Egan is currently studying at the Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the United States, with Jesuits whose backgrounds include economics, law and the armed forces. Egan says the promotion of justice has always been a cornerstone of Jesuit teachings. It outstrips all other orders within the Catholic Church. And while there has been talk of a grim future for the priesthood, with overall numbers of priests dropping, there has also been an increase in seminary enrolments in the developing world, especially Africa. The order's founder, Ignatius of Loyola, a former soldier and minor noble, taught that the life of Jesus should be followed holistically and not limited to spirituality.
Training is lengthy and intense.
After being accepted, trainees, or novitiates, have to spend up to six years studying, working in a variety of professions from hospital orderly to chaplain, and undergoing spiritual training before taking final vows. After taking final vows, Jesuits must give their personal savings and inheritance away, and assume the life of the order. Father Peter's interaction with colleagues is aided by an animated ability to pepper his conversations with a motley of dialects, from Yiddish to Sesotho to a near perfectly accented Arabic. Sick and dying patients are often grateful for the presence of a priest to hear their last confessions, or simply to offer support. And after the recent death of the wife of a senior staff member, Peter was asked to perform the funeral service.