Resources on Catholic, Jesuit Tradition

Ultimate Questions / Resources on Catholic, Jesuit Tradition / Jesuit Scholastic Reflections

1. Why do the Jesuits require studies in philosophy and theology for all their members?

Benjamin Jansen, SJ

There are a couple important elements to this question. The first is that, technically, formation as a Jesuit priest entails the exact same canonical requirements as any other priest within the Catholic Church. In the Program of Priestly Formation, a document curated by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), it clearly lays out the requirements that each man in formation complete the equivalent of two years of philosophical studies and four years of theological studies in preparation for priestly ordination. Thus, it is not that these are specifically Jesuit requirements per se, but rather the overarching requisites for ordination to the Catholic priesthood.

Secondly, from a perspective of personal formation, my sentiments with regard to this question would strongly echo those described in the above two sections. We need to study philosophy because we need to understand what it means to be, to exist, to be human. We need to understand how it’s logically possible to know anything at all, how we evaluate the world around us, and how we rationally process this information in order to arrive at those beliefs we hold to be true.

We study theology for a plethora of reasons, but foundationally because we need to understand who God is in order to understand our relationship with Him and His desires for us as beloved, created people. Robust theological formation allows us to properly understand salvation history/Church history in order to know who we are, who Jesus is, what the Church is, why we do what we do, and why it’s so fundamentally critical for every aspect of human existence. In brief, we need both philosophy and theology because we need to know how we know that we really know what we think we know about God and the necessity of seeking relationship with Him.

2. Why do the Jesuits require studies in philosophy and theology for all their members?

Reynaldo Belfort-Pierrilus, SJ

All Christian Catholics are called to evangelize the message of the Gospel and the teachings of the Church. However, Jesuits are called to evangelize and dialog in the most difficult and remote spaces of society. Whether it is physically traveling to a remote country or village culturally different from our hometown, to navigating through the midst of the complex and perhaps often polarized social climate within a country. As Pope Paul VI has put it in his address to the 32nd general congregation of the Society of Jesus, whenever “there has been and there is a confrontation between the deepest desires of man and the perennial message of the Gospel”, “in the Church,”, “in the most difficult and extreme fields, in the crossroads of ideologies,” or “in the front line of social conflict,” Jesuits are also there. 

Thus, a formation in philosophy and theology helps Jesuits on three major aspects: (1) equipping Jesuits to become a bridge and be agents of reconciliation between two cultures or two social groups who are often in a struggle. (2) Simultaneously, empowering Jesuits to articulate and communicate the Good News of Christ’s Gospel in these social spaces; offering a path forward towards reconciliation between these groups. And (3), empowering Jesuits for driving the reconciliation between these groups and God, through the Church. Lastly, a formation in philosophy and theology empowers Jesuits to effectively accompany the people of God across all ages in their joys and struggles, as they experience it within their own ‘mindset’, or ‘frame of thinking’ informed by the social and cultural groups they belong to. Whether is to help them grow materially (i.e., out of material poverty), intellectually, or spiritually.

As Fr. Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, our former superior general told us regarding the Formation of Jesuits, philosophy provides us with “some understanding of the history of ideas” linked to “the essential questions which challenge man.” Philosophy also gives us the necessary intellectual tools to “relate these [ideas] to the present cultures”, manifest our “balance and breadth of view” in our thoughts and opinions, and further help Jesuits to “communicate to others with credibility their convictions regarding meaning and values.” Moreover, Kolvenbach tells us that theology studies offer Jesuits “a thorough and contextualized grasp of the faith of the Church.” 

Each culture comes with its own history of ideas and set of arguments as it wrestled with the fundamental questions of human life in their context, whether the question is what it means for a human to be a “political animal,” how to understand the struggle between the oppressor and the oppressed, how to think about particular issues like racism, abortion, the death penalty, sexual orientation, or climate change among many other issues, plus, how these questions relate (or not) with the message of Jesus Christ and the teachings of the Catholic Church. In all of these struggles of human life, Jesuits are invited to come close and bring forth the Good News that Christ has come to share with humanity and how the Catholic Church has further reflected on the message of Christ to God’s children.

