Professor Sr. Louise Lears At The Jesuit St. Louis University Has Been Removed From All Church Related Activities In St. Louis

From the “Your kidding, right?” files:

NCR - Community supports excomm’d St. Louis sister
CATEGORY: SESSIUNCULUM — Fr. John Zuhlsdorf @ 3:32 pm

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Let’s talk about some really interesting censures! Try interdict. Remember, interdict, one of the Church’s censures, is applied to help a person change his … her… way. Get a load of this, a breaking story from the ultra-liberal National Catholic Reporter with my emphases and comments in red:

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An excerpt.

Sister of Charity Louise Lears, forced out of all church ministerial roles [Ummm… she attempted ordination – for crying out loud! Can you say "excommunication"?] by Saint Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke, is described by friends and colleagues in near saintly terms.
They call her a bright, energetic, compassionate and faith-filled woman. They see her as a creative, generous and selfless person, a highly effective parish minister. They say she is first rate teacher and preacher. They view her as a person guided by the gospels including an unwavering commitment to justice and the local poor. [Do they see her as a contumacious excommunicate and probably a heretic?] These seemingly universal accolades, however, were not enough to save Lears from a severe interdict by Burke who banished her from all Saint Louis church ministries last week. He also banned her from receiving any of the Sacraments in the archdiocese. It was her belief that all church ministries, including women’s ordination, should be open to women. [Which seems to trump what the CHURCH says about the matter. "I want it this way!"] Curiously, this seems to have been only one of many of her passions and, perhaps, not her central passion, which seems to have been parish work. Lears was shocked twice last week. [You have got to be kidding me now. Really. She didn’t think there were going to be repercussions from attemping ordination after having been warned?] First, she learned that Burke had judged her guilty of three grave canonical offenses against faith and church teachings; then, the next day, she learned that her accuser and judge [You have to love this partisan reporting. Exsquisite!] he had been elevated to a new Vatican post, prefect of the church’s highest canonical court in Rome. [The inuendo is that Burke is in thick with those bad people in Rome. But the other side of this is that when he imposes a censure, he probably knows what he is doing.]

Read the rest of Fr. Z's blog post (here)

Read Sr. Louise's good bye in the St. Cronan's Church bulletin (here)

Sr. Louise at St. Louis University (here) and (here)

A Jesuit Lawyer On World Youth Day

Priest denounces heavy-handed 'annoyance' code
Sian Powell and Michael Pelly

July 03, 2008
WORLD Youth Day organisers and the NSW Government yesterday defended legislation aimed at quelling disruptive protests during the event.

However, Jesuit priest Frank Brennan said the laws were contrary to Catholic teaching on human rights and barristers argued it was a "disproportionate response". World Youth Day 2008 chief operating officer Danny Casey said controversial "annoyance" laws that would be in force in NSW were not unique.

Mr Casey conceded the church had asked for pilgrims to be protected but noted the "annoyance" laws already existed in 15 statutes. "We asked for and we discussed having legislation consistent with other events to ensure the efficient running of the event," he said. The laws include fines of up to $5500 for those who cause "annoyance" at WYD events. Mr Casey said he was concerned an act might interfere with the "efficient running of the event". "If someone decided to stage a protest on the middle of the Harbour Bridge during the pilgrimage walk ... that would probably be annoying," he said. In addition to "declared areas" the regulations - passed by decree last week without any parliamentary debate - cover the sale of goods and outdoor advertising within 500m of more than 550 WYD sites. Goods protected included 17 types of clothing and accessories and 16 items of giftware, such as sunglasses, stickers and key rings. However, the Outdoor Advertising Association said the advertising restrictions - which refer to obscene, offensive or inappropriate material - were aimed at protesters. The association's chief executive officer Helen Willoughby said that the Olympic Games had been concerned only with protecting sponsor revenues. There were no such outdoor advertising controls for last year's APEC meeting in Sydney. The ministerial spokeswoman for World Youth Day, Kristina Keneally, said: "There's nothing in this event that is different from other events." She denied as false reports that police were insisting protesters submit placard messages and the like. The clause in the NSW World Youth Day regulations permitting the penalising of those who caused "annoyance and inconvenience" was already in 15 acts and regulations covering venue management, Ms Keneally said.

Father Brennan, a champion of human rights, quoted a papal encyclical in his criticism of the regulations. "As an Australian Catholic lawyer, I am saddened that the state has seen fit to curtail civil liberties further in this instance than they have for other significant international events hosted in Sydney," he said.

NSW Bar Association president Anna Katzmann SC said the regulations were "totally unnecessary". "It is true that similar powers may be found in other regulations, but two wrongs don't make a right," Ms Katzmann said. "The World Youth Day regulations ... strike at our basic civil rights."

