My Vacation Is Over January 8th

Here are some of the posts I have been working on.

Jan 08th

The Holy Father On Fr. Roger Haight, S.J.
Responsibility? The Priests, The Politicians Or The Parents
Jesuit Theologian's Work Does Not Conform To The Divine And Catholic Faith Of The Church
Jesuit Vineyard in Lebanon
Jesuits and Jailbirds
Jesuits and Congressional Pork Barrel Spending
Collaborate To Clarify His Positions

Jan 09th

Stretching Structural Changes
The Jesuit and the Libertarian
Czech Jesuits and the Manger
52 Years a Jesuit
French Jesuit French Prophecy
Jesuit Spirituality Now Taught On Television

Jan 10th

Fr Edward T. Oakes, S.J., Had This To Say
Harold Pinter on Jesuits
He Was A Iraqi War Interrogator And A Hard-Core Protestant, Now He Is A Catholic And Wants To Be A Jesuit

Jan 11th

A Jesuits Walk's In Ignatius' Footprints
Four Holy Families Make Four New Holy Jesuits Priests
Philippine Politics And The Jesuit In The Middle Of It

Jan 12th

The Jesuit Cardinal Of Indonesia
Pro-Capitalism At Boston College
The General Was In Japan

Jan 13th

Jesuit On Our Lady
Dull Dulles On Liberation Theology
Playing Cards And The Famous French Jesuit

Jan 14th

Statistical Jesuit
I Can Identify With The Many Paralytics And Mute Persons In The Gospels
Cardinal Dulles On Capital Punishment

Jan 15th

Jungmann Society
Jesuit On The Crusades
The Jesuit Behind The Movie: "On The Waterfront"

Jan 16th

St. Peter's Complaint
The Institute of Jesuit Sources
18th Century North American Jesuit Missionary

OF THE BIRTH OF CHRIST OUR LORD

St. Luke speaks in the second Chapter [1-15]

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole world should be enrolled. This was the first enrollment, when Quirinius was governor of Syria. So all went to be enrolled, each to his own town. And Joseph too went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David that is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. While they were there, the time came for her to have her child, and she gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. Now there were shepherds in that region living in the fields and keeping the night watch over their flock. The angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were struck with great fear. The angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger." And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests."

First Point.

First:

Our Lady and her husband Joseph go from Nazareth to Bethlehem.

“Joseph went up from Galilee to Bethlehem, to acknowledge subjection to Caesar, with Mary his spouse and wife, already with child.”

Second Point.

Second:

“She brought forth her first-born Son and wrapped Him up with swaddling clothes and laid Him in the manger.”

Third Point.

Third:

“There came a multitude of the heavenly army, which said:

‘Glory be to God in the heavens.’”

Link (here)

St. Francis Xavier, S.J.

on the Birth of our Lord

(here)

Just Two Centuries Before The Birth Of Jesus Christ, Isreal Was Nearly Lost

Men of God...The Maccabees - Forgotten Heroes of Israel
This is an epic tale of war, heroism, treachery, and tragedy. It is from a time when God and religion were the center of existence for all men and women. This is a story of a woman and the strength she gave her seven sons. It is the story of an old man who realized manhood and wisdom meet in old age.

It is the story of a man and his five sons who left everything and sacrificed their lives to restore God’s laws. But mostly it is a tale of the power of faith and prayer – of God’s hand in man’s work. The story of the family known as the Maccabees took place in the 2nd century before the birth of Christ,

when the children of Israel were being persecuted by the Gentiles. Out of one family rose up a father and his five sons to lead the Jews to victory over the persecutors and to restore the Temple that had been profaned by them. One of the Maccabees brothers, Judas, was surnamed Machebeus – that is, the hammer – and thus the family takes on his name – as God’s Hammer against the enemies of His people.

Link (here)

More on Judas Maccabeus and the Maccabees

Judas Maccabeus in Wiki (here)
Judah Maccabeus in the Jewish Encyclopaedia (here)
The Hasmonean Revolt Against Seleucid Rule (here)
Father Pierre-Jean de Smet, S.J. preaches to the Indians about the Maccabees (here)
I Maccabees (here) and II Maccabees (here)
The Maccabees and The Lord of the Rings: Boston College's Peter Kreeft (here)

Jesuit On The Christian Religion

The Christian religion presents three distinct phases, called (1) the patriarchal religion, from the time of Adam to that of Moses; (2) the Jewish religion, from the time of Moses to Jesus Christ; (3) the Christian religion from the time of Jesus Christ: this will remain unchanged even to the end of the world. These three form but one and the same revelation, which has become developed like a mysterious plant; they are all the same divine light; but it has risen over the world slowly and majestically, like the day passing through the gloaming of the aurora before arriving at its perfect brightness.

