Category: Messages to Faculty, Messages to Staff, Messages to Students, Messages to the Community

Title: Celebrating Jesuit Heritage Month

Dear Members of the Georgetown University Community,

It is with great pleasure that I write to you announcing the start of Jesuit Heritage Month. Each November, the Office of Mission & Ministry invites the community to celebrate our Ignatian heritage through opportunities for faculty, staff and students to deepen their connection with our Jesuit values and the Spirit of Georgetown.

This month is also a time to reflect on, and reaffirm, the core aspects of our university mission. Since its founding in 1789, Georgetown has been a home for all faiths. Our commitment to interreligious understanding — especially over the last 25 years — is rooted in our Catholic and Jesuit identity, informed by the documents of Vatican Council II on interfaith dialogue, and shaped anew by the call of Pope Francis to deepen our fraternal love for one another. These values shape the best of who we are as a university.

The monthlong program of events includes three signature events:

Jesuits & Slaveholding: An Ignatian Reflection on Reconciliation and Justice
(A Conversation with Fr. Tim Kesicki, S.J.)
Thursday, Nov. 2 | 5 p.m. | Ecumenical Chapel

Come Forth: How the Story of Lazarus Invites Us to Experience New Life
(Dahlgren Chapel Sacred Lecture with Fr. James Martin, S.J.)
Monday, Nov. 6 | 4 p.m | Dahlgren Chapel of the Sacred Heart

Solidarity with the Church and Jesuits in Nicaragua: Responding to Repression and Denial of Religious Freedom (Dahlgren Dialogue)
Tuesday, Nov. 14 | 6 p.m. | Dahlgren Chapel of the Sacred Heart

President DeGioia and I wish to invite each member of our community to our Opening Mass, which will be held on Sunday, Nov. 5, in Gaston Hall at 7 p.m. We will have a special guest homilist — Fr. James Martin, S.J. All are welcome to join.

We hope you will join us this November for Jesuit Heritage Month.

All good things,
Fr. Mark Bosco, S.J., Ph.D.

Vice President for Mission & Ministry