On Mission with Christ in Maine
Bob Reiser, S.J.
Provincial
According to General Congregation 32, “A Jesuit, is essentially a person on a mission: a mission which he receives immediately from the Holy Father and from his own religious superiors, but ultimately from Christ himself, the one sent by the Father. It is by being sent that the Jesuit becomes a companion of Jesus.”
When people ask what the provincial does, I immediately share that one of my central responsibilities is to meet with Jesuits and listen to their manifestations of conscience. This sacred dialogue supports the provincial’s care for each man and assists in discerning how the Jesuit may best be sent on mission. Through this process, both the provincial who sends and the Jesuit who is sent gain assurance that the mission reflects the will of God.
I began community visitations and manifestations of conscience in early September with a visit to Portland, Maine, where I met with the Jesuits missioned to Cheverus High School and Our Lady of Hope Parish. Traveling north from Boston along the coasts of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine, I felt a strong sense of being on mission. As Fr. David Collins, SJ, recounts in his book, Jesuits in the United States: A Concise History (2023) French Jesuit missionaries arrived in what is now Maine in 1611, serving local Indigenous communities and early European settlements. Since that time, “mission” has been central to the Jesuit presence in Maine. I felt this history quite vividly as I made my way up the misty Atlantic coast on a late‑summer evening.
The Jesuits of Maine with Father Provincial. From left to right are Fr. John Michalowski, SJ, Fr. Larry Smith, SJ, Fr. Brian Conley, SJ, and Fr. Provincial Robert Reiser, SJ.
Today, Jesuit and Ignatian ministries remain vibrant in Maine. Centered in the city of Portland, the USA East Province sponsors Cheverus High School and serves Our Lady of Hope Parish, including Saint Pius X Church, while maintaining relationships with St. Brigid Catholic School and the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. The Office of Ignatian Spirituality (OIS) supports the Ignatian Spirituality Partnership of Maine, known as “Ignatian Maine,” and Cheverus collaborates with Boston College’s Lynch School of Education and Human Development and the Roche Center for Catholic Education.
Fr. Bob Reiser, SJ, celebrated the Mass of the Holy Spirit at Cheverus High School with chaplain and theology teacher Fr. Brian Conley, SJ (right), and ‘08 alumnus and diocesan priest Fr. Alex Boucher (left).
In 2025, the province announced that Jesuits serving in Maine would depart in June 2027. Yet, as Fr. Collins also reminds us, “In the work of the French Jesuits, we see a pattern that recurs throughout North American Jesuit activity: the Jesuits undertook enterprises with ambition and energy, but with limited personnel and resources. These enterprises were never purely Jesuit operations.” His observation underscores the enduring truth that mission has always depended on collaboration with lay “co-laborers” in service to and partnership with the local Church and neighboring communities.
Looking ahead, the harvest in Maine is rich. Its promise will be strengthened by deepening relationships across Jesuit apostolic networks, participating fully in province programs, collaborating closely with province personnel and the local Church, and drawing on the resources of the larger Boston-area Jesuit ecosystem. Creating opportunities for occasional visits by Jesuits – including former teachers and administrators, current board members, potential retreat leaders, province staff members, and the provincial – will sustain Jesuit involvement in the life of the Portland apostolates.
Today, as in the past, the mission of Jesus Christ in Maine belongs not only to Jesuits but also to our colleagues, trustees, and benefactors. Our contemporary context impels us to celebrate fully the gifts of the Holy Spirit alive in our co-laborers – lay and religious sisters and brothers committed to the mission. We believe that, in being missioned, we become companions of Jesus Christ, as Jesuits and colleagues have been doing in Maine for centuries.
