Fidelity In Chastity

Today "men and women experience their sexuality as a gift which enables them to express intimate love and commitment." There remain, however, questions and doubts "about the meaning and value of priestly or religious chastity." 

Though challenges exist, the Jesuits of GC 34 remain convinced that "fidelity in chastity characterizes the life of the Society today" as it did so in the past by God's goodness. 

For Ignatius, members of the Society are "rooted in a fundamental detachment and a determination to serve God totally" made possible by a deeply personal love for Christ.

Jesuits are called to "embody in his life that singleness of vision and readiness for mission which is the Ignatian understanding of the angels." 

Jesuits are called to this gift of God to a discipleship and renunciation in freedom for the universal charity of God towards all men and women. Consecration to God through chastity witnesses to Christ's comprehensive engagement of human beings. It is a prophetic reminder of our eternal life with God. 

Chastity is, therefore, essentially apostolic. Chastity reinforces the value of marriage. "Both point to a love and fidelity deeper than sexual expression and of which Christian marriage and religious chastity are divergent and sacred realizations." 

Human love freely offered to all is a powerful sign leading others to God. Thus, the Jesuit lives in radical apostolic availability. The vow of chastity "arises from and is based upon a conscious and free decision under grace." 

For the Jesuit, this "vow entails the obligation of complete continence in celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom of heaven." 

The loss of conjugal intimacy, denying himself a family and affective bonding are painful choices for the Jesuit. Other joys are possible but cannot remove all of the void. He lives in a solitude that can be both desert and cross. The poverty that flows from the vow of chastity completes and fulfills his life but it comes at a great cost. 

Link (here) to read the full text on Ignatian chastity from the decrees of the GC34

A Look Back To The 34 General Congregation, Via Time Magazine

Monday, Sep. 12, 1983
Looking for a New General
By Janice Castro.
With John Paul's blessing, the Jesuits meet to elect a leader
Pope John Paul II has traveled tens of thousands of miles to interpret and preach the Gospel to the world's 784 million Roman Catholics. But the short trip he took last Friday morning, to an imposing gray stone building just one block from St. Peter's Square, rivaled many longer journeys in historic significance: for the first time in nearly 450 years, a Pope was paying an official visit to the headquarters of the Society of Jesus, the most powerful and prestigious of Catholic religious orders for men.

By celebrating a Mass to open the Jesuits' 33rd general congregation, which is meeting to elect a new superior general, John Paul was also making a conciliatory gesture to a spiritual organization, some of whose 26,000 members have been at odds with him on the proper role of the church, and the Jesuit order, in contemporary society.

The Pope underscored these differences in his homily, quoting St. Paul: "I urge you to lead a life worthy of your vocation." The gathering in Rome last week of 220 delegates from Jesuit provinces around the world may bring to an end two years of uncertainty over the order's future. The underlying question: What kind of political role may Jesuits play while fighting for social justice? The issue was raised, indirectly, in 1981 when the Pope overruled the wishes of the Jesuits' ailing superior general, Father Pedro Arrupe, now 75, who had designated Father Vincent O'Keefe, 63, a former president of Fordham University, as his successor until elections could be held. Instead, John Paul appointed Father Paolo Dezza, now 81, a philosopher and former rector of Rome's Gregorian University, known for his traditional views on theological and social issues.

That unprecedented intervention in the affairs of the society drew hundreds of letters of protest from Jesuits. It also made unmistakably clear the Pope's unhappiness with certain trends within the order.

Addressing delegates to the congregation, John Paul last week reminded them of the need "to promote the justice, connected with world peace, which is an aspiration of all peoples. But this action must be exercised in conformity with your vocation as religious and priests, without confusing the tasks proper to priests with those that are proper to lay people." Previously, the Pope had expressed his displeasure with some Jesuits who have openly challenged church teaching on such issues as birth control, the ordination of women and the celibacy of priests. Under Arrupe, a charismatic Basque priest who was elected in 1965 as the 27th successor to the society's 16th century founder, St. Ignatius of Loyola, Jesuits often took a direct role in politics. In 1967, for example, Father Arrupe told American Jesuits that they could not remove themselves from the civil rights struggles then being waged.

