Saturday, August 18, 2007
Fr. Steve Kelly, S.J. "Crossing The Line?"
Is torture no defense?
The priests, Franciscan Fr. Louis Vitale, 74, and Jesuit Father Steve Kelly, 58, participated in a Nov. 19, 2006 demonstration at Ft. Huachuca near Sierra Vista, Arizona. They were arrested for kneeling to pray on the road leading to Ft. Huachuca’s gate. Police had warned the priests several times that they were trespassing on federal property.
The priests claim U.S. military intelligence at Ft. Huachuca teaches torture interrogation techniques (like those used at Abu Ghraib and, allegedly, at Guantanamo). At the time of the protest, Ft. Huachuca’s commander was Maj. Gen. Barbara Fast, who had been chief intelligence officer in Iraq, responsible for overseeing Abu Ghraib at the time of the tortures there. The priests were trying to deliver a letter to Fast when they were arrested.
Both Vitale (former pastor of St. Boniface Church in San Francisco) and Kelly (a member of the Redwood Catholic Worker) had been imprisoned before for anti-war and anti-torture civil disobedience actions. Last April, prosecutors asked U.S. Magistrate Hector Estrada to imprison the priests until they stood trial, but Estrada released them on their own recognizance. The pre-trial hearing, originally set for June 3, was postponed to August. Estrada said he would consider the priests’ request for a jury trial.
At the pre-trial hearing, the priests’ lawyer, Loyola University law professor William Quigley, called on Estrada to dismiss the charges against the priests, since, he said, the United States has violated international law on the use of torture both before and after Sept. 11, 2001. Quigley presented the judge with evidence for this claim and noted that Fast represented Ft. Huachuca’s connection to U.S. torture policies. Quigley argued against the prosecution’s motion to prohibit certain testimony regarding U.S. torture policies at the trial, since the violation of international law they represent justify the actions taken by the priests, according to Quigley.
Arguing for the government, the Army Judge Advocate General, Capt. Evan Seamone, told Estrada witnesses would testify that techniques taught at Ft. Huachuca were in line with Geneva Conventions and U.S. law and did not promote torture. Documented reports of torture, said Seamone, were performed by a few aberrant individuals or by the CIA or non-military intelligence personnel.
Prosecutors argued that Estrada should consider jailing Vitale pending his trial, since the priest, they said, violated a court order not to engage in actions violating local, state, or federal laws.
Original article (here)
At pre-trial hearing, lawyer for two California priests argue that a moral duty compelled them to violate federal law.arrested last November at an Arizona military base on charges of trespass and refusing to follow police orders, faced a pre-trial hearing of their case in federal court in Tucscon on Aug. 13.
The priests, Franciscan Fr. Louis Vitale, 74, and Jesuit Father Steve Kelly, 58, participated in a Nov. 19, 2006 demonstration at Ft. Huachuca near Sierra Vista, Arizona. They were arrested for kneeling to pray on the road leading to Ft. Huachuca’s gate. Police had warned the priests several times that they were trespassing on federal property.
The priests claim U.S. military intelligence at Ft. Huachuca teaches torture interrogation techniques (like those used at Abu Ghraib and, allegedly, at Guantanamo). At the time of the protest, Ft. Huachuca’s commander was Maj. Gen. Barbara Fast, who had been chief intelligence officer in Iraq, responsible for overseeing Abu Ghraib at the time of the tortures there. The priests were trying to deliver a letter to Fast when they were arrested.
Both Vitale (former pastor of St. Boniface Church in San Francisco) and Kelly (a member of the Redwood Catholic Worker) had been imprisoned before for anti-war and anti-torture civil disobedience actions. Last April, prosecutors asked U.S. Magistrate Hector Estrada to imprison the priests until they stood trial, but Estrada released them on their own recognizance. The pre-trial hearing, originally set for June 3, was postponed to August. Estrada said he would consider the priests’ request for a jury trial.
At the pre-trial hearing, the priests’ lawyer, Loyola University law professor William Quigley, called on Estrada to dismiss the charges against the priests, since, he said, the United States has violated international law on the use of torture both before and after Sept. 11, 2001. Quigley presented the judge with evidence for this claim and noted that Fast represented Ft. Huachuca’s connection to U.S. torture policies. Quigley argued against the prosecution’s motion to prohibit certain testimony regarding U.S. torture policies at the trial, since the violation of international law they represent justify the actions taken by the priests, according to Quigley.
Arguing for the government, the Army Judge Advocate General, Capt. Evan Seamone, told Estrada witnesses would testify that techniques taught at Ft. Huachuca were in line with Geneva Conventions and U.S. law and did not promote torture. Documented reports of torture, said Seamone, were performed by a few aberrant individuals or by the CIA or non-military intelligence personnel.
Prosecutors argued that Estrada should consider jailing Vitale pending his trial, since the priest, they said, violated a court order not to engage in actions violating local, state, or federal laws.
A few days before the hearing, Vitale “crossed the line” at a Nagasaki Day demonstration at the Nevada nuclear weapons test site.Estrada himself censured Vitale for disregarding the court order. Estrada is expected, by the end of August, to decide on the issues presented at the hearing and set a date for a trial.
Original article (here)
Friday, August 17, 2007
Fr. Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J. On The Blessed Virgin Mary
Orthodox Priest Fr. Stephan on Fr. Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J.
The Meaning of Words The Blessed Virgin Mary Compared to the Air We Breathe - Gerard Manley Hopkins
Original Blog Post (here)
The Meaning of Words The Blessed Virgin Mary Compared to the Air We Breathe - Gerard Manley Hopkins
Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889) was a Jesuit priest (a convert from Anglicanism) and perhaps the greatest modern (?) poet of the English Language (ok, he’s my favorite). My second daughter, Khouria Kathryn, made me aware of this poem. Hopkins is wonderfully sacramental in his poetry - God permeates his words and the world his words come from.
Original Blog Post (here)
Fr. Fiorello Mascarenhas, S.J. On Evangalizing In India
Proselytism: Evangelicals back other Christians on conversion code of conduct
Juan Michel - ENI
17 Aug 2007
 |
| Fr. Fiorello "Fio" Mascarenhas, S.J. |
A World Evangelical Alliance theologian says his grouping of Christians that stresses its proclamation of the Gospel is ready to support a code of conduct on seeking conversions to Christianity commonly agreed by traditional Protestant, Anglican and Orthodox churches as well as by Roman Catholics.
Toulouse, France (ENI) 13 August 2007 -- "'Evangelical' and 'ecumenical' Christians have never been as close in this regard as they are today. Thus, something that would not have been possible 30 years ago has become achievable," said Thomas Schirrmacher, a German theologian who chairs the WEA's International Institute for Religious Freedom. "It would be the first time ever that such a broad Christian backing is given to an agreement of this kind." Schirrmacher was a speaker at an 8-12 August consultation in Toulouse, jointly hosted by the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and the Geneva-based World Council of Churches' programme on interreligious dialogue and cooperation. Attended by some 30 Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Pentecostal and Evangelical theologians and church representatives, the meeting advanced the mapping out of a common code of conduct on religious conversion. A finalised code is expected by 2010. For Schirrmacher, such a code should, "establish the borderline between acceptable forms of mission protected by religious freedom, and undue forms of trying to convert people". The WEA leader recognised, however, the difficulty in nailing down "unethical means" to a concrete code of conduct, given different historical, religious, cultural and political contexts. Some adherents of Pentecostalism, and others within Evangelical Christianity have come in for criticism by other Christians and members of other religions for engaging in aggressive proselytising. Tensions have also arisen among Christian denominations, including Catholics, Protestants and Orthodox, over what has been called "sheep stealing", or engaging in conversion by encroaching into areas where one church has traditionally dominated. While preserving the right to propagate one's faith, the code of conduct would emphasise respect for the faithful of any religion, noted Hermen Shastri, general secretary of the Council of Churches of Malaysia and co-moderator of the WCC's Faith and Order Commission. "Religious preachers need to be told that no religion has monopoly to the truth, that there are many ways to find salvation," said Shastri. Evangelising activities need to avoid,
"stooping to belittle or condemn other religions," affirmed Fiorello Mascarenhas, a Jesuit from India and a former chairperson of the International Catholic Charismatic Renewal Office Council. Rather, he said, evangelisation should promote, "inter-religious dialogue and religious harmony, as well as wholehearted cooperation in human welfare projects".
For Tony Richie, a theologian and pastor with the Church of God in the United States, a Pentecostal denomination, the code of conduct must be built around the concept of "dialogical evangelism" instead of "aggressive evangelism". Such an evangelism, Richie believes, can still be energetic and enthusiastic but not coercive or manipulative. He also explains that an appropriate evangelism needs to be ecumenical in attitude and concerned with operating ethically. John Langlois, a lawyer who is an executive council member of the WEA, and also attended the Toulouse meeting, talks of the code of conduct including, "an expression of repentance for past wrongdoings so as to make clear that the superiority mentality in regard to other religions has been overcome". While expressing sorrow because Evangelicals have used "undue pressure" or "violated human rights in the name of missions", Schirrmacher stressed that "all branches of Christianity need to be self-critical". The envisioned code of conduct, "will only make sense if it is not directed against Evangelicals and Pentecostals but written together with them". The WEA's "involvement and blessing is crucial in order to win the 'black sheep' amongst Evangelicals and Pentecostals over for a respectful kind of evangelism," Schirrmacher said. For Hans Ucko, a Swedish theologian who leads the WCC's programme for interreligious dialogue and cooperation, "The fact that Protestants, Orthodox, Roman Catholics, Pentecostals and Evangelicals were able to meet and discuss such a complex issue is in itself a success." While emphasising the preliminary character of the findings, Ucko said the code of conduct would distinguish between "aggressive proselytizing" and "evangelism", and balance the mandate to evangelise and the right to choose freely. How to enforce such a code of conduct, however, remains an open question. Neither the WEA nor the WCC has any formal authority over their members. It is also clear that the code of conduct is unlikely to become official policy within the Catholic Church. In regard to Pentecostals, there is "no one who can force all of them to do anything", Richie said. He suggested, however, that, "The power of positive peer pressure can be pretty effective".
Juan Michel
Original article (here)
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
"I Am A Failure !", Fr. Thomas J. Reese, S.J.
A Faith Journey
I have never been comfortable picking just one Scripture passage to sum up my faith.
I remember a Berkeley professor once trying to teach humility to a group of bright political science students: “The world is very big. The human mind is very small.” Add God to that equation and we are very small indeed. No single passage can sum up God or our relation to him.
In addition, we change. As a youth, I studied Scripture trying to find out how to make myself a better person. “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” I used the Scriptures as a mirror to find imperfections and overcome them. Jesus was the coach that urged me on.
Needless to say, I never reached perfection. I got quite fed up with Jesus as coach and began to see him as a leader inviting me to join him in his mission. “Come follow me.” Flawed though I might be, he still had a job for me.
I never was certain exactly what he wanted me to do, but somehow jobs fell into my lap. I worked for justice first by lobbying for tax reform and then by writing on political and economic issues for America magazine. Then I used my political science training to help people understand the church in a series of books (Archbishop, A Flock of Shepherds and Inside the Vatican). Most recently I worked for reform in the church by encouraging discussion and debate as editor of America.
“Vanity of vanities. All is vanity.” Looking back, I recognize that every reform effort in which I have been involved has failed: reforming myself, the tax system, politics and the church. What gives me hope is the recognition that Jesus also failed. He was arrested and killed and his disciples ran away.
Yet in failing, he succeeded. The only way to the resurrection is through the cross. Christianity has been failing for 2,000 years. That is a scandal like the cross is a scandal. Only when we accept the inevitability of failure but keep going anyway, can we be saved. “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends.” If we could save ourselves we would not need Jesus.
That is where I am today. Someday, I hope to experience the resurrection.
Original article (here)
I have never been comfortable picking just one Scripture passage to sum up my faith.
I remember a Berkeley professor once trying to teach humility to a group of bright political science students: “The world is very big. The human mind is very small.” Add God to that equation and we are very small indeed. No single passage can sum up God or our relation to him.
In addition, we change. As a youth, I studied Scripture trying to find out how to make myself a better person. “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” I used the Scriptures as a mirror to find imperfections and overcome them. Jesus was the coach that urged me on.
Needless to say, I never reached perfection. I got quite fed up with Jesus as coach and began to see him as a leader inviting me to join him in his mission. “Come follow me.” Flawed though I might be, he still had a job for me.
I never was certain exactly what he wanted me to do, but somehow jobs fell into my lap. I worked for justice first by lobbying for tax reform and then by writing on political and economic issues for America magazine. Then I used my political science training to help people understand the church in a series of books (Archbishop, A Flock of Shepherds and Inside the Vatican). Most recently I worked for reform in the church by encouraging discussion and debate as editor of America.
“Vanity of vanities. All is vanity.” Looking back, I recognize that every reform effort in which I have been involved has failed: reforming myself, the tax system, politics and the church. What gives me hope is the recognition that Jesus also failed. He was arrested and killed and his disciples ran away.
Yet in failing, he succeeded. The only way to the resurrection is through the cross. Christianity has been failing for 2,000 years. That is a scandal like the cross is a scandal. Only when we accept the inevitability of failure but keep going anyway, can we be saved. “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends.” If we could save ourselves we would not need Jesus.
That is where I am today. Someday, I hope to experience the resurrection.
Original article (here)
The Traditional Jesuit Prayer To The Blessed Virgin Mary
To the Blessed Virgin Mary
We humbly beseech you, O Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God and protectress of our order, to obtain for us a heart according to the heart of the divine Son, that we who are called to this Society may rejoice in our holy vocation, and by your intercession experience his grace and assistance to be always with us. Amen.
Link to prayer (here)
We humbly beseech you, O Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God and protectress of our order, to obtain for us a heart according to the heart of the divine Son, that we who are called to this Society may rejoice in our holy vocation, and by your intercession experience his grace and assistance to be always with us. Amen.
Link to prayer (here)
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Jesuit Educated, Tibor Feheregyhazi
The Globe and Mail
July 25, 2007 at 8:50 AM EDT By F. F. LANGAN
NOWLTON, QUE. — Hungarian actor Tibor Feheregyhazi's accent kept him off the stage in Canada, but his production skills put him at the forefront of one of the most vigorous and determined theatre companies in the country.
A refugee from the street fighting in the 1956 Hungarian revolution, he spent 25 years reviving and rebuilding Saskatoon's Persephone Theatre.
"He was dynamic and seemed to take people over. You might even call him imperious," said Jeremy Morgan, executive director of the Saskatchewan Arts Board. He gave an example of how Mr. Feheregyhazi expected to be obeyed. "He wrote to an actor saying, 'I am doing The Tempest and you will be Caliban.' Even though the man didn't know him, he accepted."
In Saskatoon, everyone knew him by his first name. Few people could get their English tongues around the Magyar density of his family name.
Tibor Feheregyhazi spent 25 years as artistic director of the Persephone Theatre in Saskatoon.
Tibor Feheregyhazi grew up in Budapest, where both his parents worked for Hungarian National Radio. His mother was executive producer of music programming for the national broadcaster; his father was an economic journalist.
The family lived just a few blocks from the radio studio, and when a child actor was needed, Tibor often fit the bill. His first public appearance was at 21/2, when he made a presentation from the children of Hungary to Tibor Mahan, head of Hungarian Radio. His first radio performance as an actor occurred at 4, and with a year, he was a regular on a drama series.
He switched to a public high school and enrolled in a five-year program at the National Hungarian Film and Theatre Academy. He continued to act on stage and on radio throughout his time at school.
