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About
the Jesuits
Five
hundred years after the birth of lgnatius Loyola, and four hundred and
fifty years after he founded the Jesuit Order, Jesuits around the world
are celebrating - amid tension, challenge and change
THE MYTH OF THE JESUITS
The
Jesuits, from the beginning, have been targets of suspicion. 'The Society
of Jesus', said Napoleon, 'is the most dangerous of Orders, and has
done more mischief than all the others.' Thomas Jefferson was still
more forceful: 'If any congregation of men could merit eternal perdition
on earth and in hell. it is the Company of Loyola.' And Lord Macaulay,
while impressed by the heroism, tenacity and dedication of some Jesuits,
alluded to their 'unscrupulous laxity and versatility in the choice
of means.' One glimpses here, the old charge that for Jesuits 'end justifies
the means'. Jesuits are required, in fact, to 'obey their superior in
all things - sin alone expected'. The exception is crucial.
THE REALITY OF IGNATIUS
lgnatius
Loyoia was a visionary, and animator of others, and in the latter part
of his life a busy organiser and letter-writer. He valued friends within
the church and outside it, including women friends, very highly. The
last of twelve children, Inigo de Loyola was born into a noble but impoverished
family. As a young military officer, he found himself defending a fort
at Pamplona, in the Basque country of north-western Spain, The defence
continued till well after a surrender should have been negotiated, because
Inigo refused to quit. The reward for his foolhardy courage was a right
leg shattered by a cannon ball. As the almost legendary story has it,
the army doctor failed to set the leg correctly. A section of bone protruded.
The leg had to be re-set, without anaesthetic. Inigo was taken back
to the old family manor to convalesce over many months.
Bored, he asked for some novels to read, but the only books available
were a few romances, a life of Christ and some lives of saints. According
to his Autobiography, Inigo discovered that when he read tales of chivalry
the excitement was immediate, but what followed were hours of restlessness.
On the other hand, when he read the religious books the immediate effect
was minor, but the after-effects were profound contentment. Giving attention
to these shifts of mood, and repeating the experiment from day to day,
he began to trust his own "inner movements". He also began
to believe that they offered guidance about the directions his life
should now take. In fact, he came to interpret these changes within
as signs of divine guidance.
At the same time, lnigo was beginning to feel an attraction and admiration
towards the figure of Jesus Christ, a sense of personal closeness that
would stay with him the rest of his life.. In search of Christ, lgnatius
(the new name he adopted) first became a pilgrim, living for a time
in a cave near Manresa. He prayed for long hours, and found his vision
becoming simplified and energised. After his spiritual apprenticeship,
he abandoned austerities and set out, now a man in his mid-thirties,
to gain an education. This meant going to the local school and studying
alongside teenagers. After mastering the basics of Latin, the ex-nobleman
and ex-officer departed for the University of Paris, begging for meals
along the way. In Paris he studied with tenacity and spiritual fervour
- needing both, because he was no natural student.
LOVE OF CHRIST - AND THE CHURCH
At
university, lgnatius gathered a group of friends who he sensed were
ready for a major challenge. Their life in common was simple and prayerful.
Together they planned to go one day as pilgrims to Jerusalem, to visit
the scenes of Christ's life. Frustrated in the plans, since the Moors
remained firmly in charge of Palestine and no sea-captain would take
the companions there, they decided instead to band together more closely
- and prepare for possible dispersion through the countries of Europe.
lgnatius would go to Rome and ask the Pope what service his group could
offer the Church. By this time their group spirit was clear: maintaining
the tension between close companionship and flexibility to go on mission
was to be the mainspring of their new religious order. The group hoped
to respond quickly to the needs of the New World, the excitement and
challenge of new learning, and the ferment that the Reformation was
causing within the church.
Ignatius' theory - his theology - was typical of his own day rather
than original. It was nothing if not strongly incarnational, based on
the conviction that the Church is the extension of Christ's life and
presence through time and space. On this reckoning, those who love Christ
must also love and serve His Church, despite its human weakness, frailty
and corruption. Loyola knew several popes to be unworthy of their office,
but he could also see beyond them in the divine spark within the Church.
Least worthy, perhaps was Leo X: 'God has given us the papacy. let's
enjoy it!,. Leo did so, to the scandal of the world. In his attitude
to the popes of his day, lgnatius combined a strong conviction about
what ought to be, with realism about the world as it is.
Loyola bad a gift for dealing with people emphathetically, spotting
their talent and finding ways to motivate them in God's service. His
most notablerecruit to the Jesuit Order was Francis Xavier, a brilliant
young scholar and athlete whom he met at the University of Paris. Xavier,
highly ambitious at the time, at first ridiculed lgnatius' spiritual
vision - especially with regard to himself. Later Xavier was to carry
that ambition they shared to India, the Dutch East lndies, Japan and
to the door of China. Revealing a gift for languages, he preached to
hundreds at a time, offered inspiration, baptised and moved on. His
work, particularly in India, has lasted. He reported the progress of
his mission to Loyola in an extensive correspondence, and received replies
months later. As their exchange of letters shows, distance did nothing
to diminish their rapport. Novelist Evelyn Waugh wrote of the younger
man, 'Xavier was preeminent in daring and endurance. In him renaissance
exhuberance coexisted with medieval faith.'
Another notable recruit was Francis Borgia, Duke of Candia and friend
to the Emperor. The Borgia backgrnund was famous, and infamous, including
lucretia and Cesare Borgia, and the not-so-worthy Pope Alexander VI
Francis, by contrast, was a man of lofty standards. When he complained
to loyola about certain personalities, the latter replied, 'Francis,
we are called upon to mould not gold, but clay.' Borgia later became
the third superior general of the order.
