Winter 2001

The soul of a Gonzaga education

(Originally published in the Winter 2001 edition of GONZAGA, the alumni publication.)

When I meet with prospective students and their parents, I am frequently asked, "What is distinctive about Jesuit education at Gonzaga?" I have frequently responded by means of a presentation on the "four pillars of Jesuit higher education." Several parents asked me for a copy of this presentation, so I decided to impose it on all of you.
In brief, the four pillars are: 1.) The five major mission areas of Jesuit education; 2.) Academic and professional excellence; 3.) The humanities, and; 4.) A campus atmosphere promoting growth of the whole person through mutual care, concern, and friendship. I will begin my discussion of the first pillar in this issue of the Quarterly and complete the discussion of all four pillars in subsequent issues.

The first pillar concerns the five mission areas which are our raison d'etre: faith, service, justice, ethics, and leadership. Faith, the first mission area, is central and vital because a relationship with the God of Love ushers us into the journey toward everything of ultimate and eternal worth. Human beings distinguish themselves from other members of the known animal kingdom by their desire for the ultimate, the unconditional, the infinite, the eternal, and the perfect in truth, love, goodness, fairness, beauty, and being. Augustine described it well when he stated, "For Thou has made us for Thyself and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee." Inasmuch as human beings are created with transcendental souls desiring fulfillment only through what is infinite, eternal and perfect, then God alone will be able to satisfy ultimately. God's ultimate Truth grounds the intelligibility of all finite truths. God's Love draws to fulfillment the panoply and diversity of all human loves. God's goodness and justice inspires the ideals of justice in human society. And God's beauty awakens the appreciation of beauty in all created things. Why is faith so important? Because when freely entered into, it perfectly and authentically grounds and completes every human longing, aspiration, ideal, and thought. Without faith, we are radically incomplete, not to mention lonely.
At Gonzaga we try to optimize opportunities for not only thinking about God, but seeking and relating to Him. From inquiries in classrooms and Campus Ministry, to the Agape and Ignatian retreat programs, to the multiple liturgies and worship services offered on campus, students, faculty, staff and administrators help one another to a deeper relationship with the God of unconditional love and truth. Frequently these opportunities flow into the residence halls and into every other aspect of campus life.
The second mission area, service, brings to the fore Christ's mandate to love our neighbor, particularly the poor, sorrowing, underprivileged, the neglected and the marginalized. When we help our brothers and sisters in need, something comes alive within us: empathy, compassion, and a sense of meaning and purpose in life. Service awakens within us a spirit, a purpose surging within our nature, and transforms us through humility and compassion into beings capable of deeper love, and therefore, of deeper peace, and joy. This virtue is its own reward, for it bestows the greatest of gifts on us (depth of love) while helping the people around us through the work of our hands.
Gonzaga attempts to maximize opportunities for service through the many programs in its Center for Community Action and Service Learning (CCASL). Students organize over 15,000 hours of community service to those in the Spokane area. New programs are being developed to help college students teach ethics and character development within the high schools and to encourage high school students to serve alongside college-student mentors. In service learning classes, lessons gleaned from service activities are integrated with various academic and professional issues.
The importance of the third mission area, justice, is summarized beautifully by a recent address of Father Peter-Hans Kolvenbach (the General of the Society of Jesus) to delegates of the 28 U.S. Jesuit Colleges and Universities. In closing this address, he uses Pope John Paul II's words in Ex Corde Ecclesiae to state the justice challenge for Catholic higher education:

"The dignity of human life, the promotion of justice for all, the quality of personal and family life, the protection of nature, the search for peace and political stability, a more just sharing in the world's resources, and a new economic and political order that will better serve the human community at a national and international level."

Gonzaga is discussing how to better implement these words both inside and outside the classroom. We are forming a committee to better integrate the pursuit of faith and justice within our community. I will discuss these matters along with the other two mission areas (ethics and leadership) in the next issue of Gonzaga Quarterly. My sincere thanks to all of you who have made this mission impetus possible through your service, generosity, prayers, and above all, through your children.