Dear Friends, 

As we enter a new liturgical cycle and a new calendar year, we continue to respond to Pope Francis’ call to “look to the past with gratitude, to live the present with passion, and to embrace the future with hope.”

To this end, we give thanks for the many blessings of 2015. Eight Jesuits were ordained to the priesthood in the Chicago-Detroit and Wisconsin Provinces, and seven pronounced first vows. Sixteen men entered the Jesuit Novitiate of St. Alberto Hurtado in St. Paul, Minn., while lay partners joined us across the world and here at home to make the greatest impact by serving the greatest need. This fall, Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Milwaukee became the 29th school in a national network of Cristo Rey institutions providing a quality Catholic education and work experience to nearly 10,000 students throughout the network. The world’s first Jesuit community college, Arrupe College of Loyola University Chicago, also opened its doors.

One of the year’s highlights, of course, was Pope Francis’ pilgrimage to the United States. Though the pope offered prophetic remarks on peace, environmental justice, and our responsibilities toward migrants and the oppressed, his joyful smile and embrace of everyone, powerful and powerless alike, spoke louder than words.

Pope Francis’ visit presented a unique opportunity for the Society to reflect in a new light on the Ignatian spirituality that Jorge Mario Bergoglio first encountered as a Jesuit novice in

	Jesuit Frs. Thomas Lawler, provincial of the Wisconsin Province, and Brian Paulson, provincial of the Chicago-Detroit Province, join the seven Jesuits who pronounced first vows this year, as well as Jesuit Frs. Charles Rodrigues, Thomas Pipp, and Gregory Hyde of the Jesuit Novitiate of St. Alberto Hurtado. Learn more about first vows.

1958, and that animates our work today. Throughout the pope’s time in the United States, Jesuits like Frs. Matt Malone and James Martin of America magazine and Fr. Timothy Kesicki, president of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States, appeared on major news networks and shared with the general public the worldview that continues to guide Pope Francis and all those who support the Society. We encourage you to read Fr. Kesicki’s reflection on what we all can learn from the pope’s historic trip.

Our collective vocation is to live the present with passion, while welcoming all the future has in store, confident of the Spirit’s guidance. Jesuit delegates from the Midwest continue to prepare for the Society of Jesus’ 36th General Congregation, which will be held in Rome in October 2016 and involve electing a new Superior General. As our two provinces move toward creating a new province in 2017, we maintain our dedication to the more than 60 Jesuit institutions in our provinces, each of which does so much to fulfill the Society’s mission to embody a faith that does justice.

We hope you enjoy the many news items and articles in this issue and see how together, with your support and prayers, we are responding to Saint Ignatius’s call to be women and men for others.

We ask for your prayers. Please know of our prayers for you.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

	Fr. Brian G. Paulson, SJ    Provincial, Chicago-Detroit Province		Fr. Thomas A. Lawler, SJ    Provincial, Wisconsin Province

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Click here for the Partners Fall Winter 2015 Index