He graduated in 1956, just in time to join the fighting against what he called a corrupt regime. He wasn't so much anti-Communist as he was against the Soviet-controlled government. After two weeks, the Soviet tanks arrived and resistance soon collapsed. Tibor and his friends left the country hidden in the back of truck.
"He used to tell the story of how he got out of the truck at the Austrian border to go back and get a handful of Hungarian soil to take with him," said his wife, Rosalie Woloski. "He was spotted by a Hungarian guard, who said he should shoot him, but let him go because he'd risked his life to go back for the soil."
He kept the dirt, and the clothes he escaped in, packed in a suitcase for the rest of his life.
In Austria, he was expelled after he was found with a gun. He went to nearby Italy, where he found work as an extra on the Rock Hudson movie, A Farewell to Arms. He even appeared in some of the promotions for the film. His wife said Mr. Hudson offered to sponsor him as an immigrant to the U.S., but the handsome young actor turned him down.
Instead, Mr. Feheregyhazi went by ship to Canada in 1957, getting off in Quebec City. Even though he spoke some French and no English, he was sent to Ottawa. He arrived on July 1 and found everything inexplicably closed. He soon located work in a camera shop and cleaning floors in a hospital, plus a menial job in a theatre.
After three years in Ottawa, he moved to Montreal to study at the National Theatre School, taking his classes in French. His first job after graduating was as a stage manager for the Canadian Players Company in Toronto.
In 1969, he joined the Royal Winnipeg Ballet as production manager. Two years later, the company was invited to be the first Western ballet troupe to tour the Soviet Union. Logistics difficulties immediately arose. The huge wooden crates the company normally used to carry costumes and paraphernalia were too heavy and too big to stuff into Air Canada's DC-8s, so Mr. Feheregyhazi solved the problem by reinventing the luggage. Finding a suitable lightweight material, he designed new luggage to fit the shape of the hold and was so successful that the company had money left over from its touring budget.
It was on the Soviet tour that Mr. Feheregyhazi showed the fiery spirit that endeared him to many but enraged others -- especially the KGB minders assigned to shadow him throughout the tour. One day, in what was then Leningrad, he gave them the slip completely. When they caught up to him, they countered by taking him on a tour of the Hermitage. To better keep an eye on him, they then had the place closed to foreigners.
Then there was the dramatic departure from the Soviet Union. First, a fight erupted over the Spanish passport of one member of the company (the Soviets boycotted the fascist Franco regime in Spain). Then there was the last-minute seizure of a male dancer - authorities were in the act of taking the man into custody at the airport when Mr. Feheregyhazi leapt over a barrier and provoked a major scene. After all, he spoke some Russian, and could yell in three other languages -- English, French and Hungarian.
While all this was an embarrassment to the Canadian delegation, the ballet company and the Soviets, it had the desired effect. The authorities released the dancer and all ended well.
In 1969, Mr. Feheregyhazi became production manger of the Manitoba Theatre Centre in Winnipeg. He then worked as a freelancer for several years before going to Thunder Bay in 1978, as artistic director of the Magnus Theatre.
Four years later, Mr. Feheregyhazi went to Saskatoon to join the Persephone Theatre. Founded in part by Janet Wright, now famous as the woman who plays Brent Butt's mother on the TV program Corner Gas, the company had lively ambitions but was in rough shape. He worked so hard at improving its performances and raising money that the Persephone is now the city's favourite charity.
While Mr. Feheregyhazi put on many plays, from Shakespeare to local productions, his eye was always on the audience. At many performances, he would sit on the stairs in the back of theatre to watch the audience's reaction. Afterward, he would buttonhole patrons and ask, "What did you think?"
In 2004, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada in recognition of his work at the Persephone. He died just months before the company was to move to a new 450-seat home on the banks of the Saskatchewan River.
TIBOR FEHEREGYHAZI
Tibor Feheregyhazi was born in Budapest on Feb. 14, 1932. He died of prostate cancer on July 10, 2007, in Saskatoon. He was 75. He was married twice. He is survived by wife Rosalie Woloski and children Tony, Steven, Sara, Andrei and Natalie.
Original article (here)
July 25, 2007 at 8:50 AM EDT By F. F. LANGAN
NOWLTON, QUE. — Hungarian actor Tibor Feheregyhazi's accent kept him off the stage in Canada, but his production skills put him at the forefront of one of the most vigorous and determined theatre companies in the country.
A refugee from the street fighting in the 1956 Hungarian revolution, he spent 25 years reviving and rebuilding Saskatoon's Persephone Theatre.
"He was dynamic and seemed to take people over. You might even call him imperious," said Jeremy Morgan, executive director of the Saskatchewan Arts Board. He gave an example of how Mr. Feheregyhazi expected to be obeyed. "He wrote to an actor saying, 'I am doing The Tempest and you will be Caliban.' Even though the man didn't know him, he accepted."
In Saskatoon, everyone knew him by his first name. Few people could get their English tongues around the Magyar density of his family name.
Tibor Feheregyhazi spent 25 years as artistic director of the Persephone Theatre in Saskatoon.
Tibor Feheregyhazi grew up in Budapest, where both his parents worked for Hungarian National Radio. His mother was executive producer of music programming for the national broadcaster; his father was an economic journalist.
The family lived just a few blocks from the radio studio, and when a child actor was needed, Tibor often fit the bill. His first public appearance was at 21/2, when he made a presentation from the children of Hungary to Tibor Mahan, head of Hungarian Radio. His first radio performance as an actor occurred at 4, and with a year, he was a regular on a drama series.
He attended a private Jesuit school on the shores of the Danube. The school catered to the country's elite, including at least one future prime minister. He excelled at Latin, a skill that got him in trouble at least once: The school had suffered damage in the Second World War, and students were excused from class if they volunteered to clear up the rubble. One day, they found a personal diary in the rubble. It belonged to a priest, who, as a confessor for some of his fellow priests, had detailed his colleagues' secret sins and desires. Obligingly, Tibor translated the Latin text for the benefit of his friends. Inevitably, he was found out. After that, the Jesuits failed him in all his exams and saw to it that he was expelled. The incident left him with an anti-clerical and even anti-establishment attitude that stayed with him all his life.
He switched to a public high school and enrolled in a five-year program at the National Hungarian Film and Theatre Academy. He continued to act on stage and on radio throughout his time at school.
He graduated in 1956, just in time to join the fighting against what he called a corrupt regime. He wasn't so much anti-Communist as he was against the Soviet-controlled government. After two weeks, the Soviet tanks arrived and resistance soon collapsed. Tibor and his friends left the country hidden in the back of truck.
"He used to tell the story of how he got out of the truck at the Austrian border to go back and get a handful of Hungarian soil to take with him," said his wife, Rosalie Woloski. "He was spotted by a Hungarian guard, who said he should shoot him, but let him go because he'd risked his life to go back for the soil."
He kept the dirt, and the clothes he escaped in, packed in a suitcase for the rest of his life.
In Austria, he was expelled after he was found with a gun. He went to nearby Italy, where he found work as an extra on the Rock Hudson movie, A Farewell to Arms. He even appeared in some of the promotions for the film. His wife said Mr. Hudson offered to sponsor him as an immigrant to the U.S., but the handsome young actor turned him down.
Instead, Mr. Feheregyhazi went by ship to Canada in 1957, getting off in Quebec City. Even though he spoke some French and no English, he was sent to Ottawa. He arrived on July 1 and found everything inexplicably closed. He soon located work in a camera shop and cleaning floors in a hospital, plus a menial job in a theatre.
After three years in Ottawa, he moved to Montreal to study at the National Theatre School, taking his classes in French. His first job after graduating was as a stage manager for the Canadian Players Company in Toronto.
In 1969, he joined the Royal Winnipeg Ballet as production manager. Two years later, the company was invited to be the first Western ballet troupe to tour the Soviet Union. Logistics difficulties immediately arose. The huge wooden crates the company normally used to carry costumes and paraphernalia were too heavy and too big to stuff into Air Canada's DC-8s, so Mr. Feheregyhazi solved the problem by reinventing the luggage. Finding a suitable lightweight material, he designed new luggage to fit the shape of the hold and was so successful that the company had money left over from its touring budget.
It was on the Soviet tour that Mr. Feheregyhazi showed the fiery spirit that endeared him to many but enraged others -- especially the KGB minders assigned to shadow him throughout the tour. One day, in what was then Leningrad, he gave them the slip completely. When they caught up to him, they countered by taking him on a tour of the Hermitage. To better keep an eye on him, they then had the place closed to foreigners.
Then there was the dramatic departure from the Soviet Union. First, a fight erupted over the Spanish passport of one member of the company (the Soviets boycotted the fascist Franco regime in Spain). Then there was the last-minute seizure of a male dancer - authorities were in the act of taking the man into custody at the airport when Mr. Feheregyhazi leapt over a barrier and provoked a major scene. After all, he spoke some Russian, and could yell in three other languages -- English, French and Hungarian.
While all this was an embarrassment to the Canadian delegation, the ballet company and the Soviets, it had the desired effect. The authorities released the dancer and all ended well.
In 1969, Mr. Feheregyhazi became production manger of the Manitoba Theatre Centre in Winnipeg. He then worked as a freelancer for several years before going to Thunder Bay in 1978, as artistic director of the Magnus Theatre.
Four years later, Mr. Feheregyhazi went to Saskatoon to join the Persephone Theatre. Founded in part by Janet Wright, now famous as the woman who plays Brent Butt's mother on the TV program Corner Gas, the company had lively ambitions but was in rough shape. He worked so hard at improving its performances and raising money that the Persephone is now the city's favourite charity.
While Mr. Feheregyhazi put on many plays, from Shakespeare to local productions, his eye was always on the audience. At many performances, he would sit on the stairs in the back of theatre to watch the audience's reaction. Afterward, he would buttonhole patrons and ask, "What did you think?"
In 2004, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada in recognition of his work at the Persephone. He died just months before the company was to move to a new 450-seat home on the banks of the Saskatchewan River.
TIBOR FEHEREGYHAZI
Tibor Feheregyhazi was born in Budapest on Feb. 14, 1932. He died of prostate cancer on July 10, 2007, in Saskatoon. He was 75. He was married twice. He is survived by wife Rosalie Woloski and children Tony, Steven, Sara, Andrei and Natalie.
Original article (here)
Monday, August 13, 2007
Newton, The Jesuits and Calculus
Jesuits may have helped Newton "discover" calculus
University of Manchester researchers have uncovered evidence that Indian scholars discovered elements of the mathematical calculus hundreds of years before Leibniz and Newton, the latter of whom may have received assistance from Jesuit missionaries who had visited the sub-continent.
The researchers say that a little known school of scholars in southwest India discovered one of the founding principles of modern mathematics hundreds of years before Newton, a University of Manchester statement says.
Dr George Gheverghese Joseph from The University of Manchester says the 'Kerala School' identified the 'infinite series'- one of the basic components of calculus - in about 1350.
The discovery is currently - and wrongly - attributed in books to Sir Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibnitz at the end of the seventeenth centuries.
The team from the Universities of Manchester and Exeter reveal the Kerala School also discovered what amounted to the Pi series and used it to calculate Pi correct to 9, 10 and later 17 decimal places.
And there is strong circumstantial evidence that the Indians passed on their discoveries to mathematically knowledgeable Jesuit missionaries who visited India during the fifteenth century.
That knowledge, they argue, may have eventually been passed on to Newton himself.
Dr Joseph made the revelations while trawling through obscure Indian papers for a yet to be published third edition of his best selling book 'The Crest of the Peacock: the Non-European Roots of Mathematics' by Princeton University Press.
He said: "The beginnings of modern maths is usually seen as a European achievement but the discoveries in medieval India between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries have been ignored or forgotten.
"The brilliance of Newton's work at the end of the seventeenth century stands undiminished - especially when it came to the algorithms of calculus.
"But other names from the Kerala School, notably Madhava and Nilakantha, should stand shoulder to shoulder with him as they discovered the other great component of calculus- infinite series.
"There were many reasons why the contribution of the Kerala school has not been acknowledged - a prime reason is neglect of scientific ideas emanating from the Non-European world - a legacy of European colonialism and beyond.
"But there is also little knowledge of the medieval form of the local language of Kerala, Malayalam, in which some of most seminal texts, such as the Yuktibhasa, from much of the documentation of this remarkable mathematics is written."
He added: "For some unfathomable reasons, the standard of evidence required to claim transmission of knowledge from East to West is greater than the standard of evidence required to knowledge from West to East.
"Certainly it's hard to imagine that the West would abandon a 500-year-old tradition of importing knowledge and books from India and the Islamic world.
"But we've found evidence which goes far beyond that: for example, there was plenty of opportunity to collect the information as European Jesuits were present in the area at that time.
"They were learned with a strong background in maths and were well versed in the local languages.
"And there was strong motivation: Pope Gregory XIII set up a committee to look into modernising the Julian calendar.
"On the committee was the German Jesuit astronomer/mathematician Clavius who repeatedly requested information on how people constructed calendars in other parts of the world. The Kerala School was undoubtedly a leading light in this area.
"Similarly there was a rising need for better navigational methods including keeping accurate time on voyages of exploration and large prizes were offered to mathematicians who specialised in astronomy.
"Again, there were many such requests for information across the world from leading Jesuit researchers in Europe. Kerala mathematicians were hugely skilled in this area."
University of Manchester researchers have uncovered evidence that Indian scholars discovered elements of the mathematical calculus hundreds of years before Leibniz and Newton, the latter of whom may have received assistance from Jesuit missionaries who had visited the sub-continent.
The researchers say that a little known school of scholars in southwest India discovered one of the founding principles of modern mathematics hundreds of years before Newton, a University of Manchester statement says.
Dr George Gheverghese Joseph from The University of Manchester says the 'Kerala School' identified the 'infinite series'- one of the basic components of calculus - in about 1350.
The discovery is currently - and wrongly - attributed in books to Sir Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibnitz at the end of the seventeenth centuries.
The team from the Universities of Manchester and Exeter reveal the Kerala School also discovered what amounted to the Pi series and used it to calculate Pi correct to 9, 10 and later 17 decimal places.
And there is strong circumstantial evidence that the Indians passed on their discoveries to mathematically knowledgeable Jesuit missionaries who visited India during the fifteenth century.
That knowledge, they argue, may have eventually been passed on to Newton himself.
Dr Joseph made the revelations while trawling through obscure Indian papers for a yet to be published third edition of his best selling book 'The Crest of the Peacock: the Non-European Roots of Mathematics' by Princeton University Press.
He said: "The beginnings of modern maths is usually seen as a European achievement but the discoveries in medieval India between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries have been ignored or forgotten.
"The brilliance of Newton's work at the end of the seventeenth century stands undiminished - especially when it came to the algorithms of calculus.
"But other names from the Kerala School, notably Madhava and Nilakantha, should stand shoulder to shoulder with him as they discovered the other great component of calculus- infinite series.
"There were many reasons why the contribution of the Kerala school has not been acknowledged - a prime reason is neglect of scientific ideas emanating from the Non-European world - a legacy of European colonialism and beyond.
"But there is also little knowledge of the medieval form of the local language of Kerala, Malayalam, in which some of most seminal texts, such as the Yuktibhasa, from much of the documentation of this remarkable mathematics is written."
He added: "For some unfathomable reasons, the standard of evidence required to claim transmission of knowledge from East to West is greater than the standard of evidence required to knowledge from West to East.
"Certainly it's hard to imagine that the West would abandon a 500-year-old tradition of importing knowledge and books from India and the Islamic world.
"But we've found evidence which goes far beyond that: for example, there was plenty of opportunity to collect the information as European Jesuits were present in the area at that time.
"They were learned with a strong background in maths and were well versed in the local languages.
