Tuesday, May 31, 2011

The Cathedral Of Notre Dame Was Bathed In Sunset.

When I first visited it, the Cathedral of Notre Dame was bathed in sunset. It was the festival of St. Michel during the summer of 1978, and symphony orchestras played under massive tents throughout the plazas of Paris. A Jesuit friend, Joe Devlin (Fr. Joseph Devlin, S.J.), and I walked through the city dumbstruck. The cathedral doors were open; organ music beckoned and Mass was about to begin. It was one of those miracles that thrill the faithful, when a concatenation of unexpected events makes one realize, “God is here.” The statue of Notre Dame de Paris shone serene. We sat opposite her in the north pseudotransept (near where Napoleon was crowned emperor), across from the south rose window, which, bathed by the sun, glowed in ruby, sapphire, amber and ultramarine colors. The two priests began the liturgy, a dark-haired junior and a white-maned senior celebrant. The younger priest welcomed the congregation in French, English, Italian and German. We were about to pray in the center of the European Catholic universe.
Link (here) to read the full article by Fr. Dennis McNally, S.J. at America the Jesuits magazine.

The Jesuits Sacred Heart Of Jesus Church In Havana Cuba

In 1907 the idea was born that the Jesuit fathers in Havana should have Sacred Heart of Jesus dedicated entirely to the exercise of their ministries. This aim emerged under the rectorship of P. Vicente Leza, at the old Belen High School, back when the principal duty of the school’s priests was to see to classes and the functioning of that educational center. The first stone was laid on August 7, 1914, and the building was inaugurated on May 3, 1923 after being solemnly consecrated the day before by Bishop Monsignor Pedro Gonzalez Estrada. The church and the residential annex were constructed in the Gothic style, whose idea and execution was led by H. Luis Gogorza, S.J. The altar, which is a true artistic marvel, was designed and constructed in Madrid by the Father Granda.
Link (here) to read the Havana Times there are plenty of great pictures at this link.

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Jesuit’s ‘Centre Justice Et Foi’ Invites Gregory Baum To Speak

Gregory Baum
The Archdiocese of Montreal is currently advertising a fundraiser for a Jesuit think-tank that features a keynote address by one of Canada’s leading advocates for dissent against Church teaching. The ad is for a benefit evening on Monday, May 30th to support the work of the Jesuit’s ‘Centre justice et foi’ (Justice and Faith Centre), which distinguished itself in May 2010 by denouncing Cardinal Marc Ouellet after he proclaimed the Church’s respect for the life of the unborn even when they are conceived in rape. The event, which is meant to honour the Centre’s late founding director Fr. Julien Harvey, will feature a keynote address by Gregory Baum, who’s infamous for his long opposition to the Catholic Church on issues such as contraception, hOmosexuality and priestly celibacy. Baum, a former priest who married a divorced former nun without having sought laicization, is particularly notorious for helping rally opposition to Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae, which reiterated the Church’s condemnation of contraception.  But since then, he was a prominent activist for same-s@x “marriage,” and was co-founder of the liberal Catholic New Times, which sought to undermine Catholic teaching from its inception in 1976.
Link (here) to Lifesite.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Leander Lee James On Jesuit Reverse Evangalization

Leander Lee James
"I'm just a little attorney in a small town. I had no idea I'd be swept into a case of this magnitude." James no longer considers himself Catholic – a change he says was already underway, but which the Jesuit case solidified. He says he still has faith though. To James, one of the most troubling parts of the case is that many of his clients – don't. 
"I have clients time and again tell me the same thing in the exact same words. 'I can't have faith anymore. I can't believe anymore.; And it's because they were taught this sense of belief in this man. And then he violates them. It eviscerates that belief, so they can't believe anymore. It's profoundly sad." 
James says he'll probably use some of the fees he'll get from the settlement to fix up his house – maybe repair some of the deer fences he's neglected. He also got a call not too long ago from the alumni office of Santa Clara University, his Jesuit alma mater. James says he'll probably give them a little money too.
Link (here) to KOUW to read the full story.

Former Jesuit Ken Ireland

..........the freedoms felt after John XXIII’s aggornamento were leading to all kinds of experimentation. 

Link (here) to read his post at his blog entitled Buddha, S.J.
Blogger Note: This post link is a little disturbing

Marquette University Professor Say Archbishop Betrays Church Teaching

Former Priest Dan Maguire
......in 2006, Archbishop Dolan (then of Milwaukee) corrected Dan Maguire for claiming that Catholics could support abortion and marriage between couples of the same sex. Maguire had sent two pamphlets titled The Moderate Roman Catholic Position on Contraception and Abortion and A Catholic Defense of Same-Sex Marriage to all 270 bishops in the United States. The USCCB agreed with Archbishop Dolan and corrected Maguire in 2007. [Note that I said "corrected." He was not excommunicated.] So how does Maguire react to the constructive dialogue between House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan and Archbishop Timothy Dolan on how to help the poor while also addressing our debt crisis? Well. He claims that Archbishop Dolan ‘betrays Church teaching.’ Yes, I know. This seems rather awkward coming from the same theologian who has called on Pope Benedict XVI to resign last year. You see, Maguire thinks Dolan’s letter suffers from an ”outrage deficit.” The dissident theologian thinks Chairman Ryan should have received a letter full of anger and scorn from Archbishop Dolan.
Link (here) to Catholic Vote

My Name Is Louis

Hello everyone, My name is Louis Contaldi, I come from from Parsippany, NJ, currently a sophomore studying at the Jesuit Institution Loyola University of Maryland. I am a devout Catholic, I am personally against abortions, and am a Political Science/Philosophy double major. This video is in response to “Planned Parenthood Cheats Taxpayers with Imaginary Mammograms”.
Link (here)

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Hell Files: Fr. Donald McGuire, S.J.

