Supports And Trusts

There is a pervasive suspicion of Jesuits in many corners of the Church.  Sometimes I and my brothers (ones who FULLY support Church teaching) have been prematurely judged and treated coldly as if we may not.  This is sad, and points to the scandal of division in the Body of Christ.  Are we a perfect religious order?  No.  Is there such a thing as a perfect religious order?  Absolutely not.  From the beginning, God has chosen fallible people to do His work, and that hasn't changed. 

Have some Jesuits made mistakes and errors?  Yes, and that is unfortunate.  We have also apologized to the Holy Father in our general congregations, and Pope Benedict XVI has recently made it clear how much he supports and trusts us to continue to do what we can to help bring people to God.  If you would like to read this AWESOME address by our Holy Father, here is a link in its entirety:
http://www.zenit.org/article-21968?l=english

 

Link (here) to read the full post by second year Jesuit, John Roselle, n.S.J. his blog is entitled, Going Forth.

Top Catholic Blogs 118 Through 140: This Blog Is Rated 126 Out Of 200

This list is based on Google Reader subscribers only. I imagine that this is a good indicator of a blog’s popularity compared to other blogs, but it does not measure actual traffic to the site or the total number of subscribers across different feed readers. Furthermore, it doesn’t gauge a blog’s current popularity as much as its popularity over the full history of the blog.

Link (here) to Eric Sammons full explination of how he put the list together.

(118) Sub Tuum: 209
(119) Saint Louis Catholic: 203
(119) USCCB Media Blog: 203
(121) A Catholic Mom in Hawaii: 202
(122) The Western Confucian: 196
(123) Tales from the Bonny Blue House: 195
(124) Abbey Roads: 193
(125) House Art Journal: 192
(126) Building Cathedrals: 191
(126) Good Jesuit, Bad Jesuit: 191
(126) The Philosopher Mom: 191
(129) Nunblog: 187
(130) A Catholic Life: 186
(131) Da Mihi Animas: 185
(132) Bonfire of the Vanities: 184
(132) The Deacon's Bench: 184
(132) A Concord Pastor Comments: 184
(132) Totus Tuus Family & Catholic Homeschool: 184
(136) Auntie Joanna Writes: 183
(136) Just Thomism: 183
(138) Vivificat: 182
(139) Secretum Meum Mihi: 179
(140) The Anchoress: 178

Link (here) to the full list at Eric Sammons website

A Little Bit Of Social Courage

Now being Pro-Life here in the US rarely requires us to endure mob violence or imprisonment.  But it does require a little bit of social courage—a willingness to looked down on, to be excluded from certain circles.  But isn’t it worth it?  

To suffer a snub for the sake of justice, for the sake of witnessing to that inconvenient truth: that last year, in the US alone, there were 1.25 million violent—and legally-sanctioned—attacks on human life in the form of abortion?  

This does number does not even take into account the tremendous emotional and spiritual injury done to the mothers and fathers of these children, many of whom were deceived into thinking they had no other choice.  Few are sufficiently awake to this fact.  For that reason, awakening others will require courage: people tend to be grumpy when they’re first woken from sleep.

Link (here) to the full post of Deacon Arron Pidel, S.J. at the blog by Jesuits at Whomsoever Desires

The Memory Palace

Mira Bartok's disturbing, beautiful book about her mother's schizophrenia takes its title from the teachings of a 16th-century Jesuit priest, Matteo Ricci, 

who helped Chinese scholars safeguard their memories by associating a specific image with each memory, then assigning each image a place in a room in the mind. In this way one could build, room by room, an imaginary palace filled with real memories.

"The Memory Palace" is not so much a palace of memories as a complex web of bewitching verbal and visual images, memories, dreams, true stories and rambling excerpts from the author's mentally ill mother's notebooks. It is an extraordinary mix.

Link (here) to the full book review at the The Washington Post

God Proposes, Man Disposes

The work of the council of Trent consisted in maintaining with the same force two principles, believed to be equally necessary and equally true. 

On the one hand, grace is omnipotent, and its spontaneous call is needed to enable man to enter on the way of salvation. On the other hand, man is free and his free consent is needed to enable grace to accomplish its work within him.

What would logic have to say to such a doctrine as this, which apparently combined contradictory elements? Many accounted that logic, in spite of its resistance, was bound to give way, on the ground that two truths of equal certainty could not really be incompatible. Others sought to do away with one or other of the two terms.

Thus it was that Balus, reverting to the strictest doctrines of Saint Augustineof Hippo, asserted the radical impotence of fallen humanity. 

