From June 18th to 24th, a meeting of novice masters from European novitiates took place in Gdynia, Poland. The previous gathering was held two years ago in Birmingham. Since then, six out of nine novitiates in Europe and the Middle East have seen changes in their novice masters. This recent meeting provided an excellent opportunity to share experiences and discuss possibilities for collaboration across Europe. Several presentations and discussions highlighted the event. Dalibor Renić addressed the challenges of formation, while János Lukács proposed a practical experiment in utilizing the Constitution of the Society of Jesus. Leszek Gęsiak, a Jesuit and spokesman for the Bishops’ Conference in Poland, presented an overview of the current situation of the Church in Poland. Additionally, Piotr Szymański, the former novice master in Gdynia, showcased and discussed the award-winning documentary "Voice," produced two years ago at the Polish novitiate. You can view the trailer here. The participants in the meeting included: Hrvoje Marvak, novice master in Split, Croatia Pavel Bačo, socius of the novice master in Birmingham, UK Arnaud de Rolland, novice master in Lyon, France Dalibor Renić, President of the JCEP Czesław Wasilewski, novice master in Gdynia, Poland Matthew Power, novice master in Birmingham, UK Francisco Cuartero, novice master in Bilbao, Spain Iosif Sandoru, novice master in Genoa, Italy Frederico Lemos, novice master in Coimbra, Portugal János Lukács, JCEP formation delegate This meeting fostered a spirit of unity and mutual support among the novice masters, paving the way for future collaborations in their shared mission.

Every two years are getting together the formators of the Jesuit novices for a one week meeting to exchange experiences about introducing the religious life to the new members of the order and this year the meeting was from 24 to 30 June in Prague, Czech Republic. Today’s times need more than ever permanent reflection of the process of formation. We need to reflect not only the formation of beginners, but the general process of formation. However the beginning is always essential. We have actually in the Europe ten novitiates, including the novitiate of the Middle East province. Usually there are novices from a several countries in each of the novitiates. The novitiate of the PRO in Cairo (Egypt) has novices from northern Africa, Syria and Lebanon, in Birmingham (England) there are the novices from England, Scotland, Ireland and northern Belgium. The novitiate in Nürnberg (Germany) includes German, Austrian, Swiss, Hungarian and Lithuanian novices. The novitiate in Ruzomberok (Slovakia) is common for Czech and Slovak novices, the novitiate in Lyon (France) is for France and southern Belgium. The novitiate in Genova (Italy) has novices from Italy, Malta and Slovenia. Polish novitiate in Gdynia is for novices from Poland, Russia and Ukraine. The novitiate in Split (Croatia) is for novices from Croatia, Bosnia and Hercegovina, and Serbia. At the meeting took part the novice masters Fr. Jan Adamík SJ (BOH), Fr. Stipo Balatinac SJ (CRO), Fr. Thomas Hollweck SJ (GER), Fr. Piotr Szymański SJ (PMA), Fr. Abel Toraño SJ (ESP), Fr. Miguel Ferreira SJ (POR), Fr. Thierry Anne SJ (GAL), Fr. Mourad Abou Seif SJ (PRO) and the socius Fr. Ray Pace SJ (ITA) and Fr. Simon Bishop SJ (BRI). At the meeting took also part Fr. Franck Janin SJ, present provincial of southern Belgium and Luxembourg who was recently appointed by the general superior Fr. Arturo Sosa SJ to the President of the Conference of European Jesuit Provincials. Next guest was ex-novice master of Hungarian novitiate Fr. János Lukács SJ who was leading the conferences about our Constitutions, focusing on the parts speaking about the formation of new members.