Dear Friends,

As I assume the Presidency of the Conference of European Provincials, this issue of JCEP-News gives me the opportunity to share with you some reflections on what I've experienced living as a Jesuit in Europe. Actually, it takes me back to the example of St Ignatius and the first Jesuits. When I read the Autobiography and the letters and writings of the early companions, I am struck by the fact that the whole of Europe seems to have been a single area in which they lived. They came from different countries, each with its own identity, but their Ignatian spiritual experience enabled them to discern together, to adapt to working as a team and be a community.

My encounters with other Jesuits on a European level began in the novitiate. As a scholastic, I moved around Europe for studies and courses. I lived in international Jesuit communities. It became natural to me that a Jesuit community is made up of brothers from different countries and continents, and that our works are equally rich in the diversity of our lay partners in mission. I have also seen the complexity of our Conference, the diversity of our institutions and of our mentalities, but it has been clear that what unites us is much more powerful. I've come to appreciate the different ways in which we cooperate and stand in solidarity.

A new apostolic mission

To go to Brussels on a new mission is quite a change in my apostolic orientation. I come from the intellectual apostolate and university environment. As Provincial of Croatia I've been involved in the JCEP Council and Assembly, but still feel there’s so much I need to learn. So please have patience with me. However, I accepted this new mission, with all its challenges, as a normal event in my life, no different from any change of ministry in my home Province.

I will seek opportunities to know you personally through meetings in our apostolic networks and other visits. Every week we will be travelling to an international meeting, either myself or my socius, Herminio Rico, or one of the delegates. Yes, we must continue to get to know each other. The Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia are also part of our Conference. Europe is now made up of some rather large provinces, which may seem to be self-sufficient, and the smaller ones, which must not forget that they still have their share of responsibility. We are more and more connected and a decision of one province often affects all the others.

Brussels’ European context

The JCEP has a special mission in the context of the European institutions in Brussels. Pope Francis called on the EU to rediscover its original desire for truth, justice, and eternity and to continue to witness democracy, solidarity, and reconciliation to the whole world. He also urged us not to give up evangelising Europe by making the Good News heard and effective in transforming hearts and cultures.

Continuing to discern

The goals of our Conference are defined by its Apostolic Plan 2021-2026, which follows the General Apostolic Preferences of the Society. I am grateful to my predecessor, Franck Janin, who has guided us through the process of discernment to make sure that the Apostolic Plan and the Preferences are born of listening to the Spirit. Like him, I am also convinced that our priority is to continue to discern what the Spirit of Jesus Christ is telling us, to continue to learn how to be in constant dialogue with God and with one another, in spite of the distractions of our times. For the most part we live in relative material security in comparison with the rest of the world, but the life of church and society in the European context is also an experience of poverty and scarcity as we see the decline of our own numbers and of some apostolates. We are discerning what Christ calls us to keep, what to let go and what new projects to start. After all, building a discerning Church is also the priority that Pope Francis has outlined for the Society.

Global solidarity

Having said all this about collaboration at the level of the Conference, our Ignatian perspective always remains a global one. In many ways, European Jesuit institutes and networks provide formation and support for projects elsewhere. This year we will all meditate on Fr General's letter De Statu Societatis and give our own contribution, with a readiness to embrace the whole world in the perspective of the Holy Trinity.

I will soon be visiting Ukraine. I commend to your prayers the efforts of many to bring peace and justice in that “pierced side” of our Conference. We are not forgetting our brothers and sisters in other parts of the world who are victims of insecurity and persecution, especially recently in Nicaragua and Myanmar.

Most of you, whether Jesuits or lay partners, have experienced the Conference through some of our apostolic networks. Your feedback regularly describes these meetings as events of lived friendship and inspiration for mission. That's the heart of the Conference and I want it to remain so.

Yours fraternally,

Dalibor Renić SJ