Mrs. Ilse Dekker has been nominated as the new director of JECSE, The European Jesuit Schools Network. Since 2011 she has been the coordinator of Christian identity and Ignatian ethos in our Stanislas-network of six colleges for secondary education in The Netherlands. She will take office on the 4th of June.  

Mrs.  Dekker was born in the Netherlands in 1963 and is living and working now in the surroundings of Delft. As a cultural anthropologist - specialized in religious anthropology (after a period of working as a free-lance journalist) she worked as a teacher in religious education at Stanislascollege for 16 years. During that time she was also trained as a school counsellor; the cura personalis is also very important to her. Since 2011 she is the coordinator of Christian identity and Ignatian ethos in our Stanislas-network of six colleges for secondary education. In 2012 she became the delegate for education, succeeding father Bert ten Berge sj.

She came to know JECSE in 2005 during an eye-opening formators meeting in Paris, and thereafter she attended many conferences, as well as the first worldwide congresses. Also, at the request of Marie-Thérèse Michel, she joined the temporarily extended Steering Committee to help revise the vision of JECSE several years ago. “All of those meetings have been very important to me, both to me personally and in my role as coordinator and delegate. Likewise, the JECSE conferences became a major source of Ignatian inspiration for colleagues in our schools. I think the work JECSE does is really important, especially in today’s context of secularization, economisation and polarization. Our world - and Europe, with it’s complicated history, in particular - needs reconciliation, compassion and hope. The many young people in our schools, following the example of Jesus, can help to make it so, with our dedicated support”.

As Mrs. Dekker said “I feel profoundly grateful to be allowed in my new role to contribute to this and will do that, together with all the education delegates, to my best abilities. Likewise, I feel deeply grateful to Marie-Thérèse Michel, who was a wonderful director, and with all her dedication, wisdom and creativity helped JECSE grow into such a meaningful network”.

The Conference of European Provincials welcomes Mrs. Dekker heartfully  and encourages her for this new assignment that will help the Jesuit education networks.