Original sin consists in concupiscence, of which baptism takes away the guilt, but not the malignity. The impulses of this concupiscence, even though involuntary, are sins.

The Jesuit Luis de Molina, on the contrary, following the lead of Blessed John Duns Scotus, endeavoured to screen free will from the tyranny of grace. According to him, effectual grace does not differ essentially from prevenient or sufficient grace, being effectual not of and by itself, but only by the adding there to of the free consent of the human will. 

It lies with ourselves whether grace shall become effectual or remain simply sufficient. Thus does free will co-operate expressly with grace. God proposes, man disposes, as taught the stoics of old.

 In this doctrine, which spread very quickly, Jansenius saw a deadly blow to Catholicism. It was in his view a covert revival of the early Pelagianism; and Pelagianism, through the medium of Origen, had come down in a direct line from pagan philosophy. Seneca had said: "We owe it to the immortal gods to live; to philosophy to live rightly." 

This same pride of man, uplifting himself against God, yea, evem above him, was in the eyes of Jansenius the very kernel of the Molinist theology. 

On the other hand, Jansenius could neither concede to the protestants that God himself makes man to sin, nor to Balus that he can be said to have sinned when the will to do so was not present. He resolved then to avoid both pitfalls by a strict following of Saint Augustine.

Link (here) to the book entitled, Pascal

Anthony Hopkin Plays A Jesuit In New Movie About War With The Devil

In "The Rite," Anthony Hopkins portrays an exorcist - an unorthodox Jesuit named Father Lucas stationed in Rome. The priesthood is a long way from the 73-year-old Oscar-winning actor's own beginnings. 

Born in a small working-class town in Wales, his father, a baker, was a confirmed atheist. "He was a disciple of Bernard Shaw, the Fabian Society, Marxism and all the rest of it," says Hopkins. "So I was told by my father when I was a little boy that religion is a load of rubbish. He didn't mean any harm by it, but that's what he believed. His philosophy was it's a dog-eat-dog world, and he's probably right." But Hopkins himself isn't so sure. 

He finds God and the nature of evil fascinating questions, and talking with the actor requires you to be on your game. A self-described "dummy" as a child and failure at school, today he is obviously well-read, a musician, composer and painter. To prepare for the role of Father Lucas, based on a real-life exorcist still practicing, Hopkins consulted with a priest, the Rev. Gary Thomas, who is a trained exorcist. "He believes the devil is incarnate, is in an anthropomorphic form," explains Hopkins, whose character at one point becomes possessed, allowing him a chance to give us one of those chilling screen moments for which he is so well known. 

Link (here) to the full story at LA.com

Historical Commission For The Cause Of The Servant Of God, Father Walter Ciszek, S.J.

"When Bishop John O. Barres went to Rome for one of his early visits, he had met with several people at the Jesuit Generalate and they were saying that the cause had met with a bit of a snag," Fr. J. Michael Beers, S.S.L. said. 

"Most of the materials that we had put together on Father Ciszek came from Father Ciszek, from his books and writings. They really felt that they needed something more in the way of getting more testimony from outsiders who knew him." 

The search for people who knew Ciszek can range from locally to around the world. "In the area, we have people like Wally Baran, who had known Father and who has helped gather the material from those who had known Father as a boy through adulthood," Beers said. 

"That's where we are right now." In order to get the work done, Barres formed the Historical Commission for the Cause of the Servant of God, Father Walter Ciszek, S.J., in November 2010. 

"There are three of us on the commission," Beers said. "One of the other two members of the commission is a Dutch Jesuit, the Rev. Marc Lindeijer, S.J., who is at the Jesuit Generalate in Rome. He'll be representing a lot of our efforts with Rome. The third member of the commission is a Russian priest whose father was in one of the camps with Father Ciszek. It's fascinating. His name is Father Victor Bilotas. (Bottom of Page 2)"

Link (here) to the full story at Republican Herald

Police Search For Missing Jesuit In Chennai

Police in Chennai are searching for an elderly Jesuit Brother who has not been seen since Jan. 17. Brother Mariadoss Antonimuthu, 65, was working with Pathai Illam, a Jesuit-run organization helping the rural poor. “Brother Antonimuthu was supposed to arrive at the office on January 17. He is still missing,” Jesuit Father Joe Arun, secretary of Jesuit-managed Loyola College in Chennai, told ucanews.com Jan. 26. “We are still searching for him,” he said. Meanwhile, police have launched a statewide search for the Jesuit.

Link (here)

Fr. Jojo, S.J.

Fr. Joseph "JoJo" Fung, S.J.

