Fr. David Mark Nuehaus, S.J. "What Have I Done For God? What Am I Doing For God? And What MORE Can I Do For God?"

How does a Jewish adolescent's friendship with a 90-year old Russian Orthodox nun, who also happens to be a princess, lead the youth to become a Catholic? And then later, a Jesuit priest?

It may not seem the likely outcome, but it's the true story behind the vocation of Father David Mark Neuhaus, Latin Patriarchal Vicar for Hebrew-Speaking Catholics in Israel.

In this interview with ZENIT, Father Neuhaus shares how he was born into a Jewish family who escaped the scourge of the Nazis in their native Germany.

The family lived in South Africa, but as an adolescent, David moved to Jerusalem. There he met an Orthodox nun, who in talking about her faith, radiated the joy of Christ.

It was through his conversations with this religious that he found his calling not only to become a Christian, but to serve Christ as his vicar on earth.

Father Neuhaus teaches Scripture at the Latin Patriarchate Seminary and at Bethlehem University.

He completed his doctorate in political science at Hebrew University, Jerusalem. He also has degrees in theology from Centre Sevres in Paris, and Scripture from the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome.
ZENIT: How did you view religion as a child? Were you spiritual?
Father Neuhaus: I was born into a not very practicing German Jewish family that had found refuge from the Nazi scourge in South Africa. My father went to the synagogue regularly, but at home religious practice was not very regular. I did attend one of the excellent local Jewish schools where we prayed every morning, studied the Bible, religion and Hebrew.

I was not particularly interested in any of this and thought that religion was for old people who were scared of death. In addition, for me, at that time, Christianity was perceived as being at the root of the suffering of my own family and the rest of the Jewish people, particularly in Europe, rather than being anything spiritual.
ZENIT: You converted from Judaism while living in Israel. What led you to convert to Catholicism?

Father Neuhaus: I arrived in Israel at the age of 15 with a passion for history, and went off in search of a Russian princess who I knew had moved to Jerusalem. I was a Jewish adolescent and the scion of the Russian Empire I met, Mother Barbara, was almost 90, a Russian Orthodox nun for more than 50 years.

We spent hours together, talking about the last days of the Russian Empire, the revolution and its aftermath. In the course of our conversations, I noticed that this very old and frail lady shone with joy. I found that very strange as she was almost completely bedridden, confined to a small room in a convent and the only prospect she was facing was death.

One day, I plucked up the courage and asked her: Why are you so joyful? She knew I was a Jew and she was hesitant at first, but then as she began to speak of the great love in her life, the words came tumbling out and she became ever more radiant. She told me about Jesus Christ, about God's love expressed in him, about her life of joy with him in the convent.

I was struck and know today that in her radiant joy I saw the face of Jesus for the first time. Our conversations continued over time. As soon as I saw my parents a few months later, I told them that I wanted to be a Christian, and they were shocked. I promised them that I would wait 10 years, but if this remained true they must accept. They agreed, hoping that by the time 10 years had passed I would have come to my senses.

Link (here) to the full interview at Zenit.

The Jesuits Have 20 Novices In Spain

A 43 year-old prioresses has revolutionized an old Poor Clares convent in Spain, turning it onto a magnet for dozens of young professional women.

Sister Veronica joined the Poor Clares Convent of the Ascension founded in 1604 in Lerma (Spain) at at time when it was going through a vocations crisis. It was January 22, 1984, and Marijose Berzosa - Sr. Veronica's name prior to entering the convent - decided, at age 18, to leave behind a career in medicine, friends, nightlife and basketball.

"Nobody understood me. There were bets that it would not last, but they did not feel the force of the hurricane that drew me in," says Sr. Veronica. "I was a classic teenager looking for a way out ... and I made a decision in just 15 days."

Sr. Veronica joined the convent which had not seen a new vocation in nearly 23 years.

"It is an unexpected boom in vocations

when the Jesuits have just 20 novices in all of Spain

, the Franciscans, five, and the Vincentians, two. And it’s happening at a time when nuns are being imported from India, Kenya or Paraguay to prevent the closure of convents inhabited by elderly nuns, and when most of our priests are above the age of 60," the report indicated.

