I’m applying to a TT position at a Jesuit SLAC. The job description specifically asks that the cover letter address how I would contribute to their mission (I won’t post the mission here for the sake of anonymity, but it’s a Catholic school). I’m not a Catholic myself, but it’s a pretty free-thinking school in a very liberal area of the northeast, so I’m not too concerned there.
I’m just not sure what the norm/expectation is for addressing this kind of thing in my cover letter. I could give lots of information, explain how I’m not Catholic but feel my values align with the school, spend a whole paragraph or more on it, etc. etc..
Or, I could just include a couple of sentences about it in my conclusion and allude to the fact that I’ve read their mission statement and agree with it.
Anyone have experience with this sort of thing?
Comments
I’d keep it short and sweet. Maybe talk about how you respect the way that Jesuits value education so strongly, etc.
Jesuits are disputatious by training and preference so make no attempt to ingratiate. Referring to the Jesuit traditions of education, rigorous inquiry, and cura personalis would be more relevant than general Catholic spirituality.
In a this context, I think Catholic virtues, boiled down, essentially take the position of living a virtuous life in service to others. Look in the mission to see where it aligns with your general beliefs as a human being.
One of the central tenets of christianity is agape, or universal love, which pretty well (i think) with other ideas like deen in islam. When adhered to (emphasis on when…) Catholicism is fairly loving of everyone.
https://www.usccb.org/news/2024/christian-love-embraces-unlovable-enemies-unborn-pope-says#:~:text=They%20too%20experience%20the%20benevolence,humanity%2C%22%20the%20pope%20said.&text=%22But%20there%20is%20a%20greater,the%20love%20we%20concretely%20had.%22
Generally speaking if you see your teaching as a way of being in charitable and in service to others (ie your students) and your campus community, you will be ok there. At their best, catholics generally respect/get along with other religions well, and don’t (usually) have a conversion-oriented requirement or push… but it all depends on the exact context.
i would add a paragraph, perhaps after or before your teaching statement paragraph, about how you see teaching as a positive service contributing to the good of society, and then put your own spin on it. Another way of saying it would be speaking philosophically about why you think education is a part of living a good, moral life. Like, how does education contribute to the betterment of society, and why would you want to be at an institution that emphasizes how all of these things could contribute to a total system way of life.
Sorry one more suggestion: perhaps this is a place to mention times or ways you have been a charitable person in your teaching — like, things that might otherwise not exactly go into your teaching philosophy as examples, but still are part of the charitable service part of being an educator. Ex: do you volunteer/have you ever run a donation drive at school, have you bought dinner or helped feed your students you knew were struggling, are you mindful of parents/non-traditional students in the classroom and help them achieve their goals… these don’t have to be religiously oriented, but charitable/virtuous help would be relevant to mention here etc.. hopefully you see what i mean here!
Religious or not, your cover letter should address how not just your values but also your practices align with their mission.
I’d look at the type of students the school attracts, and the school wide distribution requirements. Eg are they trying to push students to do “service”? Be good global citizens? Live out Catholic Social Teaching? One sentence about how the Jesuit approach to Catholic social teaching and responsible citizenship or whatever resonates with you would probably do the trick
The Catholicism part won’t matter much at a Jesuit school. Say something about how your values align with Jesuit values (like holistic education, justice, personal reflection)
Does the application / interview process include religious vetting? I was on a hiring committee for a faith based school and we eliminated entire swaths of applicants whose faith statements / faith acknowledgements were shoddy. Take cues from the emphasis given within the application instructions, and good luck!
Will you have to swear an oath?
I worked as a researcher in a Jesuit Uni (also studied there). The only thing you should let them know is how you are applying your knowledge (or research if you do some) for the “Common good”. For example what worked for me was: “Through my research I aim to contribute by closing the technology gaps in vulnerable communities”. (hope that helps a little bit).
Hit service and open dialogue in your message. Job done, Jesuits happy.
Any organization that excludes women from roles reserved for men only is not “pretty free-thinking”. Not even fucking close.
I just started a position at a Jesuit institution and am also not Catholic (or particularly religious). The job ad didn’t say to address their mission in the cover letter, but I always do that anyway. I picked parts of the mission that weren’t directly related to religion. I also talked about their values and themes from the strategic plan. Happy to chat more and give examples if you want to DM me.
Look at actual mission on the school’s website. They don’t care about your religion. The mission is going to be educational in nature.
Professor is in has a blog post on this that is worth reading.