Link (here)

Liberation Theology, "Run A Muck"

Chávez-linked church decried

A new church in Venezuela is earning criticism from Roman Catholic leaders over its links to Hugo Chávez. Sun, Jun. 29, 2008

BY CASTO OCANDO

El Nuevo Herald

A church modeled in part after one in Miami but with a ''revolutionary'' spirit that praises Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is now at the center of a religious and social controversy in Venezuela. Although it has adopted many of the symbols and rites of Roman Catholicism, the new Reform Catholic Venezuelan Church departs from traditional belief in some key ways.

DIVORCE ALLOWED

For example, reformists consider that ''homosexuality and bisexuality are not sins in and of themselves.'' Divorce is allowed and priests do not take vows of chastity. The church, which was publicly announced last week, also lines itself up squarely behind Chávez's ''Bolivarian Revolution'' and its socialist agenda. Venezuelan Catholic leaders, who reacted sharply to the new church, claim Chávez is bankrolling it with petroleum proceeds. But whether that's true or not, Reform Catholic leaders line up squarely behind the Venezuelan president.

''We completely support the socialist project led by Chávez,'' said Enrique Albornoz, one of the new church's first bishops -- a group that is to be ordained on Sunday. The ordination of the bishops is scheduled to take place in Ciudad Ojeda, a small oil-rich town in the Venezuelan state of Zulia.

According to its leaders, the reformist church seeks to establish an institution that is ``inclusive, participatory and with a strong Bolivarian spirit that recognizes Jesus Christ as the Lord of History. He is present in the revolutionary process that is occurring in Venezuela.''

A former Roman Catholic priest, Jon Jen Siu Garcia, was elected coadjutor, and noted to the Venezuelan press that his mission is to ``liberate people from capitalist values.'' ''We are learning to see the lower classes like Hugo Chávez, who has cared to attend to their necessities,'' said Leonardo Marin Saavedra, bishop of the Anglican Latin American Church.

A resident of Canada, he was invited to Venezuela especially to attend the upcoming ceremonies. ``We are struggling against exploitation and the empire of the United States.'' The church's formation -- along with its pro-Chávez orientation -- immediately met with a severe response from the Roman Catholic hierarchy in Venezuela. ''It is a parallel church that Chávez has created, using Catholic priests of bad conduct that have problems with their ministries and are being paid,'' said Monsignor Roberto Lückert, archbishop and vice president of the Venezuelan Episcopal Conference. Lückert, in an interview with El Nuevo Herald, said he is certain the new church was financed in part with funds from the state-run oil company Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA). He said that among the founders of the church are bishops who have arrived from Miami and several Latin American nations, such as Peru, Mexico and Costa Rica. Among other religious organizations, Miami's own Catholic Apostolic Church served as a model for the newly established church in Venezuela. ''This church is lined in money from Chávez,'' said Roman Catholic priest Jose Palmar, who until recently was an active supporter of Chávez, but is now a strong critic of his administration.

`SCANDALOUS'

Lückert also denounced the ''scandalous'' pasts of the Venezuelan priests who will be ordained as the new bishops of the reformist Catholic church. One, he said, ''lived scandalously with a woman'' and they have a son. Another had left his ministry to get married a long time ago, Lückert said. Attempts to establish churches with political motivations are nothing new to Venezuela.

In the mid 1940s several government leaders who had declared themselves anti-clerical decided to establish a Catholic Apostolic Church of Venezuela, by forging the ordainment of a bishop. Lückert warned Chávez that the creation of this movement ''is a terrible political error'' that could have an electoral cost.

''It never occurred to Fidel to make such a blunder,'' Lückert said.

Link (here)

Hat Tip to Fr. Ray Blake (here)

Fr. James Martin, S.J. Apologizes For Selling The America Magazine Mailing List, To Pro-Abortion Group

An update from Dawn Eden

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America 'mistakenly' sold mailing list to abortion-advocacy group
Father James Martin S.J., associate editor of America, has confirmed in an e-mail to me that, as I reported yesterday, the Jesuit magazine sold its mailing list to an abortion-advocacy group, the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. Here is his statement:"As a result of an error by our business office staff, the magazine did inadvertently sell its list to that organization, and apologize to subscribers who received their mailing. Our publisher will request that they no longer use our list for their mailings, and we have already put in a tighter system to ensure that we don't mistakenly sell to any group remotely like this one in the future."

Link (here)

I Can't Read German, But.....

01. Juli 2008, 14:41
Weltjugendtagsveranstalter untersagen Homo-Workshop der Jesuiten
Die Jesuiten wollten im Rahmen der Initiative "magis" beim Weltjugendtag in Syndey als Gastgeber für eine Homo-Gruppierung auftreten - Das Weltjugendtagsbüro und das Erzbistum von Syndey zogen die Notbremse
Sydney (http://www.kath.net/) Wenige Tage vor Beginn des Weltjugendtages in Sydney gibt es Aufregung rund um einen geplanten und jetzt verbotenen Workshop der Jesuiteninitiative "magis" im Rahmen des großen Jugendtreffens mit Papst Benedikt. Dies berichtet "Radio Australia". Die Jesuiten wollten beim Weltjugendtag als Gastgeber eines Forums einer australischen Homo-Gruppierung auftreten. Das Vorhaben wurde jetzt von den Veranstaltern des Weltjugendtages und auch vom Erzbistum Sydney verboten. Der Homo-Gruppe war bereits vorher untersagt worden, am Weltjugendtag teilzunehmen. Danny Casey vom australischen Weltjugendtagsbüro erklärte, dass diese Werbung für Homosexualität nicht mit der Lehre der Kirche vereinbar sei. Laut "Radio Australia" möchte die Homobewegung den Workshop trotzdem machen. Link (here)

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Loosely translated....

