Sr Jane Livesey
 Sister Jane Livesey is congregational leader of the Congregation of Jesus. Her role involves spiritual, pastoral and administrative aspects. Her main work has been in education, where she has been both a teacher and a head teacher. She is currently a governor of several schools.
Q: When were the seeds of your vocation sown?
A. As a child, I met nuns who worked in a children's home attached to a school where my mother taught and I really loved them and wanted to be like them. As time went on I realised that their order and what they did were not for me but they had definitely sowed the seeds of my vocation, in the same way that my parents had sowed the seeds of my own faith. I did not go to a Catholic school, so I had instruction in my faith on Sundays from a sister of our order (then known as the IBVM) and that furthered my sense that this was what God was asking of me.
Q: Why did you choose this particular order?
A. Well, at its simplest because it was the only one I really knew at the time! But then, of course, my experience of living with the members and the inspiration of Mary Ward confirmed that, despite the rather mundane reason for the choice at one level, it was ratified by my sense of belonging in that group as I lived out our charism with its roots in the spirituality of St Ignatius and the Spiritual Exercises through the filter of Mary Ward's own particular understanding of that charism and in particular her insight that "women in time to come will do much". This is an insight that she never wavered in, even when the Church itself wanted no truck with it at the time.
Q: what aspect of religious life have you found most rewarding?
A. A sense that God has given me, through my vocation, the opportunity to live a life that is of worth; to be generous with it at least some of the time; to play a part in forming younger generations in their own faith and relationship with God; and in the blessing of all kinds of friendships and life-giving relationships, both within the order and outside it.
Q: What have you found most difficult?
A. A sense of loss in terms of the inability to have one all-important relationship and thus a family life and children and also, on occasion, a sense of sadness that the institutional Church does not take seriously the role of women within it even now.
Q: How do you see the work you are currently involved in?
A. At present I am the Provincial leader of our order in this country but I also try to keep up some of my former ministries, both with young people and also with supporting our former schools in maintaining and developing the vision and values of Mary Ward.
Q: What are the biggest challenges of the work?
Q: What skills do you need?
A. Time management and a daily reminder that I am not the one in charge!
Q: Have you a tip on how to pray?
A. Even when it is hard or just doesn't feel like there is any real communication going on, applying the discipline of "always showing up" and remembering that no relationship can be fostered and sustained other than with patience and a willingness to be there for everything, not just the highs and lows. But most important, remembering that prayer is God's invitation to me to reflect on the scripture of my own life and what He is trying to say to me through that.
Q: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?
Q: What's your favourite movie?
A. This is the easy one - Cinema Paradiso! A film about generous and unselfish love - and the response it elicits.
Q: Which figure from history would you like to invite to a dinner party?
A. Mary Ward, St Ignatius, Pope John XXIII, Michael Mayne (former Dean of Westminster), Eric Morecambe - probably lots more, but I can't think of them offhand!
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