by Vinicius Ferreira da Paixão, SJ
“The urgent challenge to protect our common home includes a concern to bring the whole human family together to seek a sustainable and integral development, for we know that things can change.” (Laudato Si’, 13)
Inspired by Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’ (2015) and grounded in the transformative principles of Integral Ecology, Ecotheology, and socio-environmental justice, the Integral Ecology Summer School (IESS) emerges as a direct response to the Society of Jesus’ own discernment during the period from 2019 to the present: “In practically all the Provinces/Regions, it is recognised that we have not found the way forward or changed our life-mission to collaborate in the care of our Common Home” (De Statu Societatis, 2023).
Our inaugural Integral Ecology Summer School has its first cohort of participants! Launching in July, this pioneering initiative attracted over forty outstanding Jesuit applicants from across the world, with particularly strong representation from the Global South. We will be hosting participants, mostly Jesuits in formation, at Campion Hall, University of Oxford from July 5-10th. We will then move to Belmont Abbey to continue the summer school at the farm of Austen Ivereigh, putting theory into practice. In partnership with the Laudato Si’ Research Institute and Integral Ecology Research Network (IERN), this pioneering initiative represents far more than just an academic program. It is a living laboratory for ecological conversion, combining: High intellectual formation(engaging with leading scholars through Oxford’s rigorous academic tradition), Sacramental Praxis (hands-on agroecological experiences that ground theology in Earth’s wisdom), Global Networking (connecting the Jesuit Conferences and over 70 Provinces worldwide).
Even before its launch, the IESS has proven so visionary that the Latin American and Caribbean Conference (CPAL) has requested to develop a regional version on site, both to reduce carbon footprints and to amplify contextual impact.
This is not just a summer school, it is the seed of an ecological revolution within Ignatian formation. As similar initiatives begin emerging across continents, we stand at a kairos moment for the Society of Jesus and other institutions around the world.
