Making Jesuits Known: A Conversation with Fr. Edmund Lo, SJ

How is your sector and how the Province of Canada can be of support?

When I talk to Jesuits or even non-Jesuits, the general feeling is one of doom and gloom — it’s always negative. The joke is that whenever I’m in a Jesuit community, there’s one question that always comes up: “So, how many guys are we getting this year?” My counterparts in the United States have the same experience. I think the question is really: “Is there a future for the Society of Jesus?”

From my point of view, vocations are still out there. God continues to call young men — whether they are called to join us or not, we need to figure that out. I don’t think the Lord has stopped calling men to follow Him in this very specific way. And I would say it is my responsibility and the responsibility of others to help them in their discernment.

Indeed, this is not my job alone. If you are a happy Jesuit, and if you live this life and your Jesuit vocation well, and if people can see that your service has value and that this kind of life is worth living — then they will be interested. So I encourage Jesuits to be more proactive; they have a role to play as well. We can no longer assume that people know us. They might know us in our history, but they may not know us in person. To use the language of Pope Francis, I think we need to fight against a kind of self-referential understanding — that the world revolves around us. In the western part of Canada, the Jesuits are not well-known at all.

We need to be visible. I need to be visible. And I believe that those Jesuits whose focus is to help people in vocational work need to be visible as well. If people don’t see us, they won’t be able to know us.

“I encourage Jesuits to be more proactive; they have a role to play as well. “

As for laypeople — they do a whole lot. And I would very much encourage them to stay attentive and give us a hand in promoting vocations. If you get to know someone, and he’s of a certain age, and you see that there is a kind of generosity in him — he wants to give his life for something greater and also has a heart for love of God and love of neighbour — then feel very free to ask the question: “So what are you doing with your life? What about this?”

Do you have an example of a kind of discussion that led to vocation?

One of our part-time vocation promoters is Jubin Nath Maria Lawrence, SJ — and he is one of those Jesuits who’s involved in many things.

He was just ordained a priest less than a year ago, and he’s doing his licentiate at Regis College. That in itself keeps him busy enough. But on the weekends he goes to different parishes around Toronto to help with supply ministry.

He is very friendly and open. He talks to everyone, but he doesn’t overtly promote vocations. He is in the parishes to be the Saturday or Sunday priest. But in his conversations with young people, he has been able to establish relationships and also meaningful contact. So they begin to question: “Oh, what is this thing?” And maybe they will learn about Jesuits.

I very much encourage Jubin to keep doing what he’s doing (as long as he doesn’t overwork himself).

Are you collaborating with other works and sectors?

Yes, we are beginning the work of collaboration and creating a different kind of office structure as well. For example, in collaborating with a retreat centre, I don’t shout, “Hey, Jesuit vocations!” I simply remind them that if there are young people interested, they have my contact information. I also lead or help with retreats for young professionals — where we see those who are really active in their faith and those who are searching.

I am also making more visits to our Jesuit parishes — just to be a presence there and to let people see that we are still active. But I know that parish priests are often overworked, so collaboration between the Vocations Office and the parishes will also take time to develop.

I also work with the Associate Assistants. In terms of evangelization, for example, I work on the relic tour with Fr. John O’Brien, SJ. We are also starting an annual young adult pilgrimage to Martyrs’ Shrine. I often ask young people: “Where else in Canada — or even around the world — can you actually make a little pilgrimage to visit the site where people have been martyred?” Not a whole lot of places. And thinking more broadly in terms of evangelization, what we have in mind is to build a culture of pilgrimage in Canada. That is more of a long-term evangelization goal — but we’ll build it up.

I can certainly see that other new initiatives are also possible. But I want to be realistic — I don’t want to start 30 things and finish none.

Do you also work with the Jesuit Conference?

We already have a common vocation-promotion platform, beajesuit.org, and common work regarding admission criteria, for example.

I also meet once a month with the vocation directors of the four American provinces. We have a Zoom call every month, and we have two in-person meetings annually— one with just the five of us, and another with the vocation promoters. The in-person meetings with the vocation promoters are similar to professional development sessions. We choose a main topic or two to discuss, brainstorm ideas, share best practices. We collaborate in organizing big events.

Thirdly, given the reality that our formation centres in the Jesuit Conference are becoming more interprovincial, common “Come and See” sessions at a Jesuit community could include contributions from Jesuits from different provinces. In addition, our novitiate formation programs are becoming more collaborative since we are working on having two novitiates for the whole Conference.

So yes, there are a lot of collaborations between the different vocation offices. And I really appreciate it, because on a very personal Jesuit level, these are men who understand the thankless parts of our job. They get it.

Read the interview with Fr. Kevin Kelly, SJ, Provincial Assistant for Ignatian Spirituality