Jesuit says, "In Regards To Sexual Morality... Sadly, We Are Causing Much Dissension"

From Jesuit bloggers Under A Chindolea their post is entitled (There is a powerful discussion taking place in the comments section) GC35 Decree 1. Jesuits Markel & Mason take the "Jesuit road less traveled" they offer a compelling and thoughtful insight into the Ignatian world.
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An excerpt.

First, have we as Jesuits kept the service of the poor as a priority. In a society and Church even that has not done so, and that has continued to serve the comfortable, have we remained with Christ's favorites in voluntary poverty, living with them and working to remove the structures of sin that dominate them.

Second, do the Spiritual Exercises continue to influence all the ministry that we do with their emphasis on a personal love of Jesus Christ.

Third, do we serve the most diverse, the outcasts, as Jesus did, giving them good spiritual and human formation. Three goes closely with four, since how we offer formation to the most diverse is important. And so,

Fourth, in regards to sexual morality, marriage and the family, are we working with the Magisterium or causing confusion and dissension.

Sadly, we are causing much dissension, which means we are often not offering good spiritual and human formation. The hot example of course is in regards to homosexuality. I know many Jesuits who will go to the gay pride parade this year in San Francisco, as they have gone to many around the country. No little confusion is caused by such actions, actions that betray that these Jesuits have not read and taken to heart the humble and prudent decrees written by the Fathers at GC 35.

Pastoral care in this regard is difficult, and there is much research and study that must be done. However, GC 35 is clear that this cannot be done in a way to cause confusion within the Church. As I quoted from the beginning of this decree, its purpose is "to provide guidance that will enhance and increase the spiritual and evangelical quality of our way of being and proceeding." Let us take up this decree and obey it.

A Portion Of The Decrees Of GC35

A Fire That Kindles Other Fires

Rediscovering our Charism

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Many Sparks, One Fire: Many Stories, One History

3. We Jesuits, then find our identity not alone but in companionship: in companionship with the Lord, who calls, and in companionship with others who share his call. Its root is to be found in Saint Ignatius's experience at La Sorta. There "placed" with God's Son and called to serve him as he carries his cross, Ignatius and the first companions respond by offering themselves for the service of faith to the Pope, Christ's Vicar on Earth. The Son, the one image of God, Christ Jesus, unites them and sends them out to the whole world. He is the image at the very heart of Jesuit existence today; and it is his image that we wish to communicate to these the best we can.

Link to the full text of the Decrees (here)

A Portion Of The GC35 Decrees

III. The response of the Society to the call of the Holy Father

12. To be authentically "contemplatives in action" seeking and finding God in all things, we must continually return to the spiritual experience of the Spiritual Exercises. Aware that they are "a gift which the Spirit of the Lord has made to the entire Church," we should, as we are called by the Holy Father, "focus special attention on that ministry of the Spiritual Exercises."

Link to the full set of decrees (here)

A Portion Of The GC35 Decree

Entitled "With Renewed Vigor and Zeal"

Decree 1

A spiritual experience of consolation in the Lord.

Section 3

Our effort to be completely honest with ourselves and with the Lord

included much of the dynamic first week of the Spiritual Exercises:

it helped us to discover and recognize our weaknesses and inconsistencies

but also the depth of our desire to serve.

This required that we reexamine our attitudes and our way of living.

Link to the full text of the GC35 decrees (here)

The Service Of Authority And Obedience

by Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and for Societies of Apostolic Life
Faciem tuam, Domine, requiram
Instruction
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
1. Consecrated Life as a witness of the search for God 2. A path of liberation3. Addressees, intent and limitations of the document
FIRST PART
Consecration and search for the will of God
4. Whom are we seeking?
5. Obedience as listening
6. “Hear, O Israel !” (Dt 6:4)
7. Obedience to the Word of God
8. In the following of Jesus, the obedient Son of the Father
9. Obedient to God through human mediation
10. Learning obedience in the day-to-day
11. In the light and in strength of the Spirit
12. Authority at the service of obedience to the Will of God
13. Some priorities in the service of authority
a) In consecrated life authority is first of all a spiritual authority
b) Persons in authority are called to guarantee to the community the time for and the quality of prayer
c) Persons in authority are called to promote the dignity of the person
d) Persons in authority are called to inspire courage and hope in the midst of difficulties
e) Persons in authority are called to keep the charism of their own religious family alive
f) Persons in authority are called to keep alive the “sentire cum ecclesia”
g) Persons in authority are called to accompany the journey of ongoing formation
14. The service of authority in the light of ecclesial norms
15. In mission with the freedom of the children of God
SECOND PART
Authority and obedience in community life
16. The New Commandment
17. Persons in authority at the service of the community, the community at the service of the Reign of God
18. Docile to the Spirit who leads to unity 19. For a spirituality of communion and a communitarian holiness
20. The role of persons in authority for the growth of the community
a) The service of listening
b) Creation of an atmosphere favorable to dialogue, sharing and co-responsibility
c) Soliciting the contribution of all for the concerns of all
d) At the service of the individual and of the community
e) Community discernment
f) Discernment, authority and obedience
g) Fraternal obedience
21. “The first among you must be your slave” (Mt 20:27)
22. Community Life as mission
THIRD PART
In mission
23. In mission with all one's being, as Jesus the Lord
24. In mission for service
25. Authority and mission
a) Persons in authority encourage the taking up of responsibilities and respect them when taken up
b) Persons in authority invite us to confront diversity in a spirit of communion
c) Persons in authority maintain a balance between the various dimensions of consecrated life
d) Persons in authority have a merciful hearte) Persons in authority have a sense of justice
f) Persons in authority promote collaboration with the laity
26. Difficult obedience
27. Obedience and objections of conscience
28. Difficult kinds of authority
29. Obedient until the end
30. Prayer for persons in authority
31. Prayer to Mary