Link (here) to the selected portion of the Fr. Francis Xavier Schouppe, S.J. book entitled, Abridged Course of Religious Instruction, Apologetic, Dogmatic and Moral

An Un-Merry Christmas

The student senate at Boston College voted to allocate $1,000 in college funds for increased 2009 campus productions of The V*gina Monologues. The Observer reports that a list of co-sponsors, including the theology department, was presented to the students in support of funding productions of the oft-criticized, vulgar play. The V*gina Monologues is a s*xually explicit and offensive play that favorably describes l*sbian r*pe, group m*sturbation, and the reduction of s*xuality to selfish pleasure. It is produced with the hope that by raising the awareness to violence against women, incidents of abuse will decrease. The UGBC senate passed the decision to provide funds for the play in a narrow vote of 8-7. During deliberations, which lasted two hours, “concern over the appropriateness of the production and the need to bring women’s issues into the public eye” were debated, The Observer reports. Students in support of the Monologues argued that there is a precedent for funding the play, set by previous years. Boston College has been a consistent host of the play in past semesters. However, the student senators who opposed the resolution cited the explicit humor in the play. Senator John Karl, who had previously supported productions of the Monologues, said that after reading the script he was now “troubled that it portrayed sexual assault in a liberating manner.” The Observer reports that in 2009 there will be three campus productions of The Vagina Monologues on campus. In past years there have been up to two performances a semester. In the initial request for funding made to the student senators, a list of co-sponsors was included.

“Perhaps the most controversial among this list of potential co-sponsors is the Theology Department,” The Observer reports. “It remains unclear what actions, if any, will be taken in order to gauge professor support for the production before this year’s co-sponsorship is either granted or denied.” “Some theology professors were concerned about the fact that more broad internal discussions within the department did not occur on such a controversial issue.” Some in the theology department, however, disagreed. “I believe that the author, Eve Ensler, may have a good intention,” said associate theology professor Margaret Schatkin.

“The indecorous and intemperate language negates her cause, which is ostensibly to raise the position of women. This is officially the year of St. Paul in the Catholic Church, and the Apostle teaches us a lot about avoiding foul language.” “From the title on, the play does not meet apostolic standards of Christian discourse,” continued Schatkin. “It also does not meet basic standards of literary quality. While admittedly there is great injustice around the world against women, e.g., human trafficking, such exploitation is not to be trivialized but should be made the subject of a serious dramatic work, which would not rely on vulgarity to get its message across.”

Link (here)

Jesuits In Tibet

Francis Younghusband, in the 18th century brought Jesuits and Capuchins from Europe who gradually met opposition from Tibetan lamas who finally expelled them from Tibet in 1745.

Link (here) More (here) and (here)
Picture is of Fr. Ippolito Desideri, S.J.

Fr. James Martin, S.J. On Christmas

Priest: ‘More Virgin Mary, Less Virgin Islands.’

Dec 18th, 2008

by Holy Weblog.

I was startled to hear NPR broadcast an opinion piece by a Jesuit priest urging more Jesus in the Christmas season. More specifically, Fr. James Martin, S.J. went off, albeit gently, on Christmas cards that feature not the Savior, but the senders themselves: It’s the middle of the day, and I’m opening my Christmas cards. And what do I see when I tear open the envelope?

Not Baby Jesus in his manger. Not the Virgin Mary. Not even the Wise Men. No, chances are the card will be a photo of a family on some beach in the Caribbean.

Or a picture of somebody’s house. Or someone’s dog wearing reindeer horns. These are the new favorite Christmas cards, for even the most pious Christians: the family cards. …

Look, I love family photos during the holidays. … But I enjoy the photos more when they’re inside the card, not the card itself. Because more and more, even devout Christians have been replacing Jesus, Mary and Joseph with themselves. Doesn’t it strike you as weird to set aside the Holy Family in favor of your family?

Does a photo of Cabo San Lucas trump the story told by the original San Lucas? Is Christmas really about you? Still unconvinced? Try a thought experiment. For your next birthday, how would you feel about getting a birthday card with my photo on it? “Happy Birthday! It’s a photo of me!”

Many thanks to Holy Weblog, for this one (here)

A Jesuit And The Fine Arts

After 28 years of dancing through the holidays, the Rev. Robert Ver Eecke , S.J. has finished his last production of "A Dancer's Christmas" at the Robsham Theater Arts Center, on the Boston College campus in Chestnut Hill. Ver Eecke, or Father Bob to anyone who knows him, choreographed the first manifestation of the show in 1981 and called it "A Concert of Dances for Advent and Christmas." But he loved dance long before that.

