I Was In St. Louis To Explore Becoming A Priest

Former Jesuit Tino Paz

Lynn Casmier-Paz and Augustine (who goes by Tino) Paz met in 1981 at St. Louis University, where he was

studying philosophy with the intention of becoming a Jesuit priest. They have been married 30 years and live in central Florida, where she is an associate professor of English and he has worked with various social service organizations. The couple has three adult children. A condensed and edited version of our conversation follows:

How did you meet?

Tino: Through her brother Stephen, who was a dorm mate of mine. Stephen invited me to spend time with his family at Thanksgiving. We’re both from large families, so I fit in quite well. And he had three beautiful sisters, so that was a bonus.

Lynn: The first time I met Tino was when I’d come home to St. Louis for Christmas from Loyola University in Chicago and went to visit my brother in the dorm. I walked in and there was this guy with a scruffy beard, having this intense debate with Stephen and holding his own. I immediately respected his courage.

Was the attraction immediate?

Lynn: There is no doubt I was attracted. He was a strange character. He came from Florida and he would wear a heavy jacket and flip-flops. His face and feet were really tan even in the middle of winter. He was also the only Cuban-American I had met.

Tino: I found her very interesting and good looking, but I was in St. Louis to explore becoming a priest. We had great conversations, but it really gradually developed into a romantic relationship. Stephen and Lynn and I really just hung out a lot until he left to study abroad in France.

Had you always wanted to be a priest?

Tino: No, I was studying to become a chemical engineer in Florida when my grandmother, who was a very spiritual person and a great influence on me, died. I decided that if I didn’t do something to make her proud I would be throwing my life away. I told my dad I was changing my major and he didn’t speak to me for weeks. But I needed a change of scenery and a good friend’s father had graduated from St. Louis University. Philosophy was my declared major.

How did the relationship evolve?

Lynn: Tino had come to become a priest. I respected that. But when my brother left for France, we were still in St. Louis together; we were able to share things with each other and speak more intimately. We were always together on campus.

When did it feel like more than a friendship?

Tino: We had all our meals together on campus and we hung out all the time, but I think the first date was the first time I decided to kiss Lynn. We spent a lot of time just talking; all very platonic, but at one point we were talking outside the dorm and I just kissed her; that was a big turning point for me.

Lynn: We went to the St. Louis arch because he had never been. We were together all day and night; had dinner and went to our separate dorms at 2 a.m. and that was the first date, the turning point. I had so much fun.

How did that affect your path to the priesthood?

Tino: When I had my introduction with the seminary director, one of the things he asked me was if I was dating and had I dated. I told him I had, but was not currently, and he encouraged me not to withdraw from romantic relationships at this point. That created room for possibility for me; kissing her wasn’t going to decide things one way or the other and I could explore my relationship with her. Toward the end of college it became clear that my options were to go into the priesthood or marry Lynn — and I wanted to marry Lynn. I wanted to make a life commitment.

The proposal?

Lynn: We were walking back to the dorms, laughing about something, and he said, “I want to marry you.” He looked me right in the face and I said, “Hell, no.” I didn’t take it seriously. This was early in the fall of ’82 and we just kept going, but that’s when things got more intensely romantic.

Tino: It was awkward. I realized that I wanted to do it, but I presented it in a way like she almost didn’t have a choice; she didn’t take me seriously and I didn’t argue. We continued our relationship and I wasn’t going anywhere. Eventually she would come around. It was probably a couple of months at most.

How did your families feel?

Lynn: He told my mother, who was very religious. Tino had a special, pious relationship with her. I think she knew better than to question his leaving the path to priesthood. She’d seen him with me all the time, but I think also didn’t feel it was her position to ask.

Tino: The biggest issue was that Lynn is African-American. I knew that wouldn’t go over well with my family. My father felt that I was subjecting myself to racism. That was the one thing that made me think about whether or not they would welcome and embrace Lynn. Father John Kavanagh at the university was the one who helped me to understand that they may not, but that if this was the person I loved and I was not with her I would have bigger regrets. They were resistant until we set a date; then they knew this was serious and they all came to my wedding. Stephen was surprised; he didn’t know until we were engaged that our relationship had evolved.

