Belonging, Dignity and Justice
A group of faculty developed enhancements to our diversity training for students founded on the principles of Catholic Social Teaching and the Four Apostolic Preferences of the Society of Jesus. These enhancements strive to create a student experience and environment in which young men are welcomed to our community, valued for all their gifts, personal histories and backgrounds, appropriately challenged, and protected from bias and discrimination for any reason.
Belonging ensures students experience the Fordham Prep community as one in which differences are welcomed, different perspectives are respectfully articulated and heard, and each young man feels valued and cared for.
Dignity helps students recognize that all people are made in the image and likeness of God and so possess an equal and inalienable worth. This understanding leads students to treat each other with love, respect and compassion while working actively to oppose bias, harassment, and discrimination in all of its forms( e. g., racism; sexism; ageism; homophobia; anti-Semitism; ableism; etc)
Justice inspires students to engage in serious conversation with all our brothers and sisters, to hunger and thirst for righteousness, and to act when we see inequality. We aim to empower students to advocate for justice and become agents of reconciliation for those whose dignity has been violated.
These program enhancements include presentations, speakers and discussions during orientations, mentoring periods and during other formation opportunities such as retreats. Its five goals for student formation are taken directly from The Profile of Graduate at Graduation, a document that guides all Jesuit schools in the United States-- to form young men who are open to growth, loving, religious, intellectually competent, and committed to justice.
From Randall Pedro P’ 18, Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
The work of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Fordham Prep is rooted in justice. Justice has the potential to be a wideranging abstract construct. Many people equate justice with being a“ good person.” To conceptualize justice in a way that becomes the core of our experiences, I find reflecting on Rev. David Fleming’ s S. J. translation of the“ Principle and Foundation” in Ignatius Loyola’ s Spiritual Exercises extremely helpful:“ Our only desire and our one choice should be this: I want and I choose what better leads to God’ s deepening his life in me.”
Embracing God’ s invitation to deeper transformation and conversion has the potential to transform our society.
Dignity, belonging and justice are at the heart of this work. They allow us to respect every individual in every interaction. This transformative justice-- flowing from God’ s love-- also gives us the power to confront, address and dismantle systems that perpetuate societal divisions based on historic discrimination.
To combat these societal divisions and systemic biases we hope to imbue our students with the ability to“ truly see” one another as God’ s creatures, created in love, in order to love. This is the cornerstone of our mission to develop“ men for and with others.” To work toward this outcome, it is necessary to listen to each of our stories. We must create opportunities and an environment for different voices in our community to own and articulate their personal history and experience. We cannot overlook the pain and anguish we cause when we look past a student’ s story.
Our Program is one of the many missioncentered initiatives in our school community where we can express“ I see you, I value you and most importantly I love you as my brother or sister.”
We are inspired by the vision of diversity, equity, and inclusion as articulated within the Apostolic Preferences of the Society of Jesus. These preferences invite us to walk with the excluded in a mission of reconciliation and justice, and to accompany young people in the creation of a hope-filled future. Beyond opportunities for service and expressions of charity, we believe sustained accompaniment and respectful encounters on a human level have the power to transform us and our community in radical and lifegiving ways.
July 2020 Action Plan for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
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