Ignatian Solidarity Network

FORMATION & NETWORKING OF YOUTH: In FY 2022-2023, ISN facilitated in-person programming and campaigns around various issue areas, including a consistent ethic of life, environmental justice, economic justice, and racial justice and equity. For over a decade, ISN has been connecting high school students across the U.S. at annual Arrupe Leaders Summitsempowering student leaders to enact positive social change in their schools, home communities, and beyond. The three 2023 summits brought over 100 high school students and 40 faculty and staff togetherall with a shared commitment to putting faith in action to build a more just world. ISN also forms college-age students capacities to be leaders for social justice on their campuses. In FY 2022-2023, ISN hosted the Ignatian Justice Summit on Ecology and Migration. Twenty-four students from 10 Jesuit colleges and universities gathered for a 4-day/3-night training where participants could network with students from other institutions, learn and practice skills around organizing campaigns, and hear from various speakers on organizing and social justice topics. Post-summit attendees were encouraged to join monthly student organizing calls throughout the academic year, and ISN plans to continue hosting an Ignatian Justice Summit every summer. SUPPORT OF EDUCATORS AND MENTORS:CATHOLIC COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY IMMERSION COORDINATORS SUMMIT - From June 6-8, 2023, immersion coordinators from Jesuit and other Catholic colleges and universities gathered at Thomas Berry Place in Queens, NY, for the first Immersion Coordinators Summit since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. The summit gathered 21 immersion coordinators from 17 institutions across the country. In addition, seven representatives from partner organizations joined the gathering as presenters and exhibitors. Throughout the summit, immersion coordinators shared best practices around immersion programs within the Ignatian context. CATHOLIC SECONDARY SCHOOL ECO EDUCATORS SUMMIT - The inaugural Ignatian Eco Educators Summit allowed 22 educators from 15 Catholic schools throughout the Ignatian network to gather for three days / two nights to network and share best practices for promoting integral ecology at their schools. The gathering theme was Rooted in Magis, a central image used was mycelium, an underground network of fungus. Just as mycelium helps transport resources between trees, the Eco Educators are also developing a support and resource-sharing network to help build sustainable schools across the Ignatian family. In an attempt to limit CO2 emissions, presenters from Oregon, California, and Argentina used Zoom to share insights on the 4 Cs Framework to implement sustainability (campus, curriculum, community, and culture). Participants will continue to meet monthly through an online community of practice during the school year, and many expressed a deep sense of gratitude and newfound direction thanks to the summit.MOBILIZING CATHOLIC PARISHES FOR JUSTICE ACTION - This 4-part online program created a space for parishioners, parish staff, and educators to skill-build the techniques and methods needed to manifest our dreams for justice into practical action. Utilizing the lens of Ignatian discernment and grounded in the teaching of the Parable of the Sower, the sessions provided formation on building solid teams, mobilizing people to action, amplifying a message, engaging in strategic advocacy, building support in our institutions, holding campaign members accountable to directly impacted communities. Approximately 50 individuals participated in the online sessions throughout the summer months.IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE TO PROMOTE ETHICAL PURCHASING PRACTICES IN CATHOLIC INSTITUTIONS - In August 2023, eight staff from Catholic high schools, universities, and organizations outside the Ignatian Solidarity Network came together to learn and discuss ethical purchasing at CEPAs partners at The Industrial Commons in Morganton, North Carolina. The mini immersion was a two-day-long deep dive into The Industrial Commons cooperative ecosystem of ethical and sustainable garment production. The immersion allowed institutional and organizational leaders to network and connect, creating pathways for ethical purchasing in their community. The immersion was part of ISNs Catholic Ethical Purchasing Alliance (CEPA). Initiated in 2021, CEPA supports Catholic institutions and individuals efforts to integrate the values of Catholic Social Teaching (CST), related to the rights and dignity of workers and care for the Earth, into their institutional purchasing practices. CEPA partners with Catholic universities, high schools, parishes, health systems, and other ministries. The program helps these institutions build relationships with ethical purchasing partners, provides educational resources and presentations, and assists in integrating CST values into institutional purchasing policies and practices.

MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONSIn FY 2022-2023, ISN welcomed more than 246,312 website visitors and nearly 60,000 subscribers to our regular social justice newsletters. ISNs growth in reach also encompasses a host of social media platforms, with more than 27,000 followers on Facebook, more than 17,000 on Twitter, more than 12,000 on Instagram, and nearly 1,300 on YouTube. ISNs website is a hub for online campaigns, in-person program registration, and various resources related to Catholic Social Teaching and Ignatian spirituality to social justice work. Education for Justice, acquired by Ignatian Solidarity Network in January 2019, has become a core element of ISNs resource offerings. As of June 30, 2023, more than 1,190 Catholic educators and ministers are active members of Education for Justice through over 730 individual and institutional memberships. Through Education for Justice, the Ignatian Solidarity Network adds three to five new relevant resources each month to a digital library totaling over 2,500 total items, including prayers, discussion guides, lesson plans, and much more.

