Nuremberg/Innsbruck - The novitiate of the Jesuits in Central Europe is moving from Nuremberg to Innsbruck in Austria at the end of February. "The house community has become too small for the house due to declining numbers of entrants," is how novice master Fr Thomas Hollweck SJ highlights a key reason for the move. In Innsbruck, the novitiate community is moving into the Jesuit College. Several young Jesuits already live there, especially postgraduate students, as well as young adults who are also searching for their vocation in the future workshop. "Peer groups are essential for young men who want to find out if they are called to be Jesuits. This peer group, which is lacking in Nuremberg, is a decisive reason for the move," says Hollweck.

Construction work on the fourth floor of the Innsbruck College is nearing completion. Thomas Hollweck SJ and Sebastian Ortner SJ, the assistant to the novice master (called socius in the Order), will retain their functions for the novitiate community in Innsbruck as well. After the first five months of novitiate in Nuremberg, the two novices Gabrielius Zaveckas and Matteo Piccioni move to Innsbruck. "In this lively place it will be a challenge how we develop the necessary silence and space for the decision-making processes of the young men. In Nuremberg, on the other hand, there was in some ways an overdose of silence," says Hollweck, describing the differences between the two locations. For him, the move to Innsbruck is more than just a change of location. "It is also a new beginning, both in terms of content, structure and the way we want to shape novitiate. We have to look at our togetherness. How does novitiate work in 2022 with smaller groups? How does novitiate work with the ecclesiastical and social situation? To start anew in a new place and under different conditions makes me happy, because I believe we need many new beginnings."