By José A. Mesa SJ, Secretariat for Education

Fr. General Arturo Sosa just sent to the Major Superiors a document prepared, after five years of discussions and consultations, by the ICAJE (International Commission on the Apostolate of Jesuit Education) and the Secretariat for Education (Secondary and Pre-secondary) of the Society.

The document, Jesuit & Companion Schools - Companions in Mission, is presented within the framework of the collaboration for mission emphasized by GC36 and it provides some general guidelines for understanding and regulating this collaboration between the Jesuit schools and those schools that decide to participate closely in the Society’s mission and educational networks.

The motivation for this document is to help Provinces, schools and the general public to recognize the diversity of the institutions that participate in our educationalmission and especially those schools that want to closely join us as true apostolic companions in the mission of reconciliation and justice with God, within Humanity and with Creationin the spirit of the Universal Apostolic Preferences in the educational field. Thus, the document offers a common framework for animating and understanding this collaboration. Fr. General Sosa clearly reaffirms what Fr. Arrupe said 40 years ago in his important address Our Schools Today and Tomorrow, "The basic idea behind all that I have to say is simply this: the secondary school is an effective apostolic instrument which the Society entrusts to a community, or to a definite group of people within a community; the purpose can only be apostolic."

The Society acknowledges the mutual enriching benefit that this partnership produces. The companion schools offer quality education to many families within the Jesuit pedagogical tradition and bring new perspectives and apostolic energy. At the same time, through this partnership the Society can share with other schools, led by lay people and other religious congregations, her long educational tradition and experience. As GC36 asserts: "That mission is deepened and ministry is extended by collaboration among all with whom we work, especially those inspired by the Ignatian call” (D. 2, No. 6). The document is offered ad experimentum since it recognizes not only the fast-changing nature of our current world but also the ongoing revision of some of the statutes of the Society and the adjustments that they bring in the future.

Finally, Fr. General explains that“this document deals only with Jesuit schools and those other schools that wish to be more closely associated with us because they identify with the mission and share the Ignatian vision of the world, of faith and of pedagogy... Our schools also participate in other networks in which we are united by common objectives and visions, but which do not necessarily identify with the totality of our mission. These other networks are important, and we must continue to collaborate with them.”