May 25, 2018 — Yesterday, Fr. Arturo Sosa, SJ, Superior General of the Society of Jesus, continued his 12-day trip in Canada with a full day in Montreal. He first met with the Most Reverend Christian Lépine, Archbishop of Montreal, then visited Loyola High School, and finally, spoke to members of the Canadian Religious Conference.
He began the day meeting with Archbishop Lépine and was also joined by the Provincials of English and French Canada, Fathers Peter Bisson, SJ, and Erik Oland, SJ.
Next, Fr. Sosa was welcomed to Loyola High School in Montreal, where he spoke to the Loyola community on the importance of Jesuit education and stressed the importance of collaboration.
Fr. Sosa at Loyola High School.
“Collaboration with others, as you are doing, my friends, is the only way, and it is a profoundly evangelical way in which the Society of Jesus can carry out its mission today,” he said.
Fr. Sosa also said that education paves the way for understanding. “The service of reconciliation starts with understanding the world we live in, our common home. The task of the educator, and in particular the task of our educational institutions like Loyola High School, is to help younger generations find their place in the world and before God, so that they can project their personal and social development, helping to build a better world.”
He said that in educating for justice, it was important to reach out to the poorest and the most marginalized; to respect and care for our common home; to develop a culture that protects the most vulnerable; and to offer religious training that “opens students up to the transcendental dimension of life.”
He then met with Loyola students for a Q&A session.
To read Father Sosa’s address at the High School, please click here.
Fr. Sosa’s last stop of the day was at the Canadian Religious Conference in Montreal, where 300 leaders of Canadian Catholic religious congregations are gathered from May 24-27. Fr. Sosa delivered the opening remarks, where he named reconciliation and interculturality as the main challenges “for us as women and men of faith and religious institutes.”
“Reconciliation is at the core of our vocation,” he said. “Because we have believed in the resurrection of the crucified Jesus, we have been called to collaborate in the mission of reconciling all things in Christ.”
Reconciliation “goes deeper through forgiveness, the best remedy for healing and establishing relationships in love.”
Fr. Sosa also said that they would be enriched by deepening interculturality. “These processes start with welcoming diversity as God’s gift. Recognizing diversity allows for the experience of a diverse God, the One and Triune God, a community of love that communicates its love in many ways.”
To read Father Sosa’s address at the Conference, please click here.
Do you want to learn more about vocations to the Society of Jesus? Visit www.jesuitvocations.org for more information.