He saw a Malay Muslim family in the car and asked: “Boleh saya tolong?” (Can I help?) 

When the driver alighted, Father Joseph Fung, S J. saw that, he was dressed in a robe and turban and looked like an Arab mullah. As they were trying to push-start the car, 

Father Jojo thought with amusement that it would look very interesting if he was dressed in his Jesuit cassock.

Link (here) to the article entitled, Fr. Jojo, the super cool Jesuit

Kibeho

Our Lady of Kibeho

Soon after I asked the Virgin Mary to help me find a place to spend quite time with God, Sarah's mom invited me to Mass at a chapel I had never been before.  When we got there I knew God had answered my prayers.

The chapel was a part of the Christus Center a beautiful Jesuit retreat on the edge of Kilgali, nestled in a narrow valley between two hills with a beautiful vista of farms and fallow fields. 

The grounds of the Christus Center overflowed with life: monkeys chattered in nearby banana groves, cows grazed in the distant fields and flowers bloomed everywhere.  I could taste the air on my tongue, sweet with the aroma of blossoming chrysanthemums.

Link (here) to the portion of the book entitled, Led by faith by Immaculée Ilibagiza

Blessed Mother of Kibeho (here) 

Heaven's perfect existence -- a place where colors "sounded" like music and music seemed like colors -- where one can breathe "water" and drink light? (here)

 

Free Food

Wolfington Hall

Another yearly event that brings with it free food is Georgetown's Jesuit Heritage Week, designed to make the University’s Jesuit tradition more tangible for the community. Although next week is the official JHW 2011, this Sunday’s Opening Reception marks the kickoff of the celebrations. Head over to the Jesuit Residence (Wolfington Hall) from 8:30 to 9:30 for the chance to hang out with the Jesuits and, of course, to snag some free treats.

Link (here) to Vox Populi

Jesuit Mass And The Radical Pro-Abortion Supporter Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren

California Rep. Zoe Lofgren D-16

Bay Area Jesuit Groups to Hold Mass and Reception in Support of Immigration Reform, Feb. 5 in San Jose part of a nationwide effort to advocate for civil discourse and movement on immigration law reform,

five Bay Area Jesuit institutions will hold a Catholic Mass and reception February 5 at Most Holy Trinity Church in San Jose. The theme of the 2 p.m. gathering will be "The Jesuit Family Welcomes the Stranger," and will feature testimonials by immigrants from several continents discussing their experiences and challenges in America. 

Students, friends, and immigration-law reform advocates from Santa Clara University, Bellarmine College Preparatory high school, Sacred Heart Nativity School, Most Holy Trinity Parish, and the California Province of Jesuits will be in attendance. At the end of the Mass at Most Holy Trinity Church, 2040 Nassau Drive, San Jose, CA 95122, 

participants will present Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (Graduated from Santa Clara University) with letters to support humane immigration law reform. 

Jesuits and other Catholics believe the current patchwork of state laws too often casually destroys lives while offering no path to legal residency for otherwise law-abiding immigrants or relief for adults who were brought to the U.S. as small children. 

Link (here) to the full post at finanznachrichten.de.
Go (here) to read many comments on the subject at California Catholic Daily.

Jesuits Square Off On Television

Two Jesuits have appeared on a prime-time news CNN program to debate the appropriateness of the reception of Holy Communion by pro-abortion politicians. Commenting on the recent controversy between Bishop Thomas Tobin and Rep. Patrick Kennedy, Father Thomas Reese, supported the reception of Holy Communion by pro-abortion politicians, citing the example of “most of the bishops in the United States” and the fact that “Pope John Paul II gave Communion to pro-choice politicians in Italy.”

Father Mitch Pacwa responded, “During his reign he had legislation that was put out by the office for the defense of the faith [the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith] that said politicians who are pro-abortion may not receive Holy Communion. That is Church policy … In terms of what the pope knew about this person coming to Communion and so on, I don't know.”

“It's important to make a distinction between people who are pro abortion and people who are pro choice,” Father Reese countered. “Within the last couple of months, the editor of L’Osservatore Romano, the Pope's newspaper, made the statement that he did not think that President Obama was pro-abortion. And this upset people in the United States. They wanted him fired. Well, he's still in his job.”

Link (here) to the Catholic Culture piece.

Delayed Hominization: Fr. Joseph F. Donceel, S.J.

This theory of "delayed hominization," as the psychology and theology scholar Joseph F. Donceel, Society of Jesus, once noted, is the most consistent thread throughout church history.