IGNATIAN FAMILY TEACH-IN FOR JUSTICE From October 22-24, 2022, in Washington, D.C., nearly 2,000 individuals gathered for the Ignatian Solidarity Networks 25th annual Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice (IFTJ). The 2022 teach-ins theme, Rooted and Renewing, invited attendees to root themselves in the history of the Teach-In and the legacy of the Jesuit martyrs and their companionskilled in 1989 in El Salvador for their commitment to standing with the oppressedand to renew a commitment to addressing todays injustices with creativity, courage, and resiliencetraits embodied by the first Teach-In in Georgia twenty-five years ago.The weekends keynote speakers included Bill McKibben, Maka Black Elk, and Olga Segura. Sunday concluded with Catholic mass, with presider Rev. Ted Gabrielli, S.J. The Teach-In culminated with a public witness in Washington, D.C.s Union Square, a legislative advocacy day on Capitol Hill. Over 1,000 attendees met Congressional members or their staffs to discuss humane approaches to immigration policy and call for increased action to respond to the realities of climate change. The advocacy was the nations largest Catholic advocacy day in 2023.

MIGRATION JUSTICE PROGRAMMING ISN continued to build its network of immigration advocates, addressing issues including the right to seek asylum, border policy, and support for DACA recipients and undocumented members of the Ignatian family. In January 2023, 43 college students gathered in San Francisco, California, for ISNs 2nd annual Undocu Network Summit. Each of the attendees gathered had an immigration storyidentifying as undocumented, a DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) or Temporary Protected Status (TPS) recipient, or a member of a mixed-status family. The gathering provided attendeesall Catholic college and university students a safe place to build community, share concerns, seek advice, and grow their campus organizing skills. The network meets monthly throughout the year via Zoom to continue cultivating the relationships and collaboration developed during the January 2023 Summit. In partnership with the Jesuit Conference Office of Justice and Ecology, ISN co-hosted twenty-seven members of the Jesuit Migration Network of the U.S. and Canada for a meeting from March 1921, 2023, in Tucson and Nogales, Arizona. The group included faculty and staff from Jesuit universities and high schools, regional and national advocacy organization staff, and those engaged in direct service and pastoral ministry with migrant populations. On the meetings final day, the group had the opportunity to travel to Nogales, Mexico, for a press conference and binational solidarity event titled We Say Welcome. Joining other faith leaders, advocates, and migrants, the group called on U.S. officials to restore access to asylum so that migrants fleeing persecution and violence have a fair and dignified way to seek safety in the U.S.

OTHER PROGRAMMINGCONSISTENT ETHIC OF LIFE - In January 2023, ISN joined the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States in hosting the Ignatian Family Mass for Life in Washington, D.C. The mass welcomed over 350 students, faculty, staff, and parishioners to Saint Aloysius Gonzaga Church for prayer and reflection before the school and parish delegations took part in the annual March for Life through the streets of Washington, D.C. RACIAL JUSTICE - In January 2023, ISN partnered with the U.S. and Canadian Jesuits to host an in-person gathering focused on the relationship between Ignatian Spirituality and the work of anti-racism. The 4-day / 3-night program allowed 65 attendees, educators, and pastoral ministers in Jesuit secondary education and parish ministry to deepen their commitment to anti-racism work through the framework of the four weeks of the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola. Also, in January 2023, over 1,000 people participated in an online webinar on the history of chattel slavery in the Catholic Church. The session featured Father Chris Kellerman, S.J., author of All Oppression Shall Cease: A History of Slavery, Abolitionism, and the Catholic Church. In the late Spring of 2023, ISN hosted a webinar entitled Radical Listening: A Radical Approach to Diversity Equity, Inclusion, and Racial Justice. Over 675 individuals from Jesuit and other Catholic institutions participated in the presentation on the value of active listening as a radical social justice tool to advance human dignity, understanding, and respect. Dr. John G. Igwebuike, the presenter, is the Director of School CultureDiversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Saint Ignatius College Prep in Chicago, Illinois, and the founder of The Lead Listening Institute. On July 12, 2023, hundreds of parishioners joined Fr. Joseph Cheah, OSM. Ph.D. for his presentation, Beyond the Forever Foreigner: Unpacking Anti-Asian American Racism. Fr. Cheah is a Professor at the University of Saint Joseph in Hartford, CT, and authored Anti-Asian Racism: Myths, Stereotypes, and Catholic Social Teaching. His presentation examined how Black and Asian Americans are racialized differently, how systemic racism operates within these two groups, and how perpetual foreigner and model minority stereotypes operate in the lives of Asian Americans.