When Jesuit Activist Daniel Berrigan was in prison for his 1968 attempt to destroy U.S. Army draft records, Arrupe visited him, thereby giving tacit approval to Berrigan's civil disobedience.

Jesuit Father Robert Drinan served as Congressman for the Fourth District in Massachusetts until the Pope forbade him to seek re-election in 1980. Jesuits have been most active politically in Central and South America. Two priests of the order hold minor posts in Nicaragua's Sandinista government. Others have been deeply involved in revolutionary movements in El Salvador, Guatemala, Brazil and elsewhere. During his 1980 visit to Brazil, the Pope applauded priests for defending the rights of the oppressed but warned them explicitly against seeking or holding political office. To some extent, the forces that brought some Jesuits into conflict with the Pope are linked to broader changes overtaking the church.

Jesuit membership in most Western industrialized nations is falling, and the
ranks have been reduced worldwide from 36,000 in 1965 to 26,000 today.

But the society is still growing in such Third World countries as India and Zaire. India, for example, now has more Jesuits (3,200) than any other nation except the U.S. (5,500), where the order's primary concern is education (it operates 28 colleges and universities and 47 high schools). Like the Pope, the Jesuit general serves for life. Arrupe, who suffered a massive stroke in 1981, is the first head of the order to step down. When the delegates closet themselves this week for several days of meditation before casting their votes, their first act will be to accept Arrupe's resignation. The society's time-honored electoral rules are strict; no delegate may advocate the candidacy of another, let alone propose himself. If there is a leading candidate, it may be Dezza's Pope-appointed deputy, Father Giuseppe Pittau, 54, an Italian scholar with a Ph.D. in political science from Harvard. He is respected by his colleagues and trusted by the Vatican, although he has generally progressive views on social activism. Still, the delegates might select a priest virtually unknown outside the ranks of the order. A once obscure Cardinal from Cracow might understand that choice best. —By Janice Castro. Reported by Walter Galling/Rome
With reporting by Walter Galling

Link (here)

A Synopsis Of G.C. 34

Chastity in the Society of Jesus
A Summary of Decree 8, from the 34th General Congregation of the Jesuits

This is just a small portion of the summary, I think it gives you an idea of the Jesuitspeak that will be at G.c.35

What follows is a summary of Decree 8, one of 26 Decrees dealing with the Mission of the Society Jesus today issued by the 34th General Congregation [GC34] of the Society of Jesus. The congregation met in Rome in the first three months of 1995. Its work affects the immediate future of Jesuits worldwide. Introduction Today "men and women experience their sexuality as a gift which enables them to express intimate love and commitment." There remain, however, questions and doubts "about the meaning and value of priestly or religious chastity." Though challenges exist, the Jesuits of GC 34 remain convinced that "fidelity in chastity characterizes the life of the Society today" as it did so in the past by God's goodness.

.
The Call to Chastity

For Ignatius, members of the Society are "rooted in a fundamental detachment and a determination to serve God totally" made possible by a deeply personal love for Christ. Jesuits are called to "embody in his life that singleness of vision and readiness for mission which is the Ignatian understanding of the angels." Jesuits are called to this gift of God to a discipleship and renunciation in freedom for the universal charity of God towards all men and women.

.
The Apostolic Character of Chastity

Consecration to God through chastity witnesses to Christ's comprehensive engagement of human beings. It is a prophetic reminder of our eternal life with God. Chastity is, therefore, essentially apostolic. Chastity reinforces the value of marriage. "Both point to a love and fidelity deeper than sexual expression and of which Christian marriage and religious chastity are divergent and sacred realizations." Human love freely offered to all is a powerful sign leading others to God. Thus, the Jesuit lives in radical apostolic availability.

