Great Risks Had to be Taken

The renovation of the Jesuits after the Second Vatican Council has been a sign of hope and a cause for consternation. Especially during the turbulence right after the Council, the Jesuits were in the eye of the storm. In this historical memoir, Patrick Howell gives personal insight into how the Council impacted the Society of Jesus and precipitated a radical rethinking of the mission of the Jesuits today. The Council mandated a return of religious orders to the vision of their founders. The Jesuits fortunately had a strong, charismatic founder in St. Ignatius of Loyola with a rich religious and intellectual tradition. By rediscovering their spiritual heritage and restructuring their mission around the signs of the times and the needs of the world, the Jesuits were able to move adroitly into the twenty-first century as a continuing dynamic force for the Church and for the world.
Fr. Howell brings a unique personal perspective to the nature and style of the Church prior to the Council and ""an insider's view"" throughout his fifty-seven years as a Jesuit in which he has met many of the personages, witnessed all the changes, and been a direct participant in many of them.

""In this frank and highly personal account, Patrick Howell walks the reader though the twists and turns in the recent history of the Society of Jesus and artfully weaves his own story into the larger story of the Society and the Church. This is an insider's account that will often surprise you and invariably give you food for thought. I do not know of any book quite like it.""
--John O'Malley, SJ, Georgetown University

""From the Second Vatican Council to the first Jesuit pope, Fr. Patrick Howell gives an informative, engaging account of being a Catholic priest as he tells the fascinating story . . . Anyone interested in Jesuit, Catholic, or American history will find this book a great read.""
--Steven Mailloux, Loyola Marymount University

""Father Patrick Howell offers a fine history of the last sixty years of the Society of Jesus as it struggled to discern how to respond to the call of the Second Vatican Council. By framing this history within the personal events of his own life, Fr. Howell brings alive the many issues discussed around Jesuit dinner tables throughout the years . . . A deeply felt story of a Jesuit's love for the Church and his fellow brothers.""
--Mark Bosco, SJ, Vice President for Mission and Ministry, Georgetown University

""As a lay person working in a Catholic Jesuit university, and someone without a Catholic history, the book is valuable for giving real context to stories of our mission I have heard and understood only pieces of. This book will be a great resource for learning about and inspiring for the Jesuit mission.""
--Heidi Bulmahn Barker, Regis University


Patrick Howell, SJ, distinguished professor of theology at Seattle University, teaches the theology of Vatican II and contemporary Catholicism. He has met several of the key persons in this history: Pedro Arrupe, SJ, Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, SJ, Pope John Paul II, Elizabeth Johnson, Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen, and a host of others. He is adept at tracing key ecclesial changes through personal narrative. His previous publication was A Spiritguide through Times of Darkness.