In All Things

The untold story of the Jesuits will come to life in this film directed by Paul Wilkes, popular religious author and filmmaker of Merton: A Film Biography (a Hartley Masterworks selection).

Prestige and controversy are woven through the rich history of the Roman Catholic order known as the Jesuits. For more than 450 years, they have sent missionaries throughout the world, their schools have educated future leaders of society, their spiritual impact has been profound. But, historically, their reputation for intrigue in high places has often made them suspect -- and sometimes despised.

In All Things: The Jesuits, will investigate this fascinating history and the world-wide impact of the Jesuits as it unfolds chronologically, and candidly, before the lens: from their founding in 1534 to the dawning of the 21st Century in which their political activism -- and theology -- have often put them on the front pages.

Filmmaker Hal Rifken notes that the history of the Jesuits remains largely unknown, and that while the Jesuits are recognized for their intellectual rigor and for the educational opportunities they provide worldwide, one of the many facts that hasn't been recognized is that they often put their lives at risk to aid poor villagers in many countries who were fighting feudal enemies.