Scholarship, in the Ignatian context, is that of faith seeking understanding whereby one humbly apprentices oneself to the knowledge and wisdom that discovers God in all things through a paradigm of experience, reflection and action.
Loyalty is the prophetic commitment that flows from this encounter with God, and which leads to transformation on the intellectual, moral, social and religious levels; it is often articulated in a growing fidelity to the practice of Ignatian discernment in a life oriented to God’s greater service and praise.
Regis students usually have quite a record of service in the Church and the community; in the context of ΑΣΝ, service is particularly the “learned ministry” which characterizes Ignatian apostolic endeavours.
The Regis College Chapter was inaugurated in October 25, 2000, and has sought to celebrate these values by promoting student conversation in the “Ecclesia in…” lunches, as well as trying to find a way to respond to the call of student council to devise a forum for student exchange; this last project is ongoing. The Alpha Sigma Nu (ΑΣΝ) International Office also offers an entrance scholarship, open to all incoming Regis students and administered by the Dean.
Any Regis College student who ranks in the top 15% of his or her academic program, as determined by the Grade Point Average (GPA), will be considered for membership. The Faculty Advisor of the Regis Alpha Sigma Nu Chapter prepares the list of eligible students in each academic program, and the respective program directors (along with the Dean of Students), based on their experience of the eligible candidates, propose one or two people who embody the Ignatian values of scholarship, loyalty and service as they are lived at Regis College. This selection is approved by the academic Dean.
Nominees are then contacted and invited to let their names stand for induction; if they agree to this, they submit a short curriculum vitae, along with references and a short essay reflecting on how the values of scholarship, loyalty and service have affected them during their time at Regis College. The Chapter also inducts honorary members, academics and professionals in their field, who display in an outstanding manner the Ignatian values celebrated by Alpha Sigma Nu.
Alpha Sigma Nu (ΑΣΝ) celebrates rigorous scholarship that is firmly rooted in the Catholic tradition and is embedded within and relevant to the local community. As one humbly apprentices oneself to the knowledge and wisdom that discovers God in all things, one is transformed, and is enabled to transform the inheritance received, responding to the signs of the times.
Ignatian scholarship is lived according to a pattern that begins in experience and moves through reflection to bear fruit in action. It is a passion for the truth marked by depth of comprehension and breadth of knowledge.
Such faith seeking understanding is encounter with God: as I seek God in all things, God finds me.
In scholarship we discover God’s faithfulness to us in all things; because God is faithful to us, we are empowered to be faithful to God and to others. Loyalty, then, is a desire to live out a life oriented to God’s greater service and praise.
Loyalty in Alpha Sigma Nu (ΑΣΝ) means loyalty to the Ignatian educational vision, the formation of the whole person.
To be loyal to these ideals means developing a sense of conscience, responsible to the truth – truth spoken in love and lived in a faith that does justice.
This may involve embracing unpopular positions, either occasionally or in an ongoing counter-cultural witness. It will always mean a prophetic commitment to a way of living that reflects the integrity of our relatedness to God and one another. It includes an abiding effort to advance the common good and the well-being of all people, especially the most powerless.
When the Jesuit theologians who had been summoned to assist the Council of Trent with its work left Rome, they carried with them instructions from Saint Ignatius that during their stay in the city they were to find work in hospitals and in teaching catechism to children and the unlettered.
Ignatius believed that for their learning to be of genuine service to the Church, it had to be grounded in ministry to the poor and broken.
Ignatian service is most itself when it consists of humble practices of leadership rom below, and when it is expressed in learned ministry that is attentive to the whole person and the whole context. It is always open to new actions that transform the present situation into a truer reflection of the Reign of God.
