Merry Christmas And A Happy New Year

I'll be on blogger vacation until January 7th. Thank you all, over 900,000 visitors from all over the world who have come to visit this blog. This has been my Advent meditation for many years John 3:16 (For God So loved the World) , John 6 (Bread of Life Discourse) and John 17 (Prayer of the High Priest) in sequence. If you are looking for more Iganciophile stuff, please check out my side bar, I have linked well over 400 hundred Jesuit blogs, websites, books and essays. See you January 9th!

Some blogs I like to visit

McNamara's Blog
Orthometer
Fr. Z's, What Does the Prayer Really Say?
Spirit Daily

PewSitter

Creative Minority Report
Insight Scoop
Monk's Hobbit
St. Mary Magdalene
Le Fluer de Lys too


Some of my favorite Jesuit blogs
The City and the World
Offer It Up
The Journey of a Bishop
Whosoever Desires
Fr. Brian Van Hove, S.J. Blog

Fr John Edwards, S.J. On The Assumption Of Our Lady

The definition of the Assumption in 1950 caused some dismay. As I recall, Protestants were angry because it wasn’t in Scripture. The Archbishop of York, standing beneath his cathedral’s 600 year old Assumption roof-boss, deplored it as an innovation. The position of the Orthodox was more nuanced: they believed it, of course, but were furious that the Pope had defined it. Decades later, earnest Catholics were wont to lament it as the regrettable climax of a sad period of outdated and retrograde Mariology (they didn’t know JPII was coming soon). So what do we believe? 

 “The Immaculate Mother of God, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul to heavenly glory.” 

Why do we believe it? Briefly, because the Church tells us, and what the Church teaches from revelation. God teaches. (“O my God I believe in you and all your Church teaches, because you have said it and your word is true”.) What the Church teaches, notice; not the best guess of every theologian. If you have a New Testament handy, look up Mt 16:17-19 and Mt 28:18-20. But what about Scripture? Briefly, the Church thinks that Scripture, rightly understood, teaches that Mary was immaculately conceived, and that the Assumption would follow. That totally sinless body would not be allowed by her Son to be undeservedly disfigured by decay or any touch of Satan’s work. Notice in passing that the only reason we believe Scripture tells the truth is because the Church says so. It is the Church which is the “pillar and foundation upon which the truth rests” (1 Tim 3 15); it is the Church which wrote the New Testament, selected the contents, edited it and tells us how to handle it. Problems from science? We say a “body” (matter) is “in” (a place) “heaven”. Are we not involved in insoluble mysteries? Well, yes, we are. These are the same puzzles we have about the Resurrection – and still more about the Blessed Sacrament. But the puzzles are because we do not understand matter, not because we believe in fairy stories. Finally, what does the Assumption mean? It means joy, beauty, reward, bounty, the masterpiece of creation… 

For Jesus, it means that His human love is able to be given totally; for Our Lady, that she can humanly and totally respond to Him. (In heaven there is adoration for our Lord not just by spirits – angels and the saints – but by a real human being with a body). Mary has the reward so richly deserved by her total love. 

We’re glad for Jesus’s sake, for Mary’s, for the angels and saints who rejoice in their good. And we’re glad for our sake, too: what she has we will have one day – she is our Mother.

Link (here) to The Herald to read the full article by Fr. John Edwards, S.J.

“Perfect End To A Very Fine Jesuit Vocation”.

Fr. Andrew Cameron-Mowat, S.J. parish priest at Farm Street church in London, said: “Fr John Edwards, S.J. was greatly loved by an enormous number of people. His dynamic preaching and his mission work will live long in the memory of all who met him. He brought numerous people into the Church." “In my short time so far as parish priest it was a blessing to have his presence at daily Mass in the church, and to receive his frequent words of support and encouragement. He was a remarkable example of a faithful and compassionate priest and a generous companion of Jesus. We will all miss him very much, but rejoice that he is now in the arms of our Blessed Lord. May he rest in peace.” A priest for 49 years, and a member of the Jesuit Community at Mount St for 32 years, Fr Edwards was known to be an excellent confessor who was very successful in encouraging people to attend Confession. He was also a devoted advocate of the practice of receiving indulgences. Fr Anthony Symondson, S.J a fellow Jesuit priest and a friend of Fr Edwards, said his death was a “perfect end to a very fine Jesuit vocation”.