"If I had to make a Top Five list [of predator priests], Donald McGuire would be number one," Patrick Wall, a former Benedictine monk who performs investigations on behalf of abuse victims suing the Catholic Church. "He truly is the Hannibal Lecter of the clerical world. He did more psychological and physical damage to children than anyone else. And what makes it worse is that the Jesuits knew about it, and did nothing."  On Feb. 11, 2009, McGuire — an ailing 78-year-old who had already been stripped of priestly office — was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison by U.S. District Court Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer. He had been tried and convicted in the Northern District of Illinois for transporting an adolescent boy across state lines in 2000 for the purpose of sexually abusing him  "I want any such person to know the system of justice and this judge personally finds it absolutely abhorrent," Pallmeyer said. McGuire is serving his sentence at the Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Mo., and the Jesuits are facing a lawsuit from multiple victims, spread across the country, who claim the order's negligence enabled his crimes.
Link (here) to the San Francisco Weekly with a lengthy article. 
The term "Hell Files" comes from (here)

Richard Ho Lung Left The Jesuit Order And Moved Into The Slums And Ghettos Of Kingston,

What he had experienced changed everything – the poverty and want, violence and suffering on Jamaica moved Richard Ho Lung deeply. In 1981 this Jesuit priest and university professor resigned his post and his title. He had studied philosophy, English literature and theology and had taught at St. George’s College in the University of the West Indies (UWI) in Jamaica and at the Boston College in the United States. Born in Jamaica, he had been ordained to the priesthood in 1971. "I was preaching the Word of God but not living it", recalls Father Richard Ho Lung, during a visit to the headquarters of the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).

Richard Ho Lung left the Jesuit Order and moved into the slums and ghettos of Kingston, the Jamaican capital. "I got to know the life of the poor and saw the Beatitudes of Jesus as my mission", recalls the now 72-year-old whose grandfather originally came from China. At first the people he met were surprised and astonished by him but very soon this priest, who devoted himself to the poor, elderly and sick, became highly regarded. Others were quickly drawn by his example and joined him. A small community of four men, both priests and laity, came into being. They called themselves the Brothers of the Poor, since they were accepted as brothers by the poor.
Link (here) to read the full article at Aid to the Church in Need

I Declare That The Church Has No Authority Whatsoever To Confer Priestly Ordination On Women

“No doctrine is understood as defined infallibly unless this is manifestly evident,” says Canon 749.3 of the church’s Code of Canon Law. Jesuit Fr. Ladislas Orsy, professor of law at Georgetown University here, cited that canon almost immediately when NCR asked him if Pope John Paul II’s 1994 teaching in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis “that the church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the church’s faithful” is infallible. Orsy, a leading canonist well-known for his theological expertise, acknowledged, however, that the question of which church doctrines are taught infallibly is “extremely complex.” Another leading Jesuit theologian, Fr. Francis Sullivan, said he thinks recent events have made it clear that the church is now presenting as infallible the teaching against women priests.
Link (here) to the ultra-leftist National Catholic Reporter.

Jesuit Sworn In As House Chaplian

Oregon's Father Patrick Conroy was sworn in Wednesday as House chaplain, making the 60-year-old priest the first Jesuit to hold the position and also the first candidate who needed to navigate around the Catholic church's recent history. "It’s clear this loyal servant of the faithful is uniquely suited to serve as chaplain of the people’s House," Speaker John Boehner said, noting that the chaplain "is the anchor of the House." "Leader Pelosi and I have gotten a chance to know Father Pat, and we’re honored that he has accepted our invitation to serve as chaplain," Boehner said. "We are blessed to have his guidance and his wisdom as we discharge our duties and fulfill our obligations to current and future generations of Americans.  Please join me in welcoming and congratulating the 60th chaplain of the House of Representatives, Father Pat Conroy.”
Link (here) to Oregon Live to read the full story.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Evangeline Visits The Black Robed Chief Of The Jesuit Mission

Evangeline
" On the western slope of these mountains Dwells in his little village the Black Robe chief of the Mission. Much he teaches the people, and tells them of Mary and Jesus; Loud laugh their hearts with joy, and weep with pain, as they hear him." Then, with a sudden and secret emotion, Evangeline answered, "Let us go to the Mission, for there good tidings await us!" Thither they turned their steeds; and behind a spur of the mountains, Just as the sun went down, they heard a-murmur of voices, And in a meadow green and broad, by the bank of a river, Saw the tents of the Christians, the tents of the Jesuit Mission. is Under a towering oak, that stood in the midst of the village, Knelt the Black Robe chief with his children. A crucifix fastened High on the trunk of the tree, and overshadowed by grapevines, Looked with its agonized face on the multitude kneeling beneath it. This was their rural chapel. Aloft, through the intricate arches Of its aerial roof, arose the chant of their vespers, Mingling its notes with the soft susurrus and sighs of the branches. Silent, with heads uncovered, the travelers, nearer approaching, Knelt on the swarded floor, and joined in the evening devotions. But when the service was done, and the benediction had fallen Forth from the hands of the priest, like seed from the hands of the sower, Slowly the reverend man advanced to the strangers, and bade them "Welcome; and when they replied, he smiled with benignant expression, Hearing the homelike sounds of his mother-tongue in the forest, And, with words of kindness, conducted them into his wigwam. There upon mats and skins they reposed, and on cakes of the maize-ear Feasted, and slaked their thirst from the water-gourd of the teacher. Soon was their story told; and the priest with solemnity answered: — "Not six suns have risen and set since Gabriel, seated On this mat by my side, where now the maiden reposes, Told me this same sad tale; then arose and continued his journey!" Soft was the voice of the priest, and he spake with an accent of kindness; But on Evangeline's heart fell his words as in winter the snow-flakes Fall into some lone nest from which the birds have departed. "Far to the north he has gone," continued the priest; "but in autumn, "When the chase is done, will return again to the Mission." Then Evangeline said, and her voice was meek and submissive, "Let me remain with thee, for my soul is sad and afflicted." So seemed it wise and well unto all; and betimes on the morrow, Mounting his Mexican steed, with his Indian guides and companions, Homeward Basil returned, and Evangeline stayed at the Mission. Slowly, slowly, slowly the days succeeded each other, — Days and weeks and months; and the fields of maize that were springing Green from the ground when a stranger she came, now waving about her, Lifted their slender shafts, with leaves interlacing, and forming Cloisters for mendicant crows and granaries pillaged by squirrels. Then in the golden weather the maize was husked, and the maidens Blushed at each blood-red ear, for that betokened a lover, But at the crooked laughed, and called it a thief in the corn-field. Even the blood-red ear to Evangeline brought not her lover. ins "Patience!" the priest would say; 
"have faith, and thy prayer will be answered! Look at this vigorous plant that lifts its head from the meadow, See how its leaves are turned to the north, as true as the magnet; This is the compass-flower, that the finger of God has planted Here in the houseless wild, to direct the traveler's journey Over the sea-like, pathless, limitless waste of the desert. Such in the soul of man is faith. The blossoms of passion, Gay and luxuriant flowers, are brighter and fuller of fragrance, But they beguile us, and lead us astray, and their odor is deadly. Only this humble plant can guide us here, and hereafter He Crown us with asphodel flowers, that are wet with the dews of nepenthe."

