03/05/08 Dear friends,

I am Eugine a Jesuit Priest from Madurai Province, India. I am writing this to thank the university for providing a wonderful opportunity to be in touch with whatever had been happening in the GC 35. I especially enjoyed the sharings from David Schultenover. It was very informative, reflective and had the quality of a heart to heart conversation. Don Doll's photographs were wonderful. This space for sharing is also wonderful. I enjoyed the sharings from so many different types of persons. Thank you everyone of you behind all these efforts. May God Bless You and all your good works.

Eugine S.J, IDEAS, Madurai, India.

02/18/08 Dear Delegates

You have solicitated some thoughts about GC-35 from interested parties. Well here's mine.

You should not overlook the potential contributions possible from former Jesuits. I am one such person. So was my father before me. In many places I am accepted with open arms. In other places I feel like a leper. Some of us are extremely angry people. Others are not. Others still are grateful for the positive influence the SOC has had on our lives. We are not cyclops, with one eye in the center of our forehead. In general I dont think that the order has a clue on how to deal with former members and this is a pity because this is an untapped resource.

Consider this.

John McEnerney
MD62-64

01/30/08 Dear Brother Jesuits, We tend to have very lofty ideals and this is wonderful. We sometimes forget that some of our brothers are in no way trained to work or minister to the poor, as some of our companions are not either. We need to be a bit more humble and not dispatch with such Jesuits and lay people as if they have nothing to contribute. The Society of Jesus is far more multi-faceted than simply the option for the poor.

01/21/08 Thank you for this opportunity.

A few thoughts:
1. The Society should recognize the contributions of women religious who have supported the Ignatian charism and apostolates to this day. Without the genius of women, the Early Society could not have advanced as it did. Jesuits themselves are unaware of the positive significance of the role of women in the advancing the Society's charism.

2. Many vowed religious women ("Ignatian Women") are firmly committed to work with the Society in its enterprises. The Society should seek them out and employ them. It cannot depend on the good laity who are intent on building up their own Domestic Church. Vowed religious women are ready, willing, and available to collaborate with Jesuits in their apostolic work.

01/21/08 The 35th general Congregation and its election of such a holy man ( as evidenced in his life) provides for all of us a moment of great hope.
Once before, during the time of the Reformation, it was the Jesuits and the lay confraternities laboring with them, who assisted the Church through its period of crisis. From what we know so far, it does seem that the same will be occuring in the days to come.
Let us rejoice and be glad.

01/20/08 I want to affirm what Carole said in her post of 1/18/08. I.e., the notion that Jesuits, or any priests, have to spend time & energy worrying about how to make the Catholic Church relevant to any group (women, ethnic minorities etc) is outdated. Way outdated.
There is one thing necessary to every person on the planet and by now the Jesuits ought to know what that is. Keeping your eyes on that one thing, and not on all the extenuating circumstances of every individual interest group, will enable the Jesuits to fulfill their unique calling...just like it does with every Christian.

I am inspired to take the time to write this morning because I was a bit appalled to read what your new Superior General said about the Exercises (as posted on Rocco Palmo's website yesterday). If that report is accurate, he said that he's open to taking Jesus Christ out of the Exercises & basically re-writing them for non-Christians. The quote was that the Exercises were meant to "turn a person inside out" and that could be done as long as God was involved & the director kept the person making the Exercises "sane & balanced".

Arrrrgh! Not to rain on your parade but, if the new SG actually believes that, its a long way from what B16 asked the Society to do (affirm your committment to the Church & her teaching) in his letter of this week. If that's the case, you've got a long row to hoe.

01/20/08Dear SJ Fathers,

Reading through the various responses, I thought I might add some thoughts of my own. First, as a white, American, middle-class woman, (and aspiring theologian) I would like to express my solidarity with Chrissie and other women like us everywhere, including America. She writes: "They assume we all have the same view of the church that they have. We do not. Nor do we all share their particular ambitions." This is true among American Catholic women as well; one particular agenda has come to dominate the conversation that Jesuits are having with 'women'--as it often has on the political scene in the USA. Please, do not think that this agenda is representative of "women" at all. At best, it represents 'some women'.