He said:  

“He had a very attractive personality in the sense that people warmed to him. Most of his life, since about 1972, was spent trudging around the country in mission, to large churches and small churches, well-known and obscure churches. His missions took a week and ended with an appeal, and he knew how successful he was by the by the amount of money raised.”  

He continued: “John was a holy man, a wonderful confessor. He regularly gave his Confession, he preached brilliantly, and he made the faith something worth believing in. He had a great effect on individual people, he was delightful company and most of all a Jesuit priest.” After Fr Edwards was diagnosed with lung cancer, Fr Symondson said that he had described it as “a gift from God”.

Link (here) to the full piece at The Herald

"Radicalism Of Obedience."

The Roman Catholic Church authorities have remained adamant in their refusal to allow ordination of woman priests. Church authorities say they cannot ordain women because Jesus did not. According to the Catholic Church, Jesus chose only men as his apostles. Church law says only men may be ordained as priests. 

In 1994, Pope John Paul II issued a letter that said the church "has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women." In 2010, the church declared ordination of women a "grave crime," in the same category as the sexual abuse of minors. A "grave crime" is punishable by "defrocking or excommunication," NBC News reports. Earlier this year, Pope Benedict XVI denounced church priests advocating for women's ordination. He accused them of trying to change the church based on their "own preferences and ideas." For such, the pope recommended what he termed the "radicalism of obedience." 

The Daily Mail reports that although women are forbidden by the church to become priests, some groups have ordained women priests who celebrate Mass outside the official church. Sevre-Duszynska's advocacy group, Roman Catholic Womenpriests, is one of such groups. Fr. Bill Brennan, S.J. and Zawada are not the only Catholic priests who has been stripped of their priestly duties for supporting ordination of women. Last month, the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, dismissed Roy Bourgeois, 74, from the priesthood after he participated in the ordination of Sevre-Duszynska in 2008, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. 

According to NBC News, Sevre-Duszynska urged other priests of the church to "walk in solidarity with [Brennan], stand up for justice and... make it a new world, make it a new day in our church." She added: "It’s time for the rest of the male priests to find the courage to listen to the workings of the Holy Spirit in their heart and conscience." 

 Although he is prohibited from performing priestly duties, Brennan is still a Jesuit and he may celebrate Mass and hear confessions but he can longer perform his priestly duties publicly. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports Brennan said he understood the risks when he took the decision. He said: "Sometimes in our lives we have to trust our conscience and bring about the consequences. I wasn't trying to show off for the ladies." According to the Daily Mail, Brennan worked as a missionary in Belize and Honduras for 16 years. He returned to the United States as a teacher at Jesuit-run Marquette University High School. He later served as a pastor at St. Patrick Church in Milwaukee. In 2007, he traveled to Cuba in spite of U.S. economic blockade, to deliver humanitarian and medical supplies to the Cuban people.

Link (here) to read more at The Digital Journal

Jesuit Christmas Music

All-time favorite Christmas sounds is a CD simply titled Matins from Jesuit Communications, the media arm of the Society Of Jesus order in the Philippines.

While truly timeless in style and guaranteed effective if you crave quiet moments,

it is however not the type that will land in the charts.

