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A message from University president Rev. Scott R. Pilarz, S.J. } he University of Scranton, as a Jesuit university, while always alert to the signs of the times, ultimately turns to the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola for direction and guidance with regard to our mission and planning. The Spiritual Exercises has as its ultimate aim the greater glory of God and the well-being of humankind – Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam inque hominum salutem. Those two intrinsically related ends animate all that we do as a university. All of our efforts across the full range of our endeavors are meant to give glory to God and promote the fullness of life of all members of our community and the wider world. This is especially true of our academic orientation and the formation of our students. The Spiritual Exercises promote in us a profound gratitude for God’s love revealed definitively in Jesus Christ. Therefore, in the course of our planning, we want to ask how we can best respond to that love. Our answer is shaped by a commitment to treating others, especially our students, as God treats us. This is what we mean by Cura Personalis. In understanding this theme of our strategic plan, the experience of Ignatius Loyola during his conversion is paradigmatic. Ignatius understood God interacting with him as a unique individual with his own inspirations and talents, anxieties and weaknesses. This style of interaction is our ideal as we interact with our students, with one another, and with every member of the University community. Our commitment to Cura Personalis sets us apart even among other Jesuit universities. At Scranton we choose Cura Personalis as one of the three core commitments of our new strategic plan. The second core commitment is also rooted in the dynamic of the Spiritual Exercises. As with Cura Personalis, our commitment to the Magis grows out of our response to God’s love. The Magis refers to our restless desire for excellence grounded in gratitude. As we know from the Spiritual Exercises, God loves us so well, and we want to do well in response. Our commitment to excellence, especially in academics and student formation, is not an end in itself. As in all that we do as a university, it aims at promoting the greater glory of God and the well-being of humankind. Gratitude is also the basis for the third core commitment of our new plan: Rei Solicitudo, caring for the gifts we have been given. This commitment to stewardship guides us with regard to all the resources at our disposal both capital and especially human. We are fortunate to be the beneficiaries of generous women and men both internal and external to the University. Looking forward, we want to use these resources to achieve our ultimate purpose as articulated in the Ignatian exercises: the greater glory of God and the well-being of humankind.
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The Universit y of Scranton