The paths of Jesuit theology students Eliomar Ribeiro, Carlos Jahn, and Marco Antonio Lima have crossed at the Jesuit theologate in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

Among the 20 new cardinals who received their red hats in Rome on February 21 was Serafim Fernandes de Araujo, archbishop of Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The honor given to the archbishop was a recognition, no doubt, of the dynamic pastoral programs of the archdiocese that he leads. The local Church, with more than three million members, is regarded as among the most innovative in the country. And the archbishop's city, Belo Horizonte, lies at the center of Brazil's most important economic, political, and cultural axis: Rio - São Paulo - Brasilia.

This strategic location at the meeting point of many dynamic currents in Brazil, amidst a vibrant local Church, was an inspired choice for the teologado interprovincial, the theology school that the four Jesuit provinces of Brazil established in 1982. In fact the theologate draws Jesuits from all over Brazil and beyond, making it a meeting place for Jesuits of a variety of backgrounds reflecting the diversity of Brazil's geographic, religious, socioeconomic, and cultural life.

Marcelo Costa, a second-year theologian, was born in Recife, a city in the poor northeastern region of the country. Marcelo had been baptized according to local custom, but his parents were not practicing Catholics. His first significant contact with religion was, not surprisingly, pretty much an accident. The first time he went to mass¯at age 16, no less¯a Jesuit suddenly asked him if he had ever thought of joining the Society. That remark made an impression on him, and he began to practice his faith more regularly and think seriously about religious life. He entered the Society in 1990.

Third-year theologian Eliomar Ribeiro remembers that when he was 8 his parents separated and he went to live with his grandparents. As a child he had regularly participated in local religious activities, and so it seemed only natural for him to decide, at age 18, to become a priest. After getting acquainted with Jesuits through spiritual direction, he entered the novitiate. Eliomar belongs to the Bahia Province, which is geographically large but has few members to cover the whole Amazon region and the states of Bahia and Espirito Santo.

Second-year theologian Marco Antonio Lima was born in Minas Gerais, the state where the theologate is located. Although he was raised in a very devout family that included eleven children, it was only after four years as a metallurgical engineer that he began to think about religious life. Marco discovered the Jesuits through an informative yearbook called "The Book of the Family" and began a year-long process of discernment that led him to the novitiate.

Carlos Alberto Jahn, another second-year theologian, is from a small town in southern Brazil, where the majority of vocations come from families of German and Italian immigrants. He is one of three children in a farming family of German origin. He first heard of the Society through the work of Jesuit brothers in the region, who impressed him with their impartial ministries to Catholics and Lutherans alike.

In Brazil, newcomers to the Society attend a novitiate in the province where they join (though the north and northeast have a common novitiate). For the juniorate, the period of college studies that follows the novitiate, all Brazilians go to Paraiba, a poor state in the northeast.

The juniorate was challenging for Carlos because he had to live with people from all over the country in a city more than 1,200 miles from his home. While in Paraiba, he lived in a poor neighborhood and worked with lay people. Marcelo also served the poor in a violent area, while Eliomar, who is interested in the media, developed his talents in that field. Marco Antonio, who developed a desire to serve as a missionary while at the juniorate, ended up going to Africa for philosophy studies in Congo and then taught in Mozambique.

"The aspect of the Society that most caught my attention was apostolic mobility," Marco says. "Living with young African Jesuits was as important to my formation as studying philosophy. The time I spent in Africa firmed up my decision to serve there."

Apostle of Brazil Because he spent 44 years in Brazil as an explorer, teacher, linguist, writer, and preacher, Bl. Joseph de Anchieta is called the "National Apostle of Brazil." Born in the Canary Islands in 1534, Anchieta entered the Society of Jesus at age 17. He went to Brazil while still a student and spent the rest of his life there working with the Indians, whose language he mastered and eventually compiled into a dictionary. His dramas, the first written in Brazil, earned him another title, "Father of Brazilian National Literature." Anchieta also helped to found São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. He died in 1597 and was beatified in 1980. by Carlos H. Parra-Pirela

But these four Jesuits' next stop in the formation process brought them to Belo Horizonte for theology studies. They like the balance they find in the curriculum. And as men who have been out working, engaged with people in ministry, they especially appreciate the freedom of the evaluative system established by each professor.

Carlos believes that at the theologate, "the courses are good and one sees the effort to offer the very best." He senses a distance from the outside world in a program that is centered on systematic and biblical theology, but the theologate attempts to close that distance.

To prevent the theologians from becoming too closed in on themselves, the Belo Horizonte program requires every student to be involved in some pastoral activity. Marco Antonio, for example, works with catechumens and a Bible study group, and Marcelo organizes base communities. Carlos is helping the media transmit Christian values to the general public, and Eliomar is involved with youth and music ministry. Other Jesuits at Belo Horizonte work with prostitutes, garbage dump scavengers, AIDS patients, and street kids.

Formation at the theologate also includes the hopes and the tensions, the highs and the lows of community life. It is a place where bright men of talent and experience work out their everyday life together. This community in fact reaches out beyond Brazil to other countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, enriching the mixture of experience, background, and outlook.

When their studies at Belo Horizonte are through, the Jesuits there will move on, to specialized studies elsewhere or to work in various ministries. While they have been together at this crossroads, this meeting place, they have always had their eyes fixed on the future. Belo Horizante is not, after all, the horizon but the starting point, and the goal lies beyond.

Author Fr. J. P. Libanio, SJ, serves as rector of the Jesuit community at Belo Horizonte.