GC36 last two weeks.

Four Assistants ad providentiam

In accordance with the Formula of the Congregation General, on 04 November 2016, the Congregation elected the following as Assistentes ad Providentiam:

Fr. Vernon D’Cunha comes from the Province of Bombay (BOM). He was born in Mumbai, India, in 1956. He is the current Provincial of Bombay Province.

Fr. Douglas Marcouiller comes from US Central-Southern Province (UCS). He was born in 1953 in Evanston, United States. He is currently the Regional Assistant for Canada and USA. Fr. Marcouiller has also been elected as Father General’s admonitor.

Fr. Fratern Masawe comes from Eastern Africa Province (AOR). He was born in 1956 in the United Republic of Tanzania. He is currently the Regional Assistant for Africa.

Fr. John Dardis comes from Ireland Province (HIB). He was born in Dublin in 1956. He is the current President of Conference of European Provincials. He has been appointed Delegate for Discernment and Apostolic Planning by the new General as well. 

The New Secretary of the Society

In addition to the election of the four Assistants ad Providentiam and the Admonitor, Father General also announced that he was appointing Father Antoine Kerhuel as Secretary of the Society. He was born in 1957 in Lorient, France. He is the current Regional Assistant of West Europe.

In his first letter to the entire Society dated November 4, 2016, Father General Arturo Sosa announced that he hopes to begin working with the new team in the early days of January 2017. Finally, Father Sosa expressed gratitude on behalf of the Society to the men who will soon be leaving the central government of the Society for new assignments elsewhere. These are Fathers Miguel Cruzado, Ignacio Echarte, James E. Grummer, and Federico Lombardi. Their dedication, generosity and availability have been helpful to the Society.

On Monday morning, November 7, Father General has announced the nomination of one Regional Superior and and four new Provincials. Here is the list.

• Fr. Boguslaw Steczek, 71 years old, Regional Superior of the Russian Region. He joined the Society of Jesus on July 30, 1963 and was ordained on June 21, 1972. At the moment, he is Director of the Archive and collaborator at the Provincial Curia of the Province of Southern Poland.
  
  
  
• Fr. Vidmantas Šimkunas, 52 years old, Provincial of the Province of Lithuania. He entered the Society of Jesus on June 11, 1986 and was ordained on May 30, 1993.
  At the moment, he is the Prefect of St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist, in Vilnius.
  
  
  
• Fr. Elemér Vizi, 42 years old, Provincial of the Province of Hungaria. He joined the Jesuit order on September 15, 2003 and had been ordained a priest on July 30, 2000. He is, at the moment, Rector and Vice-Superior of the Manréza Spiritual Centre in Dobogókö.
  
  
  
• Fr. Johannes Siebner, 55 years old, Provincial of the Province of Germany. He entered the Society of Jesus on September 19, 1983 and was ordained on April 25, 1992. At the moment, he is Rector of St. Alosius College, in Bonn.
  
  
  
  
• Fr. Leonard Moloney, 61 years old, Provincial of the Province of Ireland. He joined the Society of Jesus on September 24, 1973 and was ordained on June 22, 1985. He was, until last year, Headmaster of Clongowes Wood College, Co. Kildare.
  
  

Creation of a new province: French speaking Western Europe (EOF). 

At the beginning of the morning session, Thursday, November 10, Father General Artur Sosa announced that during the first months of 2017 a new Province will be created: the Province of French Speaking Western Europe (EOF). It will replace the Province of Southern Belgium and Luxemburg and the Province of France.
The Provincial will be Fr. François Boëdec, 54. He entered the Society of Jesus on October 7, 1986 and was ordained to the priesthood on June 8, 1996. At present, he is the President of Centre Sèvres, Jesuit Faculties in Paris.