Pedro Arrupe4

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PART – IV THE DEFINING MOMENT - GC 32 ‘ FAITH AND JUSTICE ’ TO THE WORLD A PROPHET OF COMPASSION & JUSTICE

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Towards 32nd General Congregation After being General for 9 years Father Arrupe called the 32nd General Congregation—to face up to and deal with the reaction and response of the Society to the changes occurring in the modern secular world. It lasted from December 2, 1974 to March 7, 1975.

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Fr. Vinnie O'Keefe was a great friend of Arrupe's, and one of his top advisors. Fr. O'Keefe says Arrupe was "a second Ignatius, a refounder of the Society in the light of Vatican II." The defining moment of Fr. Arrupe's leadership of the Jesuits was probably the 32nd General Congregation, which he called in 1975.

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237 Delegates from all over the world converged at the Jesuit Curia, Rome, to participate in the GC32. The Delegates belonged to 65 Provinces and 22 Vice-Provinces. It lasted 96 days. A historic Congregation it was !

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Delegates of the GC32 with the Holy Father – Paul VI, in Rome. Fr. Tony De Mello from Bombay looks on…..

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Specifically, Arrupe lead the Jesuits through their landmark 32nd General Congregation, held from December 1974 to March 1975. He was instrumental in promoting the famous “fourth decree,” which defined the modern mission of the Jesuits in terms of “faith that does justice”. In the words of this decree, “Our faith in Jesus Christ and our mission to proclaim the Gospel demand of us a commitment to promote justice and enter into solidarity with the voiceless and the powerless.”

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O'Keefe says, “Arrupe had a dream to bring together all the great desires and talents of the men of the Society under a single mission.” He says that dream was crystalized in the document (decree 4), "Our Mission Today: the Service of Faith and the Promotion of Justice."

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This decree was so hotly debated that it was not voted on until the very last day of the Congregation, March 7, 1975 when It was accepted by an overwhelming majority of delegates. O'Keefe says, "It sent shivers through us," "It was an electric, prophetic moment."

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The mix of religion and politics has always been controversial; so for the Jesuits to tie their work so explicitly to the promotion of Justice was a very bold statement. This focus on justice was to cause great conflict within the order, the church and also have remarkable consequences on the outside world. To understand this we must look at the context of the Reforms of Vatican II and how they were applied to South and Central America.

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The Church in South America was predominantly faced with the poverty that many considered to be caused by the perceived injustice of tiny minorities of the population owning and controlling vast amounts of the countries wealth and resources. Controversially the theologians in South America became more and more politically involved, often adopting Marxist sociological tools to analyse this inequality. The theology that grew out of this was called Liberation Theology. Many Jesuits in South and Central America were at the forefront of this struggle for justice, and were aware of the role the church had had in the past of appearing to bless and legitimize this inequality.

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Arrupe had special relationship with these men as well. They were involved in Latin American proposals that eventually produced his beloved decree four from GC 32. On June 20, 1977 the White Warriors Union death squad threatened to kill each of the 47 Jesuits in El Salvador unless they abandoned their work with the poor, and left the country within a month. After consulting with his men, Fr. Arrupe replied, "They may end up as martyrs, but my priests are not going to leave (El Salvador), because they are with the people." Six Jesuits were subsequently murdered on November 16, 1989 at the Jesuit University of Central America as well as other Jesuits such as Rutilio Grande, and later also the Archbishop Oscar Romero.

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First Jesuit Martyr in Central America Jesuits in the forefront of the struggle for Justice had to lay down their lives on behalf of the poor in El Salvador.

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“I am very much afraid that soon the Bible and the gospel will not be able to enter at our borders, because all its pages are subversive -- against sin, naturally. If Jesus of Nazareth returned, coming down from Chalatenango to San Salvador, I dare say he would not arrive, with his preaching and actions, even to Apopa; they would arrest him for being a subversive and would crucify him again." Fr. Grande wrote..........

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Who are the victims that God has chosen? The five were men of average human gifts, leading obscure lives, more or less unrecognized, dwelling in small villages, and totally dedicated to the daily service of the poor and suffering. These were sons of the Society who never took part in broad national controversies and who never made headlines in the news media. Their style of life was simple, austere, evangelical; it was the life that used them up slowly, day-by-day in the service of "the little ones." Pedro Arrupe, the Jesuit Superior General, wrote to Jesuits worldwide about the five Jesuits martyred from October 1976 to March 1977:

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Father Fernando Cardenal, SJ came from a Nicaraguan family of privilege and joined the Jesuit order to help those in need. During his Jesuit training, he lived among the poor for nine months, and was deeply moved by the magnitude of the poverty problem. He vowed then to liberate the poor from their burden. “I believe that… an authentic conversion to the Christianity of Jesus passes through contact with the poor,” he said. Jesuits…..on the side of the Poor and the oppressed in Nicaragua !

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Fernando Cardenal associated himself with the Sandinista Marxist revolutionary movement as it took power in Nicaragua in 1979, and as it battled US-backed contra guerillas for many years thereafter. He was named as Education Minister in the Sandinista regime, and in 1980 and 1981 led a national literacy crusade of mostly young volunteers who purportedly taught more than 400,000 adults to read in only five months.

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Tension with the Vatican…! Father Cardenal’s concerns and efforts were shared by many other members of the Jesuit order. Two general superiors and the Apostolic Delegate to Nicaragua attempted to seek positive solutions and possible exceptions within the current Church legislation in favor of Father Cardenal. However, upon learning of Rome’s decision, the Jesuit Superior for Central America publicly announced that no exception had been made. Fernando Cardenal then declared his position of conscientious objection and his decision to remain in the government.

