By Vinod Fernandes, SJ
A network with a mission: Here are some concrete examples: In Jamshedpur, the Loyola Alumni Association (LAA) has sustained a Saturday Free Clinic for 38 years, with alumni doctors offering consultations and the association providing medicines. In Sahibganj, the Old Xaverians Association (SOXA) organised a community response to a severe diarrhoea outbreak in vulnerable tribal areas. In Mangalore, the St Aloysius College Alumni Association supported a 120-day organic-farming course for prison inmates, helping prepare them for rehabilitation and reintegration. Other initiatives include LAA’s Legal Aid Cell; the Bokaro Old Xaverians Association’s service projects at a leprosy colony school and support for more than 100 cataract and other eye surgeries; and outreach by St Aloysius College alumni to people who are homeless or abandoned. These efforts show how professional skills and sustained companionship can restore dignity and offer practical hope.
The Universal Apostolic Preferences (UAPs) invite the Society of Jesus and its partners to renew their commitment to a world marked by faith, justice, reconciliation and care for creation. For Jesuit alumni, this is an invitation to move beyond being beneficiaries or occasional supporters of Jesuit institutions and become co-responsible partners in the mission.
Jesuit alumni form a remarkable network of doctors, lawyers, educators, entrepreneurs, public servants and civic leaders. Formed in different ways by the Ignatian tradition, they bring professional expertise, influence, relationships, and time that can extend the reach of the Jesuit mission into places where Jesuits may not be present. The central question is therefore not simply, “How much can alumni donate?” but “What gifts and abilities can each alumnus place at the service of others?”
To answer how we, as Jesuits, can better make use of our alumni’s positions and talents to further our UAPs, we must look at concrete examples of how alumni expertise is already being aligned with our apostolic goals.
1. Showing the Way to God: Alumni may carry the spiritual values they imbibed in Jesuit education into demanding professional lives, yet need opportunities to deepen and share them. Jesuits can collaborate with alumni trained in Ignatian spirituality to lead retreats, workplace reflection groups and faith-sharing communities. Alumni from different religious traditions can also help foster interreligious dialogue and prayer, creating spaces where people learn to recognize the sacred in everyday life.
In Jesuit schools and colleges, alumni can help teachers and students connect spirituality with daily choices and become, in the Ignatian sense, contemplatives in action. The 11th National Congress of the Jesuit Alumni Associations of India (JAAI), with its focus on “Mindful Living,” offered an example of how Ignatian spirituality can inform self-awareness, leadership and decision-making in a fast-paced world.
Young people need more than career advice: they need mentors who will help them grow in competence, character and responsibility.
2. Walking with the Excluded: The UAPs call Jesuits and their partners to walk with people whose dignity has been violated and to work for reconciliation and justice. Alumni in healthcare, law, finance and public service can turn this commitment into practical action through pro-bono services, community health initiatives, legal aid and programmes that promote social inclusion.
3. Journeying with Youth: Young people need more than career advice: they need mentors who will help them grow in competence, character and responsibility. Alumni can offer mentoring, internships, apprenticeships and guidance through ethical dilemmas, while opening pathways for students who might otherwise lack access to professional networks.
St Michael’s Alumni Association in Patna conducts workshops on mental health, stress management and career counselling. In Jamshedpur, LAA runs a month-long mentorship programme in which alumni professionals interact with senior students, conducting classes when teachers are away for paper evaluation, culminating in the Career Compass event. St Joseph’s College alumni support a free breakfast scheme for economically disadvantaged students who have to travel long distances. The Association of Ranchi Old Xavierians (AROX) organises refresher workshops to help teachers support students’ academic and emotional growth, while the St Joseph’s Indian Institutions Alumni Association’s “Igniting Minds” initiative provides scholarships to deserving students. Associations such as DOX, LAA, etc.promote sports among young graduates.
4. Caring for Our Common Home: Ecological responsibility is another area where alumni expertise can make a measurable difference. Professionals in science, technology, urban planning and sustainability can help schools and colleges audit energy and water use, reduce waste, adopt renewable energy and mobilise corporate social responsibility support for environmental projects.
The alumni of St Mary’s SSC, Mumbai, guided a Green Schools Programme audit to map resource use and waste. In Gujarat, the Association of Past Xavierites promotes renewable energy, solar rooftops and tree-planting initiatives. The BOXA Trust has repaired and reinstalled a solar plant at a school that serves children of daily-wage earners. The St Joseph’s Indian Institutions Alumni Association engages students through environmental rallies and tree-planting drives, encouraging them to become “Environmental Warriors.”
Such initiatives can remind the public of the need to contribute to environmental protection and lead to concrete, lasting change.
From goodwill to shared responsibility: Jesuit institutions and associations can take three practical steps in order to make our alumni real partners in our mission.
First, create sector-based networks – such as alumni in healthcare, education, ecology or social justice – and invite them to address clearly defined needs linked to the UAPs.
The journey is from being just a beneficiary to being a supporter, and a co-responsible partner.
Second, provide lifelong spiritual and intellectual formation through retreats, seminars and opportunities for reflection.
Third, invite alumni into genuine collaboration by involving them in planning, governance and leadership of appropriate apostolic initiatives.
The Federation of Jesuit Alumni Associations of India (JAAI) can help connect local efforts, share successful models and coordinate national initiatives. The all-India blood-donation drive around the feast of St Ignatius of Loyola demonstrates how a common purpose can mobilise our alumni across regions. Similarly, the World Union of Jesuit Alumni (WUJA) can coordinate Alumni activities at the international level.
A mission for all: The UAPs are not merely a list of priorities for Jesuits; they are an invitation to all who share the mission to act together. Our alumni can help the Society move from isolated projects to sustained partnerships – bringing professional competence, social influence and personal commitment to the service of faith, justice, young people and the planet. The journey is from being just a beneficiary to being a supporter, and a co-responsible partner. Structures such as an Alumni–Jesuit Mission Council, alongside ongoing formation and clear, shared goals, can help make that transition real. The success of Jesuit education is seen not only in the achievements of its students, but also in how they use their gifts to build a more just, compassionate and caring human community.
Fr. Vinod Fernandes, SJ (JAM) Ph.D, teaches at Loyola School, Jamshedpur.