Link (here)

A Jesuit On The Creche

'Christ plays in 10,000 faces'

Crèche exhibit casts new light on message of Jesus' Nativity

CLAUDIA BAYLISS

For some married couples, a special aura surrounds their first Christmas. That was true for James and Emilia Govan.Together, they purchased their first crèche in 1962. Then, after a few years, they bought a second one. When several more years passed and they acquired a third, they wondered, Jim Govan says, what they were going to do with three Nativities.Although the Govans didn't know it at the time, that question, which led to their decision to collect Nativity scenes, planted the seed for the exhibition now on display at Loyola University Museum of Art in Chicago."Art of the Crèche: The James and Emilia Govan Collection" grew out of what Jim and Emilia shared: the Roman Catholic faith, an attraction to art and -- rooted in their Lithuanian and Italian immigrant backgrounds -- an interest in different cultures.The couple's collection grew slowly at first, Govan recalls during a recent interview by telephone. But in the early '80s, when they had about 20 Nativities and Jim had started reading up on the crèche's history, he and Emilia decided they wanted to document their budding collection. They wanted to learn as much as they could about the lives of the artists and artisans who made them, as well as the materials they used and how the crèches were made. Today, Govan continues to build the collection, in memory of his wife, who died in 2000. He has more than 450, all stored at his home, and has displayed them in churches and other venues -- including the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington, from 2001 through 2005.The first crèche they bought, however, never leaves Govan's Arlington, Va., home. "It represents in so many ways," he says, "the life I had with my wife. The bond and joy we had together."Although people tend to seek out traditional crèches, Govan's collection, by choice, includes many that are indigenous. The diverse cultures they represent and the sometimes unusual materials they are made of -- including potato clay and cinnamon paste -- draw people in, though. Curiosity about their own ethnic backgrounds leads many to ask, as one person recently did, "Do you have one from Slovakia?" Or Korea? an adopted child wanted to know. He does, he told them, stored in his home.Making the story theirs It's easy for a LUMA visitor to see the collection's enormous appeal. Like the stained-glass windows and Mystery Plays that predate them, crèches tell the story of faith, the

Rev. Mark Bosco says.

The Jesuit priest, an assistant professor of theology and English at Loyola University, gave a talk on the history of the crèche at LUMA on Nov. 27. When the first missionaries were sent out from Europe, "one of the first things they brought with them was the story of the Nativity," Bosco says. Jesuit records show, he adds, that the people they met -- whether from Japan, India, South America, wherever -- "were carving Mary, Joseph and Jesus with the cultural and human characteristics of their own people." Early Christians focused on the cross -- the Crucifixion -- because they saw celebrations of births "as a pagan, a Roman thing," he says. But when the Emperor Constantine issued an edict legalizing Christianity, and after his mother, St. Helena, brought back to Rome from the Holy Land a relic of Jesus' manger, Christians began to focus their attention on His Nativity. Nativities were displayed in the great cathedrals. Then, over time, they became "domesticated," Bosco says, moving into people's homes.

The movement to greater inclusiveness also was occurring in Europe in the 16th century. The Duchess of Amalfi ordered a crèche made in Naples that included 167 figurines, Bosco says. There was the butcher, the baker, and all the other members of a village and the guilds active at that time. The unique Nativity scenes that reflect their makers' cultures communicate the universal need to feel "we belong," Bosco says. "I'm part of this family."

'We Have Seen His Star'

First Point

 

'We have seen His star' 

(St. Matt. ii.).

A miraculous star had appeared in the East to announce the birth of Jesus Christ. Many saw it, but three only resolved to follow it and find the new-born King. If our minds are filled with useless thoughts, if we will follow only our own way, we do not see the light God would give us, and thus we miss His grace.

Second Point. 

'We have seen His star.' 

How great was the mercy and love of God in calling these Wise Men, who were Gentiles, to behold the Messias! Gentiles were all those races and peoples on the earth who were not Jews; for the Jews were God's chosen people, and until the birth of our Lord the Jewish Church was the one true religion.

Reflect on God's goodness to you, who are in the bosom of the Catholic Church, the one true faith.

Third Point. 

'We have seen His star.'