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Jesuits at it again
July 1st, 2008
Kreuz.net reports that the Jesuits (who else) want to host a homosexual group at the World Youth Day in Australia; the organizers of WYD are not enthusiastic.

Link (here)

Pope John XXIII Issued A Monitum Against Fr. Van Kilsdonk, S.J.

The 'students' priest' dies aged 91
01 July 2008

Jesuit priest Jan van Kilsdonk, who came to Amsterdam to work at the Ignatsius college and spent most of his life with young people and students, has died at the age of 91. Van Kilsonk was a controversial figure, who defended the rights of homosexuals and campaigned against the vow of celibacy for Catholic priests, news agency ANP reports.

Link (here)

My Uncle Pedro Is A Jesuit

Despite the F-Bombs, bad taste in music and an unnatural man crush on U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich it is a pretty neat travelogue with a Jesuit as main character .

Here is an excerpt by Fr. Pedro's nephew.
My Uncle Pedro (Walpole) is a Jesuit Priest here, though he spends all of his time working on ESSC (Environmental Science for Social Change), AFN (Asia Forest Network) and APC (APU Palamguwan Cultural Education Center), as Executive Director of these organizations. I had an idea of the work he did here, but not really. It’s tough and relentless and requires full devotion. He lived in Burma for a while, but, when forced to leave, he settled in the Philippines (after a stint in Malaysia) where he’s worked for the past 25 odd years. He has dedicated, and is dedicating, his life to this work. I think this hardcore commitment gene has skipped a generation as the only thing I could see myself being so passionate about is Garth Merenghi’s Darkplace.

Link to the lengthy post (here)

Good America, Bad America

Two sides of America

By Dawn Eden
America magazine has published a "pro-life" issue. I read one article from it online and it was very good.Would that every issue of of the magazine were a pro-life issue.

I am refraining from linking from this blog to America's site until the magazine announces it is not or is no longer selling its mailing list to the NARAL- and Planned Parenthood-backed Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. A friend of mine who subscribes to America told me he received an RCRC mailing just last month that he believes came via the magazine's list.

Being pro-life, my friend tried to figure out why a plea for funds from the abortion-advocacy organization showed up in his mailbox. Then he looked at the mailing labels of his subscriptions and found that only his one to America matched the wording and punctuation of his address on the RCRC mailing. I don't know if the RCRC currently receives direct financial support from Planned Parenthood, but certainly it receives a great deal of promotion from the organization. In any case, I don't believe its money is untainted by blood.

Thank you Dawn Eden of the Dawn Patrol for this article, you can read it (here)

UPDATE: America has confirmed the sale of its list; acting publisher Father James Martin S.J. calls it a mistake.

A Grateful Parish, A Grateful Jesuit

Father F. Warren Schoeppe says a fond farewell

The gala farewell included people of all ages. Once Fr. Schoeppe made an appearance, it took just moments for a long line to form for farewells and best wishes.

by Barbara Stinson Lee
Intermountain Catholic

BRIGHAM CITY — Jesuit Father F. Warren Schoeppe, for 22 years the pastor of St. Henry Parish in Brigham City, combined two big events in his life - his retirement and his 50th anniversary as a priest – then asked his parishioners not to bring any presents.

“I’m retiring,” he was heard to say. “I’m just going to get in my car and go.”

Fr. Schoeppe is leaving Brigham City for the Jesuit retirement community in Los Gatos, Calif. After some months of rest there, he told the Intermountain Catholic he might take a look at what temporary assignments are available, something that isn’t a parish assignment.

Fr. Schoeppe said he trained all of his young life to be a teacher, but as soon as he earned his teaching certificate, he never taught again. His parishioners would differ.

“He’s always been a teacher,” said Karen Roesler, who has lived in St. Henry Parish for 17 years. “When I was brand new to the parish, he asked me to be the DRE (director of religious education). He was a wonderful shepherd, and he guided me along the whole process. He taught me that the Catholic Church is not a democracy. But when, after seven years as a DRE, it was time for me to return to public school teaching, he helped me do that, too.”

Deeply concerned about the religious education of his flock, Fr. Schoeppe oversaw the building of Mission Santa Ana in Tremonton, then built the education hall at St. Henry. “Once a teacher, always a teacher", said Mary Ann Barnett, the parish’s current DRE. She carried with her Fr. Schoeppe’s three guarantees, which he’d taught the parents of the parish.