Missouri Province Jesuits Wants To Open More Schools

Jesuits speculate on changes to local mission

It is too early to know what if any changes may be wrought in the Jesuit mission in the St. Louis Archdiocese as a result of the directions set by the General Congregation. However, congregation participants Fathers Timothy M. McMahon and Douglas Marcouiller in a recent interview suggested that because much of the Jesuits’ ministry here is teaching, any changes would likely occur in that arena.

Father McMahon said that as provincial, “rather than see a change, what I see is the General Congregation reaffirming and enhancing the mission in a way we’ve been doing for the past several years.”

The Jesuits reaffirmed their commitment to work in service of a faith that promotes justice, be in dialogue with people of other faiths, attempt to evangelize the culture, show a preferential option for the poor and grow in respect for Creation and the sense of fragility of the environment,

Father Marcouiller said. The General Congregation “has given us an impetus to continue to expand that kind of education in our works, which is education in the faith,” Father McMahon said. More schools serving the underprivileged be a part of “the wave of the future for us in the Missouri Province,” he said. He can envision the Society one day expanding its current education sites in St. Louis, such as opening a high school to serve immigrants, refugees and the poor in the archdiocese and building upon the success at Loyola Academy, which serves at-risk young men sixth through eighth grade in St. Louis City.

These types of schools “reach out to other people we have not been able to reach, or as the pope says, who other people can’t reach,” Father McMahon said. He also can see ongoing support continue for the Jesuits’ traditional high schools and universities “so people can be formed who are leaders for our Church.”

The Jesuits of the Missouri Province “have opened two new high schools and a middle school in the last 10 years serving people who are not traditionally served in our works. None of those could have happened without lay Catholics and alumni who do this because of what they learned at Jesuit high schools and universities of being men and women for others.” Said Father McMahon,

“What was clear to us at the congregation is the mission hasn’t changed; we’ve defined that well in (previous congregations) where we are working in service of faith in the promotion of justice, evangelizing our culture. But what has changed in many ways is the context. The forces of globalization throughout the world changed the context in which we do that mission. And so even here in St. Louis we may not think we’re affected by that, but we are.”

By Jean M. Schildz

Link to the St. Louis Review (here)

Provincial On The GC35

Embracing our charism and serving the Church

Father Thomas J. Regan, SJ

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An excerpt.

One of the true highlights of the congregation occurred on Feb. 21 when Pope Benedict XVI received all the delegates in a private audience at the Vatican. The audience was held in the “Sala Clementina,” a room in which popes have received guests since 1595! The meeting was extremely warm and cordial.

In his allocution, the Holy Father invited us to “build bridges of understanding and dialogue” and to set out once again in the tracks of our Jesuit predecessors. He specifically mentioned the great missionaries Matteo Ricci and Robert de Nobili, and urged us to draw upon not only their same courage and intelligence, but also and equally their profound motivation of faith and enthusiasm to serve the Lord and his Church.

In response to his letter and allocution, the congregation wrote to the Holy Father to thank him for his expressions of affection and support and to answer the issues that he raised. To mark both the beginning and the closing of the general congregation, the delegates gathered for a concelebrated Mass at the Gesù, the mother church of the society in Rome which contains the tombs of St. Ignatius, Father Pedro Arrupe and a number of other Jesuit saints and blesseds. At the final liturgy the members recited a grateful “Te Deum” in thanksgiving for the many rich blessings that the Lord has granted to the society throughout its history. We departed Rome praying that Jesuits throughout the world may respond both faithfully and generously to the congregation’s call to renew our charism and be authentically “contemplatives in action,” seeking to find God in all things!

Father Thomas J. Regan, SJ, is provincial of the New England Province of Jesuits.

Link to the full article in the Pilot (here)

It Is Over, GC 35 Ends With Decree Of Unity With The Holy Father

Jesuits end meeting by approving decrees, confirming fidelity to pope

By Cindy Wooden

ROME (CNS) -- The Jesuit General Congregation concluded two months of work by approving five decrees, including one on obedience, and a separate document reaffirming the Jesuits' allegiance to the pope and fidelity to church teaching. The 225 Jesuits elected to represent their almost 20,000 confreres around the world marked the end of their meeting with a March 6 Mass of thanksgiving in Rome's Church of the Gesu, site of the tomb of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the Jesuit founder. Meeting reporters March 7, Father Adolfo Nicolas, who was elected superior general of the Jesuits in January, called the meeting an experience of

"the union of hearts, the union of the society" and of its "union with its head, who is the Holy Father."

The congregation approved formal decrees focused on the Jesuit mission in the modern world; Jesuit identity; collaboration with those outside the Jesuits; internal governance; and obedience, to one's superior as well as to the pope. The decrees will be translated and distributed to Jesuits before they are released publicly. In addition to the five decrees, the congregation approved a formal declaration titled "With New Fervor and Dynamism, the Society of Jesus Responds to the Call of Benedict XVI."

