I’ve spent the past two years living and working in Jesuit higher education. In that time I’ve returned again and again to a simple question: What are we doing here, and why? I think it’s a question worth asking – in education and in life – and answering it frankly and honestly is important. As Jesuits we need safe spaces to ask such questions because, ironically, we can’t be safe in the commitments our answers suggest. We have to risk everything on our answers. We have to be true – to ourselves, to others, and to the god we choose to worship. So what exactly are we doing in higher education, and why?
I have a one word answer. The word has baggage but I think we ought to say it: Conversion. We’re in the business of conversion. I’m not talking about baptizing pagan babies (those days are behind us) but rather the conversion of hearts and minds toward the needs of the poor and vulnerable. Our education seeks to convert people to a life of empathy and understanding through the insights of the creative imagination and profound intellectual inquiry. This is not negotiable. The world needs change and we all need conversion. Our commitment is a Christian one and our purpose is radically transformative. If you graduate from one of our schools unconverted we have failed you.
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