"And there was strong motivation: Pope Gregory XIII set up a committee to look into modernising the Julian calendar.
"On the committee was the German Jesuit astronomer/mathematician Clavius who repeatedly requested information on how people constructed calendars in other parts of the world. The Kerala School was undoubtedly a leading light in this area.
"Similarly there was a rising need for better navigational methods including keeping accurate time on voyages of exploration and large prizes were offered to mathematicians who specialised in astronomy.
"Again, there were many such requests for information across the world from leading Jesuit researchers in Europe. Kerala mathematicians were hugely skilled in this area."
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Where Do You Find A Three Hundred Year Old Jesuit Ring?
ILLINOIS STYLE: Newly found artifacts recall Cahokia's French days
By GEORGE PAWLACZYK Sunday, August 12, 2007 1:44 PM CDT
WOOD RIVER, Ill. - A small brass ring lay recently on a long table lined with a sampling from hundreds of French Colonial relics excavated in March and April near the Jarrot mansion in Cahokia.
There were musket flints, colorful, glazed pottery shards, pieces of hand-blown bottles, a belt buckle and imported-glass trade beads not much bigger around than a pencil lead. All had been excavated from a strip of ground about 45 feet wide and 250 feet long.
But it was the ring, darkened, brownish green, made of brass and probably intended for a child, that excited cultural archaeologist Patrick Durst of the Illinois Transportation Archaeological Research Program. Known as a "Jesuit ring," it is probably about 300 years old. Only about 30 such rings have been found in Illinois, Durst said.
When it was found by one excavator, others gathered to see the treasure.
"I definitely thought it was one of the more interesting artifacts that we'd found at that site. You could definitely tell it had an importance to it," Durst said as he discussed the items displayed at the research program's storage site and laboratory in Wood River.
In the Metro East, discoveries concerning the mound-building Mississippians, American Indians who lived about a thousand years ago, dominate local archaeological news. Everyday items from the region's first European settlers and historic-era Indians seldom generate publicity.
Durst said he hopes that by studying relics left by French settlers and Indians found mixed together in buried structures, such as cellars and the remains of early French post-and-sill buildings, he can contribute to evidence that relations between the groups were remarkably peaceful. That would be a contrast to relations of about the same period between the warring Iroquois and French on the East Coast, in which six Jesuit priests and two laymen were martyred in an eight-year period between 1642 and 1649. The surviving priests and about 300 Huron Indians fled to Quebec in 1650.
"This was the edge of the frontier," Durst said of the fledgling community of Cahokia, which dates from 1699. "This was an outpost for New France and Quebec."The rare ring was probably given as a peace symbol or as a trade item by Catholic priests assigned to Cahokia from the Seminary of Foreign Missions in Quebec. However, the term "Jesuit ring" is used for all such rings because many were found in Canada and New York State, where the Jesuits were among the first European emissaries.
The ring is marked with the Roman numeral II, which is surrounded by an incised and braided border. Other Jesuit rings have contained other unexplained numbers and letters, including the numeral VI and the letters NN and sometimes a cross. Some archaeologists believe the rings can be used to date a site; others discount this theory.
It may have been fear of the far-ranging Iroquois that hastened an alliance between the local Cahokia and Tamaroa Indians and priests and settlers, Durst said.
"They're living together in the settlement of Cahokia. They're living in the same setting in close proximity to one another. The native Americans would have everyday interaction with the French and vice versa," he said, "They definitely both benefited from each other's presence. Once they became settled, they definitely lived among each other."
A service of the Associated Press(AP)
Original article (here)
By GEORGE PAWLACZYK Sunday, August 12, 2007 1:44 PM CDT
WOOD RIVER, Ill. - A small brass ring lay recently on a long table lined with a sampling from hundreds of French Colonial relics excavated in March and April near the Jarrot mansion in Cahokia.
There were musket flints, colorful, glazed pottery shards, pieces of hand-blown bottles, a belt buckle and imported-glass trade beads not much bigger around than a pencil lead. All had been excavated from a strip of ground about 45 feet wide and 250 feet long.
But it was the ring, darkened, brownish green, made of brass and probably intended for a child, that excited cultural archaeologist Patrick Durst of the Illinois Transportation Archaeological Research Program. Known as a "Jesuit ring," it is probably about 300 years old. Only about 30 such rings have been found in Illinois, Durst said.
When it was found by one excavator, others gathered to see the treasure.
"I definitely thought it was one of the more interesting artifacts that we'd found at that site. You could definitely tell it had an importance to it," Durst said as he discussed the items displayed at the research program's storage site and laboratory in Wood River.
In the Metro East, discoveries concerning the mound-building Mississippians, American Indians who lived about a thousand years ago, dominate local archaeological news. Everyday items from the region's first European settlers and historic-era Indians seldom generate publicity.
Durst said he hopes that by studying relics left by French settlers and Indians found mixed together in buried structures, such as cellars and the remains of early French post-and-sill buildings, he can contribute to evidence that relations between the groups were remarkably peaceful. That would be a contrast to relations of about the same period between the warring Iroquois and French on the East Coast, in which six Jesuit priests and two laymen were martyred in an eight-year period between 1642 and 1649. The surviving priests and about 300 Huron Indians fled to Quebec in 1650.
"This was the edge of the frontier," Durst said of the fledgling community of Cahokia, which dates from 1699. "This was an outpost for New France and Quebec."The rare ring was probably given as a peace symbol or as a trade item by Catholic priests assigned to Cahokia from the Seminary of Foreign Missions in Quebec. However, the term "Jesuit ring" is used for all such rings because many were found in Canada and New York State, where the Jesuits were among the first European emissaries.
The ring is marked with the Roman numeral II, which is surrounded by an incised and braided border. Other Jesuit rings have contained other unexplained numbers and letters, including the numeral VI and the letters NN and sometimes a cross. Some archaeologists believe the rings can be used to date a site; others discount this theory.
It may have been fear of the far-ranging Iroquois that hastened an alliance between the local Cahokia and Tamaroa Indians and priests and settlers, Durst said.
"They're living together in the settlement of Cahokia. They're living in the same setting in close proximity to one another. The native Americans would have everyday interaction with the French and vice versa," he said, "They definitely both benefited from each other's presence. Once they became settled, they definitely lived among each other."
A service of the Associated Press(AP)
Original article (here)
How Can You Fight Gambling, When You Have Lost The Moral High Ground?
Church facing uphill fight on casino.
Some say sense of inevitability curtailing effort
By Michael Levenson, Globe Staff | August 12, 2007
Church leaders, who have used their moral authority and political muscle to defeat gambling proposals for more than 70 years in Massachusetts, are struggling to gain traction against a casino in Middleborough this year as they face declining clout on Beacon Hill, indifferent congregants, and a sense that the casino is inevitable.
Breaking News Alerts While some church leaders have circulated bulletins decrying the social costs of casinos, most have not organized the muscular letter-writing campaigns, State House lobbying blitzes, or sermons that were hallmarks of their victories over efforts to expand gambling in 1994 and 2001.
Raymond L. Flynn -- the former mayor of Boston, former ambassador to the Vatican, and current president of Catholic Citizenship, an activist group -- traces the reluctance among Catholic leaders to fight the casino proposal to the eruption of the clergy sexual abuse crisis.
"It was really the clergy sexual abuse scandal that really brought the church to a position where they weren't very effective in lobbying in the Massachu setts Legislature," Flynn said. "I think they lost a lot of their moral and political influence and clout up at the State House."
Lawmakers said they have noticed the absence of a moral voice from religious leaders as they near a possible vote on a casino this fall.
"Let me tell you: they've been in absentia this year," said Representative James R. Miceli, a Wilmington Democrat who was first elected in 1976 and says he is undecided about building a casino. "They haven't done anything. They haven't talked about it. They haven't called. . . . I don't understand it. It's something they've been quite vocal about in the past."
Edward F. Saunders Jr. -- executive director of the Massachusetts Catholic Conference, the church's public policy arm -- said that Catholic leaders will become more vocal. He suggested that the church would not act until casino legislation is formally introduced on Beacon Hill.
"We're monitoring and having discussions, but as to involving the general public and the members of the Catholic Church, we have not made any final decisions on that," said Saunders. "We don't have any specific plan in place because, as we all know, everything is under discussion. It's all a timing issue, and we just haven't felt the appropriate time is there yet."
Laura Everett -- associate director of the Massachusetts Council of Churches, which represents 1,700 Protestant and Orthodox Christian churches -- said church leaders are frustrated by the sense that gambling supporters have more momentum.
"I think what's different this year is there is a lot more money involved, and the opponents have done a very good job of convincing people that this is inevitable," Everett said.
The relative quiet marks a change from Massachusetts tradition. Religious leaders have helped defeat gambling proposals since at least 1935, when Cardinal William H. O'Connell, the archbishop of Boston, persuaded the Legislature to defeat Governor James M. Curley's plans for a state-sponsored lottery, according to Thomas H. O'Connor, the Boston College historian.
"This is not merely a political question," O'Connell wrote. "It's a very serious moral problem."
More recently, the Council of Churches helped sink Governor William F. Weld's plans to expand gambling in 1994 by launching a letter-writing campaign and organizing a day of lobbying at the State House attended by more than 100 members of the clergy. In 2001, church leaders helped defeat an effort by the Wampanoag to build a casino in Southeastern Massachusetts. And in 2002, the Council of Churches flew two gambling analysts from the University of Illinois to testify on Beacon Hill about the social costs of gambling.
This year, churches have made some noise. The Council of Churches asked its members to discuss the potential for a casino to increase gambling addiction and crime. The Catholic Conference has e-mailed 1,500 supporters asking them to lobby Middleborough voters against a casino. And Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley, the archbishop of Boston, has blogged about the issue.
"If public works and projects in the Commonwealth need to be funded, there should be other ways to do that, perhaps by raising taxes," O'Malley wrote July 27. "But relying on casinos makes us gambling junkies, and we become dependent on that money, which will result in many ruined lives, ruined businesses, and ruined neighborhoods. So we unequivocally oppose casino gambling in the state."
The day after O'Malley posted his statement, Middleborough voters approved a deal with the Wampanoag that could bring the town $11 million annually.
"It's an interesting problem for religious leaders when the people are not going to follow your lead, and I think that's exactly what's going on here," McGowan said.
Governor Deval Patrick is studying the issue and will announce his position on a casino by Labor Day. The Legislature will then debate the plan. Church leaders say they will become vocal when the debate reaches a boil.
"There are many, many more steps before we get this approval," Everett said, "so the churches are seeking to counter this sense of inevitability and say, let's slow down and say what are the costs, and is this good government, when the state is essentially bringing something into the Commonwealth that it knows will cause harm."
© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.
Original article (here)
Some say sense of inevitability curtailing effort
By Michael Levenson, Globe Staff | August 12, 2007
Church leaders, who have used their moral authority and political muscle to defeat gambling proposals for more than 70 years in Massachusetts, are struggling to gain traction against a casino in Middleborough this year as they face declining clout on Beacon Hill, indifferent congregants, and a sense that the casino is inevitable.
Breaking News Alerts While some church leaders have circulated bulletins decrying the social costs of casinos, most have not organized the muscular letter-writing campaigns, State House lobbying blitzes, or sermons that were hallmarks of their victories over efforts to expand gambling in 1994 and 2001.
The relative quiet from a community that has long been among the strongest voices against casino gambling has puzzled lawmakers and sparked some soul-searching among religious leaders, who question whether a fight against a casino is worth waging.
"Why fight a battle that you're not going to win?" said the Rev. Richard McGowan, a Jesuit priest and professor of economics who studies gambling at Boston College.
Perhaps the best religious leaders can hope for this year, McGowan said, is to make sure that a portion of casino revenues are set aside for programs for the needy, especially treatment services for compulsive gamblers.
"Behind the scenes, you might be able to mitigate some of the negative effects," he said.
Raymond L. Flynn -- the former mayor of Boston, former ambassador to the Vatican, and current president of Catholic Citizenship, an activist group -- traces the reluctance among Catholic leaders to fight the casino proposal to the eruption of the clergy sexual abuse crisis.
"It was really the clergy sexual abuse scandal that really brought the church to a position where they weren't very effective in lobbying in the Massachu setts Legislature," Flynn said. "I think they lost a lot of their moral and political influence and clout up at the State House."
Lawmakers said they have noticed the absence of a moral voice from religious leaders as they near a possible vote on a casino this fall.
"Let me tell you: they've been in absentia this year," said Representative James R. Miceli, a Wilmington Democrat who was first elected in 1976 and says he is undecided about building a casino. "They haven't done anything. They haven't talked about it. They haven't called. . . . I don't understand it. It's something they've been quite vocal about in the past."
Edward F. Saunders Jr. -- executive director of the Massachusetts Catholic Conference, the church's public policy arm -- said that Catholic leaders will become more vocal. He suggested that the church would not act until casino legislation is formally introduced on Beacon Hill.
"We're monitoring and having discussions, but as to involving the general public and the members of the Catholic Church, we have not made any final decisions on that," said Saunders. "We don't have any specific plan in place because, as we all know, everything is under discussion. It's all a timing issue, and we just haven't felt the appropriate time is there yet."
Laura Everett -- associate director of the Massachusetts Council of Churches, which represents 1,700 Protestant and Orthodox Christian churches -- said church leaders are frustrated by the sense that gambling supporters have more momentum.
"I think what's different this year is there is a lot more money involved, and the opponents have done a very good job of convincing people that this is inevitable," Everett said.
The relative quiet marks a change from Massachusetts tradition. Religious leaders have helped defeat gambling proposals since at least 1935, when Cardinal William H. O'Connell, the archbishop of Boston, persuaded the Legislature to defeat Governor James M. Curley's plans for a state-sponsored lottery, according to Thomas H. O'Connor, the Boston College historian.
"This is not merely a political question," O'Connell wrote. "It's a very serious moral problem."
More recently, the Council of Churches helped sink Governor William F. Weld's plans to expand gambling in 1994 by launching a letter-writing campaign and organizing a day of lobbying at the State House attended by more than 100 members of the clergy. In 2001, church leaders helped defeat an effort by the Wampanoag to build a casino in Southeastern Massachusetts. And in 2002, the Council of Churches flew two gambling analysts from the University of Illinois to testify on Beacon Hill about the social costs of gambling.
This year, churches have made some noise. The Council of Churches asked its members to discuss the potential for a casino to increase gambling addiction and crime. The Catholic Conference has e-mailed 1,500 supporters asking them to lobby Middleborough voters against a casino. And Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley, the archbishop of Boston, has blogged about the issue.
"If public works and projects in the Commonwealth need to be funded, there should be other ways to do that, perhaps by raising taxes," O'Malley wrote July 27. "But relying on casinos makes us gambling junkies, and we become dependent on that money, which will result in many ruined lives, ruined businesses, and ruined neighborhoods. So we unequivocally oppose casino gambling in the state."
Despite the statement, public opinion polls suggest 90 percent of college-age people see nothing wrong with gambling, McGowan said. And many churchgoers probably see nothing wrong with a casino, he said, making it more difficult for religious leaders to exhort them to write letters or call legislators.
The day after O'Malley posted his statement, Middleborough voters approved a deal with the Wampanoag that could bring the town $11 million annually.
"It's an interesting problem for religious leaders when the people are not going to follow your lead, and I think that's exactly what's going on here," McGowan said.
Governor Deval Patrick is studying the issue and will announce his position on a casino by Labor Day. The Legislature will then debate the plan. Church leaders say they will become vocal when the debate reaches a boil.