The Wise Men, having seen the star, rose up and followed it, leaving all things they cared for behind them.

Are you willing to make sacrifices for God? In the first ages of the Church even children laid down their lives for the faith; and in all ages, as in our own, even children are often called on to 'confess Christ before men.'

How often are Catholic children sneered at or laughed at by Protestant companions! Then it is they must he brave, remembering that to them has been revealed the star of faith.

Link (here) to Ignatian Meditations for the Young

Jesuit On The Advent Tradition Of "Boy Bishops"

One of the more novel traditions associated with the Feast of St. Nicholas of Myra is the enthronement of boy bishops, cathedral choristers whose honorary episcopacy lasted until the Feast of the Holy Innocents on December 28th. In the pages of William Hone's Every-day Book, an English almanac of the nineteenth-century, we find the following description of the tradition of the boy bishop:

Anciently on the 6th of December, it being St. Nicholas's Day, the choir boys in cathedral churches, chose one of their number to maintain the state and authority of a bishop, for which purpose the boy was habited in rich episcopal robes, wore a mitre on his head, and bore a crosier in his hand; and his fellows, for the time being, assumed the character and dress of priests, yielded him canonical obedience, took possession of the church, and except mass, performed all the ecclesiastical ceremonies and offices.

Link (here) to the full and fascinating post by Jesuit Joe at his blog entitled City and the World

The Advent Massacre By The Natchez Indians: Jesuit Was Beheaded With A Hatchet

A letter from Fr. Mathurin Le Petit, S.J., Missionary, to Fr. Louis D' Avaugour, S.J. Procurator of the missions in North America.

At New Orleans, the 12th of July, 1730.

MY REVEREND FATHER,

The Peace of our Lord be with you :

You cannot be ignorant of the sad event which has desolated that part of the French Colony established at Natchez, on the right bank of the Mississippi river, at the distance of a hundred and twenty leagues from its mouth. Two of our missionaries who were engaged in the conversion of the Indians, have been included in the almost general massacre which this barbarous nation made of the French, at a time too when they had not the least reason to suspect their perfidy. A loss so great as this infant mission has sustained, will continue for a long time to excite our deepest regrets.

As you could only have learned in a confused manner the events of this dark treachery, I will endeavor to relate to you all the circumstances ; but first I think that it would be best to make you acquainted with the character of these perfidious savages, called the Natchez. When I have described to you the religion, the manners, and the customs of these barbarians, I will proceed to the history of the tragical event which I design to narrate, and will in detail recount all those circumstances, of which I am certain you have hitherto had no knowledge. Link (here)

Father Mathurin goes on to say.

Father Paul du Poisson, S.J. had just performed the funeral rites of his associate, the Brother Cruey, who had died very suddenly of a sun-stroke : he was on his way to consult M. Perrier, and to adopt with him proper measures to enable the Akensas to descend to the banks of the Mississippi, for the accommodation of the voyagers. He arrived among the Natchez on the 26th. of November, that is, two days before the massacre. The next day, which was the first Sunday of Advent, he said Mass in the Parish, and preached in the absence of the Cure. He was to have returned in the afternoon to his Mission among the Akensas, but he was detained by some sick persons, to whom it was necessary to administer the Sacraments. On Monday, he was about to say Mass, and to carry the Holy Sacrament to one of those sick persons whom he had confessed the evening before, when the massacre began; a gigantic chief six feet in height, seized him, and having thrown him to the ground, cut off his head with blows of a hatchet. The Father in falling only uttered these words, " Ah, my God ! ah, my God !" Link (here)

Link (here) to the book entitled The Early Jesuit Missions In North America by William Ingraham Kip

288 Georgetown University Employees Donate To Obama

The report at CampusReform.org looks at the “top 23” Catholic colleges, but it is not clear how they were selected. Bias in favor of President Obama is found especially at Georgetown University, where 288 employees gave to his campaign—35 percent of the total Obama donors at all 23 colleges—and only 39 employees gave to Romney. Other colleges weighted heavily toward Obama include the University of Notre Dame (89-9), Boston College (84-7) and Fordham University (66-4).

