A Specific Example of Leadership: The Establishing of the JRS (Jesuit Refugee Service) by Fr. Arrupe [Part I]

Part I]. Father Arrupe was born in 1907 in Bilbao (Spain). After graduating from high school in 1922 he began his medical studies at the University in Madrid. While there he discovered poverty thanks to the Conferences of St. Vincent de Paul. In 1927 he joined the Society of Jesus and attended the novitiate of Loyola. In 1931 he began his studies in Philosophy at Oña but had to flee from Spain along with his fellow Jesuits due to the Decree of Dissolution of the Society by the Spanish Government, and finished them in Marneffe (Belgium). In 1933 he began his studies in Theology in Valkenburg (Netherlands). On July 30, 1936 he was ordained to the priesthood at Marneffe. In October 1936 he continues his theological studies at St. Mary's College, Kansas (USA). During the summer months he served as chaplain to the Spanish-speaking inmates of a New York prison, eager to assist them in their miserable condition. According to his own testimony “in that prison people spoke in Spanish and suffered in English.” He did his Tertianship in Cleveland, Ohio, and arrived in Japan in 1938 after having asked for ten years to be sent there. While serving as Novice Master in Hiroshima, the first atomic bomb was dropped on the city on August 6, 1945. And he had to treat the victims of radiation there. The novitiate became a small hospital. In 1958 he was appointed Provincial of the new Province of Japan. He was elected Superior General of the Society of Jesus on May 22, 1965, allowing for sufficient time to participate in the last session of the council.

During this period and the following ones his leadership style left its mark, stimulated and pulled. Fr. Arrupe was already considered a leader in his lifetime: one of the most important post-conciliar ones, along with others. One of his greatest contributions to Rome was the breath of fresh air brought by a missionary Society of Jesus, often distinguished by its higher energy and initiative. He was an important person who opened up new horizons for many people. And that is what it means “to lead”: to guide. But to the term “leader,” as applied to Fr. Arrupe, one needs to append the adjective “spiritual” because his leadership went beyond the frontiers of the Church and reached all kinds of men and women (3). The adjective “spiritual” can also be defined as mystical, apostolic, “religious” as applied to religious life, and even as political since the impact of spiritual leaders reaches even global public affairs, as it happens today with Pope Francis. Fr. Arrupe had a profound spiritual and inner life, one integrated with very strong

and balanced Ignatian values that enabled him to seek and find the will of God in his life and for the Society of Jesus.

This brief presentation of the biography of Fr. Arrupe allows us to highlight two important aspects: a man of international vision who lived in several countries and who had direct experience through his apostolates of the suffering of so many men and women in our world. He had a double vision communicated to the Company: he saw the needs of millions of poor people scattered around the world, torn from their homes and looking for food, shelter, justice and human support. And he also saw the invaluable contribution that these people offered to a corrupted world whose idols are wealth, privilege and power. That is why he presented to his fellow Jesuits the challenge of a new service to these men, women and children for whom the very ground they stepped on did not belong.

JRS was the last project that Fr. Arrupe promoted as Superior General of the Society of Jesus. We have two documents from Fr. Arrupe on the implementation of JRS: the letter he wrote to the entire Society of Jesus about the refugee problem, and the talk he had at the end of his meeting in Bangkok with a team of Jesuits who were already working in refugee camps, later known as his “swan song to the Society.” The vision, mission and methodology of the JRS are already introduced and worded in these two documents which have subsequently been developed and adapted to the new circumstances. At the same time, they allow us to outline Fr. Arrupe's leadership style through his creation of the JRS. In Part II and Part III we will go through these two documents and briefly comment on his leadership style to launch the JRS. Later on it was his successor, Fr. Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, who stimulated and kept driving the JRS forward. In 2007, at a meeting of the Regional Directors of the JRS in Rome, one of the participants asked Fr. Kolvenbach about his criteria for governing the Society of Jesus. His answer was straightforward: to put into practice the great guidelines that Fr. Arrupe left us. This way of proceeding was indeed experienced by all of us who collaborated with the JRS during the generalate of Fr. Kolvenbach.