As a child growing up on Long Island in New York in the 1950s, Ver Eecke said, he had to keep his passion for dancing and movement more or less to himself, because "that just wasn't the kind of thing boys were supposed to be into."

VerEecke found an outlet for his passion when he entered the seminary at age 18. "I joined the Jesuits and was delightfully surprised," he said. "In the '60s, the Jesuits were rediscovering its tradition of the arts. In the 1600s and 1700s, Jesuits were crucial to the development of classical ballet, for as Ignatius of Loyola put it, God can be found in all things beautiful. Clearly dance reflects the glory of God."

Link (here)

Blogger Accused Of Role In Vast Jesuit Plot To Control The World

This post is written by Robert Spencer, from the blog called Jihad Watch

Yes, it's true

Not too long ago I wasted a sunny Sunday afternoon answering some of my nuttier and more unhinged critics, but today it's raining here in Secure Undisclosed Locationville, and something just popped up in the Jihad Watch referrers list that makes all those people look sane. You see, my friends, I am part of the larger Jesuit plot to control the world, as is also, evidently, the entire Islamic religion -- although why the Jesuits would want to subsidize both the chryselephantine global jihad and my ultramicroscopic anti-jihad enterprise, I cannot fathom. And gee, my Jesuit checks are late in arriving.

This revelation comes from commenters at a site called "The Unhived Mind," which appears to be a bulletin board devoted to exposing the depredations and enormities of the "Jesuit Order also known as the Society of Jesus headed by the General Peter Hans Kolvenbach (The Black Pope & Most powerful man on the planet). All information is welcome exposing the Jesuits to the domination of planet Earth with its coalition of Masonic groups and organisations."

It appears that in this vast planetary control enterprise, I am a "Temporal Coadjutor" -- a term I have never heard before. Among the evidence that I am a tool of the Jesuits is that I have been a guest on "Jesuit-trained G. Gordon Liddy's radio show." There is a bit more of this twisted logic and a few loony links. Then there are the usual calumnies: "Spencer is a Jesuit Temporal Coadjutor fomenting hatred for all Muslims and his hateful rhetoric calls (when you read between the lines) for their eradication and genocide" -- oh yes, you must read very carefully between the lines, i.e., read your own fevered imaginings into what I am actually saying, because what I actually write doesn't come remotely close to anything like that. In reality, what I have said here since the beginning of this site still stands: "Any Muslim who renounces violent jihad and dhimmitude is welcome to join in our anti-jihadist efforts."

Link (here)

Boston College Merchandice

Controversy over Victoria's Secret's BC line

BOSTON -- A new line of clothing from Victoria's Secret featuring the Boston College logo is causing some controversy among the Catholic school's students and alumni. The BC line of sweatpants and hooded sweatshirts were on display at Boston's Newbury Street store. The college made the deal to license the clothes, but some think the line is poor in taste.

"Boston College has partnered with the Collegiate Licensing Corporation to sell women's athletic apparel through an agreement with retailer Victoria's Secret. The T-shirts, sweatpants, sweatshirts and other clothing items we have authorized are tasteful and, contrary to the Herald report today, do not include undergarments or bathing suits,"

said Jack Dunn of Boston College in a statement. Since July, Victoria's Secret stores have been selling university themed clothing from 33 schools.

Link (here) to watch video on the subject

Georgetown Students, Daniel Pearl And Jihad

For more than a year, a group of Georgetown University students has been poring over documents, searching for cellphone numbers of suspected terrorists and calling Pakistani police in the middle of the night. Now their class project has come to this: They're suing the CIA and the FBI.

The students' assignment was to find out who killed Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl and why. Although the class ended last spring and many of the students graduated, they're still trying to write that last paper.

Pearl disappeared while reporting in Pakistan in 2002. A video delivered to the FBI showed him being beheaded.

Yesterday, the group, known as the Pearl Project and now attached to the nonprofit Center for Public Integrity, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court asking for the release of records by the CIA, FBI, Defense Department and five other federal agencies.

Members of the group are seeking, among other things, FBI files on convicted terrorist Richard Reid. Pearl was reporting a story about Reid and his Pakistani handler when he disappeared. They hope the lawsuit will unearth documents or new sources in time for them to finish their final paper late this spring.

"It's not only a really personal story . . . but a story really pertinent to current events and, well, to humanity," said Rebecca Tapscott, a 2008 graduate.

The idea for the class began in summer 2002, after four men were convicted in Pakistan in connection with Pearl's death. Pearl's longtime friend, Asra Nomani, with whom Pearl was staying when he disappeared, suspected that more people were involved. She knew, for example, that a man who led police to Pearl's body, which was found outside Karachi, was allegedly one of the guards who had held him. But he was never charged.

