Loyola celebrates Ignatian Heritage Month

Each November, the Loyola University Chicago community gathers to celebrate Ignatian Heritage Month, an annual invitation to reflect on the life and legacy of St. Ignatius of Loyola and to recognize how the Ignatian tradition continues to shape the University’s mission and daily life. 

This monthlong celebration honors the originating source of Loyola’s pursuit of knowledge, faith, and justice, encouraging the University community to engage in contemplation and action. 

“Ignatian Heritage Month invites us to remember that our Jesuit, Catholic mission is not just a legacy—it’s a living, breathing call to be people for others,” says Claire Noonan, DMin, vice president for Mission Integration. “Throughout November, we have the opportunity to come together, reflect, and act with gratitude and purpose, guided by the spirit of our founders.” 

The 2025 celebration offers opportunities for all members of the Loyola community to participate, from lectures and art contests to prayer gatherings and service initiatives. Highlights include: 

• “Beginnings of Loyola: Rooted in the Immigrant Experience” with Chicago historian Ellen Skerrett (November 13), returning to the Lake Shore Campus to share new research on Loyola’s 19th-century origins.  

• The Community Service and Action Art Contest, inviting students to create works inspired by the Universal Apostolic Preferences—Caring for Our Common Home, Journeying with Youth, Walking with the Excluded, and Showing the Way to God. 

• Faculty and staff book club featuring Spiritual Criminals: How the Camden 28 Put the Vietnam War on Trial by Michelle Nickerson, professor in the College of Arts and Sciences.  

• Masses and prayer experiences throughout the month, including the All Saints’ Day Mass (October 31), the Mass of Remembrance (November 9), Veterans Day Mass (November 11), and Mass commemorating the Jesuit Martyrs of El Salvador, celebrated by Cardinal Blase Cupich (November 16). 

• Lunches with the Jesuits offers students, faculty, and staff the chance to share a meal and conversation with members of Loyola’s Jesuit community in an informal setting. 

• Panel discussions and lectures that connect Ignatian values to contemporary issues, such as “A Church for the Poor: Receiving Pope Leo’s Dilexi Te,” “Color(ism) and Ignatian Pedagogy: Richard Hunt @LUMA,” and “Journeys of Dignity: A Lecture Series on Migration through the Lens of Catholic Social Teaching and Jesuit Education.” 

• The Sobrino Student Colloquium on Worship, Theology, and Justice (November 21) brings together undergraduate scholars for theological reflection rooted in worship and the Catholic intellectual tradition. 

In addition to events, Ramblers are invited to engage personally with the Ignatian tradition through weekly podcasts and guided examens, offering moments of reflection and spiritual growth wherever and whenever it fits into their day. 

For a full list of Ignatian Heritage Month events and opportunities, visit Loyola’s Ignatian Heritage Month website.