In a January letter, Pope Benedict asked the Society of Jesus "to affirm its fidelity to the magisterium and the Holy See,"

Father Nicolas said. The new superior said the delegates approached the question "with interest and enthusiasm and also with joy." "The Society of Jesus was born within the church, we live in the church, we were approved by the church and we serve the church. This is our vocation," he said.

Unity with the pope "is the symbol of our union with Christ. It also is the guarantee that our mission will not be a 'small mission,' a project just of the Jesuits, but that our mission is the mission of the church,"

Father Nicolas said. Promising fidelity to and union with the pope is not and never was seen as a limitation for the Jesuits, he said. "This tradition of obedience ... has never stopped us, not in theological research, not in apostolic creativity, not in proposing new ways to live the Christian faith," he said. The superior general said, "A serious, enthusiastic and joyful obedience to the Holy Father does not reduce in any way the ability of the society to reflect, to create, to continue moving forward in a dynamic service to the church."

However, he said, being called to look again at the traditional relationship of unity with the pope "was a good occasion for becoming aware that we need a bit of humility, something for which the Jesuits are not famous." "We need the humility of knowing that we are not God,"

and that listening to others and being challenged by them is a source of spiritual and intellectual growth, even when the challenge is posed by the Vatican's doctrinal congregation in the face of a Jesuit theologian's work. Questioning and challenging "is creative for us and for the church," Father Nicolas said, which is why the congregation members approved the document urging all Jesuits "to take up again our tradition of fidelity to and affection for the Holy Father and the Holy See."

Father Carlo Casalone, the Jesuit superior for Italy, told reporters that the congregation members insisted that "obedience is not conformity, but a shared search for the will of God."

It is not a denial or sacrifice of freedom, but a willingness to use one's freedom to respond to the call of the order and of the church, "a freedom for commitment, to make ties, not break them," he said. The first Jesuits saw themselves as modern apostles, and since the apostles were sent on a mission by Christ, modern apostles must be sent by the vicar of Christ, the pope, he said. Father Nicolas said the creativity needed to minister effectively in the modern world and particularly on "the frontiers" of dialogue with science, cultures and other religions -- areas Pope Benedict asked the Jesuits to focus on -- obviously carries the risks of being misunderstood or of straying too far from tradition. But

"the only way to respond to reality today is creatively. It's the only way. I am afraid when I find a young Jesuit, or someone who comes to consult with me, with a reduced, narrow frame of mind," he said. "This person is not able to grow. To grow we need to go beyond the framework we have intellectually, spiritually and humanly."

The new superior said, "I encourage young Jesuits to study in a way that is creative, opens horizons, helps them see other points of view, other frameworks." The congregation, he said, affirmed the importance of Jesuit work in the field of education, especially in Asia and other places where the majority of people are not Christian. The Jesuit focus on the education of their members and of others is not so they become great scholars, he said, but so they can "build bridges between our lives, our faith, the Christian tradition and other cultures, traditions and religions that have a depth and experience to share."

Link (here)

Australian Provicial Promoted To President Of East Asia And Oceania

Regional role for Fr Mark Raper

05-Mar-2008

Dear Friends,
In these closing days of General Congregation 35, as drafts, documents and decisions are being finalised, it is only to be expected that Fr General Nicolás might hand down an appointment which affects us closer to home.

Fr General has appointed the Australian Provincial Fr Mark Raper to succeed him as President of the Jesuit Conference of East Asia and Oceania, based in Manila.

The Province offers Mark our sincere congratulations as he takes on this significant role for our region. The timing of this announcement comes at an interesting stage as the Australian Province has begun initial proceedings in the search for the Provincial to succeed Mark later in the year. Mark will be returning to Australia at Easter, and will then be able to give a better indication of the timing for relinquishing his present position and taking up residence in Manila. I would like to quote from Mark's notes which he passed on to the Provincial Office earlier in the week.

This new mission corresponds to our vision of the mission of the Australian Province. We have already made significant personnel commitments in Asia. All the provinces and regions which form part of Conference of East Asia and Oceania, especially the newly established regions, understand that they are part of a larger community. We need one another's support in order to achieve our common mission. Consequently across Asia many Jesuits now live and work beyond their national and province boundaries.

The conference has many common projects which need to be consolidated for the medium and long term, such as the new programs in Burma and East Timor, and the growing activities in China and Vietnam. ‘Moreover, the Society in Asia has much to offer other parts of the world. If we work together well, quite a lot of people can be considerably helped. The openness demonstrated in our Province by Jesuit and lay members to collaboration with one another across our ministries, and increasingly across Asia and the Pacific, gives me greater confidence in undertaking this new mission.' The Congregation is in its final days-significant direction will be given to the Society in its ministries into the future. We thank Mark Raper and Geoff King for their full contribution to proceedings in Rome and wish our Provincial well for the remainder of this momentous year for him.