I, for one, have been enourmously blessed by the friendships I have had with many SJs, as well as the great gift of the Ignatian Exercises--among the greatest graces of my life! I don't believe I have ever been offended against by any Jesuit, or any member of the ecclessial tradition 'as such', our sinful human condition notwithstanding.

However, I read with some sympathy the Holy Fathers wishes that the SJ's would examine themselves in light of St. Ignatius' intentions for you and the special relationship he wanted you to have with the Pope. I will continue to hope that this might turn in a more positive direction, in accordance with Ignatius' 'Rules for Thinking with the Church'. The one who holds the keys of Peter, and the Bishops in union with him, possess the sure charism for truth.

It seems to me that a closer and 'less tense' relationship with the Church's magisterium would be a great blessing, would serve to re-energize the order, and make a great difference in the effective delivery of the Gospel to all men and women everywhere.

God Bless you,
Carole

01/18/08 Dear Society of Jesus,

I should like to suggest unpretendingly the following topics:

The position and the spirituality of the permanent deacon within the corps

The visibility of the members as religious

The interest for the latin liturgy of the "forma ordinaria" as well as the "forma extraordinaria"

The universality of the clothing of the novices

The restoration of a collective noviciate for The Netherlands (in the historical sense of the name)

01/18/08 Dear Fathers you are in my prayers and I hope for the best for the Jesuits.

I wanted to comment about an issue concerning the voice of women in the church. I noticed that there was a comment already written on the matter.

I wanted, as a young woman of colour, to caution you against the common assumption that women speak with only one voice.

People assume that all women, as women, have the same cultural wants and needs. This is not true. We sometimes share some similiar experiences, but we are not a monolith.

I often find that north american women and in particular north american white women of middle class backgrounds have the notorious habit of speaking for the rest of us. I find this " imperialist" in the extreme.

They assume we all have the same view of the church that they have. We do not. Nor do we all share their particular ambitions.

They often remind everyone that women in the church want a greater speaking voice in church matters because this would make things just.

Sadly what they usually mean is that they want their own opinions and voice heard and they are more than willing to co-op the rest of us under their own banner of needs.

And quite frankly that's not justice at all.

Thanks and God Bless
Chrissy

01/17/08 My prayers are with you during the 35th congregation.

I come from a family of portuguese gentry. The Jesuits have been a part of my family culture for generations. Most recently…..My Dad's middle name is Ignatius. He and and his brothers were educated in Poona ( India) at St Vincent's by the German Jesuits. Many many good Jesuits priests have come from that mission school.

My school, run by the Sisters of St Joseph in Toronto Canada was twinned with Brebeuf College there.

I fondly remember as a little girl- that when Fr Clump used to visit us from the UK he would always have my room. He was a professor of Economics at Kings College- University of London and an old and dear friend of the family.

With the example set by the Jesuits I grew up around I naturally wanted to grow and be just like them. They called out to all that was noble in my young heart. Infact I remember being quite upset, as a child, when I was told that I couldn't be a Jesuit. In those young days I didn't even understand that to be a Jesuit meant I needed to be a priest, I just knew I wanted to be brave and strong and love God enough to be his best soldier and of course wear a cool long black robe I used to grumble that St Ignatius let us girls down because he didn't think of having a Society of girl Jesuits too as St Francis had done for his followers.:)

For my family, through-out our history the Jesuits have always been those brilliant, learned, loyal soldiers of Christ who sacrifice all and risk all for Christ and for His Church. They gave us true examples of what it meant to live out the Chrtistian life.

Now, I am bewildered and deeply concerned and saddened when I hear stories of what is happening at some of the US Jesuit campuses. Or when people make snide comments about the order, about how they have fallen, even betrayed the Church and I always jump to my Society's defence.

I am also concerned by the lack of new candidates to the Jesuits. In some ways I think that this is because perhaps the Society is confused about its identity and role and no one is attracted to join such a group. It is difficult for me as lay person when I speak with Jesuit fathers who seem more confused and lost then even I.

I pray for a new spring time to come for the Society and I often- in prayer- remind St Ignatius that he has an important responsibility to look after his troups still here and I hope that my beloved order will find its way back home so that it can once again speak the truth with authority so clearly and so purely that men will once again flock to serve at its gates.

