By Alvin Halimwidjaya
On Sunday, Feb. 6, Jesuits and Fordham students gathered together in the Lombardi Fieldhouse to participate in an unusually aggressive activity: dodgeball on a squash court.
Dubbed “The Battle of Pamplona,” Fordham Campus Ministry started Ignatian Week by pitting scholastics against undergraduates as a way to bring the two groups together.
Katie Anderson Kuo, Assistant Director of Campus Ministry for Liturgy, described Ignatian Week as an opportunity for the campus community to come together to learn more about and celebrate Fordham’s Ignatian tradition.
“[It’s] just an opportunity to learn more about what that means. Even though St. Ignatius started the Jesuits and started the first Jesuit schools 500 years ago, what does that mean for us today? There are so many things, so many ways that influence us, the way we learn, the way we care for one another and the way we will continue learning outside of the classroom. So we have lots of interdisciplinary activities; talks, games like what we had today, service projects. [There are] lots of ways to get involved. Hopefully people who might say, ‘Who’s St. Ignatius? What are the Jesuits?’ They can learn more about what that means and how they’re part of that Ignatian family.”
Several students showed up at 1 p.m. to battle with eight Jesuit scholastics, with other Jesuit priests in attendance to watch the event. Three-on-three dodgeball games were held on two squash courts, with Anderson Kuo and Vanessa Rotondo, Student Director of Ignatian Week, presiding over the festivities.
“This specific event, the Battle of Pamplona dodgeball game, was designed and strategically placed at the beginning of the week so that we could have some fun with the theme of Ignatian Week, which is engage your Ignatian imagination,” Rotondo explained. “We like to start the week off with some sort of athletic game where Jesuits and Jesuit scholastics play against students just to take them out of the traditional academic and church setting and bring them into a place where we could [interact] with them… we had softball last year and then figured we would change it up because it’s colder this year. So we bring it inside, and the dodgeball game was the Jesuit scholastics’ suggestion.”
Both sides seemed to have fun getting to know one another, as though the Jesuits dominated their undergraduate competition, conversations were struck up with ease and everyone grew very comfortable with each other. Jordan Lacoste, GSB ’18, enjoyed how the event brought scholastics into contact with students in such a casual setting.
“It’s always a good time to hang out with the Jesuits in a non-academic setting outside of class. It’s sort of surprising to see the guys coming out here with their huge arms and great spirits. Definitely looking forward to do this again, in another athletic context maybe, with the Jesuits; they’re definitely good guys and great athletes,” Lacoste said.
The Jesuits also enjoyed their time getting to know the student body whose campus they occupy. Scholastic Brandon Coffey explained that Fordham’s Jesuit population was split between four houses: Spellman Hall holds the Fordham Jesuit priests, Murray-Weigel and Kohlmann Hall house retired members and Ciszek Hall is where most of the Jesuit scholastics live. Most of the Jesuit attendees came from the latter residence, and Coffey was in favor of events that encouraged more interaction between the two groups.
“I think it’s good to be aware that there are young Jesuits; we exist… it’s about getting a chance for you guys to know we exist and for us to get a chance to get to know some of you guys.”
Rotondo was satisfied with how the event went, despite less-than-ideal attendance to start Ignatian Week.
“I was a little nervous at the student number of participants, but looking at it in hindsight, I think the people who were here had a lot of fun and were able to experience scholastics and get to know them a little bit better, which was one of the driving objectives behind this.”