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By Acting Provincial Father Michael Ryan SJ

Confronting Criticism With Regards To Jesuit Obedience

On Obedience: Approval of the Second Decree
March 3, 2008
On the afternoon of 3 March, the General Congregation has approved its second decree, about obedience. While recent general congregations have touched on themes related to obedience, the last time a general congregation issued a decree on the topic was GC 31 in 1966. Vatican II had just ended, and we had just begun to respond to the council’s call to renew our Jesuit life from two sources: scripture and the charism of our founder. That renewal has matured, so the decree on obedience of GC 35 begins with a reflection on what the experience of the First Companions and the scriptures’ portrayal of Jesus teach us about Jesuit obedience. The decree then moves to the contemporary scene. At the time of GC 31, many were asking how we can ensure that structures which sustain the body of the Society not stifle individual creativity. The terrain has shifted in forty years. Now many are asking how we can ensure that individual efforts are integrated into the mission of the body. The decree suggests that both the account of conscience and renewed structures of community life are essential to achieving balance in that regard. Anyone who looks at the history of the Society will see that we have always understood our role of service in the Church in relation to the papacy. Therefore, the decree goes on to offer some reflections on living our relationship of obedience to the papacy today, especially with regard to our mission in the broadest sense. Before work on the decree began, discussion groups of delegates surfaced some areas of our life of obedience in the Society where they felt a word of advice or reminder was needed. In response, the decree ends with some reflections on obedience in our day to day life directed to Jesuits in formation, formed Jesuits, and superiors.

Fr Tom Feely SJ

Link (here)

Diogenes On Jesuit Translations

lost in translation
Posted by: Diogenes - Today 2:32 PM ET USA
Pope Benedict delivered a stern, no-nonsense message to Jesuit leaders on February 21. The CWN coverage of the Pope's talk was not terribly different from the accounts carried here and here and even here. If you read Italian, or if the Vatican eventually posts a translation, you can find the full text here, and judge for yourself. The Holy Father's intention was unmistakable. Leaders of the Society of Jesus have done their best to downplay the tension between the Jesuit order and the Vatican.

The new superior general suggested that the perception of a rift between the Jesuits and the Pope is a myth created by the mass media. Pope Benedict was fairly blunt in acknowledging that the problem is real.

You might think that when the Pope chooses to send a strong message, the Vatican press office would be careful to convey that message. But curiously, if you read the official summary and excerpts provided by the Vatican Information Service, the severity of the Pope's message doesn't come through to English-language readers.
Make of it what you will.

Link (here)

These Are Your Orders

Remember 4th vow, Pope urges Jesuits
Vatican, Feb. 21, 2008 (CWNews.com) - Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) gave the world's Jesuits a pointed reminder of their oath of fidelity, during a February 21 audience with participants in the 35th general congregation of the Society of Jesus. Meeting with the Jesuit leaders as they concluded their general congregation-- at which they had elected a new superior general, Father Adolfo Nicolas-- the Holy Father stressed that

the Jesuit order today should act "in full fidelity to the original charism."

That original charism, the Pope continued, is marked by devotion and obedience to the Church and the Roman Pontiff; he reminded the Jesuit leaders of

St. Ignatius' demand that his followers should always work "with the Church and in the Church."

Preserving harmony with the Church, Pope Benedict continued, is a particularly important task today, at a time when there is a "confusion of messages" in society on many fundamental issues. He exhorted the Jesuits to seek "that harmony with the magisterium that avoids causing confusion and uncertainty among the People of God."

All members of the Society of Jesus, he said, should "adhere completely to the Word of God as well as to the magisterium’s charge of conserving the truth and unity of Catholic doctrine in its entirety."

"I well understand that this is a particularly delicate and troublesome issue for you and for many of your colleagues," the Pope told the Jesuit officials. Nevertheless he said that

the Jesuit order must tackle the challenge and "regain a fuller understanding of your distinctive 'fourth vow' of obedience to the Successor of Peter."

During their general congregation, the Pontiff noted, the Jesuits had discussed some of the most critical debates of the day, "such as the salvation of all in Christ, sexual morality, and marriage and the family." On these issues, he said, the Church needs the intellectual support of the Jesuit order, to protect Catholic teaching on points that are "increasingly under attack from secular culture." Pope Benedict expressed his confidence that the Jesuit order could become a powerful force for Catholic truth in today's world. The Society of Jesus, he said, is "a religious order which in the course of its 500-year history has been capable of challenging cultural historical adversities to bring the Gospel to all corners of the world."

The Pope encouraged the Jesuits to continue their work among the poor, but cautioned that this work should not be politicized.

He observed that "the option for the poor is not ideological but rather is born of the Gospel." And while fighting against injustice, he added, the Jesuits must remember that it is also necessary "to fight the deep roots of evil in the very heart of the human being, the sin that separates us from God."

Link (here)

General Reporting For Duty

Jesuit Superior's Greeting to Benedict XVI
"What Inspires and Impels Us Is the Gospel and the Spirit of Christ"
ROME, FEB. 21, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the greeting Father Adolfo Nicolás addressed to Benedict XVI on behalf of the members of the order's 35th General Congregation, who were received in audience by the Pope today.The General Congregation has been meeting in Rome since Jan. 7.* * *

