Spirituality: Pope Benedict's Address to the Jesuits in 2008

Address of Pope Benedict XVI to the 35th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus on February 21, 2008:

As my predecessors have often told you, the Church needs you, counts on you, and continues to turn to you with confidence, particularly to reach the geographical and spiritual places where others do not reach or find it difficult to reach. Those words of Paul VI have remained engraved in your hearts: "Wherever in the Church, even in the most difficult and exposed fields, in the crossroads of ideologies, in the social trenches, there has been or is confrontation between the burning exigencies of humanity and the perennial message of the Gospel, there have been and are the Jesuits." (Paul VI quotation from December 3, 1974, to the 32nd General Congregation)

From the letter "To the Jesuits in Parish Ministry" in Japan by Jesuit Father Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, 29th Superior General of the Society of Jesus, on August 27, 2005:

Collaboration also means openness to ... collaborative ministry with lay people, priests and religious. This new vision of empowerment, delegating, forming for responsibility and teamwork are needed basic attitudes. Working together as a team among ourselves as Jesuits and collaborating in mission with others requires a deep continual conversion. This is true for us, Jesuits, as well as for all those who share our mission. We are called to learn to work together as a team, to discover new styles of leadership, and to share the same mission. Deeply ingrained attitudes from years of living and working alone ... truly make this challenge harder.