The Father General

There was a very big meeting of the heads of provinces for the Jesuits of the U.S., Canada, and the English-Speaking Caribbean here in Jamaica over the past week.  I observed this on the periphery, but the tone of the meetings looks hopeful and there is an emphasis on cooperation and sharing people and expertise between provinces.

I had the great honour to attend mass with the provincials and the General.  Fr. Adolfo  Nicolas was born in Spain but has lived much of his life in Japan.  He's the Jesuit who was elected head of the Society a few years back in Rome, for those who don't know.

Speaking purely for myself, I was impressed with him as a person.  He seems spiritual and kind with a witty sense of humour and a creative imagination.  At the same time, his vision is very pragmatic and realistic.

He was happy to shake my hand and chat with me for a minute or so during the social following mass.  He certainly doesn't put on any airs.  He indulged my curiosity about Japanese culture.  He seems like he has a lot of fond memories of the time he spent in Asia. 

I was happy to get to meet him and hear more specifically about his impressions of the current church and his vision for the society.  I'm looking forward to seeing where we're going in the next few years.  Nobody needs to consult me: but ny opinion is that we have a very good man at the helm.

My life here in Kingston remains interesting.  I still spend most of my time teaching my five religion classes.  The students are creative and many of them are quite skilled critical thinkers.  I'm working on harnessing that energy.  In the meantime I've had some good chats one-on-one with students about their faith, prayer, inner life, and of course, comic books.

It was nice to break up that routine with a glimpse of the international society hard at work, looking to build up apostolic effectiveness from the ground up rather than impose directives from the top-down.  The prevailing attitude is that there are real and important challenges: but that these go hand in hand with important opportunities to see where God is calling and to follow.