“Jesuit High School, in its mission as a Catholic, Jesuit, college preparatory school, labors to form men engaged in the world who are dedicated to serving God by being open to growth, intellectually competent, religious, loving, caring, and just.”
Our mission statement affirms that Jesuit High School strives to instill in our students a higher vision of human purpose. The Jesuits, as a priestly religious order of the Catholic Church, have been dedicated to this educational mission for 460 years. During this past year, Pope Benedict sought to foster a renewal of the Catholic priesthood by celebrating the Year of the Priest. The Pope held up for all the faithful and for all priests the dignity and importance of the priceless gift God has given us in the priesthood.
What is the priesthood and how does it impact what we do at Jesuit High School? It is the visible, here-and-now sign of the sacrifice of Christ. As an alter Christus, another Christ, each priest is called to be, like Christ, a sign of contradiction, particularly contradiction of false values and of all that leads man away from God and away from that higher vision of human purpose.
Jesuit schools offer a formation of mind and heart that prepares our students to be counter-signs to false values. After all, man is created not for himself, but for God. As Saint Ignatius put it, “Man is created to praise, reverence, and serve God our Lord and by this means to save his soul.” Everything we do and teach at Jesuit is meant to reinforce and deepen this truth about human destiny. That is why even school activities that seem non-religious can lead us to God.
But beyond “secular” activities like math class or football or robotics, there is a great deal of explicit religious formation that goes on, formation that shapes the minds and hearts of our students to help them become men “engaged in the world and dedicated to serving God.” A few examples:
At Jesuit, we are not content with something vaguely called “daily chapel.” We begin each day in convocation, “gathered together” to give due praise to God, to entrust all our “hopes, joys, and sufferings” of the day to the Father in heaven who personally loves us and cares for us as individuals.
Our regular school Masses, and Masses for special occasions, are not moments of religious entertainment or time for a little dose of “spirituality-lite.” When we celebrate Mass, we turn to the Lord and offer the perfect sacrifice of praise. The veil between heaven and earth is removed and we who participate become more deeply who we are and what we receive, Christ’s very Body on earth, right here on Himes Avenue.
Community service at Jesuit is not an activity we undertake to soothe our guilt or to remind us of “how good we have it.” It is truly Christian service, practical love of our brothers and sisters in need, a love shaped into the form of love shown on the Cross, the sacrificial love by which we were first loved by Jesus.
As you can see, Jesuit education aims to provide our students a foundation of moral strength. This foundation, in truth, is the key that unlocks the treasures of the “Jesuit experience” for every generation.