The 71st Congregation of Procurators has ended and the delegates have returned to their home Provinces. They came to Loyola, Spain - to the birthplace of the founder of the Society of Jesus - ostensibly to discern a single question: “Should Fr. General Arturo Sosa ask the Holy Father for permission to convene the 37th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus?” In the final session of the Congregation, after an 8-day guided retreat, hundreds of hours of sharing and reflection, and a full week of discussion and discernment, the Procurators voted “Non Cogenda”- an official recommendation to Fr. General that no General Congregation was required at this time. Other issues This isn’t to say that there are no vitally-important issues facing the Church and Society of Jesus. In fact, those issues formed the bulk of the agenda for the Congregation of Procurators. From concerns about vocations, to the safeguarding of minors, the vows, governance, the worldwide ministry of Jesuits and beyond - the retreat, reflections and Congregation gave the Procurators the forum to discuss an impressive slate of important issues with their brother Jesuits, as well as to learn both about what the Society is doing well, and what it COULD be doing better. The Procurators are now tasked with taking what they’ve learned from back to their Provinces to prayerfully spark discussion in local communities. In effect, they have been missioned to bring the lessons of CP71 to their brothers, to reignite fires that may have cooled. If you would like to have a better idea of what happened at CP71, the Curia Communications team has created a 4-minute video to give you a behind-the-scenes look of a Congregation of Procurators. Here is a short statement of one of the European “procurators”, Thierry Anne from the French speaking Western European Province, about his experience at this Congregation.

The musical song Camino – Christ, You Are My Future has been selected by the Hungarian Catholic Bishops’ Conference as the official song for the Papal Visit to Hungary.  The song has been premiered for a crowd of young adults on 28 April 2023, in the Papp László Sports Arena, immediately preceding the arrival of Pope Francis. The Hungarian stage musical (2022) on the life of Saint Ignatius of Loyola by Márton Vizy and Dávid Ágoston Tóth features the song that was arranged for the event in a new, symphonic version. Its lyrics reflect Ignatius’ perseverance and victory over darkness, depicting his hazardous pilgrimage through the mountains of Spain. “My feet are muddyMy back is wetThunder’s chasing me.But fears are fading cloudsAnd I’ve crushed the pain by mightIn this true-epic, angelic-demonicQuest for Light!” Hungarian celebrity singers joined the call of Pope Francis who had asked people of goodwill to promote peace. The song is available with English subtitles at this video. More information on the musical: In 2021, “Jezsu”, the Jesuit High School of Miskolc, Hungary wanted to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the conversion of the founder of the Jesuit order, Saint Ignatius. Teachers and students agreed that a new musical would suit the conversion of Ignatius of Loyola the best. The authors of the popular musical play I, Attila József (Madách Theatre, Budapest), Márton Vizy and Ágoston Dávid Tóth, were approached to create a two-act musical. Despite the raging coronavirus pandemic, a year later the musical play was performed by more than 120 students on stage, with 59 main character-roles and a 90-strong choir singing. The students from Miskolc twice filled the largest musical-theatre in Hungary, the Erkel Theatre in Budapest, in the summer and autumn of 2022 to great acclaim. The Director of the show was teacher Klára Velkey; the producer was Domonkos Kajtor SJ. The Hungarian Provincial responsible for the show: Elemér Vízi SJ. The creation of an English-language version of the musical is underway.

In the last week of April, JESC’s Future Generations project held its first workshop at the beautiful Maison Notre Dame du Champ d’Oiseau in Brussels. A two-day open and creative discussion among environmental professionals and high-level civil servants from the main institutions of the EU discussed some theoretical questions with very practical implications: Does it make sense to set up an office that has the mission to ensure long-term thinking in the EU? In case it does, should it work in the legislative procedure, or should it be a watchdog focusing on implementation? What would be the best way to make it a legitimate and efficient actor? These are questions that will continue being addressed in this project’s next workshops, and a short summary of the findings will soon be available. This month, JESC has published its 2022 Annual Report which provides a detailed overview of the 2022 developments and achievements that have taken place within JESC. Read all about the efforts focusing on promoting the vision and values of Europe through a range of activities, publications, projects, and events here.

