Support Our Mission

Thank you for considering the Jesuits of the Missouri Province for your charitable giving. The needs of the Church and the Jesuits of the Missouri Province are: 

► Supporting Jesuits in Formation
► Sustaining and Caring for Older and Infirm Jesuits
► Serving International Works and Ministries of the Missouri Province
► Sharing New Ministries, Partnerships and Ignatian Spirituality
We ask you to consider supporting the Jesuits in these areas.

Supporting Jesuits in Formation
In the stages of a Jesuit’s life, the earliest period is referred to as “formation.” It takes between 11 and 13 years to form a young man to meet the needs of the Church in the Ignatian tradition and to prepare him for ordination. The five periods of a Jesuit’s formation are: novitiate, first studies, regency, theology, and tertianship. Ordination for a Jesuit called to the priesthood occurs between his theology and tertianship years.

Forming young men to take on the tasks, responsibilities and the ministries of the province and the Church is one of our greatest responsibilities and challenges. A current estimate of the cost to form one Jesuit is about $35,000 per year. With over 38 men in various stages of formation and a 13-year program, you can begin to understand the financial challenge this places on the province.

Supporting our young men in formation so that we can be sent out in service to the world is a challenge, surely, but thanks to the generosity of our donors, Jesuits receive educational, apostolic (ministerial), and spiritual training for a life of service within the Church.

Sustaining and Caring for Older and Infirm Jesuits
The Missouri Province has about 22 elderly men whose primary ministry is living lives of prayer for the Church, the Society of Jesus and for our benefactors and supporters. These men have dedicated their lives in faithful service to building up the kingdom of God and have ministered in countless ways to the faithful. The province is dedicated to the care of the whole person at every stage of the Jesuit’s life, giving special attention to the needs of infirm and older Jesuits. Thanks to the generosity of many donors, we are able to serve the needs of the Jesuits who require 24-hour health care as well as those Jesuits who need assisted-living care.

It is said that Jesuits never retire. If you were to look at a 70-year-old Jesuit’s life, it would not be uncommon to discover that he had second, and even third careers. Many men in their 70s enter completely new apostolates.

Jesuits whose health does not permit them to remain in their previous ministry take on a new assignment: Praying for the Church and the Society of Jesus. These Jesuits pray daily for our benefactors who have offered their prayers, financial resources, companionship and collaboration in apostolic works.

Serving International Works and Ministries of the Missouri Province
Each province in the United States has established a variety of international relations where good works are accomplished every day. Since 1949, the Missouri Province and the Central American Province have cooperated under a twinning agreement. In addition to fostering a mutual sharing of human and spiritual resources between the two provinces, the current agreement, renewed in June 2006, commits the Missouri Province to continue its financial assistance for the formation of young Jesuits and the support of apostolic works of the Central American Province—especially in Honduras.

Our works in the Central American country of Belize—schools, parishes, rural ministries, and a retreat house—are integral to the Missouri Province Jesuits and form the nucleus of our commitments. But, we also have men assigned to do the work of the Church in Africa, Canada, China, Mexico, Rome, and Spain.

Being ready to be sent anywhere in the world is part of a Jesuit’s formation.

Sharing New Ministries, Partnerships and Ignatian Spirituality
One of the fascinating aspects about Jesuits is their commitment to go anywhere and do anything that we are called upon by the Church. To have that flexibility, the Jesuits need partners to share our unique form of spirituality.

From the earliest days, the apostolic life of the Jesuits of the Missouri Province has been dynamic. It has grown as benefactors and lay colleagues worked with us to build and strengthen the institutions Jesuits founded. As our lay colleagues take on more and more the operation and support of our enterprises, it frees us to be ready to respond in new and innovative ways.

Having the freedom, flexibility and resources to respond to those needs of the Church are what the Jesuits are known for within the Church—primarily because of the support of individuals like you.