So Pelosi was not off the mark when she noted publicly that the church had held varied positions on abortion and that her role as a legislator did not require her to put church doctrine into law. My reason for speaking at that Sunday mass was partly to defend the speaker since Father Ralph was using the "bully pulpit" to espouse his view without Pelosi being there to defend her position.

Link (here) to the full pro-abortion op/ed piece by Ray Gonzales, he is retired from the CSU system. He was elected to the Assembly from Kern County in 1972, served in the (former Jesuit) Jerry Brown administration, and was a diplomat in the U.S. Foreign Service..

Fr. Mitch Pacwa, S.J. On Children In The Womb And President Obama's Peace Prize

In a normal world, the womb is one of the most peaceful places on earth. The child within the womb is not hungry, thirsty, or in need of any other shelter. Life exists without conflicts and an amazing unfolding of incredibly complex growth and development takes place. The only conflict comes from outside that safe haven, as when an abortionist wields a knife to dismember the otherwise peaceful and defenseless child.

As far as I am concerned, the last award I would bestow on someone who signs orders to spread an inevitable deadly violence against content, safe, and defenseless children in wombs throughout the world is a peace award. I cannot help but take to heart the words of Jeremiah the Prophet: "For from the least to the greatest of them, every one is greedy for unjust gain; and from prophet to priest, every one deals falsely. They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, `Peace, peace,' when there is no peace. Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed; they did not know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown," says the Lord. (Jer. 6:13-15)

Link (here) to the letter by Fr. Mitch Pacwa, S.J. at the Insight Scoop blog.

Pro Life Jesuit Cracks Open The Kennedy, Jesuit and Abortion Links

In what can only be described as a brave and bold action, Jesuit Priest Robert John Araujo, SJ delves into waters.

Here is the introduction and excerpt of Fathers article.

Catholic Teaching, Senator Kennedy, and Abortion

This posting is not intended to delve into the subject of Senator Kennedy’s views on a variety of issues. Rather, it is an opportunity to bring to the attention of those who visit this site some relevant information about what may have contributed to Senator Kennedy’s change of position regarding the matter of abortion.

I have been reading Albert Jonsen’s 1998 book The Birth of Bioethics. For those unfamiliar with Dr. Jonsen, he most recently taught at the University of Washington’s School of Medicine. He is a Ph.D. holder who studied religious ethics at Yale University in the mid-1960s. At that time, he was a young Jesuit priest. In 1975 he left both the order and the priesthood and married.

He has one of the most interesting and credible accounts of how Senator Edward Kennedy and his brother, Robert, had the occasion to encounter a group of priests who provided information to the Kennedy brothers about ethical views on issues such as abortion. I will state at the outset that I find many of Dr. Jonsen’s conclusions in his book that I have cited regrettable and inconsistent with Catholic teachings on a number of pressing issues. But these disagreements are not the motivation for writing today.

It is his account of a meeting he attended in the summer of 1964 at the famous “Kennedy Compound” in Hyannisport, Massachusetts that I discuss. Jonsen’s invitation to attend the meeting according to his account came by way of Fr. Joseph Fuchs, another Jesuit priest, who had taught moral theology for many years at the Pontifical Gregorian University. Then Fr. Jonsen had met Fr. Fuchs on the campus of the University of San Francisco one summer afternoon. According to Jonsen, Fuchs asked him if he would like to attend a meeting that was to take place on Cape Cod to assist Senator Kennedy who was standing for reelection to hear the views of several Catholic theologians so that he, the Senator, could formulate his political stance on the abortion issue.

According to his account, Jonsen accepted the invitation and attended the meeting. Once they arrived in Boston, Dr. Jonsen states that he and Fr. Fuchs were driven “at breakneck speed” to Hyannisport by Fr. Robert Drinan, another Jesuit who was then the Dean of Boston College Law School. In addition to these three priests, all Jesuits, they were joined by two other priests, Fr. Richard McCormick, a fourth Jesuit, and Fr. Charles Curran, a diocesan priest then teaching moral theology at the Catholic University of America. In attendance at the meeting were Senator Edward Kennedy and Attorney General Robert Kennedy. Dr. Jonsen says that he and Fathers Drinan and Fuchs “struggled with the problem posed to us.” However, in Jonsen’s estimation, Fr. McCormick was “particularly articulate.”

Jonsen states that to the best of his recollection the theologians agreed with the Church’s teaching that abortion was immoral but were in further agreement that “a rigorously restrictive ethics of abortion into law was unlikely to be enforceable or to achieve its positive goals without significant attendant social evils.” He does not specify in his book what these “significant attendant social evils” were.

