Governance -Day 15 of GC 36

The new General took the chair this morning and directed proceedings.  The topic of the day was the governance document which was prepared by a committee before the Congregation.

Governance structures are always in the service of mission and the challenge for the Society of Jesus today is to adapt and adopt the right structures in order to serve the mission of this century.  They should be light and flexible and not draw more members into more levels of administration at a time of diminishing numbers in the northern hemisphere.

The reality also is that many people involved in the jesuit mission are lay partners and key to a collaborative governance is the inclusion of lay people at different levels of governance.  This theme of collaboration will become a hot topic in the days ahead and there sure will be many different experiences and models of this form of collaboration present in the mission of the Society.  The role of women in this collaboration will hopefully, become a topic of discussion in the days ahead and the new General will bring his experience and insights to bear on these topics.