Link (here)

Religous, Racial And Gender Quotas At Gonzaga?

In an effort to develop a more diverse community on the Gonzaga campus, Interim President Thayne McCulloh has appointed a University Committee on Diversity. According to an e-mail sent out to students and staff, the committee will be responsible for assessing the institution’s current efforts with respect to diversity in view of the school’s Strategic Plan.

Gonzaga’s Strategic Plan: Vision 2012 says “the word diversity affirms our faith-inspired commitment to an inclusive community where human differences thrive within a campus community of equality, solidarity and common human nature. We seek to nourish difference in an environment characterized by mutual respect and the sustainable creation of a campus climate that attracts and retains community members from diverse backgrounds.”

Link (here) to the full and lengthy article at The Gonzaga Bulletin.

Financial Backlash At Wheeling Jesuit University

A contributor and volunteer fund-raiser for Wheeling Jesuit University has withdrawn his promised support amounting to $650,000 in cash and property bequests in protest of the firing in August of Rev. Julio Giulietti, SJ, as president.

Link (here) to the full post at Blithe Spirit the blog.

The Jesuit Who Illegally Broke Into Military Instillation With Another Jesuit And Three Nuns

LETHAL FORCE
by William J. Bichsel, S.J.

On November 2, 2009, All Souls Day, by the grace of God I choose to enter the Trident Submarine Base at Bangor Washington.

I wish to walk to the idolatrous place of nuclear weapon bunkers where lethal force is authorized to guard the hiding places of the most lethal forces in the world.

I wish to walk in solidarity with the poor of our world who live with lethal force constantly directed against them. My vulnerability to this lethal force is minimal compared to the lifetime vulnerability of the condemned of our world.

My compelling reason for entering the Trident Submarine Base is to be present at this Auschwitz place in order to witness in faith to the transforming power of Jesus’ non-violence and Resurrection which can turn hearts of stone into hearts of flesh and compassion.

At this place of global death and hopelessness I wish to witness in faith to the life giving and transforming power of this presence which can expel the demon of violence from the hearts and minds of people possessed by the need for nuclear weapons. I believe the life giving power of the Resurrection can flow over the nuclear death machine and stop its destructive force. Compassion can then grow in hearts and minds of people who have been liberated from the prison of fear and violence.

Millions upon millions of people throughout our world live with lethal force being directed against them.

Our brothers and sisters and children live in war ravaged places where violence reigns and starvation, disease, absence of medical resources, absence of shelter eventually bring death. One hour from our shores in Haiti, where one in twelve children do not reach the age of five, parents give children mud cakes made of earth, oil, sugar and salt to diminish the effects of hunger pains.

From the Sudan to Sub Saharan Africa, mothers watch as their infants and children become emaciated with swollen stomachs and lifeless eyes then die. All of these lethal forces are authorized.

In the U.S., except for the poor, we have been protected and insulated from the death sentences under which half of the earth’s population lives.

The drive for security has numbed our citizens to accept nuclear weapons as the ultimate protector of the American way of life.

In effect this choice means the acceptance of the use of nuclear weapons if the United States considers itself threatened. The people of the United States accept the deaths of millions of people if a preempted strike is ordered. Thus the use of lethal force is authorized.

Across our nation there are vast numbers of U.S. citizens who face lethal forces directed against them which are not as immediate or instantaneously murderous as the lethal forces directed against the 3rd world poor.

In our capitalistic system there are many who will not receive the health care, education, employment, appropriate housing and nutrition needed to live full human lives in this culture.

These forces attack the body, soul and spirit of our citizens which eventually bring death of the spirit and then the body. This is especially true of one segment of our population – the mentally-ill, who live on the streets, under bridges, in door ways, jungle camps or in jails and prisons. They belong nowhere. They die. These lethal forces are also authorized.

The continued possession of nuclear weapons by the United States means that resources that could be used to divert the lethal forces that are now killing the poor of our world will continue to be used to fuel the killing machine.

