Jesuit Parishes
 Currently, the Province is directly responsible for staffing
"You work in a parish? I thought you were a Jesuit." This is often the reaction of many people when they find out that the Oregon Province staffs seven parishes in the Northwest as one of the main ministries of its single mission. Many assume that the Society is basically into the Educational Apostolate and that parishes are, at best, a sideshow.
However, parish ministry has been a fundamental ministry of the Oregon Province since we arrived in the Northwest at the invitation of the Flathead people in 1841. It was the way we ministered to them and the growing number of white settlers.
Currently, the Province is directly responsible for staffing St. Ignatius Parish in Portland, St. Leo and St. Rita in Tacoma, St. Joseph in Yakima, St. Joseph in Seattle, St Aloysius in Spokane and St. Francis Xavier in Missoula. Most of our ministry with native people and the Yupik Eskimos is based from small parishes. Beside this, over fifteen Jesuits minister in diocesan parish around the Northwest.
What distinguishes Jesuit parishes? How do they fulfill the fundamental mission of the Society of Jesus? Is it through a faith that does justice, dialogue with other religious traditions and dialogue with the contemporary culture? Not an idle question; all in this ministry struggle to fulfill this mission of the Society of Jesus.
 First, a Jesuit Parish is a base for the customary ministries that were characteristic of the first Jesuits. These ministries are the giving of the Spiritual Exercises in all their adaptations, the preaching of God's words both in the liturgical setting as well as in forums outside the liturgy, the practice of personal and communal discernment. A Jesuit Parish is a spirituality center as well as a liturgical center of a faith community.
Furthermore, Jesuit Parishes of the Oregon Province were often our first ministries to respond to the demands of peace and justice, beginning with the War in Vietnam, the buildup of nuclear arms race, especially the Trident Weapons System in Puget Sound, the farm workers struggle for justice and the plight of inner-city poor, especially the mentally ill and homeless.
One of the biggest challenges to us is the change of demographics and the new call to serve another population that requires the presence of the Society in ways the local diocese cannot provide. Decree Six, Ministerial Priesthood and Jesuit Identity, from our most recent General Congregation states:
"Since the foundation of the Society, Jesuits have exercised their ministry most particularly where the needs are greatest, where there are not others to minister to these needs, and where the most universal good may be found. Jerome Nadal expressed this central aspect of our charism: "The Society cares for those persons who are either totally neglected or inadequately attended to. This is the basic reason for the founding of the Society, this is its power, this is what makes it distinctive in the church."
This spirit continues to shape what Jesuits do as priests: their ministry is particularly directed towards those who have not heard the Gospel, those who are the margins of Church or society, those who have been denied their dignity, those who are voiceless and powerless, those weak in faith or alienated from it, those whose values are undermined by contemporary culture, those whose needs are greater than they can bear."
This is the heart of our availability to be sent to new parishes and minister to God's people - especially where there is a greater need.
Another severe challenge is the number of trained and qualified Jesuits to be pastors of these seven parishes. The constellation of gifts required has accelerated enormously in the last decade partly because of the presence of lay colleagues in ministry, the scandals of the Church and the fact that it is in the parish that most of the tensions within Catholicism affect people.
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