Link (here) to The Cardinal Newman Society

“Same Sex Tax Law” Brought To You By The University Of Santa Clara

The University of Santa Clara, a Jesuit University, hosts a blog called “Same Sex Tax Law” that not only offers analysis of the tax ramifications of the changing institution of marriage for the gay, lesbian, and transgendered but it’s written by a law professor who publicly roots for same-sex “marriage” right on the university’s website. Professor Patricia Cain, whose areas of expertise include federal taxation, feminist legal theory, and gay and lesbian issues, recently thanked Minnesota voters on the Jesuit university’s website for their vote against upholding traditional marriage and called repealing the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) ”a step in the right direction.” Immediately following the election, Cain wrote a blog post which included a word of thanks to Minnesota voters.

Link (here) to the Cardinal Newman Society

"I Wasn't Trying To Show Off For The Ladies,"

Former Priest Ray Bourgeois and Janice Sevre-Duszynska

The Rev. Bill Brennan, a longtime peace activist, has been ordered not to celebrate the Eucharist or other sacraments publicly, or to present himself publicly as a priest by the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and his religious order, the Society of Jesus. It comes three weeks after Brennan celebrated Mass with Milwaukee native the Janice Sevre-Duszynska during an annual protest at what was historically known as the School of the Americas at Fort Benning near Columbus, Ga. And it follows the excommunication and defrocking of School of the Americas Watch founder the Rev. Roy Bourgeois, a Maryknoll priest who participated in Sevre-Duszynska's 2008 ordination in Lexington, Ky. (The former School of the Americas is now called the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation.) Brennan, who remains a priest and lives with other retired Jesuits in a Wauwatosa retirement home, said he knew he risked censure when he celebrated the sacrament with a woman priest. "Sometimes in our lives we have to trust our conscience and bring about the consequences," said Brennan, a Wauwatosa native who taught at Marquette University High School beginning in 1968 and spent 17 years working in Latin America. "I wasn't trying to show off for the ladies," he said. Fellow peace and social justice advocates voiced disappointment in the censure. And Sevre-Duszynska called it "outrageous" and Brennan "prophetic." "Bill has exemplified with his life the fruits of the spirit," she said. 

"He has worked for justice with the oppressed and marginalized, and for the liberation that Jesus teaches in the Gospel." 

In the Catholic Church, the local bishop -- in this case Archbishop Jerome Listecki -- confers the "faculties" priests require to serve publicly in a geographic area. Jesuit spokesman Jeremy Langford and Listecki's chief of staff, Jerry Topczewski, said it was a joint decision to withdraw Brennan's faculties for public ministry.

Unlike Bourgeois' sanction, the move does not appear to have prompted a Vatican review, at least for now. Both the Jesuits and the archdiocese said they planned to take no further actions against the elderly priest. Brennan, who was arrested during a protest at Fort Benning in 2011, is one of two Milwaukee-area priests who have been sanctioned, at least in part for their actions there.

 A 75-year-old Franciscan priest and peace activist, the Rev. Jerry Zawada, was suspended by the Franklin-based Franciscan Friars Assumption BVM province after celebrating Mass at Fort Benning with Sevre-Duszynska in 2010 and 2011. His case is pending before the Vatican, said the Franciscan provincial, the Rev. John Puodziunas . Zawada, who served previously in the Tucson, Ariz., diocese, said he's had no assignment since his suspension. The Catholic Church prohibits the ordination of women. Sevre-Duszynska, of Lexington, Wis., is ordained in the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests, which represents about 124 priests and 10 bishops around the world. The group claims legitimacy, saying the bishop who ordained its first women bishops stood in apostolic succession -- the line of Catholic bishops who stretch back to Jesus' apostles. The Vatican rejects that argument. The ordination of women in the Catholic Church is highly controversial, though a majority of Catholics appear to support it -- 59 percent, according to a 2010 New York Times and CBS News poll. Theologians have long debated the legitimacy of the ban, and advocates for women priests often are dealt with harshly.