God Bless

01/17/08 Press reports such as The Tablet’s article entitled “Obey the Pope, cardinal chides Jesuits” could leave us thinking that we are in deep trouble with the church hierarchy as GC 35 gets underway. On first blush, we might be put off by the tone of the remarks by Cardinal Rodé C.M. about our distance from the hierarchy, and His Eminence’s stated “need to present to the faithful and to the world the authentic truth revealed in Scripture and Tradition”, as if he were suggesting that we were not presenting authentic truth to the faithful and the world. However I think we can all take heart that even His Eminence went to trouble of specifying: “The tradition of the Society, from the first beginnings of the Collegio Romano always placed itself at the crossroads between Church and society, between faith and culture, between religion and secularism. Recover these avant-garde positions which are so necessary to transmit the eternal truth to today’s world, in today’s language. Do not abandon this challenge. We know the task is difficult, uncomfortable and risky, and at times little appreciated and even misunderstood, but it is a necessary task for the Church.” If we are to be active at such crossroads between church and society, between faith and culture, between religion and secularism, there is no way that we can simply repeat Vatican directives or papal formulae. There will inevitably be some distance from, and tensions with, the hierarchy who will sometimes show little appreciation and perhaps even misunderstanding of what we are up to, as we do of them from time to time. As His Eminence has highlighted, the difficulty, discomfort and risks at the crossroads are not caused just by the worldly, cultural and secular. They are also caused by the church, faithful and religious. That’s what being at crossroads is all about. Let’s be of good heart, consoled by His Eminence’s fulsome and unqualified praise of Fr Kolvenbach who led us at those crossroads so faithfully these last 25 years. Let’s re-commit ourselves to “avant-garde positions” which are more likely to be our charism than the Hierarchy’s. If we are being equally misunderstood on both sides of the crossroads, chances are we are being faithful to what Ignatius and the Church have always asked of us.

01/17/08 While the homily of Cardinal Rode was insightful and commendable he and some others may be partly misunderstanding the role that the Lord has for the Society of Jesus. It is placed first and foremost at the cross with Jesus to announce the Good News that we are saved and live in the the hope of the resurrection in that Jesus (incarnate, making God the Father's love visible in the Spirit) is love and life in all things now and forever. As far as I am concerned the Society is called to serve Christ Jesus in obedience to Christ Jesus by being obedient to the Holy Father and the Hierarchical Church. Part of this service will be to call the Holy Father and the Hierarchical Church to be obedient to Christ and his Spirit in carrying out the mission of the Father in union with Christ Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit. This is why it is important that the Hierachical Church too needs to be humble and obedient and to discern with the Society of Jesus what is the will of the Father. All are part of the Church, the People of God. All are part of the hierarchical church.

Thank you for the coverage of GC35.. With the Society of Jesus and many others we pray the Spirit to fill all in the Society of Jesus especially those at GC35 with the wisdom and power of the Holy Spirit.

01/17/08 Carissima Societas Jesu,

Fac ut Magisterio oboedias. Taedium experimentorum illicitorum spectantium ad doctrinam, disciplinam, liturgiam,... fideles capit. Quamquam alia instituta religiosa recentia florent, tantum una Societas Jesu est! "Finis hujus Societatis est, non solum saluti et perfectioni propriarum animarum cum divina gratia vacare, sed cum eadem impense in salutem et perfectionem proximorum incumbere. (Exam.cap.1 § 2)", dixit R.P. Alphonsus RODRIGUEZ quoque. Te ergo implorare velim ut vera Societas Jesu maneat!
Te reverens,
ANONYMUS (VL)

01/15/08 Muchas Gracias to Don Doll, S.J.,and all the good folks at Creighton for making all the technology work for us. The slide show of the opening Mass is spectacular.

Peace,

Rick Malloy, S.J.
Sociology Dept. Saint Joseph’s University
Philadelphia PA
http://jesuitjottings.blogspot.com

01/11/08 I was interested in the opening homily by Cardinal Rode and his expression of “sadness and anxiety“ over “thinking with the church”. I hope very much that “The Church” will be distinguished from “The hierarchy” by members of C35. I was educated by the Jesuits in the UK at Stonyhurst and Heythrop College. My education provided the basis of a life long relationship with God and inspired me to work first with the Homeless in London and to then teach Religious Education and Philosophy in UK state schools. I have now founded my own company specialising in training teachers to develop independent thinking skills in their students. My passion for the development of independent thought can be directly traced back to my Jesuit education (something that often surprises my secular colleagues). For me the Jesuits stand for an uncompromising, honest and intellectually confident search for the truth. I would be sad and anxious if this were not fully appreciated by the wider church.

