Search Results for: Bach

The 20th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus, held in 1820, the first following the Jesuits’ restoration, offered an opportunity for the religious order to respond to the system of state-sponsored, or at least state-sanctioned, schools that had emerged since its suppression in 1773. The restored Jesuits faced the challenge of adjusting to the

During Holy Week of 1977, a recording of the following sermon by Pedro Arrupe was played across Spain’s Radio Chain of Broadcasting Stations of the Church. It was translated into English by the Jesuit Jerome Aixala and appeared in a publication for Jesuit Sources. In these remarks, Arrupe examines the meaning of what he calls

The delegates at the 35th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus address the topic of Jesuit obedience in the following decree. They define “obedience” in the context of the vow the members of the Society of Jesus make to the pope as a vow “grounded in the desire to be sent effectively, to serve

The third of six decrees promulgated by the delegates at the 35th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus articulated some of the main challenges facing the Jesuits and their works. The decree, appearing below, reaffirms the Society’s mission in the face of challenges, places that mission the new context of the dawn of the

On February 2, 2006, Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, having reached an agreement with Pope Benedict XVI to allow for his resignation as the Jesuits’ superior general, dispatched a letter to the Society of Jesus indicating that “it had become more and more clear that the Society has arrived at a situation…which required a General Congregation.” That gathering—the

In the degree below, the delegates of the 34th General Congregation grant certain powers and responsibilities to their order’s new superior general, Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, with those powers mainly concerning the issuance of the congregation’s decrees and recommendations. They also require Kolvenbach “to complete the work on the Complementary Norms and the Notes to the Constitutions

The “long and permanent tradition of service proper to the Society” is reaffirmed by the following decree from the 34th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus. The decree notes that Jesuit service can be “the dangerous commitment of witness and struggle against the forces of injustice and persecution, both social and religious, a witness

The following decree from the 34th General Congregation is a lengthy discussion of chastity within the context of the Society of Jesus: the call to chastity, its apostolic character, the meaning of the vow of chastity, and some normative principles and guidelines for a chaste lifestyle). The delegates, in approving this decree, did so as

Appearing below, the first decree promulgated by the 33rd General Congregation (an event convoked to accept the resignation of the Jesuits’ superior general) presents the views of the congregation’s delegates on the state of the Society of Jesus “in today’s world.” It consists of a brief introduction and conclusion but is primarily divided into two,