Bringing Our Apostolic Plan to Life

Bob Reiser, S.J.
Provincial

The Church is nothing other than the “journeying together” of God’s flock along the paths of history toward the encounter with Christ the Lord. (Pope Francis, 2015)

After a comprehensive process of communal discernment and spiritual conversation, the USA East Province promulgated its Apostolic Plan for 2024-34. This process brought together Jesuits and colleagues from across the province and sought, among other goals, to open new paths for renewing Jesuit community life and discerning our apostolic commitments.

As we look to the year ahead, I am inviting the province to respond to these two goals by reflecting on and identifying models of Jesuit community life and apostolic relationships, with the goal of establishing a shared understanding from which we will make informed decisions. Then, with our models and relationships defined and confirmed, we will focus on the qualities of our community life and determine the criteria for our apostolic engagement.

To support this effort, we will engage this year in the kind of dialogue envisioned by a synodal church - dialogue that has shaped the Apostolic Plan from the start. This dialogue cycle will bring the provincial assistants and me into conversation with communities, superiors, directors of works and others through an iterative process that will lead to drafted models for review and approval at the Province Gathering in June. Once these models have been reviewed and affirmed, we will then discern how we are called to live together and how we should prioritize our apostolic commitments.

My hope is that, together, we can establish a steady rhythm of prayerful reflection, conversations in the Spirit and communal discernment that leads to concrete action. The Apostolic Plan points the way; our task now is to discern how we will walk this path.

I look forward to praying, listening and discerning with Jesuits and colleagues as we seek together what the Lord is asking of us.