Jonsen further contends that the theologians present at the Kennedy Compound on that day favored the American Law Institute’s 1962 draft which would withdraw protection from the fetus (during the first twenty-six weeks of its life) and thus allow abortion when a woman’s health was at risk, the fetus had a severe defect, or the pregnancy was the result of rape or incest. This position they advanced did not then nor does it now coincide with the Church’s teaching.

Link (here) to the full post by Fr. Robert John Araujo, S.J. , his post is at the Mirror of Justice blog.

Fr. Robert John Araujo, S.J. is a professor at St. John's University, he was an associate and then professor of law at Gonzaga University from 1994 to 2005. He has served for the past ten years as an advisor to the Holy See. He is presently Professor of Ethics and International Relations at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He is also the Robert Bellarmine University Professor of Public and International Law at Gonzaga University. Link (here)

The Communist Mob Amused Itself By Throwing Stones At The Big Stone Crucifix

Colegio Nuestra Señora del Recuerdo in Charmartin

From the Milwaukee Journal dated March, 1931

The Jesuit headquarters was first attacked and burned, then the mob turned its attention to the church adjoining the headquarters and this was burned after it was sacked.  While the church was burning, members of the mob amused itself by throwing stones at the big stone cross. Every time a stone struck the cross the crowd cheered wildly. Many valuable historic documents were destroyed with Jesuit building.
         From there the mob surged to the new Carmelite monastery of St. Teresa in the Plaza Espana, near the former Royal Palace which was also burned, all of the monks escaped. Firemen only made feeble attempts to save the buildings and then were blocked by rioters. After the monastery was destroyed the rioters moved on the Jesuit seminary (Collegiate Church of San Isidro)  in the center of Madrid.  Gasoline was again poured on the woodwork, torches were put to the structure and the seminary and soon the college for priests, soon was a mass of flames.
        While the Jesuit seminary was still blazing the mob went onto the Franciscan school in the Cuatro Caminos and set that afire. Most of the monks were led out by the police.  The mob set on four who fled by a rear door, but they took to their heels and gained shelter in a nearby building.
           By this time other mobs were attacking numerous Catholic institutions, hurling stones and using brickbats and wielding iron bars to break doors and windows.  Other places set on fire were the Marist College in Bravo Murillo st... the Jesuit school (Colegio Nuestra Señora del Recuerdo) at Charmartin de la Rosa and the Salesianos church.
Link (here) to read the much longer account.

"Execution" of the Sacred Heart of Jesus by Communist militiamen at Cerro de los Ángeles near Madrid, on 7 August 1936, was the most infamous of the widespread desecration of religious property. The photograph in the London Daily Mail had the caption the "Spanish Reds' war on religion." Link (here)

"Letras Y Doctrina Cristiana."

The human spirit is never satisfied with things as they are and seeks the better life. It always plans something better than what it now has. Not the birds or the animals. For centuries, they have lived in the same kind of nests or lairs, and have not looked around for a blanket or a roof to shelter them at night or in inclement weather. This is why we have schools. We formalize our efforts to form the young into an ideal person. We choose people we consider the best guides for them. 

Asked what to teach in the first Jesuit school for externs in Messina, Italy, St. Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit Order, answered, "letras y doctrina cristiana." ("Lyrics and Christian doctrine.")

To him and to the early Jesuits with him, schools should develop people who think rightly and accordingly. A special institution, besides the church, was needed to teach them that.

Link (here) to Business World Online by Fr. José S. Arcilla, S.J.

The controversial  “Our job as educators and as priests is not to bring God to people, or even to bring people to God." Georgetown video (here) , (here) , (here) and (here)

Sarcotis

A German Jesuit, named Jacob Masen or Masenius, who was a professor of rhetoric in Cologne, and died in 1681. Among his manuscripts found after his death were three volumes, the first of which was a treatise on general literature, the second a collection of lyrics, epics, elegies etc., and the third a number of dramas. In the second manuscript was an epic entitled "Sarcotis" The world would never have known anything about "Sarcotis" had not a Scotchman, named William Lauder, succeeded in finding it, somewhere, about 1753, i. e. seventy-two years after Masen's death. He ran it through the press immediately, to prove that John Milton had copied it in his "Paradise Lost." Whereupon all England rose in its wrath to defend its idol. Lauder was convicted of having intercalated in the "Sarcotis," a Latin translation of some of the lines of "Paradise Lost," and had to hide himself in some foreign land to expiate his crime against the national infatuation. Four years later (1757), Abbe Denouart published a translation of the genuine text of "Sarcotis." The poem was found to be an excellent piece of work, and like "Paradise Lost," its theme was the disobedience of Adam and Eve, their expulsion from Paradise, the disasters consequent upon this sin of pride. Whether Milton ever read "Sarcotis" is not stated.

