Search Results for: de Wit

In advance of the 31st General Congregation, Jesuits from around the world submitted postulata (or petitions) for perpetual deacons to be allowed in the Society of Jesus. The delegates at the congregation, after considering the matter, approved the following decree. Rather than introducing the permanent deaconate to the Society of Jesus, the decree, first, removes […]

In their fifth decree, the delegates of the 31st General Congregation addressed what historian John Padberg describes as “one of the most serious and one of the most lengthily treated questions in the Congregation” (see the congregation’s historical preface in Jesuit Life & Mission Today (2009), pg. 16–17). The topic of conversation was grades within the

The delegates at the 31st General Congregation issued the following decree to indicate changes to the Jesuits’ Collection of Decrees, done so with the desire to “provide the juridical principles for the adaptation of our body of laws.” The decree defines the “Institute of the Society” as “both our way of living and working, and

Pope John VI opened the 31st General Congregation by noting the “fearful danger of atheism threatening human society.” Through the Jesuit delegates gathered for the congregation, the pontiff gave to the entire Society of Jesus (the “champion of the Church and holy religion in adversity”) a special task: “the charge of making a stout, united

The delegates of the 31st General Congregation promulgated the following decree, which recognizes both the limitations of the reforms encouraged by the Second Vatican Council and Paul VI’s Magno gaudio (1964) as well as the need for change nonetheless. The decree concludes that “the entire government of the Society must be adapted to modern necessities

In 1965, the Second Vatican Council issued Perfectae caritatis, a proclamation that mandated religious orders seek renewal through reflection and honoring “their founders’ spirit and special aims.” In 2008, the delegates at the 35th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus, in part, responded to that mandate with their second decree, “A Fire that Kindles

At the 33rd General Congregation, Fr. Paolo Dezza offered the following remarks in accepting the resignation of Pedro Arrupe as superior general. Arrupe had suffered a debilitating stroke in 1981. Dezza extends, on behalf of Jesuits everywhere, “an official and public expression of the Society’s esteem, affection, and gratitude” to Arrupe. Arrupe was the first

General Congregation 32 signified a major transition in how the Jesuits understood the connection between their mission and the service of faith and promotion of social justice. That connection was articulated in the congregation’s fourth decree, “Our Mission Today.” “In short,” as the decree’s introduction observes, “our mission today is to preach Jesus Christ and

At the time of the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), Jesuits, as with other Catholics, engaged in new labors and in new contexts. The Council’s decree Perfectae Caritatis encouraged those in a religious order to first know their institute’s “original spirit” so that they might make “the best adjustments…in accordance with the needs of our new