results. Every student with tribal affiliation at our school (and our sister school) is engaged in Brophy Native American Club, which over the past year has become not only a space where students feel comfortable in their own identity, but has also become our school’s most effective political advocacy group. Through our students we have partnered with local native communities to fight alongside them for ecological justice. The journey has involved long prayer runs, firelit ceremonies, news interviews and meetings with Washington politicians. At the core of all this work has been the elevation of Indigenous students, both on campus and in the surrounding community.
 
To learn more about what BNAC advocacy looks like and what we are fighting for check out these resources:
TRUTH AND HEALING COMMISSION ON U.S. INDIGENOUS BOARDING SCHOOL POLICY
"Every child matters," reads Rosella Kinoshameg's fluorescent orange tee-shirt. The shirt is part of a national movement to recognize the harmful history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada. Rosella's shirt commemorates the thousands of children who were compelled to attend these schools, where practicing Indigenous cultures or languages was forbidden in an effort to assimilate children into white culture.

In a recent AMDG podcast, Rosella discusses how residential schools impacted her family. The U.S. is looking at this history, too. On a previous episode of AMDG, Maka Black Elk digs into the history of Red Cloud Indian School and his current efforts to facilitate a truth and healing process at the school.

U.S. Congress is currently considering a bill that would create a Truth and Healing Commission on U.S. Indigenous boarding school policy. The Jesuits, alongside six other faith groups that formerly ran boarding schools for Indigenous students, have endorsed this legislation. You can support the commission here.

BUILDING BRIDGES THROUGH GLOBAL EDUCATION
As Ignatian educators, we seek to educate students to live out their Christian faith in service and solidarity with the marginalized and oppressed, not only in their own communities, but also throughout the world. As a Spanish teacher at a Jesuit high school, I often reflect on how to practice this mission amid our daily routine and curriculum requirements. I want my students to know that speaking Spanish is not just a marketable skill or an area of study, but a gift that can build bridges across cultures and foster understanding and empathy. The Global Citizenship Education initiatives sponsored by Magis Americas have greatly helped facilitate this mission.
It is often easy for students in the U.S., especially those who come from middle-class suburban backgrounds, to assume that their way of life is the norm throughout the world, but through global education programs, my students have learned firsthand that many students around the world lack access to the opportunities that they take for granted. This was especially true with access to educational opportunities.
Magis Americas’ La Silla Roja campaign enables students in all my classes to learn about educational inequities faced by young people around the world without leaving our classroom and still grow in empathy and solidarity, fostering intercultural exchanges. 

At Jesuit High School in Tampa in 2021 we are expanding the La Silla Roja campaign to more grade levels and are planning an all-school awareness-raising campaign. It is my hope that Magis America’s Global Citizenship Education programs, whether they take place abroad or at home, encourage our students to reflect on the meaning of education and seek ways to ensure educational equity for all students.
THE NEW ECOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK AND ITS ACTION POSTER ARE NOW AVAILABLE IN SPANISH AND INTERACTIVE VERSIONS
The practical, action and reflection-oriented Ecological Framework is now available both in English and in Spanish. This resource offers an Ignatian vision of caring for our common home for the various stakeholders within our school communities, and the action poster which can also be downloaded in English or in Spanish summarizes practical actions which the different stakeholders in our school communities can take.
As well as the PDFs, Educate Magis now also has the Ecological Framework in an interactive online format. Based on the designs of Healing Earth and A Living Tradition, this version allows easy navigation through the different sections of the Framework as well as the opportunity to leave comments and reflections for other educators from the global community to read and respond to.
FORDHAM PREP PLANS TO BECOME A ZERO-WASTE SCHOOL BY 2024

The school established a committee focused on environmental sustainability in 2019, and soon after adopted the “EcoRam” as their official mascot. The committee worked hard throughout that first year and continued to brainstorm ways to make the school more environmentally friendly amidst the pandemic and hybrid learning structure.

