When the dream is actualised, it becomes history; when the spirit is captured, it becomes an eternal myth; when truth is preached, it becomes a religion. But how do we harness an experience using limited words, employing distorted images and utilizing inadequate idioms? Yet when the heart is full, the mind is clear and the spirit beckons a myriad of dreams as wide as the universe: a soaring spirit as high as the sky and an eternal truth as lofty as the mountain will flow unhindered to help us fathom the essence of General Congregation 35. (GC 35)

For two full months at the General Curia in Rome, 225 Jesuits representing 105 provinces and Regions all over the world grappled with a dream, fought with the Spirit and danced with the truth! The issues were many and the voices were diverse. 'Bring in the periphery to the centre' shouts the social activist; 'stop the bleeding of the mother earth' pleads the concerned ecologist; 'educate the millions of marginalized' informs the man in the school; 'stop exploiting the indigenous people' cries the 'son of the soil'; 'listen to the spirit that guides the Church' preaches the pastor; 'encourage the theologians to search for the truth' appeals the superior. ''the Church has ever more need today of your fidelity' appeals the Vicar of Christ.

The task was clear: to reaffirm those 'neuralgic points' in one single stroke; to tackle globalisation in one committed action; to 'counter-reform' the social culture with the divine; to see God in every religion and Christ incarnated in them, to continuously form men of God and men for and with others and to confirm the salvific plan of God in building His kingdom.

But to do great things we need men of great vision and clear direction. GC 35's first priority, therefore, was to choose their leader who could ignite "A Fire that kindles other Fires". The first stage of the Congregation, "Ad Electionem" was to search for a man of vision and passion, a man of God and a man for others. At the GC 35, as the Spirit moved, directed, inspired and enkindled us. There was a lurking fear and a deep anxiety, as we searched: This one, that one, which one? The media in different continents had projected many names. The profile suggested was a demanding portrait of a saint. Who will fill in the shoes of Ignatius, Lainez …Arrupe, Kolvenbach?

But first things first!

The Cedar of Lebanon:
It is for the first time in the history of the Society of Jesus, a GC accepted the resignation of a General as he presided over the GC. Fr Peter-Hans Kolvenbach who was the General for 24+ years submitted his resignation. Prior to this he had obtained the permission from Pope Benedict XVI, the only person who could allow such a change.

At the Inaugural Mass in his homily Cardinal Rhode expressed a "heart-felt gratitude" to Fr Kolvenbach for his "fidelity, his wisdom, his righteousness and his example of humility and poverty." Later on 22 Febr Pope Benedict thanked for the wisdom and love with which Fr Kolvenbach guided the Society and contributed so much for the Church.

At the formal session on 7 Jan, Fr Kolvenbach, S.J., addressed the electors with these words: "With the blessing of the Holy Father granted on 20 June '05 and after having obtained a positive vote from the Assistants for provident care and from the Provincials of the whole Society on the seriousness of the reasons to resign, I present now to the judgement of the General Congregation my resignation as Superior General of the Society of Jesus… although the Superior General is elected for life and not for any determined time - he may, nonetheless, in good conscience and by law, resign from his office for a grave reason that would render him permanently unequal to the labours of his post."

On 14 Jan, after a period of silent personal prayer, the GC members voted to accept the resignation of Fr Kolvenbach. After a pause, Fr General, who had left during the voting, returned to the aula. Fr Valentin Menéndez informed him of the ballot's result that manifested the respectful assent of the Congregation to the reasons which had moved him to resign. Then Fr Menéndez, who chaired the session, on behalf of the Society, thanked Fr Kolvenbach for his 25 years at the helm of the Society with the following words: "Now that GC 35 has accepted your resignation, it is fitting that this same Congregation gathered here today, express, in the whole Society's name, its profound gratitude to you for your crucial service, as missioned by the Lord, to the Church and to the Society.