Link (here) to the the pacifist blog entitled Nuclear Abolitionist

Previous posts about the Jesuit (here) and (here)

On Applying To Be A Jesuit

This past summer I began writing my fifteen page “spiritual autobiography” for my application to the Society—while dealing with the fact that I had slightly fallen for a wonderful young woman I met in May. A tension inevitably arose from the reality that I felt inclined toward married life at the same time that I was writing about why I wanted to enter the Jesuits. But, as St. Ignatius teaches, fruit is only borne of tension.

If God so wills that I enter the Society of Jesus, I will never raise a family with a woman I have fallen in love with—this knowledge caused me great sorrow this past summer.

I will always miss being a father, and while on silent retreat before the semester began, this sorrow was the focus of my prayer.

My spiritual director advised that I was “mourning the loss of a life [I] will never lead,” an insight which brought me a wonderful consolation and peace of mind. The nature of any commitment is such that in choosing one good, a person closes the opportunity to partake in any infinite number of other goods. In choosing the good of becoming a symbolic father to the faithful, I simultaneously eliminate the potential to become a biological father.

Link (here) to the full original article by David Gregory in the Georgetown Voice.

Environmental Jesuit

The Jesuit Superior responsible for the work of the Society of Jesus in the Amazon Region has criticised people and organisations motivated by 'the evil spirit of self interest' and have created 'a socio-ecological mess'. Using the Amazon River Region as a prime example, he has called for a fundamental change in our approach to civilisation, including a 'spiritual transformation'.

Fr Roberto Jaramill's address to the Many Heavens, One Earth Celebration at Windsor Castle was delivered in his absence today by the British Jesuit Provincial, Fr Michael Holman SJ. Fr Jaramillo recently sustained a fall and was unable to attend himself. However, in his statement, the Jesuit priest warned that chaos - from which Creation arose - was making a come-back. 'The Garden of Eden is being systematically destroyed,' he wrote.

'The blind attitude of many individuals, groups, organizations, institutions and nations, motivated by the evil spirit of self interest, frequently disguised with the discourse of 'development' and even 'sustainability', expresses itself every day.

Link (here) to the full article.

Photo is of Fr. Roberto Jaramillo, S.J. (here)

Fr. Thomas P. O'Malley, S.J. "Rest In Peace"

Rev. Thomas P. O'Malley, S.J., a gifted, eloquent and scholarly priest who served as Dean of Boston College's College of Arts and Sciences, and as the president of two Jesuit universities, John Carroll University and Loyola Marymount University, died suddenly on Nov. 4, the victim of an apparent heart attack.

Fr. O'Malley, who 10 years ago had returned to his alma mater, Boston College, as a professor in the Arts and Sciences Honors Program, was 79.

"Though Tom O’Malley was a significant figure in the histories of three Jesuit universities - in Boston, Cleveland, and Los Angeles - I suspect that what the legion of friends he left in these places will remember most, beyond any of his administrative accomplishments, is his lightly worn erudition, his deep knowledge of scripture, his ability to light up any conversation with a good story, and of course his booming laugh," said Boston College's Vice President for University Mission and Ministry, Joseph A. Appleyard, S.J. "He was one of those rare people who make your life seem richer just by being part of it."
"He was a larger than life man and a larger than life Jesuit," said Rev. T. Frank Kennedy, S.J., rector of the Jesuit community at Boston College. "His breadth of knowledge was just breathtaking. He could converse in an intelligent way about so many different things. He was an incredible teacher and administrator."

A native of Milton, Mass., where he was born on March 1, 1930, Fr. O'Malley graduated from Boston College in 1951 with a degree in classics and added a master's degree from Fordham University before entering the Society of Jesus at the former Shadowbrook novitiate in Lenox, Mass. in 1953. He completed his theology studies at Leuven University in Belgium and was ordained in Brussels in 1961.

Following advanced theological courses and study for a doctorate in literature and theology of the early Christian period at Nijmegen University in the Netherlands, Fr. O'Malley returned to Boston College as chairman of the University's Department of Classical Languages in 1967. He later served as chairman of BC's Theology Department and was named Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences in 1973.

In 1980, he was appointed president of John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio, where over the next eight years, he lead a revitalization of that Jesuit institution, including the construction of new residence halls, a new student center and a new chapel on campus. He also oversaw the renovation of John Carroll's School of Business and added several endowed faculty chairs and increased funds for scholarships and campus ministry.

