Document Type
Perspectives
Abstract
Abstract:
Creating a campus culture of belonging is mission critical for Jesuit institutions. This is even more heightened with the recent Supreme Court decision eliminating Affirmative Action and numerous states banning the teaching of history especially around race. To overcome these setbacks and the larger negative effects of racism and white privilege, many of our schools offer trainings, book discussions, and dialogues. These have been very helpful.
Yet, another untapped dimension to racism and white privilege occurs at a spiritual level. Mission Officers, DEI Officers, Rectors of Jesuit communities, and spiritual directors can collaborate to engage this level of the issue. The spiritual dimension is a failure to see and live out of the understanding that all people are created in the image and likeness of God. This article offers a specific approach to spiritual direction that engages the issues of race and white privilege through a three phased movement. Participants come to know they are deeply loved, then explore their unredeemed history especially around racism and white privilege, and finally encounters God’s healing mercy. Consequently, individual relationships and eventually structures of relations that create a campus culture begin to be characterized by welcome and belonging.
Recommended Citation
Dante, Michael.
"A Spiritual Direction Approach Aimed at Creating Belonging on Campus."
Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal Vol. 13:
No.
1
(2024)
.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.53309/2164-7666.1458
Available at:
https://epublications.regis.edu/jhe/vol13/iss1/9
