Tell me more about Jesuit order!

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Lee_Aaronaldo

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Shalom brothers and sisters in Christ,

It has been such a long time I have never posed a question here. Through my reading to this Catholic Forum site, I learn a lot and increase my Catholic Faith.

Talking about Priesthood, I never knew that there were actually many orders in our Catholic church. I thought there was only one order which I call it Catholic priest. Till during my studies 5 years ago in college, I came to know that there are many different orders such as Franciscan, Jesuit, Redemptorist, etc. This is because the church that I attend every Sunday runs by Jesuit priest. Now I am working in my hometown, I kind of miss their homilies. I love to hear the sermons by Jesuit priest as there are full of wisdom and what’s more are ALIVE!

Recently, my mind kept thinking of this Jesuit order. I just don’t know why. How once priest choose his best congregation? I heard it is very hard to be a Jesuit priest. What are the requirements to enter this order? What are some of the good websites about Jesuit order I can visit? Can anyone here give me good advice? Sometimes I wonder how could stupid person like me can think about this Jesuit order. It’s just so funny! God indeed is a humorous God right? That’s all from me. I would like to thank in-advance for your advice and recommendations. God bless you:)
 
I wouldn’t seek to be a Jesuit priest. There seem to be many more Jesuit priests who aren’t faithful to the Church than those that are. They’ve become very worldly, among other things.

I just saw a joke yesterday about Jesuits, that I thought was funny.

A Jesuit and a Franciscan were chatting outside the church one day when a young lady came along and said, “Oh, just the kind of people I was looking for to help me! Religious men! I would like to ask you both to please pray a novena for me to get a Mercedes Benz!”

The Franciscan looked at her and asked, “What’s a Mercedes Benz?” The Jesuit looked at her and asked, “What’s a novena?” LOL
 
Really? Jesuits worldly? Well, I guess I could see how you might get that impression if you were only interacting with them in an academic setting but it is far from the whole of their lives. Many Jesuits have worked with my sisters in the very poor regions of South America - living in destitution with the people there. I’ve had Jesuit spiritual directors and I have NEVER met a Jesuit who hasn’t, at some point in their life, been in an extremely poor/violent area in the world.

They have a very different flavor to their life because from their very founding they were never required to perform a lot of the same duties that other religious were required to perform. Their main focus was growing in holiness through the apostolate. Their prayer life is very much not focused on the office but on Ignatian prayer, the spiritual exercises, and the Examen prayer. Again, this isn’t them being unfaithful - it is the way they were founded to be.

I know they have gotten a bad rap recently but they are too big of a congregation to make generalizations like that about.

"Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in a love in a quite absolute, final way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the mornings, what you will do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide everything.” - Father Pedro Arrupe, SJ

Prayers for you in your discernment!
 
The ones I know are wonderful, godly men.

It always irks me to see the crazy ones in the news- they make the order look so bad!
 
My Archbishop is a Jesuit, and does a great job. I recommend taking a look if their charism interests you!
 
There are a lot of good ones in the Jesuit order. Fr. Mitch Pacwa is one of my favorite "widely recognized "priests. Just because some are kind of out there, doesn’t mean a person who is more traditional shouldn’t join.
 
DarrenOglesby, I second that! I like to watch him on Threshold of Hope. I wish can be as intelligent as him. I once watch him debated with a pastor from Protestant denomination as well on youtube.😉

Melchior_, You recommend taking a look if their charism interests me? What does it mean by charism? Do you mean personalities or interest? What are the charism for Jesuit order? Can anyone here tell me more about this?:confused:

Aggies08, They are not only wonderful, but awesome in their knowledge! Don’t you agree?

