Ignatius told his Jesuits to “Go, set the world on fire and in flame” when they departed for foreign missions. Did he mean anything special by this? John O’Keefe thinks he did: As followers of the Ignatian spiritual tradition we need to remember that this spirituality is, deep down, oriented toward mission. Spiritual practices like [...]
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The Spiritual Exercises are the heart of Ignatian spirituality, but John Coleman, SJ, thinks that the Jesuit Constitutions are important too. Ignatius spent fifteen years writing and editing these texts, which govern the Society of Jesus. They illuminate the Ignatian way. For example, here are principles for choosing a ministry that can be applied widely: [...]
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Chris Lowney on the Ignatian passion for lofty goals: When Loyola informed Portuguese Jesuits that “no commonplace achievement will satisfy the great obligations you have of excelling,” he created heroic expectations that could be met only through change and innovation on a dramatic scale. By way of illustration, imagine any modern corporate setting. The manager [...]
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The Jesuits sponsor some impressive websites devoted to commentary on culture and politics. The busiest is America magazine. Its blog “In All Things” is especially interesting. The editors have recently added a weekly podcast. The British Jesuits’ Thinking Faith has lively film reviews and articles. (They recently ran a very thoughtful review of my book [...]
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A team of young Jesuits will be barnstorming up and down the East Coast this summer giving weekend retreats for young adults. The team is called the Jesuit Mission Band and the retreats are called Hearts on Fire. They begin June 17 in Washington, DC, and continue on successive weekends in Philadelphia, Charlotte, Baltimore, and [...]
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Video cameras are following Radmar Jao as he prepares to be ordained a priest next month. Jao is the subject of a video series produced by the US Jesuit conference. It’s aimed at vocations promotion, but it’s easy for anyone with an interest in Jesuits and Ignatian spirituality to get drawn into the story of [...]
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The Washington Post takes note of declining Jesuit numbers in the US, with a focus on Washington DC, but the article has an upbeat tone. Jesuits may be down, but Ignatian spirituality is up. “Some people outside will see this as a crisis, but we inside don’t see it that way. We see it as [...]
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For a a global view of the Society of Jesus, examine The Changing Jesuit Geography, a paper by Thomas P. Gaunt, SJ, executive director of the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate. There are 18,266 Jesuits worldwide, about 2000 more than there were in 1910 (but 18,000 fewer than there were in 1965). The [...]
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Brother Guy Consolmango, SJ, an astronomer at the Vatican Observatory, will give an online talk and chat today at 2 p.m. Eastern Time. Just go to this link. The online edition of the Arizona Daily Star will host the “cosmic chat.” Brother Guy spends much of his time in Arizona at the Vatican Observatory Research [...]
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