Page 90 - Gonzaga at 60
P. 90
veneer, was a radical interior personal formaion
and transformaion. Few of my contemporaries
either in Gonzaga or Belvedere would claim
to have been personally unafected by their
experience of Jesuit educaion. Most would
tesify to its profound personal inluence which
launched one illed with graitude, conidently
and purposefully into adult life.
Based on the Raio Studiorum of 1599, the
Jesuit ‘system’ encouraged pupils to respect knowledge as an end, rather than merely a means.
It enabled students not just to learn ‘stuf’ and to do so excellently, but to learn how to learn.
It enabled pupils to become autonomous as learners and to criique their own learning. This
‘second order’ thinking, or relecive analysis of the learning process, has ofered a considerable
value-added dimension to Jesuit educaion. It was paricularly well-developed in Gonzaga,
especially in the experimental early years.
But the fond expectaions of the early years are no longer being realised and soon there
will be few if any Jesuits in our schools. Will the Jesuit vision and ‘way’ then just diminish and
dissipate, leaving a forlorn and long-past understood AMDG over a secular school door? Not
necessarily?
As the number of teaching Jesuits has declined, much thought and efort have been invested
into discovering the themaic basis and source of what consitutes the two key elements of
Jesuit educaion and Ignaian ethos.
Concerning educaion; the Raio Studiorum was replaced in 1987 by the Characterisics of
Jesuit Educaion. These ariculate ten dimensions of the Jesuit educaional endeavour arising
from the spirituality of St Ignaius of Loyola. Provided that Teachers in Jesuit schools retain
the interest in the methodology of Jesuit educaion and the Ignaian spirituality from which it
emerges, Jesuit schools and educaion can coninue to be true to their vision, values and source.
Both in the former Prep. School and laterly in the ‘Senior’ school, my own area of ethos
interest has speciically been Faith Formaion. This obviously comprises the development and
delivery of efecive Religious Educaion courses, as well as various Retreat programmes for
Pupils and Staf.
There is also a wider Irish Jesuit Province dimension through helping in the provision of In
Service courses in Ignaian Spirituality and Pedagogy for Teachers in the other Jesuit schools.
In the realm of Faith formaion, the gap between aspiraion and actuality can, of course, be
yawning. At least in Gonzaga we strive to deliver not just informaion concerning ‘the’ faith, but
also a rich faith experience.
The Sixth year enjoy a retreat menu ranging from the elaborate ive course repast of a
Monasic retreat over four days or a Young Adult retreat of similar length, to a more fast food type
and transformaion. Few of my contemporaries
either in Gonzaga or Belvedere would claim
to have been personally unafected by their
experience of Jesuit educaion. Most would
tesify to its profound personal inluence which
launched one illed with graitude, conidently
and purposefully into adult life.
Based on the Raio Studiorum of 1599, the
Jesuit ‘system’ encouraged pupils to respect knowledge as an end, rather than merely a means.
It enabled students not just to learn ‘stuf’ and to do so excellently, but to learn how to learn.
It enabled pupils to become autonomous as learners and to criique their own learning. This
‘second order’ thinking, or relecive analysis of the learning process, has ofered a considerable
value-added dimension to Jesuit educaion. It was paricularly well-developed in Gonzaga,
especially in the experimental early years.
But the fond expectaions of the early years are no longer being realised and soon there
will be few if any Jesuits in our schools. Will the Jesuit vision and ‘way’ then just diminish and
dissipate, leaving a forlorn and long-past understood AMDG over a secular school door? Not
necessarily?
As the number of teaching Jesuits has declined, much thought and efort have been invested
into discovering the themaic basis and source of what consitutes the two key elements of
Jesuit educaion and Ignaian ethos.
Concerning educaion; the Raio Studiorum was replaced in 1987 by the Characterisics of
Jesuit Educaion. These ariculate ten dimensions of the Jesuit educaional endeavour arising
from the spirituality of St Ignaius of Loyola. Provided that Teachers in Jesuit schools retain
the interest in the methodology of Jesuit educaion and the Ignaian spirituality from which it
emerges, Jesuit schools and educaion can coninue to be true to their vision, values and source.
Both in the former Prep. School and laterly in the ‘Senior’ school, my own area of ethos
interest has speciically been Faith Formaion. This obviously comprises the development and
delivery of efecive Religious Educaion courses, as well as various Retreat programmes for
Pupils and Staf.
There is also a wider Irish Jesuit Province dimension through helping in the provision of In
Service courses in Ignaian Spirituality and Pedagogy for Teachers in the other Jesuit schools.
In the realm of Faith formaion, the gap between aspiraion and actuality can, of course, be
yawning. At least in Gonzaga we strive to deliver not just informaion concerning ‘the’ faith, but
also a rich faith experience.
The Sixth year enjoy a retreat menu ranging from the elaborate ive course repast of a
Monasic retreat over four days or a Young Adult retreat of similar length, to a more fast food type
