Province Assembly kicks off: a new structure for mission

The Jesuit Assembly of the Euro-Mediterranean Province commenced today at the Madonna del Carmine Institute, Ciampino. About a hundred participants attended out of a total of 384 Jesuits, while those who followed online were: 3 in Albania, 335 in Italy, 36 in Malta, and 10 in Romania.

“The goal of the meeting,” explained Fr Roberto Del Riccio SJ, Provincial, “is to start the third phase of the proposed path of change of governance structure. The first two phases started at the 2022 Assembly in Sacrofano, with the consultancy of the Emmaus Mission Study Centre, and concluded last July. Only part of the Province was involved in these two phases.

“We will present what has been done and its conclusions to those who did not take part in the first phases of the process in order to enter the phase of actual implementation, applying the new governance structure and verifying its effectiveness. The process will produce a profound transformation, allowing the Provincial to have a structure capable of governing a Province as complex as ours with four territories (Italy Malta, Albania and Romania), four languages, entering into a transformation that the universal Company is demanding of all its Provinces”.

“It will also be a moment of communion and fraternity,” adds Fr Paul Pace SJ, Socius of the Provincial. “Another step towards building the body of the new reality”.

The assembly will end on Saturday 3 February.