And leaving the path to priesthood?

Tino: I realized that I could still work in service and continue to be spiritually grounded without becoming a formal cleric. We are all called to serve on different levels.

The wedding?

Lynn: Tino graduated in the spring and we got married July 23, 1983. It was so low budget and it was so hot, like 103 degrees. We had the reception at my mother’s house with a boom box in the backyard. It was catered by our postman. 

Link (here) to the full interview at the NYT

Superior General And Holy Father Speak Of Radical Change In Priestly Formation

Superior General Adolfo Nicolás also told the provincials that Pope Benedict XVI sought the help of the Society for the integrated formation of priests and stressed the need for a radical change in priestly formation during a “one-on-one” meeting he had with the pope.

Link (here) to Jesuit.org

Turk Jesuit

Let me give you a special example because it concerns a Turk. This young man did not find answers to his questions in the Islamic tradition. He went to an imam who ordered him to read the Koran and advised him not to ask too many questions that could lead him astray. 

One day he entered a church during Mass and heard 'Take and eat it, this is my Body'. God who becomes flesh, who becomes a companion on the way of man and who gives him his Body cannot be accepted in the Islamic tradition but at the same time this is something fascinating. Then the young Turk visited a priest and began discussing fundamental questions about life. 

The priest's answers were so convincing that he 'entered the way' leading to conversion to Christianity. When he was baptised he decided to devote his whole life to Christ. Today Antuan Ilgit is in the Jesuit novitiate in Italy and he dreams of returning to Turkey and working with the youth in his own country.

Link (here) to Sunday

Jesuit Novice's Building A Baseball Field In 1892

In March of 1886, after an exhaustive search, the Jesuits from Mission Santa Clara purchased 39 acres of land located just south of Los Gatos on which to build the Novitiate of the Sacred Heart, today the Sacred Heart Jesuit Center at 300 College Ave.

In 1892, the property was expanded to include a hill at the back of the novitiate where the novices built a baseball field.  

The boys wore clothing similar to that of the Spanish missionaries; long coats and broad-brimmed hats which protected their eyes and faces from the sun.

Link (here) to The Los Gatos Patch

A Campaign Of Ignatian Retreats

Fr. Francis de Paule Vallet Francis de Paule Vallet's entrance into the Jesuits followed an Ignatian retreat. But he didn’t enter the Jesuits to follow a religious vocation as an untried young man. He entered tested by trial, converted by grace and pre-occupied with one great idea: to convert the world and turn it back to Christ by converting the adult man. The question and its resolution were clear: Convert the world by getting adult men to do the Exercises and do them well. He threw his whole soul into the novitiate and sought ardently after perfection. The testimony of his saintly Novice Master amply proves the purity and goodness of his soul. But more striking than this is that the serious Jesuit fathers permitted the young Vallet to organize a campaign of retreats during his novitiate. Though he couldn’t preach, he was the driving organizing impetus behind a campaign of retreats that within a couple years drew over 1800 men. Completing his novitiate in 1909, Fr. Vallet followed the classical Jesuit curriculum for eleven years. Two years after His priestly ordination in 1920, he was given his first assignment to preach retreats in Manresa. From this time on he would devote his energies to the realization of his divinely inspired plan: the conversion of the adult man through the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius. To meet this objective, Fr. Vallet, with the permission and approval of his beloved superiors, left the Jesuits to found the Parish Cooperators of Christ the King. Parish Cooperators devoted themselves entirely to the preaching of the Ignatian Retreat. A retreat campaign began by a series of preparatory conferences given in various places in the target regions.These conferences were directed by the Father but were complemented by the testimony of one or more Parish Cooperators. There then followed intense publicity which included the foot-work of Parish Cooperators going door to door, speaking in public places, taverns and barbershops, etc. After this preparatory work came the campaign of retreats itself. One retreat was preached and then followed by two or three others. The retreats always increased in numbers because the alumni of one retreat became the ardent promoters for the next. The following figures will give an idea of the effectiveness of the first 5 years  of Fr. Vallet’s campaigns in Spain:

