Two Jesuit novices who spent a memorable year with us prior to their novitiate professed their first vows last weekend. Mitchell Tu, S.J. (left) and François Venne, S.J., of the Jesuits’ USA East Province professed vows of poverty, chastity and obedience Saturday at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Syracuse, ending their time as novices and officially becoming Jesuit scholastics. At Canisius, Tu and Venne taught classes and worked with teachers, helped with service projects, traveled to retreats – and were serious assets to the faculty dodgeball team on the seniors’ last day of school – during the 2021-22 academic year. Tu is a native of San Jose, Calif. who attended Georgetown University while Verne is from Northampton, Massachusetts and attended the College of the Holy Cross as an undergraduate before earning a master’s degree from Tufts University. During the Jesuit novitiate, novice are introduced to religious life and work in various apostolates. Followin...