Search Results for: Ferrer

On February 2, 2006, Peter-Hans Kolvenbach wrote to the members of the Society of Jesus in his position as their father general. He explained that a new general congregation should be convoked in order that his resignation could be accepted and his successor elected. When the 35th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus accepted […]

The 34th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus took place in Rome between January 5 and March 22, 1995. The 202 delegates appointed to participate in the gathering did not elect a new father general. Instead, Peter-Hans Kolvenbach convoked the assembly at a time, according to The New York Times, Jesuits were “enjoying a

The 33rd General Congregation of the Society of Jesus (September 1–October 25, 1983) was the first in Jesuit history to accept the resignation of a superior general. Pedro Arrupe had been elected superior general 18 years earlier by the delegates at the 31st General Congregation. On August 7, 1981, Arrupe suffered a debilitating stroke following

One September 8, 1973, after much deliberation and preparation, Superior General Pedro Arrupe issued a letter that announced the 32nd General Congregation of the Society of Jesus would begin in December 1974. The appointed delegates gathered in Rome not to elect Arrupe’s successor but rather to because of what historian John Padberg has described as

The 31st General Congregation of the Society of Jesus was the first in Jesuit history to meet over two independent sessions, meeting first from May 7, 1965 until July 15, 1965, and then again from September 8, 1966 until November 17, 1966.  The delegates in attendance (224 in all) represented roughly 36,000 of their Jesuit brethren

The last decree issued by the 35th General Congregation concerned the “dynamism” begun by the previous congregation of Jesuit delegates in 1995. The decree below contains the delegates’ call for renewal by the members of the Society of Jesus of “our commitment to apostolic collaboration and to a profound sharing of labor of the life

The fifth of six decrees promulgated by the 35th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus concerned the order’s “governance structures and ways of proceeding.” The decree, appearing below, is a highly technical and internally focused document. Among its measures, the decree directs the new superior general “to undertake a comprehensive review of the central

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