Supporting Jesuits in Formation

Sustaining and Caring for Older and Infirm Jesuits

Serving International Works and Ministries

Sharing New Ministries, Partnerships and Ignatian Spirituality

It takes between 11 and 13 years to form a young man to meet the needs of the Church in the Ignatian tradition and to prepare him for ordination. The earliest period of a Jesuit's life is known as the time of “formation” and has five stages: novitiate, first studies, regency, theology, and tertianship.

Forming young men to take on the ministries and tasks of the province and the Church is one of our greatest responsibilities. It costs about $35,000 per year to form one Jesuit. With over 38 men in various stages of formation over a long program, you can begin to understand the financial challenge the province faces.

Some say that Jesuits never retire; many 70-year-old (and even 80-year-old) Jesuits are in their second or third careers. Jesuits whose health does not permit them to remain in their previous ministry take on a new assignment: praying for the Church and the Society of Jesus. These Jesuits pray daily for our benefactors who have offered their prayers, financial resources, companionship and collaboration in apostolic works.

The Missouri Province has about 22 elderly men whose mission is praying for the Church. These men have dedicated their lives in faithful service to building up the kingdom of God and have ministered in countless ways to the faithful. The province is dedicated to the care of the whole person at every stage of the Jesuit’s life, giving special attention to the needs of infirm and older Jesuits. Thanks to the generosity of many donors, we are able to serve the needs of the Jesuits who require 24-hour health care as well as those Jesuits who need assisted-living care.

Since 1949, the Missouri Province and the Central American Province have cooperated under a twinning agreement. In addition to fostering a mutual sharing of human and spiritual resources between the two provinces, the current agreement commits the Missouri Province to continue its financial assistance for the formation of young Jesuits and the support of apostolic works of the Central American Province—especially in Honduras.

Our works in the Central American country of Belize—schools, parishes, rural ministries, and a retreat house—are integral to the Missouri Province Jesuits and form the nucleus of our commitments, but we also have men assigned to do the work of the Church in Africa, Canada, China, Mexico, Rome, and Spain.

Jesuits are ready to go anywhere and do anything that they are called upon by the Church; Pope Benedict XVI reminded the Jesuits at the Society's most recent general congregation that he needs the Jesuits "to go to the frontiers." To have that flexibility, the Jesuits need partners who share our unique form of spirituality.

From the earliest days, the apostolic life of the Jesuits of the Missouri Province has been dynamic. It has grown as benefactors and lay colleagues worked with us to build and strengthen Jesuit institutions. As our lay colleagues take on more responsibility for operating and supporting these enterprises, Jesuits become free to respond in new and innovative ways and to share the underlying spirituality that supports the apostolic activity with their lay partners.