My involvement with the Tertians
Sandie Cornish, Sydney, Australia
My involvement with the Tertians – Jesuits who are undergoing a final formal period of formation before taking their fourth vow - began at a joint birthday party. The Tertian Master, Pat O’Sullivan SJ, was pleased to meet me there. He had heard me speaking at a forum but didn’t know how to contact me to enquire if I might do some work with the Tertians.
It was rather intimidating leading a group that included three professors! Each Tertian was highly educated, very intelligent, and brought a wealth of experience to the discussions. The graciousness, humility, and willingness of the group to enter profoundly into personal reflection on praxis impressed me deeply.
The questions and reflections of the group challenged me intellectually and spiritually. I was being called to move more deeply into a spirituality of justice - and invited to identify my own spirituality as Ignatian.
That workshop on Catholic Social Teaching was well received and lead to an invitation by the Provincial, Mark Raper SJ (in whose honour the birthday party was held), to join the formation work of the Australian Province. He saw a need to better integrate the social dimension of Ignatian spirituality into formation programs and materials for lay staff of the Province.
The next year a new Tertian Master took up his post – the second of my birthday party friends, Adrian Lyons SJ! Throughout his term we have worked together to tailor social justice programs to the needs and characteristics of each Tertianship group. I have experienced the Tertianship as a graced opportunity to walk with committed and generous souls exploring how Catholic Social Teaching and Ignatian spirituality do, or might, interact to inform praxis. It has been a privilege to have received the stories of the great variety of ways in which God has acted in the lives of Tertians from many places, calling each to work towards the justice of God’s Reign. Praying with the Tertians has been a profound experience of communion.
Over the years I think a few Tertians have found my familiarity with the Jesuit justice tradition a bit surprising. It is perhaps an odd thing for a lay woman to take such a detailed interest in the governance, spirituality and missiology of an order of religious men.
GC32 Decree 4’s call to integrate the service of faith and the promotion of justice in all ministries found a deep echo in my heart when I first read it as a student of Catholic Social Teaching at the Gregorian University in Rome many years ago. The spirit of Decree 4 inspired a number of the Jesuits who have inspired me. The charism is indeed a fire that lights other fires. The Jesuit justice tradition continues to develop, and continues to resonate with me, affirm my own learnings, and to challenge me to follow Jesus, poor and humble, more closely. Like the dynamics of the Exercises, it is a gift to the whole Church.
While I am no longer employed by the Australian Province, I am pursuing my interest in the interaction of Catholic Social Teaching and Ignatian spirituality through doctoral studies. My case study will examine the migration work of the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific (JCAP).
* Sandie Cornish was the founding editor of Faith Doing Justice and is now Manager of Research and Social Policy with Rosemount Good Shepherd Youth & Family Services. She is a co-opted member of the JCAP Migration Task Force. Read her blog here:http://sandiecornish.wordpress.com/
