by Fr. Jack Bentz, SJ

In mid August when a man enters the novitiate of St. Francis Xavier in Portland, Oregon he is shown to his room, helped with his luggage and his family is given a tour of the place. The house is filled with second year novices, the novice director, his assistant and perhaps the vocation director with whom the man has been in conversation for the past year or so. They are all there to welcome the new novices to their new life.

Chances are they will not look much like men in a religious order and, if the family is new to the Jesuits, they may have questions. “Where are the habits? Where are the robes? Where are the cassocks?” No matter how many times it has been explained before the man himself might still be wondering the same thing.

Even in our casual times what we choose to wear is an important way we say who we are in the world. Tuxedo, neck ties, flip flops and baseball caps all carry information about us, not only to others but to ourselves. And when we choose to wear a uniform of some type it sends a very strong message about what choices we have made in our lives. It communicates something about our past and lets the world know how we might be expected to act. A person dressed as a Marine should make a dark street a bit safer and someone wearing a roman collar might limit the amount of public cursing on a city bus. And there was a time, not so very long ago, when the Jesuits, in their long black cassocks, were easy to spot. This is no longer the case.

Men joining the Society of Jesus enter into a three day retreat early in the novitiate. At the end of the three days they are given a simple black short sleeved shirt and with a white plastic collar. During the closing mass of this retreat the new men leave the chapel and return wearing for the first time all that passes as a habit or uniform for contemporary Jesuits. Even in this pared down version it is a powerful moment of exterior change. The clerical shirt and collar is a potent symbol of an emerging identity which is important for the new man.

According to our Constitutions, Jesuits are to dress like local reputable clergy and nothing more. The early society was very clear on this point and it was a matter of much discussion during a time that was deeply concerned by issues of clothing and identity. However, the early members of the Society were clear- “The apostles did not wear a habit or chant the psalms all day long. We are companions of Christ, not monks. We are sent like the apostles.” Jesuits were and are companions of Christ, on mission with Christ in the world and so no elaborate habit to identify us with anything else or anyone else other than Jesus himself. Jesus did not wear a signifying sort of outfit so neither do we.

After the Second Vatican Council we Jesuits, like all religious orders were encouraged to recover our roots as religious and it was during that time that we discarded the long black cassock and the biretta that had told the world that we were part of the Society of Jesus. So now we are in a simple black shirt with a white collar. The simplicity of these clothes are a call for us to choose to be like Christ in our actions, in the way we love, in being on mission with Christ even without a more elaborate outfit.