First you have to understand that the Jesuits began with all kinds of exceptions. St. Ignatius wanted to found a society of priests that would combat heresy, do mission work, preach and teach. These men were to be a community bound by vows of poverty, obedience and chastity and they were to make a fourth vow to go where the pope needed them.
At the same time, Ignatius wanted them to be free of the structure of religious life. At the time there were two models of religious life: monks and friars. Monks were enclosed and friars had monastic practices, but were active and took their practices on the road, in a manner of speaking. They did not need to live in a monastery, as long as they lived in fraternities.
This was too confining for the idea that Ignatius had in mind. The pope accepted the Society of Jesus as the last religious order to be founded in the Church’s history. No more religious orders were ever founded after the Jesuits. The pope gave Ignatius permission to found a society without a rule of life. By not having a rule of life, each Jesuit is free to cultivate his own way of life and his own spirituality. Also, they are not bound to live in community, because there is no rule to command that.
Ignatius wrote statutes for the Jesuits, with the understanding that they could change them, add to them and delete according to the needs of the time, their own needs as individuals and as a community, and their preferences… This was not the case for the other religious orders. The other orders were bound to live according to the mind of the founder and not a letter of the founder’s wishes could be changed by anyone except the pope, not so for the Jesuits. They could change anything that Ignatius wrote for them.
The pope also allowed them to live independently. They do not pray together, share meals, or have too many mandatory community activities. They are still a fraternity, with each Jesuit contributing to the welfare of the order and caring for each other when they are sick or old. When possible, they live and work together. But if the need arises, they live alone too. St. Francis Xavier never lived in community once he left Spain. He prayed alone, cultivate his own spiritual life and supported himself. However, he was still a religious, besides being a priest. He had to write back to the superior and keep him informed of his work and spiritual progress. He also had to take orders from the superior.
They also received permission to own as much property as necessary to achieve their work. They do not own individual property. Everything that a Jesuit has and uses belongs to the order. The superior can take it away at any time.
They were also given wider parameters than other religious orders to study theology, to tease out conflicts in theological ideas, to discuss subjects that were forbidden to others. Of course, this made them sound very different and at one time they were suppressed. Their suppression was really unfair. The Franciscans were responsible for this. They accused the Jesuits of heresy and dissent. The Franciscans would later recant and to this day, we are still making it up to the Jesuits.
Unfortunately, so much freedom can be dangerous. The Jesuits have certainly found this out the hard way. Many of their men have gone beyond teasing out controversial issues in theology and far beyond trying to understand dissenting ideas. Many have been pulled into these ideas. This put them on a collision course with the Church. This is not a fault of the order, St. Ignatius or the Church. It is a very human reality. Many human beings cannot handle so much freedom and they pulled into what I call a black hole.
Because they are so large, it has always been very difficult for their general superior to reign in the dissenters. We’re talking about 20,000 men, on a low vocation day.
The truth is that they have made a very significant contribution to the missions, education, theology, ministry to the poor and they have forced the Church to examine and think about things that the hierarchy simply hoped would go away.
The current Jesuits actually have a very good relationship with the Holy Father. At their last general chapter, which they call the general congregation, the came out with a beautiful decree of fidelity to Pope Benedict. During the recent dialogue with the SSPX, they were asked to provide theologians to work on the committee with Opus Dei, the Dominicans and Cardinal Levada. The Holy See still recognizes them as the brightest minds in the Church and among the best theologians that we have, along with Dominicans, Opus Dei and the Congregation of the Holy Cross, the community that runs Notre Dame.
They are really very humble too, which they don’t often get credit for. Jesuits often work in horrible conditions that no one else will go into and they go into it alone, with little or no money and no other Jesuit for support. They have a rule never to accept being appointed bishop. Nor do they accept positions of authority in the Church. The Jesuits who have been bishops had to be granted a dispensation from their law first, so as to liberate them to accept.
There is much more to them, but this is good enough for starters.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, OSF
(No surprise there.)