Bellarmine College Preparatory Signs Sponsorship Agreement with the California Province of the Society of Jesus.

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- The entire Bellarmine College Preparatory community of students, Jesuits, faculty and staff gathered today to witness the signing of a sponsorship agreement between the school and its sponsoring body, the California Province of the Society of Jesus. Bellarmine is the first of seven Jesuit high schools in the province to recognize in a formal and public way the shared responsibilities that the Jesuits and schools have in preserving and furthering the Jesuit education mission of educating young men in the tradition of St. Ignatius of Loyola.

The California Provincial, Fr. John McGarry, S.J., signed the agreement along with Bellarmine's Chair of the Board of Trustees, Dan Warmenhoven. Bellarmine President Fr. Paul Sheridan, S.J. and the Jesuit priests, who live and work on Bellarmine's campus also witnessed the signing. The ceremony capped off a year-long review process that included a school-wide report on its mission, formation and work, as well as a visit to campus from an observing team of Jesuit and lay educators.

"Bellarmine has been a Jesuit school since 1851, the oldest Jesuit school in our province - you should be rightly proud of your 156-year heritage," said Fr. McGarry in his remarks to the students, faculty and staff. "Bellarmine is a Jesuit school because it educates for a faith that does justice."

The sponsorship process requires all Jesuit schools to review their mission and affirm the ways that make them Catholic and Jesuit. They look at examples of how they are forming young people in the Ignatian tradition and review how their curricular and co-curricular programs are forming students to be men and women with and for others.

"This sponsorship agreement affirms the fact that Bellarmine's education program fosters those elements that make a Jesuit school 'Jesuit' and being assessed by our peer colleagues validates the essence of our work," said Fr. Sheridan, S.J., Bellarmine's president. "I am very proud of the efforts of our administrators, teachers and staff, who promote this Ignatian vision."

After successfully completing the Sponsorship Review process, Bellarmine will again be reviewed in six years.

Bellarmine College Preparatory, a Jesuit secondary school located in San Jose, California, has been educating young "men for others" in the Jesuit tradition of St. Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus, since 1851.