Last Jesuit Missionary At Tadousac

Tadousac
So the purple shadows of those lofty hills, which guard the Saguenay, fall about the ancient and now disused chapel of the Missionary of Holy Cross, where it stands, but a few yards from the shore, and the sea-mists enshroud it, and the dead lie buried beside it, resting solemnly in the peace of the little grave-yard, while it remains, more than aught else, a shrine, preserving the memory of the illustrious and saintly Jesuit, whose footsteps, upon the mountain tops, were beautiful, bringing good tidings.


Last Jesuit Missionary at Tadousac,
at the age of 58 years,
and was buried in the chapel at Tadousac.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Liberty Of Mind

St. Ignatius of Loyola took much of his rules for spiritual life from the Fathers of the Desert, especially Serapion; the work of Cisneros, who had been Abbot of Monserrato, was certainly known to him, but there is no similarity to give any ground for the accusation of plagiarism. The ' Exercises' originated in Manresa, and were perfected by the experience of Ignatius when he began to teach. Whoever uses them must own that only Divine inspiration could have shown Ignatius such secrets of the human heart—such remedies, such stimulants, and such aids. At the beginning of the ' Spiritual Exercises' were placed some general instructions, translated by one of General the Fathers into Latin verse. We give them here from Mariani's prose:—
Do not argue with anyone, however much your inferior; and, although you are in the right, rather appear the vanquished than the victor. Try to obey blindly in all things, and willingly submit your own judgment, however superior it may be. Do not remark the faults of others, and cover them when they are seen; search into your own, and be pleased when they are made evident to the world. Whatever you do, say, or think, consider in the first place whether it be for your neighbor's good, and pleasing in the sight of God. Preserve always your liberty of mind; see that you lose it not by any- . Liberty of one's authority, nor by any event whatever. Do not lightly bind yourself in friendship with any man; examine first with judgment and discrimination. Always exorcise the mind or body in good actions. Be a fool in the opinion of man, and so you .will be wise before God. Keep these things in your mind day and night; and when you go to rest, protect yourself by prayer.
Link (here) to read the mentioned portion of the book entitled, Ignatius of Loyola and the early Jesuits by Stewart Rose.

Albright And Georgetown University

Madeleine Albright
Madeleine Albright, former U.S. Secretary of State and now a Georgetown University professor (!!), speaks today at Georgetown University’s Master of Science in Foreign Service award ceremony. Albright publicly attacked President George W. Bush for refusing to use taxpayer dollars to fund pro-abortion counseling overseas during NARAL Pro-Choice America’s “Power of Choice” fundraising luncheon in 2001 and again in 2005. She was a featured speaker at the 2004 “March for Women’s Rights” in Washington, D.C., which rallied support for legalized abortion. And in her 2007 book The Mighty and the Almighty: Reflections on America, God and World Affairs—just in case we didn’t know it already—she confirms, “I am a supporter of Roe v. Wade because I think women should have the right to choose….”
Link (here) to  The Cardinal Newman Society.

Monday, May 23, 2011

The 15 Marks Of The Church As Defined By St. Robert Bellarmine, S.J.


The 15 Marks of the Catholic Church

developed by

St. Robert Bellarmine, S.J.

1542-1621,

Doctor of the Church and Cardinal:


<1>

The Church's Name, Catholic, universal, and world wide, and not confined to any particular nation or people.

<2>

Antiquity, in tracing her ancestry directly to Jesus Christ.

<3>

Constant Duration, in lasting substantially unchanged for so many centuries.

<4>

Extensiveness, in the number of her loyal members.

<5>

Episcopal Succession, of her Bishops from the first Apostles at the Last Supper to the present hierarchy.

<6>

Doctrinal Agreement, of her doctrine with the teaching of the ancient Church.

<7>

Union, of her members among themselves, and with their visible head, the Roman Pontiff.

<8>

Holiness, of doctrine in reflecting the sanctity of GOD.

<9>

Efficacy, of doctrine in its power to sanctify believers, and inspire them to great moral achievement.

<10>

Holiness of Life, of the Church's representative writers and defenders.

