Jesuit Contribution to Nation Building in India
The Jesuits were/are involved in multiple activities in their attempts at nation building in India through continuity with past traditions and new initiatives. The Jesuits’ involvement in liberation movements; empowerment of the marginalized; individual and social transformation through socio-pastoral ministries; their specific contribution to education, languages, social and physical sciences, arts, and mass media; their commitment to the “triple dialogue” of life, cultures, and religions; their role in guiding and animating clergy and religious communities and in promoting leadership of youth and lay faithful; and their readiness to go boldly to the frontiers are some of the ways in which they are contributing to nation building in India.
Education
Jesuits focused on school education from the beginning of their arrival in India, and they continued this effort when the Society was restored again. This time they also started colleges to respond to the needs and wishes of Catholics. Their educational institutions opened their doors to people of all castes and creeds. Jesuits in India now run 118 primary and middle schools, 155 high schools, 50 university colleges, 22 technical institutes, and 15 business administration institutes with 11,225 teachers, educating 3, 24,538 students belonging to different religious, linguistic, and socioeconomic groups. Many of their institutions are among the most reputable, and their share in the country’s educational undertaking is substantial.
The government of India introduced the concept of “autonomous college” in the 1970s to bring about qualitative innovations in higher education. Some Jesuit colleges were granted this status because of their performance and contribution. Today there are around 15 Jesuit autonomous colleges in the country. The Ministry of Human Resource Development in the Indian government has recognized four Jesuit colleges with the award of “College of Excellence.” They are: Loyola College, Chennai; St. Joseph’s College, Bangalore; St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata; and St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai.
We have seen earlier that Jesuits in India were involved at the beginning in teaching and administration of St. Paul’s College. Later they also established seminaries in different parts of India. When the Society of Jesus was restored, the Jesuits once again started seminaries to train diocesan priests. Most of them have been given over to diocesan bishops and priests. Now the Jesuits run two papal faculties of philosophy in Pune and Chennai and two papal faculties of theology in Pune and Delhi, where Jesuits and others study. Now about 4,000 Jesuits—mostly Indians—are working in eighteen Provinces/Regions in India. There are three major phases in the history of Jesuits in India—the beginning, suppression, and restoration.