St. Claude La Colombière, S.J. (1641-1682)

CLAUDE LA COLOMBIÈRE, third child of the notary Bertrand La Colombière and Margaret Coindat, was born on 2nd February 1641 at St. Symphorien d'Ozon in the Dauphine, southeastern France. After the family moved to Vienne Claude began his early education there, completing his studies in rhetoric and philosophy in Lyon.

It was during this period that Claude first sensed his vocation to the religious life in the Society of Jesus. We know nothing of the motives which led to this decision. We do know, however, from one of his early notations, that he "had a terrible aversion for the life embraced". This affirmation is not hard to understand by any who are familiar with the life of Claude, for he was very close to his family and friends and much inclined to the arts and literature and an active social life. On the other hand, he was not a person to be led primarily by his sentiments.

At 17 he entered the Jesuit Novitiate at Avignon. In 1660 he moved from the Novitiate to the College, also in Avignon, where he pronounced his first vows and completed his studies in philosophy. Afterwards he was professor of grammar and literature in the same school for another five years.

In 1666 he went to the College of Clermont in Paris for his studies in theology. Already noted for his tact, poise and dedication to the humanities, Claude was assigned by superiors in Paris the additional responsibility of tutoring the children of Louis XIV's Munster of Finance, Jean Baptiste Colbert.

His theological studies concluded and now a priest, Claude returned to Lyon. For a time he was teacher in the College, then full-time preacher and moderator of several Marian congregations.

Claude became noted for solid and serious sermons. They were ably directed at specific audiences and, faithful to their inspiration from the gospel, communicated to his listeners serenity and confidence in God. His published sermons produced and still produce significant spiritual fruits. Given the place and the short duration of his ministry, his sermons are surprisingly fresh in comparison with those of better-known orators.

The year 1674 was a decisive one for Claude, the year of his Third Probation at Maison Saint-Joseph in Lyon. During the customary month of the Exercises the Lord prepared him for the mission for which he had been chosen. His spiritual notes from this period allow one to follow step-by-step the battles and triumphs of the spirit, so extraordinarily attracted to everything human, yet so generous with God.

He took a vow to observe all the constitutions and rules of the Society of Jesus, a vow whose scope was not so much to bind him to a series of minute observances as to reproduce the sharp ideal of an apostle so richly described by St. Ignatius.

So magnificent did this ideal seem to Claude that he adopted it as his program of sanctity. That it was indeed an invitation from Christ himself is evidenced by the subsequent feeling of interior liberation Claude experienced, along with the broadened horizons of the apostolate he witnesses to in his spiritual diary.

On 2nd February 1675 he pronounced his solemn profession and was named rector of the College at Paray-le-Monial. Not a few people wondered at this assignment of a talented young Jesuit to such an out-of the-way place as Paray. The explanation seems to be in the superiors' knowledge that there was in Paray an unpretentious religious of the (founded by St Jane Frances de Chantal) Monastery of the Visitation, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, to whom the Lord was revealing the treasures of his Heart, but who was overcome by anguish and uncertainty. She was waiting for the Lord to fulfill his promise and send her "my faithful servant and perfect friend" to help her realize the mission for which he had destined her: that of revealing to the world the unfathomable riches of his love.

After Father Colombière's arrival and her first conversations with him, Margaret Mary opened her spirit to him and told him of the many communications she believed she had received from the Lord. He assured her he accepted their authenticity and urged her to put in writing everything in their regard, and did all he could to orient and support her in carrying out the mission received.

When, thanks to prayer and discernment, he became convinced that Christ wanted the spread of the devotion to his Heart, it is clear from Claude's spiritual notes that he pledged himself to this cause without reserve. In these notes it is also clear that, even before he became Margaret Mary's confessor, Claude's fidelity to the directives of St. Ignatius in the Exercises had brought him to the contemplation of the Heart of Christ as symbol of his love.

After a year and half in Paray, in 1676 Father La Colombière left for London. He had been appointed preacher to the Duchess of York - a very difficult and delicate assignment because of the conditions prevailing in England at the time. He took up residence in St. James Palace in October.

In addition to sermons in the palace chapel and unremitting spiritual direction both oral and written, Claude dedicated his time to giving thorough instruction to the many who sought reconciliation with the Church they had abandoned. And even if there were great dangers, he had the consolation of seeing many reconciled to it, so that after a year he said: "I could write a book about the mercy of God I've seen Him exercise since I arrived here!"