"… The example you give us today, of course, is very different from what commonly is found in a world characterized by the clinging to, and fighting for, positions of power and prestige. Our charism and legislation are not good merely because they propose beautiful ideals, but precisely because there are people who know how to embody and live them.

"…In GC 35's name and that of the whole Society, and with all of our heart, we say: thank you very much, Fr Kolvenbach! We are proud of you and of your service during these difficult, but exciting years the Lord has seen fit to give us."

The last words of Fr Menendéz were followed by a long and warm applause that all the Delegates, standing, dedicated to Father Kolvenbach. Every eye was filled with tears of gratitude, love and affection for the person who led the Society with a great vision, deep love and total dedication.

With the humor, which never seems to leave him, Fr Kolvenbach thanked the Delegates for the "elegant way you have found to fire me." Then he spoke briefly to the whole Society. "…Today the General Congregation has thought it well to accept my resignation as General Superior of the Society of Jesus. At the end of these nearly 25 years of service, I want first of all to thank the Lord, who - to use the words of St Ignatius - has truly been propitious to me in Rome, in leading a Society He has called into service for his greater glory."

He went on to thank, "No single Jesuit should feel himself excluded from this profound sentiment of recognition. Nonetheless I would like to thank in a particular way those in the General Curia, who have helped me day after day over many years in carrying out my responsibilities for the Society, as well as all the Major Superiors spread throughout the entire world."
On 1 March Fr Adolfo Nicolas, on behalf of the whole Society, thanked Fr Kolvenbach in the aula. And on 9 March, the great sage left for Beirut, Lebanon, "to bloom where he is planted" with just one small single bag! And thus, the twenty-four year and four-month ministry of focused and single-minded stewardship of the universal Society of Jesus by Fr Kolvenbach came to a close. To recall and relive such a solemn moment in the history of the Society is a profoundly moving experience too deep for words.

A prayerful search, led by the Spirit:
The Noble Knight, the great Basque, St Ignatius Loyola has given to the Society an excellent election process - murmurationes, one to one consultation. There is no suggesting of names or campaigning for an individual person. Each one meets the other who he feels could be a prospective candidate for an exchange of views in respectful exploration and search. Or else meet some one who knows more about the person in question. It is the individual who takes the initiative to ask. Nobody is allowed to propose or suggest names but on request alone. On day one, some names were shared, considered and contemplated; on day two, lots of murmuratio, but very few spotted the fragile man; day three, some movement of the spirit, there is a sage with age; day four, 'bit by bit the spirit rained', there was a focus.

The prayer and fasting intensified. Many were seen at the Chapel of Blessed Sacrament at St Peter's during those four days. It was not surprising to see more than half the electors at the Church of Gesù at the tomb of St Ignatius and Arrupe, sitting silently, contemplating and asking for the grace on the fourth day. Deep within they needed an affirmation of the person they have in their heart to be elected as their leader.

On day five, 19 Jan '08, after the Mass at the Church of Santo Spirito, the Congregation walked with hope in silence to the aula, in deep thought, prayer and total surrender. The first was an indicative vote, the second was the gush of the Spirit. Aloha, we have the General, the 29th successor of St Ignatius Loyola, Fr Adolfo Nicolas! The Spirit triumphed in us and in Adolfo. The joy was infectious and celebration spontaneous.

The GC elected a missionary, like Fr Kolvenbach and Fr Arrupe, a "Westerner who has spent most of his Jesuit life in the Orient." There is something providential, surely, in this pattern.

Beyond the boundaries:
At the first Thanksgiving Mass in his homily, Fr. Adolfo Nicolás Pachón, 71 years young, called every Jesuit to go beyond the boundaries, to "other nations" who have no space, no land, no boundaries, no names or labels. The direction is clear. Jump the fence, go beyond boundaries of nation, culture, province, if need be, but make the poor of the whole world our priority, our life's mission. Goal is set, intention is clear. Nothing should stop us now!

