What is the Ignatian Year?
On May 20, 2021, the Society of Jesus and the Ignatian family will begin the worldwide celebration of the Ignatian Year. On that day, 500 years ago, St Ignatius was wounded by a cannonball while defending Pamplona. For him, it was a major failure and a change of plans in what he envisioned for his future, full of riches and worldly exploits. However, this failure started a process of conversion, which led Ignatius to have bigger dreams, no longer centered on himself, but rather on God. It helped St. Ignatius to see all things new in Christ.
As announced by Father General Arturo Sosa, SJ in a letter announcing the Ignatian Year, we celebrate this year to remind us of the daily opportunity to experience a new conversion and to live a transforming experience. It is a call to allow the Lord to reveal to us a new enthusiasm, interior and apostolic, a new life, new ways of following Christ: "To see all things new in Christ."
The Ignatian Year and the Universal Apostolic Preferences (UAP)
The Ignatian Year invites deep reflections not only on our own cannonball moments, or disruptive setbacks, but also on the four Universal Apostolic Preferences of the Society of Jesus that help us navigate and, on which focused during Ignatian Heritage Week 2021:
- To Show the pathway to God through the Spiritual Exercises and Discernment
- To Walk with the Excluded
- To Journey with Youth Toward a Hope-filled Future
- To Care for Our Common Home
Click for Resources on the Ignatian Year and the UAP
JCU Programs for the Ignatian Year (More to be Added):
Thursday, May 27 at Noon
JCU Fit Launches Spiritual Fitness Program with Office of Mission & Identity
A different Spiritual Fitness Exercise each Third Thursday at Noon throughout the year.
Saturday, June 12, 2021 at TBD
Alumni Reunion Weekend
"St. Ignatius and Dealing with Disruption"
by Ed Hahnenberg, Ph.D
Chair, Theology and Religious Studies and Breen Chair of Systematic Theology
Friday, June 30 12 Noon to 1:30 PM
Feast of St. Ignatius followed by
Community Picnic
Thursday, August 5 at 7:30 PM on Zoom
"Cannonball Moment?: The Conversation of St. Ignatius of Loyola"
A lecture by Paul V. Murphy, Ph.D.,
Green Chair in Catholic Studies and Director of the Institute of Catholic Studies
Offered as part of the JCU Alumni Continuing Education Series (A.C.E.S.)
Click here to register and to receive zoom link.
Fall 2021
Fall book club
The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything by Jim Martin, SJ
Led by Sherri Crahen, Ph.D.
Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students
September 9, 2021 at Noon
Celebrate the Spirit: Engaging the Ignatian Year
Bishop Edward Malesic, Presider and Homilist
Followed by Community Picnic
October 2021
"The Spiritual Exercises as a Pathway to God"
Andrew Cera, SJ and Thomas Pipp, SJ
Sponsored by the Ignatian Spirituality Institute
November 4, 2021
National Black Catholic Month
"Walking with the Excluded and the Anti-Racist Examen"
Mary Wardell Ghirarduzzi, Ph.D
Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at University of the Pacific
Co-sponsored by the Offices of Mission & Identity and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Thursday, February 3, 2022 at 2 PM
Mission Week 2022
International Panel of Students Working for Justice and a Hope-filled Future
Co-sponsored with the IAJU
Friday, March 12, 2022 at Noon
Mass and Campus Luncheon
The 422nd Anniversary of the Canonization of Saints Ignatius and Francis Xavier
Thursday, April 21, 2022 at 7 PM
In honor of Earth Day 2022
"Caring for Our Common Home as a Laudato Si' Campus"
Nancy Tuchman, Ph.D.
Dean, School of Environmental Sustainability
Loyola University Chicago
Co-sponsored by Office of Mission and Identity and The Institute of Catholic Studies
May 22 - June 4, 2022
Ignatian Camino Pilgrimage
JCU Campus Ministry students with Creighton University and Xavier University
July 28, 2022 10:30 am - 12:00 pm
Lecture and Luncheon
Fr. Xavier Jeyaraj, SJ, the Secretary of the Social Justice and Ecological Secretariat of the Society of Jesus, will present, Mining, Indigenous Peoples, and the Environment in Light of the Universal Apostolic Preferences .We hope you can attend in person or virtually.
Registration is required. Please RSVP for the lecture (and luncheon) by clicking here.
July 31, 2022 (Celebrated Friday, July 29, 2022)
Feast of St. Ignatius Mass and Community Picnic
All are welcome to join the JCU community as we celebrate the Feast Day of Saint Ignatius Loyola (July 31st), on Friday, July 29, 2022.
Mass – 12:00pm – Saint Francis Chapel
Rev. Thomas Pipp, S.J., Presiding
Picnic Lunch – 12:45pm - Main Quad
(In case of rain: LSC Conference Room)
Please RSVP for lunch (required) by July 22 here: