Mission Statement

McQuaid Jesuit is committed to fostering the integrated development of a young man's God-given talents: spiritually, intellectually, physically, emotionally and aesthetically.  While preparing him for further education, his life's work and social interaction, McQuaid Jesuit reaches beyond these goals to produce a growing love of learning and enthusiasm for life that will enable him to meet ever-changing challenges.  All involved with McQuaid Jesuit work to achieve this development by personal concern for each student, competitive educational programs, distinctive Jesuit spirit and a formative sense of community.  This is done in the hope that its academically select graduates will become “Men for Others,” dedicated to serving God and humanity and guided by a profound sense of justice.

Philosophy

McQuaid is a Jesuit high school and as such has both academic and religious dimensions which merge into a single purpose, that of forming young men to be “Men for Others.”

The impetus for McQuaid Jesuit’s philosophy is the gospel of Jesus Christ with its commands to love God and to love one’s neighbor as oneself.  As a Jesuit school, these commands are further specified by the vision of St. Ignatius Loyola for whom God is Creator and Lord, Supreme Goodness, and the one reality that is absolute, with all other reality coming from God and having value only insofar as it leads us to God.  Our function, to the best of our ability, is to lead young men to use all of reality to achieve the greatest fulfillment of their lives within this context of a God-centered universe.

Jesus Christ is at one and the same time both the manifestation of God, who shows himself to be radically in favor of humanity, and the perfect human response, through service to others, to that love of God for humanity.  Jesus shows us an “Abba” – Father – who knows and loves each man and woman personally, and who invites a response which, to be authentically human, must be an expression of radical freedom.  The purpose of the McQuaid Jesuit community is to enable young men to make this response.  Moreover, such radical freedom presupposes a freedom to give of oneself, while accepting the consequence of one’s actions, and a freedom to work in faith toward that true happiness which is the purpose of life and which results from laboring with others in the service of the Kingdom of God for the healing of creation.

Jesus Christ comes also as Savior. The McQuaid Jesuit community is called to engage in an ongoing struggle to recognize and work against the obstacles that block or limit freedom including the effects of sinfulness, while developing in young men capacities such as self-discipline and discernment, that are necessary for the exercise of true freedom.  Such freedom requires a genuine knowledge, love, and acceptance of self, combined with a resolve to be rid of excessive attachment to wealth, fame, health, power or even life itself.  It would also include freedom from distorted perceptions of reality, warped values, rigid attitudes, or surrender to narrow ideologies.  Consequently, to work toward true freedom, one must learn to recognize and deal with the influences that can promote and limit freedom – both those arising from within oneself and those resulting from the dynamics of history, social structures and culture.

The loving response required in “Men for Others” is one that cannot remain theoretical or speculative, but must rather manifest itself through decisive action: “love is shown in deeds.” McQuaid Jesuit, in all that it does as an institution and a community, strives to aid young men to attain the genuine freedom required for a loving response to God’s loving invitation through service to God and humanity.