In 2008, the Vatican decreed that women who seek ordination and those who ordain them face automatic excommunication from the church. And in 2010 it listed the attempted ordination of women as a grave sin on par with pedophilia and heresy. 

Brennan said his decision to celebrate Mass with Sevre-Duszynska grew not out of some "wild-eyed liberal" protest or heady theological research, but from his deep admiration for his own mother.

Link (here)

Jesuits To Sell Million Dollar Nestucca Sanctuary

A locked gate on the edge of the Nestucca Bay National Wildlife Refuge is about as close as most people get to the secluded bay front acreage beyond. And that's the way it's been for nearly 75 years. Now, that's about to change. The 93-acre Jesuit-owned Nestucca Sanctuary is up for grabs in a sealed bid auction set to end at 5p.m. Wednesday.  "It's a unique property, so an auction seemed the way to go," said Bill Lockyear, chief financial officer for the Society of Jesus, Oregon Province. The move to sell the sanctuary is a part of trend within the Society nationally, and comes as retreat use within the church has declined, Lockyear said. The Jesuits developed the site in the late 1930s to be used by novitiates as a place of study and reflection. It continued to be used in that manner for about 50 years until they converted it to a retreat facility for groups inside and out of the church. It's been fairly empty for about five years, Lockyear said. The drive to the property winds through the refuge, past deer and geese, wetlands and meadow, then up and over the headland and down again through dense forest of Sitka spruce, Alder and Hemlock. A two-story wood lodge perches about 50 feet above Nestucca Bay with more than a mile of shoreline, and views to the north of Haystack Rock and to the south of the Pacific Ocean. There are rooms for 14 in the main lodge, plus a dormitory and four cabins, adding up to accommodations for 38. There is also a tiny reflecting pool with nearby seating. A bid of $1,295,000 is the price the seller is obligated to sell at, though they could opt to accept a lower bid. 

Link (here)

Georgetown University Pays Homosexual Protestant Bishop To Speak To Students

Mark Andrew and Gene Robinson

Bishop Gene Robinson, the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church, spoke recently at Georgetown University after a screening of the documentary Love Free or Die — a documentary about Robinson’s relationship with a man and his rise to becoming a bishop in the Episcopal Church, according to the student newspaper. The Georgetown University Lecture Fund reportedly sponsored the event in conjunction with the University’s LGBTQ Resource Center. Robinson has come out publicly in support of the HHS mandate, spoke out in favor of abortion rights, and most recently even penned a piece for The Washington Post‘s On Faith blog in the lead up to the election that blasted the Catholic bishops for standing against gay “marriage.” He wrote:

Maryland’s Roman Catholic bishops’ caution that marriage equality “infringe[s] upon the religious liberties of individuals and institutions” displays either an ignorance of what the law actually says, or an intentional distortion of the truth.

Link (here) to The Cardinal Newman Society

Wisconsin Jesuit Celebrates Mass With Woman His Priestly Faculties Suspended

Fr. Bill Brennan, S.J. and Janice Sevre-Duszynska

A Catholic priest who participated in a eucharistic liturgy with a woman priest last month has been ordered to no longer celebrate the Mass or perform any other priestly duties. Jesuit Fr. Bill Brennan, a 92-year-old Milwaukee-area priest, said the superior of his religious community told him of the restrictions Nov. 29, saying they came at the request of Archbishop Jerome Listecki. Brennan, a retired parish priest and former missionary to Belize, participated in a liturgy Nov. 17 with Janice Sevre-Duszynska, a woman ordained in the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests movement. Brennan said he was hesitant to confirm the news regarding his loss of faculties because he was also ordered not to talk to the press. "I'm risking my existence in the Jesuit order by talking to you," Brennan told NCR. "But if I've committed a serious sin, [the archbishop] is supposed to be responsible for condemning me ... he's supposed to stand up and be responsible for that."