The intense pace of his work and the poor climate combined to undermine his health, and evidence of a serious pulmonary disease began to appear. Claude, however, made no changes in his work or life style.

Of a sudden, at the end of 1678, he was calumniously accused and arrested in connection with the Titus Oates "papist plot". After two days he was transferred to the severe King's Bench Prison where he remained for three weeks in extremely poor conditions until his expulsion from England by royal decree. This suffering further weakened Claude's health which, with ups and downs, deteriorated rapidly on his return to France.

During the summer of 1681 he returned to Paray, in very poor condition. On 15th February 1682, the first Sunday of Lent, towards evening Claude suffered the severe hemorrhage which ended his life.

On the 16th of June 1929 Pope Pius XI beatified Claude La Colombière, whose charism, according to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, was that of bringing souls to God along the gospel way of love and mercy which Christ revealed to us.

Link (here)

Weigal On Rahner

An influential idea advanced by the Jesuit theologian Karl Rahner and his student Johannes Metz, is that non-Christians who live a morally decent life could be saved by the atoning death and resurrection of Jesus even if they'd never even heard of Christianity. I'm tutored on this concept by my friend George Weigel, the biographer of Pope John Paul II. (You might want to read Weigel's article, ''The Century After Rahner,'' in the Library of Catholic Culture online.

''At one level, the notion of 'anonymous Christianity' was simply the ancient Christian recognition that 'there are many whom Christ has that the Church does not have' -- though all who are saved, even outside the formal boundaries of the Church, are saved through Christ,'' Weigel notes.

My favorite statement of this impulse is from the 1965 statement promulgated by Pope Paul VI at the end of Vatican II: ''Since Christ died for all men, and since the ultimate vocation of man is, in fact, one, and divine, we ought to believe that the Holy Spirit in a manner known only to God offers to every man the possibility of being associated with this paschal mystery.''

....Weigel.....(states) that Rahner's idea of anonymous Christianity can't be pushed too far. When all is said and done, Christianity simply cannot accept interfaith dialogue disconnected from its understanding of the truth of the Christian claim. In addition to respectful and humble dialogue with non-Christians, there must always be an evangelizing element seeking the conversion of the partner in dialogue to what Christians believe is a truer vision of God's way with us in the world.

Link (here)

More on Fr. Karl Rahner, S.J. (here)

Jesuit Relates His Experience With Media Bias And Liberalism

Fr. Peter Gumpel SJ ( link to video interview) said that in his experience of hundreds of interviews and debates, he has experienced first hand the open hostility to the Catholic Church of the liberal mainstream media. He relates what he said was a routine experience with the media: "I was once asked by a newspaper in Rome, I gave a long interview, but they never published it. Apparently they were deadly set against Pius XII so of course, I didn't accept all their statements. It was in itself a friendly discussion, but it was never published."

Link (here)

Happy Face, Sad Face

Ryan Rallanka, SJ wins an Academy Award for this hilarious 7 minute short film, watch it (here)

An Irish Carmelite Preached At The Gesu

Throughout the centuries since Valentine received martyrdom there have been various basilicas, churches and monasteries built over the site of his grave. Many restorations and reconstructions took place at the site, therefore over the years. In the early 1800s such work was taking place and the remains of Valentine were discovered along with a small vessel tinged with his blood and some other artifacts.

In 1835 an Irish Carmelite by the name of John Spratt was visiting Rome. He was well known in Ireland for his skills as a preacher and also for his work among the poor and destitute in Dublin’s Liberties area. He was also responsible for the building of the new church to Our Lady of Mount Carmel at Whitefriar Street. While he was in Rome he was asked to preach at the famous Jesuit Church in the city, the Gesu. Apparently his fame as a preacher had gone before him, no doubt brought by some Jesuits who had been in Dublin. The elite of Rome flocked to hear him and he received many tokens of esteem from the doyens of the Church. One such token came from Pope Gregory XVI (1831-1846) and were the remains of Saint Valentine.