Read the rest of the article (here) by Susan Kinzie in the Washington Post

Watch the beheading of Daniel Pearl (here)

Jihad Watch blog (here)

A Jesuit And Super-Theme

The Red Pony, by John Steinbeck.

This one was assigned for English class my freshman year of high school, by

a Jesuit who made it clear that we shouldn't read it just for pleasure. Look for the super-theme, he urged

, which was no easy task because the novella's fourth and last section, The Leader of the People, has no obvious connection with the rest. (By the way, I've hung on to my 25-cent Bantam paperback edition ever since.)
Link (here)

An amazing musical video tribute to Pope John Paul II the Great (here) by Mark Mallett

Abortion Update At U.S.F.

The University of San Francisco, a Jesuit university that came under fire for including abortion coverage in its student health care plan, now says it is working to remove coverage for staff and employees, too.

The Catholic college says the initial abortion coverage for students was a mistake. After strong protests from the pro-life Catholic community led University of San Francisco (USF) officials to issue an explanation about the new student health plan it adopted.

Gary McDonald, the director of Communications and Public Affairs, released a statement to LifeNews.com saying, "It was not the University's intention to offer this coverage." McDonald also promised that, "USF supports the Catholic Church's views on the sanctity of life, at all stages, and we will remove this provision from our student health plan." Now, USF officials are going further after complaints that its health care plan for employees already covered abortions.
Link (here) to the full story.

Actress Names Son Ignatius

Cate Blanchett, who has three sons with husband Andrew Upton, says it is her “responsibility” to have lots of children because she is “halfway decent-looking” and makes “nice ones”.

Cate Blanchett says it is her “responsibility” to have lots of children because she is “halfway decent-looking”. The 39-year-old actress – who has three sons, Dashiell, seven, Roman, four and eight-month-old Ignatius, with husband Andrew Upton – thinks it is her duty to procreate more because she has such attractive kids. She said:

“The world is so massively overpopulated, but if you're halfway decent-looking and you make nice ones, then I think it's probably your responsibility to make more. That's why we just have to have more of them!”

Cate also denied she and Andrew chose the name Ignatius for their baby as a tribute to outrageous rocker Iggy Pop, insisting it is in honor of Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus. She explained to Interview magazine: “Of course one thinks of Iggy Pop. But it's Ignatius Loyola.” Cate - who can next be seen starring alongside Brad Pitt in the Golden Globe nominated ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ - added she has grown up a lot since she started acting. She said: “On the subject of change, I reckon I used to seek out dangerous experiences in certain situations. But since I've acted more, I somehow have that sense of danger and the adrenalin rush that comes with it, in my work, so I don't need to have it in my life as much.”

Link (here)

An Anteneo Jesuit University History Lesson

Many Ateneo alumni of the 1950s and 1960s underwent outstanding tutelage from doctrinal Jesuits of the post-war years. To cite a few: John P. Delaney, S.J., who championed the sanctity of marriage and devotion to the Holy Eucharist among Ateneo and University of the Philippines students; Fr. Henry McCollough, S.J., who taught that faith and reason is the right approach in understanding and practice of the Catholic faith; Fr. Lino Banayad, S.J., a Catechism expert who clearly defined what’s wrong and what’s right in his ethics classes; Fr. Catalino Arevalo, S.J., a top-rate theologian who can explain the Catholic faith in simple human terms; Fr. Horacio de La Costa, S.J., a world-class historian who found Catholicism as the driver of time-honored Filipino values; and Fr. James B. Reuter, S.J., an inspiring retreat master and marriage counselor, a father confessor with a soothing doctrinal admonition.

Link (here)

American - Baghdad Jesuits

From the outside, Baghdad College seems an unlikely nursery for a would-be suicide bomber.

Established by American Jesuits in the 1930s, the school is in Shamasia, a suburb of Adhamiya, one of the oldest neighbourhoods of the Iraqi capital.

The former pupil contacted by the BBC Scotland News website said most of those who attend come from secular, modern and well-off families. The education provided is considered the best in the country with all classes, barring history and geography of the world, taught in English. Scientific subjects such as maths, physics, chemistry and biology are at the forefront of the teaching. According to the former pupil, about 85% of pupils go on to become doctors, dentists, or engineers - two of those three professions being dedicated to the care and well being of others.

Link (here)

Jesuit Writes On Interaction With Seperated Christian

Communicatio in Sacris

An Historical Study of the Problem of Liturgical Services in Common with Eastern Christians Separated from Rome

By Fr. Wilhelm de Vries, S.J. (German Jesuit)

An excerpt.

Propaganda clearly expressed the basic reason for the rejection of common liturgical services in a letter to Andreas Akhigan, the Syrian- Catholic Archbishop of Aleppo. The letter forbade "every positive act of participation in the rites of the heretics", because such an act would signify "the approval of their errors and of their sacrifice",

The recognition, that is, of the legitimacy of their worship. Such acts would be the burial of heretics or the blessing of incense in their churches.

