Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 6—The Georgia Bulletin, September 8,1983
220 Jesuits Gather To Elect New Superior
BY NANCY FRAZIER
ROME (NC) - The
coming election of a new
Jesuit superior general
resembles in many ways a
conclave to elect a pope.
In the fall of 1978, the
papal conclave gathered
111 cardinals behind
locked doors and their
election of a pope was
signaled by white smoke
from a small chimney. The
new church leader took
the. name of Pope John
Paul II.
This September 220
Jesuits will gather behind
locked doors in Rome, a
few steps from the
Vatican, to elect a new
superior general.
“And one of the only
differences, procedurally,
is that there won’t be any
smoke,” says a high Jesuit
official.
The primary purpose
for the Jesuits’ 33rd
general congregation,
scheduled to open Sept. 2
and last throughout the
month, is to elect a
successor to the ailing
Father Pedro Arrupe, the
Jesuits’ 75-year-old
superior general.
It will also mark the end
of a nearly two-year term
of rule by 81-year-old
Father Paolo Dezza, who
was appointed by Pope
John Paul in October 1981
to lead the 26,000 Jesuits
until a general
congregation took place.
Jesuit rules try to
prevent the choice of a
superior from being
subject to political
manuveuring. Participants
in the general congregation
are specifically prohibited
from conducting
campaigns for a certain
candidate.
“In electing a general
there are no candidacies at
all, no indications or
‘nominations’ as
understood in the
Anglo-Saxon world,” said
the Jesuit official, who
asked not to be named.
“The electors are asked
not to come to a definitive
judgment before the
session for the election,
which begins with a time
of prayer,” he added. “It
is during this time of
prayer, and only then, that
the elector should decide
on his choice.”
In an April 22 letter to
the members of the
Society of Jesus, Father
Dezza reminded the
members that the election
must take place “without
any presentation of
candidacies, or any
electoral propagandizing,
all of which is completely
foreign to our way of
proceeding.”
Father Dezza’s letter
also announced that
representatives had been
elected to the general
congregation from each of
the Jesuits’ 77 provinces
or independent vice
provinces. Each province
elects two delegates who
accompany the provincial
to the meeting.
Independent vice
provinces elect one
delegate each.
The election of a
superior general is not
expected to take place
until a week to 10 days
after the general
congregation has begun.
After choosing a
secretary and assistant
secretary for the meeting,
the Jesuits at the 1983
general congregation will
have to consider a matter
never before discussed at
such a session: the
resignation of the Jesuit
superior general.
Father Arrupe, born in
the Basque region of
Spain, is the first Jesuit
superior general to resign.
The post of superior
general was formerly held
until death, but the 32nd
Jesuit general congregat
ion, held in 1965, voted to
allow a superior to resign
for serious reasons.
Before he suffered a
major stroke on Aug. 7,
1981, Father Arrupe had
begun the process for his
resignation but then halted
it at the pope’s personal
request.
The Jesuit delegates will
open their meeting by
celebrating a Mass with
Pope John Paul.
The Jesuit official does
not think the pope will say
anything new in his
address during the Mass.
“His position (about the
Jesuits) is clear, and I
don’t think he’ll say
anything new,” he said.
In his last major talk to
Jesuit leaders, Feb. 27,
1982, Pope John Paul
praised the society’s past
contributions to the
church but warned that
“there is no longer room
for deviations” from the
church’s prohibition on
direct political
involvement by priests and
its demand for doctrinal
fidelity.
Despite the Jesuits’
special fourth vow of
obedience to the pope, the
election of the new
superior general will be
“completely free” and
Pope John Paul has no
veto power over the man
chosen, the Jesuit official
said.
According to planned
procedures, at the
congregation Father
Arrupe’s resignation will
be accepted and the
POPE JOHN PAUL pictured
during his recent visit to the shrine
at Lourdes. When the new Jesuit
superior is elected, the Holy Father
may be on a planned visit to
Austria. The Pope must be
informed “as a courtesy” as to who
the new superior will be before
public announcement is made.
Therefore instead of the usual
messenger, this time a phone call
may be made.
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Jesuits will elect a
commission to evaluate
the state of the society
and to report its findings
to electors.
Then begins the
“quatriduum,” a four-day
period of information
gathering by the electors
which has gained the
uncomplimentary Italian
title of the “mormoraz-
ioni,” meaning whispering,
grumbling, muttering or
murmuring.
During that time, the
electors will be able to ask
one another about the
background or personal
characteristics of any
Jesuit. But participants are
not supposed to volunteer
any information that has
not been requested.
At the end of the four
days, the electors will be
locked into the voting
room after a Mass of the
Holy Spirit.
They will remain in the
room until a new superior
has been elected.
After a 15-minute
spiritual exhortation and a
45-minute period of
meditation, the voting
begins. No abstentions are
allowed by the electors,
and a majority of at least
111 voters is required for
the election of a superior
general.
Unlike popes, the man
chosen as head of the
Jesuits has no right to
refuse the post.
Before the announc
ement of the new superior
general can be made to
those outside the general
congregation, Pope John
Paul must be informed of
the vote “as a courtesy,”
the Jesuit official said.
Because the pope may
be in Austria at the time
of the Jesuit election, the
messenger usually sent to
inform the pope at the
Vatican might have to be
replaced by the modem
means of a telephone call,
he added.
“Don’t worry,” the
official said. “There are
Jesuits in Vienna too.”
Americans Will Participate
ROME (NC) - Thirty-five U.S. Jesuits are allowed to
participate in the 33rd general congregation of the Society
of Jesus.
The 5,100 U.S. Jesuits, split into 10 provinces, elected
33 delegates.
Two other U.S. Jesuits were invited because of their
posts within the society. They are Father Vincent
O’Keefe, an assistant superior general, and Father Gerald
R. Sheahan, Jesuit regional assistant for America.
Of the 33 elected delegates, only 30 can vote for a
superior general in keeping with Jesuit by-laws which state
that only three people can be elected to choose a superior
general by each province.
The extra three delegates are from the New York
province, which because of its size was granted permission
to elect six representatives, three of which are designated
to vote for superior general. All six can participate in
other votes. The New York province has 933 members.
Father O’Keefe, because of his position, also can vote
for a superior general, but Father Sheahan cannot.
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