Praying for Freedom

Laurie Cassidy, PhD, currently teaches in the Christian Spirituality Program at Creighton University and was associate professor in the religious studies department at Marywood University in Scranton, Pennsylvania. An award-winning author and editor, her latest book, Desire, Darkness, and Hope: Theology in a Time of Impasse, was edited with M. Shawn Copeland. Cassidy has been engaged in the ministry of spiritual direction for over thirty years, giving directed retreats around the United States. Raised in Massachusetts, she now makes her home in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, traditional homeland of the Mouche band of the Nuche (today known as the Ute) in Colorado.

"To answer the question posed by Jesuits and by extension, all who are touched by Ignatian spirituality, 'Why are we not more deeply changed by the Spiritual Exercises?' is also to confront the painful issue of racism in America. What emerges through the poignant and prayerful essays offered in this volume is hope and a broadened perspective. Together, the collection demonstrates that the heritage of racially charged violence, negligence, and human suffering which so often give way to indifference and paralysis do not have the final word in our discourse and imagination. Compassionate solidarity grounded in Christian and Ignatian tradition uncover paths of transformative possibilities."Joseph Lagan, MDiv, Director, Ignatian Spirituality Program, University Mission, Regis University

• ContentsAcknowledgments   xiIntroduction: Praying for Freedom   1Laurie CassidyPART IPresuppositions1  Training the Soul: A Black Catholic Journey through the Spiritual Exercises   23Andrew Prevot2  Digging into Jesuit Slaveholding, Digging into the Exercises   39Ken Homan, SJ3  The Composition of Place in Ignatian Spirituality: Repositioning a Historical-Ecological Encounter with Jesus in the Context of Modernity/Coloniality   47Alex Mikulich  PART IIThe Spiritual Exercises4  From Self-Centered to Other-Centered: Ignatian Indifference on Racial Differences   71Hung T. Pham, SJ5  The Sins of White Supremacy: Institutionalized Racism and a Composition of Place   85Jeannine Hill Fletcher6  The Gift of Tears: White Metanoia at the Foot of the Black Cross   105Christopher Pramuk7  Resting Under the Standard of Christ: The Spiritual Exercises and Discerning White Supremacy   127Maureen H. O’Connell8  Recuerda Que Jesús También Fue Niño: An Undocumented Reflection on the Spiritual Exercises   145Armando Guerrero Estrada and Paulina Delgadillo9  Mephibosheth and Me: An Interpretive Ignatian Prayer of Memory and Imagination   153María Teresa Morgan 10  Ignatian Discernment in a Diverse Ecosystem   159Marilyn L. Nash11  Seeing Bodies: Using the Separate Lenses Frantz Fanon and Ignatius of Loyola for Healing   175Patrick Saint-Jean, SJPART IIIContemplating God’s Laboring and Loving in the World12  The Making and Unmaking of White Ignatian Formation   195Matthew J. Cressler13  The God of Us All: Praying with Black Spirituality   211Justin White14  The God of Us All: Examen Reflection   217Elise Gower15  Truth, Healing, and the Journey through Indigenous Catholic Boarding School History   221Maka Black ElkList of Contributors   227