Walking with the Excluded

“Street life is a parallel society that co-exists alongside what we call normal society. It has its own rules and habits, even its own language. And just as parallel lines never meet, neither do these two worlds. They may exist side by side...”

Loyola House (LH) of Guelph, Canada, began in 1964 as a weekend retreat center for men. Over the next half century, it would expand its horizons and hospitality to women, makers of the full Spiritual Exercises, trainees in spiritual direction, budding ecologists...

According to estimates made at the 2011 census in Hungary, some ten percent of the Hungarian population belongs to the Roma or Gipsy minority – making it the largest minority group in Hungary.

Congratulations to the winners of the “Four Dreams” film competition organized by the IAJU and the General Curia of the Society of Jesus! This time, the prize is related to the 2nd Universal Apostolic Preference, the choice to walk with the excluded.

At the IAJU General Assembly in Boston on 4 August 2022, the five winners of the competition were announced, one winner for each of the UAPs and one Grand Prize. Discover the winning entry!

The Society of Jesus nowadays brings forth four Universal Apostolic Preferences. Though we feel at the Murray-Weigel/Kohlmann Hall Jesuit Community in the Bronx, New York, that we do have a part in all of these, here are some of our experiences in “walking with the excluded.”

The incarnation experience of a Jesuit working anonymously in a factory alongside exploited workers.

Loyola Institute of Business Administration (LIBA), in the Jesuit Chennai Province (CEN), one of the premier business schools in India, implements the Universal Apostolic Preferences (UAPs)...

Finding God is one of the fundamental spiritual paths laid out by Ignatius to help everyone to discern God’s presence, to find God in all things, reaching out to a difficult and diverse, a grace-filled yet a groaning world.

As is the case in other Jesuit Provinces in Latin America, the social ministry of the Mexican Province includes a CIAS (Centre for Research and Social Action). This CIAS was relaunched in 2015, and renamed “Jesuits for Peace”.

An NGO recognized for the quality of its work by the United Nations Economic and Social Council and accredited to the OAS, Centro Prodh has been committed to defending for 35 years those who, in Mexico, are marginalized or have no voice.

As I read over Fr. General’s letter to the whole Society regarding the Universal Apostolic Preferences, I could not help but think he had actually been directly accompanying our work at the JRJI over the past few years.