<11>

The glory of Miracles, worked in the Church and under the Church's auspices.

<12>

The gift of Prophesy found among the Church's saints and spokesmen.

<13>

The Opposition that the Church arouses among those who attack her on the very grounds that Christ was opposed by His enemies. The Unhappy End, of those who fight against her.

<15>

The Temporal Peace and Earthly Happiness of those who live by the Church's teaching and defend her interests.

Link (here)
Fordham University’s law school mustered up a pro-abortion Republican, former New York Governor George E. Pataki, to speak and receive an honorary degree Sunday, May 22.
Link (here) to The Cardinal Newman Society

Now That Is Saying Something About Liberation Theology

Fr. Jon Sobrino, S.J.
As the heir of the Holy Office of the Inquisition -- and housed in a building still known as the Palace of the Holy Office -- the congregation often is portrayed as an agency almost exclusively dedicated to seeking out errant theologians and condemning their writings. The congregation does review books that bishops' conferences bring to its attention, especially if the book presents itself as explaining Catholic morals or doctrine and is widely used in schools of theology or seminaries. 
But since Pope Benedict XVI was elected in 2005 and U.S. Cardinal William J. Levada was appointed to succeed him as the congregation's prefect, the office has issued only one formal public criticism of written works: a notification about two books by a liberation theologian, 
Link (here) to Clerical Whispers

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Friedrich von Hugal On Cardinal Juan de Lugo, The 17th Century Spanish Jesuit

Cardinal Juan de Lugo, S.J.
We all greatly require criticism, stimulation, reproof, of our most intimate and cherished convictions; and it is our reciprocal duty, with tact and restraint, to try to serve our fellows similarly. Hegel, perhaps most probingly among all Protestant philosophers, has exposed in general this impoverishing formalism of Kant "the Philosopher of Protestantism." But I believe the true scheme, as concerns religion, to have been best developed by Cardinal Juan de Lugo, the Spanish Jesuit, who wrote in Rome under the eyes of Pope Urban VIII., at the end of the seventeenth century. De Lugo first lays down that, according to Catholic doctrine, God gives light, sufficient for its salvation, to every soul that attains to the use of reason in this life. He next asks,  What is the ordinary method by which God offers and renders possible this salvation and he answers that, though God doubtless can work moral miracles, these do not appear to be the rule, and are not in strictness necessary; that the human soul, in all times and places, has a certain natural affinity for, and need of, truth; and again, that the various philosophical schools and religious bodies throughout mankind all contain and hand down, amid various degrees of human error and distortion, some truth, some gleams and elements of divine truth. Now what happens as a rule is simply this: the soul that in good faith seeks God, His truth and love, concentrates its attention, under the influence of grace, upon these elements of truth, be they many or few, which are offered to it in the sacred books and religious schools and assemblies of the Church, Sect, or Philosophy in which it has been brought up. It feeds upon these elements, the others are simply passed by; and divine grace, under cover of these elements, feeds and saves this soul. I submit that this view admirably combines a sense of  man's profound need of tradition, institution, training, with full justice to the importance of the dispositions and acts of the individual soul, and, above all, with a keen sense of the need of special graces offered by God to the several souls. And such a view in no way levels down or damps the missionary ardour. Buddhism does not become equal to Mohammedanism, nor' Mohammedanism to Judaism, nor Platonism to Christianity, nor Socinianism, or even Lutheranism, to Catholicism. It merely claims that everywhere there is some truth; that this truth comes originally from God; and that this truth, great or little, is usually mediated to the soul, neither by a spiritual miracle nor by the sheer efforts of individuals, but by traditions, schools and churches. We thus attain an outlook, generous, rich, elastic; yet also graduated, positive, unitary, and truly Catholic.
Link (here) to read the portion of the book entitled,  Essays and Addresses on the Philosophy of Religion by Austrian Catholic writer and apologist Friedrich von Hügel

Fr. Louis Cellot, S.J. On Godeschalcus

All the Benedictines, Jansenists, and Augustin monks maintain, almost without exception, that Godeschalcus was most unjustly persecuted and oppressed by Blessed Rabanus Maurus. The Jesuits are of a different opinion; they assert in general, and Louis Cellot, one of their order, has in a more particular manner labored to demonstrate, in his Historia Godeschalci Praedestinationis, published at Paris in 1653, that the monk in question was justly condemned, and deservedly punished.
Link (here) to the mentioned portion of the book entitled, An ecclesiastical history, ancient & modern... By German Lutheran historian Johann Lorenz Mosheim

Saturday, May 21, 2011

The Jacobite Jesuit: Fr. Alexander Cameron, S.J.

The Battle of Culloden
A FASCINATING account of a "forgotten" hero of the Jacobite Uprising has just been published by a senior Lochaber churchman. The Forgotten Cameron of the '45: The Life and Times of Alexander Cameron S.J, has been written by Monsignor Thomas Wynne, well-respected and much-loved parish priest of St Margaret's Church in Roy Bridge. Telling the story of Father Alexander of Achnacarry, a missionary Jesuit priest and chaplain to Bonnie Prince Charlie's army, has been a long-held interest of 80-year-old Monsignor Wynne. He revealed to the Lochaber News: "Many years ago, I was intrigued by a small piece of tartan in a cabinet in the Cathedral House in Oban. "With it was an old hand-written note saying it was part of the tartan vestment worn by Father Alexander Cameron when he said mass on the eve of the Battle of Culloden.  "When I had more time in my new parish of Arisaig, I decided to investigate the life of this virtually unknown priest, and over a long period put together the story of his life which I found so moving.  "Alexander Cameron is almost forgotten by history, yet he was a remarkable man. The brother of the clan chief, Donald Cameron ("the Gentle Lochiel"), he was a life long Jacobite and a missionary in the Highlands during a period of great political, social and religious turmoil.
Link (here) to read the full account at Lochbar News

