Yet Another Post About Sodomy By Fr. James Martin, S.J.

Archbishop Nienstedt

....rarer is the openly gay Catholic priest who speaks about issues related to homosexuality and homosexual activity.  That is why this ten-minute speech by Robert Pierson, O.S.B., a member of the Benedictine community at Collegeville, MN (and listed as a priest in good standing in the 2011 Official Catholic Directory) is so unusual.  Father Pierson, who had worked in campus ministry at St. John's University and is currently the director of the Spiritual Life Program at St. John's Abbey, speaks of his own homosexuality, his experience in ministering to gay and lesbian students, and then describes why he bas concluded that a Minnesota Catholic may vote "no" on a proposed state amendment that would prevent same-sex marriages.

In 2005, Father Pierson had resigned from his post as director of campus ministry after the Vatican officially barred men with "deep-seated homosexual tendencies" from ordination, and because of broader issues in the church's teaching. "Because I can no longer honestly represent, explain and defend the church's teaching on homosexuality, I feel I must resign," he said at the time. 

Needless to say, his comments on same-sex marriage are in direct opposition to the U.S. Catholic bishops, including Archbishop John Nienstedt of St. Paul and Minneapolis, who has vigorously supported the amendment (that is, opposing same-sex marriage) and asked parishioners in his archdiocese to recite a "A Prayer for Marriage" as part of the Prayers of the Faithful (petitionary prayers) at Masses.  The bishops could not be clearer in their opposition, which rests primarily on the Christian tradition of marriage as between a man and a woman (as well as on the church's opposition to homosexual activity).

Read the full post at America Magazine by Fr. James Martin, S.J. (here) 
The Churches teaching on the subject (here)

The Jesuit Of Christian Anarchism

Fr. Daniel Berrigan, S.J. has embraced what has been called “Christian anarchism,” because of its persistent alienation and hostility to all forms of power, is the most effective form of resistance. And it is the clearest expression of the Christian Gospel. Berrigan has been arrested numerous times—“I don’t waste time counting,” he told me—for also protesting American intervention in Central America and the first Gulf War, as well as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has demonstrated against the death penalty, in support of LGBT rights and against abortion. And even in his 90s he is not finished. “If voting changed anything, they’d make it illegal,” he said to me, quoting Emma Goldman. He added his brother Phil’s reminder that “if enough Christians follow the Gospel, they can bring any state to its knees.” “Some people today argue that equanimity achieved through inner spiritual work is a necessary condition for sustaining one’s ethical and political commitments,” Berrigan writes. “But to the prophets of the Bible, this would have been an absolutely foreign language and a foreign view of the human. The notion that one has to achieve peace of mind before stretching out one’s hand to one’s neighbor is a distortion of our human experience, and ultimately a dodge of our responsibility. Life is a rollercoaster, and one had better buckle one’s belt and take the trip. This focus on equanimity is actually a narrow-minded, selfish approach to reality dressed up within the language of spirituality.”
Link (here) to read the full piece at Truth Out

The Blind Leading The Blind

Pieter Breugel's "The Blind Leading the Blind"

Following Mercy Sr. Margaret Farley’s ten-minute address, which was greeted by a standing ovation, a number of the theologians present asked questions of their colleague, both expressing concern for her well-being and probing what broader significance the move against her might have for their future. Susan Ross, the chair of the department of theology at Loyola University Chicago who is expected to accede to the presidency of the CTSA Sunday morning, said in an interview Saturday that the event was an opportunity for those present to show their appreciation for Farley and to express concern for her. “[Farley]’s taught so many people, she’s influenced so many of us that I think people wanted to be able to talk about it,” said Ross. “And be able to, in one way or another, offer their support to Margaret…I think that there was a very basic kind of concern for her." Explaining how she saw the importance of the Friday night event, Ross continued: “And I think what was really moving about her presentation last night is how on the one hand she’s trying to balance her commitment as a Catholic, as a Sister of Mercy, as someone who loves the church, with her conviction that, as she said, 'People are suffering'  What she’s really trying to do is balancing on the one hand all of her love and passion for the church, with the other hand of the need to address the suffering of people in a way that speaks to their concrete reality.”

Link (here) to The National Catholic Fishwrap

"And He spoke also to them a similitude:

Can the blind lead the blind?

do they not both fall into the ditch?"

 

Luke 6:39

Jesuit Says We Are, "Clerically Asphyxiated"

Fr. Agbonkhianmeghe Orobator, S.J.

Problems of discrimination and exclusion are so manifest within the Catholic community today that the church “totters on the brink of compromising its self-identity as the basic sacrament of salvation,” a theologian told his peers here Friday. Speaking frankly to some 300 colleagues assembled for an annual meeting of the Catholic Theological Society of America (CTSA), Jesuit Fr. Agbonkhianmeghe Orobator said that of particular concern is the disregarded role of women in the church. Saying that women are often the “face of redemption turned visibly” toward those the church serves, but are often “banished beyond the borders of relevance,” Orobator said the state of their participation in the church community leads to an uncomfortable question. 

