USA

Two American Jesuits recently discussed the genius of the Spiritual Exercises in an interview with America magazine.  Fr Roger Haight SJ and Fr James Martin SJ recently published books on the Exercises.  Fr Haight's book, “Christian Spirituality for Seekers”, was published this summer, and Fr Martin's “

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In September, the six Conference Presidents gathered in Rome for their annual meeting with Fr General. Although we came from very different parts of the world, we could experience much in common in our roles of service to the Society’s global mission. 

In his invention at the 25^th Synod of Bishops, Fr General Adolfo Nicolás, superior general of the Society of Jesus, told the Synod that “a New Evangelisation has to learn something from the First Evangelisation, from the things we did well and from the mistakes we committed as well as the insufficiencies we suffered in our desire to communicate the Gospel”.

A Jesuit novice from the United States reflects on the five months he spent in full-time apostolic work in Micronesia, in the Long Experiment that is but one of a series of experiments in which Jesuits participate during their formation.  Tim Casey nSJ taught at Yap Catholic High School in Micronesia.

The Society is now at a new stage brought about by a couple of converging factors – the demographic realities and how we can best serve the universal mission today.

Our numbers have been in decline for the last 40 years – from over 30,000 in the 1960s to fewer than 18,000 today.  The steep declines in Europe and North America and consistent decline in Latin America have not been offset by the significant increase in South Asia and a small rise in Africa.