1923 In three campaigns of 19 retreats 1,293 retreatants 1924 In five campaigns of 27 retreats 1,400 retreatants for a total of 2,697 1925 In five campaigns of 35 retreats 2,620 retreatants for a total of 5,317 1926 " " " 3,223 retreatants for a total of 8,540 1927 " " " 4,103 retreatants for a total of 12,643

Link (here) to read the full story at The Society of St. Pius X  Link (here) to a current Ignatian retreat campaign.  "Hearts on Fire"

New Jesuit Novice Shares Critics' Questions Of The Church

Daniel Kennedy is entering the Jesuit novitiate at a time when membership in religious orders is shrinking. The Jesuits’ ranks worldwide have dwindled to about half their peak of 36,000 in the mid-1960s.

 Just 32 Americans entered the order as novices last year. The Roman Catholic Church is still reeling from the sexual abuse crisis and facing a severe shortage of priests in the United States. Recent actions by the church hierarchy - including the Vatican’s reprimand of American nuns and the US bishops’ investigation of the Girl Scouts - have drawn scathing criticism. 

Kennedy says he sees the church as a dynamic institution, and that he feels responsible for helping to bring about its renewal. “I’m not entering the church of 50 years ago or 500 years ago. I’m entering the church in 2012,’’ he said. “So you have to be realistic about the challenges of the images of priesthood in this day and age. . . . I don’t find it daunting, but it’s going to be a challenge.’’ 

He says he shares some of the critics’ questions, such as why the Vatican decided to investigate the US nuns, and why the church has taken such a hard line against gay relationships. He talks about the importance of lay empowerment and of affirming the role of women as leaders in the church. When he becomes a priest, he says, he plans to adopt a consensus-building approach, as some of the best priests he knows have done.  

“The intentions of leadership within the church I don’t think are bad - I don’t think they wake up every day and say, ‘How can we make someone’s life miserable?’’’ he said. “But . . . what is the lived experience of Catholics today? You have to account for that.’’

Link (here) to read the full story at Boston.com 
Fr. James Martin, S.J. on the subject (here)

Jesuit Novitite Party Thrower

An excerpt from the Catholics in Media website. Catholics in Media recently recognized the Modern Family tv show

Fr. Eddie Siebert, S.J. was technical advisor for the MGM/Frank Mancuso, Jr. production STIGMATA, starring Gabriel Byrne and Patricia Arquette. He has consulted for THE WEST WING, THE SOPRANOS, and other major television and film productions. Siebert’s hands-on training included stints with WDIV Detroit (NBC) and WWL New Orleans (CBS), both of which resulted in broadcast specials (CRACK HOUSE, TOGETHER AND ALIVE.) In addition, Siebert has worked on the staff of the Sundance Film Festival and the San Francisco Film Festival. He has taught high school, served as a retreat director, and is a regular instructor at Loyola Marymount University. Siebert received an MFA in film production from Loyola Marymount University’s School of Film and Television. He also holds a Masters Degree in Education Administration from the University of San Francisco and a Master of Divinity from the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley. Siebert lives in Los Angeles at the Jesuit Novitiate where he serves as minister and party-thrower.

Link (here)

Abundance Of Divine Light

St. Aloysius Gonzaga, S.J.

Passing over the names of many grave, learned, and pious divines, names carrying much weight in their day, we may rest satisfied with the testimony of the great Robert Bellarmine, whose high reputation for spiritual gifts and theological science is still fresh in our times. As Aloysius's confessor, we have had occasion to record his opinion more than once in the course of the saint's life. It may here be added that he was in the habit of saying that so long as Aloysius was at the college, he did not fear that any evil could happen to it; and in a discourse delivered before the whole community in the year 1608, he has left on record an attestation truly remarkable, as coming from one whose own soul was so sublimely illuminated. 

"When I gave," he said, "the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius to Luigi, I discovered in him such abundance of divine light, that I must confess that, at my advanced age, I learned from this youth how to meditate." 

