Mission Priority Examen
The roots of Ignatian Heritage Day go back to the long Catholic tradition of celebrating saints’ feast days (often commemorating the day they die). Ignatius of Loyola’s feast day is July 31st – however, as the end of July tends to be a quiet time on campus, Regis began to celebrate Ignatian Heritage Day in August as a way to gather and reflect together at the start of another academic year.
As part of Ignatian Heritage Day, Regis University will direct an institutional examen, or Mission Priority Examen (MPE), asking our community to consider how it has lived the Jesuit Catholic mission and how it desires to live the mission in the future. Through engaging colleagues across the University about their desires for living out the Jesuit mission at Regis, we foster discernment for the university's future and draw upon the Jesuit principle of learning in conversation with each other.
Our Mission Priority Examen (MPE) is centered around the following question:
What are we doing now so that in 20 years Regis will thrive as a vibrant Jesuit Catholic University?
Our Centering Question
What are we doing now so that in 20 years Regis will thrive as a vibrant Jesuit Catholic University?
Discernment for Growth
After participating in Ignatian Heritage Day, we invite our community to submit reflections on our MPE questions.The Regis MPE: Three Areas of Focus
Formation Within the Ignatian Tradition
Regis is developing programs of formation within the Ignatian tradition for faculty, staff and trustees, and supports encounters with Ignatian spirituality for all students so that all members of our community can engage the mission from within their own faith traditions or philosophies. Thus, we examine our gratitude and desires regarding:
- How we introduce and share Ignatian spirituality
- How we live Ignatian spirituality in our institutional process and practices
- How we invite members of our community into deeper lived experiences of the Ignatian tradition
- How we integrate and welcome people of diverse faith traditions into the Regis community
Education Toward a Faith that does Justice
As a Jesuit work, Regis engages "the crucial struggle of our time: the struggle for faith and the struggle for justice which that same faith demands" (GC 32). We do this through transformative education, that is, education toward a faith that does justice. Thus we examine our gratitude and desires regarding:
- How we draw from our distinctive faith traditions and prophetic spiritual roots to work for racial justice, equity, diversity and inclusion
- How we attend to the world's poor, the vulnerable and all victims of systemic injustice
- How we live in truth, recognizing our own embeddedness in sinful histories and structures
- How we care for our planet and for all non-human creatures
Engagement with Companion Institutions
Regis' engagement with companion institutions includes relating to the local and global Society of Jesus, Catholic Church and civic community. Such engagement places us at the frontiers of faith, reason and culture and helps form discerning persons in solidarity with others, especially all who are poor. Thus, we examine our gratitude and desires regarding:
- How we relate to the Jesuit community, other Jesuit works in Denver, the UCS province, the AJCU network and the global Society of Jesus
- How we balance service in the Catholic Church with care for those of other or no religious traditions
- How we labor as a university for a more just and humane civil society and promote human flourishing
For all three areas, we consider:
| For what am I grateful? | What is missing? |
| What are we doing well? | What are we failing to do? |
| Where am I finding God? | Where do I experience a desire for growth? |
There are many ways to conduct an Ignatian examen, but often the practice begins with gratitude and awareness of God's presence, guides reflection on experience and encourages discernment of a desire for growth. As we progress through the Ignatian Year from May 2021 until July 2022, we invite all members of the Regis community to reflect on the life of St. Ignatius and how Regis, as an institution, can continue to live our mission.
Regis University Mission StatementAs a Jesuit Catholic university, Regis seeks to build a more just and humane world through transformative education at the frontiers of faith, reason and culture.