After a year of teaching in Nigeria, Fr. O'Malley served as rector of the Jesuit community at Fairfield University. In 1991, he was appointed the 13th president of Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, where he presided over the development and expansion of LMU's Leavey Campus that includes residence halls and support facilities, and the construction or upgrade of numerous other campus buildings, including a student union, athletic center and Jesuit residence. He also directed a highly-successful fund-raising program that supported LMU's unprecedented growth.

Fr. O'Malley was known throughout his career for his eloquent homilies. "He was an incredible preacher," said Fr. Kennedy. "He always had a slant on the Scripture readings that was unique and helpful. I loved to listen to him and I know a lot of people loved to listen to him."
Fr. O'Malley, who had a booming bass singing voice, also performed with Boston College's University Chorale for many years, and helped the group arrange concert tours throughout Europe.
"He had such a remarkable ability to engage people at every level," said Dr. Mark O'Connor, a former student of Fr. O'Malley who is now the director of the BC Honors Program. "The beautiful thing that I will always remember about Tom is that he treated me with exactly the same courtesy, respect and engagement when I was just a student to the point where later I became – technically at least – his boss," O'Connor said. "Nothing in the nature of the way he engaged with people ever changed. It was hard for me to remember that this was the person I had once called 'Dean O'Malley' and later 'President O'Malley. And now I called him 'Tom' when we were speaking directly. "It meant so much to him to end his career teaching in the Boston College Arts and Sciences Honors Program. He made it clear that after being president of two Jesuit universities the only way that you could go up was to become a teacher again. To the end, we were learning from him."
Fr. O'Malley will be waked on Monday, Nov. 9 in St. Mary's Hall on the Boston College campus from 4-6 p.m. and 7-9 p.m. A funeral Mass will be celebrated in St. Ignatius Church in Chestnut Hill on Tuesday, Nov. 10 at 10 a.m. Burial will be in Campion Center Cemetery in Weston.

Fr. O'Malley is survived by two brothers, Austin J. O'Malley of Dedham and John F. O'Malley of Milton and a sister, Mary E. O'Malley of Milton.

Link (here) to the Boston College Chronicle

Basilian Father Thomas Rosica On Fr. Stephan Pisano, S.J.

From The Student To The Teacher.

Elijah's faith Whenever I read stories from the Elijah and Elisha cycle in the first and second books of Kings,

I always say a prayer of thanksgiving for one of my professors from the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome, Jesuit Father Stephen Pisano,

who taught the best course I had in the Old Testament: "The Man of God in the Books of Kings." God knows how many times I have gone back to those notes and appreciated anew the stories of Elijah and his disciple Elisha, and their efforts to make God's Word known and loved in the land of Israel!

Link (here) to the full article.

An Anglican Convert To The Catholic Church Found Himself In A Jesuit Ashram In India

Independence Day 1996, in Chennai (once Madras), South India. A hot day, like all July days there. The sweat runs between my shoulder blades as I pace the roof. I am 40.

I am spending the summer in a Jesuit-run ashram called Aikiya Alayam, on the edge of the city.

I am teaching now at the University of Chicago Divinity School and working on a book called Religious Reading: The Place of Reading in the Practice of Religion. I am in India to read and write, and for a breathing space.

The work is going well, and I can see the shape of the book before me. I am Anglican still: I am going to the nearest congregation of the Church of South India on Sundays and attending daily mass with the Jesuits during the week. After a week or so and some considerable conferring among themselves, they invite me to participate fully in their daily mass,

and I happily do so: I've not much notion of the doctrine and discipline of the Catholic Church on these matters and so am not fully sensible of the complexities of this position. I am, however, grateful for the hospitality shown me........(later on in the article) my more than 12 years in the warmly embracing arms of the Catholic Church have given me the whole of the tradition, a vastly expanded range of authorities and teachers with whom to think, and a cloud of witnesses, living and dead.

Link (here) to the full article, Turning points How my mind has changed, by Paul J. Griffiths in The Christian Century

Paul J. Griffiths, whose books include Christianity Through Non-Christian Eyes; Lying: An Augustinian Theology of Duplicity and Intellectual Appetite: A Theological Grammar, teaches at Duke Divinity School.

