LAST EDITED ON 07-05-01 AT 04:22 PM (EST)

Not being Catholic myself, I'll do the best I can. Errors are entirely my responsibility, and corrections are welcome...

Within the Roman Catholic church are a number of orders, each with somewhat different rituals and traditions, although all answer to the Pope. The single largest order are the Jesuits, known in English as the Society of Jesus and in Latin as Societatis Jesu (the Company of Jesus). The order was founded in 1540 by St. Ignatius Loyola, so any school with either Ignatius or Loyola in its name is Jesuit (for example: LMU, Loyola Marymount University in LA, would obviously be Jesuit).

Ordained members of the order use S.J. after their names (which is why you'll see something like Rev. Roto Rooter, S.J.). Because of St. Ignatius Loyola's emphasis on teaching (he turned to the ministry later in life and first came to Rome as a teacher of Gospel), the order predominates among Catholic schools and universities. Georgetown was the first Jesuit university is the U.S.; another famous one is Marquette (the real Father Marquette was indeed a Jesuit missionary and explorer).

Among Catholics, Jesuits have a reputation (or so I'm told) of seeing themselves as superior to other orders and also as closer to God. Does God see them the same way? -- that's the joke here.

Hope this helps.

Edited to add that for you college basketball fans in the States, the following universities are also Jesuit:
Gonzaga, Boston College, Xavier, St. Joseph's (PA), San Francisco, Holy Cross...