Baltimore offers something rare in American education: a continuous Jesuit pathway from preschool at age 2 through doctoral programs. Few cities can claim such depth.
Into that landscape steps Mark Dushel, whose own spiritual journey – from seminarian for the Archdiocese of Baltimore to Jesuit novice to his current role – uniquely positions him for an equally rare assignment.
Since the fall, Dushel has been serving as the first director of Ignatian Mission and Formation for three city institutions at once: Cristo Rey Jesuit High School, the Loyola School (for preschool through elementary school) and St. Ignatius Loyola Academy (for middle schoolers). The collaborative role was created to strengthen Jesuit identity across the full spectrum of childhood and adolescent education.
“I love Jesuit education,” he said. “I’m originally from Baltimore, so the idea of working for a couple of different schools in our city was really exciting.”
His path to the newly created position wound through Providence College in Rhode Island, where he earned a philosophy degree, and Boston College School of Theology and Ministry, where he first encountered the Jesuits. After serving as a service area director for the Boy Scouts of America, he worked as campus minister and director of retreats and liturgy at St. Joseph’s Preparatory School in Philadelphia, where he fell in love with Ignatian spirituality. That passion led him to the Jesuit novitiate and later to campus ministry at Loyola University Maryland in Baltimore.
“The idea of getting back into Jesuit schools was really exciting to me because I just love the energy of our high schools, going on our retreats like Kairos and everything like that. It was exciting to kind of get back to that,” he said.
Forming the formers
Unlike traditional campus ministry roles, Dushel’s focus isn’t on daily student contact. Instead, he concentrates on developing the adults who guide students – particularly crucial in schools where most students aren’t Catholic.
During a recent mission day, Cristo Rey President Walter Reap saw just how much that work can move people.
“Mark was able to get teachers who would not have ordinarily volunteered to tell their stories to talk about their experience and to lead with gratitude,” Reap said. As teachers reflected not only on gratitude but on how to support students while holding them to high expectations, the room became unexpectedly emotional.
One teacher captured the moment when she approached Dushel afterward: “’Were we supposed to cry during that session? Because we were all crying and hugging. I just feel like I made a new best friend.’ ”
Reap says the role’s complexity requires someone with exactly Dushel’s gifts.
“The position is extremely difficult because you’re talking about across three different campuses,” he said. “I would say Mark is more than equipped to do that.”
Faculty members across all three campuses already sense the difference.
“He just provides a connecting thread between all three schools … making sure the adults in the building feel very kind of supported in the mission,” said Sean Mulvihill of St. Ignatius Loyola Academy.
Power of recognition
At the Loyola School, Doreen McGillvery Williams experienced Dushel’s approach firsthand when he observed her Catechesis of the Good Shepherd program.
“My encounter with Mark was the a-ha moment,” she said. “To have him observe my work and say to me that I was already bringing forth the mission of the Jesuits was a big deal for me.”
His intuitive understanding of Ignatian spirituality, she added, is unmistakable.
“You can feel his knowing, his spiritual knowing, his passion for that change we want to see in the world,” she explained. “Mark brings that without words. You feel like you want to know this guy and you want to be a part of what he’s bringing to the school.”
For Dushel, those moments – quiet or emotional – are the heart of the mission.
“We’re living day to day with such a heart for God, a heart for Jesus,” he says. “That is what’s driving our mission and driving what we do.”
Editor’s Note: This story is part of the Catholic Review’s Catholic School’s Week (Jan. 25-31) coverage. Check back at catholicreview.org/category/schools for continued coverage of the event.
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