Parent and Alumni Faith Formation
Each year Fordham Prep offers a number of programs for parents, alumni, faculty and staff, and the broader community to engage our mission of faith and service.
Community Programs
- Faith on Tap
- Living in Faith: A Podcast from Fordham Prep
- Parent Faith & Fellowship Committee
- Advent Programs
- Lenten Programs
- Faculty and Staff Formation
- Companions in Mission
- Events Hosted by Parent Organizations
- Faith Doing Justice Summit
- Ignatian Heritage Week
Faith on Tap
Living in Faith: A Podcast from Fordham Prep
Parent Faith & Fellowship Committee
Our Parent Faith and Fellowship Committee (PFFC) supports the work of the Office of Mission and Identity by bringing together parents and alumni to share faith and fellowship together.
A Conversation with New York Times Bestselling Author Joe Drape about his new book The Saint Makers
February 24, 2021 at 7pm on Zoom
Register here
The Saint Makers: Inside the Catholic Church and the War Hero Inspired a Journey of Faith is part biography of Medal of Honor awardee Father Emil Kapaun, part detective story about the saint making process as well as an exploration of Joe's Jesuit education and his journey of faith.
“Drape’s latest is a feel-good account of the campaign to canonize the Rev. Emil Kapaun...The book is at its most thrilling in its tales of the priest’s wartime heroics....Fascinating.” ―The New York Times
In his new encyclical letter, “Fratelli tutti on Fraternity and Social Friendship,” Pope Francis suggests ways in which we can build a more just, peaceful world, one in which we recognize each other as brothers and sisters of one human family. The Parent Faith and Fellowship committee invites parents and alumni to join us for a panel discussion on the encyclical, led by:
- John Neary, Prep Class of 1987 and former chair of the Prep Board of Trustees
- Dave Fitzgerald, Prep class of 1987 and parent class of 2021
- Wendy Gittings, past parent '14, '15, '18 and former President of the Mothers' Club
- Paul Homer, Religious Studies Teacher and Director of Christian Service
On Monday, November 9 at 7 PM. To register, click the button below.
Advent Programs
Throughout the Advent season, Fordham Prep will sponsor various community events.
Daily Advent Reflections
Advent reflections are emailed each day to the Prep community and also can be found here.
Lenten Programs
Lenten Longings Evenings
These evenings of prayer, hosted by a Fordham Prep parent, offer parents the opportunity to pray together using the Sunday scripture readings during Lent. Each evening includes time for reflection, prayer and faith sharing.
Living Lent Daily
Living Lent Daily is a daily e-mail series from Loyola Press designed to help you grow in friendship with God. Each day’s message includes a brief reflection by William A. Barry, SJ that will help you enter into a personal and genuine Lenten prayer practice. To receive the daily messages from Ash Wednesday through Easter Sunday please register below.
Lenten Wednesday Morning Prayer with St. IgnatiusOur Wednesday morning prayer during lent invites participants to journey through Lent with Ignatian Contemplation on the daily scripture readings. The live broadcast, each Wednesday at 9AM can be found here.
Each year our annual Lenten Mission Drive benefits two Jesuit Schools in Micronesia - Xavier High School and Yap Catholic High School. Xavier and Yap provide an outstanding education for kids who otherwise would have little opportunity for a quality education. Our support through the Lenten Drive each year helps to make that possible.
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Faculty and Staff Formation
Fordham Prep provides new faculty and staff a comprehensive five-year program which enables them to animate our Ignatian mission to form young men to be transformative leaders in faith, scholarship and service. Through reflection and discussion on the life of St. Ignatius, the beginnings of Jesuit Education, foundational Jesuit documents, the Spiritual Exercises and resources from the Jesuit network faculty and staff are invited to deepen their commitment to the mission of Fordham Prep and their personal appropriation of Ignatian spirituality.
Themes
Year 1: Introduction to Jesuit Education and Ignatian Spirituality
Year 2: What Makes a Jesuit School Jesuit? Key elements of Ignatian Spirituality
Year 3: The Spiritual Exercises
Year 4: Ignatian Spirituality Experience
Year 5: Ignatian Leadership
Readings
How the First Jesuit’s became involved in Education, John O’Malley, SJ
A Simple Life-Changing Prayer, Jim Manney
Human Excellence
The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything, James Martin SJ
What Makes a Jesuit School Jesuit?
Discovering a Sacred World: Ignatius Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises And Its Influence on Education, John J. Callahan, SJ
A Purposeful Path, How Far Can You Go With $30, A Bus Ticket, and a Dream, Casey Beaumier, SJ
God of Surprises, Gerard W. Hughes
The Call to Discernment in Troubled Times, New Perspectives on the Transformative Wisdom of Ignatius of Loyola, Dean Brackley
My Life with the Saints, James Martin, SJ
The God Who Won’t Let Go, Peter van Breeman, SJ
The Holy Longing: The Search for a Christian Spirituality, Ronald Rolheiser
God and You: Prayer as Personal Relationship, William Barry, SJ
Companions in Mission
Fostering a sense of common mission and companionship among the first Jesuits was a key priority for St. Ignatius. Despite often being separated by great distances, the early Jesuits were bound together by their mission to share the good news of the gospel with those to whom they ministered. It is that same mission that animates the work of Jesuit educators today and invites us into greater companionship with one another.
The Companions in Mission (CIM) program provides opportunities for Prep faculty and staff to reflect on this mission and deepen relationships with their companions in the ministry of education.
CIM programs include:
Companions in Mission Book Club
The book club selects a book related to our Ignatian mission to read each year. The group gathers 4-5 times during the year to reflect on the book and pray together.
Companions in Mission Conversations
Once per quarter faculty and staff are invited to gather after school for a conversation about topic related to our Ignatian mission. These conversations might be focused around an article, video, or presentation from a member of the faculty, staff or Jesuit community.
Companions in Mission Mass and Meal
On select dates, faculty and staff are invited to attend mass together (on campus or at a local parish) and share a meal after at a restaurant of the groups choosing.
Companions in Mission Spiritual Direction
Spiritual direction is “help given by one Christian to another which enables that person to pay attention to God’s personal communication to him or her, to respond to this personally communicating God, to grow in intimacy with this God, and to live out the consequences of the relationship.” (William A. Barry and William J. Connolly, The Practice of Spiritual Direction)
For interested faculty and staff, the Office of Mission Identity can match people with a spiritual director from the Fordham University Jesuit community or the Province’s Office of Ignatian Spirituality.
Companions in Mission 19th Annotation Retreat
Also known as the Spiritual Exercises in everyday life, the 19th annotation retreat affords retreatants the opportunity to experience the Spiritual Exercises over the course of 36 weeks. Participants dedicate 30 minutes to personal prayer each day and meet with a spiritual director approximately once per cycle.
Events Hosted by Parent Organizations
Faith Doing Justice Summit
The Faith Doing Justice Summit, a collaborative effort of the Office of Mission and Identity, Campus Ministry, Christian Service and the Diversity, Global Education, and Social Justice Committees, aims to help form our community as people committed to a faith that does justice. The summit encourages our community to assess critically issues of justice through the lens of Catholic Social Teaching and Ignatian spirituality. Through unified efforts of all our Ignatian Ministries, the Summit will bring a specific justice issue to the consciousness of our community in order to foster dialogue and appropriate action.
For more about the annual program at Fordham Prep, click here.
Ignatian Heritage Week
For more about our annual celebration of our Ignatian Heritage, please click here.