Friday, May 20, 2011

Fr Tacchi Venturi S. J. On Giuseppina Berettoni

Fr. Tacchi Venturi, S.J.
All my energy – she wrote – all of my life I want to spend making Jesus known to the Christian people. Characteristic of her life was the apostolic lay activity in varied forms and in any field with which her zeal was confronted, with a special preference for the Clergy and everybody consecrated to God. With youngsters she was a strong but amiable teacher; with children, tenderly loved by Jesus, amongst whom she spent the better part of her life, she was always motherly. She worked generously for the Daughters of Mary until the last day of her life; in the Franciscan Third Order she was an unparalleled novice mistress. Fr Tacchi Venturi S. J. wrote, with regard to her work for the dying: God used her for the salvation of unrepenting sinners, who at the very end of their lives, after having rudely sent the priests away from their beds, won over by her angelic ministration during their illness, surrendered to her and accepted God’s Ministers, shedding tear on the Crucifix. Her apostolic activity was carried out mainly in Rome, where she spent the major part of her life, but her good deeds also reached Argentina, Genoa e the Marche, places where she lived for short periods.
 
Link (here) to read  full account of Servant of God Giuseppina Berettoni

The Jesuits, Who Ran The College, Rented A Large House Opposite

I married in 1939, aged 23 years, and had just finished training as a nurse when war was declared. My husband, 15 years my senior, was history master at Wimbledon College. Being in a reserved occupation, he joined the Home Guard during the war. We both agreed to look after the boys there who couldn't travel because of the air raids. The Jesuits, who ran the college, rented a large house opposite. With the Battle of Britain raging overhead, my first daughter was born on 4th July 1940 - American Independence Day. She was placed into an old leaded safe. Bullets splattered onto the leaded roof as some watched the battle overhead. I was below, alone, in the cellar. It all seemed like a horrid dream; even now it remains a blur.
Link (here) to the BBC to read the full account.

Fr. Emanuel Alvarez, S.J.

The Jesuit, Emanuel Alvarez of Lisbon (1526—1583),
produced in 1572 a Latin Grammar, which has been extolled as the first in which the fancies of the ancient grammarians were laid aside. It was the  text-book in all the Jesuit schools, and has often been reprinted, the latest edition being that of Paris in 1879.

Link (here)

Yesterday And Today : Boston College Alum And Former Trustee Jack Connors

From May 2007 Jack Connors Commencement address at Boston College
John M. "Jack" Connors
Jack Connors regaled Boston College graduates today with his own story of how he made it through the school despite little money and family tragedy. Connors paid his way through Boston College in the 1960s, selling peanuts and hot dogs at Fenway Park and driving a Checker Taxi. His mother died of colon cancer during his junior year. Yet, by the time he was 25, John M. "Jack" Connors Jr. was on the fast track in the advertising industry, poised to become a corporate vice president of advertising for a Detroit automobile maker. He didn't want to leave New England, so he instead began an advertising firm in Boston with three other friends -- the now-prestigious firm of Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos Inc. "Being here today is like coming home for me," Connors told the more than 3,000 graduates and 15,000 spectators at BC's Alumni Stadium. "I first came to Boston College some 48 years ago having been taught by my parents and family about respect, honesty, faith, hard work, and loyalty. Then the Jesuits taught me how to think...."
Link (here) to the full Boston Globe article. 

From May 03, 2011 Jack Connors is taking heat for supporting pro-abortion President Obama by virtue of his service on the Archdiocese Finance Council and Campaign for Catholic Schools is considered to be in the category of “Church Personnel,”
Eileen Connors, Cardinal O'Malley and Jack Connors
From the Boston Globe- Connors, a millionaire many times over who is dedicated to helping those in need, said he was impressed by Obama’s practice of being friendly to everyone he met, from the police officer who escorted him to the waitstaff in the hotel. Connors ended up introducing Obama at three Boston fundraisers during the 2008 campaign, but he largely receded into the background after the president was elected. His more recent focus has been raising the $120 million needed to build and endow the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate in Dorchester. Yet as Obama and Biden gear up their reelection effort, Connors feels compelled to help. His fundraiser is generating $35,800 per couple. “A lot of my friends who have made a bunch of money like I did are Republicans, and I’m still tied to being a Democrat, and I think the president said it right the other day: ‘It’s about values,’” he said….
Link (here) to the full piece Boston Catholic Insider 
More on the subject at The Cardinal Newman Society (here)

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Fr. Paul Carrier, S.J. And Fairfield University Named In 20 Million Dollar Lawsuit

Fr. Paul Carrier, S.J.
One of the Haitian victims of Douglas Perlitz has filed a $20 million civil law suit against Perlitz, and not only against Perlitz, but also against Father Paul Carrier, the priest who was instrumental in raising millions of dollars to sustain the school that Perlitz ran in Haiti, against Fairfield University which employed Father Carrier for many years, and against the New England Order of the Society of Jesus, in other words the Jesuit Order that runs Fairfield University. The suit also names The Haiti Fund, the umbrella charity for the Haitian school, Hope Carter, who was a member of the Board of Directors of the Haiti Fund, and a dozen others, who are identified only as John Doe One through John Doe Twelve. The attorney for the victim is Mitchell Garabedian, the lead attorney in obtaining an $85 million settlement against the Archdiocese of Boston for 500 victims of abuse by priests, and the lead attorney in obtaining a $10 million settlement against ex-priest John Geoghan and the Archdiocese of Boston on behalf of 87 other victims of sexual abuse.
Link (here) to read the full story at Minute Man News