Link (here)

The shrine of St. Valentine with his relics

Diogenes Suspects Alterior Motives Behind The Reinstalled Crucifixes At Boston College

More Catholic than the papist

Diogenes

Absolutely brilliant. Look for another Jesuit colleges to imitate the public-relations ploy that's worked so well for Boston College, and remember that Uncle Di told you it was coming. Putting crucifixes back in classrooms is an easy way to rack up points for "Catholic identity" without offending public sensibilities.

Oh, there are objections from the ideological fever-swamps of academe, but even the Boston Globe can't make them seem reasonable. The BC administration looks reasonable; its critics look intolerant-- and disloyal, too, insofar as they're still cashing BC paychecks. The talk-shows are buzzing, and the callers all favor BC.

Never mind that virtually every major heresy gets a sympathetic hearing from the theology department. Who cares that a weekend of campus would leave Rabelais speechless. What does it matter if professors trot over to the state house to testify in favor of same-sex marriage and assisted suicide? Boston's downtrodden Catholic community is rejoicing that at last, BC took a stand in favor of Catholicism. The alumni are delighted, and if the contributions keep coming in, the school might be able to endow a new chair for the (Satire alert!) Professor of Transgender Wiccan Studies.

Link (here)

Painting is of Diogenes in the beggars water house

Who is Diogenes of Sinope? Find out (here)

"Deducçâo Chronologica"

It was Portugal who was shaken in the 18th century
by a remarkable modernizer, the Marquis of Pombal,
who attacked the country’s education, the aristocracy
and suppressed the Jesuit with a particular energy.
Link (here)

Jesuit High School Teacher And Martians

Local teacher believes Mars had ancient civilization!

By Patricia Ress

Creighton Prep architecture instructor Harry Jordan believes that civilizations rise and fall and come and go. On earth there is an abundance of evidence for this.

"In ancient Greek classics there are references to robots and to Jason and the Argonauts. The Mayans talked about planetary harmonics which some scholars suggest could have been a reference to radio astronomy. And when Jesuit missionaries were sent to Christianize the Mayans, many simply returned back home because they were so frightened by the high technology they encountered,"

he said. "Americans need to be informed about what did or could have happened. We shouldn't be kept in the dark by intellectual celebacy or a misguided sense of national security. We need to know who or what could be leading us to the slaughter again," he added.

Jordan knows what he is talking about. He holds an MFA from the famous Cranbeck Academy of Bloomfield Hills , Michigan-an institution started by Ero and Elisle Saarinen who designed the St. Louis Arch. While living in Rome, he did excavation drawings for a museum there and this helped him to more keenly distinguish between manmade and natural landscapes.

"I became in all this back in 1985 when I saw a UPI story in the Omaha World-Herald about a photo of a face on Mars. Having been in the Navy, I realized that you can see artifacts easily if you have some previous experience for doing this, say, as a pilot,"

Jordan explained. "After initial phone contact, I was directed to Richard C. Hoagland, principal associate of the Independent Mars Project Investigation Team. I was asked if I would be interested in generating recognition work in the form of drawings illustrating patterns at the Cydonia Region of Mars. I was further informed that this exercise was part of a recognition pattern experiment to provide further data for this investigation. I was asked to draw whatever I felt was interesting or curious in two NASA Viking photos."

Jordan formerly served in the US Navy's Operation Intelligence Division on the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt. Radar intelligence data and electronics experience gained in the Navy combined with his architectural background eventually provided objective confirmation of initials findings of the Mars Investigation Team totally independent of their controlled scientific group. When he received the NASA frames, Jordan began drawing overlays of the entire Cydonia Region from enlarged mainframe photo-mosaics produced by White's Color Center of Omaha. Owner Warren White and associate John McIntyre produced the first 5'x3' mainframe enlargements in the country of the Cydonia Region. White had previous Air Force photo experience.

Link (here) to the full article

Peace With Everyone Else Except The Holy Father

Rabbi Yehuda Levin says he sees the media attack on Pope Benedict as being more about the influx of morally conservative Catholics into the mainstream of the Catholic Church, rather than anything else, including the holocaust denial of one of the SSPX bishops, which has received widespread media coverage.

"This is just going to increase the frenzy of left wing Catholics, whether outside the Church or inside, because they now have to carry the ball in terms of keeping the attack on the Pope going."

German dissident priest-theologian Hans Kung is one such left-wing Catholic,

who recently suggested in an article that Barack Obama would make a better Pope than Benedict.

