GC 35 says goodbye to PHK

Some of us have started calling him PHK for short, partially so we don't refer to him as "Fr. General," as we have been so used to calling him for almost a quarter of a century. Yesterday, we finally said goodbye to him in the General Congregation.

Fr. Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, Superior General of the Society of Jesus since 1983, asked the 35th General Congregation to accept his resignation last January 14. After his request was granted, he took his place among us as delegate no. 207. His complete self-effacement, his easy slipping "into the ranks," as if he had not been our General for 25 years, was profoundly edifying for all of us. It was a bit disorienting to turn around and see him lining up with the rest of us to concelebrate at the Eucharist, or to have him sit at table with us in the refectory. He never spoke in the aula. He never excused himself from any session (although we noticed that he was always one of the fastest to leave when the session was over!). He sat in his place, writing almost without stop. This is the first time in the more than four hundred years of our history that a former General has sat as a delegate of a Congregation that another General presided over.

He sat one level above me in the many-tiered aula, not far to my right, near the main doors of the hall. One day, when I found myself disagreeing with something another delegate was saying, I turned to the right, surreptitiously (I thought) rolling my eyes in disbelief--only to have my eyes meet Fr. Kolvenbach's in mid-roll! I was somewhat embarrassed, but he smiled and, with that familiar way he had of waving his hand, gracefully waved me back in the direction of the speaker. I wasn't sure whether he was telling me to listen to my brother, or whether he was saying he agreed with the opinion my face obviously registered, but I smiled back and tried to behave!

Yesterday was Fr. Kolvenbach’s last day with the General Congregation. When we had originally planned the schedule for GC 35 in the Preparatory Commission, we had aimed at March 1 as the final date. We have had to push back to March 6, but Fr. Kolvenbach had already planned a short visit to his brother in Germany on March 2. He plans to return to the Curia on March 7, have his final dinner with the Curia community on March 8, and return to Beirut on March 9. And so, yesterday, March 1, was his last day as a delegate of GC 35. Sadly, he will not be with us at the closing Eucharist on March 6.

Fr. General Adolfo Nicolas had asked us in the Coordinating Commission to plan a simple session for the Congregation to say goodbye to Fr. Kolvenbach. We knew it had to be a surprise, because if Fr. Kolvenbach knew that there would be something to honor him, he would probably not attend the session.

After a beautiful morning prayer, on the theme of thanksgiving for Fr. Kolvenbach, with a choir from the Gesu and the Belarmino leading the singing, Fr. Nicolas gave a graceful, witty and moving speech of thanks. Since I was the moderator of the day, I was sitting in the presidential table beside the General, and had the privilege of sharing his view of the aula during this historic moment. I could see that Fr. General was speaking, not from a fully written out draft, but from bullet points.

After apologizing for surprising Fr. Kolvenbach this way, Fr. General thanked him on behalf of the Society, on behalf of the Congregation, and on his own behalf.

Fr. General thanked him, first of all, for his deeply inspiring witness of complete dedication to the service of the Society. Fr. General recalled how Fr. Kolvenbach used to share a particular recollection of his boyhood years growing up in pre-World War II Germany. When he was a child, every morning, Fr. Kolvenbach's elementary teacher would ask them, "Children, did you sleep well?" "Yes, we did," they would answer. The next question from the teacher would always follow, "But who did NOT sleep last night?" In unison, they would answer, "Der Fürher!" "And why did he not sleep?" the teacher would continue. "Because he was working for us!" the children would all answer together.

Fr. Nicolas pointed out that we Jesuits could all answer in the same way for the past twenty five years. Alluding to Fr. Kolvenbach's famous few hours of sleep every night, Fr. General thanked Fr. Kolvenbach for not sleeping because he was working faithfully and diligently for us, his brothers in the Society. He went on to say that those years of diligent and faithful leadership of the Society were always marked by wisdom and humor. In a particularly graceful turn of phrase, Fr. Nicolas remarked that "since humor is the daily face of hope," Fr. Kolvenbach sustained his brothers in hope through the good times and the bad times of a quarter of a century.

Fr. General further pointed out that, in all our draft documents, the single most quoted source is Peter Hans Kolvenbach. This is just one indication of how deeply Fr. Kolvenbach's wisdom has marked the life of the Society, a sign of how his influence on our life and mission will endure for many, many years.

At the end of Fr. General’s speech (which I hope will be published in full soon), we all rose to our feet, deeply moved, to give Fr. Kolvenbach a standing ovation that lasted several minutes. Fr. Kolvenbach, usually so emotionally undemonstrative, seemed to me genuinely moved in turn.

Fr. General then apologized one last time. In the East, Fr. General said, one cannot say goodbye without giving a present. And so, although he knew that, with Fr. Kolvenbach's rigorous practice of poverty, he would probably just give our gift to the first person he would meet outside the aula, Fr. General said that we, the Congregation, still wished to offer Fr. Kolvenbach a final memento.

Fr. Mark Rotsaert, the Secretary of the Congregation, stepped down from the presidential table, carrying a box bearing our present. Fr. Kolvenbach graciously stepped forward to receive it. When the box was opened to reveal the icon of our Lady that is the traditional farewell gift given in the Eastern Church, Fr. Kolvenbach kissed it, then lifted it up to show all of us, while we continued to applaud with deep emotion.


I think it is safe to say that in a Congregation that has given us many moments of profound consolation, this goodbye to Fr. Kolvenbach will be one experience that we delegates will always remember with much gratitude.

When we return for our final week of work this coming Monday, the seat of delegate no. 207 will be empty. Fr. Kolvenbach will no longer be with us. We will be comforted though, when we review our draft documents for a final time, and see Fr. Kolvenbach's words and wisdom evidently influence everything we have written in this Congregation. Not a few of us will, I am sure, continue silently to thank God for the gift of this great and unforgettable General.