Letter from the Provincial Fr. Jorge William Hernández, SJ to the Caribbean Educational Network for the start of the 2026-2027 academic year
Santo Domingo, September 2, 2026
Dear Directors, Members, and Collaborators of the Caribbean Jesuit Educational Network:
Inspired by the one and true Teacher, Jesus, and with the conviction that educating is a true act of love and service, we begin this new academic year by offering our children, adolescents, and youth a new opportunity to be formed in the values that, for decades, have prevailed, even in contexts full of challenges, but also of opportunities.
The educational apostolate is an important pillar in our Province, present in various modalities and across all sections. These modalities include primary, secondary, higher, and informal education centers.
Educational spaces are a very rich environment for embodying Universal Apostolic Preferences, in particular, show the way to God y to accompany young people. I wish to invite you so that this new academic year is marked by reflection, not only among the Jesuits, but as an educational community, on these two preferences. A document that can serve as a support point for this reflection is the one prepared by the International Commission on the Apostolate of Jesuit Education of the Society of Jesus and entitled Jesuit Schools: A Living Tradition in the 21st Century. It lists ten global indicators that can help us foster reflection, because they specifically point out some of the features that characterize and should guide the Society's educational centers. Our educational centers are called to:
being Catholic and offering deep faith formation, in dialogue with other religions and worldviews; creating a safe and healthy environment for everyone; promoting global citizenship; fostering care for creation and justice; being accessible to all; promoting interculturality; being a global network in the service of the mission; cultivating human excellence; and encouraging lifelong learning1.
Education, as a dynamic of growth and integration of the educational community —teachers, administrators, students, families, and the local Church— also embraces the vocation of being a space for profound humanization, as Pope Leo XIV kindly invites us to in his encyclical Magnificent Humanity:
If we are not attentive, an educational system devoid of a love for truth may emerge, in which the incessant flow of information replaces the exercise of inquiry, reflection, and discernment. Fragmented knowledge multiplies, but grasping reality as a whole, asking questions about the meaning of things, and developing authentic critical and creative thinking become more difficult. Many educators already perceive the signs of a possible dehumanization, in which people “know many things” but have difficulty giving meaning to their lives—also due to the inability to connect information and knowledge—and keeping the horizon of meaning in view. It is necessary to promote a true hygiene of attention: rhythms that include silence, reflective study, reading, and weighed analysis; without these elements, inner freedom may be compromised.2
In this 2026-2027 academic year, we are invited to guide those who are being educated in our educational centers based on these criteria, in order to foster a culture of encounter, educational quality, and, above all, to reveal the face of God, who became human to make us more human.
Filled with faith, let us keep going with enthusiasm along the path that those who came before us began one day, and which it is now our turn to continue, writing new pages of our history as educators.
May Saint Ignatius of Loyola and Our Lady guide and inspire every moment of the days ahead of us. I am confident that we will not lack opportunities to be grateful for every experience and every lesson.
Fr. Jorge William Hernández, SJ
Caribbean Provincial.
1 https://www.jesuits.global/sj_files/2021/06/Una_tradici%C3%B3n_viva_ES.pdf
https://www.jesuits.global/sj_files/2021/06/A_Living_Tradition_EN.pdf
2 Leo XIV, Magnificent Humanity, n. 146.
