Celebration marking the birth of the new Euro-Mediterranean Province

“As with any birth, this birth of the new Euro-Mediterranean Province brings a mix of joy and uncertainty”: Jesuit Superior General Arturo Sosa celebrated the inauguration of the new Province on 1st July 2017 in the Church of Gesú in Rome, together with representatives of the 520 Jesuits of the new territory and a large number of lay collaborators, family and friends.

The celebration commenced with the reading of the decrees of creation of the new Province, and the new Provincial, Fr Gianfranco Matarazzo, was appointed during a beautiful and simple Mass that celebrated the richness and complexity of this new journey. Liturgical prayers were held in in Italian, the first reading in Maltese, the second in Albanian, an English Gospel, prayers of the faithful in the four languages ​​and so on … without forgetting the Lord’s Prayer in Latin!

This union of hearts and minds “makes good sense in this historic moment for the Society,” said Fr Sosa in his homily. “Our uncertainty about a future that we can not anticipate also invites us to put total trust in the same God who called Abraham, at the age of 75 years, to leave his homeland and embark on a journey to a place unknown.”

“We share a great history and we feel called to enhance it with this new Province, which has not been created as a result of a bureaucratic decision, nor is it simply the result of organizational needs,” said Fr Matarazzo at the end of the celebration. “It is a response to the call of the Lord that we experience as Jesuits. No-one is to feel excluded.”

At the end of the Mass, the concelebrants joined Father General at the altar of St. Ignatius to venerate the relics and join in prayer for the Euro-Mediterranean Province. Then he placed flowers in the chapel of Our Lady of the Wayside, who is patron of the new Province, together with three Albanian martyrs. After the celebration, a reception was held in the courtyard of the Gesú.

The large group of Maltese present, almost 50 persons, was led by Fr Patrick Magro SJ, the outgoing Provincial of Malta, who had this to say about the event: “When we join the Society of Jesus, we do not join a particular Province, which is simply an administrative unit for the efficient governance of the Society of Jesus in the world. We join the universal Society, which means that our belonging is to the Jesuit Order worldwide, although when we enter, we are welcomed into a novitiate of a Province that gives us a sense of belonging, a home, “says Father Magro.

When Fr Adolfo Nicolas, the former Father General, announced that there would be a new Province, “he insisted it had to be something new, not simply the sum of the previous two. And this is important both for Italy, because it is good to open up to a new reality, as well as for us because we are small and will benefit greatly at this point in time to be part of a larger reality.” The differences? “Of course there are cultural differences: We have a long history of foreign influence. Malta was most recently a British colony before our Independence in the 1960s, which left its influence on the way we think, govern and live, but at the same time we also share some aspects of Italian culture. For many years we Jesuits have shared occasions for formation together so this unity is a new thing, but not totally. The cooperation between Albania, Italy and Malta will enrich all three: we have the same spirituality, and this experience together will help us to live our mission in a better way.”

Fr Magro stresses the importance of apostolic planning: “From now one we will not only be conscious of the reality of Malta but of the entire Euro-Mediterranean Province. When we work with young people, the challenge will not only be to think about the young Maltese, the chaplaincy of the University of Malta and other areas where we work with youngsters, but we will collaborate with Italy, Albania, the community of Pisa, with Tirana with Shkodra. In short there will be a collaboration among all our apostolates, even in fields such as migration. There is already collaboration in the JRS network, but we will do more.”

Difficulties? “It’s a very exciting new challenge though for some Jesuits, especially those of a certain age, it is very difficult to change. We will need years of work together to arrive at a new way of thinking and doing things. Change takes time: we Jesuits practice many spiritual exercises to have an inner freedom, but it is still not so easy. We will then pray more, not to be too attached to the Province where we belong. We are all part of one universal Society of Jesus.”