THE SPIRITUALITY OF IGNATIUS LOYOLA
'Spirituality',
in a Jesuit context, is a complex word. it is used to describe the process
of adapting the gospel to a particular time and place, especially when
this is done in an inspirational and memorable way. The French Jesuit
historian jean de Guibert summed up lgnatian spirituality in a succinct
phrase: 'service of Christ our leader, the one who is loved passionately'.
lgnatius passionately longed to be wholehearted, and to prepare others
to be so. The constant refrain in his most famous work, The Spiritual
Exercises, is 'What have I done for Christ, what am I doing for Christ,
what shall I do for Christ?'. In response, Loyola himself prays:
Lord, teach me to be generous.
Teach me to serve You as you deserve, to give and not to count the cost..
THE JESUITS AND CONTROVERSY
Jesuits
undergo a long spiritual and intellectual formation, generally about
twelve years in all, including arts, sciences, philosophy and theology
- as well as field-work in education or social involvement. One cannot
pretend that all Jesuits have been outstanding: most have been average
men who have worked hard. But there have been a core of brilliant and
original priests and brothers who showed courage and vision, sometimes
well ahead of their time. As in every
organisation, there have also been small 'safe' men of limited vision,
who have found their more controversial brethren difficult to identify
with.
There was the China experiment. In the 16th century, Matteo Ricci was
sent there on a virtual 'mission impossible', given that China was closed
to most Westerners. Ricci was a gifted mathematician and scholar, and
also a man of charm and tact. He managed to penetrate not only China
but also the circle of friends around the Emperor, becoming something
of mentor to him as well as an instructor in Western science. The Emperor
became favourably disposed toward Christianity. Ricci, meanwhile, worked
at adapting church practice to Chinese customs and ways of thought,
a strategy that may have led to the Christian faith spreading through
China. Rome, alas, ruled against his vision and strategy- A potentially
fascinating missionary experiment was cut short. Two hundred years later,
adaptation to cultures was seen to be not only wise but necessary.
In our own century, Pierre Teiihard de Chardin (who also worked in China)
found himself silenced by superiors and living under a cloud for many
years. He and his remarkable books, including The Phenomenon of Man
and The Divine Milieu, have now been exonerated. In the meantime, Teiihard's
daring thought was influential in preparing the Catholic Church for
the Second Vatican Council. Suspicion surrounding him also fell on the
German Augustin Bea, Frenchman Henri de Lubac, Austrian Kari Rahner
and the American John Courtenay Murray. Yet all these Jesuits were engaged
as experts (periti) at the Council, advising bishops and helping draft
documents. All have continued to be formative influences in mainstream
Catholic thinking and action since the Vatican Council.
Jesuits, especially those who are priests (some are brothers), are forbidden
both by the Church and by their own rule from taking part in politics
as such. But at times politics can impinge on moral issues, and today
massive problems of injustice, especially in the Third World, call for
priestly zeal, compassion and love. Last year, five Jesuits were murdered
in El Salvador. Why? Because as members of a university community they
had championed the rights of oppressed people. Many others have been
imprisoned or expelled for similar reasons from countries where they
once worked. lgnatius Loyola wanted his men to be equally at home among
the poor and among the leaders of society. It is his inspiration, and
the spirituality he articulated and taught, that motivates them even
now.
JESUITS OF THE FUTURE
John
Henry Newman, the English Cardinal whose centenary was celebrated in
1991, is well known for his obervation that 'to grow is to change, and
to be perfect is to have changed often'. In loyola's cosmic vision,
Jesuits had to be ready to adapt themselves to their environment —
always in the service of the gospel. In a quickly changing world, spiritual
realism and courage are needed more than ever, together with imagina
' lien and vision. It is easy to stagnate in the methods and techniques
of the past.
The present superior general of the Jesuits is Peter-Hans Koivenbach,
a Dutch-born linguist who visited Australia in 1989. Much of his working
life was spent in the Middle East, with a base in Beirut. Rising early
for Mass, often in the Armenian rite, he is engaged most days (as was
lgnatius) in tasks concerned with the deployment of his men, as well
as conferring with advisers and in letter-writing. Kolvenbach has overall
direction of some 25,000 Jesuits worldwide, working in universities,
colleges, social programmes, parishes, missions and refugee work. They
engage with almost every stratum of society in the countries where they
work.
Exchanges of letters continue to be a major point of contact among them
and with their Superior General.
Jesuits and many people who work with them, continue to draw life from
the work and thought of lgnatius loyoia. His vision has proved eminently
durable. He appears more than ever as a man of expansive and compassionate
vision, by no means the military martinet he has sometimes been painted.
So five hundred years after his birth and four hundred and fifty years
after his inspiration was embodied in the Jesuit Order, many within
the Catholic Church and beyond marked these anniversaries. Even the
United Nations had passed a resolution to that effect. And so, from
afar, we limited mortals salute this imperial man - and I say 'imperial'
- because loyoia thought and acted on the grand, Olympian scale, in
terms of empires for Christ, spurning the timid, myopic mentality of
so many in the Church and the world at large.
One tries to imagine the kind of statement lgnatius might have issued
for the occasion. I believe it would be about boundless faith in Christ,
love. and compassion for all humankind, and justice everywhere - even
if the quest of it leads to imprisonment or the sacrifice of one's own
life.
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