"There are many, many more steps before we get this approval," Everett said, "so the churches are seeking to counter this sense of inevitability and say, let's slow down and say what are the costs, and is this good government, when the state is essentially bringing something into the Commonwealth that it knows will cause harm."
© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.
Original article (here)
Saturday, August 11, 2007
This Is The End, My Beautiful Friend, The End
Father John Allan Loftus, S.J. the Director of the Jesuit Urban Center at the Boston Church of the Immaculate Conception recommending a “Brokeback Lent.” In his homily for Ash Wednesday, March 1, Loftus urged congregants to watch the film.
Immaculate Conception closes in the South End
By Patrick E. O’Connor Pilot Correspondent
Posted: 8/10/2007
SOUTH END -- It was a full house July 29 at the closing Mass of the landmark Immaculate Conception Church, known in recent years as the Jesuit Urban Center.
In April, the Jesuits announced the closing of the church, ending a 146-year presence in the South End. The financial cost of operating the JUC, declining Mass attendance and revenue as well as some serious maintenance problems with the building were cited as reasons for closing the church.
In 1841, Bishop John B. Fitzpatrick invited the Jesuits to come to a growing Archdiocese of Boston. Father John McElroy, SJ, founder of Boston College toured the city looking for a suitable site to erect a church, high school and college. After encountering resistance from city authorities, he settled on a site in the fashionable South End.
Ground was broken for Immaculate Conception Church in 1858. The cornerstone was laid in 1859. The beautiful edifice, built entirely of New Hampshire granite, was dedicated on Oct. 14, 1861 by Bishop Fitzpatrick. With appropriate ceremonies, the church was solemnly consecrated by Archbishop John J. Williams on Aug. 15, 1875.
Immaculate Conception Church was designed by Patrick C. Keely, a prominent Catholic architect of the time whose work also included the nearby Holy Cross Cathedral. Architectural historians who have researched the history of the church believe that the interior was probably influenced by another Boston architect of the time, Arthur Gilman. One of the church’s most attractive features is the 30-foot high windows with light-gray etched glass that fill the church with natural light.
In 1863, Boston College was established at the site and was based on a seven-year program combining high school and college. Father McElroy lived to see his great church go hand-in-hand with a Catholic college educating Irish immigrants during a time of racial and religious intolerance in the city. He died on Oct. 3, 1864. For 50 years, the college and high school shared the same site, twice enlarged and inseparable. In 1913, the college left the South End for a new site at Chestnut Hill in Newton, beginning a new era for Boston College. Boston College High remained. The two institutions were legally separated in 1927. In 1950, Boston College High, having outgrown the South End site, moved to a new location on Columbia Point.
During the time of Cardinal Richard J. Cushing, Immaculate Conception -- never a parish church -- continued to draw immense crowds impressed with its beautiful interior, fine music and fine preaching and retreats conducted by the Jesuits. The centennial of the dedication was commemorated by a Mass of Thanksgiving led by Cardinal Cushing on Dec. 10, 1961. A banquet followed at the Catholic Alumni Sodality Hall.
Urban renewal in the 1960s had an effect on Immaculate Conception Church in an over-churched South End. By the 1980s, the upper church was rarely used. In 1986, the Jesuits began a renovation of the church that offended preservationists and art scholars. A 1987 Boston Landmarks Commission designation of the interior as a city landmark was ruled invalid by a superior court ruling in 1989. In the 1990s the Jesuit Urban Center, as the church came to be called, came alive again with a well-attended Mass on Sunday mornings attracting Catholics from throughout the area. The interior, while not as spectacular as in earlier times, was redesigned with individual chairs arranged around a new sanctuary area.
A steering committee formed this year to investigate a new worshipping site for the Immaculate Conception congregation has recommended that they attend Mass at St. Cecilia Church in the Back Bay. Father John Unni, pastor of St. Cecilia’s addressed the congregation at the closing Mass and encouraged all to join St. Cecilia’s.
Now that Jesuit Urban Center is closed, divine Providence may have a better end to the sad story at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church.
Original article (here)
Unfortunate further articles on the same subject (here) (here) and (here)
“I suspect many in this community have already seen Brokeback Mountain,” he said. “If not see it; if you have, see it again and reflect on the consequences of not being interiorly free, the consequences of not knowing who you really are and want to become, the tragic consequences and subsequent devastation that comes from only living in a ‘pretend’ world.”
Immaculate Conception closes in the South End
By Patrick E. O’Connor Pilot Correspondent
Posted: 8/10/2007
SOUTH END -- It was a full house July 29 at the closing Mass of the landmark Immaculate Conception Church, known in recent years as the Jesuit Urban Center.
In April, the Jesuits announced the closing of the church, ending a 146-year presence in the South End. The financial cost of operating the JUC, declining Mass attendance and revenue as well as some serious maintenance problems with the building were cited as reasons for closing the church.
In 1841, Bishop John B. Fitzpatrick invited the Jesuits to come to a growing Archdiocese of Boston. Father John McElroy, SJ, founder of Boston College toured the city looking for a suitable site to erect a church, high school and college. After encountering resistance from city authorities, he settled on a site in the fashionable South End.
Ground was broken for Immaculate Conception Church in 1858. The cornerstone was laid in 1859. The beautiful edifice, built entirely of New Hampshire granite, was dedicated on Oct. 14, 1861 by Bishop Fitzpatrick. With appropriate ceremonies, the church was solemnly consecrated by Archbishop John J. Williams on Aug. 15, 1875.
Immaculate Conception Church was designed by Patrick C. Keely, a prominent Catholic architect of the time whose work also included the nearby Holy Cross Cathedral. Architectural historians who have researched the history of the church believe that the interior was probably influenced by another Boston architect of the time, Arthur Gilman. One of the church’s most attractive features is the 30-foot high windows with light-gray etched glass that fill the church with natural light.
In 1863, Boston College was established at the site and was based on a seven-year program combining high school and college. Father McElroy lived to see his great church go hand-in-hand with a Catholic college educating Irish immigrants during a time of racial and religious intolerance in the city. He died on Oct. 3, 1864. For 50 years, the college and high school shared the same site, twice enlarged and inseparable. In 1913, the college left the South End for a new site at Chestnut Hill in Newton, beginning a new era for Boston College. Boston College High remained. The two institutions were legally separated in 1927. In 1950, Boston College High, having outgrown the South End site, moved to a new location on Columbia Point.
During the time of Cardinal Richard J. Cushing, Immaculate Conception -- never a parish church -- continued to draw immense crowds impressed with its beautiful interior, fine music and fine preaching and retreats conducted by the Jesuits. The centennial of the dedication was commemorated by a Mass of Thanksgiving led by Cardinal Cushing on Dec. 10, 1961. A banquet followed at the Catholic Alumni Sodality Hall.
Urban renewal in the 1960s had an effect on Immaculate Conception Church in an over-churched South End. By the 1980s, the upper church was rarely used. In 1986, the Jesuits began a renovation of the church that offended preservationists and art scholars. A 1987 Boston Landmarks Commission designation of the interior as a city landmark was ruled invalid by a superior court ruling in 1989. In the 1990s the Jesuit Urban Center, as the church came to be called, came alive again with a well-attended Mass on Sunday mornings attracting Catholics from throughout the area. The interior, while not as spectacular as in earlier times, was redesigned with individual chairs arranged around a new sanctuary area.
A steering committee formed this year to investigate a new worshipping site for the Immaculate Conception congregation has recommended that they attend Mass at St. Cecilia Church in the Back Bay. Father John Unni, pastor of St. Cecilia’s addressed the congregation at the closing Mass and encouraged all to join St. Cecilia’s.
Now that Jesuit Urban Center is closed, divine Providence may have a better end to the sad story at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church.
Original article (here)
Unfortunate further articles on the same subject (here) (here) and (here)
French Jesuit Pere Guillaume de Jerphanion, Turkish Explorer
Burrowing through Cappadocia caves
David Bowden KUALA LUMPUR 12-Aug-07 from The Brunei Times
THEY were not a people to tangle with as they had a habit of pouring hot oil over their enemies. For many centuries, troglodytes living in caves around Cappadocia in central Turkey took refuge from their enemies in holes they carved into the soft volcanic rock and poured boiling substances from concealed holes all over those who pursued them. They covered the openings to the tunnels they burrowed into the rock by rolling giant "rock wheels" behind them.
Today, many people residing on the dry plains of Anatolia still live inside their rocky enclaves as it provides insulation from the extremes of temperature experienced here between summer and winter. The whole area has been recognised by Unesco as a World Heritage Site
Visitors to the region can stay in conventional and comfortable hotels like the Dinler Hotel in the tourist town of Urgup or something more in line with the accommodation favoured by the subterranean locals, such as the nearby Alpina Hotel which has been carved into the rock face.
It's possible to inspect one of 100 or so underground villages like Ozkanak Underground Village for a small fee. Be warned though, the passageways are confined and narrow and it can get quite stuffy inside.
Back on the surface, centuries of wind, water and seasonal temperature fluctuations have sculpted a somewhat surrealistic landscape from the soft volcanic ash called tuff. Harder outcrops of basalt rock cap the softer cone-like tuff to create a moonscape of "fairy chimneys", minarets, cones, spires and pinnacles of various earthy tones.
Ancient inhabitants of Cappadocia hollowed out the soft rocky cones and cliff faces to create their unique troglodyte dwellings. Many of these are still inhabited today while new excavations to establish restaurants, hotels and tourist cultural dance venues are ongoing.
Central Turkey lies on a one of the major trade routes that linked Asia with Europe and Cappadocia has been home to many different civilisations.
It formed part of the ancient Silk Road and was thus a very strategic commercial centre. As such, the region became a complex web of historical and cultural influences. Different philosophies and faiths merged and influenced one another.
Christians escaping Roman persecution arrived in the 4th century and set about carving domed churches with vaulted ceilings from the friable rock. They also adorned the rocky ceilings with intricate and colourful frescoes painted from natural ochres. Some of the simple frescoes date back to the 8th century, but it is the ornate Byzantine frescoes of the 10th to 13th centuries that are the most noteworthy.
While the forces of erosion and some vandalism have taken their toll, there are still many cave sites in the region that are home to these valuable paintings and historical records.
With an estimated 1,000 rock churches in the area visitors don't have to travel far to appreciate the unique site of a place of worship carved into the rock. Goreme is the best, but most crowded place to inspect both the churches and frescoes.
The Goreme Open Air Museum contains several churches that date back to the 9th to 11th centuries. There are even more houses to be seen and the local inhabitants are usually open to polite requests to see inside.
With the arrival of Islam in the 14th century, Anatolia became the home of several famous Muslim scholars and philosophers.
Many of the region's cave owners have a loom inside where the women weave fine Turkish carpets to supplement the household income mostly derived from growing agricultural crops. Tourist towns like Urgup have many retail outlets selling the carpets and other products from the district like pottery.
Firca in Avanos is another place to visit to appreciate the craft of making ancient Turkish ceramics. Turkish ceramics date back to Hittite times and have developed an enviable reputation for their intricate and colourful glazes.
The Firca family has been make ceramics from their current site for the past 250 years. Visitors to their showroom can see how the ceramics are turned, hand-engraved, glazed and fired. There is a well-stocked showroom for those looking for a uniquely Turkish gift.
Amazingly it was not until 1907 when the rock churches of Anatolia were "discovered" and introduced to inquisitive travellers. Pere Guillaume de Jerphanion was a French Jesuit scholar who came across the religious structures while on a horseback tour of Anatolia.
Contemporary travellers don't have to endure similar hardships these days as there are several flights a day from Istanbul to Nevsehir in Cappadocia on Turkish Airlines. They also offer the best connection from South East Asia to Turkey with four flights to and from Singapore to Istanbul per week.
Choosing the appropriate time to visit Cappadocia is important as there is a vast range in temperature extremes from summer to winter. Get it wrong and you could either be sizzling or freezing on the Anatolian plains. The best times are from April to June and September to October for the best weather and least number of tourists. The highest peak in the region, Mount Erciyes (3,916m) is covered in snow in winter and is one of Turkey's most popular ski resorts. The Brunei Times
Original article (here)
David Bowden KUALA LUMPUR 12-Aug-07 from The Brunei Times
THEY were not a people to tangle with as they had a habit of pouring hot oil over their enemies. For many centuries, troglodytes living in caves around Cappadocia in central Turkey took refuge from their enemies in holes they carved into the soft volcanic rock and poured boiling substances from concealed holes all over those who pursued them. They covered the openings to the tunnels they burrowed into the rock by rolling giant "rock wheels" behind them.
Today, many people residing on the dry plains of Anatolia still live inside their rocky enclaves as it provides insulation from the extremes of temperature experienced here between summer and winter. The whole area has been recognised by Unesco as a World Heritage Site
Visitors to the region can stay in conventional and comfortable hotels like the Dinler Hotel in the tourist town of Urgup or something more in line with the accommodation favoured by the subterranean locals, such as the nearby Alpina Hotel which has been carved into the rock face.
It's possible to inspect one of 100 or so underground villages like Ozkanak Underground Village for a small fee. Be warned though, the passageways are confined and narrow and it can get quite stuffy inside.
Back on the surface, centuries of wind, water and seasonal temperature fluctuations have sculpted a somewhat surrealistic landscape from the soft volcanic ash called tuff. Harder outcrops of basalt rock cap the softer cone-like tuff to create a moonscape of "fairy chimneys", minarets, cones, spires and pinnacles of various earthy tones.
Ancient inhabitants of Cappadocia hollowed out the soft rocky cones and cliff faces to create their unique troglodyte dwellings. Many of these are still inhabited today while new excavations to establish restaurants, hotels and tourist cultural dance venues are ongoing.
Central Turkey lies on a one of the major trade routes that linked Asia with Europe and Cappadocia has been home to many different civilisations.
It formed part of the ancient Silk Road and was thus a very strategic commercial centre. As such, the region became a complex web of historical and cultural influences. Different philosophies and faiths merged and influenced one another.
Christians escaping Roman persecution arrived in the 4th century and set about carving domed churches with vaulted ceilings from the friable rock. They also adorned the rocky ceilings with intricate and colourful frescoes painted from natural ochres. Some of the simple frescoes date back to the 8th century, but it is the ornate Byzantine frescoes of the 10th to 13th centuries that are the most noteworthy.
While the forces of erosion and some vandalism have taken their toll, there are still many cave sites in the region that are home to these valuable paintings and historical records.
With an estimated 1,000 rock churches in the area visitors don't have to travel far to appreciate the unique site of a place of worship carved into the rock. Goreme is the best, but most crowded place to inspect both the churches and frescoes.
The Goreme Open Air Museum contains several churches that date back to the 9th to 11th centuries. There are even more houses to be seen and the local inhabitants are usually open to polite requests to see inside.
With the arrival of Islam in the 14th century, Anatolia became the home of several famous Muslim scholars and philosophers.
Many of the region's cave owners have a loom inside where the women weave fine Turkish carpets to supplement the household income mostly derived from growing agricultural crops. Tourist towns like Urgup have many retail outlets selling the carpets and other products from the district like pottery.
Firca in Avanos is another place to visit to appreciate the craft of making ancient Turkish ceramics. Turkish ceramics date back to Hittite times and have developed an enviable reputation for their intricate and colourful glazes.
The Firca family has been make ceramics from their current site for the past 250 years. Visitors to their showroom can see how the ceramics are turned, hand-engraved, glazed and fired. There is a well-stocked showroom for those looking for a uniquely Turkish gift.
Amazingly it was not until 1907 when the rock churches of Anatolia were "discovered" and introduced to inquisitive travellers. Pere Guillaume de Jerphanion was a French Jesuit scholar who came across the religious structures while on a horseback tour of Anatolia.
