“The word frontier is in [the Jesuit] DNA.”
This was how Fr. Michael Garanzini SJ started his plenary speech for the post-conference for Jesuit educational institutions at the International Conference on Educational Frontiers last October 6, 2018 at the Leong Hall Auditorium.
Fr. Garanzini is the Secretary for Higher Education of the Society of Jesus and had also been the President for 14 years of Loyola University Chicago.
According to him, today’s frontiers are no longer geographic the way they were in the time of St. Ignatius when new lands were being discovered. The real frontiers today are anthropological in nature. For him, anthropological frontiers are those areas in human existence where people ask “What does it mean to be, and what does it mean to exist?”
In a world that’s constantly changing, we have to grapple with the question of what it means to be human. In a world where access to technology is dividing the have’s and the have-not’s, the challenge is to see what could unite us together rather than those that seem to further divide us.
In exploring this theme of anthropological frontiers, Fr. Garanzini talks about the importance of teaching discernment and the wisdom found in the humanities. Today we live in a world that is less certain of its moral underpinnings, that is at risk of becoming more intolerant. Moreover, the use of technology needs to be rooted in the deeper wisdom found in the humanities–a defining ingredient in Jesuit education, combining both the practical and liberal arts. In order for Jesuit schools and universities to remain relevant in this day and age, we Ignatian educators need to be faithful to its core and identity.
In order to help concretize these anthropological frontiers, Fr. Garanzini mentions six priority areas of the Society of Jesus for which higher and basic education institutions can have important roles:
- formation of leaders and administrators,
- formation of students for a globalized world,
- inter-religious dialogue,
- economic and environmental justice,
- education for the marginalized, and
- peace and reconciliation
During the open forum, Fr. Garanzini also mentioned the importance of our institutions in bringing together different stakeholders for better dialogue. For Fr. Garanzini, the university is a privileged locus of dialogue, a neutral place where business, civil, and political leaders can gather to dialogue with grassroots communities.
In highlighting the importance of school culture, Fr. Garanzini stressed the value of discernment, diversity, and leadership in society.
The Society of Jesus has often used the word “frontiers” in order to bring God to the peripheries, in order to “help souls.” Today, the frontiers we educators face are not geographic or cultural as much as they are anthropological. To be able to do this, we need discernment to resist what Fr. Nicolas has called the “globalization of superficiality” and an intercultural openness to battle the growing trend towards divisiveness and intolerance.
Thank you, Fr. Garanzini, for stretching our minds and opening our hearts to the challenges before us.