With a Pope whose language and behaviour so closely reflect his Jesuit identity, the Society of Jesus is enjoying a period of encouragement in its mission. Pope Francis models a discerning, compassionate, pastoral approach for the Church. Each day he surprises us, yet his initiatives make sense to many people, whether believers or not, whether Christians or not.
His recent interview published last week in Jesuit journals around the world covers much familiar ground for Jesuits and our collaborators. In the extensive interview with Fr Antonio Spadaro SJ, editor of the Italian Jesuit journal La Civiltà Cattolica, the Pope refers repeatedly to the themes of the Spiritual Exercises: knowing oneself as a sinner embraced by God’s merciful love, discernment in decision-making, finding God in all things, life as a pilgrimage with the people of God.
As with Pope Francis, and indeed with St Ignatius, discernment was critical for Father General Adolfo Nicolás and the presidents of the six Jesuit Conferences as we reviewed the life of the Society in all parts of the world, during our annual meeting in Rome last week.
Most of our meeting was given to internal matters; on governance and means of cooperation within the Society in order to better work for the greater glory of God. While governance in the Society of Jesus has a strong “vertical” or hierarchical component in the way provincials relate with Father General, our meeting principally explored the “horizontal” style of governance of the conferences, thus patterns of cooperation and partnership, solidarity and mutual support across provinces and conferences.
In this, we were guided, as Pope Francis says he has been, by a saying that describes St Ignatius’ vision, non coerceri a maximo, sed contineri a minimo divinum est (“not to be limited by the greatest and yet to be contained in the tiniest – this is the divine”).
Pope Francis put it well when he said it means “being able to do the little things of every day with a big heart open to God and to others”. It means being able to look beyond ourselves, beyond even the Society to God; to centre ourselves as Jesuits and the Society of Jesus on Christ and his church.
Fr General Pedro Arrupe well understood this when he made a plea at General Congregation 31, held in the last days of Vatican II, to “break down the walls between the provinces”. Since that time conferences have gradually developed as networks of cooperation that emphasize interdependence and enable common undertakings, especially between provinces.
The conferences are also animating and guiding the reshaping of provinces to fit the numbers and needs of mission. In depth consultations at the local level about how we organise ourselves for the sake of our Jesuit life and mission have resulted in plans for next steps. In Asia Pacific, for example, Timor Leste is ready to enter an arrangement with Philippines, Australia and Japan that concerns governance, personnel and financial support; and Malaysia-Singapore, Myanmar and Thailand each recognise that to be more effective, they must explore other ways to combine in mission if not in governance.
We are also beginning to cooperate across the Society at the conference level, particularly in providing for the formation of Jesuits. With demographic shifts in numbers entering the Society, the provinces that have less than 25 percent of the total number of Jesuits in studies currently hold 65 percent of funds available for formation of Jesuits. Fr General is eager that the Presidents help him find reasonable ways to redress this imbalance, and we have established a timetable for developing new levels of cooperation and sharing both within conferences and across the Society.
With the increased significance of the conferences and consequently in the authority exercised by the presidents, the presidents have asked that developments concerning the juridical place of the conference in the Society’s governance be soon clarified, if need be in the next General Congregation.
When he visited the fathers and staff of La Civiltà Cattolica, Pope Francis spoke about the importance of “dialogue, discernment, frontier”. Our meeting enabled Fr General to be more closely in touch with the freedom, generosity and courage of many Jesuits and their companions across the world, and thus to urge us all to be open to new frontiers, and to exercise greater creativity and energy in our mission.
Mark Raper SJ
President, Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific
September 24, 2013