They are:

1) Let your child, as a regular thing, make decisions that are above his capacity; and he will learn to think of you as a fool.

2) Always say yes to your child’s demands and requests, and he will grow to hate you for failing to raise him wisely, and

3) Let your child indulge in pleasure to the detriment of work and effort, and he will not develop the skills he needs for life and he will blame you.

Cecil Noriega pens a with for Father Shoeppe. The wishes were put into a Best Wish Book.

“Fr. Schoeppe is a priest for the real reason Jesus wanted priests,” Barnett said. “He’s the real thing. He’s very intellectual, and he can explain the bigger purpose in words we can all understand. He tried to help people look at tomorrow and eternity.”

Donna Collins has lived in St. Henry Parish for 38 years. She has attended many of Fr. Schoeppe’s parties, carefully crafted to bring people in the parish together. “He had one game, ‘Find somebody who,’ and everyone was looking for me because they were trying to find somebody who was from Canada.”

Parishioners didn’t bring gifts bigger than would fit in an envelope, but they did bring food, and lots of it. Tables were constantly being replenished as more people arrived to pay their respects.

Terese Hunnel, 12 years at St. Henry, described Fr. Schoeppe as a “priest who loves his people. You can tell by the way he greets us after Mass, even if another priest celebrated the Mass, he really cares. You can go to him with any issue, and he will help you. That’s just the way he is. He has a great capacity for love, and he always wants the best for us."

Karl Meyersick is a newcomer to the parish. He’s only lived in St. Henry Parish for seven years.

“I’m a deacon candidate,” he told the Intermountain Catholic. “One of the motivating reasons was the peaceful wisdom of Fr. Schoeppe. You can feel his spirit and it makes you feel good. And the children. I’ve never seen a child that didn’t cling to him. When they come up at the end of Mass for a blessing, even if they don’t know what’s going on, there is no fear.”

After 50 years a priest, Fr. Schoeppe is ready to step out of the parish, take a rest, then take up something new to his priesthood, something less stressful.

“That’s what it’s all about,” he said, “avoiding the stress and still being able to give."

Link (here)

Fr. Reese On Salvation And Abortion

Ariz. churchgoer rate is far behind nation's

By Stephanie Innes

An excerpt.
Catholicism is the largest organized religious group in Arizona, making up about one-quarter of the population.

"The statistics have been true for a long, long time — that many Catholics do think abortion is wrong but they don't want it to be illegal, and that really tracks (with) what most Americans think," said Thomas J. Reese

, a Jesuit priest and senior fellow at Georgetown University's Woodstock Theological Center. Nearly 80 percent of Catholics in the survey said their faith is not the only one true religion, and that many religions can lead to eternal life. "Forty or fifty years ago, we would not have seen those results. I think Catholics have changed. They have become much more ecumenical," Reese said. "It doesn't mean they think all religions are the same, but they are respectful of other religions and believe God is bigger than all of us, and that if people are loving and kind and generous, God is going to find a way to bring salvation."
Link to the full article (here)

Bellarmine, Bellarmine O' Bellarmine!

From Peace Love and Joy

Book Recommendation: Robert Bellarmine by James Brodrick, SJ

There was a time between the 1920s and 1960s that a number of excellent biographies were penned by a British Jesuit named James Brodrick. Among his works are classics such as Ignatius: The Pilgrim Years and Francis Xavier, but there are other books as well that attempt to chart the history of this Order of the Church.

Among the books that he published later in his life is Robert Bellarmine: Saint and Scholar. It takes as its subject matter the life of one of the most important Jesuits during the Counter-Reformation: St. Robert Bellarmine. Yet the book that I am recommending was once two massive volumes that were published shortly before Bellarmine’s canonization in 1928. However, the author considered this version to be much better because he didn’t use quite as many adjectives, he says.

This book is by far the best account of one of the most extraordinary Jesuits. Robert Bellarmine was the son of a noble family and later rose to become the head of the Holy Office of the Inquisition. During his long life, he interacted with many different prelates and princes including Queen Elizabeth I of England, Pope Urban VIII, and Galileo. Not only these, but he was also the confessor and spiritual director of the young St. Aloysius Gonzaga.

Brodrick’s life of Bellarmine, like his many other books, is a vivid portrait of a man and his era. While popularly written, Brodrick does not fail to examine the pricklier issues that come up in Bellarmine’s writings and the events in his life. He devotes, for example, an entire chapter on Bellarmine’s relationship with Galileo and how Galileo’s troubles began. In all of this, Brodrick is a sympathetic and knowledgeable guide. He allows us to get to know this extraordinary man and to aprpeciate him even more.

Jesuits Are In Peril!