3. Where did/does philosophy fit in my formation, and why is it important for me?

Benjamin Jansen, SJ

Philosophy is an integral part of Jesuit formation from the standpoint that it's critical to understand how to think properly about thinking. One of the big questions for us both as Catholic religious and even more simply as human beings is, “How do we really know that we know what we think we know?” This single question both implicitly and explicitly undergirds every other question that we ever ask. 

Before diving into questions of theology, ethics, or morality therefore, we must first be able to understand what it means to be a thinking being, how we sort out what constitutes epistemic/metaphysical possibility, and what the logical implications of the answers to these questions entail. We need to have the ability to fundamentally break down any statement or argument into its constituent parts such that we can competently evaluate what's valid and what's not, what's logical and what's not, what's feasible and what's not, etc. We need to be able to understand (or at least clearly understand the parameters of thought surrounding the discussion of) what human beings are and the context of our existence in this reality. What is reality? How do we really know? What do we base these beliefs on and how do these add up to all of the other entities that we hold as truths? Are they congruent with one another? At bare minimum, we also need to have a cursory working knowledge of the thinkers who have come before, their respective schools of thought, what they tell us about human thought/existence, and what they have to offer us today.

The rationale behind the above sentiments is ultimately twofold. First and foremost, the ability to think and reason properly is essential to our own personal formation as human beings. The second aspect has to do with pastoral effectiveness and responsibility. If we as Jesuits aren’t capable of objective, rational, pragmatic evaluation of knowledge, then how can we be confident that anything we are teaching others really is true? How can we ever expect to be able to present anything worthwhile with any amount of credibility if we aren’t first able to explain how and why we believe it and know it ourselves? The bottom line is that we need to be thoroughly grounded in philosophy so that we have the tools necessary to understand how to systematically and competently dissect out and evaluate the complicated issues that we’ll inevitably encounter as we minister to the people of God out in the world.

4. Where did/does philosophy fit in my formation, and why is it important for me?

Reynaldo Belfort-Pierrilus, SJ

Philosophy as a school of thought empowers Jesuits to serve as mediators, as we communicate the universal truths of the Gospel in light of the Church to the many socio-cultural spaces we find ourselves in. Furthermore, Jesuits as mediators are also called to serve as agents of reconciliation between two cultures or two social groups who are often in a struggle, and, ultimately, between these social groups and God through the Church. Furthermore, philosophy provides Jesuits with the intellectual tools they need to facilitate dialog and negotiation at the intersection between these social groups or at the intersections of society where “there has been and there is a confrontation between the deepest desires of man and the perennial message of the Gospel,” as Pope Paul VI has told Jesuits at the 32nd General Congregation of the Society of Jesus.

Just reflecting on my multi-faceted identity, I am an individual who was born in Puerto Rico from Haitian parents. Over the years I have come to realize the many facets of social identity that this fact of birth has generated in my life: being a child of immigrants, Haitian-Puerto Rican, thus a U.S. citizen, yet Afro-Caribbean (or simply Black), Hispanic, and who speaks both Spanish and English. Not to mention my academic and personal interests. Thus, I am a person who always finds himself living in between: living at the very intersection between two social worlds driven by their language (Spanish and English), between two or more cultures with their particular frame of thought (Haiti, Puerto Rico and mainland U.S.), between academic fields (Computer Engineering often influenced by the ‘technocratic paradigm’ and Philosophy with its different paradigms), among other intersections. As a Jesuit, however, this sensitivity towards the intersection between worldviews has given me the privilege to bring forth the light of the Gospel and what this Gospel has to offer as an answer to the social conflicts I encounter myself in.

