by Brigid Barry
It was a family affair: former Jesuit Bob Holstein's arm is around his wife, Loretta. That's daughter Lizzie (now at the University of San Francisco) to their right; niece Sara (at Boston College) and son Matthew (at Gonzaga) to their left. The setting was the School of the Americas protest last fall at Ft. Benning, Georgia, attended by Holstein and many Companions, a group of former Jesuits still drawn to the spirit of the Society. |
When Bob Holstein and his family traveled to Italy three years ago, their itinerary included all the usual tourist places--with the addition of a visit to the Jesuit Curia in Rome to meet Jesuit superior general Fr. Peter-Hans Kolvenbach.
Holstein, a former Jesuit, had been corresponding with Fr. Kolvenbach regularly, keeping him up-to-date on the activities of the Companions, a group of former Jesuits Holstein helped found over two decades earlier in California.
"I e-mailed Fr. Kolvenbach, telling him I was going to be in Rome, and he invited me to come see him," Holstein, now a lawyer in Riverside, recalls. "We had a great visit. I told him I was coming to share with him some of the ideas our guys have, and how we're getting involved in different work. I mentioned to him that many of the guys feel like they're as much a Jesuit as they ever were when they were in the Society.
"Fr. Kolvenbach told me, 'I think they are Jesuits. You don't leave. I really believe that. Ignatius recognized that laymen are the core of the Society. Although it's not necessarily true canonically, I would say that they are Jesuits.' "
"Many of the guys feel like they're as much a Jesuit as they ever were when they were in the Society." |
Holstein's visit to the Curia is just one in a laundry list of things he's done as a Companion--not the least of which is starting the whole group in the first place.
 It was way back that Fr. Joe Costa, SJ, helped encourage the Companions to hold their first reunion; they've been meeting yearly for get-together weekends for the past 21 years. |
"I stayed close with Fr. Joe Costa, SJ, who was the rector of Loyola High School in Los Angeles," Holstein says. "We were talking once, and I said, 'Hey, why don't we get the guys together?' So he hosted the first reunion--it was held at the novitiate in Los Gatos."
"That first reunion was bizarre," he continues. "Staying in the cubicles where we were novices, having kids run around in the halls, having drinks in the fathers' rec room, it was all kind of strange. But good."
That initial meeting led to many more, and since then the California-based group has grown to a network of over 250 active members. Going over the last 50 years of Oregon and California province catalogues, Robert Rahl, a former California Province Jesuit, has identified about a thousand former Jesuits, many of whom keep in contact via e-mail, letter writing, and smaller gatherings.
"One characteristic of this brotherhood is its wild and fiercely maintained diversity," Holstein says. "They are old and young, working and retired, gay and straight, married and divorced, with and without children, recovering alcoholics and drug addicts. They are lawyers and doctors, Episcopal priests, high school teachers, professors, psychiatrists, psychologists, underground Catholics and above-ground ones, Buddhists, writers and gardeners, contractors and tradesmen, developers, real estate brokers, and day care providers."
What binds these diverse men together? William Masterson, a former Jesuit who left after two and a half years, says, "The minute you walk into a Companions gathering you meet somebody, and before long you bond in some sense because of the common experience. A lot of these guys still have a great love not only for the Society but also for these people. We've shared something, something special."
The first meetings of the Companions were, in a way, therapy sessions for those who hadn't reconciled the feelings they had when they left. For some, Holstein recalls, it was the first opportunity to express anger and disappointment toward the Jesuits. Others came to the meetings open and positive about their reasons for leaving, the choices they made.
"Those first gatherings, everyone just talked, feeling their way," Holstein says. "Everyone has a different, deeply personal reason for leaving. I left because I fell in love. Some guys leave because they can't handle the formation process, others because they can't live in community, others because they find that their vocation leads them to life outside the Jesuits. A lot of guys have no ax to grind; for others, it takes years to go through the process of healing. But they get over their negative feelings. They see we're just as Jesuit as we ever were--after all, we're all an accumulation of our own spiritual journeys."
 Larry Castagnola worked with refugees in Thailand, Honduras, and California when he was a Jesuit. Now, he and his wife, Jackie, work with street kids in Haiti and raise money for their trade-school training. |
Now things have gotten more action-oriented. The Companions work together, supporting nonprofit organizations, protesting social injustice (some, including Holstein and Paddy Inman, a former Oregon Province Jesuit, drew jail sentences for demonstrating against the School of the Americas), and providing a network of families who share similar experiences. For many of them, their work as non-Jesuits reflect the Ignatian formation they received during their time as Jesuits.
Larry Castagnola, for example, was a Jesuit for 44 years before leaving in 1995 to marry. During his time as a Jesuit, Castagnola divided his time between teaching high school and running a nonprofit corporation with a mission in Haiti. Today he continues his work with Haitians while also serving as director of religious education at Our Lady of Victory in West Haven, Connecticut.
"My wife and I spent 1997 and part of 1998 in Haiti working in a shelter for street kids," Castagnola says. "Using that as a building block, we started our project, which was to help older kids get through school and into trade school. Now we're putting about 25 kids who have no resources through school. Some of our kids are pretty aimless--they're like the street kids in the States, with a lot of personal problems. Given the fact these kids would either be dead or drug addicts or just floundering around, I think what we're doing is a real success."
