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Let us remember in our prayers Fr. Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, former Superior General of the Jesuits and Armenian Catholic priest - he has ended his 25 year term as head of the Society of Jesus. May God grant him many years!

Ladies and Jesuits, the General Has Left the Borgo [whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com]

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"And thus, the 24 year, four-month ministry of focused and single-minded care for and stewardship of the universal Society of Jesus by Father Kolvenbach has come to an end."

With those words, the Jesuit Curia announced earlier today that Father-General had officially resigned.

After Peter-Hans Kolvenbach presented his unprecedented resignation to the General Congregation and its 225 delegates voted to accept it, the diplomatic Dutchman returned to thank the body "for the elegant way you have found to fire me."

Statement:

Dear Fathers and Brothers,

Today the General Congregation has thought it well to accept my resignation as General Superior of the Society of Jesus. At the end of these nearly 25 years of service, I want first of all to thank the Lord, who - to use the words of Saint Ignatius - has truly been propitious to me at Rome, in leading a Society He has called into service for his greater glory.

I am also most grateful for the privilege of having met and accompanied so many friends in the Lord, who in their many diverse vocations have always shown themselves to be true servants of the Mission of Christ.

No single Jesuit should feel himself excluded from this profound sentiment of recognition. Nonetheless I would like to thank in a particular way those in the General Curia who have helped me day after day over many years in carrying out my responsibilities for the Society, as well as all the Major Superiors spread throughout the entire world.

Earlier I was able to express my great thanks to the Holy Father for his apostolic orientations which have allowed the Society to continue our mission "under the banner of the cross and under the Vicar of Christ on earth".

Let us be grateful to the Lord that despite a disconcerting diversity of persons and cultures, of desires and works, our union of minds and hearts has never failed, and, despite an increasing fragility, the Society retains the capacity of apostolic dialogue before the challenges of the modern world in proclaiming the one Good News.

On this eve of the election of my successor and of the many decisions that the General Congregation will have to make, I unite myself with the prayer with which Saint Ignatius finished his letters: "May God our Lord in his infinite and supreme goodness be pleased to give us his abundant grace, so that we may know his most holy will and entirely fulfill it."

Addressing the General-emeritus on behalf of the Society, Kolvenbach's top aide for Latin America Fr Valentin Menendez thanked him for showing "an example... very different from what commonly is found in a world characterized by the clinging to, and fighting for, positions of power and prestige.

"Our charism and legislation are not good merely because they propose beautiful ideals," Menendez said, "but precisely because there are people who know how to embody and live them." In his remarks, the curial counselor made sure to remind the brethren of "the difficult 1981 Pontifical intervention," while noting that Cardinal Franc Rode's blunt opening message last week constituted "the thinking of the church."

Tomorrow morning, the delegates will move to the traditional four days of murmuratio in preparation for Saturday's election of the new "Black Pope."

Repeat: The Election is Saturday.... Stay tuned.

PHOTO: Don Doll, SJ

Full text of Cardinal Franc Rode...f the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) [lifesite.net]

HOMILY

XXXV General Congregation of the Society of Jesus


His Eminence, the Most Reverend Franc Card. Rod�, C.M.


DEAR MEMBERS OF THE

XXXV GENERAL CONGREGATION OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS


St Ignatius considered the General Congregation �work and a distraction� (Const. 677) which momentarily interrupts the apostolic commitments of a large number of qualified members of the Society of Jesus and for this reason, clearly differing from what is customary in other religious Institutes, the Constitutions establish that it should be celebrated at determined times and not too often.

Nevertheless, it must be called principally on two occasions: for the election of the Superior General and when things of particular importance or very difficult problems which touch the body of the Society must be treated.

This is the second time in the history of the Society wherein a General Congregation gathers to elect a new Superior General while his predecessor is still living.