Contemporary travellers don't have to endure similar hardships these days as there are several flights a day from Istanbul to Nevsehir in Cappadocia on Turkish Airlines. They also offer the best connection from South East Asia to Turkey with four flights to and from Singapore to Istanbul per week.
Choosing the appropriate time to visit Cappadocia is important as there is a vast range in temperature extremes from summer to winter. Get it wrong and you could either be sizzling or freezing on the Anatolian plains. The best times are from April to June and September to October for the best weather and least number of tourists. The highest peak in the region, Mount Erciyes (3,916m) is covered in snow in winter and is one of Turkey's most popular ski resorts. The Brunei Times
Original article (here)
The Japanese and the Jesuits
Home of the faithful
Embracing World Heritage By Makoto Miyazaki Daily Yomiuri Photographer
With about 130 churches and home to about 15 percent of Christians in the country, Nagasaki Prefecture is viewed by many as the center of Catholicism in Japan.
The churches are a combination of Western architectural styles introduced by foreign priests and traditional Japanese techniques developed by such skilled carpenters as Yosuke Tetsukawa (1879-1976). The materials used to construct the churches include timber, brick, stone and reinforced concrete, and there are a wide range of designs.
Churches are an important part of the daily lives of Christians living on the Goto Islands, a chain of about 140 islands located about 100 kilometers west of Nagasaki city, but still part of the prefecture.
"If the churches become World Heritage sites, I wouldn't want them to become tourist attractions," said Yoshiaki Yamamoto, a photographer living in Nagasaki who has visited many churches in Japan and other countries. "I hope tourists visiting them will be respectful because these churches are for the local people."Not only are the churches places where the faithful can worship, but also places where people can meet and children can play. The churches I visited were clean and comfortable, although they had a somewhat formal air.
Most of the churches in Japan built before World War II are located in Nagasaki Prefecture, and serve as a reminder of the history of Christianity in this country. This history began with the arrival of Christianity in the 16th century, followed by periods of persecution, and finally a revival of the faith.
St. Francis Xavier, cofounder of the Society of Jesus, landed in Kagoshima in 1549. At that time, Nagasaki was open for trade between Japan and Portugal and it eventually became an important base for spreading Christianity to the rest of Japan. The Society of Jesus establishing a headquarters in the city.
In 1587, however, Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-1598), the warlord who was in the process of unifying Japan, issued a decree banning Christianity. Ten years later, Hideyoshi ordered the deaths of 26 Catholics in Nagasaki in what became known as the Martyrdom of the 26 Saints.
The oppression grew worse in the Edo period (1603-1867) under the Tokugawa shogunate, with believers forced to renounce their faith, sent into exile or killed. Eventually, it was believed Christianity, a religion that claimed 750,000 followers in the early Edo period, had been eradicated in Japan.
However, one of the most significant episodes in this country's religious history occurred in Nagasaki in 1865, when several Japanese visited the Oura Cathedral, built the year before for foreign residents, and revealed that they were Christians. The episode is known as the revelation of believers, and served to prove that despite the persecutions Christianity had not died out in Japan.
original article (here)
Embracing World Heritage By Makoto Miyazaki Daily Yomiuri Photographer
With about 130 churches and home to about 15 percent of Christians in the country, Nagasaki Prefecture is viewed by many as the center of Catholicism in Japan.
The churches are a combination of Western architectural styles introduced by foreign priests and traditional Japanese techniques developed by such skilled carpenters as Yosuke Tetsukawa (1879-1976). The materials used to construct the churches include timber, brick, stone and reinforced concrete, and there are a wide range of designs.
Churches are an important part of the daily lives of Christians living on the Goto Islands, a chain of about 140 islands located about 100 kilometers west of Nagasaki city, but still part of the prefecture.
"If the churches become World Heritage sites, I wouldn't want them to become tourist attractions," said Yoshiaki Yamamoto, a photographer living in Nagasaki who has visited many churches in Japan and other countries. "I hope tourists visiting them will be respectful because these churches are for the local people."Not only are the churches places where the faithful can worship, but also places where people can meet and children can play. The churches I visited were clean and comfortable, although they had a somewhat formal air.
Most of the churches in Japan built before World War II are located in Nagasaki Prefecture, and serve as a reminder of the history of Christianity in this country. This history began with the arrival of Christianity in the 16th century, followed by periods of persecution, and finally a revival of the faith.
St. Francis Xavier, cofounder of the Society of Jesus, landed in Kagoshima in 1549. At that time, Nagasaki was open for trade between Japan and Portugal and it eventually became an important base for spreading Christianity to the rest of Japan. The Society of Jesus establishing a headquarters in the city.
In 1587, however, Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-1598), the warlord who was in the process of unifying Japan, issued a decree banning Christianity. Ten years later, Hideyoshi ordered the deaths of 26 Catholics in Nagasaki in what became known as the Martyrdom of the 26 Saints.
The oppression grew worse in the Edo period (1603-1867) under the Tokugawa shogunate, with believers forced to renounce their faith, sent into exile or killed. Eventually, it was believed Christianity, a religion that claimed 750,000 followers in the early Edo period, had been eradicated in Japan.
However, one of the most significant episodes in this country's religious history occurred in Nagasaki in 1865, when several Japanese visited the Oura Cathedral, built the year before for foreign residents, and revealed that they were Christians. The episode is known as the revelation of believers, and served to prove that despite the persecutions Christianity had not died out in Japan.
original article (here)
Former Jesuit, Carl Pfiefer
Carl Pfeifer, 78; co-wrote series of Catholic textbooks
By Matt Schudel, Washington Post
August 11, 2007
Carl Pfeifer, who resigned from the Roman Catholic priesthood to marry his coauthor, with whom he wrote a series of influential textbooks on Catholic education, died of Alzheimer's disease July 12 at Stonehill Care Center in Dubuque, Iowa. He was 78.
In 1968, Pfeifer was a Jesuit priest working at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., when he and a Franciscan nun published the first in a series of textbooks for elementary students on Catholic education and catechism. The series, called "Life, Love, Joy," represented a dramatic change in the way Catholic schoolchildren learned about their faith.
Over the next 30 years, Pfeifer and Janaan Manternach revised their textbooks, wrote widely and traveled across the world to lead seminars on Catholic education. Their books and other classroom materials, published most recently under the title "This Is Our Faith," were used in Catholic schools in all 50 states. They replaced the old Baltimore catechism, a system of learning by rote, with a dynamic storytelling approach drawing on examples from everyday life.
"What Carl and I did, which was seen as a real change, was we introduced life experience to catechetical education," Manternach said last week. "If we're going to find God, we're going to find God in life."
After collaborating for 10 years, Manternach and Pfeifer felt a growing attraction that went beyond their shared work and faith. In their 40s, they went through the formal process of resigning from their religious orders. He had been a member of the Jesuits for 29 years; she had been a nun for 27.
Only then did they go on their first date. They had never so much as held hands before.
"We absolutely were in love with each other, there's no question, before that first date," Manternach said.
They were married Nov. 20, 1976, surrounded by hundreds of supporters, but their decision to marry was not warmly received by all.
One priest wrote a letter branding their actions "evil." Manternach's sister refused to attend the wedding, and a nun who had been a close friend said Manternach was now "dead" to her.
"Before that, I had a community," Manternach said. "Now, I had a community of one."
With little money and uncertain job prospects, the newlyweds settled in Arlington, Va., and returned to their mission of Catholic education. When the archbishop of Baltimore invited Pfeifer to speak at a conference on Catholic liturgy, they knew they had found official acceptance.
Pfeifer and Manternach revised their "Life, Love, Joy" series, wrote for magazines and published books for teachers. They taught courses on Catholic education and doctrine to seminarians and, from 1967 to 1992, appeared as panelists on the weekly "Bauman Bible Telecasts," a nationally televised college religion course based in Washington.
They answered questions from religion teachers in a monthly newsletter from 1987 to 1998 and collected their columns in a book, "How to Be a Better Catechist."
From 1970 to 1979, Pfeifer wrote a weekly syndicated column, "Know Your Faith," for the National Catholic News Service.
Carl Jacob Pfeifer was born June 22, 1929, in St. Louis. He graduated from St. Louis University and received a master's degree in philosophy from the university in 1954.
He taught Latin and Greek at his alma mater's Jesuit high school for several years and became an ordained priest in 1961. He received a doctorate in ministry from St. Mary's Seminary and University in Baltimore in 1985.
While teaching a course on the Psalms at Catholic University in the early 1960s, Pfeifer met Manternach, who had taught in Iowa and Chicago for 11 years.
Invited to work on a new model of religious training, they became assistant directors of the National Center for the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine at Catholic University and began their lifelong collaboration.
To commemorate the textbook series that brought them together and formed their life's work, Pfeifer and Manternach had their wedding rings engraved with three words: "Life, Love, Joy."
Original article (here)
By Matt Schudel, Washington Post
August 11, 2007
Carl Pfeifer, who resigned from the Roman Catholic priesthood to marry his coauthor, with whom he wrote a series of influential textbooks on Catholic education, died of Alzheimer's disease July 12 at Stonehill Care Center in Dubuque, Iowa. He was 78.
In 1968, Pfeifer was a Jesuit priest working at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., when he and a Franciscan nun published the first in a series of textbooks for elementary students on Catholic education and catechism. The series, called "Life, Love, Joy," represented a dramatic change in the way Catholic schoolchildren learned about their faith.
Over the next 30 years, Pfeifer and Janaan Manternach revised their textbooks, wrote widely and traveled across the world to lead seminars on Catholic education. Their books and other classroom materials, published most recently under the title "This Is Our Faith," were used in Catholic schools in all 50 states. They replaced the old Baltimore catechism, a system of learning by rote, with a dynamic storytelling approach drawing on examples from everyday life.
"What Carl and I did, which was seen as a real change, was we introduced life experience to catechetical education," Manternach said last week. "If we're going to find God, we're going to find God in life."
After collaborating for 10 years, Manternach and Pfeifer felt a growing attraction that went beyond their shared work and faith. In their 40s, they went through the formal process of resigning from their religious orders. He had been a member of the Jesuits for 29 years; she had been a nun for 27.
Only then did they go on their first date. They had never so much as held hands before.
"We absolutely were in love with each other, there's no question, before that first date," Manternach said.
They were married Nov. 20, 1976, surrounded by hundreds of supporters, but their decision to marry was not warmly received by all.
One priest wrote a letter branding their actions "evil." Manternach's sister refused to attend the wedding, and a nun who had been a close friend said Manternach was now "dead" to her.
"Before that, I had a community," Manternach said. "Now, I had a community of one."
With little money and uncertain job prospects, the newlyweds settled in Arlington, Va., and returned to their mission of Catholic education. When the archbishop of Baltimore invited Pfeifer to speak at a conference on Catholic liturgy, they knew they had found official acceptance.
Pfeifer and Manternach revised their "Life, Love, Joy" series, wrote for magazines and published books for teachers. They taught courses on Catholic education and doctrine to seminarians and, from 1967 to 1992, appeared as panelists on the weekly "Bauman Bible Telecasts," a nationally televised college religion course based in Washington.
They answered questions from religion teachers in a monthly newsletter from 1987 to 1998 and collected their columns in a book, "How to Be a Better Catechist."
From 1970 to 1979, Pfeifer wrote a weekly syndicated column, "Know Your Faith," for the National Catholic News Service.
Carl Jacob Pfeifer was born June 22, 1929, in St. Louis. He graduated from St. Louis University and received a master's degree in philosophy from the university in 1954.
He taught Latin and Greek at his alma mater's Jesuit high school for several years and became an ordained priest in 1961. He received a doctorate in ministry from St. Mary's Seminary and University in Baltimore in 1985.
While teaching a course on the Psalms at Catholic University in the early 1960s, Pfeifer met Manternach, who had taught in Iowa and Chicago for 11 years.
Invited to work on a new model of religious training, they became assistant directors of the National Center for the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine at Catholic University and began their lifelong collaboration.
To commemorate the textbook series that brought them together and formed their life's work, Pfeifer and Manternach had their wedding rings engraved with three words: "Life, Love, Joy."
Original article (here)
Rare copies of "The Spiritual Exercises" On Display In New Orleans
History of Jesuits in La. on display
Saturday, August 11, 2007
By John Pope
Staff writer of the Times Picuyne
The display on the library's third floor, in the Special Collections and Archives, is open to the public throughout the 2007-08 academic year. Among the pieces on display are the document creating the province, photographs of Jesuit priests who were in New Orleans in 1907, silver pieces from local churches and two rare copies of "The Spiritual Exercises" by St. Ignatius of Loyola, the order's founder. The book constitutes the Society of Jesus' spiritual foundation, said Joan Gaulene, a spokeswoman for the exhibit.
A province is the order's organizational unit. The Society of Jesus, the religious order that runs Loyola, has been active in Louisiana since the colonial period. Of the 10 Jesuit provinces in the United States, the New Orleans province, which contains 10 states and stretches across the South from New Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean, is the biggest, Gaulene said.
The library is on Calhoun Street between Cromwell Place and Loyola Street. Its hours are listed at library.loyno.edu/hours/monroe.htm.
Original article (here)
Saturday, August 11, 2007
By John Pope
Staff writer of the Times Picuyne
A panoply of documents, photographs and artifacts tracking the history of the Jesuits in Louisiana is on display in Loyola University's Monroe Library to mark the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the New Orleans Province of the Society of Jesus.
The display on the library's third floor, in the Special Collections and Archives, is open to the public throughout the 2007-08 academic year. Among the pieces on display are the document creating the province, photographs of Jesuit priests who were in New Orleans in 1907, silver pieces from local churches and two rare copies of "The Spiritual Exercises" by St. Ignatius of Loyola, the order's founder. The book constitutes the Society of Jesus' spiritual foundation, said Joan Gaulene, a spokeswoman for the exhibit.
A province is the order's organizational unit. The Society of Jesus, the religious order that runs Loyola, has been active in Louisiana since the colonial period. Of the 10 Jesuit provinces in the United States, the New Orleans province, which contains 10 states and stretches across the South from New Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean, is the biggest, Gaulene said.
The library is on Calhoun Street between Cromwell Place and Loyola Street. Its hours are listed at library.loyno.edu/hours/monroe.htm.
Original article (here)
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Jesuits Reconsecrate Catholic Church in 1686, In Pecs Hungary
City of Pecs has wineries, ceramics, multi-religious history
By Pablo Gorondi, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Inside Bay Area
Article Last Updated:08/08/2007 01:25:43 PM PDT
PECS, Hungary
A CHURCH WITHOUT a steeple; a near-Mediterranean climate far from the Mediterranean Sea; winemaking traditions in the region dating from the Roman Empire. The southern Hungarian city of Pecs, in brief.
In 2010 — along with Essen, Germany, and Istanbul, Turkey — Pecs will also be a European Capital of Culture. Located 125 miles south of Budapest, it's a comfortable three-hour train ride from Hungary's capital.
Pecs — or Sopiane, as it was called by the Romans — has more than 2,000 years of its history on display. Besides its Hungarian traditions, the city has remnants of the Roman times, dating to around 350-400, and the even more visible Muslim structures left behind by the Turks, who occupied the city for more than 140 years from 1543.
The Inner City Parish Church may not have an impressive name, but it is one of the most beautiful places of worship you'll ever see.
Standing atop Szechenyi Square in the city center, the church has undergone numerous transformations since the Middle Ages and you'd be forgiven for not recognizing it — because it looks like a mosque.
Actually, the stones of the Gothic Church of St. Bartholomew were used by the Turks to build the mosque of Pasha Gazi Kassim. After the Turks were expelled from Pecs in 1686, the mosque was taken over by the Jesuits, restoring it to its Christian use.