Link (here) to the mentioned portion of the book entitled The Jesuits, 1534-1921

The Haitian Mess

Paul Kendrick

Paul Kendrick, a 1972 graduate and advocate for victims of clergy sexual abuse, criticizes the school for preaching a Jesuit education yet doing little to help the Haitian victims who were thrown back onto the street when a lack of funding closed Perlitz's project during the summer of 2009.   

"When the first whiff of scandal raised its ugly head, Fairfield University, the Jesuits of New England and the Order of Malta quickly scrambled to create as much distance as possible between them and the school in Haiti, when they could have used their bully pulpits to keep the school open and the boys cared for," he said.  

"I can't tell you how many e-mails I sent to Fairfield President Jeffrey von Arx advising him that the victims need help, they need counseling, they need food." What they did, Kendrick said, is the same thing Perlitz had threatened to do to the victims if they went public -- "toss them back onto the streets."  Following an Oct. 23, 2010 homecoming week demonstration at the University entrance, Kendrick got a brief audience with von Arx.  

"There I was begging and pleading with the Jesuit Catholic priest for assistance in providing food, shelter, clothing and school payments for just 20 boys 

who were r#ped and s@domized by Perlitz...But not once during the meeting did von Arx lean over and ask me how the boys were doing," Kendrick said.

Link (here) to a lengthy article on the subject at The Stamford Advocate

Prominent Americian Jesuit Calls God The Father, God The Son And The Holy Spirit.......She

Fr. Thomas J. Reese, S.J.

Fr. Thomas J. Reese, S.J. one of three senior fellows of the Woodstock Theological Center in Washington who spoke at “The Future of the Church: A Woodstock Forum on Sources of Hope,” held at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia on Dec. 5

 

Here are some excerpt from Fr. Reese's comments at the St. Joseph's forum.

“We are becoming a do-it-yourself church”

“Personally, as a social scientist, I tend to be a pessimist when looking at the church. But as a Christian, I think I have to be an optimist. That’s part of our DNA as Christians. After all, our religion is based on someone who died and rose from the dead.”

“At 65, I’m considered a young priest,”

“In the 19th century we lost men in Europe. We didn’t lose the women,” he said. “Today we’re losing women too. ... Mothers are more important to the Catholic church than priests, because they are the ones that pass the faith on to the next generation. They are the ones who teach the kids how to pray, answer their questions about God, etc. Women are absolutely essential. If we lose women, we might as well close shop. And then the worst thing about this is that the more educated a woman becomes, the more alienated she tends to become from the Catholic church.”

 

“If this was a retail outlet, we’d say we’re blaming the customers -- and that’s not a way to make your bottom line,”

 

“When was the last time you entered a Catholic church and actually were welcomed?” he asked. “Our churches and our liturgies are boring. That, I think, more than theology, is what is driving our people away from our church. What you need is good music, good preaching, programs for kids and a welcoming community,” he said. “If you have that, you will have a full church"

“especially when this work is seen not just as kind of an appendix to Christianity, as being a Catholic, but is integrated into our spirituality, as part of who we are, so it becomes part of who we are as Christians -- for many young Catholics this becomes attractive,”

 

On the church’s immediate prospects for the future, “maybe God knows what she’s doing,” he said. “If you don’t have clergy, maybe the job’s yours.”

 

Link (here) to the full article at the extreme left lay published Catholic newspaper National Catholic Reporter

Clovis, Charlemagne and St. Louis

The Baptism of Clovis I, King of the Franks by St. Remigius

Bad books are the most dangerous scourges to religion. Oh ! holy and divine religion, who art the foundation of all morality, as morality is the support of social order and governments, hast thou received greater respect from those bold corrupters of nations who, to use the words of St. John, have made all the earth to drink of the wine of their fornication. A vino ira fornicationis suo potavit omnes gentes.f Alas! my brethren, what a fresh source of affliction do we not open here !

How has the religion of Clovis and Charlemagne and St. Louis been extinguished amongst us ? What has befallen this sacred and most precious portion of the inheritance of our fathers ?        O France!

—thou who hast been so long faithful to thy God—thou who hast gloried for more than fourteen hundred years in the name of Catholic France

Link (here) to the portion of French Jesuit Abbe Mac Carthy, his homily is entitled, The Pernicious Effects of Bad Books contained in the book, Sermons of Abbe Mac Carthy, S.J.

