Quick Facts About Our Jesuit Province (www.jesuits.org)
- Overall, there are roughly 18,000 Jesuits serving on six continents and in 112 nations.
- There are more than 500 Jesuits serving in the USA Midwest Province of the Society of Jesus.
- Originally part of the Missouri Province, the Chicago Province was founded in 1928. In 1956, the Chicago Province was divided, forming the Chicago and Detroit Provinces.
- The Chicago and Detroit Provinces were united in January 2011. They joined the Wisconsin Province to form the USA Midwest Province in 2017.
- Father Karl Kiser, SJ, is the second provincial of the USA Midwest Province.
- The Society of Jesus is well known for its schools. Midwest Jesuits operate six universities, the first Jesuit community college, and more than 20 elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools.
- Saint Ignatius of Loyola wrote the Spiritual Exercises after experiencing a profound conversion in Manresa, Spain. Ignatian spirituality today links Jesuits across the world and also enriches the lives of millions of non-Jesuits. We are pleased to share IgnatianSpirituality.org, via Loyola Press, which is a ministry of our province.
- Father John Hardon, SJ, was a Jesuit of the former Detroit Province (1914–2000), and is the only Midwest Jesuit currently under consideration for canonization. A noted author, promoter of the faith and catechist, his cause is being promoted by the Fr. John A. Hardon, SJ, Archive and Guild.
- Since its founding, Jesuits had been dedicated to the service of the Catholic faith, but at the Jesuits’ General Congregation 32 in 1975, “the promotion of justice” was declared a central part of the Society’s mission and a concrete response to an unjustly suffering world.
- Internationally, perhaps the best-known social justice outreach of the Society of Jesus is the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS). JRS works in more than 50 countries to meet the urgent needs of those who have been forcibly displaced. In the United States, JRS/USA ministers to the spiritual needs of detained immigrants and refugees.
- One outgrowth of this effort is the Kino Border Initiative (KBI), a binational ministry. KBI offers direct humanitarian assistance and shelter to recently deported migrants in Nogales, Mexico, while providing education, outreach, and advocacy through its work in Nogales, Arizona.
