Mr. Jansen and the Loyola Theology Department, 

In light of the Fox News article published this Tuesday, we wanted to express our support to Mr. Jansen and the Loyola community at large in their efforts to educate the student body on how we are called to be men and women for others. 

The Loyola Academy classroom is meant to help us strive towards our Imago Dei, our most Christlike selves. We are challenged to hold up a mirror and look at how we affect the world around us - even if it may not be what we would like to admit. 

Conversations are going to be complex and combative. Not everyone will agree. Sometimes assignments, like the one discussed in the Fox News article, will be turned in blank. Sometimes the 50 minute class period will end without a single agreement. But it is within these conversations, we are living out the mission of our Jesuit institution. In each discussion, we are gifted an opportunity to become more, pursue a better understanding of those around us, and discern how we should move throughout this world as capable, Jesuit-educated students. 

As students, we are thankful to all teachers who offer this space in the classroom.  These conversations are the core of Ignatian spirituality: to learn, discern, and act in ways that honor every human being. 

If these conversations were to stop, we would lose the very purpose of our Jesuit education. 

Thank you for creating space for good,

Students of Loyola Academy