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As Provincial Jeffrey S. Burwell, SJ, recently noted, Jesuits are called to be courageous and spiritually free, especially when the Province must make difficult decisions about the future of its institutions. According to Fr. Burwell, St. Ignatius saw closures or sales not as an end, but “as a shift toward the greater good, concentrating resources where they can meet the greatest needs. This is, of course, a significant challenge, requiring boldness, courage and spiritual freedom.”
It is in this spirit that the Pedro Arrupe Residence on Gatineau Street in Montreal, which was first a house of formation and then the novitiate of the Canadian Jesuits, was put up for sale in 2024. This sale is a significant turning point that can evoke a sense of grief, given the relationship of many Jesuits to the building linked to Jesuit formation and the memories associated with it. Today, Jesuit novices live their time of formation partly in the United States and partly in Canada, so that they can live a community life while gaining experience of apostolic work in Canada.
According to Fr. Oland, “First of all, a Jesuit novitiate is an experience rather than a place.”
The History of the Pedro Arrupe Novitiate
The Jesuit presence in Montreal’s Côte-des-Neiges district began with the establishment of Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf in 1928. By 1968, more than 240 Jesuits were living in the neighbourhood, as theology students, administrative staff and teachers. “The last of the properties acquired in 1967, on Gatineau Street, became the novitiate for our two provinces of French and English Canada in 2008,” explains Father Bernard Carrière, SJ. For several years prior to this date, novices from English Canada had lived their novitiate in the United States, and French Canadians in various locations in Montreal.
This pooling of resources from both provinces to create a single novitiate took place under the provincials Jean-Marc Laporte (English Canada) and Daniel LeBlond (French Canada). It was some years later that a conversation involving both provinces on the creation of a Canadian province was initiated. “We were already thinking seriously about bringing the two provinces closer together, with a common novitiate and archives, as well as joint meetings of the two consultancies. Novices from the English province did their novitiate in Minnesota. The house on Gatineau Street had the right number of rooms for a common novitiate, and it was free. Montreal is a city where both of Canada’s languages are used, which promotes bilingualism for all novices, an important objective,” recalls Fr. Jean-Marc Laporte, SJ. “In a way it was the return of the two provinces to their common origin, for it was here [in Montreal] that the refoundation of the mission of Canada took place after the suppression.”
Following St. Ignatius, Even When It’s Difficult
Fr. Erik Oland, SJ, Provincial of the Jesuits of Canada until July 2024, points out that the sale of the building that once housed the novitiate, which involves a number of changes, was a “difficult decision, both personally and collectively.” For Fr. Oland himself, it was difficult because of his ties to the place: “In addition to being the first novice director there, I had been part of the discernment group, begun in 2007 between the then English and French Jesuits of Canada, that reflected on the possibility of a common novitiate.”
Nevertheless, this sale was the obvious choice if we consider the novitiate to be an experience. The main consideration was the question: What is a Jesuit novitiate? According to Fr. Oland, “First of all, a Jesuit novitiate is an experience rather than a place. This is clear from our Constitutions, which offer great flexibility as to the location and program of the novitiate according to the circumstances of the moment. For example, the canonical requirement that the novice spend at least a year in a stable place does not absolutely require a separate novitiate building; many novices in the past have lived in an apostolic Jesuit community under the supervision of a novice master. The reality of recent years has shown us that we no longer have the number of incoming novices to sustain a community of peers, which is an integral element of Jesuit initial formation.”
Although difficult, the decision to sell the novitiate was also pragmatic, just as St. Ignatius was. “In that light, the move to Gatineau Avenue was a pragmatic decision that worked well as long as we had the number of novices for a healthy-sized community,” explains Fr. Oland. “Today, it’s just as pragmatic to leave and, for now, seize the opportunity to give our incoming novices a reasonably large number of peers in a community in the United States”—while ensuring the formation of Jesuits for the Canadian apostolate.
Today, Jesuit novices live their time of formation partly in the United States and partly in Canada, so that they can live a community life while gaining experience of apostolic work in Canada.
Preserving the Legacy of the Novitiate for the Future
The library at the Gatineau Street novitiate is extensive, and a number of actions are being taken to preserve it as effectively as possible. “The move, while necessary, will be done with diligence and care,” assured Fr. Burwell. The Provincial is therefore ensuring that important books are safeguarded, notably in the Jesuit library (located at Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf), by Jesuits and by the Provincial House.