One concrete way philosophy has helped me as a Jesuit is by giving voice to the voiceless; especially to those who are poor or feel marginalized by society. Furthermore, each of my cultural identities helps me relate to individuals who also find themselves in a social location where their identities have placed them, based on their birth-given facts or life situations. Just in the context of the United States (U.S.) alone, for example, I was able to relate with many individuals of all ages who identify themselves as a child of immigrants, Hispanic, Black, or even a combination of these identities. Each of these social groups is often in tension with other social groups within the U.S. based on immigration and racism. 

The various areas within philosophy such as ethics, phenomenology, philosophical anthropology, metaphysics, philosophy of technology, among other areas, have given me the vocabulary and philosophical framework necessary to listen to and describe with a high level of nuance, the interior experience of the Other as they live it within their socio-cultural location, in their joys and struggles. Especially important are the struggles of the poor and marginalized in the context of race, immigration, or other social issues such as sexual orientation, abortion, death penalty, or climate change, just to mention a few issues.

5. Where did/will theology fit in my formation, and why is it important?

Benjamin Jansen, SJ

The importance of theology within the context of Jesuit formation is similar in some respects to that of philosophy. Before we can even begin to tackle complicated, nuanced issues in areas such as ethics, morality, culture, technology, politics, or doctrine, we need to be fundamentally grounded in the essentials of our own human existence and our relationship with our Creator. Who is God? How do we know? Why do we need Him? What does the history of human relationship with God look like? Why is relationship with God so essential for us? How does our relationship with God inform our understanding of human dignity/existence? What does God desire for us and why? How does this play out across the arc of salvation history through space, time, and culture? What makes the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Christ the most significant events in human history? What does this mean for us today? How do we think with the Church and work to faithfully and authentically continue the mission of salvation that Christ entrusted to his disciples nearly two millennia ago?

The practical rationale for these sentiments is once again multifaceted. We cannot introduce people to a God or a faith that we ourselves do not know. To credibly and authentically explain the tenets of the Catholic faith to others, we have to know what we believe, why we believe it, and why it’s worth believing.

We need to be able to convey the staggering scope of the beauty, goodness, and fullness of relationship that God desires with every single person on Earth. We need to be able to explain how this relationship with God is one of the most essential concerns of the Church, especially the unique ways that She facilitates the sacramental life of the faithful and how every single person is invited into this mystical union as members of the Body of Christ. We need to be able to demonstrate that human dignity is innately and irrevocably bound to the created nature we have received from God. Moreover, we must be properly grounded in a thorough working knowledge of our Catholic intellectual heritage so that we can be truly apostolically and pastorally effective, addressing questions and concerns, especially when they involve challenging, hot-button issues.

Ultimately, we need to know our Catholic heritage inside and out while simultaneously cultivating deeply intimate personal relationships with Christ as we quite simply cannot give to others what we ourselves do not possess. 

6. How would you say that education in philosophy and theology relates to cura personalis?

Jonathon Wojtkowiak, SJ

Jesuit education often talks about cura personalis, care for the whole person. In general, this relates to making sure no part of the human person standing in front of me is neglected. The spiritual director doesn’t just ask questions about spiritual matters but brings up family, health, ministry, work, etc. God speaks to and works through the individual in all facets of life. Likewise, if things in the family aren’t going well, one’s spiritual life will undoubtably be affected.

Philosophy and theology serve a similar cura personalis role in an academic setting. These days, it is very tempting to see university education as a type of trade school, focused on equipping students with the knowledge and experience they need to enter the professional fields they desire. However, merely focusing on professional skills neglects the complexity of the student standing before us. Students are humans with all sorts of questions, desires, and interests that go beyond the scope of STEM. Theology and philosophy provide a space in which to delve into subjects that are deeply rooted in the human experience, but STEM does not address. Even when students don’t know they have these questions or know how to ask them, philosophy and theology provide the space and the language to help students express their questions and experiences. They get in touch with another side of the human experience, one that is also academically rigorous but focuses on topics very different from STEM.

