WALKING TOGETHER IN COMPANIONSHIP

We invite you to walk with us

As I journey deeper into my ministry of service as Provincial of the California Province, one of my greatest hopes for our partnership of Jesuits and laypersons is that we walk together in the Spirit of Jesus who invites us to put our faith into action to make this world a better place.

We are all in this together, rooted in the Gospel, grounded in the Spiritual Exercises , and striving for service, justice, and peace in our ever-changing, ever-needy world.

--Rev. John P. McGarry, S.J., Provincial

We are diverse, dynamic, creative

The California Province brings together people from many cultures to worship and work in partnership. The Province's service area encompasses Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, and Utah. In addition, individual California Province Jesuits serve in ministries throughout the United States and abroad, including Africa, Asia, and Central and South America. Our ministries include:

• Pastoral ministries. Jesuit priests lead 12 parishes and provide service to many more.
• Spiritual retreat centers. Jesuits and laypersons at the Loyola Institute for Spirituality and the Jesuit Retreat Center of Los Altos seek to foster spiritual growth by offering retreats as well as training for spiritual directors.
• Educational ministries. Jesuits and their many lay partners are involved in primary, secondary, and higher education. Model school programs such as Cristo Rey and Nativity as well as other creative partnerships allow us to sponsor, co-sponsor, or endorse new Catholic schools in underserved areas.
• Social ministries. Our Jesuits provide guidance to various ministries--Homeboy Industries, Jesuit Volunteer Corps Southwest, PICO National Network, Proyecto Pastoral--engaged in empowering people, pursuing social justice, and improving communities.

For an overview of our work, visit the Ministries & Communities section of this website.

We encourage collaboration

In pastoral, educational, and other ministries, our priests and brothers collaborate with laymen and women, civic organizations, local dioceses, and other religious orders. As catalysts for change, we invest personnel and funding in those “turning points” in society where we believe the greatest good can be achieved. Our ministries express the power of faith doing justice, by combining belief in fundamental human dignity with advocacy for the poor and marginalized.

We strive to achieve our goals

In 1996, the California Province adopted four main apostolic goals which continue to guide us:

• Fostering partnership in our Ignatian mission
• Strengthening solidarity with the poor
• Responding to the diversity of our Province
• Evangelizing contemporary culture

We belong to the global Jesuit family

The Society of Jesus, the largest men's religious order in the Roman Catholic Church, assigns some 20,000 priests and brothers to ministries worldwide. The California Province is one of 10 comprising the United States Assistancy. Each province is led by a provincial whose standard term of office is six years. Through the U.S. Jesuit Conference, the 10 provincials coordinate communications, financial resources, formation/secondary education, refugee ministries, pastoral/spiritual ministries, and social/international ministries.