A Sacred Step Forward: Discernment & Direction at Cristo Rey Jesuit Seattle

On July 15, our Board of Directors and school leadership team gathered for a day of deep reflection led by Fr. Steve Sundborg, SJ, former President of Seattle University. Fr. Sundborg is leading groups throughout the Jesuits West Province in a centuries-old Jesuit practice known as discernment in common.

This wasn’t a typical board retreat—no screens or even flip charts. Instead, we met in small groups to share the stories of what brought us each to CRJS. Fr. Steve then asked us to ponder carefully a question that touches the very heart of our mission: Should St. Paul’s Parish become Cristo Rey’s forever home? As part of our discernment, we walked in silence around the campus for 30 minutes, prayerfully considering the implications of building our school at St. Paul.

Discernment in common, first practiced by St. Ignatius and the early Jesuits, asks Ignatian leaders to dig deeper than a typical board deliberation process, which is usually marked by analysis, deliberation, and debate. It calls for us to plumb our imaginations and to listen deeply—not only to one another, but to the stirrings of the Spirit within the group. Discernment in common calls upon the gifts of imagination, intellect, the head and the heart. It’s rooted in the belief that God is actively present in our conversations and our prayer, and that He cares about the future of our school—or rather, His school.

As we sat together in rooms filled with pictures of our beloved students and again in the chapel, we reflected on what it means to belong—to a place, to a mission, to a community. We considered the sacred history of St. Paul’s, which has served the people of Seattle with humility and grace for seven decades. We imagined what it would mean for Cristo Rey to plant roots here, to grow into the space not just physically, but spiritually. And we imagined alternative futures in other locations as part of our prayer.

We experienced moments of clarity and moments of questioning. Discernment doesn’t rush. It invites. It reveals. As Board Chair Quentin Orem says, ‘The spirit was unmistakably present with us.’ On our retreat, we found ourselves not just deliberating, but becoming more deeply aligned with our mission: to provide access to the best of Jesuit education and spirituality to our students, as they explore their own gifts in the workplace, in college, in service as people for others, to and through college.

We are just learning to discern well together, thanks to Fr. Steve. But we are on the path. And we are walking it together—with trust, with prayer, and with the joyful hope that wherever we land, our students will thrive, our community will gather, and our mission will flourish.

Observes Val Gorder, CRJS Board Vice Chair,

On our recent board retreat, as we learned to practice Discernment in Common, I watched in awe as all voices were respectfully honored. The experience brought us closer together and made us even more certain that St. Paul’s should be our home.

To all of you with us on this sacred journey, thank you. Your belief in Cristo Rey Jesuit Seattle makes grace-filled moments like our retreat possible. As we continue to discern our future and move into a strategic planning process, we do so with deep gratitude for the strong foundation you have helped us build.

Let us keep listening. Let us keep imagining. And let us keep walking forward as we build Cristo Rey Jesuit Seattle, together.