Andreas was bishop of the entire "Syrian nation" in Aleppo, including the non-Catholics. He found himself in an awkward situation. He could hardly avoid participation in the liturgical ceremonies of the nonCatholic priests under him. Nonetheless, Rome insisted on the prohibition.
Link to an extremely interesting article (here) at a blog called A Roman's Archives.

The great East / West Jesuit college, Pontifical Oriental Institute
Picture is of the Hagia Sophia

A Lot Of Jesuit's Favorite Maryknoll Has Been Excommunicated

American Maryknoll priest excommunicated for involvement in women's 'ordination'

December 11, 2008

An American priest has evidently been excommunicated because of his active support for the ordination of women, and his participation in ceremonies simulating ordination. Father Roy Bourgeois received a warning from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in December, informing him that if he did not recant his position supporting women's ordination within 30 days he would face excommunication;

the Maryknoll priest replied that he would not change his stand. The Maryknoll Society has now confirmed that its leaders "did receive a confidential communiqué from the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, and forwarded the contents of that communiqué to Father Bourgeois."

Although the Society refused to discuss the contents of that message, citing confidentiality, a spokesman confirmed to the National Catholic Register that since the 30-day period had passed, it was logical to assume that the sentence of excommunication had been imposed.

Source(s): these links will take you to other sites, in a new window.

• Statement regarding Father Ray Bourgeois (Maryknoll Society)
• Maryknoll: ‘Excommunicated’ (Natyional Cahtolic Register)
• Excommunication looms for American Maryknoll active in 'Womanpriest' rites (CWN, Nov. 12)

Link and thank you to Catholic Culture (here)
Previous posts on Fr. Bourgeois (here) and (here)
Photo of Fr. Roy in the middle of Susan Sarrandon and Sister Helen Prejean

The Huron Indian Christmas Carol: Written By A Jesuit Saint

Get in Christmas spirit with free concert Sunday

Michael F. Vinning

December 13, 2008

HOUMA — You’re invited to enjoy some Christmas tunes with an unconventional twist Sunday at St. Francis de Sales Cathedral.

A free performance of the local Les Amis de la Chanson choir will include a song led by an American Indian singer in his native tongue.

The 35-member choir is scheduled to perform its 22nd annual winter concert at 7 p.m. at the cathedral, 500 Goode St.

Geoffrey Kimball, the grandson of an Ojibwe Indian, is scheduled to sing in Huron.

“The buzz is really going around about the Huron Carol,” said Leslie Van Osdale, director of music for both the cathedral and the Les Amis Concert Choir. “People were very impressed at the first performance.”

This year’s program features the Huron Carol — the first North American Christmas Carol — composed in 1643 by Saint Jean de Brebeuf, a Jesuit missionary who lived among the Huron Indians in Canada.

“He was part of the missionary team responsible for converting the Huron Indians to Christianity,” said Kimball, an anthropology and linguistics professor at Tulane University.

The concert, which normally averages an audience of 300 a year, usually performs only once during the holidays. But the group, which means “friends of the song,” scheduled two performances this month, a prospect that Van Osdale was happily awaiting.

“People have said to me on more than one occasion that this event kind of opens up the Christmas season for them, you know, the more spiritual aspect of the Christmas season,” Van Osdale said.

Kimball will sing two verses in the tribe’s language.

“The Huron Carol will be sung to the melody of two flutes and a traditional Coushatta Indian drum,” Van Osdale said.

The drum was acquired by Kimball during a stay with the Coushatta Indians of Louisiana.

“The history behind the song is quite intriguing,” Kimball said.

He said the Jesuits believed in using the native languages whenever possible in the acculturation process, so many religious documents were translated into the Huron language during the early to mid-17th century.

Link (here)

A great link (here) by "The Lion" at Le Fluer de Lys too with video of The Huron Carol

The Huron Carol ('Twas In The Moon of Winter Time)

'Twas in the moon of wintertime when all the birds had fled
That mighty Gitchi Manitou sent angel choirs instead;
Before their light the stars grew dim and wondering hunters heard the hymn,
Jesus your King is born, Jesus is born, in excelsis gloria.

Within a lodge of broken bark the tender babe was found;
A ragged robe of rabbit skin enwrapped his beauty round
But as the hunter braves drew nigh the angel song rang loud and high
Jesus your King is born, Jesus is born, in excelsis gloria.

The earliest moon of wintertime is not so round and fair
As was the ring of glory on the helpless infant there.
The chiefs from far before him knelt with gifts of fox and beaver pelt.
Jesus your King is born, Jesus is born, in excelsis gloria.