Brennan said the restrictions include:

• Suspension of priestly faculties, prohibiting him from performing any priestly duties in public;
• Refraining from contact with media, "through phone, email, or any other means";
• Not appearing as a Jesuit at any "public gatherings, protests or rallies";
• Not leaving the Milwaukee area "for any reason" without his superior's permission.

Brennan said he hasn't had any formal communication with Listecki. Jeremy Langford, the director of communications for the Jesuits' Chicago-Detroit province, which is merging with the Wisconsin province, said in a statement Monday the order removed Brennan's priestly faculties "after conversation with the Archdiocese of Milwaukee." The Jesuits "did not approve or sanction" the November eucharistic liturgy and "regrets Fr. Brennan's participation in it," read the statement. "The Wisconsin province has no plans to take any further action," 

Langford said in an interview, calling Brennan a "wonderful Jesuit" who has "fought for great causes his whole life."Julie Wolf,  communications director for the Milwaukee archdiocese, said the restrictions on Brennan were a "mutually agreed upon decision" between Listecki and Brennan's Jesuit provincial, Fr. Tom Lawler. 

Brennan likened his support for women's ordination to support for women's suffrage: He remembers that at one time, his mother was not able to vote. "I was born in 1920," Brennan said. "All the while my mother was carrying me and six months after, she could not vote. That's the real initiative in my attitude toward women's ordination." Brennan said he understands arguments that women do not have a right to ordination and said ordination is a "privilege that is granted to men." "Why isn't it granted to both?" the priest asked. "And the fundamental approach that I have is that, after all, women have an eminent role to play in the work of creation of children with men. What about the sanctification process? Don't they have any share in the preaching of the Gospel?"

The Vatican labels the ordination of women in the Catholic church as a grave offense and says participants are excommunicated latae sententiae, or automatically. Pope John Paul II's 1994 letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis effectively forbade discussion of the issue, saying the church's teaching on the matter was to be "definitively held by all the Church's faithful." Before deciding to participate in the November liturgy, Brennan said he discussed the matter with Lawler. 

The invitation to join Sevre-Duszynska at the liturgy was causing him a "real, genuine conscience problem," Brennan said he told Lawler. "I'm not trying to defy the church," Brennan said he told Lawler, adding that he sees women's ordination as a legitimate question. "Why is it that this privilege of celebrating the Mass and preaching, why is that exclusively a male privilege? Where do we get that? Isn't that worth discussing?" Lawler told him not to assist at the liturgy, Brennan said. "At the time, I was still struggling to try to decide what I wanted to do, because obviously I knew I might end up outside the Jesuit order," Brennan said. "But I just felt this was an earthy issue, and you can't cover it over with spiritual or authoritarian dictates."

Link (here) to NCR for the full story.

Slog Through An Hour Of Ignatius

It was long rumored that Antonio Banderas (the cousin of a Jesuit) was set to play St. Ignatius of Loyola on screen. But any marketable screenplay would end after the founding of the Society of Jesus. Few moviegoers would want to slog through an hour of Ignatius sitting at his desk composing the Constitutions or writing one of the 6,813 letters he wrote during his lifetime.

Link (here) to the full article by Fr. James Martin, S.J.

Jesuit High School Hosts Presentation On Sex Slavery

Francisco Lopez

Chris Killmer once met a woman who had been enslaved as a laborer in Portland for 12 years. She was beaten and subjected to sexual violence by the affluent, foreign-born resident who coerced her into slavery.