Jesuit “We All Think We Are Good Preachers”

A Jesuit priest and liturgist is keynote speaker for the 2009 Archdiocese of Portland Assembly in November. The gathering convenes priests and pastoral councils.

Father J-Glenn Murray, director of the Office for Pastoral Liturgy in the Diocese of Cleveland, speaks at 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 20, at St. Pius X Church in Portland.

Father Murray, tall and with a graying beard, knows how to captivate an audience. He has a deep, commanding voice and a background in theater. Often, he aims to help priests improve their preaching.

“We all think we are good preachers,” he told a convention of priests in Florida. “But if we were all good preachers, then people would not be asking for better preaching. So we are probably not the wonderful preachers that we think we are. So we always stand in need of reminding.”

He’s been a member of the Maryland Province of Jesuits for 40 years and was ordained a priest in 1979.

Father Murray has been a parish priest, a campus minister at Duke University and vice principal at St. Frances Academy in Baltimore, the oldest black Catholic high school in the western hemisphere. He holds a doctorate in liturgy from the Catholic Theological Union.

Since 1989, he has worked in liturgy for the Diocese of Cleveland, and has directed the office since 1995. He’s taught at seminaries and has lectured widely.

Link (here) to the original piece in the Catholic Sentinal

Mugging For The Camera

Link (here)

"All Things Betray Thee, Who Betrayest Me."

It is happiness the human soul is ever yearning for. It never ceases its quest for happiness. Night and day, year after year, it is grasping after happiness.

The weary days of labor are borne to gain the wealth with which it thinks it may buy happiness. The days of suffering and pain are spent in watching and waiting for the agony to pass, that happiness may come.

It looks for it in every creature, in the earth, in the sea, in the air. The soul asks all these things—wherein is your happiness—and the answer of earth, air, sea is "He made us." "We are for Him, for His glory."

So the soul is looking for happiness, and in all these things it will not find happiness. It will find happiness only in God. And yet instead of seeking it in God, it turns away from Him and seeks it in the creature, something that is not God.

And God is ever seeking that soul which is running away from Him. Wherever it runs, the sound of those feet, following ever after, is heard, and a voice, stronger than the beat

But with unhurrying chase, And imperturbed pace, Deliberate speed, majestic instancy They beat—and a Voice beats More instant than the feet, "All things betray thee, who betrayest Me." And this thought of the creature fleeing from God, and ever pursued by His love,

is most beautifully expressed in the poem of Francis Thompson, the great Catholic poet. He seems to sing in verse, the thought of St. Ignatius in the spiritual exercises,

Link (here) to the book entitled A Study of Francis Thompson's Hound of Heaven, by Fr. John Francis Xavier O'Conor, S.J.

The Connecting Links

Throughout the " Exercises," the insistent consideration of the fundamental truths of Christianity,

and the contemplation of the mysteries or episodes of the life of Christ so illumine the mind and inflame the heart that we cannot fail, if we are reasonable, at least to desire to make the love of Christ the dominating motive of our life;

and, in view of that end, we are given at every step a new insight into our duties to God, chiefly under the double aspect of our Creation and Redemption;

we are taught to scrutinize our thoughts, tendencies, inclinations, passions and aspirations, and to detect the devices of self-deceit; we are shown the dangers that beset us and the means of safety that are available; we are instructed in prayer, meditation and self-examination.

The proper co-ordination of these various parts is so essential, that if their interdependence is neglected, if the arrangements and adjustments are disturbed and the connecting links disregarded or displaced, the end intended by Saint Ignatius is defeated. Hence the need of a director.
Link (here) to the book entitled, The Jesuits, 1534-1921 by Fr. Thomas Joseph Campbell, S.J.

Miserably Tormented, And Yet Replenished With Heavenly Comforts

Now I begin indeed to be the disciple of Christ." "Oh, the happy stroke of a sword," might St. Paul well exclaim, "that no sooner cuts off my head, but it makes a breach for my soul to enter into heaven. Let it be far from me to glory in anything, but in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let all evils band against me, and let my body be never so overloaded with afflictions, the joy of my heart will be sure to have the mastery, and my soul will be still replenished with such heavenly consolations that no words, nor even thoughts, are able to express it."