For the Jesuits, I probably wouldn’t overdo it. Other institutions? Hard to say. I feel like unless you really know the values of the place it is easy to do more harm than help.
Im not an academic (yet…hopefully lol), but I went to a Jesuit high school and have some suggestions for Jesuit-specific terms and concepts that would play well in a cover letter.
a lot of Jesuit schools emphasize the idea of being “men and women for others” or sometimes “men and women with and for others” which basically relates to using their knowledge and skills to serve their community/world. This is super important and I would definitely highlight this point, perhaps even incorporating this exact phrase in your cover letter. Jesuits care a lot about service to the community and world, and Jesuit schools often emphasize community engagement as part of their curriculum.
obviously the jesuits strongly value education, and I think this is definitely a key thing to emphasize in your cover letter. Depending on how much space you have in the cover letter, it may be worth noting that education has been a key value of the Jesuits since it was founded by st ignatius.
** it is very important to note that jesuits believe strongly in using knowledge/education to make the world a better place. I would recommend talking about how this idea aligns with your values in your cover letter.
self reflection: st ignatius (who founded the Jesuit church) created this thing called the examen, which is basically a daily mindfulness meditation exercise in which you check in with yourself about the ways in which you have succeeded and failed in living according to your values and set goals for yourself. This concept is perhaps less important for a cover letter, but could be incorporated if you find it relevant or meaningful.
“seeing God in all things”: this is pretty self explanatory, basically the idea of seeing the divine in nature, the world, human interaction etc. an important note about this concept is that there have been a fair amount of Jesuit scientists, many of whom viewed science and the pursuit of scientific knowledge as an expression of God. It probably isn’t necessary to discuss this concept, and I wouldn’t recommend referencing this concept unless it resonates with you, but I wanted to mention it because it provides some context as to why Jesuit schools have historically been both scientifically rigorous and committed to Catholic religious beliefs.
“ad majoriam del glorium” (abbreviated to AMDG) is Latin for “for the greater glory of God”, and is the motto of the Jesuits.
as another commenter mentioned, cura personalis (or “care for the whole person”) is an important concept in Jesuit education.
I also want to note that you likely don’t need to directly discuss your religious beliefs in your cover letter. Jesuit schools are often very academically focused and won’t expect faculty to be catholic (in fact it is common that the majority of students aren’t catholic). Obviously I don’t know everything about this institution, but they are probably just looking for you to demonstrate an understanding of and commitment to the core values of jesuit education, even if you express these values in a secular or non-catholic context
I’ve worked with Jesuits and the ones I knew were all about simplicity and community-those would be good qualities to mention and demonstrate.
Do you know anything about the Jesuits? Just talk about your commitment to education and teaching and free access to education. You’ll be fine.
I mention overlapping values but not religion (because I am not religious). I have had interviews and job talks with multiple specifically religious institutions with this method, so it worked well for me!
I ultimately decided not to work at a religiously affiliated school for other reasons (different offer in a closer to family location) so can’t speak to the final calculus.
Jump on the “Catholic intellectual tradition” is what I’d do– you don’t need/want to pretend to be Catholic or anything, but at an SLAC anyone should find some resonance with that tradition and it would be easy enough to say something like “the Catholic intellectual tradition has long embraced ______ and I feel my work/teaching could find a place at your institution as well.” Or whatever. The core Jesuit values would work too, just as Benedictine ones would at a Benedictine university. Neither is looking for a faith statement, but if you speak a bit to justice and the CIT it wouldn’t hurt.
Cura personalis and liberation theology, my friend
You have to do research into the school. One of my previous institutions, while affiliated with a religion, was able to tell immediately if someone put not effort into the looking into the school because they overly relied on religion on their cover letter when the school actually does not have religion up front. Whereas another religious institution I know of, they explicitly want to see their faculty committed to ‘Catholic Social teaching’. The emphasis actually will be somewhat obvious if you look at the language of the mission statement. Perhaps also look to see if any faculty at the institution have a teaching statement online and if they emphasize the religious mission statement
As a Jewish guy who was formerly faculty at a Catholic university, I had to write something about contributing to their mission and spent a lot of time trying to come up with something. I wrote about how historically Catholic universities have been important for knowledge creation and education, and how that appeals to me personally. Like a big statement, multiple paragrpahs. I got the job, but I think that was just a hoop to jump through. Once I was on search committees there, people would address it in like one sentence, and we would still interview and hire them.