The Society of Jesus is committed to creating and maintaining a safe environment for all who interact with its members and are involved in its ministries. We have put in place clear standards of conduct for all members as well as procedures for investigating and reporting any allegations of abuse or misconduct to the appropriate civil authorities.
The policies and procedures implemented by the Society of Jesus are accredited by Praesidium, Inc., a national organization that works with religious and other institutions to establish and maintain rigorous standards for protecting children and vulnerable adults. Praesidium provides consultation, risk management, assessment, policy development, and training materials for use in preventing sexual misconduct and responding to allegations of sexual misconduct.
Each province maintains Praesidium accreditation through periodic audits by independent auditors and ongoing training for each Jesuit to establish awareness, prevention and proper response to allegations of sexual misconduct per Praesidium’s accreditation standards.
In addition, each province conducts thorough background checks of all Jesuits to identify any past behavior that might suggest future misconduct. Each province has enhanced screening procedures for all applicants, including criminal background checks. We encourage anyone who has been abused by a member of the Society of Jesus to contact the appropriate authorities, regardless of when the alleged abuse occurred.
We recognize that abuse of any kind causes lasting pain and damage for the abused and their families as well as the larger Catholic and Jesuit communities. We continue to offer compassion, prayers and support for all survivors of abuse and strive to make sure the mistakes of the past are not repeated.
In addition, we also encourage the reporting of abuse and misconduct to the Jesuit’s home province. You can click on the links below to learn how to report abuse in each particular province:
Safeguarding Training
Father General has called the entire Society of Jesus to establish a ‘consistent culture of protection’ for all children and vulnerable adults with whom the Society engages. A cornerstone of creating such a culture is the ongoing education of Jesuits in the principles and best practices of safeguarding and safe environments. For the Society in the United States, the program Conversations That Matter has served as the foundation of our ongoing education for many years. Conversations That Matter has been a continuing reminder of the need for vigilance in developing our understanding of safeguarding and for growing in our commitment to ethical conduct in ministry and healthy celibacy.
In order to achieve the sort of vigilance and ongoing development that a consistent culture of protection demands, Conversations That Matter was replaced in 2024 with the program Pathways, developed and administrated by Virtus. Pathways, specifically developed by Virtus for religious, is a program focused on the protection of children and vulnerable adults.
Materials from Conversations That Matter will continue to be made available for further education.
Conversations That Matter
Below you will find PDF files of resources for the “Conversations That Matter” program:
