journal of jesuit studies 6 (2019) 651-675 brill.com/jjs Jesuits and Social Justice Daniel Cosacchi Marywood University
[email protected] Abstract This article examines the history of social justice ministries within the Society of Jesus. Despite the fact that the term is fraught by a great disagreement both about its mean- ing and its place within Jesuit apostolates, successive Jesuit general congregations have upheld its importance over the last five decades. Even though what we now consider to be social justice has been a part of Jesuit life since the order’s founding, this paper primarily considers the period 1974–present, so as to coincide with GC 32 (1974–75). Social justice has taken many forms, based both on geography and personal interests of the particular Jesuit in question. The broad term covers issues such as the Jesuit Refugee Service, the Plowshares Movement, justice in higher education, and Homeboy Industries. Finally, the paper concludes by considering two growing edges for the order regarding social justice: the role of women in Jesuit apostolates, and the ecological question. Keywords Jesuit social justice – Catholic social teaching – peacemaking – ecology – General Congregation 32 – Pedro Arrupe – Jesuit Refugee Service – inculturation It would be challenging to identify a topic more fraught with controversy in Jesuit studies than the issue of social justice.1 Merely defining the term would be problematic in the company of even a small group of Jesuits. Nevertheless, the theme has been important—in one guise or another—in the history of the Society, even from the days of the order’s founding.