Responding to a world that is hurting in so many ways, Jesuits and our partners in mission work for reconciliation with God, with each other and with God’s creation.
We our guided by our four Universal Apostolic Preferences (UAP), which give us a horizon for our mission through the rest of this decade:
These are the questions that guided the global Society of Jesus as we shared in a 16-month process of prayerful reflection and dialogue about our mission at this moment in history.
Led by the Holy Spirit, Jesuit Superior General Fr. Arturo Sosa coordinated the discernment process. In 2019, Pope Francis confirmed the Universal Apostolic Preferences as suitable guideposts for Jesuit ministry. The UAP are not to be carried out in isolation from each other or checked off like items on a list. Rather, they should animate our apostolic energy across all ministry areas and projects.
1. Show the way to God through the Spiritual Exercises and discernment
We want to share with others the most fundamental discovery of our own lives: Jesus Christ. And we believe the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola and Ignatian spirituality provide disciples with incredible tools for discerning complex choices in our lives, finding God in all things amid busyness and growing in relationship with Jesus and His Church.
2. Walk with the poor, the outcasts of the world, those whose dignity has been violated, in a mission of reconciliation and justice
We commit ourselves to walk with the victims of abuse of power, abuse of conscience and sexual abuse; with the outcasts of this world; with all those whom the biblical tradition knows as the poor of the earth.
3. Accompany young people in the creation of a hope-filled future
We believe our ministries can make an important contribution to making spaces that are open to young people in society and the church. Such spaces should help young people discern the path by which they can achieve happiness by contributing to the well-being of all humankind.
4. Collaborate, with Gospel depth, for the protection and renewal of God’s Creation
As Pope Francis reminds us in his encyclical letter Laudato Si’, creation today is crying out as never before. And today’s environmental crisis has a disproportionate impact on the poor and vulnerable. Whole nations and peoples need an “ecological conversion” if we are to answer God’s call to be stewards of this planet.
We want to share with others the most fundamental discovery of our own lives: Jesus Christ.
Our tradition demands we live in the world. Here’s how we do it.
In a landmark undertaking in the pursuit of racial healing and justice, Descendants of ancestors enslaved and sold by the Jesuits and the Jesuits of the United States partnered to create the Descendants Truth & Reconciliation Foundation (DTRF).
The DTRF was launched in March 2021 by the GU272 Descendants Association and the Jesuits. Its mission is to support the educational aspirations of Descendants for future generations and to play a prominent role in engaging, promoting and supporting programs and activities that highlight truth, accelerate racial healing and reconciliation, and advance racial justice and equality in America.
The DTRF is rooted in the events of 1838, when 272 enslaved men, women and children were sold by the Jesuit owners of Georgetown University to plantation owners in Louisiana. Its mission, however, extends beyond reconciliation with the events of this single moment in history. The DTRF aims to develop a full understanding of, and reconciliation with, the numerous institutions of higher education and other entities that profited from slavery.
To learn more about the history of Jesuit slaveholding and the work of the DTRF, visit Descendants.org.
