Origin of the Name ‘Arrupe’ Progam
Named after Pedro Arrupe, Father General of the Society of Jesus from 1965 to 1983, the Arrupe Program forms participants as givers of the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola and spiritual directors in the Ignatian tradition. Known for his deep grasp of Ignatian spirituality and commitment to justice, Fr Arrupe helped lead the order in new directions following the Second Vatican Council (1962–65). In 1938 he went to Japan, where he spent 27 years as a missionary. In 1945 he used his medical training to treat many victims of the Hiroshima nuclear bomb when the city was devastated by an atomic bomb. He and the other Jesuits converted their novitiate into a makeshift hospital. He was deeply affected by the horror of what he witnessed and became a life-long pacifist.
Fr Arrupe was elected superior general of the Jesuits in 1965, and throughout his tenure he worked tirelessly to marry Ignatian spirituality with the ‘the preferential option for the poor’.