Ignatian Retreat for Faculty Research and Writing
This program is for Xavier tenured and tenure track faculty, teaching professors and senior teaching professors to have a concentrated time of doing research and writing on a topic of their choice. Participants are welcome to work on a current project, begin researching a new topic of interest, or develop a new course that will be offered.
Each day, we will gather for a morning contemplative practice and evening Daily Examen for reflection. Otherwise, the day and evening will be unstructured to allow faculty to research and write at their own pace.
While we will try to accommodate all who apply, due to limited space, priority will be will be given to first time participants. Participants are expected to be at the retreat center for the length of the program unless something unforeseen occurs.
What’s “Ignatian” about this writing retreat?
We will provide opening meditation and closing Daily Examen each day in the Ignatian spirit. While the retreat’s main purpose is to provide concentrated, uninterrupted time for faculty to write and do research, it is done in a spirit of restorative rest and reflection within the context of the Xavier community. In his encyclical, Laudato Si, Pope Francis writes that, “[Ignatian] Christian spirituality incorporates the value of relaxation and festivity. We tend to demean contemplative rest as something unproductive and unnecessary, but this is to do away with the very thing which is most important about work: its meaning. We are called to include in our work a dimension of receptivity and gratuity, which is quite different from mere inactivity. Rather, it is another way of working, which forms part of our very essence. It protects human action from becoming empty activism; it also prevents that unfettered greed and sense of isolation which make us seek personal gain to the detriment of all else…. Rest opens our eyes to the larger picture and gives us renewed sensitivity to the rights of others…..and motivates us to greater concern for nature and the poor” (para. 237).