The first time was in 1983, when the XXXIII General Congregation accepted the resignation of the much loved Fr. Arrupe, for whom the exercising of the role of governance had become impossible, due to a serious and unforeseen illness. Today it gathers a second time, to discern, before the Lord, the resignation presented by Fr. Kolvenbach, who has directed the Society for nearly twenty-five years with wisdom, prudence, commitment and loyalty. This will be followed by the election of his successor. I wish to express to you, Fr. Kolvenbach, in my name and in the name of the Church, a heartfelt thanks for your fidelity, your wisdom, your righteousness and your example of humility and poverty, Thank you Fr. Kolvenbach.

The election of a new Superior General of the Society of Jesus has a fundamental value for the life of the Society, not only because its centralized hierarchical structure constitutionally concedes to the General full authority for good governance, the conservation and growth of the whole Society, but also because as Saint Ignatius says so well, �the wellbeing of the head resounds throughout the whole body and as are the
Superiors so in turn will their subjects be.� (cf. Const 820) For this reason your founder when pointing out the qualities which the general must have places first of all that he must be� a man very united to the Lord our God and familiar with prayer� (Const 723). After having mentioned other important qualities which are not easily found in a single person, he ends by saying �if any of the above qualities should be missing, at least may he not lack much goodness, love for the Society and good judgment� (Const 735).

I join you in your prayer that the Holy Spirit, the father of the poor, giver of graces, and light for hearts will assist you in your discernment and your election.

This Congregation also gathers together to treat important and very difficult matters which touch all members of the Society, such as the direction which the Society is presently taking. The themes upon which the General Congregation will reflect have to do with basic elements for the life of the Society. Certainly you will deal with the identity of today�s Jesuit, on the meaning and value of the vow of obedience to the Holy Father which has always defined your religious family, the mission of the Society in the context of globalization and marginalization, community life, apostolic obedience, vocation recruitment and other important themes.

Within your charism and your tradition you can find valuable points of reference to enlighten the choices which the Society must make today.

Certainly and necessarily, during this Congregation you are carrying out an important work but it is not a �distraction� from your apostolic activity. As St Ignatius teaches you in the Spiritual Exercises you must with the same vision of the three Divine Persons, look at �the entire surface of the earth crammed with men� (n 102) Listening to the Spirit, the creator who renews the world and returning to the fonts to preserve your identity without losing your own lifestyle, the commitment to discern the signs of the times, the difficulty and responsibility of working out final decisions are activities which are eminently apostolic because they form the base of a new springtime of being religious and of the apostolic commitment of each of your brothers in the Society of Jesus.

Now the vision becomes broader. It is not only for your own Jesuit brothers that you provide a religious and apostolic formation. There are many institutes of Consecrated Life who, following an Ignatian spirituality, pay attention to your choices; there are many future priests in your Colleges and Universities who are preparing for their ministry. There are many peoples from both within and outside the Church who frequent your centers of learning seeking a response to the challenges which science, technology and globalization pose to humanity, to the Church, and to the faith, with the hope of receiving a formation which will make it possible for them to construct a world of truth and freedom, of justice and peace.

Your work must be eminently apostolic with a universal human, ecclesial and evangelical fullness. It must always be carried out in the light of your Charism, in such a way that the growing participation of laity in your activities does not obscure your identity but rather enriches it with the collaboration of those who, coming from other cultures, share your style and your objectives.

Once again I join in your prayer that the Holy Spirit may accompany you in your delicate work.

As a brother who is following your works with great interest and expectation, I want to share with you �the joys and hopes� (GS. 1) as well as �the sorrows and anguish� (GS. 1) which I have as a man of the Church called to exercise a difficult service in the field of Consecrated Life, in my role as Prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.

