On August 24, 2013, my parents and I arrived at 1035 Summit Ave in St. Paul, Minnesota. I had three bags with me and was ready to enter...

The first experience or “experiment” a novice undertakes is called the teaching experiment. There, he works either in a school or in an...

Each fall, a novice takes courses three times a week in the Novitiate itself, taught by the staff. During the first year, the classes...

The 30-day retreat known as The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius is a pivotal moment of the first two years for every Jesuit. The...

A little less than a month after completing the Spiritual Exercises, a novice begins what is called the “Hospital Experiment.” This is...

Arguably, the pilgrimage is the most fascinating experiment in a novice’s life. One week after returning to the Novitiate, a novice...

In August of that year, the men a year ahead of me took their vows and we welcomed a new class of first-year novices. In the fall of the...

In the spring of his second year, a novice will spend a semester at some Jesuit ministry away from the Novitiate, working full-time and...

One really exciting aspect of Jesuit formation is how we spend our summers. As novices, we have two summer experiences: going to Latin...

Everything in the two years of the novitiate lead up to the point of taking vows. At the end of two years, all the second-year novices...