April 10, 2018 — The Superior General of the Society of Jesus, (Jesuits), the Very Rev. Father Arturo Sosa, SJ, has appointed Fr. Erik Oland, SJ, as the first Provincial of the new Jesuit Province of Canada, effective July 31, 2018, on the Feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits.
The appointment comes after the Superior General signed the decree confirming the creation of the future Jesuit Province of Canada on March 29, 2018.
Fr. Oland has been serving as Provincial of the Jesuits in French Canada and Haiti since November 2016. He previously served as master of novices at the Jesuit novitiate for French and English Canada in Montreal. He was also vice-president of the International Jungmann Society for Jesuits and the Liturgy.
He joined the Society of Jesus in 1994, was ordained to the priesthood on May 16, 2003, and took Final Vows on July 19, 2008. He studied theology at the Weston Jesuit School of Theology, (now the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry), and served as a retreat director at the Ignatius Jesuit Centre in Guelph, Ontario.
Prior to joining the Jesuits, Fr. Oland had a 15-year career as an operatic baritone and sang with the Canadian Opera Company. His music profession introduced him to Ignatian spirituality through the Jesuits, whom he first met while teaching singing at Concordia University in Montreal. As a Jesuit, he has sung at large Jesuit gatherings, participated in parish music ministry, toured with Jesuit music ensembles, and given retreats based on music and spirituality.
