The 150th Anniversary at Loyola University, Chicago
One of the most underrated and least talked about benefit to going to a Jesuit school and having the Jesuits live on campus is Spiritual Direction, or as I like to call it: SD. My freshman year, I heard an upperclassman talk about his SD meetings and thought that is exactly what I need. Every since I walked into Fr. Marc’s office my freshman year I have not stopped SD. At times it would be as frequent as once a week and at one point, I was seeing 2 spiritual directors bi-weekly. I either really enjoyed it or needed some serious help - maybe both.
After moving to Chicago, I naturally knew that I wanted to continue my in person spiritual direction and that’s what led me to Loyola University, Chicago. There I was introduced not only to my Spiritual director, a scholastic studying philosophy named Aaron Pierre, SJ but I was also introduced to their vibrant, global, and MASSIVE community.
After an entire year of taking the Red line an hour to Loyola from the south side of Chicago where I lived, I started to find that ember of creativity and curiosity ignite inside of me. It was not a motive of greed or plugging in the next group into our book conveyor belt. What inspired me was the unique experience with the Jesuits that, even I, had not experienced.
LUC’s Jesuit community is extremely diverse not only in ethnicity but also in formation. It is one of the few communities where a Novice or scholastic (someone in formation to become a Jesuit Priest) could live with a group of Jesuits who’ve been priests for 30 years. We had guys from China, Cuba, every state you could think of, Taiwan, Ireland but also a scholastic in his very first year eating dinner next to a 95 year old WWII Veteran whose been a priest longer than we’ve been alive. Oh, and did I mention the communities spread out over 6 or 7 residences topped out around 60 guys. I could not imagine the stories that were told breaking bread and I knew that this place, this wonderful melting pot of personalities, was our next stop.
Fr. Jim, the rector of the community and VP for the University would begrudgingly describe me as persistent but I take it as a compliment. After the first few (dozen) emails I sent requesting a meeting to discuss a project with him went unanswered (it was right around graduation), I knew I had to try and pull some strings. I got every single Jesuit that I knew who knew Fr. Jim to personally reach out to him. after After about the 7 or 8th +1 he received he finally agreed to a meeting.
It was in this meeting that he explained that Loyola University's 150th anniversary was coming up and that the University was looking for a project to highlight the Jesuit identity on campus. Some may call it luck, others may call it divine providence.
You can insert something cliche like “and that’s all she wrote” but this was just the beginning. But without the trust that Fr. Jim gave me and the freedom to let us create and tell this unique story, you would not see anything close to the book you see today.