About
We Are Brophy

Our Ignatian Identity

 
 

On every path in the world coursed by a Jesuit will be found the chiseled motto Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam — for the greater glory of God. On weathered stone, crusted bronze, or parchment seal...

~ Excerpt from Brophy's 1959 yearbook

 


SOLDIER AND SAINT: Ignatius of Loyola, a soldier who became the founder of the Society of Jesus, never chose the easy path, nor did his fellow Jesuits. As missionaries and educators, they traveled widely, often to remote places and at great peril, to spread God’s word and establish schools. They believed fervently that even the most isolated and impoverished should be able to participate in the full human experience and know God.
 
Educated and intellectually driven, the Jesuits were theologians, scientists, artists and writers. They were lauded as “confessors to kings” and the “schoolmasters of Europe,” yet few orders were as persecuted and spent as much time in prison because of their ministry as the Jesuits; over the centuries, many have been martyred. Still, their spirit has proved indomitable and their roles as spiritual guides and educators have enriched the world immeasurably.
 
From Ignatius the soldier, we have inherited a fierce commitment to providing an exceptional education across all socio-economic tiers, for all races and all faiths; and to fighting for the marginalized. From Ignatius the saint, we have learned to revere the teachings of Jesus and to find God in all things. As a Jesuit school, we seek daily to be true to our Ignatian heritage and to do all things Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam.

Brophy Ignatian Formation Program for Adults

List of 8 items.

  • > Nourished by Jesus, Guided by the Spirit

    As a Brophy community, we are actively discerning what the future of our school will look like, and we wonder how to make decisions that will nourish both our own vocations and the lives of our students.

    Grateful for the Jesuits' invitation to full partnership, we increasingly feel a call to be intentional about taking ownership of our school’s Catholic identity and Jesuit mission. We seek guidance in nurturing the religious mission of our community in a way that is inclusive, joyful and transformative.

    And, understanding our own limitations in responding to these challenges, we look to the Catholic Church, to the Society of Jesus, and to God for guidance and clarity.

    Just as the Jesuits declared in their General Congregation 36, “We are not the first to seek clarity concerning God’s call.” Facing myriad questions about their future, the Jesuits drew inspiration from the Meeting of the First Companions of St. Ignatius in Venice as an image to encourage their own discernment.  The Jesuits write, “There, the early Society confronted the frustration of their plans to go to the Holy Land. This drove them to a deeper discernment of the Lord’s call. Where was the Spirit drawing them?  As they discerned new direction for their lives, they held fast to what they had already found to be life-giving: sharing their lives together as friends in the Lord; living very close to the lives of the poor, and preaching the Gospel with joy.” 

    In the Brophy Ignatian Formation Program, we hope to meet ever-greater information and technology demands from the world around us with a commitment to cultivating interiority; that is, the inner capacities for discernment, imagination, virtue, reflection, balance and presence. Creating this interior spaciousness, we will be poised, like the First Companions in Venice, to practice spiritual discernment as the ordinary way of making decisions guided by the Holy Spirit in our lives, our work, and in our Brophy community.  

    Furthermore, we seek to provide opportunities to develop understanding and ownership of our Jesuit mission and Catholic identity.  As the Church teaches, “prime responsibility for creating this unique Christian school climate rests with the teachers, as individuals and as a community,” and the Jesuits add that a “school will be Jesuit if the lives of its teachers exemplify and communicate to the students the vision of Ignatius.”  The Brophy Ignatian Formation Program aims to help each member of this community participate in interpreting and casting that vision.

    To this end, an ongoing Ignatian Formation Program will be implemented over a multi-year period to help form us into a community ready to respond to the call of Jesus.
     

  • > Ignatian Formation Goals

    Goals of the Brophy Ignatian Formation Program

    • Spaciousness – Cultivation of habits of the interior life
    • Discernment – Applying the Jesuit, Ignatian tradition
    • Encounter – Meeting Jesus in the Spiritual Exercises
    • Identity – Living Church and engaging Catholic teaching
    • Action – Accompanying Christ in the marginalized

  • > Year-One Formation — We Are Jesuit

    Our Ignatian spirituality animates and challenges us to intellectual and spiritual growth toward a faith that does justice. Like St. Ignatius of Loyola, we propose the truths of the Gospel, especially where its message of challenge and hope most needs to be heard.

    YEAR-ONE FORMATION »
     

  • > Year-Two Formation — We Are Christ-Centered

    We promote a relationship with Jesus that transforms us as individuals and as a community.
     

  • > Year-Three Formation — We Are Catholic

    We are in communion with the Catholic Church as we proclaim the gospel message.
     

  • > Year-Four Formation — We Are Sacramental and Ecumenical

    We believe that the sacraments of the church, particularly the Eucharist, are central to our faith life as a community. Our community is further enriched by prayer and retreat opportunities for students, faculty and staff. While remaining distinctively Catholic, we are a community that includes and welcomes people from various faiths. We believe all are enriched by honest dialogue with those of other traditions.
     

  • > Year-Five Formation — We Are People of Action

    We believe that Catholic social teaching and our Jesuit tradition call us to social outreach and advocacy. We are preparing our students to live lives in which they proclaim the gospel and address the structural causes of injustice which contradict Jesus’ vision for the world.
     

  • > Year-Six Formation and Beyond — We Are Called...

