Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (Latin), meaning “For the greater glory of God.” It is the motto of the Society of Jesus.
The educational and pastoral institutions that the Society of Jesus sponsors are known as apostolates because their goal is to further the faith-spreading activity of the Church that flows out of the first apostles.
Related to spreading the Gospel message.
As superior general of the Society of Jesus* for nearly 20 years, he was the central figure in the renewal of the Society after Vatican Council II,* paying attention both to the spirit of Ignatius* the founder and to the signs of our times. From the Basque country of northern Spain, he left medical school to join the Jesuits,* was expelled from Spain in 1932 with all the other Jesuits, studied theology in Holland, and received further training in spirituality and psychology in the U.S. Arrupe spent 27 years in Japan (where among many other things he cared for victims of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima) until his election in 1965 as superior general. He is considered the founder of the modern, post-Vatican II Society of Jesus.
Provinces are grouped into “assistancies” corresponding to nations or regions. The North American provinces, for example, form a single “assistancy.” Its administrative arm is the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States, located in Washington, D.C. The Conference supports the provincials and coordinates the relationships among all the various Jesuit entities.
Jesuits can choose to be priests or brothers. Both groups of men take the same vows and live and pray in a religious community. Priests are ordained and administer the Sacraments and celebrate Mass. Although brothers do not feel called to the life of a priest, they participate fully in the work of the Society of Jesus, whose mission is “the service of faith and the promotion of justice.”