“As a church, so long as we surreptitiously but tenaciously rehearse the politics of discrimination and exclusion, we stand before God, as Cain was, befuddled by a question that we simply cannot wish away at the wave of a magisterial wand,” said Orobator. 

“And the question is: ‘Church, where is your sister? Church where is your mother?’” Orobator’s comments came in a plenary session Friday morning during the four-day CTSA convention. The 67th annual gathering of the group, the theme for this year’s event is “Sacrament/s and the Global Church.” Orobator is a native Nigerian who now teaches at the Jesuit School of Theology and Institute of Peace Studies in Nairobi, Kenya and also serves as the head of the Eastern Africa province of Jesuits, which encompasses Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. Titling his talk “A Global Sign of Outward Growth: the Sacramentality of the World Church in the Era of Globalization,” Orobator covered a wide-range of topics, focusing on the meaning of the sacraments and the church’s sacramentality in a global context. Orobator’s addressing of the role of women in the church came after the priest said that while the liturgical reforms passed during the Second Vatican Council prioritized “active participation and wide inclusivity” of lay people in the church, they are “in reality, however … used by some to warrant exclusion of women from sacramental ministry and leadership.” Following his remarks on the role of women, Orobator also questioned a number of other areas where, he said, the church doesn’t reflect its notion of sacramentality. 

“On the evidence of current events, this ‘socially constituted,’ hierarchically regimented, dogmatically policed, and clerically asphyxiated community called church increasingly signifies hurt and pain for some people of God on account of their vulnerability, 

silence and intimidation for others on account of their honest engagement in the venerable task of fides quarens intellectum, and exclusion and marginalization for many, very many, on account of their gender, race, or social location."

Link (here) to the National Catholic Fishwrap to read the piece on Fr. Agbonkhianmeghe Orobator, S.J.

The Jesuit Missionaries Demolished Bronzes Of Buddha

More than 400 Buddhist bronzes have been unearthed in Tamil Nadu. More than 350 are from the ancient port of Nagapattinam. This historic city was an active Buddhist centre during the Chola period. During the 11th century CE, the Sailendra kings of Sumatra built a large vihara here, which was visited by Buddhist monks from different countries. 

A 15th century Pali inscription discovered at the old city of Pegu in Burma attests to this. Ruins of a ‘Buddhist pagoda', till the Jesuit missionaries demolished them in the 19th century, were visible in Nagapattinam. The Theravada or orthodox form of Buddhism, which views the Buddha as a great ascetic rather than a god, was widely prevalent in Tamil Nadu. 

 However, many of the Nagapattinam bronzes belong to the the opposing tradition – the Mahayana, which views the Buddha as a superhuman. Along with the Buddha, images of Mahāyāna such as Avalokitesvara were also discovered. These images, like the other Chola bronzes, are of appreciable artistic merit. Many of these bronzes are now part of the Chennai Government Museum collection. Unfortunately, only a small number is currently on display. 

Link (here) to read the full article at The Hindu

The Crackdown

While outrage on behalf of Sister Margaret Farley, as in the treatment of Sister Elizabeth Johnson some months ago, may be appropriate, great good has emerged from both experiences. In both cases, rather than strike when the books were published, church authorities waited several years before they pounced. My guess is that they don’t really pay that much attention to theological books as they come out. Rather they wait for them to catch on, have influence, and be taught in the colleges. The someone somewhere writes to Rome warning high officials that the church’s truth is in danger.Then the crackdown becomes a public event, the media tell the  people in the pews what is happening. Students who have loved the books and teachers speak up. I worked on the Fordam campus for four years without meeting Elizabeth Johnson. Now I have read her book and have joined her fans. I have heard of Margaret Farley, but now I’ve had a long talk with one of her graduate students, her book Just Love is on my desk, and I’ll read it this weekend. The Washington Post today reports that overnight her Amazon sales ranking soared from 142,000 to 16. Thousands are talking about Farley’s ideas who had never of her before. This public reaction demonstrates that there is a great hunger among Christians and others for a sexual ethic that is grounded in the human experience of the 21st century as well as in the tradition of the church.

Link (here) to piece by Fr. Raymond Schroth, S.J. at America Magazine

Jesuit On The Rescent Beheading Of A Young Tunisian

....violence does not represent the majority of Islam. Far from it! But it's also true that violence has its seed in the Koran, and finds life of Muhammad and his depredations ... which are sometimes very violent. Muslims must condemn this violence, not just by saying "but this is not Islam." Unfortunately, even that is Islam and found in the Koran. There is actually a seed of violence within Islam and the Koran, which today is taken up by the radical tendencies. Every radical group has its imam, issuing fatwas authorizing such violence, fatwas based on Islamic tradition. And the terrorists act believing that they are worshiping God!

