GC35 Jesuits are not acting their age

Young men cheerfully take on everything and only later realise that they’ve overstretched themselves. “One would think,” reflects Francis de Melo SJ thinking about the GC35 delegates, “that a group of mostly older men would be cautious in planning, wisely restraining unbounded enthusiasm”. Not at all.

“At the GC,” Fr de Melo adds, “there is a confident feeling of assurance that, even with our falling numbers, we can take on all the problems of the world.” Africa, education, new media, population displacement: there is no apparent limit to the issues that the Jesuits in Rome think the Society can respond to.

Are they being totally unrealistic? According to Fr de Melo, “Jesuits have been doing this for over 450 years. Not only have we not learnt that there are limits to what we can undertake, but in fact highly appreciated results were seen as God blesses all we take on.”

Read his full comments at the SJWeb.info Blog (entry for 07/02/2008).