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s2smodern

In 1968 in the Church Province of the Netherlands the dioceses and the various orders and congregations decided to close their own institutes for philosophy and theology, and opened five new institutes in which they would cooperate. Our theologate was sold. Its building is now part of the Maastricht University. Our philosophy – the Collegium Berchmanianum in Nijmegen – became our community for elderly Jesuits.

Over the decades it developed into a professional care-home that was used not only for our own retired brothers and fathers, but extended its hospitality to members of other religious families as well. The house, however, had not been built for this purpose. And, beautiful though it was, this increasingly became a problem.

How to solve it? Renovation was considered. Buying something or building a new house were options. In the end, it was decided a new house would be built, just a few hundred yards from the location of the old one. Early December 2016 the community of St. Jan Berchmans moved to this new house Aqua Viva, with our 55 inhabitants and 70 staff. We have been living here for just over a year, and much to our satisfaction. It is a beautiful house, pleasant to live in and with the facilities needed to provide professional care for those of us who need it.

And developments did not stop with us moving into this new building. The building is a layered complex, with our community at its core, and 24 apartments with two separate entrances on its rim. Those will be rented out to lay people somewhere in the coming months. With women religious having started living with us in this last month and the prospect of this wider circle of people joining us in this building in the near future, we enjoy a very dynamic retirement-home.

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s2smodern