A Multimillion Dollar Jesuit Real Estate Purchase

The Cardinal's Residence

While the adjacent St Joseph’s University has sought for decades to expand across Cardinal Avenue by acquiring the Archdiocesan' "Cardinal's Residence" parcel -- even placing a standing offer for the property in the mid-2000s -- an open bidding process is expected to be held. Despite having spent $92.5 million in 2005 to buy and adapt a 38-acre parcel across the street, the Jesuit-run school is still considered the most likely party to make the winning offer for its neighboring diocesan plot. That result would echo the most prominent house-sale by an American hierarch in recent years: Cardinal Sean O’Malley’s $172 million, three-part deal with Boston College for the famed Brighton Chancery compound, whose 65 acres served as the nerve center of the New England archdiocese for over a century.

Pro Abortion Boilerplate

Harriet K. Goodheart, Assistant Vice President for University Communications at Saint Joseph’s University released this statement to the Cardinal Newman Society:

Lynn Sherr

Lynn Sherr’s lecture is sponsored by the Classics and Ancient Studies Programs. According to the director of the Classics program, she will not speak  as a Classics scholar but as a highly successful journalist and author who can speak to the great value of studying Classical languages, history, and culture (she was a Greek major at Wellesley College).  The lecture she gave at University of New Hampshire (“Why in Heaven’s Name Are You Majoring in Greek?”) was a good model for the type of presentation she might give at SJU. The Catholic, Jesuit identity of Saint Joseph’s University is paramount, reflected daily in the classrooms, campus life and residence halls.  Saint Joseph’s is also a private, independent and comprehensive university, where academic rigor and faith come together in a full exchange of ideas.  The emphasis is on a complete educational experience for every student. Saint Joseph’s is fully aware of its multiple responsibilities and remains committed to providing a forum for the expression of differing points of view.  This is not done for the purpose of condoning specific behavior, but to promote an informed and compassionate understanding of contemporary issues.  Further, the university supports diversity as a means of educating students about basic human differences.  Social justice, like cura personalis, is deeply rooted in the Catholic, Jesuit tradition.

Link (here) to read the full story at The Cardinal Newman Society
The definition of boilerplate (here)

Some Jesuit Universities "Expanding The Circle"

From March 3 through 6, an Expanding the Circle conference was held at the Hotel Nikko in San Francisco. Expanding the Circle is an initiative of the California Institute of Integral Studies, and its stated purpose is “Creating an inclusive environment in higher education for LGBT/Q students and studies.” Catholic universities were well represented.

Fr. Donal Godfrey, S.J.

Titles of some of the workshops at the conference indicated the bias common to post-modern social science, that reality is a human construction: “Reimagining S@xual Desire and Spiritual Longing in Sacred Texts”; “Does G-d Really Hate Me: Reconstructing and Reinterpreting Challenging Religious Texts”; “(Re)vamping the Que@riculum: Issues in the Teaching of Language and S@xuality”; “Imagining Qu@er Selves: LGBTQ Literature, Libraries, and the Coming Out Process”; and the near-parodic “Fostering Multivariate Inclusion: Multiple Marginalized Identities and the Interplay of Sexuality.” Others, while more crudely titled, were quite clear: “That’s SO G@y: Queering the Curriculum in High Schools through Community Collaboration”; “Ripe for the Picking: Queer-Themed FIGs (First-Year Interest Groups)”, and “Building a Successful LGBTQ Program at Catholic Institutions.” The following Catholic schools participated: College of the Holy Cross, DePaul University, Dominican University, Georgetown University, Loyola Marymount University, Marian University, Marquette University, Santa Clara University, St. Anselm College, St. Edward’s University, St. Joseph’s University, St. Louis University, and the University of San Francisco. 

