About 50th Anniversary

What are we celebrating?

In 1969, at the invitation of Fr. Pedro Arrupe, the Social Secretariat was born with the name of the Jesuit Secretariat for Socio-Economic Development. Thus, the Secretariat, now called Social Justice and Ecology Secretariat (SJES), will commemorate 50 years of its mission of promoting social justice and reconciliation in 2019. It is a historic moment for the entire Society of Jesus and a great occasion to reinvigorate the social and ecological dimension within the Society of Jesus and other third parties.

The commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the SJES should be a kairos moment for Jesuits, lay collaborators of the social apostolate and others to come together. It will be an opportunity to recall our past: the achievements, milestones reached and lessons learned. It will be a time to reflect on the challenges that we face today and how we can strengthen our collaboration and networking. It will allow for a collective discernment on the best way to move forward and plan strategically in accordance with the Universal Apostolic Preferences (UAPs).

The 50th anniversary will be an occasion to work on how we can better contribute to the fulfilment of human rights and the fundamental freedoms of the people we work with all over the world. It will be commemorated during 2019 and 2020 in different phases at the province, conference and universal level of the Society of Jesus.