Writing in the German publication Sueddeutsche, Kung expressed his wish that Obama were the Pope. "The mood in the church is oppressive, reforms are paralyzed, and the church in crisis," he said. "Benedict is unteachable in matters of birth control and abortion, arrogant and without transparency and restrictive of freedom and human rights."

Link (here)

Photo is of Rabbi Levin with his Holiness Pope John Paul II

From Georgetown a few months ago, the President John J. DeGioia had this (here) to say.

Father Kung is uniquely qualified to speak to the “Challenges to Islam, Christianity and Judaism in Today’s Global Crisis,” and we are truly privileged to have him with us today. Given his experience and expertise, I know that he will provide an invaluable perspective on how to deepen interfaith and interreligious understanding in the global community…on how the three monotheistic faiths can address today’s challenges…and on how to continue the enduring legacy—and spirit— of Nostra Aetate.

It is now my pleasure to introduce Father Hans Kung… .

The Jesuit Church Of St. Casimir

Founded by the Jesuits and dedicated to St. Casimir, construction of the church began in 1604. Povilas Bokša, the assistant provincial and Jan Prockowicz, a Jesuit architect oversaw the work. The church was finished and consecrated in 1635. It burned down in 1655, when the Russian army entered Vilnius. The church was twice more destroyed by fire in 1707 and 1749.

The famous architect and astronomer Tomas Žebrauskas, SJ, headed the reconstruction of the church in 1749-55. His work can be seen in the graded cupola and the main altar. From 1751 to 1753 Hans Kierner, a Prussian sculptor, decorated the interior. Frescos of St. Casimir's life were painted by the Czech artist Joseph Obst.

When the Society of Jesus was suppressed in 1773 (it was reinstated in 1814), the church was given to the Augustinians. In 1812 the French army turned the church into a grain silo, destroying the altars, statues and paintings. In 1815 the church was given to missionary priests, who cleaned up the interior and added eleven altars.

The missionaries were banished in 1832, and the church remained vacant and unused. In 1839 the Russians turned it into an Orthodox church known as St. Michael's. It was reconstructed in 1864-68 under the architect N. Chiagin, who lowered the steeples, added a larger steeple in the front, and covered all the steeples and the cupola with onion domes. The main facade was decorated in Neo-Baroque; frescos of Orthodox saints were painted in the three niches.

In 1915 the German army turned the church into a Lutheran house of worship for their army. In 1917 the church was returned to the Catholics. The German Jesuit Friedrich Muckermann energetically organized spiritual and social agencies for the people, for which work he was deported to prison in Minsk by the Bolsheviks.

In 1919 Blessed George Matulaitis returned the church to the Jesuits. Its restoration in 1925 was overseen by the architect Jan Borovski.

From 1940 the Lithuanian Jesuits worked in the church. In 1942 the crown on the cupola, a symbol of Lithuanian independence, was restored under the architect Jonas Mulokas.

In 1949 the church was again closed, this time by the Soviets, who stored grain in it. At this time the entire inventory of the church was destroyed, including the altars, organ, and bells. In 1963 the church was turned into a museum of atheism.

The church was returned to the Roman Catholic community in 1988. After intense restoration the church was reconsecrated in 1991, and the Jesuits again work in it.

Link (here) to an extensive web page of facts and history of the Jesuit Church of St Casimir

Written By The Rays Of An All-Divine Light

It was then that he (St. Ignatius of Loyola) composed that admirable book of Spiritual Exercises, dictated by an intelligence far superior to that of man, and truly written by the rays of an All-Divine light.

These are the Exercises which gave to the Church the first children of St. Ignatius; these are the Exercises which have inspired them with that virtue, that spiritual strength, which rendered them capable of every undertaking which had for its object the salvation of souls.

So long as the Society continues as it was at its birth, it will find its first spirit in this precious work; and should it ever be so unfortunate as to witness the extinction of that spirit, it is at this source alone that it could be rekindled.
Link (here)

I Got Your Holistic

On a Jesuit campus with a no condoms policy and buzzing hormones, the taboo topic of sexual education poses a problem for organizations and clubs who attempt to confront the topic of sexuality and promote a healthy, holistic understanding of sex.