In this way, cura personalis makes itself into the academic sphere. University education can be more than just a trade school. It can be a place where students are equipped, not just for a professional career, but for human life. We already have great resources to help students in many areas of their lives, during university and after, but how good are we at helping them confront the biggest and scariest questions they may have: who am I, what does it mean to be human, who is God, does God love me, who is Jesus, why is faith important, what happens to me when I die, what is my purpose, how should I treat others, why am I here, etc.? That is where philosophy and theology come in, providing students with the opportunity to ask these questions, try to answer them for themselves, and to learn about the long prestigious traditions of thought and approaches to these questions.

7. How would you say that education in philosophy and theology relates to cura personalis?

Benjamin Jansen, SJ

The study of philosophy and theology are essential components of cura personalis because before one can begin to care for all the aspects of a person, one must have a proper understanding of what those aspects are and what a person really is. After all, how could one possibly hope to effectively care for something that they don’t properly understand? Adequate grounding in philosophy and theology is critical for proper formation of a conception of the human person, of human dignity, of human createdness, and of human needs.

Cura is a particularly salient topic both for our SLU community as well as the rest of the world at large due to the specific threats that the ideologies of relativism pose to the mental, emotional, spiritual well-being of people around the globe. The past three popes have warned that moral relativism is one of the greatest threats to the Western world. Pope Francis specifically remarked a few years ago that moral relativism is “the spiritual poverty of our time…which makes everyone their own criterion.”

The relevance of relativism to the discussion of cura personalis is that its ideologies, especially as aggressively promulgated within contemporary popular culture, ultimately assert that truth is simply whatever one wants it to be. From this lens, there is no objective truth other than “it’s true for everyone that nothing is true for everyone…find your own truth…make your own rules…there is no such thing as right, wrong, good, or bad…define your own existence…make your own morality…”

This is problematic, however, because if there is no such thing as objective truth, then there is no objective meaning to life, nothing true to hope in, nothing true to love, nothing true to desire, nothing true to look forward to. Among the many serious challenges that inherently result from such a framework is the question of how one copes with the difficulties of life? How or where does one search for comfort, confidence, promise, fulfillment, or hope if one believes that truth is just a subjective fabrication of one’s desired personal values? In the face of such a desolate, empty existence, what gives life any kind of objective meaning? What ultimately makes life worth living? What substantial answer can a person possibly come up with when they look in the mirror and ask themselves, “why do I or anything that I do even matter?”

It should thus come as no surprise that rates of anxiety, depression, and other related maladies are skyrocketing, especially among the youth. It is impossible to care for the human person if we starve the soul and deprive life of any and all meaning or truth. Philosophy and theology are so critical to the proper facilitation of cura personalis because they provide the framework that informs what human beings are, why we exist, what our needs are, and what gives our lives ultimate meaning and fulfillment.

8. How can coursework in philosophy and theology contribute to students’ achievement of SLO 1?

SLO 1: Examine their actions and vocations in dialogue with the Catholic, Jesuit tradition.

Catholic, Jesuit beliefs and traditions provide the intellectual and spiritual foundation for education at Saint Louis University. The Core exposes students to Catholic, Jesuit and other worldviews and asks them to reflect on how these perspectives inform their character, sense of purpose, and vocations in order to imagine and assess the moral and spiritual implications of their actions and life choices.

Matt Briand, SJ

Understanding how coursework in philosophy and theology can contribute to students’ achievement of SLO 1 requires first stating what the Catholic, Jesuit beliefs and traditions are. That’s a tall order, but what first comes to my mind is the meditation of the Incarnation from St. Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises. In this meditation, Ignatius asks the retreatant to imagine the three persons of the Trinity looking from heaven upon the world and all its people of every race and place. We see people struggling and suffering, but still hoping and striving. Others wander aimlessly without meaning or purpose, others are content to seek power and pleasure and commit evil to get it.

After taking all this in, we imagine God desiring to unite all people together in his love by becoming human Himself. The meditation reveals a God selflessly humbling Himself in the hope that, by uniting Himself to humanity, all people may be united to one another and to Himself in a shared life of selfless love.

