North Central Committee to Study the Foundational Documents 2003

Ideas from the SLUH Community




from Dr. Schenkenberg

Hi, Matt, Tom, Thom, and Rich,
I just read the mission statement and here are my initial thoughts:
1) The fact that there is no mention of the Jesuit (or Catholic) nature of SLUH seems a big change. Was that intentional? If so, I would be interested in hearing your thinking on making that change.
2) There is a big difference between "Seeking young men who reflect economic, geographic, and social diversity" and "Challenging a diverse group." The last mission statement seemed to take great pains to make a statement that we are seeking diversity. Has that changed?
3) The opening sentence certainly emphasizes SLUH's giftedness, rigor, and excellence--It seems there's just a touch of the SLUH arrogance here. Will our gifted students be able to learn in anything other than a rigorous environment?
I like the pledge, seek, and challenge structure of the statement, and agree with challenging"personal competence" as a goal.
Thanks for all your thoughtfulness and effort. I know how difficult such work is.
Mary S.


from Rob Garavaglia

During the Freshman prayer when I listened to the two Seniors describe what is a "Man-for-others," I felt frustrated because I have a need for SLUH to educate our form our students to be "men-for & with-others. In your committee would you be willing to use the attached documents to investigate how SLUH does and does not fulfill its primary objective to form men for & with others.

Thanks,
Rob

Today our prime educational objective must be to form men-for-others; men who live not for themselves but for God and his Christ--for the God-man who lived and died for all the world; men who cannot even conceive of love of God which does not include love for the least of their neighbors; men completely convinced that love of God which does not issue in justice is a farce.
Fr. Pedro Arrupe, S.J., Former Superior General of the Society of Jesus

Pedro Arrupe, S.J.
taken from �Men for others�


What does it mean to be a person- for & with-others?

Love the driving force No; evil is overcome only by good, hate by love, egoism by generosity. It is thus that we must sow justice in our world. To be just, it is not enough to refrain from injustice. One must go further and refuse to play its game, substituting love for self-interest as the driving force of society. All this sounds very nice, you will say, but isn't it just a little bit up in the air? Very well, let us get down to cases. How do we get this principle of justice through love down to the level of reality, the reality of our daily lives? By cultivating in ourselves three attitudes:
  • What is the difference between charity and justice?
    a) Live more simply First, a firm determination to live much more simply - as individuals, as families, as social groups - and in this way to stop short, or at least to slow down, the expanding spiral of luxurious living and social competition. Let us have men and women who will resolutely set themselves against the tide of our consumer society. Men and women who, instead of feeling compelled to acquire everything that their friends have will do away with many of the luxuries which in their social set have become necessities, but which the majority of mankind must do without. And if this produces surplus income, well and good; let it be given to those for whom the necessities of life are still luxuries beyond their reach.
  • In what ways are you compelled to acquire things?
    b) No unjust profit Second, a firm determination to draw no profit whatever from clearly unjust sources. Not only that, but going further, to diminish progressively our share in the benefits of an economic and social system in which the regards of production accrue to those already rich, while the cost of production lies heavily on the poor. Let there be men and women who will bend their energies not to strengthen positions of privilege, but, to the extent possible, reduce privilege in favor of the underprivileged. Please do not conclude too hastily that this does not pertain to you - that you do not belong to the privileged few in your society. It touches everyone of a certain social position, even though only in certain respects, and even if we ourselves may be the victims of unjust discrimination by those who are even better off than ourselves. In this matter, our basic point of reference must be the truly poor, the truly marginalized, in our own countries and in the Third World.
  • In what ways do you benefit from unjust structures?
    c) Change unjust structures Third, and most difficult: a firm resolve to be agents of change in society; not merely resisting unjust structures and arrangements, but actively undertaking to reform them. For, if we set out to reduce income in so far as it is derived from participation in unjust structures, we will find out soon enough that we are faced with an impossible task unless those very structures are changed.
What steps can you take to reform society?

Rob sent this quote from Very Rev. Peter-Hans Kolvenbach Superior General, Society of Jesus (1983- present)

"I'm convinced that in 400 years of history our educational institutions have had as their sole end the commitment to make the human city a more just one for the Lord's sake . . . When we Jesuits declare that today we are called to promote justice and to live the option for the poor, we aren't formulating a new response . . . there is always the urgent need to renew social structures by actuating the new creation offered us by Jesus Christ who was himself committed to justice, to reconciliation, to truth, to the needs of the poor .. . Indeed, the concern for justice is no new element in our educational activity."


from Eleanor McCarthy

"We are committed to making Jesus Christ the center of our lives."

I also wonder if the statement further down on the mission statement "we strive to educated talented young men"............does this sound elitist? Could we say something else here?

We seek to educate young men to follow Jesus Christ in the 21st century. Our methods of teaching reflect the principles and philosophy of St. Ignatius Loyola. We strive to teach our students how to think critically and to develop a compassionate heart.



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