Daniel Patrick Huang, SJ, the Provincial of the Philippines who knows Fr Adolfo well, had this to say, "Fr Nico embodies for many of us the primary quality St. Ignatius stipulates as desirable in the man who is to become General: that he be a man 'closely united with God our Lord.' 'Tell me,' an elector from Europe asked me soon after Nico's election, 'have we elected a saint?' Whatever the answer to that question, many have noticed and wondered at the serenity and joy that Nico radiates. There is a wholeness, a centeredness, a freedom about him that points to his spiritual depth." As the President of the Conference of Jesuit of East Asia, Fr Adolfo, was instrumental in venturing into many a new area in East Timor, Myanmar, Cambodia and reaching out in total support to mainland China. Fr Louis Gendron, the Provincial of China, gives a one-line pen-portrait, the gifts that Fr Nico brings to his office: "A joyous man, warm, energetic, and with whom one feels so close!"
It has been 46 years since Fr Adolfo Nicolás first travelled to Japan as a missionary from Spain. Having been first in Japan, then in Korea and more recently in the Philippines, he was convinced that the West does not have a monopoly on meaning and spirituality, and people can learn a lot from the experience of Asian cultures.

In an earlier interview, to Michael McVeigh, Fr Adolfo Nicolás said, "Asia has a lot yet to offer to the Church, to the whole Church, but we haven't done it yet." He further said, "Maybe we have not been courageous enough, or we haven't taken the risks that we should….There is more space for experimenting, for trying, for thinking and exchanging." Fr Nicolás is wary of missionaries who don't enter into the lives of the people, but keep the patterns of their home cultures - Europe or America - alive in their mind. For them, it's not about exchange but about teaching and imposing orthodoxy.

"Those who enter into the lives of the people, begin to question their own positions very radically", he says. "Because they see genuine humanity in the simple people, and yet they see that this genuine humanity is finding a depth of simplicity, of honesty, of goodness that does not come from our sources."

"That conversation must continue, if we are to learn from Asia and Asia is to learn from us. That is a tremendous challenge, and I think it's a challenge that we have to face. We don't have a monopoly, and we have a lot to learn."

In his first letter sent to the whole Society, he said, "I think you can easily imagine the surprise, even shock, I received with the election. I had considered myself out of bounds because of my age, without entering into the long series of inadequacies and shortcomings that are well known to those with whom I have lived and worked."

"Maybe the most difficult thing to explain is the experience we all went through on those days, searching in the fog, looking for the will of God and the good of the Church and the Society. It was this intense, sincere and open search that made it impossible for me to decline or refuse the choice. … And now I assure you that I will give all my energy and person to the work of helping the Society move forward, supporting what is good, responding to new challenges, encouraging to face the difficult task of being consistent with and credible witnesses of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that we believe in."

He went on to say, "I am deeply grateful to the General Congregation; they have given me an excellent team that will help me sleep better, with the confidence that I have the best possible advice and support. Even so I will probably make mistakes and
will need your understanding and forgiveness whenever they happen. Be "generously" ready!"

'Sentire cum Ecclesia':
As the GC began, Pope Benedict had sent his personal greetings to the members of the GC 35 on 10 Jan '08. In his letter, he openly revealed his confidence in the Society of Jesus as well as his spiritual closeness and deep esteem, in words that touched our hearts.

On 21 Feb '08, the Pope, in a private audience at Sala Clementina, addressed us again, placing the future of our mission before us. With clarity and firmness, the Pope called each one of us for defense and proclamation of faith, that we should explore new horizons and reach new social, cultural and religious frontiers and borderlands. The Pope entrusted to us the task to "build bridges of understanding and dialogue." He said, "As my predecessors have often told you, the Church needs you, counts on you, and continues to turn to you with confidence, particularly to reach the geographical and spiritual places where others do not reach or find it difficult to reach. … This is why the Church is in urgent need of people of solid and deep faith, of a serious culture and a genuine human and social sensitivity, of religious priests who devote their lives to stand on those frontiers in order to witness and help to understand that there is in fact a profound harmony between faith and reason, between evangelical spirit, thirst for justice and action for peace."