01/11/08 Dear friends,

I'm a Jesuit and I'd like to share also some ideas about Cardinal Rodé's homily.

Cardinal Rodé's homily has some powerful insights.
The more important is, I believe, an (implicit?) invitation to the Society of Jesus to be more humble. I accept this invitation. We really have to be humble. And you know what? I think this is perhaps our cross: humbly accept that we are not humble and really try to change this, starting in our formation centers.

Nevertheless, Cardinal Rodé's homily shows that he still has a vision of the ancient Christianity. He believes we are still living in a Christian society and we are not. We are not to impose our understanding of the reality, but we are to propose it. In this sense I think our way and our dialogue with culture has been great.

Last but not least, with all respect, I think Cardinal Rodé takes a wrong step in interpreting St Ignatius words. He says:

With sadness and anxiety I also see a growing distancing from the Hierarchy.

... In the Constitutions which he left you, Ignatius wanted to truly shape your mind and in the book of the Exercises (n 353) he wrote "we must always keep our mind prepared and quick to obey the true Spouse of Christ and our Holy Mother, theHierarchical Church".

But we have to be careful: Hierarchy of the Church and Hierarchical Church are two different things. For Ignatius, the entire church (which is hierarchical) is our Mother, not the hierarchy of the church. It is not the bishops and priests who are the Spouse of Christ, but the Church (which includes them, of course). Here the sensus fidelium takes an essential role. With this insight I only want to underline our prophetic mission within the Church. A real religious obedience should include a mature and constructive critical attitude.

01/11/08 Dear friends. I'm an Italian Jesuit working in Brussels. I'd like to share with you some opinions on Card. Rodé's homily. I think his words aren't his only. They come also from Pope Benedict and show his opinion on the Society. We have two task to strengthen:

1st: more obedience to the Holy Father's pastoral indications ( pro life, bio ethics, anthropological questions,...)

2nd: more obedience in teaching Theology, Philosophy, Holy Scripture, relations between Faith, culture and science.

I think all of us have these matter to reflect upon.

Fr. Carlo Sorbi, S.J.

01/04/08 A Jesuit superior general is, in essence, the servant of the Society and its visions. Whoever that may be let us pray that the Congregation in Rome, in communion with the members of the Society and the Body of Christ in the rest of the world, be granted the spiritual freedom to listen to God's voice and the courage to follow it. Both the ups and downs in this turbulent world are blessings calling us to grow into the mystery of God. Love and peace be with you all.

01/03/08 Dear Society of Jesus Citizens:
Re: On the selection modus operendi of a New Father General [Superior General] what a wonderful and most beautiful methodology has the HOLY SPIRIT and St. Ignatius of Loyola given The Society of Jesus in electing their Leader in Rome!!

Thank You!
Yours in Christ,
Peter Throumoulos
Maine,

Editor's Note: Note this summary of Decree 14 of the last General Congregation, G.C. 34:
Jesuits and the Situation of Women in Church and Civil Society

12/13/07 I am mindful of the shift of leadership in any society is filled with hope and responsibility. Since a great part of the work of the Society of Jesus is in justice, I would hope that one point of justice to consider is the lack of voice and opportunity for women in the church and governance in particular. With well over half the church as women, it is impossible to imagine a modern educated group of men would not at least consider the political and social treatment of women within the church. Until the men of the church appreciate the gifts of women and offer room to share them, it is difficult to see how Christ is modeled in many current Catholic groups. Wouldn't it be a wonderful world if women experienced justice in the church before experiencing it in society. It unfortunately is often just the opposite. The church needs good faithfilled men to open the way. Thank you for your consideration. I will pray for you and all your global concerns. Anonymous

It is so helpful to read about the upcoming Congregation. It is exciting to wonder who the new General will be. He will have large shoes to fill. The Congregation will be in my prayer every day. - Anonymous

12/11/07 I am curious to hear what Jesuits think about ways the Society can contribute to a solution for the enormous problems that are facing the ecology of our world. - M., Colorado Springs, CO