The Queen Of Seattle University Sylvia O'Stayformore

Sylvia O'Stayformore
Sylvia O'Stayformore wasn't surprised there was a negative response; religious conservativism is something the host is familiar with. But even with religious communities there is usually room for diversity, according to O'Stayformore. "There is usually a pocket of acceptance in every religion no matter how conservative it is," O'Stayformore said. Originally a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, O'Stayformore is no stranger to religious conservatism; the fact that Seattle U is willing to support an event like a drag show comes as a welcome surprise to O'Stayformore. "It's pretty amazing that it happened in a Jesuit college, and that [the show] is getting support. I don't think it's going to say that the college is going to be accepting all but its pretty eye opening," said O'Stayformore. As far as the Cardinal Newman Society goes, O'Stayformore wasn't really surprised. "I guess it is a passive aggressive way of saying they don't agree with it," O'Stayformore said. Sylvia is a non-affiliate performer, so from her perspective the allegations against Seattle U. aren't personal. For the Catholic community on campus, however, the assertion that Seattle U is somehow non-Catholic is personal. "I believe whole-heartedly that Seattle University is thoroughly Catholic," said Director of Campus Ministry Mike Bayard, S.J..
Link (here) to read the full article at Spectator.

Fr. James Martin, S.J. On The Abuse Scandal

First of all, nearly every reputable psychologist and psychiatrist, not to mention almost every scholarly study, decisively rejects the conflation of hom@sexuality with p@dophilia, as well as any cause-and-effect relationship. The studies are almost too numerous to mention
Link (here) to read in context the above quote of Fr. James Martin, S.J. at In All Things

To read a total contradiction to this line of thinking read Steven Baldwin's, CHILD M@LESTATION AND THE H@MOSEXUAL MOVEMENT 

The Vatican document on h@mosexuals and seminaries (here)

Some excellent criticism (here) by George Weigal with an excerpt below, read the John Jay Report # 1 and the John Jay Report #2

Eighty-one percent of the victims of s@xual abuse by priests are adolescent males, and yet this has nothing to do with homosexuality? Perhaps it doesn’t from the clinicians’ point of view (especially clinicians ideologically committed to the notion that there is nothing necessarily destructive about same-s@x behaviors). But surely the attempt by some theologians to justify what is objectively immoral behavior had something to do with the disciplinary meltdown that the report notes from the late 1960s through the early 1980s; it might be remembered that it was precisely in this period that the Catholic Theological Society of America issued a study, Human Sexuality, that was in clear dissent from the Church’s settled teaching on fo@nication, self-abuse, and hom@sexual acts, and even found a relatively kind word to say about be@tiality. And is there no connection to be found between the spike in abuse cases between the mid-1960s and the early 1980s, with its victimization of adolescent males, and the parallel spike in hom@erotic culture in U.S. Catholic seminaries and religious orders in that same period?

To read a blistering attack on the "New Morality" published in the book entitled "Human Sexuality" by the Catholic Theological Society of America go (here)

 
Maria Shriver is a graduate of Georgetown University, with a degree in American Studies (here)

Tertainship Changes

Fr. Thomas H. Smolich, S.J.
After completing theological studies and some years of ministry, Jesuits complete their formal formation of prayer, guidance and studies with tertianship, a time of spiritual renewal and ministry with the poor. 
After the tertianship period, the Jesuit is called to final vows in the Society of Jesus. In a May 6th letter to all U.S. Jesuits, Jesuit Conference President Father Thomas H. Smolich announced a change to tertianship procedure, with the creation of a national tertianship program. 
This transitions away from current practice of tertainship programs being coordinated by each province.
Link (here) to read the full piece at Jesuit.org

Censured Nun, Sr. Jeannine Grammick To Speak At Jesuit Universities

Sr. Jeannine Grammick
“More Than a Monologue: Sexual Diversity and the Catholic Church” set to be hosted by Fairfield and Fordham University. The series will include an October 29th conference at Fairfield University titled “The Care of Souls: Sexual Diversity, Celibacy and Ministry.”  The conference description appears to challenge Catholic teaching against h@mosexual activity. Sr. Jeannine Grammick, co-founder of New Ways Ministries, is listed as one of the conference speakers.  Life Site News had this to report about Sr. Grammick in 2006  A report from Life Site News in 2009 revealed that Sr. Grammick wrote in the Catholics for Choice magazine Conscience: “We cannot afford to let our dissenters be silenced.  They are a gift to our church.” Just this past March, Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Chairman of the U.S. bishops’ doctrine committee, condemned a booklet from New Ways Ministry on “Marriage Equality” and recounted the numerous occasions on which the group’s co-founders, Sr. Gramick and Fr. Nugent, were disciplined by the Church for activities in defiance of the Church and its authority, Life Site reported. The Fairfield University website notes that Sr. Grammick is the author of Building Bridges: Gay and Lesbian Reality and Catholic Church and Voices of Hope: A Collection of Positive Catholic Writings on Lesbian/Gay Issues. Thanks to the research of Thomas Peters, we learned that Fairfield University received $100,000 from the Arcus Foundation last year .
Link (here) to read the full article at The Cardinal Newman Society.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Jesuits At Georgetown University Receive 88 Million Dollars From Islamic Monarchies

Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal
 ....The largest donor in this tranche is the Qatar Foundation. The largest recipient remains Georgetown University. I have asked the Qatar Embassy to make a spokesman available to me so that I can ask what the Foundation determines are the benefits to it and to the American universities of the Foundation relationship, but have not yet heard back. Without further research and data it would appear that Qatar is spending a great deal to jumpstart its educational program and, in essence, is purchasing intellectual capital from the universities and colleges with which it contracts.....
  • Georgetown also received a $20,124.955 contract from the Qatar Foundation “for the operation of the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar.” Inquiry reveals that this covers the operations of the university’s campus in Qatar’s Education City, including the costs Georgetown incurs in this connection, and a “helpful but not enormous” extra amount to the university. The university also received a contract from the Qatar Foundation on 7/15/10 for $42,800,000. The purpose of this contract does not appear in the report, though it certainly appears related to the Education City campus operations.
Link (here) to read the full report at Pajamas Media 

