Impressions after the JECSE Ignatian Leadership Programme 

Silence on the bus after our visit to the JRS Telyani school in the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon. The group, consisting of 16 participants and the 5-person planning team, was lost in thoughts. The images of smiling children in the dark classrooms with sprayed heating and electricity (built 10 years ago to be temporary), the cheerful quotes on the walls, the powerful commitment of the school management moved on to the desolation of the infinite refugee camps around the school, the poverty in the streets, the tense relations between politicians and the population, between Muslims and Christians, the unsustainable mobility of the Lebanese pound. We were in a VUCA world par excellence (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity). 

The meeting with the refugee school children and later with the workers of the Arc en Ciel sheltered workshop confronted us with our own limits and forced us to push them back, to broaden our vision. For this step into the unknown, we needed courage and confidence... And that's what this ILP was. 

Theoretical models and practical tools 

Our road to Lebanon started about three years ago and would guide us through four modules. Each module gave us theoretical models and practical tools, drawn from the rich experience of the planning team. Between modules, we also met regularly online. 

The first module took place in Rodizio (Portugal) in autumn 2021. We began by exploring how to integrate Ignatian leadership in our school contexts. Nikolaas Sintobin SJ prompted reflection on the norms guiding us: the path of evil or the path of Good? Antonio Allende, education delegate in Spain, shared his journey in Ignatian leadership, emphasizing the patient construction of Ignatian history, brick by brick. 

Called to lead others 

 In spring 2022 at Loyola, we embraced leadership through reflection, prayer, and mutual support. We focused on social and emotional intelligence, emphasizing active listening to build trust within the team. Mark Desmet SJ spoke about fragile leadership, adaptability, and unity in a changing world. We practiced spiritual conversations and aimed to apply them in our school context. 

In autumn 2022, during our gathering in Gozo (Malta), we shared our faith conversations and discovered a newfound hunger. We explored leading a Spirit-led organization, addressing the connections within our school team and navigating opposing viewpoints. Jimmy Bartolo SJ, the Rector of St. Aloysius College, enlightened us on creating an Ignatian school culture that fosters men and women with and for others. 

 Grow in confidence and courage 

Spring brought us to Taanayel in Lebanon, into the unknown. We wanted to grow in confidence and courage to dare to lead our team into this unknown as comforting leaders. Not only the meeting with Charbel Batour sj, rector of the Collège Notre-Dame de Jamhour in Beirut, and Michael Zammit SJ, regional superior, clarified the tensions in the Lebanese society.  Meeting the bus driver, the kitchen princesses in Taanayel, the sheltered workshop workers, the guide in Baalbek and Anjar, the hospitable woman and her husband in Deir Al-Qamar (Come in and have a coffee) showed us, alongside the despair, small glimmers of kindness, hospitality, hope. This brought us seamlessly into the meaning and power of adaptive leadership (Heifetz). How can we mobilise our team to take on innovative challenges in our own contexts? 

The Ignatian Leadership Programme abled us to grow in Ignatian leadership. By going together, we strengthened our vocation to push the limits, to lead the team entrusted to us in a comforting way, and to put Ignatian spirituality at the centre of this leadership. 

Anne-Sophie De Decker, Fr Bart van Emmerik SJ