Priests assaulted by Mugabe supporters

Several Catholic priests have been assaulted by supporters of Zimbabwe’s ruling party and at least one house belonging to the Church has been burned down, a Jesuit spokesman said. St Anthony’s mission house in Zaka, in the Masvingo Diocese, was home to a few priests before it was destroyed in the violence that preceded the country’s June 27 runoff presidential election, said Jesuit Father Oscar Wermter, who runs the order’s Zimbabwean communications office in the capital of Harare.

Many priests in rural areas as well as at least one in Harare have been assaulted in the crackdown against the opposition to President Robert Mugabe, Fr Wermter said today. “Very serious threats” also have been made against priests and other Church workers, he said. Some parishioners have been “put under pressure to attend ruling party rallies instead of Mass on Sundays,” Fr Wermter said, noting that “the pressure differs from place to place."

The Zimbabwean Jesuits’ June newsletter reported that the priests who have been threatened “cannot operate freely” and a few “had to be removed temporarily from their posts for their own safety.” Some priests “cannot go to remote outstations, or outstation lay leaders tell them not to come because of the instability,” the newsletter said.

Link (here)
More on Mugabe (here)

Jesuit says, "In Regards To Sexual Morality... Sadly, We Are Causing Much Dissension"

From Jesuit bloggers Under A Chindolea their post is entitled (There is a powerful discussion taking place in the comments section) GC35 Decree 1. Jesuits Markel & Mason take the "Jesuit road less traveled" they offer a compelling and thoughtful insight into the Ignatian world.
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An excerpt.

First, have we as Jesuits kept the service of the poor as a priority. In a society and Church even that has not done so, and that has continued to serve the comfortable, have we remained with Christ's favorites in voluntary poverty, living with them and working to remove the structures of sin that dominate them.

Second, do the Spiritual Exercises continue to influence all the ministry that we do with their emphasis on a personal love of Jesus Christ.

Third, do we serve the most diverse, the outcasts, as Jesus did, giving them good spiritual and human formation. Three goes closely with four, since how we offer formation to the most diverse is important. And so,

Fourth, in regards to sexual morality, marriage and the family, are we working with the Magisterium or causing confusion and dissension.

Sadly, we are causing much dissension, which means we are often not offering good spiritual and human formation. The hot example of course is in regards to homosexuality. I know many Jesuits who will go to the gay pride parade this year in San Francisco, as they have gone to many around the country. No little confusion is caused by such actions, actions that betray that these Jesuits have not read and taken to heart the humble and prudent decrees written by the Fathers at GC 35.

Pastoral care in this regard is difficult, and there is much research and study that must be done. However, GC 35 is clear that this cannot be done in a way to cause confusion within the Church. As I quoted from the beginning of this decree, its purpose is "to provide guidance that will enhance and increase the spiritual and evangelical quality of our way of being and proceeding." Let us take up this decree and obey it.

The Year Of St. Paul

Gain a Pauline Year indulgence,
here is a link to the URBIS ET ORBIS DECREE.
Hat Tip to Fr. Ray Blake (here)

Miracles Can Happen

From the post entitled "The Surprising Mathematics of the Gospel"
An excerpt.
One morning, we prayed a beautiful prayer for the beatification of Fr. Pedro Arrupe, which spoke of Fr. Arrupe's "boundless optimism." I am grateful that, despite all our limitations and difficulties, our Conference of Jesuit major superiors in East Asia seems to have been given a share of that "optimism" as we face the future of our mission.
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Read more of Jesuit Fr. Daniel Huang's writings at En Todo Amar y Servir.

Mossa Back To Blogging

From Fr. Mark Mossa, S.J. and his new blog entitled, "Dairy of a rookie priest."

APalling
So, you think priests learn everything they need to know before going on the job? Well, maybe some do. However, I think many of us tend to get most of it, but not all depending on the emphases or biases of our teachers. Being a new priest is kind of on-the-job training, especially if like me you're offering mass in a variety of places (I offered mass in Frankfurt, Germany tonight!). Every place does things a little different. And, things that have fallen out of fashion in one place, may be all the rage in another--the beauty and complexity of the Church Catholic! Last week, I offered a special mass in somebody's home and needed to borrow a few things from the local parish. The sacristan was nice and accommodating, but also a little suspicious, me being a Jesuit and all.

He wanted to be sure that I didn't do anything liturgically incorrect. Which I appreciated, because I was hoping the same thing. When, at his insistence, we had collected more things than I really needed, he asked whether I also needed a pall. This left me a little confused, as what I know as a pall is what you put one somebody's coffin at a funeral. So, I asked politely, "what's that?" He was . . . do I have to say it? You can fill in the blank. The pall, it seems, is that square thing that is sometimes placed on top of the chalice. So, the cat's out of the bag: I haven't mastered all the lingo. I explained to him that I really wouldn't know what to do with it, as we weren't trained to use it. And, frankly, at least in the places I've been to mass most of my life, I haven't seen it used all that much. But nonetheless it will probably be fodder for the next discussion of how poorly Jesuit priests are trained.