You may imagine, then, that the souls, once unfettered from the body, may, together with their torments, be capable of great comforts and divine favours, and break forth into resolute, heroical and even supercelestial acts.

The Holy Ghost tells us, that " the corruptible body is a load upon the soul, and the earthly habitation presseth down the mind that museth upon many things." (Wisdom IX:15) So that a soul, by the infirmities of the body, is violently kept from the free exercise of her functions; whereas, if the body were supple, pliable, and willing to follow the persuasions of a resolute and generous soul, or the inspirations with which she is plentifully supplied from above, what might we not be able to do, even in this life ? Now, that which is not done here,

but by very few, who are looked upon as so many miracles and prodigies of men, is easily performed by those separate holy souls, who are in the very porch of heaven, assured of their salvation.

Lastly; would you have a most perfect exemplar and idea of this wonderful combination of joys and griefs in one single person ? You may clearly see it in the most sacred Person of our Blessed Saviour; who, in the midst of His bitter Passion, and in the very height of His Agony and extreme dereliction, when

He not only seemed to have been abandoned by His Eternal Father, but had even abandoned and forsaken Himself, by miraculously withholding the superior part of His blessed Soul from relieving and assisting the inferior,

yet even then, had all the comforts of heaven, and saw God face to face, and consequently, was at the self-same time most happy, by the fruition of the beatifical vision : and yet so oppressed with griefs, that He cried out Himself, " My Soul is sorrowful unto death;" and again,

" O My God, alas ! why hast Thou thus forsaken Me !"

Conceive something like unto this, of the souls in Purgatory, who are most miserably tormented, and yet replenished with heavenly comforts.

Link (here) to this portion of the book entitled, Purgatory Surveyed by Fr. W.H. Anderdon, S.J.

A California Province Jesuit And An Oregon Province Jesuit Arrested

Two Jesuit priests and three nuns, aged 60 - 81, were arrested on an American navy base yesterday, as they took part in an anti-nuclear protest.

Fr. William J. Bischel, SJ, 81, from Tacoma, Washington; Sr Susan Crane, 65, of Baltimore, Maryland; Sr Lynne Greenwald, 60, of Bremerton Washington; Fr Steve Kelly, SJ, 60, of Oakland, California, and Sr Anne Montgomery RSCJ, 83, of New York, were arrested at Kitsap- Bangor Naval Base near Seattle.

They entered the Base in the early hours of All Souls Day, with the intention calling attention to the illegality and immorality of the existence of the Trident weapons system.

After climbing through the perimeter fence, they made their way to the Strategic Weapons Facility – Pacific ( SWFPAC) where

they were able to cut through the first chainlink fence surrounding SWF-PAC, walked to and cut the next double layered fence, which was both chain link and barbed wire,

onto the grounds of SWFPAC.\

As they walked onto the grounds, they held a banner saying: 'Disarm Now Plowshares: Trident: Illegal + Immoral'. Then they hammered on the fences around SWFPAC and scattered sunflower seeds throughout the base.

The group were arrested, handcuffed, hooded and held face down on the wet ground for four hours.

They were then taken for questioning by Base security, FBI and NCIS. They refused to give any information except their names, and were cited for trespass and destruction of government property, given a ban and bar letter and released.

Link (here)

Photo is of Fr. William "Bix" J. Bischel, S.J.
Link (here) to a very interesting post at an anarchists blog

Code of Canon Law

Clerics are to behave with due prudence towards persons whose company can endanger their obligation to observe continence or give rise to scandal among the faithful. 271:2

Clerics are to refrain from establishing or participating in associations whose purpose or activity cannot be reconciled with the obligations proper to the clerical state or can prevent the diligent fulfillment of the function entrusted to them by competent ecclesiastical authority. 278:3

Clerics are to wear suitable ecclesiastical garb according to the norms issued by the conference of bishops and according to legitimate local customs. 284

Clerics are to refrain completely from all those things which are unbecoming to their state, according to the prescripts of particular law. 285

Most especially, clerics are always to foster the peace and harmony based on justice which are to be observed among people. 287

Link (here) to the Vatican website

Unto Them That Dream

By coincidence, when word came of Pope Benedict’s initiative towards the Anglicans, I was re-reading Father Bernard Basset’s history of the English Jesuits.