Castagnola says that his identity as a Jesuit didn't go away just because he left the order. "There's a spirituality that goes along with being a Jesuit," he says. "It left an imprint on me, a way of looking at life positively.
"In one sense I still think of myself as a Jesuit; in another sense, I don't have any illusions. I'm not running around saying mass or anything. But I don't think you lose that identity. It's not something you talk about much. It's just part of you."
He also thinks that the Companions are an important group. "I get a lot of strength and inspiration from just knowing what others are doing. There's also a group of us who meet at Fort Benning, Georgia, in November when they have the demonstration against the School of the Americas, and I get a lot of satisfaction from that."
"There are thousands of former Jesuits. We can't overlook what a great network these guys can be as we're trying to staff our ministries." |
John Traynor, who left in 1966 after over four years as a Jesuit, is currently president of Gonzaga Prep in Spokane. The first layman to be appointed president of a Jesuit institution in the United States, Traynor finds that his time in the Society continues to shape who he is and how he approaches both his life and his work. Like Castagnola, his formation as a Jesuit helps him look at life positively.
"I have a deep and abiding optimism. I may be that way by temperament, but it certainly was reinforced intellectually by my experience as a Jesuit."
Traynor's decision to leave the Jesuits came after much soul-searching with his spiritual advisor about how he felt God was calling him to live his life. His discernment led him to the conclusion that his life would be fuller if he "had a soul mate," as he puts it. He married his wife, Barbara, in 1968. They have three grown children.
His entire career has been spent in education, first in the Spokane public schools, then at Gonzaga Prep. "I've had a lifetime association with the Society of Jesus," says Traynor. "I also have a real appreciation for the unique charism of Jesuit education. There was the question on the part of some people as to whether a layman can take on the mantle of president and carry on the Jesuit tradition, since so many people associate that tradition with the clerical role of the priest. It's not a function of Jesuit or non-Jesuit. It's a function of can you or can't you do the job?"
As the numbers of Jesuits diminish, men like Traynor are becoming an important resource for Jesuit ministries trying to maintain their identity. "There are thousands of former Jesuits," says Masterson. "We can't overlook what a great network these guys can be as we're trying to staff our ministries."
Masterson has two jobs: one is as director of strategic planning for the Pacific Institute for Community Organization (PICO), a nonprofit network of about 40 U.S. congregation-based community organizations that conducts leadership development and trains community organizers. Masterson left a lucrative corporate job to help handle PICO's long-range planning needs. This work is a continuation of Masterson's interest in community organizing, which started when, as a Jesuit, he took part in an institute in community organizing in Chicago. He started volunteering at PICO after moving to L.A. in 1980; he's worked there full-time for the past eight years.
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Fr. Tom Smolich, SJ, provincial of the California Province (checked shirt ) and former Jesuit John Aldrien (on right) take part in a Companions meeting. This strong sense of connection many Companions have with the Society makes them a valuable resource for its works. |
In his other position, provincial assistant for planning for the Jesuits' California Province, he handles long-range planning as well, dealing with the issue of diminishing numbers of Jesuits. Masterson is excited about his work, but it is tough to talk about planning. "It's threatening to some folks," he says. "People look at the situation and say, 'We're going to have to give things up. We're going to lose institutions and ministries because we just don't have the manpower anymore.' I just don't believe that.
"There's a transition going on, certainly in the California Province: there's much more emphasis on the word Ignatian rather than Jesuit. I can visualize institutions that are Ignatian in character but that may not have Jesuits in the future. That creates very positive opportunities as we empower lay colleagues to continue the work."
Whatever the future holds for Jesuit ministries, one thing is clear: there is a vast network of former Jesuits who are out in the world, making a difference.
There are many things that bind these former Jesuits together, but they all point to one particular experience that changed their lives and outlook on life--the Spiritual Exercises.
"We're on common ground there," Masterson says. "The long retreat was probably the most important experience of my life, and I share that with every guy who went through it."
Castagnola agrees. "There's a spirituality that goes along with being a Jesuit. I don't know how to explain it, but it comes down to the spirituality and the Spiritual Exercises. It's left an imprint on me."
"A group like the Companions asks and answers the question, did this experience of being in community and going through the Spiritual Exercises make sense?" Traynor asks. "Did it have any impact? The answer is yes.
"The fundamental thing to me about the Society of Jesus is the issue of community and companionship. This had an extraordinary impact on us. It resonates with us in terms of faith, community, companionship, action--everybody differently. There's something there that brings people together. I think it's the Holy Spirit."
To Holstein, the connection is simple. "We're just as Jesuit as ever, spiritually. We're formed by the Exercises, by the accumulation of our spiritual journeys. I feel the presence of God wherever I've been. Everything I've ever done has been informed by the way the Jesuits look at life. Anything you do is capable of bringing God into the world. That's how I live my life, and that's what stays with me." 
| Freelance writer Brigid Barry, former associate editor at Company magazine, lives with her husband, Mark, and their two children in Scottsdale, Arizona. |