The Jesuit Difference (?): Narratives of Negotiating Spiritual Values and Secular Practices

Abstract

We detail the experiences of a department of six faculty members in negotiating spirituality in a Jesuit, Catholic University. Grounding our work in ''co-constructed narrative'' as a method, we utilize narratives gathered through self-reflection, conversation, and interviews to elucidate how contradictory conditions are created through competing discourses of spiritual values and secular practices. These competing discourses create tensions of (a) embracing=resisting, (b) inclusion=exclusion, and (c) proclamation=silence. Faculty narratives revealed the ways they frame and negotiate these tensions in their attempts to construct their identities in relation to the organization and its values. Dialogic theory

Hegemony within Higher Education: The Creation of an "Ideal" Student

“…As universities market and brand their institutions, they frame themselves as investments for past, present, and future students and employees (McAlexander et al, 2014). Jesuit institutions in particular use the Jesuit values as a means of framing and recruiting individuals (Kirby et al, 2006). While this may be an advantageous use of the Jesuit ideals, there is also a question of whether those values are used more in theory rather than in practice (Kirby et al, 2006).…”

“…Jesuit institutions in particular use the Jesuit values as a means of framing and recruiting individuals (Kirby et al, 2006). While this may be an advantageous use of the Jesuit ideals, there is also a question of whether those values are used more in theory rather than in practice (Kirby et al, 2006). There are dialectical tensions that emerge as employees negotiate a relationship with an organization that claims ethical standing but does not always promote said ethical responsibilities (Kirby et al, 2006).…”

“…While this may be an advantageous use of the Jesuit ideals, there is also a question of whether those values are used more in theory rather than in practice (Kirby et al, 2006). There are dialectical tensions that emerge as employees negotiate a relationship with an organization that claims ethical standing but does not always promote said ethical responsibilities (Kirby et al, 2006). Students at a Jesuit institution will also be influenced by the Jesuit values just as the Creighton faculty were in the Kirby et al article (2006).…”

Faith-Based Organizational Communication and its Implications for Member Identity

“…Citing the conflicting relationship between these identities, Poloma (1997) argued that the former may ''jeopardize [spiritual] charisma'' (p. 269). Likewise, Kirby et al (2006) characterized this as the uneasy task of walking the line between these identities. Considering that members may feel threatened by or inferior to others who express contrasting identifications, this may have damaging effects for their prominent identity (Mikkelson & Hesse, 2009;McGuire, 2010).…”

When Nightingales Break the Law: Silence and the Construction of Reality

“…It has been found, for example, that non-Jesuit faculty members at a Jesuit institution of higher education use silence as a way of articulating individual identity (Kirby et al 2006). Concurrence regarding expectations of silence is an important marker of the achievement of mutual understanding between conversational partners; individuals in dyadic communication tend to become more like each other over time in uses of silence, duration, and how it is broken (Capella and Planalp 1981).…”