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…..in the early morning darkness of November 16, 1989 army soldiers burst into the Jesuit residence at the University of Central America (UCA) in San Salvador and brutally killed six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her young daughter.

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..was another of Arrupe’s successful initiatives

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This is how JRS was born……. The perilous journeys to exile of the Vietnamese boat people deeply moved Fr Pedro Arrupe. Fr Arrupe appealed to some Jesuit Provincials for practical assistance. The spontaneous and generous 'first wave of action' provoked him to reflect on how much more the Society could do, if its responses to this and other contemporary crises of forced human displacement, were planned and co-ordinated. From that initial sentiment has grown a world-wide service to forcibly displaced people. On 14 November 1980, Fr Arrupe announced the birth of the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS).

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JRS was set up in 1980 by Fr Pedro Arrupe SJ, as a spiritual and practical response to the plight of refugees across the globe. And ever since this work continues to remain a commitment of the Society.

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Today JRS works in more than 50 countries around the world.  Over 500 workers contribute to its work, the majority working on a voluntary basis.  These include about 100 Jesuits (priests, brothers and scholastics), 85 religious from other congregations and more than 300 lay people.

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Today, 25 years later, more than 450,000 individuals are direct beneficiaries of JRS projects around the world.

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Fr Arrupe’s term as general was not totally trouble free. The Society’s membership diminished and there were certain tensions within the Order. He however manifested as a man of God and a man of the Church with extraordinary simplicity and understanding. He was so highly esteemed by his peers that for five consecutive terms he was elected President of the Union of Superior Generals in Rome.

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A quick dinner with all his four sisters: Isabel, Maria, Catherine and Margaret

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A Day- that should never have been !!! On Aug 7, 1981 Father Arrupe landed at Fiumicino airport Rome at 5.30 a.m. after a long trip in the Far East He suddenly suffered a stroke as he stooped to pick up his suit case ! That was destined to be his last trip abroad !

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Fr. Arrupe with a group of refugees in Rome in 1982, shortly after he suffered the stroke

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It will be quite wrong to see only smiles and sunshine in Arrupe’s life. Fr. Arrupe had his own ‘stations of the cross” and he carried his cross willingly and obediently till the end. After he became disabled by the stroke of Aug 1981, Father Arrupe named Fr.Vincent O’Keefe as Vicar General of the Society to carry on the administration. But the Holy Father intervened and appointed his own delegates – Frs.Paolo Dezza and Joseph Pittau to lead the SJ provisionally. That came as the hardest blow to Fr.Arrupe and to the whole Society. Fr. Arrupe was found weeping after he was handed the Pope’s letter to that effect.

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Father Arrupe’s farewell statement to the Delegates of the 33rd GC as he was unable to speak: “In these eighteen years, my one ideal was to serve the Lord and his church…I thank the Lord for the great progress I have witnessed in the Society. Obviously there would be defects too- my own, to begin with- but it remains a fact that there was great progress, in personal conversion, in the apostolate, in concern for the poor, for refugees. And special mention must be made of the attitudes of loyalty and filial obedience shown toward the church and the Holy Father, particularly in these last years. For all of this, thanks be to God.”

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Former General Fr. Arrupe congratulates his successor Rev. Fr. Peter Hans Kolvenbach !

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Passing on the Mantle and the Mission…

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The Past and the Present Perfects !!

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The Two Model Shepherds and Servant- Leaders of our times !

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Pope John Paul II visited Fr. Arrupe several times to enquire about his health in the Curia infirmary Rome This visit was on Jan 27, 1991. Just a few days before Father Arrupe’s death !

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Fr. Arrupe had personally known these Popes ! John XXIII Paul VI John Paul I John Paul II

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Mother Teresa dropped in at the Jesuit Curia in Rome to meet Fr.Arrupe to thank him for the help she had been receiving from the Jesuits !

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Late Bro.Roger, the Founder of the Taize Movement, calling on Arrupe to enquire about his health !

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More than ever I find myself in the hands of God. This is what I have wanted all my life from my youth. But now there is a difference; the initiative is entirely with God. It is indeed a profound spiritual experience to know and feel myself so totally in God's hands. -- Pedro Arrupe SJ,

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Our Beloved Father Arrupe surrendered his spirit to God, on 5 February 1991, at 7.45 p.m. in the Jesuit Curia, Rome. His body was laid out in state for three days in the chapel of the General Curia, where thousands of people from all walks of life came to pray and pay their last respects to this great soul !

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Fr.Arrupe’s funeral was held in the Gesu on 9 February 1991 and was attended by crowds inside and in the piazza outside the church. Also in the attendance were 10 cardinals, 20 bishops, the Prime Minister of Italy, and other religious and civil dignitaries.

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The Jesuit Cardinal M. Martini, other cardinals, Our General Fr. Kolvenbach and the General Major of the Dominicans and the Italian Prime Minister at the funeral Mass in the Church of Gesu, the Mother Church of the Jesuits in Rome.

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“Here lies a man so human: he had a heart larger than the world in which he lived. One can not help but love him.” Jon Sobrino, the Jesuit theologian.

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The Medallion over the tomb of Fr. Arrupe at Gesu, Rome, the Mother Church of the Jesuits 1907- 1991

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Nothing is more practical than finding GOD That is falling in LOVE: in a quiet, absolute and final way. What you are in love with, What seizes your imagination will affect everything. It will decide what will get you up in the morning, What you will do with your evenings, How you spend your weekends, What you read, Who you know, What breaks your heart, And what amazes you With joy and gratitude. So fall in love, Stay in love. And it will decide everything. Pedro Arrupe, SJ

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May His Life Continue to inspire Us and Lead Us On in Our Life and Mission !

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END OF PART - IV

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Thank You Prepared by Veluswamy Jeyaraj, SJ Dhyan Ashram - Kolkata