O children of the forest free, O seed of Manitou
The holy Child of earth and heaven is born today for you.
Come kneel before the radiant boy who brings you beauty peace and joy.
Jesus your King is born, Jesus is born, in excelsis gloria.

Words: Jean de Brebeuf, ca. 1643; trans by Jesse Edgar Middleton, 1926
Music: French Canadian melody (tune name: Jesous Ahatonhia)

Jesuit University Refers Its Students To Planned Parenthood

Jesuit University Yanks Abortion Insurance, but University Clinic Refers for Abortions

By Kathleen Gilbert

SAN FRANCISCO, December 12, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Catholic University of San Francisco (USF) has apologized for the abortion coverage included in a new health insurance package for USF students, and has affirmed they will strike it out of the plan. However, at the same time a contributing editor with

Our Sunday Visitor has just revealed that the University's health clinic refers students seeking abortion to Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers.

After news broke of the brochure's abortion coverage, Assistant Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs Gary MacDonald stated: "It was not the University's intention to offer this coverage. USF supports the Catholic Church's views on the sanctity of life, at all stages, and we will remove this provision from our student health plan.

"We regret this mistake, and we take full responsibility for not adequately reviewing the contract. We are grateful to those who brought this issue to our attention," said MacDonald.

Catholic Internet circles were abuzz over the news of

USF's Aetna health insurance brochure, which included abortion coverage despite purporting to be tailored to the school's needs.

The insurance plan, set to begin next fall, was to be mandatory for students who did not already have comparable health coverage. Yet another report has recalled specters of USF's poor track record in defending women and children on campus from abortion. Valerie Schmalz, a contributing editor at Our Sunday Visitor, reported that students who seek an abortion at the University's health clinic at St. Mary’s Medical Center are referred to abortion providers. (See bottom of blog post at: http://www.osvdailytake.com/2008/12/jesuit-university-health...)

An official at the hospital reportedly told Schmalz that St. Mary’s refers students who request abortion or contraception either to Planned Parenthood or to Aetna providers.

“We just provide them with resources of where they want to go,” said St. Mary's senior director Les McGee. “We’re not involved in terminating pregnancies.” McGee, who oversees the student health clinic, said the hospital did not keep records on the number of students requesting abortion.

Calls to St. Mary’s Medical Center were not returned by press time.

In 2002, USF was one of a few Catholic universities called to task by the Association of Students at Catholic Colleges for Planned Parenthood referrals.

At that time, USF came under fire for linking to Planned Parenthood and another pro-abortion center at a University website on pregnancy.

The page was later removed.

In 2007, the University hosted the Human Rights Film Festival,

which featured at least two films promoting abortion and same-sex "marriage,"

as well as a report by four USF nursing students that includes recommendations for contraceptive use.

Our Sunday Visitor update (here) a very detailed interview.

Link (here)

• Jesuit University Yanks Abortion Insurance, but University Clinic Refers for Abortions (LifeSiteNews.com)
• Jesuit university health plan covers student abortions (OSV Daily Take)
• Jesuit university requires abortion coverage (The Catholic Key Blog)

Photo is of Saint Ignatius Catholic Church on the campus of The University of San Francisco

Former Jesuit Working In New Jersey Parish

Hospital administrator Ed Dillon, 57, of Marlton, joined St. Peter Celestine after dropping by and falling in love with the liturgy four years ago. He has traveled to hurricane-ravaged New Orleans four times with the parish's Faith and Justice Committee. "I thought and prayed about what might be involved, and I thought I could bring something to this process, including a lot of concern for issues relating to social justice, youth and young adult ministries," said Dillon, a former Jesuit member.

Link (here)

Jesuit Archbishop On Science And Ethics

The document "Dignitatis Personae" warned that the practice could help perpetuate the creation of more embryos outside the human body and outside heterosexual marriage. It did not explicitly forbid the practice, but it sees the embryos as "consigned to an absurd fate with no morally acceptable solution," Richard Doerflinger said. The document was presented at a Friday press conference by Archbishop Luis Francisco Ladaria Ferrer, SJ, Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Link (here) to the full article.

The Orthodox Jesuit

Cardinal Dulles’ career in education and theology gave him the reputation as a champion of orthodox Catholic teaching in an age where reform and theological liberalism was on the rise. He was especially regarded as an expert on Vatican II, defending the work of the council with respect to reinterpretation by those who desired to loosen the theological moorings of the Church.

He consistently defended the pope and the Catholic Church against cultural demands and societal pressures regarding abortion, artificial birth control, priestly celibacy, the ordination of women and other issues.

The theologian was highly regarded, even by his most ardent adversaries. They described him as one who set a high standard for theological rigor and fairness. During his vast career, Cardinal Dulles was an advisor to the Vatican as well as the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Link (here) to the full article

St. Ignatius: Then And Now By Fr. Jett Villarin, S.J.