When raised to the Cardinalate, the venerable prelate not only continued his yearly practice of repairing to the College church of the Company to venerate the tomb of Aloysius on his anniversary, but used to make a devout visit to the room whence he had taken his flight to Heaven, and there would shed tears of tenderness in memory of their last parting. Viewing this apartment as a hallowed spot, he did not think it ought to be used any longer as a common infirmary, and the superiors readily acquiesced in his desire. 

Heaven itself seemed to signify its approval, for many times was sweetest music heard to issue from it. No research could ascertain the source of these melodious strains; whence it was piously inferred that they proceeded from choirs of angels who descended to consecrate with their songs the spot from which their loved companion had left the earth to take his place in their glorious ranks. 

When the Holy See had declared Aloysius to be in the possession of eternal glory, the cardinal had this room converted into a chapel at his own expense. He rendered his crowning testimony by desiring to be laid after death at the feet of "the blessed Aloysius," once his spiritual son, but, in the spirit of obedience, left the disposition of his body to the will of his superiors; and they, to confer upon him the greatest honour within their power, deposited him in the same

Link (here) to the book entitled, The Life of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, S.J.

Fr. James Schall, S.J. On The Meaning Of Christmas

But what about this “putting Christ back into Christmas?” When I first entered the Society of Jesus,

the custom of most Jesuit houses was to treat Advent as a period of expectation, of penance.

My own family had always put the tree up in mid-December, if not earlier. Anticipation was the mood. As novices, our first Christmas did not begin till Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. The celebration was after the event, not before. The twelve days of Christmas were in fact counted. We did not take down Christmas decorations till the Octave of the Epiphany.

Link to the article (here)

Novices in the Society of Jesus:Antonio Valentino, S.J. and the Novitiate at Novellara, Italy
by Fr. Peter J. Tongi, S.J.  Go read the very interesting essay  (here)

Half A Million Dollar Jesuit

The Oregon Province includes 40 men, who are at various stages of their formation. These days, most already have college degrees when they join the order, but still must study philosophy and theology. The process of becoming a Jesuit takes 10 to 11 years, Duffy says, and costs an average of about $42,721 per year per person. The province pays the men's tuition (even at Jesuit universities), travel and living expenses and health care. During their formation process,

Link (here) to The Oregonian

Without Vices Or Frivolity

The outline of the once far-famed Institute of Ignatius of Loyola, than which nothing can be conceived better calculated 

to organize a powerful and effective body of men, with cultivated minds and subdued passions, possessing the gravity and decorum of the cloister without its sullenness and reserve, and the suavity and accomplishments of the world, without its vices or frivolity. 

That there were exceptions to this character is not to be doubted, but such exceptions were rare; and even in cases where vice had set her seal on the heart of the priest, she veiled herself under an exterior of decency and modesty : and where ambition had fired the imagination, its flames were shrouded within the temple of his own breast. But, if his example was less likely to offend, his designs were more difficult to penetrate, and his misconduct more difficult to detect; consequently dismission from the society was less likely to occur. 

The founder, however, as far as possible, provided against such an evil, by the scrupulousness and care with which the candidates for admission were examined ; and cautious indeed must have been the youth who could have so far veiled his natural disposition, as to suppress any indications of his illicit tendencies, if they really existed, during the whole period of his novitiate, in a place where there were numerous eyes upon him, sharpened by observation and experience in the knowledge of character, to watch and report them. 

These regulations display profound policy; but the wisdom of Ignatius is no where more conspicuous than in those provisions which he made for the education, not only of the novices, to which the attention of the society was for four or five years after its establishment chiefly confined, but of all such youths as chose to enter themselves in their colleges.

Link (here) to the portion of the book entitled The Retrospective Review

"If God Sends You Great Sufferings, It Is A Sign He Will Make You A Great Saint;"

Ignatius practised self-examination as strictly as he enjoined it. He once asked a Father, how often he had examined himself that day? The Father answered ' seven times.' 'Only seven times !' said Ignatius, and yet it was not much past noon. At mid-day and at night he made what he called 'particular examination,' which referred to some besetting fault. He kept a string, on which he tied a knot as often as he fell into this fault; it is said that he did this up to a few hours before his death. 