"Even though Jesuits are liberal in the Catholic sense, they are still very conservative,"

says Keller Higbee, Residence Hall Associaton vice president of internal affairs. "There are certain things we can't say on the topic of sex, and condoms aren't allowed to be distributed on campus along those same lines."
Link (here) to the full article in the Seattle University's newspaper the Spectator

Evolutionary Jesuit

"Biological Evolution: Facts and Theories. A critical appraisal 150 years after ‘The Origin of Species’," March 3-7. The summit is part of the Vatican co-sponsored STOQ Project (Science, Theology and the Ontological Quest).

At a press conference this morning, Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, said that the purpose of the conference is to "

re-establish dialogue between science and faith, because neither of them can fully resolve the mystery of human beings and the universe."

The conference will be divided into nine sessions Fr. Marc Leclerc S.J., the director of the congress, explained. The sessions will address a myriad of issues, such as:

"the essential facts upon which the theory of evolution rests, facts associated with palaeontology and molecular biology; ... the scientific study of the mechanisms of evolution, ... and what science has to say about the origin of human beings."

Fr. Leclerc added that attention will also be given to "the great anthropological questions concerning evolution ... and the rational implications of the theory for the epistemological and metaphysical fields and for the philosophy of nature."

Read the full story (here)

More (here)

"The Various Vicissitudes Of Life"

Anthony De Mello

When Bombay-born Fr. Anthony de Mello died of a heart attack at Fordham University, USA, at the start of a lecture trip across the US in 1987 at the age of 56, his numerous admirers were stunned and aghast. De Mello was at the height of his powers.

Readers were lapping up his books which straddled eastern and western spirituality for the first time in a way that was accessible to people everywhere. Sadhana, a virtual transcript of a workshop on vipassana meditation, was his enduring best seller.

His other books included The Song of the Bird, One Minute Wisdom and Wellsprings. The first two were collections of transformative stories and the last a collection of exercises in the mould of Sadhana.

De Mello’s admirers were somewhat relieved when they learnt that he had left with his publishers Gujarat Sahitya Prakash a manuscript collection of more stories which were later published as The Prayer of the Frog in two volumes. Later two more manuscripts surfaced: Contact with God ( a collection of conferences), One Minute Nonsense (some more stories) and The Call to Love.

As Fr de Mello’s popularity mounted, 10 years after his death

the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith (CDF) woke up and issued a notification warning of the dangers of de Mello’s work which it declared “incompatible with the Catholic faith” and a cause of “grave harm”.

Fr. David Toolan S.J. (RIP), a Jesuit editor, wrote: “In my judgment, Father de Mello’s Sadhana remains the best Catholic ‘how to’ book for someone looking for instruction in methods of prayer. Some of de Mello’s early texts, the CDF acknowledges, ‘can be helpful in achieving self-mastery, in breaking the bonds and feelings that keep us from being free, and in approaching with serenity the various vicissitudes of life’. But overall de Mello’s writings are said to exhibit a ‘progressive distancing from the essential contents of the Christian faith’.

Particularly objectionable, it is alleged, are his concept of the unknowability and cosmic impersonality of God, his sense of Jesus ‘as a master alongside others’, a preference for ‘enlightenment’, criticism of the church, and an excessive focus on this life rather than life after death.

Bishops were ordered to ensure that the offending texts are withdrawn from sale and not reprinted.”

Fr. Toolan goes on: “The Vatican is bewildered by de Mello’s emphasis on ‘awareness’ and ‘interior enlightenment’ over against Scripture, doctrine, and belief—and puts the worst possible construction on de Mello’s awkward formulations. His stress on awareness, I would say, tries to get at the difference between theory and experience, external conformity and interiorised faith, or the letter of the law versus the spirit. The Vatican complains of ‘ambiguity’ and ‘perplexity’ in interpretation.

“But of course. De Mello was not writing theology; he was a collector of parables, and loved to shake people up, get them thinking or reimagining. Above all, he was an artist in helping people to reimagine God—as much greater and more giving than they had dreamed… De Mello used an odd principle to get at the unfathomable goodness of God—the idea that God couldn’t be worse than you and I, but had to be at least as good as we are at our best. What came out of that pedestrian principle was a radical doctrine of divine abundance and grace.”

“He loved stories,” says Fr. Joseph Brown, a Jesuit priest who coordinated de Mello’s workshops in St. Louis, USA. “He was an entertainer, a storyteller and a challenger. He blows your mind. He is one of the most powerful speakers I have ever heard. He makes you see things in different ways. He was a genius of devising exercises for people to get in touch with themselves and to pray out of that experience.”