With pleasure and hope I see the thousands of religious who generously respond to the Lord�s call and, leaving all they have behind consecrate themselves with an undivided hear to the Lord to be with him and to collaborate with him, in his salvific desire to �conquer all things and thus enter unto the Glory of the Father� (Spiritual Exercises, 95). It is clear that consecrated life continues to be a �divine gift which the Church has received from the Lord� (LG 43) and it is for this very reason that the Church wants to carefully watch over it in order that that the proper Charism of each Institute might be evermore known, and, although with the necessary adaptations to respond to the present time, it keeps its proper identity intact for the good of the whole Church. The authenticity of religious life is characterized by the following of Christ and by the exclusive consecration to Him and to his Kingdom through the profession of the evangelical counsels. The Second Vatican Ecumenical Council teaches that �this consecration will be the more perfect, in as much as the indissoluble bond of the union of Christ and His bride, the Church, is represented by firm and more stable bonds� (LG 44) Consecration to service to Christ cannot be separated from consecration to service to the Church. Ignatius and his first companions considered it thus when they wrote the Formula of your Institute in which the essence of your charism is spelled out: �To serve the Lord and his Spouse the Church under the Roman Pontiff� (Julio III, Formula I). It is with sorrow and anxiety that I see that the sentire cum ecclesia of which your founder frequently spoke is diminishing even in some members of religious families. The Church is waiting for a light from you to restore the sensus Ecclesiae. The Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius are your specialty. The rules of sentire cum Ecclesiae form an integral and essential part of this masterpiece of Catholic spirituality. They form, as it were, a golden clasp which holds the book of The Spiritual Exercises closed.

You hold in your very hands the elements needed to realize and to deepen this desire, this Ignatian and Ecclesial sentiment.

Love for the Church in every sense of the word, � be it Church people of God be it hierarchical Church � is not a human sentiment which comes and goes according to the people who make it up or according to our conformity with the dispositions emanating from those whom the Lord has placed to direct the Church. Love for the Church is a love based on faith, a gift of the Lord which, precisely because he loves us, he gives us faith in him and in his Spouse, which is the Church. Without the gift of faith in the Church there can be no love for the Church.

I join in your prayer asking the Lord to grant you the grace to grow in your belief in and love for this holy, catholic and apostolic Church which we profess.

With sadness and anxiety I also see a growing distancing from the Hierarchy. The Ignatian spirituality of apostolic service �under the Roman Pontiff� does not allow for this separation. 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, the Hierarchical Church�. Religious obedience can be understood only as obedience in love. The fundamental nucleus of Ignatian spirituality consists in uniting the love for God with love for the hierarchical Church. Your XXXIII Congregation once again took up this characteristic of obedience declaring that �the Society reaffirms in a spirit of faith the traditional bond of love and of service which unites it to the Roman Pontiff� You once again took up this principle in the motto �In all things love and serve�.

You must also place this XXXV General Congregation, which opens with this liturgy, celebrated close to the remains of your founder in this line, which has always been followed by the Society throughout its multi-century history in order to show your desire and your commitment to be faithful to the charism which he left you as an inheritance and to carry it out in ways which better respond to the needs of the Church
in our time.

The service of the Society is a service �under the banner of the Cross� (Formula I). Every service done out of love necessarily implies a self-emptying, a kenosis. But letting go of what one wants to do in order to do what the beloved wants is to transform the kenosis into the image of Christ who learned obedience through suffering (Hebrews 5, 8). It is for this reason that St. Ignatius, realistically, adds that the Jesuit serves the Church �under the banner of the Cross� (Formula I).

Ignatius placed himself under the orders of the Roman Pontiff �in order to not err in via Domini� (Const 605) in the distribution of his religious throughout the world and to be present wherever the needs of the Church were greater.

Times have changed and the Church must today confront new and urgent necessities, I will mention one, which in my judgment is urgent today and is at the same time complex and I propose it for your consideration. It is the need to present to the faithful and to the world the authentic truth revealed in Scripture and Tradition. The doctrinal diversity of those who at all levels, by vocation and mission are called to announce the Kingdom of truth and love, disorients the faithful and leads to a relativism without limits. There is one truth, even though it can always be more deeply known.

It is the �living teaching office of the Church, whose authority is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ� (DV 10) which is the voucher for revealed truth. The exegetes and theological scholars are involved in working together �under the watchful care of the sacred teaching office of the Church, to an exploration and exposition of the divine writings (DV 23). Through your long and solid formation, your centers of research, your teaching in the philosophical-theological-biblical fields you are in a privileged position to carry out this difficult mission. Carry it out with study and in-depth examination, carry it out with humility, carry it out with faith in the Church. carry it out with love for the Church.