Link (here) to read the full article at California Catholic Daily

The Lawsuit Was Settled In 2000, However The Issue Is Still Not Settled

St. Joseph's University

The Rev. Thomas F. Gleeson, who is a Jesuit priest and part-time chaplain at St. Joseph's University, was the target of a civil sexual-harassment lawsuit in 1999 in California. John Bollard alleged in the suit that Gleeson and two other priests harassed him for five years while he was a seminarian at the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley, where Gleeson was president. The suit was settled in 2000 out of court, with the priests denying any wrongdoing. Bollard, who said he was 25 when the incidents started, alleged in the suit that Gleeson had asked him to m@sturbate with him. The other Jesuit priests, Andrew "Drew" Sotelo and Anton "Tony" Harris, were accused of sending suggestive porn@raphic pictures of n@ked men to Bollard and asking him to cruise g@y bars. Harris resigned from Seattle University in October 2006, days after the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported on the case.

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

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

Fr. Thomas J. Reese, S.J.

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

"If You've Met One Jesuit, You've Met One Jesuit."

Chris Canlas, SJ

The Jesuits with whom I live and work take varying approaches to the issue of attire: some never wear clerics, some wear them for part or most of the time, and some wear them all the time (indeed, one priest in my community goes a step further and regularly dons a traditional Jesuit cassock when going out to do pastoral work). Though we rarely discuss such matters in community, I'm sure that each Jesuit could offer his own well-articulated rationale to explain why he dresses as he does. Given the diversity of the global Society of Jesus, it would be unwise to try to generalize too much about Jesuits' attitudes and practices in this area. At the very least, I should emphasize that anyone who presumes that Jesuits never wear clerics is quite mistaken - even if the Jesuits that you know don't wear clerics, you shouldn't take their example as representative of the universal Society. To quote an old and wise saying, "If you've met one Jesuit, you've met one Jesuit."

Link (here) to the full post at The City and the World a blog by Jesuit regent, Joseph Koczera  

Spirit, Intellect And Purpose

In 2004, Saint Joseph's University came under attack from the Catholic Standard & Times, a Dioceses of Philadelphia-based Roman Catholic publication, for promotion of "Rainbow Week." Six years later, there's a different name-"Unity Week"-but the same unfounded and offensive criticisms. Tradition Family Property (TFP) Student Action recently posted on its website plans to actively protest this year's Unity Week at St. Joe's. The group attacked the "pro-hom@sexual" event, claiming that "this event invites the wolves to confuse and scatter the flock-Catholic college students-and that's unacceptable."

Link (here) to St. Joseph's student newspaper The Hawk.

Jesuit University Gets A Million Bucks From The US Government

Saint Joseph’s University has received a $1 million grant from the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Program (EEREA) to fund key research and public education projects that will promote and advance responsible environmental stewardship. The award will also enable SJU to formally establish a proposed Institute for Environmental Stewardship.

“This DOE award will position Saint Joseph’s to enter into research that will be meaningful to both the sustainability movement and to the education of students who are interested in careers in the environmental sciences,” says William Madges, Ph.D., dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “With its emphasis on public education programs, it also supports our Jesuit mission by providing opportunities to contribute to the greater good.” The planned research initiatives focus on two different projects, one involving switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), a potential biofuel crop, and another involving a comparison of green roof systems

Link (here) to read the full press release from Saint Joseph University

The Hawk Will Never.................................

Barbelin Hall - St. Joseph's University

Moral values are under assault at St. Joseph’s University. Since 2001, the Jesuit university in Philadelphia PA has been sponsoring Unity Week, a pro-hom@sexual event first called Rainb@w Week. This year Unity Week will sponsor speakers and events that are in direct conflict with the moral teaching of the Catholic Church and the mission statement of the university, which affirms: “The Catholic character of Saint Joseph's University springs from its historical relationship with the Roman Catholic Church, and from its current embodiment of the great traditions of Catholic life and culture. For this University, Christ and the Church are sources of truth, guides and inspirations for life.”

