The Society of Ignatians will treasure the opportunities to care for souls as pastors of parishes and oratories. The parish is the institution where priests fulfill at every hour their quintessential mission to be Alter Christus, “other Christs” acting as spiritual fathers as they fulfill their triple priestly mission to teach, sanctify, and govern.
- Ignatian pastors will enact the Holy Sacrifice according to the classic Roman liturgy, i.e. the traditional Latin Mass, also termed by Pope Benedict XVI as the “Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite”.
- Ignatian pastors will host perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament
- Ignatian parishes will encourage popular piety, traditional devotions
- Tireless strengthening of the faith of parishioners by adult, young adult, teenager and child catechesis
- Ignatian parishes will have an energetic outreach to non-Catholics in the city proposing the truth and beauty of the Catholic Faith
- Parishes where priests will welcome souls in the Sacrament of Confession morning, noon and evening. In this Ignatians will seek to follow the example of their patron, St. Ignatius Loyola and of the first Ignatians who gloried and rejoiced in seeing souls turn to the sacrament of mercy as a result of their preaching and other activities:
“But,” Ribadeneira states, “I recall that one day he concluded a sermon by saying, ‘Amar a Dio, con todo el core, con toda l’anima, con toda la voluntad…’ ( mixing Italian and Spanish), but saying it with such force and fervor that his countenance seemed to glow. And sinners afterward flocked to confession.” (Monumenta Ignatian, Script., I, p. 358, no. 47)
- Parishes where preaching within and outside of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass will be a characteristic:
- retreats (Spiritual Exercises spread out over long periods for housewives and workers, students and others who cannot get away for a weekend)
- Pro-Life, Pro-Marriage parishes vibrantly supporting and pushing the Culture of Life
- Parishes with churches that we will adorn and beautify for the honor of God and the well-being of souls.