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’ […]
Decree 7: “The Brothers,” General Congregation 31 (1966) Read More »
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
Decree 6: “The Permanent Diaconate,” General Congregation 31 (1966) Read More »
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
Decree 3: “The Task of the Society Regarding Atheism,” General Congregation 31 (1966) Read More »
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
Decree 2: “The Renewal of Our Vows,” General Congregation 31 (1966) Read More »
A three-day symposium, “Sailing Routes, Sea Straits, and Global Oceans,” begins on October 9 at the Centro Científico e Cultural de Macau (the Macau Scientific and Cultural Center) in Lisbon, Portugal. The event is organized by the Centro and the Macau Foundation, under the leadership of Luís Filipe Barreto, Roderich T. Ptak, and Wu Zhiliang. It has
October 2017: International Symposium on China and Macau Occurs in Lisbon Read More »
Between July 11 and July 14 in Nairobi, the Jesuit Historical Institute in Africa (JHIA) hosts an important scholarly conference examining historical encounters between Catholics and Protestants in Africa. The event, marking the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, gathers more than 20 scholars to consider the “ecumenical important” of those encounters, addressing such questions
July 2017: Conference on Catholic and Protestant Encounters in Africa Read More »
Going Native or Remaining Foreign? Catholic Missionaries as Local Agents in Asia (17th to 18th Centuries), a conference in Rome (30 May-1 June), seeks to “compare missionaries’ roles as local agents in different social environments across the Asian continent.” Panels are centered on communicative settings for missionary work (urban, court, settings, and rural), and presentations include: “Jesuit
May 2017: Conference in Rome on Catholic Missionaries Read More »
“The founding of the Society of Jesus,” Jesuit historian Joseph Conwell has argued, “begins with a discernment process.” The fruits of that process of discernment appear in the following document, Cum ex plurim, written by Ignatius and his companions in 1539. The document articulates the founders’ vision for what became the Jesuit order. Indeed, five
Cum Ex Plurium (1539) Read More »
The following text was first orally approved by Pope Paul III in 1539. More commonly known as the “Five Chapters,” the document serves the first foundational document of what became the Society of Jesus, stating the key purposes of the proposed religious order. The document was later revised in 1540 (approved in the papal bull
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Loyola University Chicago hosted a Jesuit Studies Roundtable in advance of the annual Renaissance Society of America conference. Organized by Emanuele Colombo (Depaul University) and Stephen Schloesser (Loyola), the workshop consisted of presentations of current and future scholarly and digital projects. Presenting were: Scott Hendrickson, SJ, on “Continued Research on Juan Eusebio Nieremberg, SJ (1595-1658)”;
March 2017: Jesuit Studies Roundtable at Loyola-Chicago Read More »