Link (here)

Former Jesuit, Former Priest: Sentanced To 25 Years In Prison

Donald McGuire did not apologize in court today, but said he will

“continue to praise God and beg him to bless all who participated in this trial as well as their families.”

Link (here) to the extensive article

Rest In Peace: Fr. John Nissel, S.J.

A funeral Mass for Jesuit Father John Nissel, a Baltimore native who served as a missionary in Japan, was held Jan. 28 at St. Ignatius Church on the campus of Sophia University in Tokyo. A memorial service will be held March 21 at 10 a.m. at St. Agnes Church in Catonsville. Father Nissel died Jan. 25. He was 83.

A graduate of St. Agnes School in Catonsville and Loyola Blakefield in Towson, Father Nissel entered the Jesuit Novitiate in Wernersville, Pa., in 1943. From 1950-53, he studied Japanese in Taura, Yokosuka. He then returned to Woodstock College, located in Maryland, where he studied theology. He was ordained in 1956.

Father Nissel returned to Japan in 1959 and taught English for 32 years. During this time, he held various positions at Sophia University, where he served until his retirement in 1992. He continued to teach and minister after that.

Over the course of his life, Father Nissel returned several times to Baltimore to visit with his family. On these visits he assisted the priests of St. Agnes by celebrating Mass and on occasion cutting the lawn of the parish grounds. On June 25, 2006, Father Nissel celebrated his 50th jubilee at St. Agnes with a Mass and reception.

He is survived by his sister, Helen Nissel Degenhard, a parishioner of St. Agnes; his brother, retired Judge J .Thomas Nissel, and his wife, Irene, of Church of the Resurrection in Ellicott City; and many nieces and nephews.

Feb 10, 2009

Link (here)

11 Jesuit Universities On The V List

Bellarmine University
College of Saint Rose
College of the Holy Cross (Jesuit)
DePaul University
Fairfield University (Jesuit)
Fordham University (Jesuit)
Georgetown University (Jesuit)
John Carroll University (Jesuit)
Loyola University Chicago (Jesuit)
Regis College (Jesuit)
Santa Clara University (Jesuit)
Saint Mary’s College of California
Saint Xavier University (Jesuit)
Seattle University (Jesuit)
University of San Francisco (Jesuit)

Link (here) to the CNS report.

Read previous posts (here)

Sour Grapes

"The Vatican is going to great effort to bring back 400,000 Lefebvrists, and meanwhile we are losing a whole generation of young Catholics who just think the church is out of it," said the Reverend Thomas Reese, a Jesuit scholar and senior fellow at Georgetown University's Woodstock Theological Center in Washington. "I would rather see some openness toward everybody."
Link (here)

The Crucifix Is Back!

Boston College Places Crucifixes and Icons in Classrooms

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Students and faculty returned to Boston College (BC), a Jesuit Catholic institution, for the Spring 2009 semester to find that crucifixes and icons had been placed in many classrooms that had been long bereft of sacred art. This move, which helps strengthen the university’s Catholic identity, came by direct request of President Rev. William P. Leahy, S.J., according to a campus newspaper editor.

“Bravo for Boston College!” said Patrick J. Reilly, President of The Cardinal Newman Society. “For Catholics, outward signs, symbols and practices of our faith are an important part of relating to God in a material world.”

Over Christmas break, Father Leahy had employees hang the images in classrooms around campus, according to Donato Infante, executive editor of The Observer at Boston College. He told The Cardinal Newman Society that during a “State of the Heights” address two weeks ago, Father Leahy, responding to faculty and student complaints about the move, asserted that the administration did not need to consult professors about this decision and that the crucifixes and icons will not be taken back down.

Crucifixes and sacred art have had a scattered presence on campus since the 1970s. Two years ago, a new statue of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), was erected on campus.

Now with the addition of several crucifixes and icons, many are reacting strongly. The Observer reports that some professors and students were upset by the administration’s action, with at least one professor “refusing to teach in classrooms adorned by a crucifix even if he should have to move his class to a different room at his own expense.”

Professors have cited examples of even Christian students taking offense to the crucifixes and icons.