8 Jesuits Make The Boston List Of 117

Father Roy Drake, S.J. 
Father William J. Duffy, S.J.
Father Charles M. Loeffler, S.J. 
Father George V. McCabe, S.J.
Father Joseph McInnis, S.J.
Father Francis J. McManus, S.J.
Father Leo E. Pollard, S.J.
Father James F. Talbot, S.J.
Link (here) to read the entire list.

American Jesuit Died While On His Annual Retreat

The n@ked body of 72-year-old Fr. Ferdinand Azevedo, S.J. was found by members of his congregation in the northeastern city of Paulista. The body was in a kneeling position and in an advanced state of decomposition. 

The apartment in Janga, a seaside suburb of Paulista, was maintained by the Jesuit order to accommodate priests on individual retreats. However, despite the circumstances in which it was found, the body did not show any signs of violence or visible wounds, police said. 

The priest, who had lived in Brazil since 1975 and came to be the regional head of the Jesuits in Pernambuco, each year took a 10-day retreat in Janga.

Link (here) to read the full story at Hindustan Times

Jesuits Sell Radio Station For $3,750,000.00

More than 400 people filled Presentation Theater to hear an explanation from USF President Father Stephen Privett about why the station was suddenly shut down.USF's president said he couldn't talk about the impending sale because the negotiations included non-disclosure terms. 

Privett added the radio station wasn't fulfilling the school's primary mission of educating students."We run a nursing school, we don't staff a hospital. We run a law school, we are not a law firm. We teach broadcasting, we are not fundamentally a radio station," explained Privett.

The station will continue online with its format of indie rock, foreign language and arts programming. But critics said that will not help listeners who don't have internet access. On Wednesday, the University of Southern California issued a statement saying it had purchased the rights to KUSF to air classical music. The selling price was $3.75 million.

Link (here) to the full article and watch the video of Fr. Privett, S.J. at KTVU

Farewell Paradise

Farewell, paradise of delights, admirable city of the living God, 

abode of peace, of glory, and happiness, for which we had been created, 

and from which our crimes irretrievably banish us! 

Farewell, Father of Mercies, whose children we no longer are; 

divine Saviour, who recognizest us no more as thy brethren; 

Spirit of love, whom we have compelled to hate us! 

Farewell, adorable Redeemer, 

who hast shed all thy blood in vain to preserve us from these miseries

to which our own madness has consigned us! 

Farewell, incomparable Virgin, mother of all the living, 

whom we choose to have as an enemy rather than as a mother; 

holy patrons, who once obtained for us so many graces 

which our own obduracy has rendered unavailing; 

angel-guardians and protectors whom we have abandoned, 

to unite ourselves with those monsters to whom we have now fallen a prey ! 

Farewell, you all whose memory is most tender and torments us most—

virtuous friends, whose advice and example we have despised—

Christian parents, who so often entreated us, with tears, 

to have mercy upon ourselves, and we would not hear you— 

beloved spouses, to whom we were united by such endearing ties, 

from whom our infidelity has separated us for ever ! 

Farewell, all You happy inhabitants of heaven ! 

Hell claims us as its portion ! 

Farewell, bright day of eternity ! 

we descend into a night that shall never end.

Farewell, .joy, peace, consolation, hope—

farewell for ever ! 

Torments, desolation, and despair, must be our inheritance for ever more!" 

At these words they sink into the burning prison-house, 

which groans as it swallows up its prey. 

The gates of the abyss are closed upon them, 

never more to open. 

All is consummated. 

There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth

Link (here) to the portion of the homily entitled, 

Sermon on the Last Judgment by Abbe Mac Carthy, S.J.   

book is, Sermons of the Abbe Mac Carthy, S.J.

Link (here) to St. Ignatius of Loyola's Meditation on Hell 
contained in his Spiritual Exercises

Mental Evaluations

Fr. Anthony de Mello, S.J.

Father Anthony de Mello, S.J. demonstrates an appreciation for Jesus, of whom he declares himself to be a “disciple.” But he considers Jesus as a master alongside others. The only difference from other men is that Jesus is “awake” and fully free, while others are not. Jesus is not recognized as the Son of God, but simply as the one who teaches us that all people are children of God. In addition, the author’s statements on the final destiny of man give rise to perplexity. At one point, he speaks of a “dissolving” into the impersonal God, as salt dissolves in water. On various occasions, the question of destiny after death is declared to be irrelevant; only the present life should be of interest. With respect to this life, since evil is simply ignorance, there are no objective rules of morality. Good and evil are simply mental evaluations imposed upon reality.

Link (here) to  read the full post at Catholic Spiritual Direction

Just Across The Road

Fr. Peter Balleis, S.J.