The Superior General of the Society of Jesus, Fr Arturo Sosa Abascal SJ, has appointed Fr Peter Gallagher SJ (66) to be the next Provincial Superior of the Jesuits in Britain with effect from 1st September 2023.  Fr Gallagher, who is from Coatbridge in Scotland, entered the Society in 1973. After a period of training which included studies at Heythrop College in the University of London and at Centre Sèvres, the Jesuit faculties in Paris, he was ordained priest in 1988. He taught for three years at St Aloysius College in Glasgow before commencing doctoral studies in philosophy at King’s College, University of London. His principal apostolic work has been teaching philosophy at tertiary level, first at Heythrop College and for the last four years at Centre Sèvres in Paris. In both institutions he served as Dean of Philosophy.  Fr Gallagher has also had extensive experience as a formator of young Jesuits, as a superior, as a spiritual director and as an assisting priest in a number of parishes.    The current Provincial, Fr Damian Howard SJ, who has been in post since 2017, commented: “This is a wonderful appointment for our Province and for Catholic religious in Britain. Fr Gallagher is a wise and experienced man with a deep understanding of our vocation and a tireless fidelity to Jesuit life. I pray that he will enjoy his term in this demanding but fulfilling leadership role.”  Fr Gallagher said: “For more than four hundred years British Jesuits have been working for the Church at home and overseas. It is an honour to be asked, at such a moment in our Province’s history, to try to support the members and co-workers in the way expected. I look forward to the task.” 

Annual Meeting of Jesuit Cultural Review Editors in Europe Almost like each year, the editors met for their annual meeting. This time in Krakow, Poland, from May 18 till 21. What is the mission of our cultural reviews? What is the present experience in difficult times like ours? How do we see future perspectives, our ability to promote the dialogue on contemporary culture enriched by our Ignatian spirituality? These were the main topics of our conversations and sharing.  There were six of us representing our works. Pawel Kosinski SJ (internet portal deon.pl – Poland), Antonio Spadaro SJ (La Civiltà Cattolica – Italy), François Euvé SJ (Études – France), Stefan Kiechle SJ (Stimmen der Zeit – Germany), Ulf Jonsson SJ (Signum – Sweden), Árpád Horváth SJ (A Szív – Hungary).  The circulation of these magazines reaches monthly almost 30.000 copies (paper and electronic version), and this list of them edited in Europe by the Society of Jesus is far from being complete. The polish portal deon.pl, for instance, is entirely online, which means that it has no printed version. However, the number of readers who visit deon.pl reaches more than 1.500.000 unique users monthly.  There are no Jesuit cultural magazines in Europe, which would be edited only in printed paper version. Every Jesuit cultural magazine is trying to be present also online. As it was stated by the editors, a cultural review today is not only the text, what is printed or edited in cyber space respectively, but also the Jesuit brand the review is representing.  As usual with this kind of meeting we try to invite guests and to have some ‘side topics’, which would enrich our conversation and help us to understand better the times we live and operate within.  Being in Kraków, Poland, we invited Adam Żak SJ (former PME Provincial, Assistant to Fr. General) who leads now the Centre for Child Protection, a unique institution for study and formation, recognized and endorsed by the Polish Bishops. He spoke about the situation of Child Protection in the Polish Church as well as about the accusations made in recent months to St. John Paul II in regard to what he knew and how he reacted to the sexual abuses by clergy in the catholic church.  The Second theme for the reflection was the war in Ukraine. We’ve had online conversation with Andriy Zelinskyy SJ and his insides about this matter, Artur Demkowicz SJ (PME Treasurer) with information about help to Ukraine organized and coordinated by the PME, and an online meeting with Wojciech Ziółek SJ (former PME Provincial, working now in Tomsk, Russia) about his impression on the global situation and its influence on their pastoral work in the Russian context.  Next Year’s meeting is planned in Sweden.  Paweł Kosiński SJ (PME) 

“The first days of May saw the conclusion of the Living Stones  international meeting in which almost 200 young people were involved from all over the world during a weekend full of testimonies, visits and meetings.  Naples, the venue of the event, welcomed the different communities from many European and non-European counties a the Gesu Nuovo, who delved into the theme of hospitality, chosen ad hoc for the year 2023, under many aspects.  The days were marked by a large number of workshops of all kinds, from philosophy to art, from juvenile detention to folk and classical dance as a form of acceptance of one’s own body.  The event ended with a great feast in which one could experience joy and brotherhood, but not before getting to know artistically the churches where the Neapolitan Pietre Vive carry out their service, visiting the oldest preserved baptistery still standing in the West, and walking on the beach of the archaeological park of Cumae to discover the pagan roots, being certain that, in the shadow of Vesuvius, between a sfogliatella and a painting by Caravaggio, some brothers and sisters have certainly found each other (Mk 3:31-34).  Jesuits EUM