However, according to a tentative 2010 Unity Week schedule forwarded to TFP Student Action, the following disturbing activities are planned, beginning on October 31:

•A talk by Shawn Decker, a pro-h@mosexual activist who promotes “safe-s@x” and contraception among college students;
•A talk by “LG@T advocate and policy attorney” Brian Sims, titled Coming Out on the Gridiron;

The “G@y” Deathstyle

•A presentation by the Philadelphia G@y Men’s Chorus, suggestively titled “Brotherly Love;”
•A talk by Shiva Subbaraman, director of the LGBT/Q Center at Georgetown University
In previous years, Unity Week has:
•Screened R rated movies such as Brok@back Mountain and MILK;
•Featured “tr@nsgender woman,” Isis King;
•Featured hom@sexual activist Darren Manzella, advocate of open h@mosexuality in the U.S. Military;
•Hosted the L@g Cabin Republicans
•Sponsored “Rainbow Week Liturgy: A Eucharistic Celebration of Unity” 

Link (here) to read the full article at Spero News

Contraversial Jesuit At St. Joseph's University Say's, "There Will Only Be A Very Few Jesuits Here. End Of Story”

President Timothy Lannon, S.J., introduced a three-year plan to reevaluate the Catholic and Jesuit nature of the university. The plan, which is set to begin next year, will take place in three stages meant to address growing concerns over the dwindling numbers of Jesuits, as well as increasing the involvement of laypersons in the mission and identity of St. Joe’s.

“The day is coming, and I don’t think there’s any denying it, that there will only be a very few Jesuits here. End of story,” said (pictured) Thomas Brennan, S.J., (here) , (here) and (here) assistant professor in the English department at Saint Joseph’s. “Anyone that thinks we’re going to get back to days when we had even 30 Jesuits here is just naïve. I think it’s likely that in my time here…we’ll see only one or two Jesuits here. That’s a fact, and that’s something the school has to wrestle with.”

According to Lannon, the first year of the plan will involve students, faculty, and staff discussing what it means to be Catholic and Jesuit. The second year will involve “a documented understanding of what we mean by being Catholic and Jesuit at Saint Joseph’s.” Depending on how the first two years of the plan play out, Lannon said that the university will revisit its existing mission statement and possibly create a new one.

Link (here) to the full story at The Hawk.

I Don’t Want To Establish Another Barrier

According to Fr. Vincent Genovesi, S.J., students are typically of the opinion that Genovesi’s position presents them with an advantage that other professors simply could not offer. Rebecca Groeschen, ’10, a student in Genovesi’s “Sexuality” class, agreed with the common consensus and said that the opportunity was valuable.

“I think it’s kind of good. When else would I be able to talk about stuff like this with a priest?

I think it’s pretty cool. It was just kind of luck of the draw that I landed with Sexuality and Morality,”

she said. “But the real reason besides the GER is that it’s being taught by a priest, so there is a different perspective there and just the age generation, like a different generation’s perspective, so I thought it would be really fascinating.”

The class, currently pushing its capacity, is consistently a popular course selection each spring.

“By and large, you don’t get students at 8:30 a.m. unless there is some level of interest. It’s always full, so it’s very popular. Mostly women take it, not many guys take it,” Genovesi said.

Although Genovesi does not believe that his religious beliefs inhibit class discussion, he insists on dressing casually during lessons and regards his traditional clerical garb as another barrier between himself and his students.

“I told the students years ago, because of experiences they may have had between with priests or sisters in the past, I don’t want to establish another barrier between the student and me so I’m not going to wear a collar,”

Genovesi said. “But I begin every class with a prayer and I tell them that the proper way to address me is ‘Father.’”

Groeschen said that she would feel less comfortable in the class if it were taught by a non-celibate professor.

“I guess people think, because it’s a priest, what’s he going to know about sex. But I think it would be more uncomfortable with a someone who is a lay person,” she said. “Just because, not that people get mental images in their head, but at the same time you know the priest is never doing any of those.”

Link (here) to The Hawk

The Monk's Hobbit has great piece on the subject (here).

Read the Churches position (here) contained in Pope Paul VI's Humanae Vitae

Snowed In At St. Joseph's University

"Jesuit Joe" at The City and the World has some great
"Snow Pics" of St. Joseph's University
(here)

An Old Jesuit Book At St. Joseph's University

Imagines praepositorum generalium Societatis Iesu
(1748; Rome, 1751)

Arnaldo Van Westerhout

SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, FRANCIS A. DREXEL LIBRARY
SAINT JOSEPH’S UNIVERSITY

Link (here)
Photo (here)