Archive for the ‘High School’ Category

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.”

Jesuit Father Martin Connell, of the Chicago-Detroit Province, is currently visiting the United States to discuss the Jesuits’ successful efforts in opening a new high school in Tanzania.

Fr. Connell left his faculty position in the School of Education at Loyola Marymount University in March 2009 to help open St. Peter Claver High School in Dodoma, Tanzania. The Jesuit boarding school opened in January 2011 with Connell as headmaster, and it currently serves 140 boys and girls in their first year of secondary school.

“We’re here because it’s a poor region that’s been underserved by education,” said Connell.

Connell’s primary mission is to help Tanzanians “build capacity” by establishing a strong educational system. He said the notion of building capacity is a fundamental value of the democratic way of life.

“St. Peter Claver High School will cultivate these democratic ideals, which in fact dovetail with Jesuit values,” Connell said. “Students will be encouraged to build their capacity as individuals, always with an eye to how this positively affects their fellow citizens to the greater glory of God.”

For more information on Connell and his U.S. visit, go to the Chicago-Detroit Province website.

Jesuits in Eastern Africa – St. Peter Claver High School from Midwest Jesuits on Vimeo.

Jesuit Father John Swope has found that as  founding president of Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Baltimore his life now revolves around finding Christ in Baltimore, one of the most violent cities in the United States.

“I see the daily crime summaries in the newspaper and the stories on local TV news that attest to the crisis in the neighborhoods of beloved Baltimore,” Fr. Swope wrote. “At the same time, I see business leaders, politicians, community organizers, faith-based social service providers and individuals standing up to be catalysts of hope in those same neighborhoods.”

Cristo Rey Jesuit opened in 2007 and will graduate its first class this June. Swope wrote on this milestone: “The Class of 2011 has worked for justice and peace in our neighborhoods, succeeded academically, cried and laughed together, been the first in their families to be accepted into college and are dreaming of creating a far better world.”

Read more of Swope’s reflections on his apostolic work.