.
The Matter and Meaning of the Vow of Chastity

The vow of chastity "arises from and is based upon a conscious and free decision under grace." For the Jesuit, this "vow entails the obligation of complete continence in celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom of heaven."

.
The Cost of This Discipleship

The loss of conjugal intimacy, denying himself a family and affective bonding are painful choices for the Jesuit. Other joys are possible but cannot remove all of the void. He lives in a solitude that can be both desert and cross. The poverty that flows from the vow of chastity completes and fulfills his life but it comes at a great cost.

.
Normative Principles and Guidelines:
1. Familiarity with God and friendship with Christ grow with a life of prayer.
Guidelines: Jesuits should "seek the conscious presence of the Lord" private prayer as well as community prayer, through the Eucharist, the sacrament of reconciliation, an annual commitment to the Spiritual Exercises and a devotion to the Blessed Virgin.
2. Community life supports a life lived in the denial of wife and children. Thus, apostolic chastity cannot be lived in a life withdrawn from others.
Guidelines: "Our houses are to be communities where the life of prayer and the interchange with one another of religious values habitually characterize daily life." Communities ought to be hospitable while at the same time observing a certain privacy.
3. The life of ministry strengthens our attachment to the Lord. This attachment is the source of chastity. Chastity is our way of relating to others.
Guidelines: The manner of proceeding of a Jesuit "ought to preclude any ambiguity about their lives, enabling those to whom they minister to rely instinctively upon their disinterestedness and fidelity." It is important that those in ministries such as spiritual direction, counseling or therapy keep appropriate professional boundaries. Cultural differences require sensitivity on the part of Jesuits.
4. "Discernment and self-discipline are imperative for fidelity in chastity."
Guidelines: Religious discretion entails the practice of the examination of conscience, mortification, and custody of the senses. Any failure in fidelity to the vow can afflict others cruelly.
5. Spiritual maturation goes along with affective maturation. This latter "means the development and the integration of all the forces and emotions of the human personality."
Guidelines: The individual Jesuit is responsible for his own human growth. He should not attempt to isolate himself from life's challenges and crises. He must give his feelings and creativity appropriate expression and develop an educated sensibility for the humane achievements of life. He must avoid a lifestyle that puts him under excessive affective stress or necessitates his suppressing his own feelings, thus leading to some kind of psychic disturbance. Friendships can "support a life of dedicated chastity" and "deepen the affective relationship with God." Spiritual direction is essential. Superiors "can further in their communities an atmosphere of understanding and of friendship."
6. The Account of Conscience and Spiritual Direction are critical.
Guidelines: There should be mutual confidence and openness between Jesuits and superiors. Spiritual directors must be appropriately trained. Jesuits will be "as effective in helping others to lead a chaste life" as the Jesuit is faithful in his integrity and awareness of his own innermost self. "Chastity is a shared responsibility of all Jesuits to safeguard seriously and to further through their mutual fraternal support and friendships as well as through the aid they offer superiors in their care for their companions and for the Society."
7. The admission of candidates into the Society as well as their possible dismissal depend on a realistic examination of a person's charism and character for a life demanding celibate chastity. The ability of superiors to carry out their responsibilities depends on the openness of both candidates and fellow Jesuits.

Guidelines: Superiors should try to probe issues of emotional strain and inner distress of candidates. Anyone not able to live the vow of chastity with integrity should leave the Society. Those who repeatedly violate chastity should leave. Superiors should challenge those involved in inappropriate relationships.

Recommendation to Father General "Establish a commission of experts who can examine thoroughly the issues attendant on the fidelity and credibility of chastity in the Society and on a sound affective formation of young Jesuits and those already formed."

Link to the full synopsis (here)

More on chastity: (here) , (here) and (here)

Jesuits on chastity: (here) , (here) and (here)

Chastity is a gift: (here) , (here) and (here)

Some Jesuits and their problems with chastity: (here) , (here) , (here) , (here) and (here)