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Dutch-born superior general of the Society of Jesus* since 1983, when the Jesuits* were allowed to return to their own governance after a time of papal « intervention. »
He entered the Jesuits in 1948, went to Lebanon in the mid-1950’s, earned a doctorate from the famous St. Joseph’s University in Beirut, and spent much of his life there, first as a professor of linguistics and then as superior of the Jesuit* vice-province of the Middle East.
By his own admission, he was relatively « ignorant of matters pertaining to justice and injustice, » when he went from Beirut to Rome for General Congregation 32 and witnessed the faith-justice emphasis emerge from the Congregation under the leadership of Pedro Arrupe* [see « The Service Faith and the Promotion of Justice »]. Still, as superior general, he has worked tirelessly in collaboration with his advisors to implement and extend the direction in which his predecessor was leading the Society [see « Men and Women for Others »/ »Whole Persons of Solidarity for the Real World »].