May those who, according to your legislation, have to oversee the doctrine of your magazines and publications do so in the light of and according to the �rules for sentire cum ecclesia�, with love and respect.

The feeling of ever growing separation between faith and culture, a separation which constitutes a great impediment for Evangelization (Sapientia Cristiana, proemio) also worries me.

A culture immersed with a true Christian spirit is an instrument which fosters the spreading of the Gospel, faith in God the Creator of the heavens and of the earth. 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. The apostolic tasks demanded of you by the Church are many and very diverse, but all have a common denominator: the instrument which carries them out, according to an Ignatian phrase must be an instrument united to God. It is the Ignatian echo to the Gospel proclaimed today: I am the vine, you are the branches. He who remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit (Jn.15, 15). Union with the vine, which is love, is realized only through a personal and silent exchange of love which is born in prayer, �from the internal knowledge of the Lord who became man for me and who, integral and alive, extends himself to all who are close to us and to all that is close to us�. It is not possible to transform the world, or to respond to the challenges of a world which has forgotten love, without being firmly rooted in love.

Ignatius was granted the mystic grace of being �a contemplative in action�(annotation to the Examine MNAD 5, 172). It was a special grace freely given by God to Ignatius who had trodden a tiring path of fidelity and long hours of prayer in the Retreat at Manresa. It is a grace which, according to Fr. Nadal, is contained in the call of every Jesuit. Guided by your Ignatian magis keep your hearts open to receive the same gift, following in the same path trodden by Ignatius from Loyola to Rome, a path of generosity, of penance, of discernment, of prayer, of apostolic zeal of obedience, of charity, of fidelity to and love for the hierarchical Church.

Despite the urgent apostolic needs, maintain and develop your charism to the point of being and showing yourselves to the world as �contemplatives in action� who communicate to men and women and to all of creation the love received from God and to orient them once again toward the love of God. Everyone understands the language of love.

The Lord has chosen you to go and bear fruit, fruit that lasts. Go, bear fruit confident that �all that you ask the Father in my name, he will give you (cfr. Jn 15, 16).

I join with you in prayer to the Father through the Son and in the Holy Spirit together with Mary, Mother of Divine Grace, invoked by all the members of the Society as Santa Maria della Strada, that he may grant you the grace of �seeking and discovering the will of God for the Society of today which will build the Society of tomorrow�.

I wish Father Peter-Hans well. His successor will certainly have much to attend to given how far and wide the Society of Jesus spreads - at one point they could be found on all seven continents as a Jesuit was chaplain at MacMurdo AFB in Anarctica!

In Africa and Asia they have seen much growth... in the US they are down to 3,000 members (still nothing to sneeze at)most of whom are over 62 after a high of 8,000 members. I am told that there are some young Jesuits in formation that are some real dynamos...

It should be recalled, in 1927 they had about 125 Jesuits in the us and grew to over a 1,025 within 25 years...

Time will tell.

Many years to Fr. Kolvenbach for almost 25 years as Superior General of the Society of Jesus!

May the delegates to the XXXV General Congregation elect another good and enlightened "Black Pope" to lead the Society into the third millenium!

Ad majorem Dei gloriam!

Amado

The almost 20,000 Jesuits are still serving in 112 countries!

India (and the Southwest Asia Assistancy) has the most number of Jesuits.

And there are 10 Jesuits in the College of Cardinals, although only 2 remain electors: Jorge Mario Cardinal Bergoglio, 71, Archbishop of Buenos Aires (Argentina), and Julius Riyadi Cardinal Darmaatmadja, 73, Archbishop of Jakarta (Indonesia).

Of the 10 Jesuit Cardinals, fully 5 were elevated to the cardinalate as priests and remained, by papal dispensation, as priests and were not ordained as bishops: Avery Cardinal Dulles, 89, of the U.S.A (2001), Roberto Cardinal Tucci, 86, of Italy (2001), Tomas Cardinal Spidlik, 88, of the Czech Republic (2003), Albert Cardinal Vanhoye, 84, of France (2006), and Urbano Cardinal Navarrete Cort�s, 87, of Spain (2007).