Based on a talk delivered at the Klima Conference Room, Manila Observatory, Ateneo de Manila University Campus, Loyola Heights, Quezon City, Philippines 28 July 2008

An excerpt from the Monk's Hobbit blog.

Before talking about St. ignatius then and now (noon at ngayon), let me start first with tomorrow (bukas) because Ignatius always begins his Spiritual Exercises with the end, the purpose of human life, as stated in his introductory section, the Principle and Foundation:

Human beings are created to praise, reverence, and serve God our Lord, and by means of doing this to save their souls.[1]

This thinking about the end helps us to test the spirits, to discern. Ignatius listed four methods for discernment. The first is the rational way: what are the pros and cons? The second is to imagine someone like you asking for advice regarding the same problem: what will you say to him? The third is to imagine you are laid in a funeral: what will other people will say about you? And the fourth is to imagine you are in front of our Lord on Judgement Day: what will He say to you?

Read the entire piece at the Monk's Hobbit blog (here)

Painting entitled St. Ignatius Exorcising by Peter Paul Rubens

Constantine Katsoris: 45 Years At Fordham Law School

I hope to do another five years, which would be 50 years, which I think is the longest of any law professor at Fordham. Then I’ll decide what I want to do with my life. I kid the owner of this Greek restaurant that I’ll buy his restaurant and take over his kitchen.

Link (here)
More on Constantine Katsoris (here) and (here)

Dulles On Freedom

Enjoying and Making Use of a Responsible Freedom

by Avery Cardinal Dulles S.J.

An excerpt.

To avoid confusion, it will be useful at the outset to note that Dignitatis Humanae recognizes two levels or aspects of freedom. On the juridical level, freedom may be defined negatively as immunity from coercion by any civil authority.

On the moral level, freedom consists positively in the power to speak and act according to one's responsible decision.

Of the two aspects, the latter is primary, for the purpose of juridical freedom is to enhance moral freedom. The Catholic understanding of moral freedom is grounded in the philosophical and theological anthropology that the church has developed through centuries of reflection on the legacy of biblical and classical wisdom.

Link (here) to Cardinal Dulles' entire article at the Acton Institute

Jesuit Cardinal Said "No" To Calvinism

There is nothing like Debrett's "Peerage" in these United States. If there were, Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J., who died on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Dec. 12, would surely have been in it.

His great-grandfather, John W. Foster, was President Benjamin Harrison's Secretary of State--a service done for President Wilson by his great-uncle, Robert Lansing, and for President Eisenhower by his father, John Foster Dulles. His uncle, Allen Dulles, was America's European spymaster during World War II, and his aunt Eleanor (whom many thought the most formidable of the clan) was largely responsible for negotiating the Austrian State Treaty and getting the Red Army out of Vienna in 1955. John Foster Dulles was also the most prominent Protestant layman of the 1940s, serving as chairman of the Federal Council of Churches's Commission to Study the Bases of a Just and Endurable Peace in the days when that predecessor to the National Council of Churches stood at the apex of the American establishment, alongside the American Medical Association and the American Bar Association.

Foster Dulles's robust Calvinism didn't take with young Avery, who would say in later years that he left Choate for Harvard a thoroughgoing skeptic and agnostic. But neither did his agnosticism last. As he recounted in his memoir, "A Testimonial to Grace," he was walking along the Charles River on a blustery, early spring day in 1938 when he noticed the veins in a leaf on a blossoming tree; such precision, beauty, and purpose could not, he thought, be an accident. The universe, he imagined, must be governed by "an all-good and omnipotent God." "That night," he wrote, "I prayed for the first time in years."

Link (here) to George Weigel's full article.

Cardinal Deacon of Santissimi Nomi di Gesù e Maria in Via Lata

Avery Robert Cardinal Dulles, S.J. †
Function: Priest of the Society of Jesus
Title: Cardinal Deacon of Santissimi Nomi di Gesù e Maria in Via Lata
Birthdate: Aug 24, 1918	Country: USA
Elevated: Feb 21, 2001	More information: www.catholic-hierarchy.org

Lack Of Vocations Means Limerick Ireland Without Jesuit Church

In the last year we have seen how the Jesuits and Franciscans have left their churches, which is a tremendous loss to the city.  We need the presence of religious communities and we are committed to staying in Limerick.

Link (here)

Photo is of the Jesuit church in Limerick.

Jesuit Educated Prosecutor Investigating Democrat Party Political Corruption

Patrick Fitzgerald is a formidable workaholic. As a young prosecutor in New York, he didn't connect the heating in his flat for several years because he was there so seldom. He often ate his evening meal alone when all else had departed and during long trials would sleep and shower in the office.