Most Holy Father,

I would like my first word to be, in my name and in the name of all present, a heartfelt "thank you" to Your Holiness for kindly receiving today the members of the General Congregation meeting in Rome, after having already bestowed on us the precious gift of a Letter which by way of its rich content and its positive tone, encouraging and affectionate, has most surely been appreciated by the whole Society of Jesus. Gratitude, indeed, and a strong sense of communion in feeling confirmed in our mission to work at the frontiers where faith and science, faith and justice, and faith and knowledge, confront each other, and in the challenging field of serious reflection and responsible theological research. We are grateful to Your Holiness to have been once more encouraged to follow our Ignatian tradition of service right where the Gospel and the Church suffer the greatest challenges, a service which at times also lends itself to the risk of disturbing a peaceful lifestyle, reputation and security. For us it is a cause of great consolation to note that Your Holiness is more than aware of the dangers that such a commitment exposes to us. Holy Father, I would like to return once again to the kind and generous Letter that you sent to my predecessor Fr. Kolvenbach and through him to all of us. We have received it with an open heart, meditated on it, reflected on it, we have exchanged our reflections, and we are determined to carry its message and its unconditional words of welcome and acceptance to the whole Society of Jesus. We wish moreover to convey the spirit of such a message to all our formation structures and to create -- taking the message as our starting point -- opportunities for reflection and discussion which will enable us to assist our confrères engaged in research and in service.Our General Congregation, to which Your Holiness has given Your paternal encouragement, is looking, in prayer and in discernment, for the ways through which the Society can renew its commitment to the service of the Church and of humanity. What inspires and impels us is the Gospel and the Spirit of Christ: if the Lord Jesus was not at the centre of our life we would have no sense of our apostolic activity, we would have no reason for our existence. It is from the Lord Jesus we learn to be near to the poor and suffering, to those who are excluded in this world. The spirituality of the Society of Jesus has as its source the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius. And it is in the light of the Spiritual Exercises -- which in their turn inspired the Constitutions of the Society -- that the General Congregation is in these days tackling the subjects of our identity and of our mission. The Spiritual Exercises, before becoming a precious tool for the apostolate, are for the Jesuit the touchstone by which to judge our own spiritual maturity.In communion with the Church and guided by the Magisterium, we seek to dedicate ourselves to profound service, to discernment, to research. The generosity with which so many Jesuits work for the Kingdom of God, even to giving their very lives for the Church, does not mitigate the sense of responsibility that the Society feels it has in the Church. Responsibility that Your Holiness confirms in Your Letter, when You affirm: "The evangelizing work of the Church therefore relies a lot on the formative responsibility that the Society has in the fields of theology, spirituality and mission." Alongside the sense of responsibility, must go humility, recognizing that the mystery of God and of man is much greater than our capacity for understanding.It saddens us, Holy Father, when the inevitable deficiencies and superficialities of some among us are at times used to dramatize and represent as conflicts and clashes what are often only manifestations of limits and human imperfections, or inevitable tensions of everyday life. But all this does not discourage us, nor quell our passion, not only to serve the Church, but also, with a deeper sense of our roots, according to the spirit of the Ignatian tradition, to love the hierarchical Church and the Holy Father, the Vicar of Christ."En todo amar y servir." This represents a portrait of who Ignatius is. This is the identity card of a true Jesuit.And so we consider it a happy and significant circumstance that our meeting with You occurs on this particular day, the vigil of the Feast of the Chair of St Peter, a day of prayer and of union with the Pope and His highest service of universal teaching authority. For this we offer You our good wishes. And now, Holy Father, we are ready and willing, to listen and attend to what You have to say to us.

Link (here)

A Select Circle Of Jesuit Advisors, But Not The GC35

RP Jesuit official named adviser to worldwide Jesuit head
02/16/2008 08:34 PM
A Philippine Jesuit priest has been named to the select circle of advisers of Father General Adolfo Nicolas, the worldwide head of the Jesuit order. The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines disclosed Saturday night that Fr. Daniel Huang is now Assistant for East Asia and Oceania. Huang will be one of the 10 regional assistants of the top Jesuit. His appointment was announced during the meeting of the general congregation in Rome last Feb. 12. Other advisers include Fr Jean-Roger Ndombi (Afrique Occidentale) for Africa, Fr Marcos Recolons (Bolivie) for Southern Latin America, Fr Gabriel Ign. Rodríguez (Colombie) for Northern Latin America, Fr Lisbert D'souza (Bombay) for South Asia; Fr Adam Zak (Pologne Méridionale) for Central and Eastern Europe, Fr Joaquín Barrero (Castille) for South Europe, Fr Antoine Kerhuel (France) for Western Europe and Fr James Grummer (Wisconsin) for the USA.

The assistants' first responsibility is to give advice to the Jesuit General, "who doesn't run the show by himself." "His work involves a steady dialogue with these ten Jesuits who are in daily contact with what is happening in the part of the world where they come from,"

the CBCP said in a statement. The assistants also contribute with their experience and skills to Jesuit projects that have international dimension as well as to the global orientations of the society. Each one of the ten "assistancies" represents the geographical gathering of Jesuit provinces. Each of them share first and act advisers over the next few years as each of them have broader knowledge of the needs of the society and apostolate in different parts of the world. - GMANews.TV

