Choosing a new superior general will lead off the agenda at Rome meeting

by Edward Schmidt, SJ photos by Don Doll, SJ

In Fall 1983, the first issue of Company was held up while the editors awaited news from Rome-—the name of the new superior general.

In September 1983, the thirty-third general congregation of the Society of Jesus was meeting in Rome to elect a new superior general. Fr. Pedro Arrupe, the twenty-eighth general, had been incapacitated by a stroke, and after an interim period Pope John Paul II was allowing the Jesuits to resume their regular government by accepting Arrupe’s resignation and then electing his successor.

At that same time, Company was preparing to publish its first issue. Fr. Ned Mattimoe, SJ, the founding editor, had arranged for me to join him in this venture, and we had spent a year doing the groundwork. We wanted our new readers to know what a general congregation is and how it elects a superior general, so our first issue included a digest of the history of early congregations. For our first cover, we chose a dramatic picture of the Jesuit Curia taken from the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. By the second week of September, we were ready to go to press. Or almost ready—one thing was missing. We decided to wait.

We had the sense that the big news was coming soon—Who would be the twenty-ninth superior general of the Society of Jesus? So, though we had never planned that Company be a vehicle for hot news, we saved most of page five for the announcement. When we heard on September 13 that Fr. Peter-Hans Kolvenbach was the new general, I went down to the World Photo Bureau on Michigan Avenue in Chicago and waited for the first picture to roll off the wire service. The next day we dropped in a short biographical sketch along with the photo and shipped volume 1, number 1 of Company off to the printer.

In January 2008, the thirty-fifth general congregation (GC35, in common shorthand) will begin in Rome to accept Kolvenbach’s resignation as superior general and to elect his successor. After almost 24 years in office, Kolvenbach has judged that it is an appropriate time for him to leave the huge responsibility of running this worldwide organization to a younger man.

Because seating is alphabetical, U.S. Jesuits Bert Thelen and Joseph Tetlow were side by side at the Jesuits’ last general congregation, the 34th, in 1995. More than 200 Jesuits, representing provinces and ministries from around the world, take their seats in January for the 35th general congregation, 450 years after the first.

In my travels and visits around the Chicago Province, Jesuits have started asking me if I am excited about going to the congregation. Though it is a big event, I have been occupied with so many other things that until now I have not felt much excitement. But as various events take place, I am beginning to.

In preparation

In October, all of the U.S. Jesuits who will participate in GC35 got together to do some preliminary work. The group includes ten provincials, fifteen elected delegates, and Fr. Tom Smolich of the Jesuit Conference. It also includes Br. Jim Boynton, one of five Jesuit brothers appointed by the general, and Frs. Frank Case, Robert Geisinger, and James Grummer, who serve at the Jesuit Curia in Rome. Frs. John-Marc LaPorte and Peter Bisson from Canada joined our meeting too. Four of the group had previously attended a congregation and shared their perspectives. We also formulated our take on the state of the Society of Jesus in the United States, which will become part of a worldwide picture.

Besides that, I have submitted basic information—arrival date, operating system of laptop computer, health insurance, photo for ID tag, and alb size. Orbitz has sent me my plane ticket.

Pedro Arrupe, superior general from 1965 to 1983, put his stamp on the office that lasts to this day.

Our congregation will begin on January 7 and end no later than March 15. But I have no illusions about this being some extended “Roman Holiday,” hanging out with Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck, scooting about Rome’s ancient ways on a Vespa. Nor some brief taste of “La Dolce Vita,” observing the human drama flowing by on the Via Veneto and at the Trevi Fountain with Marcello Mastroianni and Anita Ekberg. And given the sad exchange rate between the dollar and the euro, forget about tossing coins into that famous fountain. The Rome I have visited is that of broken classical monuments, splendid baroque churches jammed full of religious art, ecclesiastical splendor and lore, and tired feet.

I’ve learned from the participants of former congregations to look forward to long weeks of plenary sessions and committee meetings, documents in which every word has endured scrutiny in multiple languages, casual meetings and conversations with Jesuits from every province of the world sharing stories of our common mission, adjusted for vastly different cultural contexts and charged with energy for the future.

The congregation has two parts. In the first part, concerned with governance, we elect officials of the congregation, consider the resignation of Kolvenbach, and elect his successor, along with other permanent officials. In the second, we take up other business, considering some 350 action items—postulata—that have come in from provinces or from individuals or other postulata that the congregation participants may propose.

