By Beau Guedry, SJ
In the long course of Jesuit formation, after first vows and a few years of first studies in philosophy and other fields, a Jesuit goes to “regency,” a stage of full-time apostolic work while living in a “regular” Jesuit community – that is, a community not dedicated to men in formation. That’s where I am now. Regency is meant to be a time for me to contribute to the mission of the Society of Jesus and to be formed by that experience and by the people I’m living and working with. I am midway through my first year of that assignment at Loyola University New Orleans, where I am missioned to support the Jesuit Social Research Institute (JSRI).
JSRI was founded in 2007 by Fr. Fred Kammer, SJ, then the provincial of the New Orleans Province, to focus on systemic issues of poverty and racial inequality in the Gulf South. Those are complicated issues, and they have changed in the years since JSRI’s founding, along with other social, cultural and economic trends.
Of special concern in Louisiana is the criminal legal system, where more than 1,000 people per 100,000 are incarcerated – over 1% of the total population. This is the highest rate for any state in the nation, above the national average of 614 per 100,000. The data is clear: Louisiana heavily relies on incarceration as a response to societal issues.
Reading the signs of the times by the light of faith in 2022 led the Jesuits USA Central and Southern Province and Loyola University New Orleans – the two sponsors of JSRI – to shift JSRI’s focus to the criminal legal system. Specifically, JSRI is responding to the criminal legal system crisis in Louisiana through three new programs.
First is the Light of Justice program, founded by Calvin Duncan. Duncan spent more than 28 years wrongfully incarcerated at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola for a crime he did not commit. While there, he learned the law and secured freedom – not only for himself, but also for many other men with whom he was incarcerated. When he returned home to New Orleans, he founded Light of Justice to assist incarcerated people in putting their cases before a judge to review the merits of their appeals and post-conviction statuses. (Duncan’s story, including his earning a law degree, is recounted in his memoir, The Jailhouse Lawyer.) Duncan was elected clerk of the Orleans Parish Criminal Court in New Orleans last fall. He will take office in May and will continue to work closely with the staff of the Light of Justice program at JSRI.
The second of JSRI’s programs is the Café con Inglés program, which offers English classes at local parishes to learners from four continents and connects them with other services around New Orleans. Every Sunday, former JSRI fellow Dr. Sue Weishar and I gather volunteer tutors and welcome students after Spanish Mass at two parishes. Together, we all sit down to a cup of coffee, a snack, English practice and conversation. Some weeks, this is simply an opportunity to study and practice grammar; often, the community of volunteers and students can be a source of support.
I remember especially one moment from this fall that involved a woman I’ll call Martha to protect her privacy. Martha had moved to New Orleans from Italy with her husband a month before. He worked full time and spoke English well. Martha spent most of her time at home, did not drive a car and struggled to express herself in English. When we went around the table sharing stories from our week, Martha shared that she had been feeling, “What was the word? – Yes, isolated, lonely.” The move had been hard, and she knew almost no one in New Orleans. Her eyes welled with tears, and immediately the little community we’d formed around that table responded. Other migrants shared their stories of loneliness, an all-too-common experience. They invited her to a cultural festival the following weekend where there would be food from her home country, music and dancing.
The next Sunday, Martha walked into class carrying a box of cookies and a meek smile. Her story from the week recounted the fun she’d had with her new friends, including a few words that needed no translation: salsa, merengue, bachata. I knew then that Café con Inglés was about more than language. It was a place of welcome and sharing in our parish community.
A quick note is important here: At the time of this writing, the English classes at the parishes have been suspended. Migrants, both in New Orleans and nationwide, have been subject to criminalization and incarceration. Regardless of legal status, English ability or how long they’ve lived in the United States, migrants at our parishes have expressed fear about gathering for classes, because of the presence of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) in our city. We have paused our gatherings and pivoted to providing more urgent support to our community, such as assistance with groceries. But I look forward to our return to in-person class soon, because of the way I’ve experienced our community living and sharing together as one body in Christ.
Finally, JSRI operates Loyola at Rayburn, a program that offers a college education to men imprisoned at Rayburn Correctional Center in Angola, Louisiana. Our students at Rayburn attend classes inside the prison that count toward a bachelor’s degree and are taught by Loyola University professors. We also offer academic advising, organize peer tutoring and facilitate as many other student services as we can to bring a fuller experience of a college education to our students inside the correctional center.
The program has seen success. Loyola at Rayburn was approved in 2024 to offer a bachelor’s degree and in 2025 to administer Pell Grants. The 37 students currently enrolled in the program have earned a combined 645 credits since 2022. Twelve students are on track to graduate in 2027 or 2028.
Beyond their studies, students elected a Student Government Association to lead Loyola initiatives inside Rayburn, including an annual toy drive, an undergraduate research conference, personal finance classes and visits from state and national leaders in the field of higher education in prison. Additionally, a dedicated group of students produced an adaptation of the Characteristics of Jesuit Higher Education: A Guide for Mission Reflection as part of Loyola’s Mission Priority Examen (MPE) process. Students are not only earning a degree; they are reflecting on what it means to receive a distinctly Jesuit education in prison.
Our program at Rayburn is not unique; it is a part of the Jesuit Prison Education Network (JPEN), which connects prison education programs at Jesuit colleges and universities in our province and beyond.
As a Jesuit in formation and as someone who has spent the past 18 years studying and working at Jesuit schools, I believe in the distinctive value and power of a Jesuit education. As a Jesuit university, Loyola can offer a style of education and formation for our students in prison that non-Jesuit colleges and universities cannot.
I also believe that we are not only able to do this work but called to do it.
We are called by the social teaching of the Church, which proclaims the dignity of the human person, made in the image and likeness of God and thereby worthy of dignified treatment always and everywhere.
We are called by the Society of Jesus, which decreed in its 32nd General Congregation: “It is the charism of the Society to serve Christ poor and humble” (Decree 12).
We are called by Jesus, who promises us that we can find Him present in the lives of people who suffer, especially at the hands of injustice (Matthew 25:40).
Among my other responsibilities, I am teaching philosophy at Rayburn this semester. In anticipation of the semester, I hoped and expected, in a sort of mystical way, to find Christ in my students – in their joys and hopes, in their busyness and boredom, and in their struggles and suffering. I hoped to accompany and serve them well. I believe my hope is still appropriate as we journey through Lent.
Perhaps one of the ways you and I can make a good Lent this year is to go to those who suffer injustice, wherever they are in our communities, to serve them. I believe we will find Jesus calling to us along the way – and waiting for us there.
Beau Guedry, SJ, is a Jesuit regent assigned to the Jesuit Social Research Institute in New Orleans.
Featured photo: Loyola University New Orleans President Dr. Xavier Cole addresses Loyola at Rayburn students.