The 3 other Jesuit Cardinals are: J�n Chryzostom Cardinal Korec, 83, Bishop Emeritus of Nitra (Slovakia), Carlo Maria Cardinal Martini, 80, Archbishop Emeritus of Milan (Italy), and Paul Cardinal Shan Kuo-his, 84, Bishop Emeritus of Kaohsiung (Taiwan).

Amado

Dear Friends,

The Democratic presidential candidate, Obama, who is quite in support of abortion on demand, held a rally at a Jesuit college recently.

Perhaps the Jesuit leadership can remind the members of their ranks about what the teaching of their Church on abortion and related topics is?

One just can't get enough of ongoing catechesis, it would seem!

Alex

Thank you for bringing that up Alex! I had been thinking about posting that on my blog.

12 years ago Georgetown actually initially allowed a group called "Hoyas For Choice" the status of an official school club which even recieved funding. After a year or two this was squashed, but only after MUCH protest from Catholics who put the pressure on Rome to squash it.

Barak O. has a 100% support record by NARAL standards. Why he can hold rallys (as opposed to a speaking engagement or a debate) is beyond me.



This is down from almost 40,000 world wide 40 years ago, when the Catholic population was smaller. More of us, fewer of them?

Worth taking a quick look:
http://www.clearyworks.com/Opinions/11_jesuit_life_today.html

I wish them well... I did go to a Jesuit high school where 6 Jesuits still remained in a residence built for 35-40. In 40 years of serving an all-boy school where the student body was never less than 70% Catholic, exactly two men were inspired to join them, one man stayed.

The Jesuit Volunteer Corps seemed to be a solution to their dominishing numbers at one point. Of the three people I have known who have been involved one was a cradle Catholic living with his girlfriend, another was a Lutheran living with his girlfriend, a third was a Unitarian who moved to New York with his boyfriend. I am familiar with two female cradle Catholics who sought ordination in Protestant communities after their time in the JVC.

Jesuit growth like they once had (see http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,815956,00.html) may be possible. But as it stands right now, a lot of soul searching seems necessary.

A Jesuit I knew and respected said that in Latin America and Asia there were some provinces that were growing and vibrantly orthodox. Others have told me the scholastics they know are rather remarkable dynamos. I can't write them off... Maybe that is where the future will be the brightest.

I wish them well.


-Simple

Dear Simple (although you certainly are NOT!)

Some of my best friends are Jesuits, you know!

Truly, I know one Jesuit with whom I went to lunch so frequently, people thought we were related.

And then there are the Jesuit "Christian Marxists" in Latin America . . .

The EC's of Eastern Europe tended not to have a good experience with the Jesuits and they were in the forefront of Latinization efforts.

However, we shouldn't dwell on the past (when some of their present antics are so readily available . . . )

They are an Order that defies "pigeon-holing." The Jesuits I know are solid Christians and witnesses to Christ.

My middle name is "Jean de Brebeuf" after the great North American Jesuit Martyr.

My parents had trouble having a child and my mother prayed at the Martyrs' Shrine in Midland - I was conceived and was born on the day St Jean de Brebeuf was martyred. The Shrine remains an important part of my spiritual life.

We don't have Jesuits in the UGCC . . . they are well represented by our Basilians . . .

Sorry if that sounds, well, "Jesuitical."

Cheers,

Alex

I, for one, would like to see a return to the spirit of Sts. Ignatius Loyola, Francis Xavier, and Francis Borgia!

Maybe they need to elect a Spaniard.

Alex,

To be sure I should make it clear that I am not saying they are all bad... They just have some serious issues to contend with... But really, who doesn't?

I sinned through ommission (how Latin of me!) in failing to mention an excellent retreat master from the Society who befriended me or one of the several really good and orthodox Jesuits I have known...

Sadly, I got the impression (and some outright confirmed) that their personal orthodoxy and loyalty to tradition and the magisterium sort of left them "out in the cold" from their order's leadership... They were granted a bit of a velvet divorce/seperation from the province "Go give your retreats, run your publishing house, teach at Seminary X..." In the mean time, teaching at one of the progressive high schools or colleges for several of them was definately OUT.