Human trafficking for sex and labor is an ugly and real problem in Oregon, Killmer, a program manager with the nonprofit Immigration Counseling Service, told 75 Catholic school students attending Jesuit High School's first-ever Social Justice Summit on Sunday. And it's up to the students to get the word out. "The primary way to get ahead on this thing is awareness," said Killmer, whose group provides legal and social services to immigrant communities. "Most people don't even know this is happening." The summit brought together students from the Portland area's six Catholic high schools to learn about human trafficking and immigration issues, and to inspire them to do something about it, said Scott Powers, director of Christian Services at Jesuit. Speakers detailed the reality of slavery in the state: People are forced into prostitution or, more commonly, farm, home or factory labor, and are kept there through abuse and threats to their families. Students from the Portland-metro areas six Catholic high schools listen to a presentation by Francisco Lopez of Causa Oregon, a Latino immigrant rights organization. Lopez told students that as Catholics, it'€™s their mission to seek social justice a mission for which he was tortured and exiled from his native El Salvador. Eilise Ward/The Oregonian Jesuit High students plan to meet with members of Oregon's Congressional delegation in February about human trafficking, and the summit was a rallying cry for other schools to do the same. "Service and advocacy -- those are the two feet of social action," Powers said. "And all Catholic schools teach that." The keynote speaker, Francisco Lopez with Causa Oregon, a Latino immigrant rights organization, told students that as Catholics, they "need to become the microphone of God."

Jesuit On The Radio

Fr. Rocco Danzi, S.J., director of campus ministry at Saint Peter's University, discussed vocations, spirituality and engaging young adults in ministry and service on The Busted Halo Show with Fr. Dave Dwyer on Sirus XM Radio on Oct. 23. Click here to listen to the interview.

 

Book On Liturgy By Controversial Jesuit

Bookstores are full of Atlas maps. Everything from geographical, to historical, economic and even linguistic. But now Rome has a new addition: an Atlas that deals with Christian ceremonies.  It's called the Historical Atlas of the Liturgy which was authored by Jesuit priest Keith F. Pecklers. It shows the evolution of the liturgy from the first Christians to the present.   

Link (here) to the video by Rome Reports

Meet Fordham's Tracy Higgins And Bridgette Dunlap

Fr. Joseph McShane, S.J.

I’ll admit that I was slightly disheartened at first to read that Campus Notes, the Cardinal Newman Society (CNS) blog, was covering this controversy at Fordham. What it entails is a group of faculty at Fordham University Law School arguing that since Father McShane did not cancel the Ann Coulter event, the university should provide funding for pro-abortion groups and The Vagina Monologues. Tracy Higgins, professor at the law school, and Bridgette Dunlap, who is known for her involvement in reproductive rights groups and is a human rights fellow at the Leitner Center for International Law and Justice, wrote an open letter to Father McShane, which is included in the linked article.  It is true that Father McShane did express “disgust” in the College Republicans for inviting Ann Coulter to campus, but he did not cancel the event. The decision to rescind the invitation was made by the College Republicans Executive Board. It was perhaps questionable to invite Ann Coulter, and the College Republicans did realize this. I am not trying to rehash the Ann Coulter controversy, which has been explained sufficiently enough in the article regarding Peter Singer, but it is important to put the matter into context, in order to explain why the faculty group’s logic is so faulty.

Link (here) to read the rather lengthy article at Live Action News

Georgetown Jesuit Community Hosts Catholic Anti-Catholic

Former World Bank official Robert Calderisi is an openly gay Catholic who, in an open letter to Pope Benedict XVI, endorsed the ordination of women, promoted gay “marriage,” and objected to the Church’s teaching on homosexuality. In that letter, he even called the Church’s refusal to ordain women ”un-Christian.” Yet Georgetown University, a Jesuit university, is hosting him next week to speak on the topic of The Catholic Church and World Development Since 1945.

Calderisi will address the impact of the Catholic Church on economic and social progress in Africa, Asia and Latin America at Georgetown on Tuesday December 4th. His appearance is sponsored by the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, the Georgetown Jesuit Community, and the SFS Program on Global Human Development.

Link (here) to The Cardinal Newman Society