Just across the road from Vatican Radio, very close to St. Peter’s Square, is the Rome headquarters of Jesuit Refugee Service, that has just marked 30 years of accompaniment, service and advocacy with and for refugees across the globe. I asked JRS international director, Jesuit father Peter Balleis to find some time to talk to me about his work, his mission, about the way the world is going, and of course, about the Pope’s message for this World Day for Migrants and Refugees…
listen...  

Link (here) to Vatican Radio

American Jesuit Fr. Ferdinand Azevedo, S.J. Found Dead Under Suspicious Circumstances In Brazil

An American Jesuit priest teaching at a Catholic university in northeastern Brazil since 1975 has been found dead. Tuesday's statement from the Catholic University of Pernambuco state says that 72-year-old  Fr. Ferdinand Azevedo, S.J. was found dead in his room at a spiritual retreat.

Link (here)

The American priest, Ferdinand Azevedo, 72, was found dead in the early evening of Monday.

According to unofficial information, the priest was found n@ked and kneeling with his hands tied to his waist.  He was also with a chain used in networks around the neck. 

The body had no signs of injury and was already in an advanced state of decomposition, indicating that death occurred more than two days.
 Link (here) to watch the Brazilian news account at YouTube.

FERDINAND AZEVEDO, S.J., is the provincial superior of the North Brazilian Province of the Society of Jesus. He entered the Jesuits in California, studied Latin American history at The Catholic University of America and served from 1974-95 at the Catholic University of Pernambuco, in Recife, as university librarian, vice president of administration and vice president for student affairs. The interviewer is James S. Torrens, S.J. an associate editor of America.
Read the entire November 28, 1998 America Magazine interview (here)

Dr. Ferdinand Azevedo, SJ - Father Ferdinand entered the Society of Jesus on July 14, 1957 and was ordained priest on June 20, 1970. (here) Doctor of History. The Catholic University Of America (1974) . Graduated in philosophy from Gonzaga University (1963), MA in History from Loyola University of Los Angeles (1968) and Ph.D. in History from The Catholic University of America (1974). He is currently Coordinator and Researcher at the Catholic University of Pernambuco. . He has experience in history, with emphasis on the history of Brazil. Acting on the following topics: Society, the Catholic Church, Politics, Spirituality. tel.: 4338 Research Institute (7 of G4), tel.: 4338
Currículo Lattes >> Lattes>>
E-mail.: fazevedo@unicap.br E-mail.: fazevedo@unicap.br 
Link (here)

Homicide or Suicide?
 The news of the death of Father Ferdinand surprised everyone Unicap, where he worked and lived since 1975. Very shaken, the dean of Unicap, Father Peter Rubens, knows that police work with the chances of homicide or suicide. 

For him, the colleague's behavior presented no evidence that he could take his own life. "We did not find any trace or sign of depression, sadness, bitterness or anger.  He was an extremely pragmatic. This causes us to this eerie and we feel bound, not only us Jesuits, but all those who knew him, to witness a life that does not match that death, whatever the outcome of the investigation, " said the rector. 

His body was interred in the late afternoon of Tuesday, the cemetery of Santo Amaro.  Rather, friends and colleagues said goodbye to him at a Mass in the chapel of the Catholic University of Pernambuco.  The Mass was celebrated by the archbishop of Olinda and Recife, Dom Fernando Saburido, along with the university president, Father Peter Rubens, and the dean Community, 

Father Miguel Martinez.  "We never saw any trace of sadness, anger ...  He was an extremely pragmatic. A life that does not fit with this death," says Father Peter Rubens. 

After the ceremony, the body was taken to the cemetery of Santo Amaro, where he was buried.  The direction the university is awaiting the outcome of police investigation, to understand whether what happened was murder or suicide.  The Precinct of Janga is responsible for the investigation. The deadline for completion of the inspection report is 10 days.

Link (here) Christ the Redeemer

Canadian Jesuit Missionaries Work Is Not Forgotten

A 1940's-50's era A.C.R. Train

In 1936, the late Bishop Ralph H. Dignan establishes the parish of St. Margaret Mary at Michipicoten River with Missions at Gold Park, Wawa, Hawk Junction, and Goudreau with its first Pastor, Reverend H.G. Halpin. 

Prior to this the Jesuit missionaries would travel by the A.C.R. train to celebrate the mass and sacraments. 

Later, the church at Parkhill was moved to Wawa and served as the local church until the St. Monica’s was erected in 1964. The 75th Anniversary will be celebrated the week of September 11-18, 2011. A committee has been established and is working on the program for the special event.

Link (here) to WaWa News