As I offered earlier, some reports of what is going on in Latin America and Asia there were some provinces that were growing and vibrantly orthodox give much hope. And a friend of mine whose conservative views and thinking might make B16 blush has high praise for the current North American scholastics he knows as rather remarkable dynamos is worth considering.

I can't write them off... It is a big order with a lot of voices. In the last 20 years, the loudest of those voices, haven't always been the most reassuring.

With luck, work and prayer this will change sooner rather than later.

Parralells could be drawn between the generalate of Father Peter-Hans and the papacy of JP2 - both were rather leniant in some ways, stricter in others, and presided over a period of growth in the East & Global South with some decline in the West. Maybe it will be the case that the next SG of the SJ will apply a little more discipline where it may be needed and get a few more things in order. We can hope!

-Simple

Dear Dr Eric,

St Ignatius Loyola was a Basque, sir!

Last June, we travelled to the Shrine of Our Lady of Montserrat, high in the mountains (a white knuckle ride for my bride and myself, to be sure!).

It was there before "La Moreneta" that St Ignatius prayed all night in vigil before going off to found the Jesuits.

Interestingly enough, the grammar of the Basque language has many similarities with . . . Ukrainian.

Alex

Dear Simple,

As a professor of my acquaintance once told a priest, "You are a very good man, Father - despite the fact that you are a Jesuit!"

And I understand that some Orthodox in history tend to call all RC religious orders as "Jesuit." So their numbers tend to swell despite themselves . . .

Alex

Just recently, I read that a Slovenian cardinal, a member of the Curia, ripped into the Jesuits, at their general meeting, for their lack of loyalty to the Magisterium. My experience with Jesuits has been very mixed. On the one hand, there were Jesuits at the University of Scranton's Center for Eastern Christian Studies (now down to a minimal existence), who all had "bi-ritual" faculties, and a love for the Christian East (including an actual belief in the Resurrection of Christ!). Locally, we have a very good Jesuit priest who is Greek Catholic, and who teaches Canon Law at the Orientalum in Rome. He is as orthodox as the day is long. We've also seen the positive witness to the Faith by Fr. Joseph Fessio, SJ, Fr. Vincent Miceli, SJ (who felt compelled to leave the order before he died-he was being internally persecuted for his orthodoxy!), and Fr. Mitch Pacwa, SJ. On the other hand, at the University of Scranton, they have permitted, for years, a layman-professed atheist to teach an Intro to Philosophy course! He challenges incoming freshmen to prove to him that God exists! Then, we have all the horrors at Georgetown (gay clubs, pro-abortion clubs, ad nauseam), and at other similar Jesuit institutions. Since my initial horrible experience at a Jesuit retreat during my senior year in high school (1969-a "Mass" with Bob Dylan music, and images of Martin Luther King and Karl Marx), I have never completely trusted them, and burden of proof is on them to prove their orthodoxy to me. Just recently, a Roman Catholic woman with whom I'm friendly (and who is orthodox, and has an M.A. in Religious Studies) enrolled her son at Scranton Prepatory School ( a local Jesuit high school). He came home with a story that, in Religion class, the teacher was stating his rejection of the Catholic Teaching on the Virgin Birth. My attitude is the same as the RC priest in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia who headed up the Diaconate formation program when I was there. One day he got up before us and said: "I'm going to quote to you a poem written by a man (Gerard Manley Hopkins) who is both a Jesuit AND a Catholic!"
Enough said.

Dn. Robert

A swelling made all the worse when one considers that many Orthodox who did so surely meant (and in turn were definately understood!) for "Jesuit" to mean any brigand, picaroon, scoundrel, or knave of Latin clerical distinction...

The Jesuits are coming! Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!
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Which, I suppose, is not too dissimilar to how some mainline Protestants, Catholic and Orthodox tend to think of all aliturgical Christians with rousing worship gatherings to be "Baptists".

Fruitless complaint can center on some in their camp. Let us not forget the good and holy Jesuits who bear and have born much for their love of Christ.

Terry