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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

As part of their review of the formation of Jesuits, the delegates at the 31st General Congregation considered what norms ought to be in place as a member of the Society of Jesus works towards taking his final vows. These norms took shape in the following decree, which revised existing practices. For more from the

The delegates at the 31st General Congregation reflected on tertianship (or the third probation), not with a desire to eliminate the process but rather to renew and adapt it within the context of the Second Vatican Council. Tertianship is essentially a year of probation, when a Jesuit examines his vocation before taking final vows. In

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

According to historian John Padberg’s historical account of the congregation, Jesuits sent more than 160 postulata (or petitions) on the topic their brethren’s spiritual formation for consideration at the 31st General Congregation (see Jesuit Life & Mission Today (2009), pg. 18–19). That formation, the following decree observes, “is the work of divine grace,” helping Jesuits in

The delegates of the 31st General Congregation used their seventh decree to address the matter of temporal adjuators, or brothers, within the Society of Jesus. The delegates were responding both to the declining numbers of brothers over the last several decades but also to postulata (or petitions) that requested both a clarification of the brothers’