Two locals profess perpetual vows with Jesuits

CHRIS ROSS AND PAOLO TAFFARO

Seven Jesuits of the USA Central and Southern Province, including two from the Archdiocese of New Orleans, pronounced perpetual vows of poverty, chastity and obedience at St. Charles Borromeo Church in Grand Coteau, Louisiana, on Aug. 12.

The two Jesuits from the New Orleans area are Chris Ross and Paolo Taffaro. The others who took first vows are Matthew Brazzolotto, Joe Laughlin, José López, Carlos Martínez-Vela and Scott McKillip.

The profession of first vows follows two years of novitiate training, including prayer, academic study and ministerial experience in Jesuit works throughout the U.S., the Caribbean and Central America. By living and serving through their unique novitiate experiences, each of these men sought to deepen their trust in God’s call and expand their generosity to give themselves to God’s mission in the Society of Jesus today.

Ross, 24, graduated from Jesuit High School and the University of Notre Dame. He lived in a L’Arche community in Kansas City, Missouri, taught high school at Cristo Rey Jesuit College Preparatory of Houston and accompanied refugees in asylum  in Brownsville, Texas, and in Reynosa and Matamoros, Mexico.

“Through all the experiences, people and moments of the novitiate, God has been at work lavishly pouring out his infinite goodness, grace and love,” Ross said. “In the presence of this divine generosity and the generosity of so many others reflecting it, joy fills my heart at the calling to return it: to love and serve God and his church under the banner of the cross in the Society of Jesus.”

Ross will study at St. Louis University.

Taffaro, 25, taught freshman theology at Jesuit High School. While in the novitiate, he worked with students at Cristo Rey Preparatory School in Houston, taught theology at Regis Jesuit High School in Denver and spent long hours accompanying families at a migrant shelter at Sacred Heart Jesuit Parish in El Paso, Texas.

“I am deeply grateful for the love and care the Society of Jesus has shown me over the past two years, especially through my superiors and my brothers with whom I have grown in friendship,” Taffaro said. “This experience, which is a manifestation of God’s love and care, empowers and inspires me to commit my life to all who make up this company, so that, always seeking the union and love of Christ’s body, we may fulfill the mission of Jesus in the world today.”

Taffaro will study at Fordham University in The Bronx, New York.