The Observer quotes the BC chemistry chairperson on the placing of the crucifixes, “I can hardly imagine a more effective way to denigrate the faculty of an educational institution. If that has been the purpose of the administration of Boston College, I congratulate them, as they have succeeded brilliantly.”

Reilly said that Father Leahy should ignore naysayers. “By what logic would someone expect a Catholic college or university to be non-Catholic?” Reilly asked. “The complaints are a sad consequence of the mixed signals from Boston College over several years. At times Catholic teaching and tradition are celebrated, other times they are scorned and undermined. But the crucifixes are a very happy movement forward!”

Others are pleased with the new classroom additions. “Some classrooms always had crucifixes in them,” Infante said. “I always found it nice to be able to look up at our Lord during class and to take moments during the day to call to mind God's presence. Now, at the request of our president, Father Leahy, we have such reminders in every room…. Father Leahy, please keep the beauty coming.”

“As for the… professors who are opposed, I ask them to understand what these symbols mean to us,” continued Infante. “The hanging of the sacred art had nothing to do with asserting power. It had everything to do with honoring our God and being constantly reminded of His love.”

The Observer quotes sophomore student Billy Cody arguing that having a crucifix or icon in the classroom “fits perfectly with the Jesuit motto ‘Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam’ (For the Greater Glory of God) because its presence reminds us that even in the classroom, we act for His greater glory.”

Junior student Michael Williams said, “Although seemingly a small gesture, rest assured that these symbols give great joy and confidence to me and many of my friends for the direction the school is taking as becoming, as Father Leahy has put it, the nation's leading Catholic university.”
Link (here) to the CNS article

The Jesuit And The Goaler, On Fasting

The idea of a "gaoler" naturally reverted to the old pagan conception of a "tormentor," or "torturer," as we see intimated in a parable (The Unforgiving Servant Mt 18.23-34) of the New Testament. Massachusetts paid ample respect to this conception of a gaoler, when, in its law on prisons, it instructed the master of the houses of correction, that "every delinquent committed to his custody he shall cause to be whipped at their entrance, not exceeding ten stripes." It had been a practice of Father White to fast two entire days every week, taking nothing but bread and water. Prison life introduced no modification in his devotion. It happened one day that the gaoler dropped into his cell, prisoner's "while he was beguiling his hunger in this malignant fashion." Said the gaoler in astonishment,

"What are you about ? What need has a man so old as you of so severe a fast ? If you wear out your body with such asperity, you will not have strength to hold yourself upright and hang from the gibbet at Tyburn ! "

It had been a practice of Father Andrew White, S.J. to fast two entire days every week, taking nothing but bread and water. Prison life introduced no modification in bis devotion. It happened one day that the gaoler dropped into his cell, prisoner's "while he was beguiling his hunger in this malignant fashion." Said the gaoler in astonishment,

We cannot say whether the good man was anxious about the fees and largesses of that auspicious day, when he should hand over the prisoner safe and sound to the patrons of Tyburn-tree ; since, indeed, it was a great day for all good Catholics, when they escorted a martyr's hurdle and attended the passage of his soul to God.

Father White answered, "It is fasting that gives plenty of strength for suffering anything on behalf of Christ our Lord."

He was kept in prison for more than three years. Then Father Jean Bollandus, writing from Antwerp, said, "Though there had often been question of executing him, he was at last, contrary to expectation, sent to Holland, whence on his arrival he was brought hither, without passports, by an heretical captain."

Link (here)

The Mission of San Ignacio

The Mission of San Ignacio is a simple 18th-century Jesuit church about three miles east of Creel; nearby are several Tarahumara settlements, notably in the Valle de los Ranas (Valley of the Frogs) at the Cueva de Sebastián (Sebastian’s Cave).
Link (here)

Rest In Peace: Fr. Robert Flynn, S.J.

Teacher and Missonery Robert Flynn, S. J.

Fr. Robert Flynn, S.J., passed away on February 7, 2009, at the ripe age of 88. Fr. Flynn arrived in Japan in 1952 and has distinguished himself as an educator and missionary. He's widely known in Japan as the author of a series of English Language Textbooks, still used in more than 100 schools, having been reprinted more than 40 times! After his successful career as a language teacher in Jesuit high schools, he took up the challenging job of being a pastor at Tsuwano, where Otome Toge is. While at Tsuwano, he wrote a little pamphlet describing the travails of the Martyrs of the Meiji Era (originally entitled No Greater Love: The Story of the Martyrs at The Pass of the Virgin). He retired from active ministries a few years ago and lived at Loyola House, the Jesuit Home for Seniors, in Kamishakujii, Tokyo.

