Newsletter Vol. 1 Issue 34

Acting Together as Ignatian Ministries: Jesuits West CORE

Over the last two Mondays, our newsletters have explored ways in which Jesuit institutions have examined their own pasts with regards to racism so as to work for truth and healing. Today’s newsletter focuses on the recent work of the Jesuits West Province (the province of Jesuits St. Ignatius Parish is part of), specifically an initiative called Collaborative Organizing for Racial Equity (CORE), a program that all ministries of Jesuits West are invited to participate in. 

The Jesuits West Collaborative Organizing for Racial Equity (CORE) traces its roots back to an idea the provincial (head of the Jesuits of the West) Fr. Scott Santarosa SJ had: our Jesuit institutions – high schools, parishes, colleges and universities, retreat centers, and social service organizations – have a tremendous impact on the people they serve. He wondered – what if our institutions worked together on common projects to work for justice in collaboration for even greater impact? 

Jesuits West hired Annie Fox, Provincial Assistant for Social Ministries Organizing, to gather men and women from ministries across the Province into a discernment series asking how each local community might respond to a variety of injustices. Held during winter 2020 in the context of the coronavirus and the rise in racial unrest in the United States, responding to racism in the United States repeatedly was named as a chief priority. 

Activating members of Jesuits West ministries to work together, CORE now reports that more than 15,000 actions for racial equity have been taken to advance racial justice in the last six months alone. The website reports “this has included everything from phone banking disenfranchised voters, to running racial equity trainings, to holding vigils and advocacy meetings with elected officials.” These actions link the Ignatian call to a faith that does justice, and to walk with the excluded, the marginalized, and all those whose dignity has been lost. 

Fr. Santarosa is fond of saying that CORE is one way Jesuits West ministries can together “flex the Jesuit muscle,” the animating spirituality that calls us forward to decrease exclusion and marginalization in our communities and in our region. 

The work of CORE continues to evolve, including in the city of San Francisco. Coordinated out of St. Agnes Parish, St. Ignatius parishioners collaborate with members of the communities of St. Agnes, St. Ignatius College Prep, and the University of San Francisco to help expand their scope of racial justice work grounded in our Ignatian tradition. This has included partnering with Faith in Action Bay Area to focus on actions around housing inequities and homelessness, including advocacy efforts with the Mayor’s Office and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Presently, CORE San Francisco is working to stand in solidarity with 7,000 Black and Latino families to increase the city’s rental assistance and relief programs. 

While Jesuit institutions have and continue to have histories complicit and interwoven with racism (like we see in the examples of Georgetown University and Red Cloud School), efforts such as CORE continue to offer programs like this discernment series: opportunities to better understand our history, our current reality, and to take action from our distinctively Jesuit way of proceeding. This ensures that like the disciples following the Resurrection, we take all we have learned and experienced and share it with others so that someday we will experience a day where no one is excluded and all are seen the way God sees: as all being simply delightfully made. 

As the discernment series continues, stay tuned for ways to get involved in CORE.
 

Resource: Jesuits West CORE

We invite you to spend a few moments looking at the Jesuits West CORE  website to see the resources provided as well as checking out the link to the  Facebook page.

Questions for Reflection:

Do you know of collaborative efforts that have helped decrease racism in the local area or national area? 

Does CORE seem like it could be a way for me to get involved for racial equity? What is appealing about it? 

CORE listed a few ideas on the website of past activities. What are some activities or programs I might want to suggest for myself or others as I discern and take actions for racial equity?