Archive for the ‘High School’ Category

Jesuit Father T.J. Martinez, the founding president of Cristo Rey Jesuit College Preparatory School of Houston, recently had an op-ed piece published in the Houston Chronicle, touting the Society of Jesus’ innovative Cristo Rey educational model. In the piece, Fr. Martinez suggests that the Cristo Rey model offers families a way to take the legislators out of his state’s educational dilemma.

“Rather than looking to Austin — or to any state or federal support in general — the bills are paid through a college prep program that integrates a paying job as part of the students’ weekly curriculum,” writes Martinez.

Students at Cristo Rey schools work one day a week at a corporation doing entry-level white-collar jobs, with their salaries going toward tuition.

Martinez cites the fact that the Texas legislature has cut funds for public schools; meanwhile the state ranks low in SAT scores, teacher salaries and senior graduation rates.

Martinez notes that the Cristo Rey network has been operating for more than 15 years and boasts a 99 percent college acceptance rate. ”This program is a proven success, offering a hand up rather than a hand out,” he writes.

Read the full article by Martinez at the Houston Chronicle.

Jesuit Father Hernan Paredes spent last year teaching religion at Loyola School in Manhattan after seven years of parish ministry in the New York metropolitan area.

Fr. Paredes said that he was comfortable with his pastoral ministry at two Jesuit parishes, but that “my vocation within the Jesuit vocation, has been teaching high school kids.”

However, coming to Loyola did present some challenges, such as replacing a Jesuit teacher who devoted 23 years of ministry to Loyola and teaching in a coed school for the first time.

Despite the challenges, he writes, “I can say that coming back to teach has been a blessing.”

“To be the only Hispanic male on the faculty, as well as a Jesuit priest, has some advantages when I teach any subject,” Paredes writes. “I encourage my students to open their eyes and see that a different world is possible. I am impressed to see that very often my students relate their experiences to the social teaching of our Catholic faith.”

Paredes writes, “A Jesuit has to be able to engage in any ministry, moving from serving old folks to young ones, from the poor to the upper class, and in so doing fulfill the will of God.”

For more reflections from Paredes, visit the Maryland, New England and New York Provinces Jesuit Vocations website.

Jesuit Dennis Baker at Xavier High School in New York City.

Regency is a time in Jesuit formation that occurs after First Studies and just prior to the formal study of theology, affording each Jesuit an opportunity to work in an apostolic area.

Jesuit Dennis Baker, of the New York Province, teaches at Xavier High School in New York City for his regency and said that Xavier High “is, quite literally, changing my life.”

“The students provide a context for me to work out what my own particular vocation means for me and to the world,” said Baker. “They constantly teach me about what it means to be a Jesuit and, in ways they cannot fathom, they instruct me on what kind of priest they want to see me become one day.”

Baker taught at a Jesuit high school before he entered the Society, but doing this work as a Jesuit scholastic is something completely different. “For reasons that often make me shake my head in utter disbelief, this work — and doing it in this particular way as a Jesuit — suits me better than I ever could have imagined.”

Jesuit Ben Brenkert, also of the New York Province, is spending his regency as a teacher, guidance counselor and social worker at St. Peter’s Prep in Jersey City.

For Brenkert, the magis takes on a new meaning in regency to include the search for the quality, excellence and mastery of a craft and the freer and more personal service of others.

“To be a successful regent,” he said, “I believe that my love for my students must pour forth, flowing from my prayer and from my participation in the sacraments.”

Read more about Jesuits’ regency experiences in Jesuits magazine.

Jesuit Father Bruce Bidinger

It’s probably not too surprising that a Catholic order conceived in the aftermath of battle, one which has always seasoned its intellectual and spiritual fervor with a healthy respect for physical strength, has become the principal force behind the growth of American rugby.

So many Jesuit high schools and colleges are playing and succeeding at the rugged and increasingly popular sport that it seems as if the 477-year-old religious order, founded by a converted Spanish soldier, Ignatius of Loyola, has added rugby devotion to its vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.

“The whole idea of what Ignatius inspired in Jesuits, a competitive spirit and the development of the whole person, is really alive in the sport,” said the Jesuit Father Bruce Bidinger, a counselor at St. Joseph’s University and the chaplain for its basketball team.

The traditional game, with 15 players on each side, and the hybrid “sevens” version, with seven players per side, of the sport are experiencing an American boom, nowhere more so than at the 80-plus Jesuit high schools and colleges from coast to coast.

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Jesuit Father Stephen Planning has been selected as the 36th president of Gonzaga College High School in Washington, D.C. He will assume the position July 1, and he succeeds Jesuit Father Joseph Lingan, who assumed the presidency following the death of Jesuit Father Allen Novotny last October.

Fr. Planning, a Maryland Province Jesuit, most recently served eight years as the founding president of Arrupe Jesuit High School in Denver. Prior to his service at Arrupe, he served as assistant principal of Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Chicago for three years. He has also taught English and religious studies in Jesuit high schools in the United States and in Chile.

“Gonzaga has a tremendous reputation for outstanding academics, competitive sportsmanship and strong Jesuit values,” said Planning.  “It will be a privilege to serve as the president of such an extraordinary school community.”