The Center for Ignatian Spirituality enhances the human and religious environment of Boston College by promoting conversation about the Jesuit mission and its relationship with culture and with other religious traditions.

Center for Ignatian Spirituality Programs

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Ignatian Colleagues Program

The Ignatian Colleagues Program (ICP) is a national program of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities (AJCU) designed to educate and form administrators and faculty more deeply in the Jesuit Catholic tradition of higher education.

The goal of our program is to provide a solid intellectual foundation as well as opportunities for participants to personally experience and appropriate their significance so they may better articulate, adapt, and advance the Jesuit Catholic mission of their campuses.

Participation in the Ignatian Colleagues Program is an incredible opportunity not only to take a deep dive into learning and experiencing many aspects of our Jesuit Catholic identity, charism, tradition, and spirituality, it also provides the opportunity to form meaningful relationships with colleagues working in senior leadership roles throughout our 28 Jesuit colleges and universities in the United States.

Alpha Sigma Nu, Boston College Chapter

Alpha Sigma Nu is the honor society of Jesuit institutions of higher education which recognizes those students who distinguish themselves in scholarship, loyalty, and service. Founded in 1915, ΑΣΝ encourages its members to a lifetime pursuit of intellectual development, deepening Ignatian spirituality, service to others, and a commitment to the core principles of Jesuit education. Inductees demonstrate an intelligent appreciation of and commitment to the ideals—intellectual, social, moral, and religious—of Jesuit higher education. Selection to Alpha Sigma Nu is one of the highest honors that can be given on a Jesuit campus.

Who is eligible to join? Any student of a Jesuit college or university is eligible. At Boston College, third-year undergraduate students who are in the top 15 percent of their class academically and have a demonstrated record of service and loyalty to the Jesuit ideals of education are considered for membership. Only 4 percent of those candidates from each class may be inducted.

Officers

President: Giuliana Stein
Vice President + Director of Programming: Vincent Sablich
Director of Outreach: Catherine Brewer
Director of Service and Mission: Adalyn Schommer

The Last Lecture Series

Last lecture is a series sponsored by the Center for Ignatian Spirituality and Alpha Sigma Nu Honors Society. Select the links below to view video from past events.

2023: Karen Arnold
2022: James O'Toole
2021: Jane E. Regan 
2019: Robert Taggart
2018: Clare O'Connor
2017: Mark O'Connor

CIS Talks

Where BC faculty give passionate talks on topics that inspire them

Ignatius Loyola encouraged the first Jesuits to share their deepest desires and aspirations with other fellow Jesuits. For him that constant communication would unite, console, and edify them deeply (Constitutions VIII, 673).

With CIS Talks, the Center for Ignatian Spirituality wants to emulate this practice by inviting BC faculty to share with their peers those topics, desires, and passions that inspire and motivate them.

CIS Talks will take place at the BC Club, 100 Federal Street 36th Floor, in Boston. Dates for CIS Talks for the 2022-2023 academic year will be posted by the beginning of September. This event is by invitation only. Information about the specific topic of the talk and presenter is forthcoming.

Faculty interested in participating in one of our CIS Talks can send us an email expressing their interest at cis@bc.edu.

Jesuit Fellow

The Center for Ignatian Spirituality is pleased to announce an in-residence “Jesuit Fellow” position available for any Jesuit around the world interested in spending four to nine months at Boston College during the academic year (September - May) collaborating with the work of The Center and other pastoral ministries. Jesuits who are interested must directly contact the director to explore conditions and availability. In your initial contact to the director, Tomeu Estelrich, please include your CV and a brief explanation of your intentions while at Boston College.

The candidate must have a proficient English level and a fervent desire to exercise his ministerial talents in our community. The Center will provide all the necessary means to succeed in such enterprise.

This program is a joint initiative of The Center for Ignatian Spirituality and Boston College’s Jesuit Community.

Stephen Chak-Long Tong, S.J.

Stephen Chak-Long Tong, S.J.

Stephen was born in Macau, China in 1963, which was under the rule of the Portugal until 1999. He was baptized into the Catholic Church in 1981, and entered the Society of Jesus in 1990. He came to the Weston School of Theology to study the STL program in 1999-2001. He was ordained into the priesthood in 2000. 

In 2001, as his first mission, he was sent to be the socius of the novice master of the Chinese province. The novitiate had been sited at Manila until then. After working for two years there, he came back to Boston to finish his tertianship formation under Fr. William Barry from September 2003 until May 2004. Thus, Stephen is quite familiar with the Boston area and has a good number of friends around.

Since 2004, Stephen has been the Director of Xavier House, the Ignatian Spirituality Center of Hong Kong. He guides retreats, Ignatian formation, public lectures, and conducts spiritual directors’ training program in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and mainland China as well. He is fluent in English, Mandarin & Cantonese. Since 2012, he is the superior of the Hong Kong community, and the consultor of the Provincial.

Stephen will be the Jesuit Fellow at the Center from September 14 to December 11, 2020.

Loyola, Spain

Compañía Pilgrimage

The Center for Ignatian Spirituality and Intersections offers to faculty and administrators of Boston College this pilgrimage seminar, Compañía, to explore the context in which they live out their vocation as educators—the developmental phases of adulthood, the spiritual life whether explicitly religious or not, family and personal relationships, career trajectories, the work/life balance—and what resources a Jesuit university might provide to help us integrate these dimensions of our lives.

The program will begin in the Spring semester with a retreat, followed by three on-campus meetings. The Fall semester will have two on-campus meetings.

The metaphor of pilgrimage will take a very concrete form midway through the seminar. In June, the group will travel to Spain and Rome for nine days to retrace some of the key steps in the unfolding life journey of Ignatius Loyola. Spending these days together—as pilgrims, not just tourists—gives deeper insights into who he was, time and leisure for reflecting on one’s experiences and life journeys, and plenty of opportunity to share reflections over vino and tapas.

"Three Things I Learned About St. Ignatius While on Pilgrimage" 
— Marina McCoy, featured on IgnatianSpirituality.com

Learn more about the pilgrimage seminar on the Intersections website.