Jesuit Journeys
Fall 2005

Social and International Ministries:
Reconciling differences in a changing world

John Sealy
Provincial Assistant For Social and International Ministries

Most readers probably share an admiration for the film The Mission which recounts the Jesuit work in Paraguay in the late 1760s. It portrays a small team of Jesuits working alongside the indigenous Guarani people while the Portuguese merchants and Spanish slave-traders were colonizing the region. As Europeans, the Jesuits were initially met with suspicion and even persecution by the Guarani as they ventured deeper into the forests. Not surprising – as the Europeans were associated with slavery, military force, family separation, disease, and displacement.

The Jesuit evangelical strategy was to approach new cultures with a presumption that God was already present before their arrival. Becoming Christian did not require becoming European; in fact, God transcended and was at work redeeming all cultures. The Jesuits established a selfsustaining system of schools, parishes and farming cooperatives (called Reductions). This humanitarian development and effective evangelization exploded the myth of the European superiority built on the premise that indigenous people were sub-human and therefore a commodity to be made profitable.

The Jesuit Fathers won the trust of the Guarani, mediated (unsuccessfully) between them and the settlers, and eventually stood with them as the missions were sacked by the colonial empires. However, the tragedy is blended with inspiration as The Mission also portrays the conversion of a repentant slave trader (Captain Mendoza) who joins the Jesuit companions and befriends the people whom he had earlier hunted and sold.

The Mission demonstrates that cultural understanding (and misunderstanding) literally shapes both world and personal histories. Given the political and cultural tension in today’s world, how far have we come in terms of living peacefully with different cultures? With over thirty wars being fought today and conservative estimates of 30,000 children dying daily from malnutrition and treatable disease, it is sometimes difficult to see progress. With media’s growing fixation on the trivialities of popular culture and products, how are we able to perceive the world from a perspective different than our own?

The non-partisan Pew Research Center’s Global Attitude Project which began over four years ago shows the growing dissonance between U.S. and world perspectives on current events http://people-press. org/pgap/. The study, co-chaired by retired Sen. John Dansforth (R-MO) and former Secretary of State Madeline Albright, has surveyed over 90,000 people in 50 countries. It examines world attitudes on topics including globalization, living standards, democracy, and the American Character. In light of the U.S. led “War on Terror,” the study was expanded to survey how this response is understood internationally.

The study seems to indicate a strident disconnection between the U.S. and long-time allies, not to mention those regions of the world where our relations already have been strained.

In The Formula of the Institute of the Society of Jesus, published in 1550, St. Ignatius lists readiness to “reconcile the estranged” among the early ministries to be taken up by his companions (1550). The starting point for this difficult ministry is to encourage each party to refrain from labeling and assigning motives to one another. This was certainly the Jesuit stance in The Mission, exhibited not only in their outreach to the Guarani, but also as they tried to open the hearts of the settlers.

Among religious orders today, Jesuits have an immense breadth across borders, cultures and classes. Could this early Ignatian ministry of reconciliation help to mediate hostility in an increasingly polarized world? Internationally, Jesuits are engaged in conversations regarding the effects of globalization, violence and war, migration and marginalization.

Are Jesuit alumni and friends able to stand with the Society when, in the spirit of reconciling the estranged, Jesuits might question the attitudes and policies which seem to set the U.S. against most of the world? Can we accept the challenge to reserve judgment on those whom we have been conditioned to distrust and fear? If our faith transcends national borders, how are we to respond? Are we able to see what some Spanish and Portuguese settlers could not? That other cultures are created and loved by God!

Or do we require them to become like us before we grant this presumption?