Asi es la vida, as they say. That said, save for that gaff, my experience of saying mass in most places I've visited in the last two weeks has been basically positive. And all my masses have been received quite well, even lacking a pall. There are probably many more sacristans out there just waiting to stump me. And I'll be the first to admit that they might very well succeed. But I'll also be thankful for having learned something in the process. Like you may just have as well!
Link (here)

The "Gen X" Theologian Is Now At Fordham

Boston College, Santa Clara and now Fordham Bound

Author: Tom Beaudoin

This coming week, I make the transition to another Jesuit university. I taught at Boston College from 2001-2004, then moved to Santa Clara University where I have taught for the last four years. Now I am honored to be taking a position in the Graduate School of Religion and Religious Education at Fordham University in New York City.

When I consider that I also spent five years at Boston College on my Ph.D. (1996-2001), I realize that I have become a stakeholder in Jesuit higher education, having now spent a dozen consecutive years in these fields. I did not set out to become so immersed in Jesuit higher education, but am deeply grateful that it has happened this way: an "Ignatian" way of life, a rich constellation of friendships, a considerable network of resources, and a cross-culturally shared set of interests and questions have irremediably become part of my identity as a result.

With anticipation, the next stage of my theological life approaches, and I look forward to being a New Yorker, a Fordham faculty member, and to understanding more comprehensively what this multi-decade immersion in Jesuit higher education means for my life as a lay, married Catholic and theologian. When I decided to follow the strange "call" into a preoccupation/obsession with theology and practice, I never expected that I would owe so much to Boston College, Santa Clara, and now Fordham, and through these institutions, to the Society of Jesus. Now will be seen how these gladsome immersions let on to theological education in a new, East Coast, key.

Tom Beaudoin
San Jose, California

Link to more Tom Beaudoin

The Gen X theologian - Tom Beaudoin By Arthur Jones

Some of Tom's quotes from the article.

"It wasn't Jesus I had a problem with. I've simply never heard a description of the church I could trust....."

"The church misses out not only on Christ present in contemporary music, but Christ present in a young woman who feels called to ordination. For our generation there's a deeper issue. Not taking popular culture seriously means the church is not taking the experience of our interior lives seriously,"

Talk That Diminishes Faith By Tom Beaudoin

October 22, 2004

An excerpt from his editorial.

"Now, I'm no Scrooge or atheist. The reasons I want Bush and Kerry to keep quiet about their faith are religious in nature. Why? It comes down to this: Today a public confession of faith by a presidential candidate is so deeply enmeshed in the calculating politics of manipulation that it simply should not be believed. Anyone who thinks a modern major-party candidate can talk about faith in a way that is not seen as angling for some political advantage, some movement in the polls, is asking the impossible."

The anti-Christian 'Passion of the Christ' By Tom Beaudoin

March 19, 2004

An excerpt.

"Gibson’s Jesus sheds more light on us than on the Passion. His Christ could only ascend to this heroic action antihero status in a culture where we neither encounter nor take responsibility for our own violence. If we Americans regularly saw, for example, the bloodied corpses of Iraqi women and children, or American soldiers’ mangled bodies in the papers and on television, this film would not have the same shocking and exclusivizing hold on our imaginations that it does. Brutal physical violence would be more immediately connected to real pain, to authentic devastation, and to our own complicit tolerance for a faraway war on the condition that we are not drafted and are not told how much of our tax money pays for each Iraqi civilian death."

An interview with Tom Beaudoin by Josh Spencer.

A small portion of the interview.

Question:

You say that the sensual sexuality of Gen X pop culture is a search for God -- how is it different from the sensuality the Scriptures speak of as drawing us away from God? Where is the line?

Answer:

Well, one would have to consider particular scriptural verses, first of all. I understand the desire for "a line," but there are very few such lines that hold up, I'm afraid, in Scripture or in life. That is not to say that there are none. But the basic question is what sorts of sexual experiences are more or less self-gift and self-transcending, and which are more or less self-absorbing or other-controlling? You'll get no simple "line" with those criteria, but you will get invited into what I think is a genuine adult

Dear Readers
I guess this is what passes for Ignatian these days.
J.F.

The New Superiors Meet At Santa Clara

"This week I made such a trip to Santa Clara to attend a Colloquium for New Jesuit Superiors."
Link to Fr. Wayne Negrete, S.J. post and blog

This original artwork is courtesy
of John Brown, S.J..
Visit the website of John Brown, S.J. called,
Companion of Jesus it is a treasure trove of
Ignatian spiritual treasure's.

