Men who join the Jesuits, the Roman Catholic Church’s largest religious order, take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, and promise never to take any high office in the church.

So while other priests were climbing the ladder of the church’s hierarchy, the Jesuits directed their considerable energies into spreading the Catholic faith in new frontiers. They have planted the church in places like India, Japan, Canada and Latin America. They work with the poor in shantytowns and AIDS clinics. They publish magazines, paint, write music and stage plays.

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