The rich fruit of a discernment process in The European Network of Jesuit Schools. There are 205 primary and secondary Jesuit and Companion* schools in Europe and the Near East. Together they provide education to almost 180,000 young people. If we also take into account their families, the teachers and their families, the alumni of the schools etc - the schools’ sector represents one of the largest evangelisation works of the Society of Jesus in Europe. At the same time, the number of Jesuits ministering in our schools is decreasing year by year. For this reason, there is a growing need for school staff formation and training programmes, so that Jesuit schools can shape and maintain their identity and be faithful to the mission entrusted to them. The Jesuit Committee for Primary and Secondary Education (JECSE) serves this purpose. JECSE is a network of Jesuit schools and is an interprovincial structure to support on-going communication and collaboration between our schools in Europe, Russia, Egypt and Lebanon. Initially, it operated as an informal organisation enabling education delegates to come together and share good practice. Since 2011, when it became a registered non-profit association, it began to support the staff of our schools in a systematic and continuous way. JECSE’s mission is to provide support to Jesuit schools and Provinces as they aim to fulfil the Society’s mission ‘to form leaders in service, in imitation of Christ Jesus, Men and Women of Competence, Conscience and Compassionate Commitment’ (The 4Cs). In the light of the changing educational and social contexts in Europe and the more recent statements emanating from Rome about the nature and purposes of Jesuit Education, JECSE undertook a two-year process of discernment, which ultimately led to the Strategic Development Plan for the 2022-2026 period. “The Strategic Plan should be understood as part of an overall trajectory, building on the work of previous directors and moving towards a stronger and better resourced Office for the Delegates and Provinces in the European network. The plan is true to our essential character as a discerning organisation as we have carefully refined our understanding of how we will most effectively achieve our vision. The plan also responds to the task given to us by Father General Arturo Sosa SJ in 2020 to strengthen our European network of Jesuit schools.” (From the Foreword) The plan sets out five main priorities for the JECSE network in the coming years: To promote reflective and collaborative processes of discernment. To provide complementary programmes of formation for school leaders and staff. To support schools in their efforts to offer in-depth faith formation and the skills to dialogue with other religions and worldviews. To foster a sense of being a part of the global community with a shared responsibility for our common mission. To support schools in the creation of a safe and healthy environment for all. “The five strategic priorities demonstrate our commitment to the common mission of the Society of Jesus, which is most recently expressed in the four Universal Apostolic Preferences (UAPs). The priorities relate to the themes of spirituality, justice and the environment and most especially to our desire to ‘accompany young people in the creation of a hope filled future’. “(From the Foreword) The Strategic Development Plan also contains important information about the history of our network, its structure and JECSE activities and programmes. The JECSE network now faces the important task of implementing the plan’s objectives. It requires strengthening the structure of JECSE as an organisation, building an executive team, creating new support and formation programmes for schools. Increasing professionalization also requires the search for new financial sources so that JECSE is a strong and stable organisation supporting schools to meet the challenges of our current times. *Companion schools – schools who share in the same educational mission as Jesuit schools, but are not formally regarded as one of the Works of the Society Group picture: The previous members of the JECSE Steering Committee - the group that has been working on our Development Plan for two years - from right to left: Mr Brian Flannery, JECSE Deputy Director, Ms Ilse Dekker - JECSE Director till 2022, Fr Bernard Peters SJ from Belgium South, Fr Antonio Allende SJ from Spain, Peter Knapen from Belgium North, Fr Ferenz Holzinger SJ from Hungary. JECSE

In January, in Palermo and Catania, the Pedro Arrupe political training institute is proposing an interactive socio-political formation course for beginners. “GenerAzioni”, the title of the project, is an inter-generational workshop that brings together the experiences of good moral practices present in the territories, offering formation courses to people who wish to commit themselves to the creation of community processes of change. A total of 50 people will be able to participate, divided into two groups of 25 – aged between 18 and 55 – who are already experienced in understanding reality and aware of the need to develop collaborative and procreative activities in the territories. Generative Democracy The socio-political formation course, which starts in January, consists of meetings on eight macro-areas (ethical philosophy, anthropology, ecology, geopolitics, justice, institutional politics, cultural-educational, social and economic, digital-communication). Socio-political formation will also be carried out on site, thus giving the opportunity for direct knowledge of moral territorial experiences, applied within marginal and peripheral places, public or private social organizations that have become good practices. There will also be moments of joint participation with ‘Agorà’, an institution for generative democracy, consisting of periodic encounters through public assemblies open to citizens, to listen to needs and direct proposals and actions from below. Beauty and transformation The various research groups will take action to resolve the critical issues noted in the various projects, by means of collaborative work that can bring about a “change” in the territorial context examined. In this phase, with a view to mutual collaboration, people from outside the working group, local authorities and institutions will be involved. “GenerAzioni” was set up as we intended to give back to politics its vital and more authentic cultural breath,” Fr. Gianni Notari, director of the Pedro Arrupe Institute says. “In recent years we have witnessed an increasingly significant separation between civil society and politics. Our desire is to create a cultural and social operation to start new processes. There is so much potential to invest in. We would like to be able to establish beauty and transformation”.

