Goodbye, tertians. Welcome back, primi. Welcome, Lukas.
This morning, Loyola House bade a fond farewell to the six Chicago Province tertians who have been based here since January. After five months of prayer, classes and apostolic work in the Detroit area, these six Jesuit priests - Pat Fairbanks, Bob Finn, Bob Flack, Tim Howe, Rick Millbourn and Dave Meconi - are now heading in different directions, some returning to previous commitments, some starting new assignments and some awaiting new assignments from the provincial. Almost as soon as the tertians departed, the novitiate began to welcome first-year novices returning from their Short Experiment. Richard Beebe arrived from Washington this morning, followed in the afternoon by Chris Staab, returning from El Paso. When Tim McCabe arrives from San Francisco later this evening, all the novices will be back together again. On days like today, I'm reminded of the fluidity of novitiate life. The Loyola House community seems to expand and contract with extreme regularity. The first- and second-year novices classes seem to spend as much time apart as we do together, and the addition of the tertians for a large part of this year represented another shift in the shape of the novitiate community. In spite of the instability that comes with the frequent changes in the population of the house, this ever-shifting mix of people helps make Loyola House an interesting place to live. Adding to the mix in recent days has been Lukas Laniauskas, a second-year novice from the Province of Lithuania and Latvia. A Cleveland native, Lukas will living at Loyola House for the next several weeks and will continue his formation in the Detroit Province after First Vows. To those who left Loyola House today, I bid a fond farewell. To those who are rejoining the community or coming here for the first time, I hope you find a warm welcome. AMDG.
posted by Joseph Koczera, S.J. @ 7:30 PM
5 comments
5 Comments:
That sounds like an interesting story. How did a Cleveland native end up in the Lithuania province, and why is he coming to the Detroit province now?
I came across your blog while trying to get more information about the Jesuits. I feel called to the priesthood...however I have a lot of student loans...do these need to be paid prior to joining the Jesuits...Thanks
Omis -
It is an interesting story, and one I'm not well-qualified to tell. Here's the gist of it - Lukas has been active in the Lithuanian-American community for his whole life and has known Lithuanian as well as American Jesuits. Owing to his desire to work in Lithuania, he chose to enter the Lithuanian Province. His experiences in the novitiate have confirmed his sense of being called to the Society, but for personal reasons he feels his place is back in the United States, where he was born, raised and educated. Sorry if this all sounds a bit vague - I don't want to be accused of sharing too much of someone else's story. Having Lukas here has helped remind us of the international character of the Society. I hope you have the opportunity to have similar experiences in the novitiate. Pax,
Joe
Anonymous -
Thanks for the question, which is a very good and pertinent one. Having accumulated a lot of student loan debt when I was in law school, I had similar concerns when I was applying to the Society, but I found the vocation director very understanding. As to the basic question, do all of one's student loans have to be paid off before entering the Society? In my case the answer was no - the Jesuits were willing to assume the debt. Though different provinces may have different policies on point, in my experience indebtedness was no bar to entrance. So don't let student loan debt prevent you from considering the Jesuits, and don't be afraid to raise the topic with the vocation director. I hope that helps - all the best, and God bless,
Joe
My experience in conversation with various provinces was that the Society was willing to assume student loan debt, but other debts need to be either paid or assumed by another party before entrance.
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