Our schools do not train students, but people, in their entirety. They take responsibility for welcoming girls and boys and accompanying them to become the women and men of tomorrow, with a heart open to the world. This is what pastoral ministry is for: it is our greatest investment, the one that makes us unique in our educational offerings; the one, to put it in other words, that explains our approach more as educators than as teachers.

Sociological statistics constantly tell us about the problems of today’s youth: emotional loneliness, apathy and passivity, the all-out search for fun and escape, instability and unreliability, disengagement, lack of prospects, sometimes even aggression. But the medal of this generation has another face that few people tell about: creativity, new forms of aggregation, the desire to discover new cultures, the ability to adapt, the search for novelty both in politics and in the spiritual dimension. Because faith – it must be said – is certainly not a closed chapter: sometimes catechesis fails as a form of teaching, but the fascination of listening to witnesses remains; traditional religions may be in crisis among young people, but the desire to live religious experiences is never diminished. It is no coincidence, after all, that the Protestant Reformation decided to focus on schools five centuries ago.

The first objective of our pastoral care concerns motivations: we want to arouse interest, wonder, curiositas, fascination for research, passion for friendship and solidarity. Then we focus on knowledge, trying to help understand the moments and contents of the spiritual experience of humanity, in its different approaches. It is precisely from experience that our paths of spirituality begin, offering young people important opportunities for reflection and personal research; all of this, following St. Ignatius, with particular attention to the ecclesial dimension of faith, in order to help young people discover the beauty of a common path.

Background Directions

In each of our colleges there is a pastoral team that deals with how to put this into practice; it works naturally within the school, but at the same time it coordinates with the teams of the other institutes, so that the path is shared as much as possible.

There are also “common paths”, network paths, with students from different schools. But it is not only through convivences or organized meetings that pastoral work is carried out: it is important, first of all, to be with the young people, accompanying them personally (also through spiritual talks) and forming them in justice, global citizenship and missionary spirit, that is, in attention and openness to others.

Special Activities

Some of our institutes offer the possibility of preparing for the Sacraments (usually Communion and Confirmation), for the children who wish to do so: it is not only for the “convenience of the families”, as we sometimes tend to believe, but also (and above all, from our point of view) to enhance the school as a place of integral formation of the person, in his mind and in his heart. This is why, in pastoral activities, there is also room for class (or group) Eucharistic celebrations, penitential celebrations and Sunday Mass open to those who want to participate.

Each class, then, meets annually on a one-day retreat, but there can also be more challenging opportunities: such as biblical dramatization (3 days), the Kairos (4 days) and the Ignatian silent retreat (3 days).

There are then organized at the network level, in addition to the Kairos, other initiatives, such as summer camps in the mountains or service abroad, pilgrimages, spiritual retreats, participation in specific events.

Initiatives

The extracurricular activities of our institutions include the possibility to deepen a journey of faith, through the different proposals offered to young people by the Society of Jesus: the Student Missionary League (LMS), the Communities of Christian Life (CLC) and the Youth Eucharistic Movement (MEG). They are independent from the colleges, with their own history and international dimension, but they play a complementary role to that of the school itself: for many young people of different generations, the encounter with Ignatian spirituality through the LMS, the CLC or the MEG has literally changed their lives, making them even more women and men for others. It is a demanding spirituality, as indeed all the teaching of St. Ignatius, but with the great merit of being suitable for young people and able to help them bring out the best in themselves: there are therefore, depending on the case, weekly meetings or maybe experiences of service (different for each school), summer camps and missionary camps.

Educational Integrations

The teaching of religion in school, for us, is fundamental: those who choose to attend a college of the Ignatian network, of course, embrace its educational project and values. Precisely for this reason, we take the hours of religion seriously, asking the students (and our teachers, of course) for maximum commitment: we live, among other things, in a historical time in which the religious dimension has now assumed a central role. But everything in our teaching maintains a pastoral orientation: from educational visits to theater, from music to graphic arts, passing through computer science, economics, physics and natural sciences, as well as music and the network music competition “Diamoci un tono”. Everything is read, lived and visited in Ignatian spirituality.