Delegate Reflects On GC35 Election

Choosing our Jesuit leader
By Rev. Michael Kennedy, SJ
Jerry, a Jesuit from southern India, does not wear shoes because he works with those who belong to no caste, the Dalits who cannot afford shoes. There are over 180 million Dalits in India. He told me that sometimes he has problems in the airport because he is not wearing any shoes. For four days in January, 217 Jesuits gathered in Rome to let the Spirit see on whom guiding light would rest --- one who would lead us into the future with the vision and spirit of Ignatius. What business would put all their top executives together to somehow pick their leader within the space of four days? Yet if the Spirit is working as we believe, then the process we used could never work outside this context. The belief that Someone bigger than any of us was operative, is absolutely necessary to feel. Isaac is from Zambia. He is 44 and is the director of novices from Tanzania. His home was in the mountains. He has nine brothers and sisters. One day, a little like what happened in the war days of El Salvador, his family needed to flee from the military. His dog Whiskey led them out of danger. All of his younger brothers and sisters passed the soldiers nearby in total silence. If they had made any noise they would have been killed like his cousin was. Presently in Isaac´s novitiate are two novices who were boy soldiers. We talked about healing. Anyone who has to experience such violence cruelty, torture and killings needs much deep, deep healing. The process during these last four days was to get a sense of each of those who could serve as superior general for the Society of Jesus. For some reason, I wanted to wait to the last day to speak with Adolfo Nicolas. When I left my time speaking with him, I reflected how much he looks like Oscar Romero, the archbishop who gave his life for the poor in El Salvador. Even though I never had the opportunity to speak with Oscar Romero, I had this sensation after speaking with Adolfo that this is what it would have been like to speak with the archbishop. Adolfo moved my heart by talking about his work and when I walked away from this short time with him, I felt affirmed in my own life's trajectory as a priest working with migrants, refugees and prisoners. His spirit is connected to Jerry who works with the Dalits in India, with Isaac who lives with his own experience of being displaced and having lived in a country torn by civil war, and to the other countless histories of people like them in this Congregation, Jesuits from every continent.

After the election Jan. 19 in which we elected Adolfo Nicolas as our superior general, all the electors went up to give Adolfo an embrace of congratulations. Since I sat in the very back of the room, I was one of the very last to go forward. When I embraced him he looked at me and said, "I look forward to continuing our conversation."

Here was a man who must have spoken with a hundred Jesuits in a few days time and he still remembered what we talked about. I was not just impressed but moved by his presence and words. During lunch in the curia afterwards, Jim Boynton, who is director of vocations for Detroit, said, "This guy will be great for vocation promotion." Here once again this Jesuit of 34 years was talking about a Jesuit of 71 who will be a good promoter for vocations. I think so too. This does not make any logical sense but the Spirit is so much bigger than any of us. We were reflecting during the meal after the elections that the Society is a missionary order.

All three of our last generals have left their own cultures and have served in frontier-like places which have stretched them from their small worlds.

Adolfo, a native of Spain, was ordained a priest in Tokyo in 1967 and has served the Asian people since then, particularly in Japan and in the Philippines. It is hard not to mention many other conversations and experiences that I have had while in Rome. But I will let these remain within me confident that in other ways this spirit of brotherhood, trust, transcendence, and faith that does justice will rise up again and again during these next weeks. We are blessed with this election.

Jesuit Father Michael Kennedy, former pastor of Dolores Mission Church in Boyle Heights and presently pastor of Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Santa Barbara, was one of the voting delegates for the Society of Jesus.

Link (here)

Chain Of Command

Jesuit says congregation trying to decide how to respond to pope

By Cindy Wooden

Catholic News Service

ROME (CNS) -- As the General Congregation of the Society of Jesus discusses and deliberates the order's present and future, one of the big questions faced by the 225 Jesuit delegates is how best to respond to the encouragements and concerns of Pope Benedict XVI. "The warmth and enthusiasm and trust that is coming from Pope Benedict now is inviting a renewed and enthusiastic response from the society," said Jesuit Father David Smolira. The priest, former head of the Jesuits' British province and current director of the Jesuit Institute in Johannesburg, South Africa, met reporters Feb. 1 to explain how the General Congregation was working.

After the delegates elected Father Adolfo Nicolas to be the new Jesuit superior general Jan. 19, they began discussing issues of concern that would impact the more than 19,000 Jesuits worldwide. Included in the discussion, he said, was the need to respond to the letter Pope Benedict sent to the outgoing superior general, Father Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, praising the Jesuits' contributions to evangelization and urging them to reaffirm their fidelity to contested points of church doctrine, particularly regarding sexual morality and relations with other religions.

Father Smolira said the pope's "expression of confidence and trust" in the Jesuits "requires a responsible and enthusiastic response." The congregation delegates "have taken a considerable amount of time to read and reflect among ourselves and to decide how best to respond to that letter," he said.As of Feb. 1 they had not decided whether the response would take the form of a letter to the pope or if it would be included in the decrees issued by the congregation, he said.The decrees, addressed to all the Jesuits, set the agenda for the Society of Jesus and are documents intended to guide the work of the superior general. The pope had asked the Jesuits to reaffirm their "total adhesion to Catholic doctrine, in particular on those neuralgic points which today are strongly attacked by secular culture."

As examples the pope cited the relationship between Christ and religions, some aspects of the theology of liberation, and "various points of sexual morality, especially as regards the indissolubility of marriage and the pastoral care of homosexual persons."

Father Smolira said it is obvious that among Jesuits, as among Catholics at large, there are a diversity of views on "those neuralgic issues," and that challenges Jesuits, particularly theologians, to continue seeking the truth "in a way that is faithful to church teaching." "There are always tensions there and I think we need to find ways to manage that tension appropriately," the priest said.