Father General Peter-Hans Kolvenbach convened the 34th general congregation in 1995. They are always called to elect a new superior general, but others, including the 34th, are held after a superior general, in consultation with Jesuits worldwide, determines that there are enough questions to be considered to warrant a congregation.

Each participant will be on a committee, and some of these committees may produce documents that lead to debate and decision. Experienced observers, though, do not expect us to produce a volume of documents like the thirty-second (1974) and the thirty-fourth (1994) general congregations. The thirty-second came in the wake of Vatican II and made many necessary adjustments in light of the council; it also articulated the close connection between a life of faith and work for justice that has inspired most of our ministries. The thirty-fourth addressed many cultural issues that had developed in recent decades such as the modern media culture, the emerging role of women in the Church and in society, and cooperating with laity in mission.

Part of history

If excitement has not overtaken me yet, I do realize that this is a significant moment in our Society’s history and that I am privileged to be part of it. Congregations happen only every thirteen to fourteen years. After Ignatius died on July 31, 1556, the first congregation was delayed for almost two years by a war between King Philip II of Spain and Pope Paul IV. When it finally met, it chose another of the original seven Jesuit companions, the Spaniard Diego Laynez, as the second superior general. Most of the congregations were called after a superior general had died, but after choosing a successor the congregations took up other business. The tenth congregation elected two generals: the first choice, Fr. Luigi Gottifredi, died a few weeks after his election. The congregation was still in session; the delegates chose Fr. Goswin Nickel as his successor.

Early important business often included keeping special features of the Society of Jesus intact. Electing a general for life was unknown among other orders and was regularly questioned. That Jesuits did not pray the Divine Office in common broke tradition and bothered many. Even the name of the Society of Jesus came under question in the fifth general congregation (1593), the first that was called not to elect a new general but just for other important business.

Even if our congregation goes to March 15, it will still be shorter than average. The eighth (1645–46) lasted the longest, 145 days. The thirty-first, which met in two sessions in 1965 and 1966, came in at 141 days. Both the sixth (1608) and the twenty-third (1883) wrapped up in 38 days.

In September 1983 during the 33rd general congregation, newly-elected superior general Peter-Hans Kolvenbach receives an embrace from his predecessor, Pedro Arrupe.

New general

The major event of the congregation will be the election of a new general. Very strict rules forbid anything like campaigning or lobbying. Any Jesuit professed of final vows could be chosen. Facility with Spanish and English would be very helpful but not required. The one chosen need not be at the congregation, but this would be very unusual. Old or young? European or American or Asian or African? We will not know until it happens.

In other work, the congregation will consider topics like Jesuit identity, governance and organization, vocation promotion, ministry with youth, and the Jesuit Refugee Service. On these it might issue some decrees, if that seems called for.

The congregation will clearly reflect the careful planning with which Kolvenbach has accomplished every task. It will move the Society of Jesus forward in its promotion of justice, in its engagement with contemporary culture, in its search to articulate the Gospel while respecting other world religions. And at the end, the delegates will return home to their mission, and the Society of Jesus will enter a new era with new leadership without disruption or anxiety.

Good Sources Fr. John Padberg, SJ (left), who participated in the 32nd and 34th general congregations, wrote a synopsis of the first 33 congregations for our Fall 1994 issue and recently added a few words about the 34th general congregation (1995). It’s on the web at: www.companymagazine.org/GC35. Another website that contains information about the congregation is at www.jesuit.org/GC35.

We will be tired when the congregation ends. I hope we will be satisfied with our work. We may find some relief at going back to everyday tasks, conversing without translators, finding some freedom in our daily schedules.

At the end, though, however good we feel about what we have accomplished, whatever noble words we have articulated, whatever brave new directions we may have charted out, I suspect not a few of us will be a little sad, sad but not regretful, rather grateful, very grateful for the almost quarter century of service of Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, now coming to an end, as superior general. The Society already recognizes its immense debt to the solid, quiet, faithful servant who has been its leader through recent decades. Even as he finds relief and rest from his heavy burdens, we will miss the humble dignity, gentle humor, and simple holiness he has shared with all of us.

Author Fr. Edward Schmidt, SJ, is the current provincial superior of the Jesuits’ Chicago Province and is s former business manager of Company magazine.