Jesuits draw on the rich tradition of Ignatian spirituality and reflection. In our retreat centers , parishes , campus ministries, and other settings, we offer these resources to all who want to discern God’s presence in their lives.

Service and justice are key priorities of Jesuit education. Pedro Arrupe, a beloved Superior General of the Jesuits (from 1965 to 1983), said the principle objective of Jesuit education is to form “men and women for others, men and women who will not live for …

The 14,000-plus Jesuits worldwide come from more than 110 countries and belong to over 60 provinces, but the order has “a universal character that transcends” these boundaries, according to one official Jesuit declaration.

Less than a century after the founding of our religious order, Jesuits began arriving on the shores of America. French Jesuits explored the woodlands of Maine and celebrated, in 1611, the first known Mass on American soil, at the mouth of the Kennebec River.

Who are the Jesuits? When they had finished their studies, Ignatius and his companions decided to offer themselves to the pope for whatever ministry he wished. They discerned that God was calling them to form a new religious order, the Society of Jesus.

The Jesuits’ work for reconciliation is three-fold: with God, with humanity and with creation. While we speak of three forms of reconciliation, all three are truly one work of God, interconnected and inseparable.

Since its founding, Jesuits had been dedicated to the service of the Catholic faith, but at the Jesuits’ General Congregation 32 in 1975, “the promotion of justice” was declared a central part of the Society’s mission and a concrete response to an unjustly suffering world.

We are the Society of Jesus, a Roman Catholic order of priests and brothers founded half a millennium ago by the soldier-turned-mystic Ignatius Loyola. But most people just call us “the Jesuits.”

Jesuits are members of the Society of Jesus. Currently, about 14,000 Jesuits (priests, brothers and men in formation) serve in ministries around the world.

From the earliest days of the Society of Jesus, Jesuits saw their mission as one to be lived out in the world. And so, they went to where the people were; to paraphrase another early Jesuit — Jerome Nadal — they saw the world as their monastery.