This week Georgetown will celebrate the 14th annual Jesuit Heritage Week! Hopefully most Hoyas have already met and/or taken a class with some of the Jesuits on campus.  (Side note: You should definitely plan to, because the Jesuits on campus are both giftedly smart and incredibly fun. Plus, a lot of them will most likely provide you with great food; personal thank you to Fr. Steck for New South’s quesadilla and brownie nights!) But even if you haven’t, make sure to come out to the great events this week celebrating Jesuit Heritage Week!

This year, Georgetown is expanding this week all the way to the campus in Doha, Qatar. For the first time, Georgetown students can join Hoyas from across the world in enjoying Georgetown’s special identity and great traditions.

Filled with various events, the week begins Sunday night with an opening mass in Gaston Hall at 8:00 p.m. On Monday, events include the “D.C.-Doha Dialogue,” which features members of the Society of Jesus and students in Washington, D.C., and Qatar talking through telepresence technology – which, thanks to a quick Google search, seems to be just a large Skype session – about the meaning of a Jesuit education. Also on Monday, English professor John Glavin will lead a main campus tour of Jesuit iconography.

A particularly exciting event, though, takes place on Tuesday with guest speaker Rev. Greg Boyle, S.J., author of Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion and the founder and director of Homeboy Industries, the largest gang-intervention program in the United States. Boyle will share his experiences in helping young people in the Los Angeles barrios to avoid gang life through Homeboy Industries and how these individuals have positively influenced his own faith. With Fr. O’Brien’s seal of approval – he mentioned that “Father Boyle is a remarkable Jesuit and human being … deeply committed to the poor and marginalized in Los Angeles” – this event is sure to inspire many.

On Wednesday, be sure to also stop by the Spike-a-Jesuit event, a students versus Jesuits volleyball game. And practice up, Hoyas! Who knows what secret weapon these Jesuits might have?

Also on Wednesday, if you are attending or watching the Georgetown vs. Villanova men’s basketball game, look out for more Jesuit versus student competition on the court during halftime!

Closing out the week, on Feb. 1, the Georgetown Jesuits will invite students and their families to an evening of storytelling.

Enjoy the week to come and be sure to check out the full schedule of events here: https://missionandministry.georgetown.edu/jesuitheritageweek/

Photo: https://www.gifbin.com/987097, wikipedia.org