Archbishop's web site Denver Catholic Register Parishes Catholic Pastoral Center
October 9, 2002
Worldwide Jesuit leader to visit Denver
All are invited to Mass with Father Kolvenbach
The worldwide leader of the Society of Jesus, also known as the Jesuits, will visit Denver Oct. 18-19, and will celebrate a Mass at 5 p.m. Oct. 19, at St. Ignatius Loyola Church at East 23rd Avenue and York Street.
Father Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, S.J., will be in Denver to visit the Jesuits of Colorado as they celebrate 125 years of service in the Rocky Mountain West. A variety of private meetings are planned at the Denver campus of Regis University and at Regis Jesuit High School in Aurora.
The public is invited to the Mass, and especially alumni, friends and anyone connected with Regis University, Regis High School, Sacred Heart Retreat House, the Xavier Jesuit Center, Miquel Pro House and Loyola Parish.
Father Kolvenbach is the leader of the largest religious order in the Catholic Church. The Jesuits are known for their work in education, spirituality centers, social ministries and for helping people who have been marginalized socially. The order was founded by St. Ignatius Loyola in 1540 as a "company" and was organized in loosely military terms, thus the leader is called the superior general. There are more than 22,000 Jesuits today, serving in 112 nations on six continents.
Father Kolvenbach is based in Rome. Originally from the Netherlands, he spent an extensive period of time in Lebanon, where he was a professor of linguistics at the University of St. Joseph in Beirut. He became the 29th Superior General of the order on Sept. 13, 1983, the 28th successor of St. Ignatius Loyola.
A speech he made shortly after being named to his post, which became known as the "Jesuit challenge," has been widely quoted. In it he said, "You are called by the Society of Jesus to be men and women who reflect upon the world around you with all its ambiguities, opportunities and challenges, to discern what is really happening in your life and in the lives of others, to find God there and to discover where God is calling you, to employ criteria for significant choices that reflect Godly values rather than narrow, exclusive self-interest, to make decisions in the light of what is truly for the greater glory of God and the service of those in need, and then to act accordingly."
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