Ignatian Year

The Ignatian Year celebrated by Jesuit communities across the world begins on May 20, 2021, the 500th anniversary of St. Ignatius Loyola’s monumental “cannonball moment.” Ignatius was an eager young soldier in the Spanish army motivated by earthly fame and glory. This all changed when he was struck in the leg by a cannonball in battle. While recovering at home, he began reading texts about Jesus and the lives of the saints, as they were the only reading materials available to him at the time. These texts and this period of discernment in recovery led to his intense spiritual conversion and gave Ignatius a new sense of purpose.

Together with St. Peter Faber and St. Francis Xavier, St. Ignatius Loyola went on to found the Society of Jesus and created the Spiritual Exercises as a tool for all of us to grow in union with God and God’s will. The Ignatian Year presents all of us with the opportunity to embrace our own “cannonball moments” and to be especially attuned to our authentic selves in discernment from profession to purpose.

Ignatian Year events at Fordham University will be taking place all across our community from May 20, 2021, through July 31, 2022, the Feast Day of St. Ignatius Loyola.

 

Upcoming Events

Check back soon for more Ignatian Year events!
 

Past Events

Living the Mission Panel Discussion
Tuesday, May 3, 2022 | 5:00 PM-7:00 PM | Butler Commons, Duane Library | Rose Hill Campus
Sponsored by the Center for Community Engaged Learning
Join us for a panel discussion featuring campus leaders to discuss the ways they understand and live the mission in their own roles. We will then transition to a workshop where attendees will be able to understand and name how they also contribute to this mission. 
 
Fordham in the Community: Summit on Community Development and Partnership
Friday, May 6, 2022 | 10:30 AM | Bronx Zoo | Schiff Family Great Hall | 2300 Southern Blvd., Bronx, NY 10460
Sponsored by the Center for Community Engaged Learning
Fordham’s Center for Community Engaged Learning will convene local partners, community stakeholders, faculty, and students for a day of information-sharing, advocacy, and outreach. Conversations will center on four crucial and interrelated areas of focus: Education Justice, Environmental Justice, Migration Justice, and Economic Justice. At the summit, Fordham University will launch “In Community/En Comunidad,” an asset-based consortium between the University and local community partners to collaborate on NYC-based community projects and initiatives. 
 

"The Battle at Pamplona" Dodgeball Game
Tuesday, April 26, 2022 | 6:00 PM | Murphy Field | Rose Hill Campus
Sponsored by the Center for Community Engaged Learning

Commemorate the Battle of Pamplona with a friendly dodgeball competition. 
 

Ignatian Year Mass
Sunday, April 3, 2022 |5:00 PM | University Church | Rose Hill Campus
Sponsored by Campus Ministry

Fordham celebrates the 400th anniversary of the canonization of Sts. Ignatius Loyola and Francis Xavier
in the midst of the Ignatian Year. Join us at Mass in the University Church on Sunday, April 3rd at 5:00 pm. 
Father McShane will preside and a reception will be held at Bepler Commons after the Mass.
 

Seeds of Transformation Showcase
Sponsored by Campus Ministry

Campus Ministry is pleased to invite you to participate in Seeds of Transformation: Envisioning Hope for the Environment with Ignatian Imagination, an art showcase & reception celebrating the 500th anniversary of the conversion of St. Ignatius.

Just as 500 years ago Ignatius was hit with a cannonball shattering both his leg and his understanding of the world, so too are we in the midst of a “cannonball moment” as we confront the realities of climate change and its impacts on geopolitics, global health, and our spirituality. 

Ignatius’s response to his shattered world was to find hope in it and to work for the world in the name of that hope. In Ignatius’s spirit, we now look for seeds of hope, seeds of transformation, that are a call to climate action.  

There are two ways you can be involved:

We invite you to submit your original creations imagining what the planet could look like when we commit ourselves to stewardship.  Consider the question: What happens when we challenge ourselves to reimagine our presence on earth as hopeful and interconnected?

  • Submissions may be in the form of visual art, film, dance, monologue, music, photography, and poetry, for example. 
  • Submissions are due by 4:00 PM on Thursday, March 31st.
  • Looking to create with others?  Join a Paint Night:
    • Rose Hill: Ignatius Room
      • Wed 3/23 - 4:30-7 pm
      • Sun 3/27 - 5:30-8 pm
    • Lincoln Center: South Lounge
      • Thurs. 3/24 11:30-1 pm

*Read the Full SUBMISSION GUIDELINES & Entry Form**

  • Attend the Showcase & Opening Reception!
  • Work will be displayed during the week of April 4-8th at both LC and RH
  • Performance pieces will be incorporated into the week’s opening reception at the campus of your choice. 
    • Rose Hill: Monday, April 4; Great Hall, 5:30 pm
    • Lincoln Center: Tuesday, April 5; South Lounge. 5:30 pm

Passion and Purpose: Finding Your Purpose and How It Changes Everything
Thursday, November 18, 2021 | 5:30 PM | 12th Floor Lounge, Leon Lowenstein Center | Lincoln Center Campus
Sponsored by the Office of Career Services

Join Genevieve Piturro. FCRH '83, for a presentation on how to find your elusive purpose and where following your passions can lead you.

Find Your Purpose: Choosing a Major Based on Your Personality Type
Session One: Wednesday, September 29, 2021 | 2:30-3:30 PM in Dealy Hall 112
Session Two: Thursday, September 30, 2021 | 1:00 - 2:00 PM in Keating Hall 317
Sponsored by the Fordham College at Rose Hill Dean's Office and the Office of Career Services

2021 Government, Law and Public Service Virtual Networking Event
Thursday, September 30, 2021 | 1:00-3:00 PM
Sponsored by the Office of Career Services

The 2021 Government, Law and Public Service Virtual Networking Event will bring together employers in the government, law, and public services sectors to meet with Fordham students for meaningful networking, recruiting, and career conversations. All types of roles will be advertised, so please come prepared to discuss your interests, and don't forget to have your resume ready! 

Things Get Broken: A Jesuit Reflects on Leonard Bernstein's MASS at 50
An Ignatian Year Webinar: September 23, 2021 | 6:00 PM
Sponsored by the Center on Religion and Culture

On September 8, 1971, the premiere of Leonard Bernstein’s MASS inaugurated the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Commissioned by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in memory of her late husband, the work bore the weight of a decade of sorrows: the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, his brother Robert, Martin Luther King, Jr.; racial unrest over civil rights; ongoing losses in the Vietnam War; the recent Kent State shootings, and much else.

In this lecture, Stephen Schloesser, SJ, will explore not only Bernstein’s masterpiece -- and its incorporation of Jewish and Catholic liturgical elements -- but also its resonance for our present moment as we emerge from a lethal pandemic only to face grave threats to our civic order. 

This virtual event inaugurates the Ignatian Year at Fordham, a global observance by the Society of Jesus to commemorate the moment 500 years ago when a cannonball shattered the leg of Ignatius of Loyola. The wound put an end to his youthful dreams of personal glory but started Ignatius on a journey of conversion. 

Loss was not the last word for Loyola -- as it was not for Bernstein, who provides music of both lament and hope after a broken year.