SrMarie. Thank you for your replied of this post! I appreciate it very much especially when you gave quotation from a Jesuit priest. I like the quotation as it helps me in my discernment process. Right now I have conflicting desires to tell you the truth. If I were to become a priest, I wanna be a good priest. If I were to become a father with children, I wanna be a good father! Pray for me Sister Marie. 👍

Scoobyshme, I don’t agree with what you said. Jesuit order itself I believe is not bad at all. The ‘evil’ deeds most of the time done due to the human weaknesses. It is not wise when you said that you would not join because of some of the bad Jesuits become worldly. Anyway, I like your joke. Fr. James Martin is a Jesuit priest and I like the way he shares the jokes. Do you know him?
 
As a Jesuit candidate, I can tell you that you’ll encounter a fair amount of uninformed, venomous tripe put forth about the society- on this forum in particular, for some reason. As in any group, there are individuals with unorthodox views on certain issues. I believe you will find that in most cases of people urging against considering a Jesuit vocation, somewhere along the line they just heard something they don’t agree with, or that is contrary to “traditional” church teachings, and then lazily use that as an excuse to paint the entire order as unorthodox.

If you feel any pull towards religious life rather than a diocesan life, I would strongly urge you to contact a vocation director for one of the Jesuit provinces. They’ll meet with you and answer any questions you have, provide reading materials on Ignatian spirituality and the order itself, and begin connecting you with the “Jesuit world” if you are interested in learning more. There’s a never-ending list of pilgrimages, retreats, meetings and events you can attend.

I’m only a few months into the discernment period before I apply to the society, but I’ve already gone on pilgrimage, taken a retreat and visited several Jesuit universities. I’ve stayed in Jesuit communities. I’ve met dozens of Jesuit novices, scholastics, brothers and priests. I’ve joined them for meals, prayer and mass on different occasions. This summer I will join them as the novices profess their first vows, and again for ordinations.

Whether or not I end up joining, even just this short period of time has been a fantastic, life-changing experience. I am a better person just for having met a lot of these guys- who, incidentally, are by and large the most intelligent, insightful, faithful and (dare I say?) fun-loving people I’ve ever met in my life.

If you don’t feel comfortable contacting the Jesuits, check out one of their websites at thinkjesuit.org/. There is a lot of information there regarding the application process and the course of formation itself. Check out the videos section for some neat personal stories from the guys.

As far as reading, I would recommend two books:

God’s Soldiers by Jonathan Wright

The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything by James Martin

The first is a pretty outstanding history of the Society, and the second is pretty much what it says- covers everything…really a fantastic read.

Feel free to shoot me a private message if you have any other questions or need more information!

God Bless.

Mike
 
Gavinn said:
As a Jesuit candidate, I can tell you that you’ll encounter a fair amount of uninformed, venomous tripe put forth about the society- on this forum in particular, for some reason. As in any group, there are individuals with unorthodox views on certain issues. I believe you will find that in most cases of people urging against considering a Jesuit vocation, somewhere along the line they just heard something they don’t agree with, or that is contrary to “traditional” church teachings, and then lazily use that as an excuse to paint the entire order as unorthodox.

If you feel any pull towards religious life rather than a diocesan life, I would strongly urge you to contact a vocation director for one of the Jesuit provinces. They’ll meet with you and answer any questions you have, provide reading materials on Ignatian spirituality and the order itself, and begin connecting you with the “Jesuit world” if you are interested in learning more. There’s a never-ending list of pilgrimages, retreats, meetings and events you can attend.

I’m only a few months into the discernment period before I apply to the society, but I’ve already gone on pilgrimage, taken a retreat and visited several Jesuit universities. I’ve stayed in Jesuit communities. I’ve met dozens of Jesuit novices, scholastics, brothers and priests. I’ve joined them for meals, prayer and mass on different occasions. This summer I will join them as the novices profess their first vows, and again for ordinations.

Whether or not I end up joining, even just this short period of time has been a fantastic, life-changing experience. I am a better person just for having met a lot of these guys- who, incidentally, are by and large the most intelligent, insightful, faithful and (dare I say?) fun-loving people I’ve ever met in my life.