    We are called to choose how we will respond to living out our companionship with Christ, both personally and professionally, by creating a plan for prayer and action.
     

Ignatian Initiatives and Spirituality at Brophy

List of 8 items.

  • > The Ignatian Year

    On May 20, 2021, the international Jesuit community celebrated the 500-year anniversary of Ignatius' "cannonball moment," when he started the journey from soldier to saint. Father General Arturo Sosa has called for this anniversary to mark the beginning of an "Ignatian Year," that will culminate on July 31, 2022, with the Feast Day of St. Ignatius.

    Brophy looks forward to celebrating Ignatian milestones along the way as we commemorate this transformative journey that led to the formation of the Society of Jesus. For a letter from President Adria Renke, click here.

  • > The Office of Faith and Justice

    At the heart of Brophy's campus, you can find the Office of Faith and Justice. From this busy hub, a steady stream of activity forms the core of ministry and Ignatian commitment on campus and in the community. Retreat programs are organized, immersion trips are planned and service opportunities are initiated.

    During the school year, students typically complete approximately 35,000 service hours. Freshmen participate in Freshman Breakaways — off-campus work at service agencies, sophomores tutor students at local elementary schools through the Loyola Project, and every junior completes at least 40 hours of social justice and education-related work through their Ignatian Encounter program. To learn more about Ignatian service, click here.

    Retreats are another essential element of Jesuit education with students traveling to Manresa, Brophy's retreat campus outside of Sedona, for Magis and Kairos retreats. The annual Freshman Retreat is on campus at the beginning of the year. To learn more about retreats, click here. 

    Finally, students travel to locations around the world on immersion trips and exchanges. Immersing themselves in unfamiliar and often uncomfortable situations, students become aware of how many people face extreme poverty, political unrest, lack of educational opportunities, racism and other challenges that place them on the margins of society and subject them to inequities and injustices that prevent them from thriving as children of God. To learn more about immersions, click here.

    For more information on the Office of Faith and Justice, explore the website's Ministry pages.

  • > The Summit on Human Dignity

    Part of the transformational experience that is Jesuit education is to start young people on an early path to awareness of social issues and current affairs, and to teach them how to become advocates for social justice and positive change in the world. At Brophy, the annual Summit on Human Dignity (modeled after those most often seen at colleges and universities) highlights an issue that is particularly relevant and informs students on its nuances, as well as its social and political ramifications.

    Organized and facilitated by the Office of Faith and Justice, this community-wide effort engages students, faculty, staff, parents and the wider community. To learn more about the Summit on Human Dignity, click here.

  • > Loyola Academy

    Established in 2011, Brophy's Loyola Academy provides the foundation for a college preparatory education to boys in grades six through eight. Students accepted into the program demonstrate academic promise and come from families whose income for a family of four is in the $20,000-$25,000 range. Students attend at no cost to their families.

    Each May, Brophy celebrates the annual Signing Ceremony as the Loyola Academy students who have finished the seven-year program — three years of middle school and four years of high school — announce their future plans. Typically, all go on to become first-generation college students. To learn more about Loyola Academy, click here.

  • > The Office of Equity and Inclusion

    The Office of Equity and Inclusion leads Brophy’s efforts to ensure that each historically under-represented student and his family is fully included in the Brophy experience and has an equitable opportunity to thrive in all areas of student life. To learn more about the Office of Equity and Inclusion, click here.

  • > The Romero Program

    With the creation of the Romero Program, Brophy continues to imbue the curriculum with Ignatian values and principles.

    The Romero Program creates an Ignatian learning experience that allows Brophy seniors to put their faith into action, to understand and respond to issues related to inequities in the community, and to take the first steps toward becoming the leaders Arizona will need to build an equitable future for all its citizens. To learn more about the Romero Program, click here.

  • > Student Advocacy

    Brophy students, blessed by the administration and guided by faculty, have become vocal and effective community activists as they have advocated publicly for fair DACA legislation and for equal access to education for all. They have met with elected officials at both the state and national levels, organized school and community workshops, created campaign marketing materials, spoken publicly at various venues and have established partnerships with other advocacy organizations.
     

  • > Magis

    MAGIS
    Magis…Latin for “the more” is part of the Ignatian philosophy of always looking for additional ways to bring the gift of God’s love, the Ignatian concepts of reflection and discernment, and human fellowship and service to the world. Each year, we host two on-campus Ignatian spirituality retreats and invite the extended Brophy community to join us. We also host a speaker series, Theology in the City, which is free and open to the public.

    Ignatian Spirituality 
    Every day at Brophy, we pray the Examen, adapted from the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. And so that we may share the Spiritual Exercises — a powerful and dynamic process of prayer, meditation and self-awareness — during the school year, Brophy also offers an on-campus Ignatian spirituality retreat each semester that is open to the extended Brophy Community, as well as a day-long retreat each January for faculty and staff.

    Theology in the City
    Our speaker series, Theology in the City, addresses important messages from our wider Jesuit community as we seek to address and understand historical and ongoing issues of social justice, and work to discern solutions. Speakers over the last two years have included Fr. Greg Boyle, SJ, of Homeboy Industries, Fr. Matt Carnes, SJ, from Georgetown University and Fr. Joseph Daoust, SJ, from Red Cloud School on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

Brophy College Preparatory

4701 North Central Avenue
Phoenix, AZ 85012
602-264-5291
Educating Men for Others to Serve the World