The Jesuits must "develop and use the intellectual apostolate in the service of the church."

Father Smolira said the first two weeks after Father Nicolas' election were devoted to small-group discussions on four main themes: Jesuit identity and mission; obedience and how it is lived in the modern world; Jesuit structures of governance; and collaboration with others, including laypeople.

END

Link (here)

Cardinal Rode Sent A Very Different Message To The Legion of Christ

Vatican Cardinal to Regnum Christi: Grow!

Aug 15, 2007

If you went to one of two big Catholic conventions this summer, you may have seen a Vatican Cardinal.
(National Catholic Register, 8/14/07)
Cardinal Frank Rodé visited the Youth and Family Encounter event, hosted by the Legionaries of Christ and the Regnum Christi movement. Cardinal Rodé is the Vatican’s point man on consecrated life. That means his visit to the convention of the Regnum Christi apostolic movement was significant. “Your charism is a true gift that the Holy Spirit has given to each one of you personally so that you can serve the Church,” said Cardinal Rodé. “God has given you this gift so that each one of you can reflect his light. That is why the charism is both a gift and a responsibility.” More than 5,000 registered participants attended the three day-long convention. Among the speakers were Legionary Father Owen Kearns (who is publisher and editor in chief of the Register) and Father Alvaro Corcuera, general director of the Legionaries of Christ and the Regnum Christi lay movement of apostolate. Both Father Corcuera and Cardinal Rodé spoke about the charism of the Regnum Christi movement. Father Corcuera identified charity as the heart of the charism, and described how charity in speech was characteristic of that charity. Cardinal Rodé’s speech articulated several aspects of the charism of Regnum Christi and expressed the Vatican’s appreciation of it.
Love for Peter
The cardinal told the audience that a chief feature of the movement’s charism is its love for the successors of Peter — a love which he said is returned.
“I know well how much your founder insisted that Regnum Christi would be devoid of meaning outside of the Church,” he said. “It is like the DNA that identifies you. Wherever a Regnum Christi member is, there is a deep communion with the Vicar of Christ and the mystical body of Christ.”
The Holy Father appreciates that charism, he said.

“I know how much joy this gives me, but above all I know how much joy this gives Pope Benedict XVI. Several days ago the Holy Father received me in audience, and I spoke to him about this encounter. He was very pleased and he was happy to hear about this encounter in Atlanta. The Pope knows he can count on you and your obedience and love. The charity in speech that characterizes you is a priceless witness.”

Apostolic Zeal
Cardinal Rodé also identified apostolic zeal as a center of the Regnum Christi charism.
“It is striking to see how strongly your missionary apostolates are growing: Youth for the Third Millennium, Missionary Family, Helping Hands Medical Missions,” he said.
“I and many others cannot help but marvel at the beautiful spectacle of tens of thousands of missionaries, more each year, who participate in the Holy Week missions. One can see that you feel the need to proclaim the Gospel, and that you are not afraid to make sacrifices to do so.”
Growth
He urged members of Regnum Christi and the Legionaries of Christ to grow to include more members.

“Do not be afraid to grow; rather, be afraid of not growing,” he said. “How much good you will do if you grow! And how much good, sadly, will remain undone if you do not! The Church needs you, and it needs you even stronger and bigger. To be able to carry out your apostolic charism, you must grow.”

He identified growth as another key part of Regnum Christi’s charism.

“To grow in breadth means to grow in numbers, so that through Regnum Christi
there will be more apostles, more apostolates, more initiatives at the service
of the Church and souls,”

said Cardinal Rodé. “This is what the Church and the world need. And, I would say, it is what each one of you needs if you are not going to disappoint God’s plan for your lives.”
In conclusion, he reiterated that Regnum Christi is just one of many exciting new movements in the Church.

“You know very well that Regnum Christi is only one part of God’s great plan
to transform the world at the beginning of this third millennium of Christianity,”

he said. “Just one part, true, but it’s the part that God has put in your hands, and the part for which you are personally responsible.”

American Assistancy

Fr. Cooke, U.S. Delegation Meet Superior General
Canisius President and members of the American Jesuit assistancy in Rome meet Rev. Adolfo Nicolas, S.J.
BUFFALO, NY – Canisius College President Rev. Vincent M. Cooke, S.J., and members of the American Jesuit assistancy in Rome, recently met with the newly-elected superior general of the Society of Jesus, Rev. Adolfo Nicolas, S.J. Father Cooke is one of 34 Jesuits from the United States and 225 delegates from around the world who make up the General Congregation, which elects a new superior general of the Society of Jesus, the largest religious order in the Roman Catholic Church. Father Nichols was elected on January 19 but the General Congregation will remain in session for several more weeks as the whole assembly works on proposals in relation to the governing of the Society. Father Rev. Adolfo Nicolas, S.J., is the former provincial of Japan and president of the Jesuit conference of East Asia and Oceana. He was selected as the 30th superior general of the Jesuits and succeeds Rev. Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, S.J., who resigned on January 14 after 25 years of service. To read more about the 35th Jesuit General Congregation, click here. Canisius College is one of 28 Jesuit colleges in the nation and the premier private college in Western New York. Canisius prepares leaders – intelligent, caring, faithful individuals – able to pursue and promote excellence in their professions, communities and service to humanity.