If you don’t feel comfortable contacting the Jesuits, check out one of their websites at thinkjesuit.org/. There is a lot of information there regarding the application process and the course of formation itself. Check out the videos section for some neat personal stories from the guys.

As far as reading, I would recommend two books:

God’s Soldiers by Jonathan Wright

The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything by James Martin

The first is a pretty outstanding history of the Society, and the second is pretty much what it says- covers everything…really a fantastic read.

Feel free to shoot me a private message if you have any other questions or need more information!

God Bless.

Mike
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Thanks for sharing, Mike! It’d be great if you could post in this section more so we can have a Jesuit perspective on things 🙂
 
Mike, Thanks a lot for sharing Mike! I have checked out the website you have given to me. Awesome. Thanks again. I hope I can make an order of the book entitled, ‘The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything by James Martin’ from Amazon Website as soon as my first salary comes out. 🙂 What is your parents’ reaction when you tell them about your vocation to be a Jesuit priest? Do they easily accept your choice? It was indeed glad to hear from you sharing that your period of discernment has given you life-changing experience. Do you really hear God’s loud voice of this calling? How do you feel so confident about this calling? Sometimes, I wish Jesus stands in front of me and tells what is his plan for me in this earth. Hope to hear from you. 😉
 
Gavinn said:
As a Jesuit candidate, I can tell you that you’ll encounter a fair amount of uninformed, venomous tripe put forth about the society- on this forum in particular, for some reason. As in any group, there are individuals with unorthodox views on certain issues. I believe you will find that in most cases of people urging against considering a Jesuit vocation, somewhere along the line they just heard something they don’t agree with, or that is contrary to “traditional” church teachings, and then lazily use that as an excuse to paint the entire order as unorthodox.

If you feel any pull towards religious life rather than a diocesan life, I would strongly urge you to contact a vocation director for one of the Jesuit provinces. They’ll meet with you and answer any questions you have, provide reading materials on Ignatian spirituality and the order itself, and begin connecting you with the “Jesuit world” if you are interested in learning more. There’s a never-ending list of pilgrimages, retreats, meetings and events you can attend.

I’m only a few months into the discernment period before I apply to the society, but I’ve already gone on pilgrimage, taken a retreat and visited several Jesuit universities. I’ve stayed in Jesuit communities. I’ve met dozens of Jesuit novices, scholastics, brothers and priests. I’ve joined them for meals, prayer and mass on different occasions. This summer I will join them as the novices profess their first vows, and again for ordinations.

Whether or not I end up joining, even just this short period of time has been a fantastic, life-changing experience. I am a better person just for having met a lot of these guys- who, incidentally, are by and large the most intelligent, insightful, faithful and (dare I say?) fun-loving people I’ve ever met in my life.

If you don’t feel comfortable contacting the Jesuits, check out one of their websites at thinkjesuit.org/. There is a lot of information there regarding the application process and the course of formation itself. Check out the videos section for some neat personal stories from the guys.

As far as reading, I would recommend two books:

God’s Soldiers by Jonathan Wright

The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything by James Martin

The first is a pretty outstanding history of the Society, and the second is pretty much what it says- covers everything…really a fantastic read.

Feel free to shoot me a private message if you have any other questions or need more information!

God Bless.

Mike
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Brilliantly put Mike. I would not have been able to give a better answer than that.
I will be joining the Society this year and the past one year has been very rewarding.
I worked in the missions for 2 months and spent another 7 months as preparation for my candidature. It has been a fun-filled, prayerful and rewarding experience.
 
The_Novice said:
Brilliantly put Mike. I would not have been able to give a better answer than that.
I will be joining the Society this year and the past one year has been very rewarding.
I worked in the missions for 2 months and spent another 7 months as preparation for my candidature. It has been a fun-filled, prayerful and rewarding experience.
Click to expand...
👍👍👍
 
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