Ignatian spirituality is about responding to this incredible act of love. In the Spiritual Exercises, I make the decision to follow Christ, and then I discern what Christ is calling me to relinquish, accept, or do to follow Him more wholeheartedly and commit more firmly to His ministry of reconciliation. So according to “Catholic, Jesuit beliefs and traditions,” my vocation and sense of purpose are first and foremost a response to God’s love for me and the world. God has shown His immense, unconditional love, and I have decided that Christ is He who is most worthy of my unconditional devotion. All my other decisions and relationships must flow from the election I have made to follow Christ and labor beside Him.

SLO 1 asks philosophy and theology faculty to help students “examine their actions and vocations in dialogue with the Catholic, Jesuit tradition.” As has been shown, all vocations and actions in the Catholic, Jesuit tradition are (or ought to be) a response to what one finds most worthy, which is the love of God revealed in the life and work, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Dialogue with this tradition that informs students’ “character, sense of purpose and vocations” would mean presenting this tradition and asking them to reflect on what it is that they find most worthy. Questions posed in this dialogue might be, “What do you think is worth giving your life to, or making any sacrifice for?” “What shapes your sense of purpose?” “What do you believe is of greatest value and ‘calls’ you?” “What do you believe your vocation is rooted in and responding to?”

Philosophy and theology, as disciplines concerned with the fundamental truths of reality, of the human person, and the good life, can help students question the superficial and self-centered goods our culture esteems and promotes. Through dialogue with the Catholic, Jesuit tradition, philosophy and theology coursework can help students discern their sense of purpose and their vocations by helping them determine what is of ultimate value, what is truly worth serving and committing their life to. 

9. How can coursework in philosophy and theology contribute to students’ achievement of SLO 1?

Benjamin Jansen, SJ

Philosophy and theology are essential components of a proper framework of understanding human existence. Without them, there arguably is no solid foundational standard for what type of character one should strive for or what a sense of purpose or vocation even is. Without a God-centered anthropology based on philosophy and theology, concepts such as “character”, “purpose”, and “vocation” are subjective, empty words without real meaning.

Understanding the human person from a Catholic, Jesuit perspective entails understanding that we are beings created with the specific purpose of living in relationship with others and with the eternal, loving God who made us. As such, our personal sense of purpose should always find its origin in the designs of God and His desires for our fulfillment. Discernment of personal vocation requires that one intentionally seek to know the will of God with the recognition that God always desires our greatest good and that one’s greatest personal fulfillment will inevitably be whatever God intends for their life.

That formation of our sense of purpose as human beings is directly related to our membership within the created human family. Our lives have meaning because God has intentionally created each one of us as individual masterpieces and has destined us for eternal life. Each one of us have been given specific gifts in which God delights and which He intends for us to exercise on behalf of the good of our sisters and brothers. 

The formation of our personal character is informed by God’s own character and the example of Christ who came to dwell and in doing so has given us a model of authentic love, goodness, courage, humility, patience, perseverance, gentleness, and self-sacrifice.

Ultimately, the development of character and discernment of vocation and purpose are necessarily based on first acquiring a foundational understanding of God’s will for our lives. Otherwise, there would be no guiding principles as to what these things should be other than one would simply decide what one whimsically wanted for oneself. A solid grounding in philosophy and theology is important for cultivating an understanding for our human need for God, His desires for us, and the necessity of cultivating a personal relationship with God by which He communicates His desires and designs for our lives.

10. How can coursework in philosophy and theology contribute to students’ achievement of SLO 1?

Brian Engelhart, SJ

Jesuit education today must be marked by efforts to not only provide students with an intellectual skillset but also to form men and women for others. Including philosophy and theology courses in the core can help students in any discipline understand why their intellectual interests and endeavors should not just be aimed at finding a job after graduation, but rather developing a sense of vocation. By vocation, I mean an identity that permeates every part of a person: it is not just what they do, it is who they are. To speak from my own experience, though my academic background is in electrical engineering (and this expertise remains an important part of my life today), philosophy and theology courses I took played a significant role in helping me find and understand my vocation.