Colleagues say Fitzgerald – 'Fitzy' to his friends – has little room for a social life and indeed he married only this year at the age of 47, to a teacher Jennifer Letzkus.

His internet blog, which is subtitled 'Fighting for Truth, Justice and the American Way', reveals there was no time for a honeymoon.

Fitzgerald's work ethic was inherited from his father, an Irish immigrant who worked as a doorman in Manhattan and never took a holiday as he raised a family of four in Brooklyn, New York.

Attending the Jesuit, Regis High School and growing up in a strict but loving working class household also gave him a strong sense of right and wrong, friends say, that he has carried into his professional life and has made him genuinely indignant at wrongdoing.

There was an element of the crusader at his press conference, when he spoke about how the culture of corruption in Illinois could be beaten.

Cardinal Avery Dulles, S.J. "Rest In Peace"

Dulles, prominent Catholic cardinal, dead at 90

By RACHEL ZOLL

NEW YORK (AP) — Cardinal Avery Robert Dulles, S.J. a convert to Roman Catholicism from a prominent American family who was the only U.S. theologian named a cardinal without first becoming a bishop, died Friday. He was 90.

Dulles, a Jesuit, died in an infirmary at Fordham University, where he was a professor for two decades, according to America , a Jesuit magazine that regularly published Dulles' articles.

Pope John Paul II appointed Dulles in 2001 to the College of Cardinals, making him the first American Jesuit and the first U.S. theologian outside of a diocese to be named a cardinal. He was considered the dean of American Catholic theologians.

When Pope Benedict XVI visited the U.S. in April, he made time for a private meeting with the cardinal in New York, underscoring Dulles' importance to the church.

Dulles came from a family of statesmen.

The grandson of Reverend Allen Macy Dulles a Presbyterian minister, he was the son of Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, who served under President Dwight Eisenhower. The cardinal's uncle was Allen Dulles, who led the Central Intelligence Agency, also in the Eisenhower administration.

A native of Auburn, N.Y., Avery Robert Dulles was a graduate of Harvard College and joined the Jesuits after he was discharged from the Navy in 1946. He was ordained to the priesthood on June 18th, 1956, later earning a doctorate in sacred theology from Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.

He served for 14 years as a professor at The Catholic University in America, becoming an internationally known lecturer, then joined the Fordham faculty in 1988 in New York.

The author of more than 20 books, Dulles specialized in ecclesiology, studying the nature and mission of the church in the world. One of his best known works was "Models of the Church."

Still, he wrote widely on many topics, from Jesus to sacraments to Scripture, said Thomas Groome, a Boston College professor of theology and a former student of Dulles.

"He was the total Catholic theologian," Groome said.

Dulles was considered a progressive thinker around the time of the Second Vatican Council, the 1960s-era meetings that enacted modernizing reforms in the church. In his later years, he was viewed by many as becoming a defender of Catholic orthodoxy.

Yet, he called himself a moderate, and saw his role partly as "explaining both sides to the other," said the Rev. Joseph O'Hare, former president of Fordham.

"I think he was a great force for the center," O'Hare said. "He could sum up another person's work in a way that was generous and still accurate."

Dulles remained active until the very end of his life, attending meetings of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and rising to correct the prelates if he felt they had misspoken. After the clergy sex abuse crisis erupted in 2001, he said the church's decision to bar all guilty priests from public church work went too far.

Among Dulles' books is "A Testimonial to Grace," the story of his conversion. An agnostic when he arrived at Harvard, he said he was drawn to Catholicism through his studies of philosophy, the medieval church and the Protestant Reformation.

"I found my sympathies were always on the Catholic side and felt that was where I belonged," Dulles told America in a 2001 interview.

He said "it came as something of a shock" to his family when he wrote them to say he planned to convert. His father said he didn't believe it was the right decision, but that he was an adult and could make his own choices.

Dulles had contracted polio as a young man and suffered from post-polio syndrome, which can cause muscle weakness and difficulty breathing. He eventually had to use a wheelchair and couldn't speak for long periods. Yet, he continued writing.

In April, O'Hare delivered the last lecture that Dulles wrote as the cardinal looked on.

"The most important thing about my career, and many of yours," he told the students, "is the discovery of the pearl of great price, the treasure hidden in the field — the Lord Jesus himself."

Link (here)

More

Cardinal Dulles' sister Lillias Dulles Hinshaw

Passionate Uncertainty "Whats Wrong With The Jesuits" by Avery Cardinal Dulles

Cardinal Dulles' many articles in the Catholic magazine, First Things (here)

Video of the Cardinal Dulles ordination (here)

Video of Monsignor Eugene M. Yennock on Cardinal Avery Dulles (here)