UNIJES has just published a collection of six booklets of Ignatian University Pedagogy that aims to inspire and apply Ignatian pedagogy, from the vision of the "Ledesma-Kolvenbach university paradigm", through various active methodologies that are a trend in higher education today.  The booklets are the result of almost four years of work by a good group of professors from the universities and centres of UNIJES, an authentic choral work. They are coordinated by Vicente Hernández, professor at the Faculty of Human and Social Sciences (Comillas CIHS).  The collection of University Ignatian Pedagogy notebooks is made up of six volumes and aims to inspire and apply Ignatian pedagogy, from the vision of the "Ledesma-Kolvenbach university paradigm", through various active methodologies (Service-Learning, Ignatian debate, co-teaching, problem-based learning, project-based learning and challenge-based learning) that are a trend in higher education.  A choral work and framed within the framework of the strategic project: University educational innovation in the key of Ignatian pedagogy.  Access the booklets by clicking here: Jesuitas España 

On 21st January 1623 Fr General Vitelleschi issued a decree canonically establishing the English Province of the Society of Jesus. Four hundred years to the day after this decree was issued Jesuits, lay-people and other religious working alongside us in our ministries, as well as a large group of friends and well-wishers, gathered at the Farm Street church in central London to celebrate a thanksgiving Mass for the Province’s fourth centenary.  Around 500 people packed into the church for the Mass. Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop pf Westminster, was the principal celebrant, the Provincial, Fr Damian Howard SJ, preached the homily, and the celebration was introduced by Fr Michael Holman SJ, Superior of the Jesuits in London. Fr Antoine Kerhuel SJ, the Secretary of the Society, joined us with a message from Fr General, and the Benedictines, the Dominicans, and the Congregation of Jesus were all represented.  The Province was established at a time when the Roman Catholic church in this country was suffering extreme persecution. Edmund Campion had been martyred at Tyburn, less than a mile from Farm Street, forty years earlier, and 28 Jesuit priests and brothers, now recognised as saints and blessed, would share his fate between 1573 and 1679. Campion had, on returning to England a year before his capture and death, issued a challenge to the Privy Council to openly debate questions of faith. A musical setting of part of this challenge, popularly known as “Campion’s Brag”, was commissioned from Sir James MacMillan, a notable composer, to mark the celebration, receiving its world premiere at this Mass.  The Provincial started his homily by recognising the contributions of Wales and Scotland to the Province, which took until the 1980s to formally acknowledge this by renaming itself as the British Province. He spoke of the missionary work so central to the life of the Province: “First over the ocean to Maryland, where in due course a daughter Province would see the light of day. Then came missions to the Caribbean, Central America, Calcutta, Malta, present-day Guyana, Belize, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa.” And he looked forward to the future, with all its uncertainties, to be met with continuing trust in God. Finally he invited all present to make their own the prayer of Dag Hammarskjöld: “For all that has been, thank you. For all that is to come, yes!”  The Province archives are kept in the basement at Farm Street, and the archivist and her team had mounted a small exhibition of relevant material for the day. This included a number of illustrated journals kept by those pioneer missionaries in South America. After the Mass all present were invited to a reception which overflowed to the public gardens which adjoin the house. Later in the day, messages of thanks were received from other communities which had been able to join via livestream, not least the Province care facility in Boscombe where those praying for the Church and the Society had been enthusiastically involved.  Now, onwards into our fifth century!  Paul Nicholson SJ  

