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The Jesuits’ superior general, acting in accordance to the wishes of the 31st General Congregation, provided new statutes on poverty for experimental use in 1967. When the 32nd General Congregation convened nearly a decade later, its delegates revisited the topic and its spiritual as well as juridical elements. Their decree, appearing below, notes the need […]

This lengthy decree is the response of the delegates to the 32nd General Congregation to the “rather large number of postulta” (or petitions) they received on the “spiritual life”—especially prayer and obedience—and on common “spiritual discernment,” notes historian John Padberg (see the congregation’s historical preface in Jesuit Life & Mission Today (2009), pg. 274–276). The decree

The delegates to the 32nd General Congregation approved the following decree, a lengthy statement on the process of Jesuit formation in light of the “many changes in the world at large.” The influence of those changes meant that “constant adaptation is required in order to be sure of achieving the essential purpose of our formation.”

The 32nd General Congregation of the Society of Jesus convened nearly a decade after the previous congregation closed in 1966. During the intervening years, as the following decree states, “the life of the Society has been an effort under the leadership of Father General to implement the decrees of the 31st General Congregation.” So, rather

The decrees promulgated by the 31st General Congregation required changes to how future provincial congregations would operate. The following decree outlines those changes to the Formula of the Provincial Congregations. Most of these changes concern who could participate in a provincial congregation. For more from the 31st General Congregation of the Society of Jesus, please

The decrees promulgated by the 31st General Congregation required changes to how future congregations would operate as described in the Formula of the General Congregation. The following decree outlines those changes. Among the alterations are those concerning the postulta (or petitions) Jesuits send for consideration at a general congregation. The decree notes that such postulta

The following decree articulates some procedural decisions made by the delegates at the 31st General Congregation. It establishes the dates to end the congregation’s first session and to begin its second—the first time in the history of Society of Jesus that a congregation was divided into distinct sessions by its delegates. In all, the 31st

Consultors in the Society of Jesus are appointed to provide advice to Jesuit superiors. The delegates of the 31st General Congregation, responding to the requests of an apostolic letter (Ecclesiae sanctae, issued in 1966), sought to define the process of selecting consultors. In the following decree, the delegates outline the selection processes for consultors in

In the following decree, the delegates of the 31st General Congregation urge that provincials in the Society of Jesus receive greater responsibility and “broader faculties” in the governance of the Society of Jesus. Provincials, in return, were to “carefully listen to their subjects and direct them in the Lord, taking into consideration the internal knowledge

The Jesuit’s superior general may, from time to time, appoint a visitor to a province, a temporary assignment intended to assess and improve the effectiveness of ministries and individuals. A position not unique to the Society of Jesus but one that became increasingly common in the order by the mid-sixteenth century, a visitor was endowed