The “Jesuit League”
As a child, one of my favorite activities was Saturday morning cartoons. I would endure “Tom & Jerry”, and “The Smurfs”, before I could get to my all-time favorite cartoon “THE JUSTICE LEAGUE!” I still feel giddy with anticipation recalling the main characters: Superman, Batman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, and my favorite, Wonder Woman. It was more than a cartoon, as I imagined myself teleported to another time and place where heroes came together to fight as one powerful team, creatively using their special powers to remedy the effects of evil and deliver justice. Although it was impressive seeing each hero fight a villain individually with their gifts, it was awesome seeing the full team come together to battle passionately for the same cause, expressing “corporate agility” (Kindle, 282) as they worked quickly and seamlessly together. Lowney could have had the Justice League in mind when he said teams “perform best when team members respect, value, and trust one another and sacrifice narrow self-interest to support team goals and their colleagues’ success” (Kindle, 301).
When I think of the Jesuit’s 4 pillars of success: self-awareness, ingenuity, love, and heroism, it was like The Justice League was reading their script. The superheroes were self-aware of their crippling weaknesses that robbed them of their superpowers and lived with humility hiding their superhero identity as they lived like normal humans. They were ingenious as they found creative ways to stop the menacing villains, always surprising the viewer with how they recovered the win in a seemingly lost battle. Above all, the love they expressed for the human race as they risked life and limb and sacrificed their lives and personal relationships for the betterment of others, was inspiring. They lived by the Jesuit creed, “greater love than fear” (Kindle, 291), as they allowed love to fuel their passion for sacrificing their lives and overcoming evil. Finally, their heroism was jaw-dropping impressive, as they battled fearlessly and zealously the vilest of villains, which would solicit claps and hollers of approval from their viewers of all ages. They embodied the belief that: “Heroes extract gold from the opportunities at hand rather than waiting for golden opportunities to be handed to them” (Kindle, 304). No one told them they had to be a superhero or a leader for others. They just accessed their inner leader and were responsible with the gifts they were given. It’s as if there is a hero in all of us, waiting to lead and be released, or as the Lowney says, “We’re all leaders, leading all the time, well or poorly. Leadership springs from within” (Kindle, 124)
“Living with one foot raised” –“always ready to respond to emerging opportunities,” (Kindle, 264), brought the picture of Superman posing as Clark Kent, ready to swing into action as Superman to avert crises. I thought of Batman, who had to be “twice-born” (Kindle, 344) when as a boy he had to recover from the traumatic loss of his family in order to become the hero he was meant to be. I imagined Wonder Woman having to “fit into a world” unfamiliar to her own and discovering it wasn’t a “hostile place” (Kindle, 407) as she fell in love with a man for the first time. As these superheroes worked together, I saw the “heroism and mutual affection” (Kindle, 439) they had for one another as they valued what each contributed to their cause. Ultimately, I could think of no better image than the Justice League to illustrate the Jesuit mission statement: “helping souls and doing it heroically” (Kindle, 479).
On a personal note, as I researched this, you can imagine my enthusiasm when I discovered a Justice League movie coming out in 2017! For your viewing pleasure, here’s the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIHH5-HVS9o. And if that wasn’t enough, there is also a Wonder Woman movie coming out in 2017, which I also included the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lGoQhFb4NM. I have a feeling 2017 is going to be a great year….
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Jennifer Dean-Hill
8 responses to “The “Jesuit League””
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“Lowney could have had the Justice League in mind when he said teams “perform best when team members respect, value, and trust one another and sacrifice narrow self-interest to support team goals and their colleagues’ success”
Your creativity and imaginative approach shines through again Jennifer! I like the extended metaphor and comparison with Marvel superheroes when thinking about heroic Jesuit leadership. The longer I am in ministry, the more I value the importance of team, supportive colleagues, and doing ministry with friends. As the theme music at the beginning of Scrubs used to say: “I can’t do all this on on own, no, I’m no Superman!”
And thanks for the movie recommendations!
Nice! Like the Scrub music intro…fitting. Yes, like you, I also have developed a greater value of teamwork. Honestly though, I find teams can also slow me down from accomplishing my goals and I find myself wearier (is that a word?) leading than just doing it myself. I wonder if I’m more of a pioneer….a different type of leader.
Pioneers are one positive type of leader, but be careful about extending too far on one’s own. The extreme individualist leader, what we called the “lone ranger missionary” sees little value in authority and obedience, team goals and consensus (164). Again, I imagine that is a tension that we maintain between tight authority and free-reign. Lowney calls it “holy obedience.” For the Jesuit, that would be obedience to the society father, and the pope. For us… who?
Oh Yeah,
The Justice league. Great analogy of heroic leadership. Of course, you would encourage me to retreat to my childhood heroes – Mighty Mouse, Underdog, Batman, and Hercules.
When you look at Heroic, you look at the outer statue of a person and not their inner person. Thanks for the memories.
Loved the Justice League connection! It is so true that real heroes are always self aware. They have to be in tune with their weakness so that they can make sure no one takes advantage of it and uses it against them. Most superheros fought to try to conquer their weaknesses to lessen their impact on their super powers.
As a leader, with supernatural power (help from the Holy Spirit), we can daily work to understand our weakness so that we can strengthen those areas in our lives. Lowney noted that “Only those who know their weaknesses can deal with them or even hope to conquer them” (Kindle,893).
Oh my gosh, Jen! That’s so great! You are a great illustrator!
“…it was awesome seeing the full team come together to battle passionately for the same cause,” You know, Hollywood can put out some pretty raunchy movies, but look at which ones everyone really likes!! There is a reason that movies that involve people loving and helping each other are so popular. Deep down it is really what we value. Movies about “redemption” of some character flaw are also popular. (self-examination?)
You nailed it. And thank you for the links!
I’d say the Roadrunner was my favorite superhero cartoon. 😉
Not being well-versed in superheroes, my only context of a hero team is the Avengers (sorry, I know Marvel & DC are two different worlds). Within the Avenger “team”, I see very little of the following: “perform best when team members respect, value, and trust one another and sacrifice narrow self-interest to support team goals and their colleagues’ success.” In fact, quite the opposite. They DON’T trust each other, and are usually self-interested. Maybe that’s why you’re drawn to the Justice League instead?? Nice way to draw parallels into our context.
Oh gosh, yes! The Justice League. I can’t tell you how many life lessons I taught my children while we watched this together. My son has even had custom made cufflinks of the Justice League for his groomsmen because they all adopted these characters in college (my son is the Flash). But Wonder Woman is reserved for mama and her lasso of truth. 🙂
The way you tied the four pillars to the Justice League is genius. I especially love the way you tied “having one foot raised” to Clark Kent/Superman. This is how I think of us as leaders and world-changers. We go through each day doing what we do, but always listening and watching for ways we can love beyond fear and creatively defeat injustice in order to bring about Kingdom restoration. Even better for me is the fact that the Justice League superheroes screwed up a lot and had to come back from loss and pain and loneliness to embrace a world that viewed them as aliens. Great post Jennifer!