Being aware of the daunting task, the Pope said, "I know and understand well that this is a particularly sensitive and demanding point for you and not a few of your confreres, especially those engaged in theological research, inter-religious dialogue and dialogue with contemporary culture." Recalling Matteo Ricci in China and Robert De Nobili in India, he called on the GC members to go ahead with boldness. Confirming, 'faith that does justice', he said, "At the same time I encourage you to continue and renew your mission among the poor and for the poor. Unfortunately new causes of poverty and exclusion are not lacking in a world marked by grave economic and environmental imbalances, processes of globalisation, caused by selfishness rather than by solidarity, by devastating and absurd armed conflicts."

Prior to the address, Fr Adolfo thanked the Pope for his encouraging and affectionate letter of rich content and a positive tone. He said, "We are grateful to Your Holiness for having encouraged us once more to follow our Ignatian tradition of service right where the Gospel and the Church suffer the greatest challenges, a service which at times also lends itself to the risk of disturbing a peaceful lifestyle, reputation and security."

Fr Adolfo did not hide our sins when he addressed the Pope. "It saddens us, Holy Father, when the inevitable deficiencies and superficialities of some among us are at times used to dramatize and represent as conflicts and clashes what are often only manifestations of limits and human imperfections, or inevitable tensions of everyday life. But all this does not discourage us, nor quell our passion, not only to serve the Church, but also, with a deeper sense of our roots, according to the spirit of the Ignatian tradition, to love the hierarchical Church and the Holy Father, the Vicar of Christ."

The encounter with the Pope was an experience of solidarity with the Church. It was a sure sign that the Pope was defending the Jesuits against the many enemies we have created knowingly and unknowingly within the Church circles. And it was a happy and significant event in the life of Congregation when the Pope asked us to adhere to the magisterium, go ahead with service of faith and justice, work among and for the poor and dialogue with cultures.

The policies and governance
The second part of the GC 35, 'Ad Negotia' was dedicated to important issues that challenge the Jesuits today and find the ways and means to respond to the challenges. There were 258 postulates from 80 Province/Regional Congregations and 9 groups. There were 100 more that came from individuals to Fr General. Besides, the 'de statu' report culled from 10 Assistancies/Conferences had given a fair picture of the needs and the challenges that are before us. The GC 35 grappled with all these. The Coetus Praevious and special commissions had done a good job, putting them in order and even suggesting the "Decree topics" and "Issues for Ordinary Governance". They were discussed in language groups and in the Assistancy groups. The Commission brought in draft after draft incorporating every suggestion that was made at different stages of its writing. And eventually it was deliberated upon in the whole congregation, recast, rewritten and finally voted.
The identity of apostolic Religious was often questioned. Even in some of the Church circles there were voices asking the religious to 'get into the monasteries'. Seeing and loving as Jesus did and the understanding that Ignatius received, taught him a contemplative way of working in the world, of contemplating God working in the depths of beings. We realized, "Being and doing; contemplation and action, prayer and prophetic living; being completely united with Christ and completely inserted into the world with him as an apostolic body; all of these polarities mark deeply the life of a Jesuit and express both its essence and its possibilities." Since we asserted that "Jesuit identity and Jesuit mission are linked by community", we did not hesitate to say, "Jesuit identity is relational; it grows in and through our diversities of culture, nationalities and languages, enriching and challenging us."

