Not less than everything
Brian Grogan SJ has just received the US Independent Press Award for his biography of Pedro Arrupe SJ, A Heart Larger than the World, (Messenger Publications) ». The cause for the beatification and canonisation » of Fr. Pedro Arrupe SJ, the 28th Superior General of the Society of Jesus, officially opened in Rome on 5 February 2019, the 28th anniversary of his death.
In this second part of an extensive interview with Pat Coyle of Irish Jesuit Communications, Brian talks about Fr Arrupe’s move to Rome after being elected as Father General of the Order, so the leader of the Jesuits worldwide.
It’s the 1960s and Arrupe is faced with implementing the revolutionary changes in the church as envisioned by the Second Vatican Council. His earlier experience of the dropping of the atomic bomb » in Japan sees Arrupe forging ahead with the renewed and inseparable linking of faith and justice. This in turn leads to many Jesuits losing their lives on mission or experiencing life-threatening situations.
Brian Grogan SJ himself experienced one such situation, and he tells of how Arrupe missioned him into it, in what was to be their last face-to-face meeting.