Arturo Sosa SJ, General Superior of the Society of Jesus, has appointed Attila András SJ as the new head of the Jesuit Province in Hungary. The outgoing Elemér Vízi SJ’s successor has been the treasurer of the Province, and a member of the community of Dobogókő. He will take office on 25 February at the Jesuit Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Budapest, starting at 6:00 pm.  Attila András SJ was born on 18 September 1977 in Székelyudvarhely/Odorheiu Secuiesc, Romania. He completed his primary school education in his hometown and his secondary school education in Gyulafehérvár/Alba Iulia between 1992 and 1996.  After graduation, he joined the Society of Jesus in 1996. He did the novitiate in Szeged, Hungary. After taking his vows, he spent six months at the Juniorate in Budapest, where he studied German language and literature in preparation for his studies in philosophy at the Formation Center in Munich between 1999 and 2001. After his studies in Germany, he completed his magisterium (2001-2003) in Miskolc, at the Fényi Gyula Jesuit High School and College as a dormitory teacher and prefect. Before his theological studies, he spent two years in Taiwan, at Fu Jen University, studying Chinese language and culture. He was greatly influenced by Eastern culture and the thinking of the Eastern people. He continued his theological studies in London at Heythrop College, where he was ordained a deacon in 2009. He served as deacon at St. Ignatius Jesuit Student Hall, and in the meantime he completed his Master's degree in theology and child protection (MA) at Sapientia College of Theology of Religious Orders in Budapest in 2009-2011.  On 18 September 2010, he was ordained priest by Archbishop Csaba Ternyák of Eger in the Jesuit parish church of the Divine Word in Miskolc. In 2012, he introduced the teaching of Chinese language and culture at the Jesuit high school in cooperation with the Confucius Institute, which has been successfully running ever since.  He completed his Jesuit training in Dublin with the tertianship in 2013-2014. He pronounced the solemn vows on 7 April 2015 in Budapest, together with his fellow Jesuit Elemér Vízi.  Since September 2019, he has been the treasurer of the Hungarian Province and overseen the developments of the province as a member of the Dobogókő community.  Jesuits Hungary 

On 1 December, Fr Michel Fédou sj received the Ratzinger Prize from Pope Francis, who hailed "a master of Christian theology". Fr. Fédou is a professor of classics, has a doctorate in theology and teaches patristics and dogmatic theology at the Centre Sèvres - Facultés jésuites de Paris. A worthy heir to the French theologians On 1 December 2022, the Ratzinger Prize* was awarded in the Clementine Room in the Vatican at the end of the morning, in the presence of the Supreme Pontiff, the two recipients: Fr. Michel Fédou SJ and the law professor Joseph Halevi Horowitz Weiler, Cardinal Ravasi, President Emeritus of the former Pontifical Council for Culture, and Father Federico Lombardi, President of the Joseph Ratzinger - Benedict XVI Vatican Foundation, who initiated this award, now in its twelfth year. In his speech, Pope Francis began by evoking the figure of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, whose thought was "fruitful and effective", before returning to the important work of the two laureates of this 2022 edition, saluting "two eminent personalities for the remarkable work they have accomplished in their respective fields of study and teaching". Fr Michel Fédou SJ, born in 1952 in Lyon, is "a master of Christian theology", said the Holy Father. The French Jesuit, who specialises in patristics, dogmatic theology, and Christology, "has not closed himself off to the past. His knowledge of the faith tradition has nourished in him a lively thought", also able "to address current issues in the field of ecumenism and relations with other religions". "In him, we recognise and pay tribute to a worthy heir and continuator of the great tradition of French theology, which has given the Church masters of theology and theology of the Church. In him we recognise and pay homage to a worthy heir and continuator of the great tradition of French theology, which has given the Church teachers of the stature of Father Henri De Lubac", the Pontiff complimented, mentioning also "solid and courageous cultural undertakings such as Sources Chrétiennes", a review of patristics born eighty years ago. "Without the contribution of this French theology, the richness, depth and breadth of the reflection on which the Second Vatican Council was nourished would not have been possible, the Pope said, and it is to be hoped that it will continue to bear fruit in the long term. On Thursday afternoon, 1 December, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI received at the Mater Ecclesiae monastery in the Vatican the two personalities awarded the Ratzinger Prize by Pope Francis: Fr Michel Fédou SJ and Professor of Law Joseph H. Horowitz Weiler, accompanied by the President of the Joseph Ratzinger - Benedict XVI Vatican Foundation, Fr Federico Lombardi SJ. Georg Gänswein, the Pope's private secretary, also attended the meeting. The two winners of the 2022 Prize "were able to talk to Pope Benedict XVI and illustrate their work to him," reads the Ratzinger Foundation's Facebook page. At the end of the audience, the Pope emeritus presented each of them with a volume and a medal. Jésuites EOF