How do you become a Jesuit?

Formation, the word for Jesuit training, lasts an average of 10 years. Formation begins with the novitiate, in which novices live in a Jesuit community and begin a period of prayer, work and study. Novices learn the traditions, rules and expectations of the Society of Jesus in order to embrace its spirit. They make the Spiritual Exercises, a 30-day retreat designed by St. Ignatius, and they participate in a program of “experiments,” typically teaching and serving the poor and elderly. At the end of this two-year period, having discerned with their superiors the viability of their vocation, novices pronounce perpetual vows of poverty, chastity and obedience and become Jesuit scholastics.

In the next stage, called First Studies, scholastics begin a three-year period of philosophy and theology studies. Then, during regency, they work full time in ministry, usually teaching in a Jesuit high school or university which is followed by an intensive three-year study of theology which leads to their ordination as priests. Following the theological studies and some years of ministry, Jesuits complete their formal formation with tertianship, a time of spiritual renewal and ministry with the poor. After tertianship, Jesuits are called to profess their final vows in the Society of Jesus.

Throughout their formation, Jesuit superiors and the scholastics are involved in an ongoing dialogue about their talents, gifts and desires, as well as the needs of the Society and the world, in order to discern to which professional ministry they are called and how they should be prepared for it. Some men enter the Society of Jesus with advanced degrees and careers, while others are recent college graduates. In each case, and throughout one’s life as a Jesuit, prayer, experience and reflection are part of the Society’s established process for determining one’s assignments.