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The following decree is the attempt of the delegates of the 31st General Congregation to explain the nature and reaffirm the purpose of Jesuit missionary work within the context of the Second Vatican Council. It attributes to Ignatius and his companions the reason why Jesuits have the “task of announcing the Gospel that God in […]

The delegates of the 31st General Congregation assessed the apostolic works of the Society of Jesus and acknowledged that “our labors” were not yielding the desired results. The decree below credits some poor results to a failure to “renew our apostolic or missionary spirit” and a “too great scattering of our forces.” The main reason

The last of the decrees of the 31st General Congregation of the Society of Jesus to deal with Jesuits’ religious life addressed the topic of “reading at table,” the practice of having texts read aloud as members silently ate meals. Often the reading was from the Jesuits’ Constitutions (or its summary, but it also came

This extended decree represents the thoughts on Jesuit community life by the delegates to the 31st General Congregation of the Society of Jesus. The decree declares that “the foundation and aim of community life in the Society of Jesus” is “a community of men who are called by Christ to live with Christ, to be

Obedience was one of the seven topics in the “religious life” of the Society of Jesus that the delegates of the 31st General Congregation addressed with a decree. In the following document, the delegates note they are “conscious of the social change in our day which gives rise to a new awareness of the brotherhood

For the Jesuit delegates at the 31st General Congregation, consecrated chastity was a “gift” from God, “a sign of charity and likewise a stimulus to it.” Those delegates, nevertheless, also issued the following decree to acknowledge how contemporary attitudes and contexts have caused “new problems” on the topic. The decree urges the new superior general

The Second Vatican Council asked religious institutes to help spread the love of and the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In response on behalf of their Jesuit brethren, the delegates of the 31st General Congregation of the Society of Jesus affirmed the Sacred Heart as “the center of our own spiritual lives.” Yet,

In the following decree, the delegates of the 31st General Congregation assert “the importance of prayer,” while proposing “specific orientations on the manner and conditions of prayer” for members of the Society of Jesus. The decree closes with a reminder for “every Jesuit that personal daily prayer is an absolute necessity.” To that end, it

The delegates of the 31st General Congregation introduced a series of decrees, historian John Padberg notes, “on the adaptive renovation of religious life in the Society” with the following statement concerning religious life in general (see the congregation’s historical preface in Jesuit Life & Mission Today (2009), pg. 21). The decree uses inspiration from some of

Academic formation of young Jesuits proved a popular topic in advance of the 31st General Congregation, as historian John Padberg notes that some 600 postulta (or petitions) were received from across the Society of Jesus (see Jesuit Life & Mission Today (2009), pg. 19–20). The delegates responded with the following decree, which begins with the statement