The mosque's minaret survived until 1753 and for a time the Baroque church had its own steeple. But thesteeple and many of the additions to the mosque were removed during later restoration works.
As a compromise solution, a metallic tower some 20 feet tall mechanically rises another 30 feet or so each time its three bells are rung.
Fragments of epigraphs with quotations from the Quran can still be seen on the walls and the dome rises more than 72 feet above ground level of what is considered the largest monument of Turkish architecture in the country.
From Roman times, the most notable remains are the early Christian burial chambers, the earliest dating to the fourth century.
While archeologists have been exploring them for centuries, the addition of the cemetery to the UNESCO's list of World Heritage sites in 2000 gave the dig a fresh boost.
The remains of the Cella Septichora — an early Christian chapel from the fourth century with seven apses (vaulted recesses) first explored in the early 1900s — are now included in a new visitors' center which opened to the public just a few months ago.
Thanks to a labyrinthine set of hallways and walkways, the burial chambers can be seen from practically every angle: some from the top, others from the bottom, others through a door or window. In each case, the best view depends on the chamber's features, which include frescos and other decorations.
Other attractions in Pecs include the Modern Hungarian Picture Gallery, the neo-Romanesque Cathedral on Dom ter, the Mosque of Pasha Yakovali Hassan, also beautifully reconstructed, and the Zsolnay Museum, dedicated to the famous Art Nouveau ceramics, tile and porcelain makers. The museum is set to re-open in mid-September after renovations, but the city is also home to the Zsolnay factory and a shop next door where you can buy Zsolnay designs.
About 22 miles southeast of Pecs are the Villany Hills, whose southern slopes and valley are shielded from the cold north winds and offer a home to one of Hungary's best-known wine regions.
Villany is also a town that is the unofficial capital of the local vineyards, which spread along a series of small villages where it seems every family has its own little winery.
The Villany-Siklos Wine Route, which winds through 11 localities, can be a methodic way to explore the wine cellars, although how methodic you will still be after the second or third wine-tasting is hard to guess.
For a more intimate experience with no loss in wine quality, you can try the wine cellars of Istvan Kovacs.
Kovacs, 63, was a young boy in Budapest when he heard a weather report on the radio that determined his future. It was a bitterly cold February day in Budapest but the announcer said the first spring blooms could already be seen near Villany.
Decades later, by then a jazz pianist performing everywhere from cruise ships to Las Vegas and Kuwait City, Kovacs remembered his childhood dreams of warmth and bought a small plot in Kisjakabfalva, a village with 300 inhabitants next door to Villany, but off the traditional Wine Route.
The Kovacs-Gressly Cellar produced its first wine here in 2001 and since has won numerous prizes for some of its vintages.
As if striving to stretch the boundaries of the sub-Mediterranean climate, Kovacs also keeps a blooming garden which includes vegetation usually seen far from Hungary, such as palm trees, banana trees, bamboo and laurel shrubs.
His cellar produces about 35,000 bottles a year of red and rose wines — Portugieser, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvingnon, Zweigelt Siller, Kekfrankos. If you prefer white wines, head to neighboring Siklos and its famous Rieslings an Chardonnays.
His guest house has room for six to 15 people — depending on how comfortably you want to sleep — and besides the exquisite wines, two grand pianos on the estate give Kovacs the opportunity to play jazz, classical favorites and seemingly everything in between for visitors.
The best way to sample Kovacs' wine is straight from the barrel, down in one of the cool cellars carved out of the Villany Hills.
French King Louis XIV once described the wines from Tokaj, in northeast Hungary, as "the wine of kings, the king of wines," and Kovacs proudly refers to his own product as "the queen of wines."
Kovacs would like to spread his Mediterranean garden idea to the entire village of Kisjakabfalva and challenge Villany's supremacy as the area's synonym for wine.
"This project is not a short-term plan, it's for a lifetime," Kovacs said while using a long glass tube — a "thief" — to sample the contents of some of the oak barrels. "But at least this wine is already selling like candy."
Original article (here)
By Pablo Gorondi, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Inside Bay Area
Article Last Updated:08/08/2007 01:25:43 PM PDT
PECS, Hungary
A CHURCH WITHOUT a steeple; a near-Mediterranean climate far from the Mediterranean Sea; winemaking traditions in the region dating from the Roman Empire. The southern Hungarian city of Pecs, in brief.
In 2010 — along with Essen, Germany, and Istanbul, Turkey — Pecs will also be a European Capital of Culture. Located 125 miles south of Budapest, it's a comfortable three-hour train ride from Hungary's capital.
Pecs — or Sopiane, as it was called by the Romans — has more than 2,000 years of its history on display. Besides its Hungarian traditions, the city has remnants of the Roman times, dating to around 350-400, and the even more visible Muslim structures left behind by the Turks, who occupied the city for more than 140 years from 1543.
The Inner City Parish Church may not have an impressive name, but it is one of the most beautiful places of worship you'll ever see.
Standing atop Szechenyi Square in the city center, the church has undergone numerous transformations since the Middle Ages and you'd be forgiven for not recognizing it — because it looks like a mosque.
Actually, the stones of the Gothic Church of St. Bartholomew were used by the Turks to build the mosque of Pasha Gazi Kassim. After the Turks were expelled from Pecs in 1686, the mosque was taken over by the Jesuits, restoring it to its Christian use.
The mosque's minaret survived until 1753 and for a time the Baroque church had its own steeple. But thesteeple and many of the additions to the mosque were removed during later restoration works.
As a compromise solution, a metallic tower some 20 feet tall mechanically rises another 30 feet or so each time its three bells are rung.
Fragments of epigraphs with quotations from the Quran can still be seen on the walls and the dome rises more than 72 feet above ground level of what is considered the largest monument of Turkish architecture in the country.
From Roman times, the most notable remains are the early Christian burial chambers, the earliest dating to the fourth century.
While archeologists have been exploring them for centuries, the addition of the cemetery to the UNESCO's list of World Heritage sites in 2000 gave the dig a fresh boost.
The remains of the Cella Septichora — an early Christian chapel from the fourth century with seven apses (vaulted recesses) first explored in the early 1900s — are now included in a new visitors' center which opened to the public just a few months ago.
Thanks to a labyrinthine set of hallways and walkways, the burial chambers can be seen from practically every angle: some from the top, others from the bottom, others through a door or window. In each case, the best view depends on the chamber's features, which include frescos and other decorations.
Other attractions in Pecs include the Modern Hungarian Picture Gallery, the neo-Romanesque Cathedral on Dom ter, the Mosque of Pasha Yakovali Hassan, also beautifully reconstructed, and the Zsolnay Museum, dedicated to the famous Art Nouveau ceramics, tile and porcelain makers. The museum is set to re-open in mid-September after renovations, but the city is also home to the Zsolnay factory and a shop next door where you can buy Zsolnay designs.
About 22 miles southeast of Pecs are the Villany Hills, whose southern slopes and valley are shielded from the cold north winds and offer a home to one of Hungary's best-known wine regions.
Villany is also a town that is the unofficial capital of the local vineyards, which spread along a series of small villages where it seems every family has its own little winery.
The Villany-Siklos Wine Route, which winds through 11 localities, can be a methodic way to explore the wine cellars, although how methodic you will still be after the second or third wine-tasting is hard to guess.
For a more intimate experience with no loss in wine quality, you can try the wine cellars of Istvan Kovacs.
Kovacs, 63, was a young boy in Budapest when he heard a weather report on the radio that determined his future. It was a bitterly cold February day in Budapest but the announcer said the first spring blooms could already be seen near Villany.
Decades later, by then a jazz pianist performing everywhere from cruise ships to Las Vegas and Kuwait City, Kovacs remembered his childhood dreams of warmth and bought a small plot in Kisjakabfalva, a village with 300 inhabitants next door to Villany, but off the traditional Wine Route.
The Kovacs-Gressly Cellar produced its first wine here in 2001 and since has won numerous prizes for some of its vintages.
As if striving to stretch the boundaries of the sub-Mediterranean climate, Kovacs also keeps a blooming garden which includes vegetation usually seen far from Hungary, such as palm trees, banana trees, bamboo and laurel shrubs.
His cellar produces about 35,000 bottles a year of red and rose wines — Portugieser, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvingnon, Zweigelt Siller, Kekfrankos. If you prefer white wines, head to neighboring Siklos and its famous Rieslings an Chardonnays.
His guest house has room for six to 15 people — depending on how comfortably you want to sleep — and besides the exquisite wines, two grand pianos on the estate give Kovacs the opportunity to play jazz, classical favorites and seemingly everything in between for visitors.
The best way to sample Kovacs' wine is straight from the barrel, down in one of the cool cellars carved out of the Villany Hills.
French King Louis XIV once described the wines from Tokaj, in northeast Hungary, as "the wine of kings, the king of wines," and Kovacs proudly refers to his own product as "the queen of wines."
Kovacs would like to spread his Mediterranean garden idea to the entire village of Kisjakabfalva and challenge Villany's supremacy as the area's synonym for wine.
"This project is not a short-term plan, it's for a lifetime," Kovacs said while using a long glass tube — a "thief" — to sample the contents of some of the oak barrels. "But at least this wine is already selling like candy."
Original article (here)
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Fordham Grad Francis Beckwith Living Out His Faith
Jimmy Akin shows the buffoon that Dr. James White is (here)
Francis Beckwith's interview regarding his reversion to the Catholic Church on a Protestant radio show (here)
Catholic's living out their faith is a powerful force in the world.
Francis Beckwith's interview regarding his reversion to the Catholic Church on a Protestant radio show (here)
Catholic's living out their faith is a powerful force in the world.
Loyala Chicago Anthropologist Philip Arnold, On Mexican Witchcraft
Read these links for a spiritual workout before you read this post, (here), (here) and (here)
Catholic Church wages campaign against witchcraft in Mexican town
By Jonathan Roeder
8/7/2007
Catholic News Service
CATEMACO, Mexico (CNS) – From across the nation and beyond, visitors come to this picturesque, lagoonside town in southern Mexico, seeking money, love, health and revenge.
To make these wishes come true, they seek out the area's famous "brujos," as they are called in Spanish. For a fee, these shamans and healers perform rituals and call on spirits from the netherworld to influence their clients' fate.
Thanks to this bustling trade in mysticism, Catemaco is Mexico's unofficial capital of all things occult. It also presents a unique challenge for and competition to the Catholic Church.
For decades, the church has waged a campaign against "brujeria," or witchcraft, in Veracruz, a state along the Gulf of Mexico. In recent years the church has issued declarations and even put a cross on the top of The Wild Hunt Blog: A modern Pagan perspective">White Monkey Peak, a nearby hilltop used by shamans as a ceremonial center.
"People want to resolve their problems with the snap of a finger," said Father Tomas Alonso Martinez of St. John the Baptist Parish in Catemaco. The witches "use psychology with the power of suggestion, which they use very well, to make their clients feel good for a little bit."
The results, he added, are clients who believe they are cured but eventually succumb to illnesses that go untreated. Other people, he said, end up as the victims of extortion scams from shamans and their helpers who extract personal information during their rituals.
He recalled one young local couple that hired a shaman to cast a spell that would boost their business. Later, the shaman demanded more money, claiming the couple's child would drop dead on a specific date if they did not pay.
Despite these scams, the tradition of witchcraft, which predates Catholicism in Mexico, persists. This lush, marshy area of the country, known as the Tuxtla region, was reportedly an important place for magic well before the Spanish conquered Mexico in the 1500s. Today, while tourists are the main customers, many residents still go to shamans for routine cleansings and good-luck amulets.
An even greater challenge is economics: Brujeria means big bucks. The Veracruz government dubbed the region "the Land of Witches" in a recent tourism campaign, and a massive, festive "black mass" is held each first Friday of March. The state governor often attends.
"It's our way of life; there are no companies here," said Norberto Baxin Mantilla, known to customers as "the Black Unicorn." "There are hundreds of witches and shamans. It's a source of income." Baxin's work space, located in his house, is adorned with posters of skeletons and statues of "La Santa Muerte," the incarnation of death, a skeletal figure that has spawned a growing cult in Mexico in recent years. The hood of his silver Camaro also bears the grim-reaperlike image of Santa Muerte.
For a routine cleansing, Baxin donned silvery robes while a client stood in the middle of a five-pointed star painted on the floor. In the dark and amid flames and smoking incense, Baxin waved garlands of pungent herbs and an egg over the client's body.
"I believe in Santa Muerte and God, no one else," Baxin said. "Thanks to my faith, (Santa Muerte) has helped me solve a lot of problems. ... I cure all types of negative energy."
But for many observers, including locals and scholars, most of the witchcraft is all show and no substance.
"The ancient traditions have been lost," said Salvador Herrera, a local columnist and historian. "All that's left is the reputation, and that's what is now exploited."
He added that today's witchcraft combines traces of ancient local customs with rituals imported from Haiti, Africa and Brazil, along with a recent infusion of Santa Muerte for good measure.
But no matter how much traditions have morphed, certain elements, such as the cleansing concept, remain. They are evident even in local Catholic ceremonies. While shamans ward off evil spirits and bad vibes in spooky, candlelit rooms, Catholic cleansings are also regularly carried out in the town's brightly painted cathedral, the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Carmen.
On one recent afternoon, a man brushed pungent wreaths of basil over visitors who knelt before a statue of Mary. The pilgrims left amulets and locks of hair next to the statue, along with letters asking for special requests -- offerings much like those left to the ancient gods on the hillsides and grottoes outside town.
For Philip Arnold, an anthropologist and archaeologist with Jesuit-run Loyola University in Chicago who has been visiting the region for 25 years, the parallels are clear.
"In many ways the Catholic Church is in competition with the brujos," he said. "Here you're supposed to go to the church to get cleansed (and) have yours sins pardoned, whereas with the brujos you're going to them to get cleansed. So there's a little bit of natural tension that's going to occur."
While Father Alonso acknowledges that pre-Hispanic and Catholic beliefs are intertwined in the area, Arnold suggests the phenomenon is just a continuation of the Spanish conquest that began centuries ago.
"It's in some ways an uncomfortable juxtaposition, and that juxtaposition has been simply played out since the Spaniards arrived," he said. "And as much as people like to think, 'Oh, that's all gone away,' in fact it's contemporary. It's right now right here, it's today and it's tomorrow."
With two belief systems so deeply ingrained in the culture, many locals prefer to follow both, even if they would appear to be at odds.
"I'm Catholic but I think that if God exists, then so does the devil," said Rafael Cruz, who sells religious articles at a street stand outside the cathedral. "There are a lot of people who can hurt you in the world. ... There are a lot of envious people, and if they see you doing well, they'll try to stop you from getting ahead."
Shamans and scholars alike explain that envy is a central part of the equation – and perhaps the motor of the witching economy.
"Somebody sees you and is envious and that envy is translated to you," said Arnold. "Envy is a big part of the pre-Hispanic belief system in Mexico. You want to avoid being envious and you want to avoid doing anything that makes you stand out, because that attracts envy." Another driving force in witchcraft's prevalence is the fear of being the target of bad magic, said Hector Betaza Dominguez, a brujo known to his clients as "the Crow."
"Many people don't understand our magic, because our priests tell us to believe in God and to pray, but they never tell us, 'You know what, we've got to protect ourselves,'" he said. "There are people who die because of it; they visit doctors, but they're never cured."
Original article (here)
Catholic Church wages campaign against witchcraft in Mexican town
By Jonathan Roeder
8/7/2007
Catholic News Service
CATEMACO, Mexico (CNS) – From across the nation and beyond, visitors come to this picturesque, lagoonside town in southern Mexico, seeking money, love, health and revenge.