Jesuit Heading Back Home To Columbia

Father Zea's going home

And that will leave a huge void at St. Joseph Church, where the Colombian native is beloved

by Joseph Trevino
June 28, 2008
For years, The Rev. Virgilio Zea has been an outspoken defender of immigrant rights. The Colombian native has been a fixture for Latinos since he was assigned to Yakima's St. Joseph's Catholic Church in the winter of 2003. But now, his visa is about to expire and the well-liked priest is scheduled to board a Delta Airlines plane that will take him to Mexico City, then Bogota. It will be a trip filled with mixed feelings for the 75-year-old Jesuit. He wants to see relatives and friends in Colombia, but after ministering to St. Joseph's churchgoers for the last five years, he will miss them. "The people's kindness here is so much that one feels at home here," the priest said Tuesday in a broken voice in his rectory office. Emma Magaña, who with her husband headed a Charismatic Renewal prayer group that last April attracted about 6,000 carismaticos to a religious event at the SunDome, said Zea has been instrumental in helping local Latinos with their spiritual needs. Whether as a counselor, hearing confessions or supporting them in putting it all together for the biggest Catholic Hispanic event in the Pacific Northwest, she said the priest's dedication is unquestionable. "Ever since he came to Yakima, he has always been there for us," said Magaña on Tuesday. "He is always visiting the sick at the hospital or at their homes or counseling people. He never says that he is too busy for no one." Zea came to St. Joseph's as part of a program that supplies Colombian priests to the Pacific Northwest and the Yakima Valley. A theology and anthropology professor who has taught in universities in Colombia and Ohio, Zea was recruited by his Jesuit superiors to work with Yakima's working class and poorest Spanish-speakers.

A slim, easygoing man with aristocratic manners who frequently wears a sweater over Roman-collared shirts, Zea's favorite pastime is reading. He celebrates Mass decked out in elaborately engraved old-school priestly robes, regularly reminding his flock of Jesus' love, extolling them to forgive those who have offended them and to help the downtrodden, even those in faraway lands.

But when it comes to defending immigrants, including undocumented workers, Zea's kind voice becomes firm and his gentleman's gait, resolute. The Jesuit has led many pro-immigrant marches since he has been in Yakima, including the downtown rally May 1. But Zea, who many consider, in addition to a priest, a champion of immigrant rights, will have his religious visa expired. He said he can reapply for another one in a year. Still, he will have to return to Colombia, where a consular officer in Bogota will decide if he can come back with a tourist card, he said. He added that his superiors want him back in Colombia, where there is a lot of work for him, but parishioners in Yakima have grown fond of him, too. One of those is Magaña, who says she will be among the many who will sorely miss Zea. She said Yakima needs him and he must return. "We are praying that he can come back," Magaña said. "We will be waiting for him with open arms."

Link to original story (here)

Read more about the history of the Jesuits in Yakima at St. Joseph's (here)

Picture is of St. Josephs in Yakima

Fordham Educated Catholic Now Is A Priestess

Pursuing priesthood
Catholic girl grows up, fulfills dream

By MARVIN READ

THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN

some excerpts.
She grew up wanting to be a priest - maybe from the time she was just 5 years old, she said.She served as an altar girl in her home parish, loving to be close to the sacramental action and mystery of the Mass.......... So, Mary Elizabeth Conroy, growing up in western Massachusetts in a strong, devoted and somewhat traditional family, more or less learned to bury her ambition. She attended Marymount College, a Catholic college in Tarrytown, N.Y., where she earned a master's degree in business. She earned another master's degree in religious education from Jesuit-run Fordham University in New York City. She went to work for the Jesuit Volunteer Corps and served the needy and poor in Phoenix."At some point, people asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up. And I told them, just like I did when I was a little girl, that I wanted to be a priest."........."

The Episcopal Church once passed a resolution stating that gays and lesbians have full rights to pastoral care. Bishop Robinson was totally above board in this matter, never hiding or denying his sexual orientation, and he was chosen by his (New Hampshire) diocese and confirmed by the nationwide convention. So, there's this huge split in the church now."

Conroy turned very serious as she pronounced, "I'm not sure than the unity of churches is the goal of Christianity. In fact, we're all covered by the love of God, and forcing people to be united - to accept this position or its opposite- is not a good idea."

Link to the full story (here)

Jesuit Tackles Future American Cardinal

First American named to head Vatican high court
By CHERYL WITTENAUER

some excerpts.

Archbishop Raymond Burke's new appointment shows that Pope Benedict XVI has a great amount of respect for U.S. bishops, said the Rev. Thomas Reese, senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University. "This is more power than Americans have ever had in Rome," Reese said. Burke said he would move to Rome in late August to head the supreme court, which resolves jurisdictional disputes among various Vatican tribunals and hears procedural appeals on marriage annulments. Benedict and his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, have complained for years that local tribunals grant an excessive number of annulments. Reese said the court has a very narrow focus on procedural issues and rarely tackles substantive issues.

"Every pro-choice Catholic Democrat politician should be very nervous,"

Reese said. "He made his name in the U.S. by denying Communion to pro-choice politicians. "If he gets that view articulated strongly in Rome, he could become the voice for having that position for the universal church."

Link (here)

Arch-Bishop Toppo Lauds One Flemish Jesuit Who Completely Changed The Face Of India In Chotanagpur

Notice, zero of mention of Liberation Theology or Hindu syncretization of the Spiritual Exercises. Just one Jesuit in seven years was responsible for the complete Christianization of a peoples.

