Retreat House Bandra

Who we are

“…arguably the most remarkable company of men to embark on a spiritual journey since Jesus chose the twelve apostles… a bewilderingly diverse fraternity. They are seismologists, swamis, architects, and engineers, theologians and winemakers, politicians, lawyers, social workers, revolutionaries, economists as well as missionaries, teachers and parish priests.” Time, 23 April 1973. “And Time could have added psychiatrists and presidential advisors, congressmen, and administrators, even a couple of clowns and ex-movie actors” says William J. O’Malley S.J. in the Fifth Week.

No apostolate is foreign to the over 20,000 thousand Jesuits working all over the world engaged in a wide variety of ministries. St. Ignatius of Loyola founded the Society of Jesus in 1541 at a time when the Church was going through a crisis, historically known as the Reformation.

At the recent General Congregation (GC 35) by missioning the Jesuits to go to “those geographical and spiritual places which others do not reach or have difficulty in reaching” Pope Benedict XVI challenges us to explore new frontiers in the diverse ministries in keeping with the best tradition of the Society.

For over a century the Jesuits have been exploring new frontiers in Mumbai and in rural Maharashtra – Nashik, Thane, Raigad and Dhule. The poor, the exploited, the spiritual seekers, the social drop-outs and the deprived children are very special to us. We run schools, colleges, technical institutes and centres for higher learning.

We also work in parishes, retreat houses, with youth, and are spiritual guides to priests, sisters and lay people. In the rural areas we are engaged in the pastoral, educational and social fields, designing innovative programmes in non-formal education, health care and legal aid.

For more of the Jesuits working in Mumbai, please visit our website www.bomjesu.org

It is a wonderful vocation,
Everything, for the Greater glory of God

- Rev. Fr. Pedro Arrupe, SJ

“Wherever in the Church, even in the most difficult and exposed fields, in the crossroads of ideologies, in the social trenches, there has been or is confrontation between the burning exigencies if humanity and the perennial message of the gospel, there have been and are Jesuits” (Paul VI to GC 32)