    Jesuit At America Magazine Links Blessed John Paul II With The Disgraced Founder Of The Legionaires

    I remember watching a TV broadcast of a papal Mass in Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome with the announcer pointing out that the young acolytes in surplices sharing the altar with the Pope were Legion seminarians. The trouble is that Maciel was a fraud......
    Throughout John Paul’s papacy the victims besieged the Vatican with their evidence, and the pope ignored their pleas, partly, 
    according to Berry, because Maciel was a great fund raiser and had showered Vatican officials with cash. 

    Link (here) to the full controversial blog post at America's In All Things by Fr. Raymond A. Scroth, S.J.

    Tuesday, May 17, 2011

    Jesuits Celebrate 400 Years Of Missionary Activity In Canada

    Port Royal, Nova Scotia
    400 years ago French Jesuit priests landed at the trading post of Port-Royal in today's Nova Scotia; join us at Port-Royal National Historical Site on Sunday, May 22, 2011 at 12:00 noon as we celebrate and re-enact that historic landing. "The Jesuits have been an integral part of Canada's rich and diverse history and we continue to be active across this great country," says Father Jim Webb, S.J., Provincial of the Jesuits in English Canada.  Special guests attending include: the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia, the Honourable Mayann E. Francis, Member of the Grand Council, Grand Chief Keptin Antle Denny, and the Archbishop of Halifax, His Excellency, the Most Reverend Archbishop Anthony Mancini.  A travelling exhibition highlighting the story of the Jesuits in Canada will be unveiled and a historical vignette will be performed. Following the events at Port-Royal, a Mass will be celebrated at St. Louis Catholic Church in Annapolis Royal at 3:00 p.m.
    Link (here) to the full story at Digital Journal.

    Should I Fall A Victim To 'Yellow Jack,'

    Each "province" of the Society of Jesus has some foreign mission confided to its charge. Thus an outlet for Irish zeal is afforded by Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand; and England has the West Indies. To the West Indies, therefore, Father Law was sent. A letter to his father on the 12th of November, 1866, is dated from "the Tasmania at sea," 25 degrees of north latitude, 51st degree of west longitude, wherever that may be. "I was so delighted, as I told the Provincial, with the generosity with which you willingly and cheerfully let me go to Demerara. For, should I fall a victim to 'Yellow Jack,' I could not die a better death after martyrdom; and I hope that in that ease God in His mercy might overlook all my other shortcomings. However, by the help of your prayers, I trust God may spare me many years to labour for His glory, and, if it be His will, to see you again, my dear, dear father. But fiat voluntas Dei. This is not our home. Heaven is our home, and it is there the best and happiest meeting will take place. But you know and understand all this far better than I do. Pray that I may know and understand it better every day. I shall be so delighted when Friday morning comes, for I shall then, I hope, be able to say Mass at St. Thomas's. It will almost appear to me like a first Mass. For, before this voyage, I had only missed saying Mass one day since my ordination."
    Link (here) to the full account of Fr. Augustus Law, S.J. in the Irish Monthly

    Monday, May 16, 2011

    North American Jesuit Seminary Curriculum In 1846

    Our records indicate an interregnum for the year 1846. In that year, as we know from other sources, Bishop John Hughes placed St. John's College and St. Joseph's Seminary (Now Fordham) in the hands of the Jesuit Fathers. The negotiations were carried on with Father Clement Boulanger, the Superior of the Canadian Mission, and Father Augustus Thebaud, who was made rector of St. John's College as well as of the Seminary. During the next ten years the institution remained under the management of the Jesuit Fathers, who furnished the professors. Their lectures were attended not only by the students of the diocese, but also by the Jesuit scholastics who were preparing for ordination. The course of studies was immediately extended and the faculty enlarged. The following subjects were treated by various professors: Dogmatic Theology, Moral Theology, Holy Scripture, Hebrew, Logic and Philosophy. In 1851 Ecclesiastical History was added to the above-mentioned subjects. After 1850 Hebrew disappears from the curriculum, probably because no professor was available.
     Link (here) to read the full portion of the essay in the book entitled, Monograph Series #4

    Jesuit On Planetary Conjuncture

    If the planets are sending a message at all from the cosmos, it’s that earthlings should stop worrying and just relish the show. The conjunction of Earth’s heavenly neighbors—Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter—is a regular phenomenon attributed to their normal orbit around the sun, not a cosmic conspiracy that signals the end of the world as doomsayers fear, according to Dario dela Cruz, officer in charge of the Space Sciences and Astronomy Section of the Pagasa weather bureau. To 81-year-old Fr. Victor Badillo, a Filipino Jesuit astronomer who has spent 30 years studying the firmament at the Manila Observatory, the cosmic phenomenon is just one among the many amazing sky shows to enjoy. “There are so many wonderful things [in the sky] for us to enjoy than to worry about,” Badillo said by phone from the Jesuit Residence Infirmary at the Ateneo de Manila University. Instead of treating this event as a harbinger of doom, it must be considered “something beautiful to behold,” just like the meteor storm in 1999 that marked the night sky with dazzling lights, he said. Confined at the infirmary for seven years now, Badillo keeps himself busy blogging on his favorite topics ranging from astronomy and physics to theology“What [doomsayers] are saying is not true. You will just see the planets close to each other this month. They are visible to the naked eye before sunrise, best at 4:30 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. on the eastern side,” Dela Cruz told the Inquirer. “People should just enjoy it. Just wake up early to see it,” he said.