To make these wishes come true, they seek out the area's famous "brujos," as they are called in Spanish. For a fee, these shamans and healers perform rituals and call on spirits from the netherworld to influence their clients' fate.
Thanks to this bustling trade in mysticism, Catemaco is Mexico's unofficial capital of all things occult. It also presents a unique challenge for and competition to the Catholic Church.
For decades, the church has waged a campaign against "brujeria," or witchcraft, in Veracruz, a state along the Gulf of Mexico. In recent years the church has issued declarations and even put a cross on the top of The Wild Hunt Blog: A modern Pagan perspective">White Monkey Peak, a nearby hilltop used by shamans as a ceremonial center.
"People want to resolve their problems with the snap of a finger," said Father Tomas Alonso Martinez of St. John the Baptist Parish in Catemaco. The witches "use psychology with the power of suggestion, which they use very well, to make their clients feel good for a little bit."
The results, he added, are clients who believe they are cured but eventually succumb to illnesses that go untreated. Other people, he said, end up as the victims of extortion scams from shamans and their helpers who extract personal information during their rituals.
He recalled one young local couple that hired a shaman to cast a spell that would boost their business. Later, the shaman demanded more money, claiming the couple's child would drop dead on a specific date if they did not pay.
Despite these scams, the tradition of witchcraft, which predates Catholicism in Mexico, persists. This lush, marshy area of the country, known as the Tuxtla region, was reportedly an important place for magic well before the Spanish conquered Mexico in the 1500s. Today, while tourists are the main customers, many residents still go to shamans for routine cleansings and good-luck amulets.
An even greater challenge is economics: Brujeria means big bucks. The Veracruz government dubbed the region "the Land of Witches" in a recent tourism campaign, and a massive, festive "black mass" is held each first Friday of March. The state governor often attends.
"It's our way of life; there are no companies here," said Norberto Baxin Mantilla, known to customers as "the Black Unicorn." "There are hundreds of witches and shamans. It's a source of income." Baxin's work space, located in his house, is adorned with posters of skeletons and statues of "La Santa Muerte," the incarnation of death, a skeletal figure that has spawned a growing cult in Mexico in recent years. The hood of his silver Camaro also bears the grim-reaperlike image of Santa Muerte.
For a routine cleansing, Baxin donned silvery robes while a client stood in the middle of a five-pointed star painted on the floor. In the dark and amid flames and smoking incense, Baxin waved garlands of pungent herbs and an egg over the client's body.
"I believe in Santa Muerte and God, no one else," Baxin said. "Thanks to my faith, (Santa Muerte) has helped me solve a lot of problems. ... I cure all types of negative energy."
But for many observers, including locals and scholars, most of the witchcraft is all show and no substance.
"The ancient traditions have been lost," said Salvador Herrera, a local columnist and historian. "All that's left is the reputation, and that's what is now exploited."
He added that today's witchcraft combines traces of ancient local customs with rituals imported from Haiti, Africa and Brazil, along with a recent infusion of Santa Muerte for good measure.
But no matter how much traditions have morphed, certain elements, such as the cleansing concept, remain. They are evident even in local Catholic ceremonies. While shamans ward off evil spirits and bad vibes in spooky, candlelit rooms, Catholic cleansings are also regularly carried out in the town's brightly painted cathedral, the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Carmen.
On one recent afternoon, a man brushed pungent wreaths of basil over visitors who knelt before a statue of Mary. The pilgrims left amulets and locks of hair next to the statue, along with letters asking for special requests -- offerings much like those left to the ancient gods on the hillsides and grottoes outside town.
For Philip Arnold, an anthropologist and archaeologist with Jesuit-run Loyola University in Chicago who has been visiting the region for 25 years, the parallels are clear.
"In many ways the Catholic Church is in competition with the brujos," he said. "Here you're supposed to go to the church to get cleansed (and) have yours sins pardoned, whereas with the brujos you're going to them to get cleansed. So there's a little bit of natural tension that's going to occur."
While Father Alonso acknowledges that pre-Hispanic and Catholic beliefs are intertwined in the area, Arnold suggests the phenomenon is just a continuation of the Spanish conquest that began centuries ago.
"It's in some ways an uncomfortable juxtaposition, and that juxtaposition has been simply played out since the Spaniards arrived," he said. "And as much as people like to think, 'Oh, that's all gone away,' in fact it's contemporary. It's right now right here, it's today and it's tomorrow."
With two belief systems so deeply ingrained in the culture, many locals prefer to follow both, even if they would appear to be at odds.
"I'm Catholic but I think that if God exists, then so does the devil," said Rafael Cruz, who sells religious articles at a street stand outside the cathedral. "There are a lot of people who can hurt you in the world. ... There are a lot of envious people, and if they see you doing well, they'll try to stop you from getting ahead."
Shamans and scholars alike explain that envy is a central part of the equation – and perhaps the motor of the witching economy.
"Somebody sees you and is envious and that envy is translated to you," said Arnold. "Envy is a big part of the pre-Hispanic belief system in Mexico. You want to avoid being envious and you want to avoid doing anything that makes you stand out, because that attracts envy." Another driving force in witchcraft's prevalence is the fear of being the target of bad magic, said Hector Betaza Dominguez, a brujo known to his clients as "the Crow."
"Many people don't understand our magic, because our priests tell us to believe in God and to pray, but they never tell us, 'You know what, we've got to protect ourselves,'" he said. "There are people who die because of it; they visit doctors, but they're never cured."
Original article (here)
Chasing Unicorn's Costs Money At Jesuit University
Amid fears about global warming, U.S. Catholic campuses go ‘green’
By Kaitlynn Riely
8/8/2007
Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON (CNS) – Amid fears about global warming, going "green" has achieved new popularity. However, for many Catholic colleges and universities, developing a sustainable campus has always been a goal – one that is now easier to achieve with new technologies.
At Georgetown University in Washington, for instance, solar panels were installed on the roof of a building in the early 1980s. Almost 30 years later, the panel design is the longest running such project of its scale still operational in the United States.
Today, the Jesuit university has an energy management team that monitors and fine-tunes energy use in campus buildings throughout the day.
For another Jesuit school, Boston College, the impetus to reduce energy consumption and become a sustainable campus comes from its Catholic mission, said Jack Dunn, the director of public affairs at the college.
Boston College saved more than a million dollars last year after it launched a campaign to reduce energy consumption. Managing Boston College's effect on the environment, Dunn said, is an effort students have joined.
"Students at Catholic colleges realize that they are being called upon to develop their God-given talents and use them in the service of others," he said in a telephone interview. "And one of the greatest challenges that we face in our future is protecting the earth."
Students at the college are familiar with the words of the founder of the Society of Jesus, St. Ignatius of Loyola, who said, "Go set the world aflame." The school used this familiar phrase, Dunn said, in its campaign to cut down on energy consumption. Posters around campus instruct students to "Go set the world aflame, but before you do, don't forget to turn off the lights."
In Chicago, St. Xavier University, run by the Sisters of Mercy, has been investing money in its own green initiatives. One of the core values of St. Xavier University is respect, said Paul J. Matthews, the assistant vice president for facilities management – and respect for the environment falls under that value.
"If you look at stewardship, and also taking care of mankind and the human element, sustainability falls in line with many of these Catholic teachings," Matthews said.
Last fall, St. Xavier unveiled a green building. Arthur Rubloff Hall, an 88-person residence hall that also houses the Residence Life Office, became the first building at a university or college in Illinois to receive the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, gold designation from the U.S. Green Building Council.
The council is a nonprofit organization that developed the LEED system as a way to rate the performance and sustainability of buildings. Gold is the second-highest designation.
The building has carpeting made from recycled plastics, a green roof covered with small plants to filter and purify rainwater and a carbon dioxide detection system that can tell if a room is occupied, and then adjust the airflow accordingly. Matthews said the school is happy with the building after its first year.
But this new technology didn't come cheap. Rubloff Hall cost approximately $9 million to build, about $290,000 more than a conventional building would have cost.
"Yeah, it was a little more expensive," Matthews told CNS. "But in the long term, it's going to pay back in the energy savings we are making."
A conventional building would cost about $90,000 a year in heating and cooling. Rubloff Hall should cost the university less than $60,000 a year, meaning the school will break even in a little more than eight years.
Another plus, Matthews said, is that the school is emitting fewer gases into the environment.
Reducing gas expenditure is a challenge Mayor Michael Bloomberg has presented to the city of New York – and its top colleges and universities in particular.
Jesuit-run Fordham University accepted the challenge, and in the next 10 years will attempt to reduce its carbon dioxide footprint by 30 percent. But Fordham had already been taking steps to reduce its affect on the environment, said Joseph Muriana, the associate vice president of government relations and urban affairs at the university.
Buildings at the university are computer-controlled for energy efficiency and have environmentally-friendly lighting, so the campuses have already had significant energy usage reductions in past years. The school also runs shuttle buses back and forth between its two campuses. These buses – eight an hour – move more than 80,000 people a year, Muriana said.
Bloomberg's initiative, Muriana said, "is an opportunity to do more."
The university is currently doing calculations to figure out what its 2005-06 carbon dioxide footprint was, so those figures can be used as a base.
"We are committed to the challenge," Muriana said. "We are committed to reaching that."
Original article (here)
By Kaitlynn Riely
8/8/2007
Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON (CNS) – Amid fears about global warming, going "green" has achieved new popularity. However, for many Catholic colleges and universities, developing a sustainable campus has always been a goal – one that is now easier to achieve with new technologies.
At Georgetown University in Washington, for instance, solar panels were installed on the roof of a building in the early 1980s. Almost 30 years later, the panel design is the longest running such project of its scale still operational in the United States.
Today, the Jesuit university has an energy management team that monitors and fine-tunes energy use in campus buildings throughout the day.
For another Jesuit school, Boston College, the impetus to reduce energy consumption and become a sustainable campus comes from its Catholic mission, said Jack Dunn, the director of public affairs at the college.
Boston College saved more than a million dollars last year after it launched a campaign to reduce energy consumption. Managing Boston College's effect on the environment, Dunn said, is an effort students have joined.
"Students at Catholic colleges realize that they are being called upon to develop their God-given talents and use them in the service of others," he said in a telephone interview. "And one of the greatest challenges that we face in our future is protecting the earth."
Students at the college are familiar with the words of the founder of the Society of Jesus, St. Ignatius of Loyola, who said, "Go set the world aflame." The school used this familiar phrase, Dunn said, in its campaign to cut down on energy consumption. Posters around campus instruct students to "Go set the world aflame, but before you do, don't forget to turn off the lights."
In Chicago, St. Xavier University, run by the Sisters of Mercy, has been investing money in its own green initiatives. One of the core values of St. Xavier University is respect, said Paul J. Matthews, the assistant vice president for facilities management – and respect for the environment falls under that value.
"If you look at stewardship, and also taking care of mankind and the human element, sustainability falls in line with many of these Catholic teachings," Matthews said.
Last fall, St. Xavier unveiled a green building. Arthur Rubloff Hall, an 88-person residence hall that also houses the Residence Life Office, became the first building at a university or college in Illinois to receive the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, gold designation from the U.S. Green Building Council.
The council is a nonprofit organization that developed the LEED system as a way to rate the performance and sustainability of buildings. Gold is the second-highest designation.
The building has carpeting made from recycled plastics, a green roof covered with small plants to filter and purify rainwater and a carbon dioxide detection system that can tell if a room is occupied, and then adjust the airflow accordingly. Matthews said the school is happy with the building after its first year.
But this new technology didn't come cheap. Rubloff Hall cost approximately $9 million to build, about $290,000 more than a conventional building would have cost.
"Yeah, it was a little more expensive," Matthews told CNS. "But in the long term, it's going to pay back in the energy savings we are making."
A conventional building would cost about $90,000 a year in heating and cooling. Rubloff Hall should cost the university less than $60,000 a year, meaning the school will break even in a little more than eight years.
Another plus, Matthews said, is that the school is emitting fewer gases into the environment.
Reducing gas expenditure is a challenge Mayor Michael Bloomberg has presented to the city of New York – and its top colleges and universities in particular.
Jesuit-run Fordham University accepted the challenge, and in the next 10 years will attempt to reduce its carbon dioxide footprint by 30 percent. But Fordham had already been taking steps to reduce its affect on the environment, said Joseph Muriana, the associate vice president of government relations and urban affairs at the university.
Buildings at the university are computer-controlled for energy efficiency and have environmentally-friendly lighting, so the campuses have already had significant energy usage reductions in past years. The school also runs shuttle buses back and forth between its two campuses. These buses – eight an hour – move more than 80,000 people a year, Muriana said.
Bloomberg's initiative, Muriana said, "is an opportunity to do more."
The university is currently doing calculations to figure out what its 2005-06 carbon dioxide footprint was, so those figures can be used as a base.
"We are committed to the challenge," Muriana said. "We are committed to reaching that."
Original article (here)
Christopher Wolfe Quits Marquette University To Start A Real University
Professor quits to start dream university
MILWAUKEE, Aug. 8 (UPI) -- Christopher Wolfe is leaving his job as a professor at Marquette University in Milwaukee to pursue a risky venture -- he wants to start his own university.
Wolfe's vision -- a university with a unified and orderly curriculum based on the teachings of 12th-century theologian St. Thomas Aquinas, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Wednesday.
Most universities offer students an incoherent smattering of facts and teach that all ideas are equal, Wolfe told the newspaper. At his university, students would be taught that there is one truth to be discovered, as Aquinas argued.
The professor is well-regarded by his students at Marquette -- a Catholic institution run by the Jesuit order of priests -- but founding a university will be a difficult challenge, the Journal Sentinel said. Wolfe must recruit donors, professors and students to help him realize his dream.
Original article (here)
MILWAUKEE, Aug. 8 (UPI) -- Christopher Wolfe is leaving his job as a professor at Marquette University in Milwaukee to pursue a risky venture -- he wants to start his own university.
Wolfe's vision -- a university with a unified and orderly curriculum based on the teachings of 12th-century theologian St. Thomas Aquinas, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Wednesday.
Most universities offer students an incoherent smattering of facts and teach that all ideas are equal, Wolfe told the newspaper. At his university, students would be taught that there is one truth to be discovered, as Aquinas argued.
The professor is well-regarded by his students at Marquette -- a Catholic institution run by the Jesuit order of priests -- but founding a university will be a difficult challenge, the Journal Sentinel said. Wolfe must recruit donors, professors and students to help him realize his dream.
Original article (here)
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
The Marquette Stone Is Really Cooper
By Paul Peterson, For The Mining Gazette
SKANEE — It’s a story with all the ingredients of a good mystery novel.There’s a famous Jesuit priest. Hostilities between warringIndian tribes. A noted author. And a slab of copper that could be worth a large sum of money, or at the very least, an important historical find.That’s the tale of the Marquette Stone, a saga that has evoked the interest of historians and treasure hunters alike for nearly a century.It all started in the year 1672 when famed missionary Father Jacques Marquette was on a journey between his mission at Ashland, Wis. and his home base in St. Ignace. Father Marquette, one of the first Jesuits to travel in the upper Midwest, often visited in the L’Anse area to spread the gospel to the Ojibwa Indians living there. He was traveling through the area at the time. On this particular summer day, Marquette and his party were warned by local Indians of the presence of a war party of Sioux in the area.