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Eucharist crucial to 'miracle of Chotanagpur,' says cardinal
Cardinal Toppo meets with some of his people in India earlier this year.
By DEBORAH GYAPONG

Canadian Catholic News

Quebec City
Cardinal Telesphore Toppo, archbishop of Ranchi, India, urged the Church to return to the radical sharing exemplified by the early Christians. Toppo said that for St. Paul the life of love sharing was absolutely essential to the Eucharistic community. When that sharing was absent, the Lord's supper was not truly celebrated. "For the early Christians, the Eucharist lost much of its meaning if it did not inspire compassion, mercy and love," he said. Toppo spoke to about 15,000 pilgrims at the June 20 plenary catechesis at the Eucharistic Congress. He pointed out the Acts of the Apostles recorded: "There was not a single needy person among them." The early Christians accomplished this in spite of the struggles of daily life, compounded by persecution and conflict. "This is why the early Christians were so acceptable to many people, especially the poor and the marginalized," he said. The cardinal shared the miraculous story of his own people, the tribal people of central and northeast India. Poor, illiterate, exploited and oppressed by powerful landlords before they first heard of Jesus Christ 163 years ago, Toppo said those remaining in the ancestral lands "were on the verge of extinction and had lost their will to live." "For the early Christians, the Eucharist lost much of its meaning if it did not inspire compassion, mercy and love,"

In 1845, the first Christian missionaries arrived, but Toppo said they had little success. Though some Tribals eventually became baptized, it was only after the arrival of Jesuit missionaries 30 years later that the Christian faith grew. He singled out Jesuit Father Constant Lievens, who is now known as the apostle of Chotanagpur. When Lievens arrived, there were 56 Christians in the area. When he died seven years later of exhaustion and tuberculosis, the region counted 80,000 baptized Catholics and more than 20,000 catechumens, the cardinal said.

He credited their success to the way the Catholic missionaries "understood, celebrated and lived the Eucharist." The Loreto Nuns followed the Jesuits to the Tribal region and soon attracted indigenous women, he said. They formed their own order in Ranchi called The Daughters of St. Anne. This indigenous religious order has grown to 1,000 sisters present in 23 dioceses. The extraordinary growth of Christianity in the tribal region is known as "the miracle of Chotanagpur." Christians in the Tribal area comprise 10 per cent of the 18 million Catholics in India. Mother Teresa of Kolkata "is part of this miracle, too," he said.

When two Albanian Jesuits returned home to give a talk at a school, the future Mother Teresa, then teenaged schoolgirl named Agnes, heard their stories of the Kolkata mission that included the Ranchi area.

She later joined the Loreto Nuns in order to come to India, he said. Toppo said he later got to meet Mother Teresa and have her accompany him in his car. He knew she had been working late the previous night. He asked her where she got her strength. "Her reply came with a bullet-like speed: Jesus in the Eucharist," he said. The cardinal is known in India for helping the poor through detox programs, education, and assistance for lepers. He has also fought against the illegal caste system that still plays a role in Indian life. He also supports a network to support needy children.

Link (here)

Jesuit Advocates "Law And Order" In The Dominican Republic

Jesuit priest slams the Dominican Government’s policy on Haitian

Jun 26, 2008
SANTO DOMINGO. - “Until there is a Migration Law or regulation by consensus, adapted to our Constitution, while there isn’t institutionality the problem of the immigrants is never going to be solved,” said the priest Regino Martinez, director of the Jesuit Refugee and Immigrants Service. The prelate, in reference to the current increase in undocumented Haitians who beg in the country’s streets, said “what anarchy and the lack of laws generate is disorder, violence and repression.” He said it’s a national problem which must be faced by the State. “It’s not a question of whether Immigration director Carlos Amarante has the sufficient human, economic or technical resources to control the situation; the issue of the children begging can’t be individualized.” Martinez said the traffic of illegals shouldn’t be treated “in a gross, violent manner, nor with corrupt or repressive controls,” and denounced that in Palo Verde, Hatillo Palma and Villa Vásquez the immigrants are taken with or without ID cards and their rights are violated. Amarante said that the routine sweeps of Haitian immigrants will continue, within his entity’s possibilities.

Link (here)

Adolfo Nicolás SJ In His Own Words

A Two Part Interview with Jesuit Superior General Adolfo Nicolás in the Jesuit journal, Thinking Faith.

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part 1

What do you ask of the Jesuits?

an excerpt.

........I have to confess that these past two months have produced a change within me. I think I have come to a much more vibrant and personal relationship with the Holy Father and all he represents.

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part 2

Has spirituality been replaced by ideology?

an excerpt.

.........we put aside whole sets of practices, and we didn’t provide an alternative. For a while we moved in a vacuum. It was the time when people were shaken, and then some people who got scared wanted us to go back to the old set.