Concluding reflections

In this research, the ARCS team and LJV discovered a common passion for effective formation developed through an inductive and participatory pedagogy, and together were able to identify some of the challenges involved in fresh ways. This made for a fruitful research relationship, enabling something of a voicing of this particular way of being church: lay apostolic living in the places of need and injustice in the late modern city, embodying the longer faith tradition authentically for today.

Notes

• 1 Our Way of Proceeding, Documents of the Thirty-Fourth General Congregation of the Society of Jesus, 1995.
• 2 There is a clear link here to the action research work of the Jesuit David Coghlan, referred to in chapter 3 above 32.
• 3 Such processes of reflective writing and ‘reflecting-upon-text’ have a long history - see Elaine Graham et al., Theological Reflection: Methods (SCM-Canterbury Press, 2005): 18-45 - and have grown to prominence ever since Anton Boisen coined the term ‘living human document’ in the 1920s. The strength of this method is that it is accessible and encourages individuals to express themselves inwardly and reflexively to learn and change from their practice.
• 4 Insider feedback document of the management committee, 1.
• 5 Sometimes referred to as ‘social sin’ this is a notion with its roots in the traditions of Catholic Social teaching, and important in liberation theology, referring to the ways in which the structures of human society and cultures can themselves be ‘sinful’, as distinct from a sole focus on the personal sin of the individual.
• 6 The link referenced in this quote no longer functions. More information about the Jesuit approach to advocacy can be found at Ignatian Advocacy, www.ignatianadvocacy.org. Accessed August 2019.