Fr. Flynn was an extraordinarily sociable, friendly, and simple person whom everyone around him liked. He had a great gift for dealing with youngsters and many admire his textbooks for the way in which they grasped the interests of students. Although not professionally trained as a linguist, he was a born language teacher who impressed a large number of English teachers in Japan.

Link (here)

Katabasis: A Jesuit Blog From Australia

Fr. David McCallum is a priest working in the field of adult development, focusing on issues of leadership and spiritual maturation.

Read his blog entitled Katabasis

A NY Jesuit's Tertianship in Australia: Over the next 8 months, I will post reflections, photos, and assorted other odds and ends drawn from my experience of this last formal phase of Jesuit formation... a blend of the spiritual and the mundane.

Photo is of Fr. McCallum reading the book The Experience of God by Raimon Panikkar and enjoying a fine Tooheys beer.

Divine Mercy Chicago

Karen Hall from Some Have Hats posted this (here), read her full post

I just opened an e-mail from a Jesuit friend who sent me the photo I'm pasting below. It's the newly completed monstrance at the Sanctuary of the Divine Mercy in Chicago. If you don't know the story behind it, I highly recommend A Mother's Plea and its sequel. The story is amazing and inspiring. Interesting, isn' it, that Mary chose Chicago as the site for this sanctuary?

Great pictures of the Sanctuary (here)

All Of These Georgetown Students Have Strait A's

Students and factory workers demand that Georgetown University cut ties with Russell Athletic

by Ron Moore

Georgetown students (12) rallied Monday to calling on the school to cut ties with the apparel manufacturer that owns the Honduras factory which they say committed a series of labor rights violations. Two of the Honduran workers who make Georgetown University apparel joined the students in urging the university to refuse to partner with a company that abuses its workers. Moises Elias Montoya Alvarado is a sewing machine operator at (How did a sewing machine operator get to Washington D.C.?) Jerzees de Honduras and serves as president of the Sitrajerzeesh union and Norma Estela Mejia Castellanos is a sewing machine operator at Jerzees de Honduras and vice president of the Sitrajerzeesh union

“Georgetown must live up to its promises and end its contract with the Russell Corporation, a company which has committed appalling abuses—in violation of the university’s code of conduct—against the people who sew apparel with the university’s name on it,”

said Marley Moynahan, student organizer for Georgetown Solidarity Committee, an affiliate of the nationwide United Students Against Sweatshops.

The workers were fired from the factory, Jerzees de Honduras, after attempting to form a union; Russell later closed the factory altogether. The factory is owned by the Russell Corporation, a major licensee producing Georgetown logo apparel.

“We have been campaigning for a year and a half to end the abuses in our factory and ensure that we are treated with dignity and respect,” said Moises Elisias Montoya Alvarado, a sewing machine operator and worker leader at Jerzees de Honduras. “Because I have stood up for my rights and the rights of my coworkers, I have been the subject of violent retaliation, including death threats written on the factory walls and threatening notes left at my sewing machine. I came here today, together with these students, because Georgetown has the power to help put an end to the abuses and death threats that my coworkers and I face at home.”

The University of Miami, a major licensor of logo apparel, has already terminated its licensing agreement with Russell over the violations and other universities are considering similar moves.

Russell Corporation violated worker rights by firing over 140 workers for organizing a union, making statements that attributed the plant’s closure to unionization, and the closure decision itself, which was found to be driven by anti-union retaliation.

Closing a factory due, partially or wholly, to the formation of a union is a violation of Georgetown University’s codes of conduct for apparel production.

In response to these violations, a number of U.S. labor rights advocacy organizations have filed a petition with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, an agency of the Organization of Americas States, to take proactive measures to assure these worker leaders’ safety.

Link (here)

The Georgetown Code of Student Conduct (here)

Have any of these students violated the alcohol policy on page 11?

Have any of these students violated the drug policy on page 12?

Have any of these students violated the sexual misconduct policy found on page 17?

In fairness to all concerned, should not all the policies of Georgetown University be enforced?