On August 16, 2022 a gathering in front of Nuremberg’s Main Railway station was formed by activists protesting a decision by the German Federal Minister for Transport and Infrastructure to ignore the mandates of German Climate Law. Comprised mostly of young activists, the protestors formed a blockade and were joined by Jesuit Fr Jörg Alt, SJ. After being peacefully arrested for participating in the blockade, Fr Alt was ordered to pay a penalty of €500. Refusing to pay a fine that he felt would excuse Germany of its moral responsibility to follow its own laws in regards to ecological protection, Fr Alt was then sentenced to 25 days of incarceration for his act of civil disobedience.

While it can be jarring to hear of a man of the cloth imprisoned for civil disobedience, the roots of a ministry that includes peaceful actions of disobedience goes back to the foundation of the Society of Jesus.

Through its storied history the Society of Jesus, and the men who came to be known as “Jesuits”, have gained a number of reputable traits. While the Society of Jesus became known for its educational, spiritual, and social apostolates – firmly grounded in “finding God in all things” – Jesuits became “men astutely trained” who brought Ignatian spirituality and missionary zeal to all corners of the Earth, in whatever work was needed. From St Francis Xavier and the Venerable Matteo Ricci using their knowledge of science, mathematics and sociology to minister in Asia, to Fr Robert Drinan bringing faith to politics as a Jesuit serving the US Congress, to St Ignatius himself shaking up the Church in Europe, Jesuits have continually found unique ministries to serve the mission in ways that provoke, inspire and anger – usually at the same time.

It should be no surprise then, that Jesuits faced with unjust systems or complacent populations have also found ministry in civil disobedience. Fr Daniel Berrigan, SJ, was an outspoken anti-war activist whose protests against the Vietnam war made him the first-ever Catholic priest placed on the “most wanted list” by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation. Fr Steve Kelly, SJ, also an anti-war protestor who has dedicated his life to the elimination of nuclear weapons, has been arrested and imprisoned multiple times - spending more than a decade of his life behind bars for his protests. Most recently, Fr Stan Swamy, SJ, died in prison while awaiting charges for standing with indigenous peoples in India whose land was being taken from them.

Fr Alt has become part of that long line of Jesuits who have sacrificed in a fight for what is right. As part of ‘jesuitenweltweit’ – the Jesuit development assistance organization – Fr Alt hopes his acts of civil disobedience will draw attention to the developing climate catastrophe in which almost 200 years of heavy industrialization by the “Global North” has wreaked disproportional climate havoc on the “Global South” which has not shared in the same economic prosperity as the north.

With an increasing frequency of catastrophic floods, droughts and devastating weather phenomena driven by the products of industrialization, Fr Alt believes that Germany, with the largest economy of the European Union, has a moral responsibility to cut its emissions more quickly and to push ahead with a social-ecological transformation of its economy.

Fr Alt may be the latest Jesuit who has placed his own freedom at risk for the greater good, but he is by no means the first, or will he be the last.