St. Jerome’s University in Waterloo, Ontario, has added a Jesuit dimension to its Catholic identity already shaped by two religious communities associated with the 161-year-old school.
On July 31, the feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, the university announced an Ignatian Endorsement Agreement with the Jesuits of Canada.
The partnership brings the Jesuit tradition alongside the Congregation of the Resurrection, which founded St. Jerome’s in 1865, and the School Sisters of Notre Dame, who joined the Resurrectionists in 1962.
The public Roman Catholic university, federated with the University of Waterloo, said the partnership marks a new chapter in its “rich religious heritage” and “strengthens its Catholic mission and identity on the campus of the University of Waterloo.”
Father Sami Helewa, a Jesuit scholar of Islam and former president of Campion College in Regina, will become St. Jerome’s first Jesuit in residence. The university said he will “enrich the spiritual and intellectual life of the campus by fostering dialogue on faith, justice, vocation and service.”
The appointment comes as Helewa has been reflecting publicly on belonging, isolation and the need for human connection. In a recent reflection for the Jesuits, he wrote: “Human connections have increasingly become superficial, and even people of goodwill struggle to fully participate in the healing of our world” amid a “world of isolation fueled by individualism.”
Helewa described the pain of “unprecedented alienation” in everything, from wars and ineffective leadership to the decline of personal customer service, in favour of a message to “do it yourself.”
The answer, he wrote, is “to revitalize the community of human connections back into our politics, economy, institutions and into our lives.”
That concern aligns with the Jesuits’ stated purpose in endorsing St. Jerome’s. Father Jeffrey S. Burwell, provincial superior of the Jesuits of Canada, said the Jesuits are committed to “fostering academic excellence, promoting faith and forming leaders to serve as agents of reconciliation.”
The university said the agreement reflects complementary strengths: the Resurrectionists’ emphasis on hope and renewal, the School Sisters of Notre Dame’s commitment to education and human dignity, and the Jesuit tradition of discernment and intellectual excellence.
St. Jerome’s is one of six post-secondary institutions endorsed, affiliated or operated by the Jesuits in Canada. The other five are St. Paul’s College, affiliated with the University of Manitoba; Corpus Christi College and St. Mark’s College, both affiliated with the University of British Columbia; Campion College, affiliated with the University of Regina; and Regis College, affiliated with University of Toronto.