Challenges of our Mission were seen in a new context for Mission. Reaffirming GC 34, Decree 4, n.14, GC 35 called all the Jesuits to establish a right relationship. It is a mission of reconciliation. Building right relationships with God through the proclamation of the Word and the celebration of the life of Christ in sacraments. Building right relationship with one another in a globalised world demands that we see the world from the perspective of the poor and the marginalized acting with and for them. Building a right relationship with creation is our responsibility for our home, the Earth, because, care of the environment enhances the quality of our relationships with God, with other human beings and creation itself.

Taking up our contemporary context and challenges, we needed to define our life of Obedience and clarify the meaning of the fourth vow of obedience to the Pope regarding missions. Collaboration at the heart of our mission has been enriching because so many have chosen to work with us and share our passion to reach out to the men and women of our broken but lovable world. We are enriched by others, even people from other religious traditions. GC 34 had asked to review the 'closer personal bond' and having assessed the experience, it seems best no longer to promote the special kind of relationship, but encourage lay people to live their vocation in one of the many ways of collaboration with which the Church has been blessed especially since Vatican II.

Greater universality, more flexibility and articulation of Ignatian values in contemporary life and work were the governing principles as GC authorized Fr General for the update of General Governance, the formula of General Congregation and Provincial Congregation. Some of the issues highlighted were: Conference of Major Superiors, Province Governance, Local governance, role of superiors and leadership in the Society, "all for love and service".

Mandates and recommendations:
After two days of discussions at the Assistancy and linguistic groups, 15 topics were chosen for deliberation for 'Ordinary Governance' to be submitted to Fr General for further action. They were two geographical priorities: Africa and China, eight apostolic preferences: Communication and Internet Age; Ecology; Fundamentalism; Indigenous Peoples; Intellectual Apostolate; Migrants, Displaced Persons and Trafficked People; Roman Houses and Youth: and five Issues related to the life of the Society: Jesuit Brothers, Community Life, Finances, Formation and Vocations.

Specialized groups worked on these topics and presented to the aula for final deliberation. The GC 35, after prayerful discernment, voted the mandates and recommendations, so that Fr General and his team could work on them.
There was a realization that we have enough documents, right from Vatican II and from the GC 31 to 34. What we need is implementation strategies and accountability structures. Having that in mind the GC 35 worked towards making the Society's documents come alive in the life of every Jesuit.

On the sidelines…
While the Congregation was in progress, there were activities of all types, all around. The Assistancy meetings, inter Assistancy Collaboration, interest groups, (It looked as if people from the Parish Ministry had a parallel GC!), inter provincial and inter Assistancy agreements. Sundays were set aside for reading or for "spiritual tourism" to Assisi, Sienna and Florence.

Conclusion:
We had given ourselves a much more realistic time-line this time. GC 34, recognizing what a GC can do decently well within a short span of time, and what it cannot, had the wisdom to say that the rest should be left to the new Fr General and his team. GC 35 did precisely that. There was an "honest and frank acknowledgment of where we are going wrong, what is missing in our lives, what has been distorted or wounded in our spirit, and where we need conversion, renewal or radical reform."

As Fr Adolfo had said earlier in an interview in Manila, "The best of a General Congregation is the event itself, as an 'event of the heart'. This is a time of intensive search and of exhilarating exchange, where questions and answers do not come lineally, but dance within us and around us, at the rhythm of fraternal and humble mutual openness."

This really happened to the whole Society of Jesus. With the availability of new modern means of communication, the whole Society was involved this time, knowing what was happening, praying and supporting with constant responses on webs, on blogs and internet messages. Prayer, reflection and exchange became precious contributions.

In GC 35 we have begun a process of dynamic and open reflection on our religious life that might begin a process of re-creation of the Society for our times, not only in the quality of our services, but also and mostly in the quality of our personal and community witness to the Church and the World.

There was a committed desire to finish in two months and the GC achieved it, even working at times the whole day on Saturdays. Thus, with clarity as to the objectives, and so focused in the work, GC did this service to the Society and the Church within a reasonably short time of just two months.

Fr Hector D'Souza, SJ, is the Provincial of South Asia.