Now that all students and staff have returned to in-person classes, Fordham Prep is implementing a variety of changes as part of their Green Initiative. The initiative aims to move the school toward zero waste, which is a goal they hope to accomplish by 2024.

One major change that students will have to adjust to is using reusable water bottles. Reusable water bottles supplied by Fordham Prep feature a green EcoRam logo.

The school no longer sells bottled water from its vending machines. Instead, all students were supplied with a reusable water bottle, which sports the EcoRam logo and Fordham Prep branding, during orientation for the new school year. Water bottles can be refilled throughout the building at hands-free water filling stations, which dispense chilled H₂O. In the next few years, the school plans to eliminate bottles completely with refill stations for soft drinks and compostable refill cups. 

In addition, classrooms, office areas, and common spaces throughout the building are now equipped with special recycling bins for paper, empty plastic bottles and cans, and a third for regular trash. Bins in the area where students eat lunch and the faculty lounge include receptacles for compost as well.

Fordham Prep’s Green Initiative plans to go beyond reusing and recycling. They are eager to find additional ways to utilize their fourth-floor greenhouse, as well as implement other initiatives related to energy and building operations.

The school is looking forward to collaborating with students, faculty and staff to continue finding new ways to be more sustainable.
#jesuitschools spotlight
Tag your social media posts with #jesuitschools and share your global journeys in & out of the classroom.

This month's spotlight is on Cappy Russell, who invites participants from across the network to join his #JRSMiles4Refugees team!
Programs, events and initiatives
IT'S NOT TOO LATE TO REGISTER FOR #JRSMILES4REFUGEES!
Join JRS/USA in raising awareness for and expressing solidarity with refugees by participating in this 30-day challenge to reach 50 miles. The challenge started on Friday, October 15 and goes until November 14, 2021, which is JRS Day. As a collective whole, we hope to reach 20,000 miles by JRS Day.

  • Registration is free. We ask participants to set a fundraising goal, but there is no obligation.
  • You can join at any point during the 30 days of the challenge.
  • Schools can create a team for this challenge! For some school communities, this might be a great event to organize around.
  • Special shout to representatives from Bellarmine College Prep, Seattle Prep, and Fordham Prep for starting teams as part of this challenge.

Contact Josh Utter with any questions.
INTEREST CHECK: IGNATIAN PILGRIMAGE 2022
Interest is being gauged for a ten-day walking pilgrimage in Spain led by Fr. Jose Luis Iriberri, S.J. in the spring or summer of 2022. The Ignatian Pilgrimage starts at the home of St. Ignatius in Azpetia and ends at Manresa and Barcelona.

To express your interest, or to receive a detailed itinerary as well as possible dates for the pilgrimage, please send contact Bill Haardt.
THE WORLD THAT CHRIST DESIRES
This Ignatian Year, students from Jesuit schools worldwide are invited to participate in a global reflective and creative activity: The World that Christ Desires, a global project inspired by Ignatius co-creating with Christ. The project has 4 steps: Context, Experience, Reflection and Sharing, and Creative Action. This is an in-depth, prayerful, reflective experience that introduces students briefly to the story of Ignatius of Loyola, focusing especially on his experience of conversion and change of perspective.

Some artwork has already been uploaded! We are gathering students' creative work until the end of October 2021. The virtual global art exhibition, “The World that Christ Desires,” showcasing the students’ creative work, will open to our global community on November 5th (All Saints of the Society of Jesus). 
IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA: FINDING GOD IN ALL THINGS
For the Ignatian Year, the European Low Countries (ELC: North Belgium and the Netherlands) created this video about St. Ignatius. For the language teachers out there, it is available in 12 languages!
A closing prayer...
Click the prayer card below to pray the Official Ignatian Year Prayer. If you would like to pray in a language other than English, the prayer has been translated into an additional six languages.
The Jesuit Schools Network promotes the educational ministry of the Society of Jesus in service to the Catholic Church by strengthening Jesuit schools for the mission of Jesus Christ.