Dear Friends,

This issue of Jesuit Journeys contains accounts of many different kinds of journeys. One tells us about the young men beginning their journey as Companions of Jesus and Servants of Christ’s Mission by entering the Jesuit novitiate. Tim Manatt, SJ writes about his journey through the years of Jesuit formation; and Casey Beaumier, SJ shares his thoughts on the eve of his ordination as a priest.

There are stories of Creighton Prep students going to Africa; of Jesuit Volunteer Corps community members coming to Milwaukee; of youths from around the world traveling to be with Pope Benedict XVI in Germany for World Youth Day; and of what it is like to journey to Georgia to be part of the Ignatian Family Teach-In.

There is also a story about Br. Mike Wilmot’s crosses, why he makes them, and how they remind us that all our journeys are only a part of the story of God’s love for us manifested in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

For my first international journey as provincial, I traveled to Seoul, South Korea in August to participate in special ceremonies marking the establishment of the Province of Korea. When I was a student at Creighton Prep in the ’60s, the mission collections were to support the Jesuits’ work at Sogang University in Seoul. I enjoyed seeing what happened to my mission money. I was accompanied by Fr. Dick McCaslin, SJ. We were joined in Korea by several other Wisconsin Jesuits who, like Fr. McCaslin, ministered there. Fr. General Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, SJ, head of the worldwide Society of Jesus, welcomed us and joined the celebration to recognize Korea as its own province.

As our own province celebrates its 50th anniversary, we also rejoice in the end of Korea’s 50-year journey to be an independent province.

These different journeys remind us that we are all called to be part of a worldwide community and labor together in service to the Church to build God’s Kingdom and a better world.

I thank all our lay colleagues and Partners for the special prayers and support that make possible all the works of the Society of Jesus.

Your brother in the Lord,