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In 1965, the Second Vatican Council issued Perfectae caritatis, a proclamation that mandated religious orders seek renewal through reflection and honoring “their founders’ spirit and special aims.” In 2008, the delegates at the 35th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus, in part, responded to that mandate with their second decree, “A Fire that Kindles

The delegates of the 35th General Congregation had been in session just three days when they received a letter of greeting from Pope Benedict XVI. The pontiff expresses his hope that “the present Congregation affirms with clarity the authentic charism of the Founder so as to encourage all Jesuits to promote true and healthy Catholic

Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, the superior general of the Society of Jesus, delivered the following remarks, over three days, to open the Jesuits’ 34th General Congregation. Kolvenbach reminds the delegates that their gathering had its “source and origins in the spiritual experience of Ignatius and his first companions,” that, in the words of Ignatius, theirs was “a

 The 34th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus opened on January 5, 1995, with a Mass at the Church of the Holy Spirit, located across from the Jesuits’ Curia in Rome. At noon that same day, the delegates proceeded to the Vatican’s Sala Clementina for an audience with Pope John Paul II. To the

At the 33rd General Congregation, Fr. Paolo Dezza offered the following remarks in accepting the resignation of Pedro Arrupe as superior general. Arrupe had suffered a debilitating stroke in 1981. Dezza extends, on behalf of Jesuits everywhere, “an official and public expression of the Society’s esteem, affection, and gratitude” to Arrupe. Arrupe was the first

Pope Paul VI, in addressing Pedro Arrupe and Arrupe’s general assistants near the close of the 32nd General Congregation, reminds the delegates, “Be loyal!” He encourages “all the companions of Ignatius to continue with renewed zeal to carry out all the works and endeavors upon which they have so eagerly embarked in the service of

General Congregation 32 signified a major transition in how the Jesuits understood the connection between their mission and the service of faith and promotion of social justice. That connection was articulated in the congregation’s fourth decree, “Our Mission Today.” “In short,” as the decree’s introduction observes, “our mission today is to preach Jesus Christ and

Pope Paul VI addressed the delegates to the 32nd General Congregation on December 3, 1974, noting similar “joy and trepidation” to when the last congregation began nearly a decade before. Looking to the assembled Jesuits, the pontiff declares, “there is in you and there is in us the sense of a moment of destiny for