Members of the Kircher Network and guests on the rooftop of the Jesuitenkolleg in Innsbruck, near where the General Assembly took place

Editor´ s note: This report was written by Diego Losada, Project Manager, Conference of European Provincials.

 

The name Athanasius Kircher SJ is back on the spotlight (if it ever left). This man, considered by some as “The Last Man Who Knew Everything”, and as the “Master of a Hundred Arts”, was a seventeenth century Jesuit polymath expert in areas like religion, geology, medicine, and many more. One might ask, why is he relevant for us nowadays? Well, in addition to all his discoveries that helped us in many fields of knowledge, he has been a key inspiration to launch the Kircher Network, the family of Jesuit institutions of higher education in Europe and the Near East.

 

But what can the Kircher Network do? What is its vision for the intellectual apostolate in Europe and the Near East? These are good questions. They actually were the key focus of the first official General Assembly of the Kircher Network that took place in Innsbruck, Austria, from the 7th to the 9th of July 2019. The group of rectors and deans of the institutions that form the Kircher Network, and who are members of the General Assembly, met together for two full days to put their hearts, minds, and souls to the task of answering the two aforementioned questions.

 

The starting point was the Universal Apostolic Preferences. The Jesuit Roman Curia recently announced them after a deep and inclusive discerning process that finished with their approval by none other than Pope Francis. Fr. John Dardis SJ, a key figure in the whole process, came to speak to the whole group of rectors and deans. “If the world is our home…” said Fr. Dardis referring to the famous Jesuit Jerónimo Nadal SJ, “… our home is in a critical state.” “There is a dominant narrative of division (Trump, Johnson, Maduro…), which is our narrative of reconciliation?” he challenged participants.

 

This powerful talk was followed by a similar motivational speech by Fr. Michael Garanzini SJ who spoke of the recent developments at the International Association of Jesuit Universities (IAJU) and its working groups. “There is energy and a momentum we need to sustain, the whole world is moving forward…” Fr. Garanzini explained, “… the networks in the other regions are also slowly taking shape”.

Fr. John Dardis SJ and Fr. Michael Garanzini SJ answering questions from participants after their respective speeches. Moderator: Fr. Philip Endean SJ

 

These two talks served as the kick-off for a reflection process in which the different participants of the General Assembly tried to answer the following three questions: a) What one or two things moved you after hearing Fr. Dardis and Fr. Garanzini? What gives you energy? b) How, from within my institution, can I imagine these visions be realised? c) How can we help each other do that? The personal reflection was followed by some group work and then the participants all got together in a plenary to discuss the different ideas that came out. Throughout these sessions, the specific ideas that gained more support were:

 

  • Exchanging Staff and Students. To do this in a specific way. Strategic partnerships (bilateral or trilateral).
  • Cooperate in seeking joint EU funding for concrete projects
  • Idea of discerning university and what this means
  • Ignatian Pedagogy in Europe and the Near East
  • Theology in Europe and the Near East
  • Intellectual work as a service of liberation

 

The meeting was also a good moment to see familiar faces and to meet the new people who will be helping the network move forward. Here we want to emphasise the role of Susana Ditrolio Rivero, the new Executive Secretary, who has been working for more than 15 years in the homologue network of the Kircher network in Latin America, AUSJAL. Prof. Dr. Ditrolio will be starting her new role in September. She has a large background on networking and in political sciences.

 

Finally, the Higher Education for Social Transformation Programme (HEST) received a lot of attention. It was presented by its coordinator, Prof. Dr. José Carlos Romero. This programme, launched two years ago, was a key element for developing this Kircher Network. The idea behind it is that several experts working in the same field gather in research clusters and develop a common advocacy strategy to help address a current social issue. The areas in which they have gathered are: ecology and environmental challenges, poverty and ethics, Christian-Muslim relations, dialogue science and religion, Ignatian studies, anthropology, and refugees and migration. We can imagine that these are areas that Fr. Athanasius Kircher SJ would surely be delighted to know that the Society of Jesus is involved in.