Courses in ethics, especially technological ethics, have helped me think in new ways about what it means to live “the good life” and the role my own work with technology plays in my effort to live such a life. Theology courses have shown me how my life and work stand in relationship with God and others. I have learned from the examples of saints and been challenged to understand Jesus’ message in the Gospels more deeply. Examining these questions in my philosophy and theology courses helped me to recognize that I greatly desired to be not just an engineer, but someone who, whether using his engineering skills or not, was authentically seeking to serve God and others.

11. What do you hope any student, from any background, with any major, will gain from studying philosophy and theology, both as regards what they will understand about the Catholic, Jesuit tradition and as regards their own personal formation?

Benjamin Jansen, SJ

I would like to first overtly acknowledge the importance of recognizing the complexity and diversity of backgrounds that students come from. It's critical for us to be sensitive to these differences and to understand that we have to be willing and able to meet, love, and support people where they are, wherever that happens to be.

I suppose that there are different tiers of hopes that a Catholic religious in formation could hope for in this regard, but at the very least, I would hope that they would come to a greater awareness of and appreciation for the miracle of human existence and the inherent value and dignity of personhood. In contrast to secular ideologies representing various iterations of moral relativism, it’s important to recognize that the fundamental notions of human dignity are based on a Christocentric anthropology in which every life has inherent value and purpose.

Moreover, I would hope that, even if there are things they disagree with, they would come away with an accurate picture of the beliefs and practices of the Catholic Church. I would hope that they would understand that the Catholic Church isn’t just some archaic organization with a bunch of arbitrary, outdated, nonsensical rules that people follow like robots in the hopes of earning a golden ticket to eternal life. Rather, the Catholic tradition is a living, moving, growing tradition steeped in an incredible richness of intellectual, philosophical, and theological genius and oriented towards the facilitation of intimate, personal relationship with an infinitely loving, generous, gracious God who desires our companionship more than we can possibly know.

My greatest hope would be that through the study of philosophy and theology, a student would be imbued with a desire to explore and cultivate a relationship with God and that their studies would provide them with the necessary tools for this pursuit.

12. What do you hope any student, from any background, with any major, will gain from studying philosophy and theology, both as regards what they will understand about the Catholic, Jesuit tradition and as regards their own personal formation?

Jonathon Wojtkowiak, SJ

One thing that I hope any student would gain from studying philosophy and theology is contact with the long-standing academic tradition of both fields. When I was in undergrad, I did not think about my academic university experience as a way of growing personally. For me, it was a preparation for a professional career. Perhaps, this was partially the result of attending a public institution with no theological or philosophical requirements. Whatever the reason, my undergraduate experience lacked that depth. 

I hope that students taking philosophy and theology will realize that academic education goes beyond STEM to include other fields in the humanities that deal intimately with our human experience. Part of that human experience is asking big questions, questions that can’t always be answered by STEM: what does it mean to be human, who am I, who is God, who made me, what was I made for, who is Jesus, how should we treat one another, etc.? We are not alone in asking these questions, and these classes put students in touch with that history, connecting them with all the humans that have gone before them and will come after them. They will have the chance to see how their ancestors throughout the world approached these questions.

Furthermore, I hope that exposing these students to the deep theological and philosophical tradition, in general, but especially in Catholicism, will demonstrate the richness of that faith. I hope that by getting a deeper understanding of the Catholic history, both theologically and philosophically, students, even though they themselves may not believe, will not dismiss Christianity as superstitious and outdated, but will see that some of the greatest minds throughout history have seriously, honestly, and openly, asked these same questions and came to find in Catholicism some very reasonable answers. Theology and philosophy, hopefully, remind the students that there is more to university education than getting a professional degree, or being formed for a professional career, it is about becoming more human, more engaged with the uniquely human experience of reflecting on who we are and who we are called to be by God.