The day before, I had viewed "A Man for All Seasons" and recalled the paintings in the London Oratory.

One of my prized possessions is a beautifully printed account of the English martyrs of the Order of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem Hospitaler, a gift of Professor William Tighe of Muhlenberg University.

When I took my wife to Ireland for the first time in 1994, we spent more time wandering through ruined abbeys than we did in the pubs.

For someone with that kind of personal background, it was impossible not to think of Psalm 126: “When the Lord turned against the captivity of Sion, then were we like unto them that dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter.” The music of Thomas Tallis and William Byrd played in my head.

Link (here) to the full op/ed piece by James G. Wiles in the Bulletin

Canadian Jesuit On His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales

"Most people think he's a nitwit, that he's not very smart," says Jacques Monet, a Jesuit priest, historian and professor at the University of Toronto. "But I know academics and businessmen who have met him, and all say he is so up to date on everything, that he has many important contacts, and that his opinions are very well founded. People who meet him are generally very impressed."

Link (here)

Thats A Lot Of Videos

"This past week I am come under the Jesuit Influence. I sat and watched all 81 of their YouTube Videos"

Link (here) to Catholic blogger Gabriel Gohery, his blog is entitled, A Year In The Life Of A Discerning Catholic.

Saints And Souls At The College Of The Holy Cross In 1898

All Saints' Day was fittingly observed at the college.

In the morning Solemn High Mass was celebrated, with Father Casey, S. J., officiating as celebrant, Father Keveney, S. J., as deacon, and Mr. Becker, S. J., as sub-deacon. During the Mass the choir discoursed beautiful music. In the evening Vespers were sung, and the service concluded with Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament.

On the morning of All Souls' All Souls' Day,

the students assembled in the chapel, where the Office of the Dead was chanted. After the Office of the Dead, Mass was celebrated by Father Rector. During the rest of the morning there was no class, and the students enjoyed themselves in various ways.

Link (here) to The Purple, the official publication The College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts.

The Jesuits In America: Life Magazine October 11th, 1954

45 years ago Life magazine did a twelve page spread on the Jesuits in the United States. Which you can see from the first page (here).

The Life piece features closed Jesuit Novitiates; of Shadowbrook in Lenox, Massachusetts, Sacred Heart Novitiate at Los Gatos near San Jose, California and Woodstock College in Maryland. You will also find interesting comments about the Societies anti-communist work.

Jesuit priests highlighted include;

Fr. Alfred Barrett, S.J., an English professor and poet at Fordham University
Fr. Frank Fadner, S.J., a foreign service and languages (Russian) professor Fordham University
Fr. John Higgins, S.J. and Fr. John Choppesky, S.J. in an aviation program at Parks College.
Fr. William O' Leary, S.J., at the Loyola New Orleans radio station.
Fr. John Ryder, S.J., the bi-ritual Jesuit at St. Andrews in Los Angeles.
Fr. Walshe Murry, S.J., the "Hollywood Jesuit" who analyzed with Hollywood writers their scripts for their moral content and decency.
Fr. Francis J. Hayden, S.J. an astronomer at Georgetown and founder of WGTB.
Fr. Daniel Linehan, S.J. and Fr. Joseph Lynch, S.J. Seismologists.
Fr. Wilfred La Sage, S.J. a spiritual director from the California Province.
Fr. John P. Sullivan, S.J., Fr. Marion Ganey, S.J. and Fr. Gregory Sontag, S.J. are highlighted for their mission work in Honduras.
Fr. Dennis Comey, S.J. is docks Jesuit, he is the keeper of the peace around the docks in Philedephia.
Fr. John Courtney Murray, S.J. Theologian
Fr. Alphonse Schwitalla, S.J. a medical educator at St. Louis University.
Fr. John La Farge, S.J. is the son of the famous artist John La Farge and specialized his work in liturgical arts.
Fr. Bernard Hubbard, S.J. the "Glacier Priest" of Santa Clara University who has traveled extensively to the far north and arctic regions.