A Father asked him how to obtain perfect humility. 'This is the way,' said Ignatius; 'do exactly the opposite of what is done by men of the world—hate what they seek, and seek what they avoid.' Ignatius gave large instructions on this subject to novices; he impressed on them that 'humility is truth.' 

He had absorbed this, so to speak, so thoroughly into his mind, that he said he feared vainglory less than any other sin. But charity, the love of God, and of man, for God's sake, was his passion, that which engrossed his whole soul atid stamped his character. All his instructions ended with these words, many times repeated—' Love God with all your heart, and all your soul, and all your will.' He said if he could go to hell without a sin of his own, he should suffer more from the evil tongues of the damned, blaspheming God, than from the torments of hell fires. And he thought that to endure affliction for Christ's sake was the greatest safety and the highest privilege that a Christian could desire. 

He said, 'If God sends you great sufferings, it is a sign He will make you a great saint; and if you wish Him to make you a great saint, pray that He may send you great sufferings.' 'All the honey which can be extracted from worldly pleasures is not so sweet as the gall and vinegar of Christ.'  

And he told Ribadeneira one day, with joy, that our Saviour had granted him a favour long asked, that the heritage of the Passion should never fail the Society.

Link (here) to read the original passage in the book, Ignatius Loyola and the early Jesuits

When God Wants You

A young Jerry Brown in boxing gloves

Reams have been written about Jerry Brown's relationship with his father. When Jerry was in his final year at St. Ignatius High School, he decided at age 17 to become a priest. He needed parental permission to enter the Sacred Heart Novitiate in Los Gatos. It wasn't forthcoming. 'Wait until next year,' his father suggested, hoping, so the story goes, that young Jerry would change his mind and eventually follow in his footsteps: university, law school and politics. 'When God wants you,' young Brown protested, 'He doesn't want you next year.' (Springfield Union, June 6, 1976)

Link (here) to the full article at Mercury News

The Former St. Francis Xavier's Novitiate

The June 3-16 Catholic Sentinel reported that the former St. Francis Xavier's Novitiate in Sheridan, Oregon, where young Jesuits were formed for decades, is now the Delphian School, a private boarding school that developed in the 1970s. The article went on to say that the school is affiliated with the Church of Scientology. Delphian school officials say that last point is a common misunderstanding. The Delphian school, they explain, uses study methods developed by L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the Church of Scientology but is not affiliated with the church.

Link (here) to read the original piece at The Catholic Sentential .

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.

Jesuit In First Studies

Henry “H.J.” Shea, S.J., who graduated from the College in 2007, had convinced himself he would become a lawyer. “I had a whole plan mapped out,” says Shea, now in the “First Studies” stage of his Jesuit training. “But midway through my freshman year, I had a powerful spontaneous experience in prayer that changed my life.” “I had a strong sense of being called to a Jesuit vocation, accompanied by a deep joy,” he explains.

Link (here) to the complete article.

My Dad Was An AP Jesuit

Brian Dennehy

Brian Dennehy was raised in Red Hook until he was 12, when the family moved to Mineola, L.I.  "My father had gone to the seminary and took advantage of all the education before strategically announcing that he had no vocation and managed to land himself a job with The Associated Press," says Dennehy.

"He became what I like to call an AP Jesuit. 

One of those Irishmen who told me and my brothers, 'Take whatever job you want as long as it has a pension.'"

Link (here) to read the full article.

One A Year

Since 1980 alone, 30 Georgetown alumni have entered the Society of Jesus, which represents the largest male religious order in the world. The following profiles tell the story of several alumni in various stages of Jesuit formation.  Link (here) to Georgetown's website

Contemplating The Priesthood

At St. Mary's High School, where (you have got read this link>)  Thomas Slabon recently graduated, 

there are two other students contemplating the priesthood, 

said religion teacher Kishanie Jayasundera. 

Slabon wants to be a Jesuit priest.
Link (here) to the Daily Gleaner