    At The Jesuit Ateneo University In The Philippines

    "Hail Mary Squad"
    In the time of Jose Rizal, to be an Atenean is to have a liberal education. Jose Rizal studied Latin and Greek and learned the arts and sciences. A true Atenean is a devotee of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Jose Rizal carved the Statue of the Sacred Heart in wood with a penknife. A true Atenean is a devotee of Our Lady. Jose Rizal prays the rosary. This is the reason why the Ateneo Basketball Team was once known as the Hail Mary Squad because they always pray the rosary before each game. And this is also why we sing our Alma Mater Song:
    “Mary for you! For your white and blue! We pray you’ll keep us, Mary, constantly true! We pray you’ll keep us, Mary, faithful to you!” As an agnostic, you have to be careful when you sing this song. Mama Mary can convert even the most hardened sinners. The Campus Ministry in Ateneo never cease to give the Miraculous Medal every year. It is not called Miraculous Medal for nothing. If you receive that medal and pray a Hail Mary a day devoutly for a month, you will be converted. If you are incredulous, try it.
    Link (here) to the great blog entitled, The Monks Hobbit

    Sunday, May 15, 2011

    Fr. Patrick Conroy, S.J. On His Job Interview For Chaplian With Speaker Boehner And Nancy Pelosi

    Did you interview for the job?

    Yes. About a month ago, I met with two staffers from Mr. Boehner's office and two from Mrs. Pelosi's office -- four people. It was a very pleasant interview that lasted about 75 minutes. Then I returned to teaching freshmen theology (at Jesuit High School). There were five candidates, and I made the cut. Last Wednesday (May 4), I had a half-hour interview with Mr. Boehner and Mrs. Pelosi and their four staffers. Then I stepped out of the room. They talked and they offered me the position.
     Link (here) to the full and great interview at Oregon Live

    Dancing Jesuit On Being Labeled Effeminate And Incorporating Yoga Into His Retreats

    Fr. Saju George, S.J.
    Religion has to be felt, believes Fr Saju George Moolamthuruthil SJ (Society of Jesus). And he has chosen dance, that too Bharatanatyam, to help people experience God. 
    This ‘Dancing Jesuit’ priest, a native of Peruva, Kottayam, is in the city to give a Bharatanatyam performance on Saturday  as part of the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the Kerala Jesuits. With over two decades of experience and hundreds of performances to his credit, mostly in Europe and the US, Fr Saju is more than happy with the acknowledgement he has garnered over the years.  
    “I have got positive responses from most quarters. You can say, I have survived...!,” he says, breaking into a smile, obviously hinting at the criticisms hurled at him when he had started off. The tag Christian, that too a priest, has given him enough tough times. With his dance retreats - where he explains the essence of Indian dance, its variations, the spirituality incorporated in them, its aesthetics, the Natyashastra, the ‘bhavas’, ragas et al through demonstrations and lectures -  Fr Saju has gone through enough and more opposition. 
    “I conduct the retreats for groups. I incorporate yoga and spirituality in the sessions. And certain groups don’t welcome them. I have faced stiff opposition from certain orthodox sects, some churches...,” he pauses, hinting he would rather talk about the positive side of his journey so far.
    He has a mission to fulfill. “Take the Indian art - the traditional dance, theatre, music - the world over, especially to those who can’t afford,” he says. Coming to the first part of it, he has performed over 150 times outside India. “I make each performance an interactive one.” He talks more from his PhD thesis on the concept of Nataraja based mainly on the text Thirumandiram, which explains the Dancing God concept, ie Shiva as dancer, and connect it with Bible. “I touch upon Christian theology and philosophy and ask for suggestions from the audience.” Talking about the second part, ie taking dance to those who can’t afford to learn it, he is doing that through Kalahrudaya, which is coming up as a universal home of art and culture. “It would cater to the young people, less privileged ones in society who are interested in art forms. We’ve got the land, some seven acres, away from Kolkata city, and it would start functioning in full swing in a year or so. I am envisaging something on the lines of Kalakshetra or Kalamandalam,” he says.  He is also running Shanti Nir(Nir means nest of peace) of the Calcutta Jesuit Province which offers care and support to needy children and also help with low-cost housing, self employment and medical help.On the whole, Fr Saju wants to blend dance and social work. “My priority is to show the world that an artist can be a social activist too. I want to cater to the real needs of poor. Next month, I am going to Japan for a fund-raising programme for the tsunami-affected people,” he says. He had that liking for art forms right from childhood and got fascinated by dance when he saw his sister learning it. Side by side, he also got that call from inside to indulge in missionary activities. Fr Saju left Kerala, in 1985 for Kolkata, to join the Society of Jesus, after his Plus-II.He did his MA in dance from Kolkata, had his ‘arangettam’ in 1996, came down to Chennai to study philosophy, during which he learnt Kuchipudi under Vempati Chinna Satyam. Simultaneously, he got to learn Bharatanatyam, the Kalakshethra style, and soon realised that the latter suited him.  
    “I am at home with Bharatanatyam,” he says. He emphasises one point. “I have been very conscious about not being labelled ‘effeminate’. I stress that a male dancer should dance like a male, except for those portions which need feminine postures from him. I even tell my students about this,” he says.
    Fr Saju, 44, fondly remembers people like C V Chandrasekhar, Leela Samson, Kalanidhi Narayanan and Priyadarshini Govind who have encouraged him throughout. He is currently the research adviser at the Kalai Kaveri College of Fine Arts, Thiruchirappalli.
    Link (here) to read the full article at Express Buzz