Finally, I hope it leads to wonder and awe at the world. So often, especially with STEM, we feel like we understand how everything works around us. There is nothing wrong with STEM, but philosophy and theology broaden our view of the human experience. I hope philosophy and theology can work to instill that childish wonder at the world, where all is beautiful, new, mysterious, and amazing. A wonder that even while acknowledging the many things we do know about the world, sees that we don’t know everything, and that is beautiful. 

13. What do you hope any student, from any background, with any major, will gain from studying philosophy and theology, both as regards what they will understand about the Catholic, Jesuit tradition and as regards their own personal formation?

Brian Engelhart, SJ

Just as we Jesuits talk about having our own “way of proceeding,” I would hope that our students graduate with a certain “way of proceeding” in the world as well. This way of proceeding can and should be lived out in a number of disciplines, and its basis must be in strong philosophical and theological education.

When a student learns not only to become highly skilled in a certain field, but also learns to examine the values and perspectives that motivate their thinking, or to appreciate how their life stands in relation to God and eternity, then they become the dynamic individuals the world needs today. 

By studying philosophy and theology, students can learn that becoming more themselves means not only learning things to use in a career but living in a way that responds to profound challenges with thought, reflection, and love instead of simply following easy or conventional methods. These courses can encourage students to not only critically examine a variety of topics but find helpful and hopeful ways of addressing issues that they will face throughout their lives. Through a robust philosophy and theology curriculum, I hope that graduates in all fields see that what they learned here was not just about the readings they did, exams they took, or papers they wrote; I hope they see and can say that they learned about who they are and how they are being invited to live in today’s world.

14. What insights into the Catholic, Jesuit tradition are gained through the study of philosophy and theology?

Benjamin Jansen, SJ

First, from a general perspective, I think that it's important to recognize that these two subjects are foundational to the doctrines and beliefs of the Catholic Church on nearly every level. Our understanding of everything from existence to human dignity to metaphysics to virtue to the nature of God to the Sacraments and beyond are all grounded in a philosophical and theological framework that undergirds everything that we know and believe. In short, the Catholic faith, rather than being some arbitrary fabrication, has actually been carefully constructed upon a firm foundation of careful, methodical, logical reasoning.

More specifically, philosophy and theology are essential elements for grounding the charisms and mission of the Society of Jesus within a Christocentric context that is necessary to support them. It is important to note though that there are no Jesuit charisms that are not inherently also Catholic charisms. The two can never be mutually exclusive of one another.

That said, I think it's particularly important to recognize (especially in contemporary times) just how necessary philosophy and theology are to undergird and support the particular charisms of the Jesuits. More and more, I personally have witnessed attempts to divorce Jesuit values from a Christian context and use them in secular modalities. This might not sound so bad at first, but if we really think about what's happening, we recognize that our values inherently require a Christocentric understanding of the world and of human being. To illustrate what I mean, consider some of the core Jesuit values:

• Finding God in all things

• Ad majorem Dei gloriam (AMDG, for the greater glory of God)

• Contemplatives in action

• Men and women for and with others

• Magis

• Cura personalis (care for the whole person)

• Discernment

Values such as “finding God in all things” and “AMDG” most obviously necessitate a firm grounding in theological belief, but as it turns out, so do all the others. For instance, the concept of being men and women for and with others is based on the concept that we should be for and with others. But what is that based on? What rationale do we have for caring about the good of those around us? Why does it matter? Why should we do anything as opposed to nothing at all?

One could attempt to devise all types of altruistic tropes that don't involve a theistic understanding of the world, but at the end of the day all these arguments collapse like a house of cards when we really start poking holes and asking brutally honest questions. If there is no God and if we were not intentionally and lovingly created, then we have no objective purpose and we have no objective dignity. There can be no dignity without divinity. If God did not exist, there would be no rules or reasons that anyone should ever do anything. All concepts of justice inherently entail the existence of an unalienable human dignity that can’t exist apart from the specific belief in human createdness.

More can and should be said on this topic, but it’s important to ultimately recognize the critical, necessary roles that philosophy and theology play in supporting the shared values of the Catholic Church and the Society of Jesus.