Jesuits In Old Main

It used to be when you walked along the first-floor corridor of Old Main, portraits of the 22 ex-presidents of Canisius College followed you with their gaze. They were all Jesuits, the early ones German, later Irish, Italian and Polish-Americans. Their stern visages reminded us of the “Magis”—the call to go above and beyond.

When Old Main was renovated at the turn of the 21st century, the Jesuit presidents were unceremoniously moved, and now hang cramped, shoulder- to-shoulder, in the north end of the corridor where no one ever goes. Father Vincent Cooke’s likeness will soon join them to keep lonely exile there.

John Hurley has been named president of Canisius by the trustees, and the community is rightly pleased. But Hurley is a layman, and with his accession to the presidency, Buffalo’s two major Jesuit institutions — Canisius High School and Canisius College –find themselves with not one Jesuit in a top administrative post. People in Buffalo and Western New York need to know that this situation could lead to an exodus of the remaining members of the Society of Jesus from our area.

The Jesuit order has suffered a substantial decrease in vocations, and is facing the real possibility of not being able to keep a presence in all its historical ministries and institutions. There are 28 colleges and universities and 49 secondary schools vying for a declining number of Jesuits to fill administrative and faculty positions. It seems almost inevitable that since Buffalo has not been able to attract and keep Jesuit administrators, that the other Jesuits here will gravitate toward places where their order is still in control.

Link (here) to the full opinion piece by Michael J. Gent in the Buffalo News

Political Curriculum

Jesuits - who run legions of schools in Latin America - are mainstreaming environmental and climate issues into their curriculum, and other faiths are increasingly preaching about caring for the earth as a moral imperative.

Link (here)

Jesuit Scolastic On The Feast Of All Saints And "Homo In Vita Spirituali Perfectus"

In the beginning of September Henry Van Rensselaer, S.J. reported for his studies in philosophy at Woodstock, Md.. where he was to spend three fruitful and happy years. On the approach of the Feast of All Saints, he returned to Frederick to take his first vows as a Jesuit Scholastic. The interruption was a brief one, for it was from Woodstock College that he wrote the following letter:

" Woodstock, " November 2, 1880. "

I have had the great happiness of taking the vows. I went down to Frederick on Saturday afternoon, spent Sunday in recollection and silence, and then on Monday in the domestic chapel, took my vows before the Community. Just think, I had about thirty Masses said for me that day, besides many receiving Holy Communion for my intention. There is such a beautiful feeling of charity in the Society. I like this quotation very much and it has made a great impression on me:

' Petit sacrifice, petit bonheur; grand sacrifice, grand bonheur; sacrifice complet, bonheur complet.''

Most of the subjoined letters were addressed to his sister, who shortly after her conversion had been enrolled among the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul. On the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, 1880, he writes:

" I do not know that I have ever spent a happier feast, except perhaps All Saints, and this was a breathing of the same air. We had our half-yearly renovation of vows. What the Society wishes is homo in vita spirituali perfectus,

and for this, great talents are not necessary, thank God, else I might despair of attaining it, for I shall never shine as a learned man, nor do I regret it much. It has many dangers which I shall be spared. Let us desire better gifts, for desire paves the way."

Link (here) Life and letters of Henry Van Rensselaer, S.J.

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Jesuit On The Protestant Revolt And "A Ruse Of The Devil"

An unfamiliar side of the Protestant revolt was the disgraceful way in which the self-appointed reformers of the Church’s morals allied themselves against her doctrine and practice of celibacy.

In a rhetorical passage of his “Babylonian Captivity,” Luther pleaded with “the prisoners of the monastic life” to break the chains which bound them to their monasteries and to serve Christ with the untrammeled liberty of the children of God.

If any of them still hesitated to accept the responsibilities of marriage, he argued, let them remember that this is only a ruse of the devil who would have them reverse the order of divine providence and obey man rather than God.

Link (here) to the excerpt of a much longer essay by Fr. John Hardon, S.J., entitled, Communion of Saints: St. Robert Bellarmine on the Mystical Body of Christ.

An engraving of Martin Luther.