Ruthie Braunstein/The Hoya Rev. Pat Conroy, S.J. participates in an Ignatian Reflection service last night as part of Jesuit Heritage Week. Georgetown began celebrating its first Jesuit Heritage Week on Sunday, and the festivities will continue until this Friday, focusing on events that highlight the Jesuit tradition at the nation’s oldest Catholic university.

The free programs that are open to the public include liturgies, Jesuit Jeopardy, a Jesuit Open House, Take a Jesuit to Lunch day, a Jesuit Options Fair and speeches by America Online Vice Chairman Ted Leonsis (CAS ’77), Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne, Jr. and University President Leo J. O’Donovan, S.J.

Georgetown undergraduates J.P. Hornbeck (COL ’03) and Stephen Feiler (COL ’02) conceived the idea for a Jesuit Heritage Week in early October 2000.

Feiler said he felt that the Georgetown community needed “to do something tangible to celebrate our heritage,” and that, “as Georgetown continues to grow in international and academic stature, it is crucial that significant efforts be made to reaffirm and highlight our Catholic and Jesuit identity.

“My hope is that Jesuit Heritage Week will be a time during which the campus community will come together to share in the spirit and mission that makes Georgetown so unique among its peer institutions,” he said.

The two said that after they had submitted their idea to various groups, including campus ministry and the provost’s office, they received a great deal of support and help in planning the events from faculty members, the administration, Jesuits and other students.

Hornbeck said he believes that this week, which he sees as similar to Georgetown Day but longer and with a different twist on Georgetown’s heritage, provides an opportunity for Georgetown students to learn, “more about what things are unique about Georgetown” and separate it from other top universities.

He said he hopes this week will promote student-Jesuit interactions and said that by spreading the celebration out over a week, he and other organizers hoped that people could pick and choose what events to go to and would be able to attend more events than if the celebration had only lasted a day.

The week began with a Campus Ministry Workshop on Liturgy on Sunday in Dahlgren Chapel of the Sacred Heart and continued with the Jesuit Residence Open House, when students were able to tour the Jesuit living area. O’Donovan led the week’s opening mass in Dahlgren Chapel, followed by a reception.

On Monday, Thomas M. King, S.J., gave a talk entitled, “What is Ignatian Spirituality?” in Copley Formal Lounge. Georgetown’s Jesuit History was outlined and discussed by R. Emmett Curran, Ph.D., and the Rev. Brian O. cDermott, S.J., in the Philodemic Room of Healy Hall.

The two discussed details about Georgetown and its founder John Carroll explaining that Carroll was a good friend of Benjamin Franklin and was a member of a diplomatic mission from the United States to Canada to enlist Canadian aid for the American side during the Revolutionary War.

Monday’s final event, led by the Rev. Pat Conroy, S.J., took place in the Copley Crypt of the North American Martyrs between 10 and 11 p.m. and was entitled “Experiencing Ignatian Spirituality.”

Today, Leonsis will give a speech in Copley Formal Lounge outlining how his experiences at a Jesuit university have influenced his outlook on the world. The next event will be a colloquium on “Ignatian Pedagogy in the Third illennium” in Copley Formal Lounge including Georgetown Professors Francis J. Ambrosio of the Philosophy department, Randall Bass of the English department, the Rev. G. Ronald Murphy, S.J., of the German department, Joseph H. Neale of the Biology department and Diane Yeager of the Theology department. The final event of the day will be a Jesuit Options Fair in the Leavey Corridor discussing service and other lay vocation opportunities

Wednesday is “Take a Jesuit to Lunch” day, when students can take a Jesuit to lunch in Darnall or New South. Students can sign up for this event online from the Georgetown Web site. Wednesday evening a “Simple Supper” will be held in Copley Formal Lounge, with the Rev. Howard Gray, S.J., as the principal speaker.

On Thursday, the first event will be a speech by Dionne discussing the role of religion in public life. It will be held from 10:30-11:30 a.m. in the Philodemic Room. Beginning at 12:30 p.m. in the same location will be a University Conversation on Jesuit Identity, which is only open to members of the Georgetown campus community.

The week’s closing address, “What Does Georgetown’s Jesuit Heritage Mean to Me?” will be delivered by O’Donovan in the President’s Room of the Riggs Library. “Jesuit Jeopardy!” which coordinators say promises to be very amusing, will take place in Sellinger Lounge in the Leavey Center from 10 to 11 p.m. after the Georgetown basketball game or possibly during halftime.

The Concluding Mass of Thanksgiving will be given on Friday by Bishop Gordon D. Bennett, S.J., auxiliary bishop of Baltimore, at 12:10 p.m. in Dahlgren Chapel.

O’Donovan said in a press release, “now in our third century, Georgetown University continues to serve God and the world by being a truly distinguished university in the Catholic and Jesuit tradition. Jesuit Heritage Week will provide us with a meaningful opportunity to reflect on the many ways that this tradition has inspired our community and will continue to enrich Georgetown’s future.”