The Ojibwas were often at war with the Sioux, who were located in Minnesota at the time. In fact, the two tribes met in several large battles, including one at the mouth of the Ontonagon River. The story has it that the Marquette party reportedly stopped near what is now known as Chink’s Creek for a short rest. What the party left there would be the grist of a legend that remains to this day. The story fast forwards to the summer of 1921 when a 16-year-old trapper by the name of Ed Koski is setting his traps in the headwaters of the Huron River. In a tape-recorded interview many years later, Koski told of traveling up a small creek on a very hot day and finding a large copper slab with writing inscribed on it. Wiping away the moss and dirt that had accumulated on it, he saw three French names written on the slab, including Marquette’s. Koski assumed the slab, which measured approximately three feet in length and was nearly two feet wide, marked the burial spot of Marquette. He recalled other writing on the stone, but thought it was in Latin. If his estimates were correct, the slab would have weighed more than 120 pounds. It was propped up as if to indicate a grave marker.
Koski’s theory of a grave proved to be incorrect because Father Marquette died in 1675 and was buried near St. Ignace. The story is taken up in 1922 when a local logger by the name of James Leatherby offered to take author James Oliver Curwood to the site of the copper slab. Whether Leatherby learned of the stone’s location from Koski is not known Curwood, the author of the Kazan series and other adventures stories, owned a cabin in the Huron Mountains that had been built by Leatherby. On this day, he was on a picnic with his two daughters, Leatherby and a young Skanee man by the name of Rex Erickson. The party was near a local landmark called the Hog’s Back. Erickson would later say that he volunteered to stay with the two girls because he had a crush on Curwood’s oldest daughter.
“Leatherby told Curwood it would be a tough journey over rugged terrain, so he didn’t mind me staying back,” Erickson said in a 1973 interview. “It was a decision I would regret long afterwards.” He recalled Leatherby and Curwood being gone for nearly two hours and saying little after returning from their trip. Within a few years, the two men would take the secret of the copper slab’s location to their graves. Curwood, a physical fitness buff, died in 1927 at the age of 49. Leatherby died in 1936 at the age of 86. And a later effort to bring Ed Koski back to search for it would turn disastrous. Father Jacques Marquette was one of the more famous Jesuit priests in early America. He and fellow explorer Louis Jolliet were the first white men to discover the Mississippi River. A county and city in Michigan and a university in Wisconsin bear his name today.
But Marquette may also have left behind a mysterious copper slab during a journey across the Upper Peninsula in the summer of 1672. The most obvious question regarding the location of the so-called Marquette Stone is why Ed Koski never returned to it. Koski was a 16-year old trapper when he stumbled across the copper slab in 1921. But he was a logger for most of his life, according to noted U.P. historian Fred Rydholm in his book, “Superior Heartland.”
Heavy drinking and an auto accident in 1950 had left Koski in bad physical shape. By the time he returned to the area in 1964 to see if he could locate the stone, the area had changed drastically. The area contained virgin forests when Koski first saw the stone in 1921. But heavy logging in the area had removed many of the landmarks.
Rydholm, who has made several trips in an effort to locate the copper slab, believed Koski’s story. “In my estimation, the copper slab story was just too good to be made up,” Rydholm wrote. “Ed knew little or nothing of Marquette’s life.” On the 1964 trip to the area with Rydholm, Koski suffered some kind of heart attack, with severe chest pains and shortness of breath. Unable to get much help from the ailing Koski, the trip proved fruitless. Koski recovered from the bout and accompanied Rydholm on another trip to the area in 1965. But the expedition again turned up nothing. Rydholm went on to write that he believed the copper slab was likely located on a larger stream than Chink’s Creek, and that a beaver dam may have been built over where it had been located. Brian Jentoft of L’Anse, whose late father Alf often searched for the stone, doesn’t disagree with that theory.“There are three or four creeks up there where it might have been,” he said. “And beaver dams have been built on some of those streams.”
Koski died in 1985 at a nursing home in Iron River. The late Rex Erickson, who passed up the chance to go with James Leatherby and author James Oliver Curwood to the site in 1922, also attempted to find the location. “I looked for it on a couple of occasions, but the logging operations had changed the landscape so much,” said Erickson in a 1973 interview. Alf Jentoft made three trips in an effort to find the copper slab. Brian Jentoft has also made two expeditions to the area. He believes the copper slab is still there. “Everything in the story he (Koski) told made sense,” he said. “It was documented that Marquette was in the area during the time when the message was inscribed.” In addition to the Rydholm and Jentoft search efforts, the August Rautiola family of Ontonagon reportedly has been there on at least two occasions searching for the elusive artifact. Marquette often visited the area to spread the word of the gospel to the Ojibwa Indians living in the area. In the summer of 1672, he reportedly was on his way back to St. Ignace from Ashland, Wis. when news of the presence of a Sioux war party in the area was relayed to him.
It has been speculated by historians that the party stopped for a short rest near the headwaters of the Big Huron River. It was at that time the message was inscribed on the stone. “My Dad believed that one of the members of the Marquette party had died and that a memorial was put up in his honor,” said Jentoft. “It would have had to have been a very prominent member of the party, but not Marquette.” The value of the copper slab, which probably weighed in excess of 120 pounds, can’t be assessed. Historically, it might be invaluable. “To find something like that would be of great interest to many historical institutions,” Jentoft said. “I don’t know if you could really put a price tag on it.” Like Marquette, whose final resting place is a matter of much conjecture, the copper slab remains one of the enduring mysteries of the upper Midwest.
Original Articles (here) and (here)
SKANEE — It’s a story with all the ingredients of a good mystery novel.There’s a famous Jesuit priest. Hostilities between warring
The Ojibwas were often at war with the Sioux, who were located in Minnesota at the time. In fact, the two tribes met in several large battles, including one at the mouth of the Ontonagon River. The story has it that the Marquette party reportedly stopped near what is now known as Chink’s Creek for a short rest. What the party left there would be the grist of a legend that remains to this day. The story fast forwards to the summer of 1921 when a 16-year-old trapper by the name of Ed Koski is setting his traps in the headwaters of the Huron River. In a tape-recorded interview many years later, Koski told of traveling up a small creek on a very hot day and finding a large copper slab with writing inscribed on it. Wiping away the moss and dirt that had accumulated on it, he saw three French names written on the slab, including Marquette’s. Koski assumed the slab, which measured approximately three feet in length and was nearly two feet wide, marked the burial spot of Marquette. He recalled other writing on the stone, but thought it was in Latin. If his estimates were correct, the slab would have weighed more than 120 pounds. It was propped up as if to indicate a grave marker.
Koski’s theory of a grave proved to be incorrect because Father Marquette died in 1675 and was buried near St. Ignace. The story is taken up in 1922 when a local logger by the name of James Leatherby offered to take author James Oliver Curwood to the site of the copper slab. Whether Leatherby learned of the stone’s location from Koski is not known Curwood, the author of the Kazan series and other adventures stories, owned a cabin in the Huron Mountains that had been built by Leatherby. On this day, he was on a picnic with his two daughters, Leatherby and a young Skanee man by the name of Rex Erickson. The party was near a local landmark called the Hog’s Back. Erickson would later say that he volunteered to stay with the two girls because he had a crush on Curwood’s oldest daughter.
“Leatherby told Curwood it would be a tough journey over rugged terrain, so he didn’t mind me staying back,” Erickson said in a 1973 interview. “It was a decision I would regret long afterwards.” He recalled Leatherby and Curwood being gone for nearly two hours and saying little after returning from their trip. Within a few years, the two men would take the secret of the copper slab’s location to their graves. Curwood, a physical fitness buff, died in 1927 at the age of 49. Leatherby died in 1936 at the age of 86. And a later effort to bring Ed Koski back to search for it would turn disastrous. Father Jacques Marquette was one of the more famous Jesuit priests in early America. He and fellow explorer Louis Jolliet were the first white men to discover the Mississippi River. A county and city in Michigan and a university in Wisconsin bear his name today.
But Marquette may also have left behind a mysterious copper slab during a journey across the Upper Peninsula in the summer of 1672. The most obvious question regarding the location of the so-called Marquette Stone is why Ed Koski never returned to it. Koski was a 16-year old trapper when he stumbled across the copper slab in 1921. But he was a logger for most of his life, according to noted U.P. historian Fred Rydholm in his book, “Superior Heartland.”
Heavy drinking and an auto accident in 1950 had left Koski in bad physical shape. By the time he returned to the area in 1964 to see if he could locate the stone, the area had changed drastically. The area contained virgin forests when Koski first saw the stone in 1921. But heavy logging in the area had removed many of the landmarks.
Rydholm, who has made several trips in an effort to locate the copper slab, believed Koski’s story. “In my estimation, the copper slab story was just too good to be made up,” Rydholm wrote. “Ed knew little or nothing of Marquette’s life.” On the 1964 trip to the area with Rydholm, Koski suffered some kind of heart attack, with severe chest pains and shortness of breath. Unable to get much help from the ailing Koski, the trip proved fruitless. Koski recovered from the bout and accompanied Rydholm on another trip to the area in 1965. But the expedition again turned up nothing. Rydholm went on to write that he believed the copper slab was likely located on a larger stream than Chink’s Creek, and that a beaver dam may have been built over where it had been located. Brian Jentoft of L’Anse, whose late father Alf often searched for the stone, doesn’t disagree with that theory.“There are three or four creeks up there where it might have been,” he said. “And beaver dams have been built on some of those streams.”
Koski died in 1985 at a nursing home in Iron River. The late Rex Erickson, who passed up the chance to go with James Leatherby and author James Oliver Curwood to the site in 1922, also attempted to find the location. “I looked for it on a couple of occasions, but the logging operations had changed the landscape so much,” said Erickson in a 1973 interview. Alf Jentoft made three trips in an effort to find the copper slab. Brian Jentoft has also made two expeditions to the area. He believes the copper slab is still there. “Everything in the story he (Koski) told made sense,” he said. “It was documented that Marquette was in the area during the time when the message was inscribed.” In addition to the Rydholm and Jentoft search efforts, the August Rautiola family of Ontonagon reportedly has been there on at least two occasions searching for the elusive artifact. Marquette often visited the area to spread the word of the gospel to the Ojibwa Indians living in the area. In the summer of 1672, he reportedly was on his way back to St. Ignace from Ashland, Wis. when news of the presence of a Sioux war party in the area was relayed to him.
It has been speculated by historians that the party stopped for a short rest near the headwaters of the Big Huron River. It was at that time the message was inscribed on the stone. “My Dad believed that one of the members of the Marquette party had died and that a memorial was put up in his honor,” said Jentoft. “It would have had to have been a very prominent member of the party, but not Marquette.” The value of the copper slab, which probably weighed in excess of 120 pounds, can’t be assessed. Historically, it might be invaluable. “To find something like that would be of great interest to many historical institutions,” Jentoft said. “I don’t know if you could really put a price tag on it.” Like Marquette, whose final resting place is a matter of much conjecture, the copper slab remains one of the enduring mysteries of the upper Midwest.
Original Articles (here) and (here)
Jesuits Subject Of New BBC Series Called, "Apparitions"
Martin Shaw Stars In New Supernatural Drama
7 August 2007
Lime Pictures has been commissioned by BBC One to produce a two-part supernatural drama called Apparitions starring Martin Shaw. Martin Shaw (Judge John Deed, George Gently) will head the cast of this riveting and multi-layered drama about an exorcist battling demons in what he discovers to be the beginning of the End of Days.
Martin will play a Jesuit priest who works for the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to investigate miraculous happenings and to promote candidates to sainthood.
He is drawn into the world of exorcisms when a ten-year-old girl approaches him convinced that her father is possessed by a demon.
Written and directed by Joe Ahearne (Ultraviolet, Doctor Who, This Life) and created by Joe Ahearne and Nick Collins (Murder In Suburbia), Apparitions will start filming later this year and is expected to be screened on BBC One in early 2008.
Tony Wood, Creative Director at Lime Pictures, says: "Joe Ahearne has created a gripping story of intrigue and mystery which raises as many questions as it answers."
"Martin Shaw is the perfect choice to play the lead role and I am delighted to be working with the BBC on this project which I hope will become a long-standing relationship."
Anne Mensah, BBC Head of Drama, Scotland, adds: "We are delighted to be working with Lime Pictures on their first drama commission for BBC One. Apparitions is an incredibly bold piece which examines the eternal battle between good and evil."
"Father Jacob is a new iconic character for television: a force for good and yet a very modern mixture of humanity, belief and integrity. It's fantastic to have an actor as great as Martin Shaw in this role."
Apparitions will be shown on BBC One next year.
Original article (here)
7 August 2007
Lime Pictures has been commissioned by BBC One to produce a two-part supernatural drama called Apparitions starring Martin Shaw. Martin Shaw (Judge John Deed, George Gently) will head the cast of this riveting and multi-layered drama about an exorcist battling demons in what he discovers to be the beginning of the End of Days.
Martin will play a Jesuit priest who works for the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to investigate miraculous happenings and to promote candidates to sainthood.
He is drawn into the world of exorcisms when a ten-year-old girl approaches him convinced that her father is possessed by a demon.
Written and directed by Joe Ahearne (Ultraviolet, Doctor Who, This Life) and created by Joe Ahearne and Nick Collins (Murder In Suburbia), Apparitions will start filming later this year and is expected to be screened on BBC One in early 2008.
Tony Wood, Creative Director at Lime Pictures, says: "Joe Ahearne has created a gripping story of intrigue and mystery which raises as many questions as it answers."
"Martin Shaw is the perfect choice to play the lead role and I am delighted to be working with the BBC on this project which I hope will become a long-standing relationship."
Anne Mensah, BBC Head of Drama, Scotland, adds: "We are delighted to be working with Lime Pictures on their first drama commission for BBC One. Apparitions is an incredibly bold piece which examines the eternal battle between good and evil."
"Father Jacob is a new iconic character for television: a force for good and yet a very modern mixture of humanity, belief and integrity. It's fantastic to have an actor as great as Martin Shaw in this role."
Apparitions will be shown on BBC One next year.
Original article (here)
Monday, August 6, 2007
Fr. Thomas Reese S.J. "Hinduism Is OK!"
Hindu American Foundation, in a release by its Executive Director Ishani Chowdhury, said, "Shri Rajan Zed's prayer recitation shared with our fellow Americans the Hindu belief in a transcendental, immanent God and the eternal Hindu search for enlightenment and universal peace. Our foundation joins all Hindu Americans in congratulating the U.S. Senate for demonstrating its commitment to the American ideal of pluralism, and for respecting the religious diversity of our great country.
St. Francis Xavier (here)
Mother Theresa (here)
Catholic Bishops' meet to discuss conversions of Hindu's in India (here)
Original article (here)
Reverend Thomas J. Reese, Senior Fellow of Woodstock Theological Center, Jesuit priest, and expert on Catholic issues, said, "One does not have to agree with everyone's religion, but as Christians and Americans we have an obligation to respect the beliefs and religious practices of others. Disrupting prayer is bad manners and unchristian. There are other forums in which to protest and debate theology."
St. Francis Xavier (here)
Mother Theresa (here)
Catholic Bishops' meet to discuss conversions of Hindu's in India (here)
Original article (here)
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Of St. Francis Xavier's Arm
From Time Magazine 1931
Original article (here)
In Goa. Guns boomed, bells pealed, fireworks flared in Goa, Portuguese India last week as 10,000 persons milled through the Bom Jesus Church to kiss the feet of St. Francis Xavier, whose coffin was opened for public veneration for the 13th time since his death in 1552. The corpse was officially reported to be "in good condition." During the next month a million pilgrims are expected to view it. St. Francis Xavier, one of St. Ignatius Loyola's associates in founding the Society of Jesus, is regarded by his church as the greatest missionary since the time of the Apostles. The church in Goa was made a shrine to his memory, but the Society of Jesus secured his right arm in 1614, placed it in the Jesuit mother church, Rome's Gesu.
Original article (here)
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