Link (here)

Jesuit Speaks On The Election Of The Superior General

The new General meets the press.

Just short of a week after his election as Superior General of the Society of Jesus, Father Adolfo Nicolás gave his first official press conference yesterday. The new General touched on a range of topics, from the state of relations between the Vatican and the Jesuit Order to the ways in which the decades he spent in Japan changed his outlook. He also spoke candidly and humorously about the unaccustomed attention he has received from the media since his election:

Father Nicolás said that since his election, he had been reading the newspapers more than usual and has found some of the comments about his election entertaining, some absolutely false and others right on the mark.

He said that a Spanish newspaper had been looking for his report card from a school he attended only one year at the age of 10. "It's terrible, that year I failed two subjects - geography and another that I don't remember," he said.Other newspapers, he said, have tried to imply that there is "a theological distance between me and (Pope) Benedict XVI," when, in fact, Father Nicolás' own theological studies included the then-Father Ratzinger's textbooks, which "were highly interesting and had a newness and an inspiration that all of us recognized.""The distance is a theory in the imagination of those who have written it," the superior general said.He said he had read several articles comparing him to Father Pedro Arrupe, who led the Jesuits [from] 1965-83, and Father Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, his immediate predecessor."However, no one has yet said I'm 10 percent Elvis Presley, although one could say this and it wouldn't surprise me. But I think this is all false," he added.
Father Nicolás also responded directly to concerns regarding Jesuits' obedience to the Pope, a topic that the Holy Father himself has raised in recent days and which many commentators had hoped the new General would address.

"The Society of Jesus wants to cooperate with the Vatican and obey the Holy
Father," the General said. "This has not and will not change. We were
born in this context, and this is the context that will determine our
actions."

Father Nicolás also stated that his immediate priority as leader of the Society is "to listen to what the General Congregation wants, how we will respond to the conversation and challenges the Holy Father addressed to us and which we are taking very seriously in our reflections, how to respond to help the Church, not ourselves."
What specific response will the 35th General Congregation offer to the needs of the Church today and to the Society's own internal challenges?

At this point, it's too soon to say. As a Jesuit, I have no "insider information" to rely upon beyond occasional electronic reports, the content of which differs little from that which is available to the general public. As has been the case with previous General Congregations, the story behind the decrees of GC35 will not really be known until the Congregation concludes and the various delegates return to their home provinces and start to share their impressions and reflections more fully.

I look forward to reading the documents that will be produced by this Congregation, and I look forward to hearing more about the process from the delegates that I know. In the meantime, I'll be praying for the work of GC35, and I hope you'll join me in doing so. AMDG.

.

Link to Jesuit Joe Koczera's blogs entitled, SJ ,The City and the Word (here)
Joe also has a retired blog called Noviciate Notes (here)

Photo credit of Joe at Think Jesuit (here)

The Meeting, The Committee And The Dialogue

New head of Jesuits meets with Pope at Vatican

2008-01-26
ROME (AP) - The new leader of the Jesuits met Saturday with Pope Benedict XVI and told him the religious order would study the pontiff's invitation to confirm their «total» adhesion to Catholic teaching, including on divorce, homosexuality and liberation theology. The Jesuits have had a tense relationship with the Vatican on issues of doctrine and obedience. The Vatican occasionally disciplines Jesuit theologians and issues reminders of the their vows of obedience to the pontiff. The Rev. Adolfo Nicolas, a Spanish missionary and theologian with extensive Asian experience who was elected as superior general Jan. 19, had a «warm and friendly conversation» with the pontiff, the Jesuits said on their Web site. Shortly before Nicolas' predecessor, Dutch priest Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, handed in his resignation for reasons of age, he received a letter from Benedict in which the pope said it could be «extremely useful» if the Jesuits reaffirm «total adhesion to Catholic doctrine.

The pope wrote Kolvenbach that he was particularly concerned about "those neuralgic points which today are strongly attacked by secular culture," according to the text released by the Jesuits. The pope cited "aspects of the theology of liberation, and various points of sexual morality, especially ... the indissolubility of marriage and the pastoral care of homosexual persons", the letter said.

Church teaching forbids divorce. It also says homosexual acts are sinful. In past decades, some of the Jesuits' work with the poor in Latin America left the Vatican worried that some Jesuits were embracing liberation theology and Marxist political movements. Kolvenbach, elected leader in 1983, was widely credited with improving the Jesuits' tense relations with the Vatican.

The Jesuits said Benedict was pleased to hear from Nicolas that Jesuits had formed a committee to study his letter to Kolvenbach.

The meeting was also an opportunity for Nicolas to «reaffirm his personal respect» for the pope «as well as the esteem of the whole Society of Jesus,» as the Jesuit order is formally known. The Vatican announced that Benedict and Nicolas had met in a private audience but gave no details of their talks.

Benedict and Nicolas also discussed Japan, where the Jesuit had served for 33 years. Nicolas has said the West doesn't have a monopoly on meaning and spirituality and that Asia has much to offer the Church.

The pope encouraged the Jesuit leader to continue with dialogue with culture and evangelization and to ensure a thorough formation of young Jesuits, said the religious order, which is one of the largest in the Church. Founded in the 16th century by St. Ignatius Loyola, the Jesuit order has been dedicated to missionary work and education, and runs universities throughout the world.

Link (here)