Date of Award
5-2026
Document Type
Thesis
Publisher
Santa Clara : Santa Clara University, 2026
Degree Name
Licentiate in Sacred Theology (STL)
Director
J. Matthew Ashley
Abstract
Thirty-two years after the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, reconciliation remains a major challenge to the country’s reconstruction. Drawing on both Robert Schreiter’s description of the road to reconciliation and on the rich experience of the early Jesuits, who, in their endeavor ‘to help souls,’ have made reconciliation so central to their ministries that it became a Jesuit apostolic way of proceeding, this thesis analyzed a range of measures taken to address the Rwandan post-genocide crisis. The study revealed that while many reconciliation efforts have yielded positive results, most of them have focused on social and political reconciliation rather than on individual reconciliation. This resulted in peaceful coexistence rather than inner peace, thin rather than thick reconciliation. The journey to a truly reconciled life begins with depoliticizing reconciliation and making it more personal. This thesis sought to personalize reconciliation by exploring how Ignatius’ Contemplatio can inspire attitudes and habits that foster a reconciled lifestyle. The Contemplatio presents a pedagogy of love that can transform a human heart from beloved to lover, communicating that love through concrete engagement toward reconciliation. Those who discover how God loves them in all things through the gifting, indwelling, laboring, and sharing of God’s perfections experience real reconciliation, and only they can build reconciled communities. The Contemplatio provides insights that can stir a reconciled lifestyle today, including felt knowledge of God's love, the reappropriation of the past, ongoing purification, the unfolding of a new life, and the sharing of God's perfections. Based on those insights, a spiritual formation program was designed for high school students to help them develop reconciliatory and peaceful habits in their daily lives. A four-day spiritual formation retreat concretizes the Contemplatio s pedagogy. Blending the four points of the Contemplatio with gospel narratives, the retreat uses spiritual conversation to help students, both individually and collectively, deepen their reflection on their experiences of the Rwandan tragedy and take concrete steps toward building a peaceful, harmonious community.
Recommended Citation
Niyigena, Charles, "The Contemplatio for Reconciliation: Ignatian Inspiration of Spiritual Formation Toward Thick Reconciliation in Post-Genocide Rwanda" (2026). Jesuit School of Theology Dissertations. 175.
https://scholarcommons.scu.edu/jst_dissertations/175