Islam needs, like all religions, to be rethought!
Perhaps in the seventh century, such violence was understandable, among people who lived in the desert. But now it must be condemned and the religious center of Islam saved. Even the Bible has violent passages in the Old Testament. And I remember the great biblical scholar, the current Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, had written to denounce the violence done in the name of God and the Bible.But none of us Christians, although we recognize the Old Testament as a revealed text, would dream of applying what is written in some of those books to the letter. It would be unacceptable. If no one says anything, let alone Muslims, the seed of violence will grow. The rejection of violence must be absolute and radical, for all those who believe in God, for all those who believe in man, in the name of God and in the name of humanism!

Link (here) to full text of Fr. Samir Khalil Samir, S.J. article.

Father Samir entered the Jesuit order on the 26 October 1955, in Aix-en-Provence (France) and undertook the study of Philosophy, Theology and Islamic studies. He graduated with a thesis on oriental Catholic theology and Islamic studies. Thereafter, he established 20 schools for reading and writing in Egypt and then taught for 12 years at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome. In 1986, he moved to Lebanon during the civil war there and now teaches at the Saint Joseph University, specialising in Catholic theology and Islamic studies.

Mismanagement

Fr. Thomas Reese, S.J.

“The Vatican also needs to do its job. It appears to have no problem investigating nuns and theologians, but investigating mismanagement by a bishop is not a priority,” the Rev. Thomas Reese, a well-known Jesuit commentator, told a symposium last month at Jesuit-run Santa Clara University to mark the 10th anniversary of the Dallas charter. “Even when a bishop is indicted, no one has the sense to tell him to take a leave of absence until the case is over,” Reese said. Priests themselves also remain upset at the focus on their ranks to the exclusion of their bosses: “In the Dallas Charter, all consequences fall on priests. Nothing is in there for bishops. Diocesan priests are on their own,” one priest said in a recent survey of clergy attitudes. Even 10 years later, concerns remain that a lack of bishops’ accountability undermines the church’s credibility with the public or, worse, leaves children at risk:

Link (here) to The Washington Post to read the full article

Wrongheaded

Archbishop J. Peter Sartain

A Jesuit priest who serves as pastor of a parish in the Archdiocese of Seattle has told National Public Radio that opposition to same-sex marriage is a denial of civil rights. Archbishop J. Peter Sartain has asked priests to collect signatures for a referendum on the State of Washington’s recent redefinition of marriage. In February, Gov. Christine Gregoire, a Catholic, signed into law a bill that legalized same-sex marriage in Washington.Among the dozen priests who have refused to permit signature collection is Father John Whitney of St. Joseph’s Parish in Seattle. “It's a denial of civil rights,” the Jesuit told National Public Radio. “I think civil marriage should be defended as something possible for all people. And I think the referendum is wrongheaded in that sense.”

Link (here) to Catholic Culture

It Is The Bishops Who Speak For The Church

Fr. Francis Sullivan, S.J.

Distinguished commentators in the New York Times and elsewhere wrongly interpret the assessment as "a stinging reprimand of American nuns," or an attempt "to muzzle American nuns." Contrary to these misguided critiques, the assessment expresses concerns about aspects of the conference itself. It is critical of the conference's silence on certain key issues facing the church and society, e.g., the dignity of human life from its conception to natural death, the biblical view of marriage and the family. It also expresses apprehension that the conference fails to support the church's official teachings on such issues as women's ordination and homosexual activity. 

Jesuit theologian Francis A. Sullivan points out that all Christians share the apostolic mandate to proclaim the good news of Christ to the world. Bishops have inherited the apostolic ministry of pastoral leadership with a fullness that others have not. Because of this charism, it is the bishops who speak for the church. At the same time, the voices of other members of the church - for example, women religious - need to be heard because they speak in the church. 

As the U.S. bishops, the Vatican and the conference embark on their "patient and collaborative renewal," there must be a reverent respect and mutuality between those who speak for the church and those who speak in the church.

Link (here) to read the full article by Fr. Gerald D. Coleman in The San Francisco Chronicle

The Society of Jesus Stung In Vati-Leaks

The other interesting document taken from the Holy See that has received no media attention – except in Holland – is the letter of accompaniment with which the superior general of the Jesuits, Adolfo Nicolás, sent to Benedict XVI a missive written by a wealthy Dutch couple, Hubert and Aldegonde Brenninkmeijer. The successor of Saint Ignatius, after recalling that the two are longstanding and generous benefactors of the Church and of the Society of Jesus, does not get into the content of their letter, but stresses that he "shares the concerns" that they wanted to manifest directly to the pope. A photocopy of the letter from Father Nicolás, in Italian, has been made public. But not that of the couple, released only in a somewhat shaky Italian translation. The content of the letter is clear nonetheless. It is a  tough act of accusation against the Vatican curia and the Catholic hierarchy in general. The rich Brenninkmeijers denounce the fact that money should play a central role in various offices of the curia, in some European dioceses, and in the patriarchate of Jerusalem. They accuse the pontifical council for the family of using gullible and acritical collaborators instead of employing personages who can and want to act in the sense of "aggiornamento" of Vatican II. They insinuate that in the most restricted circle around the pope, a considerable amount of power has been accumulated in a visible and tangible way, adding that they possess written proof in support of their charges. The Brenninkmeijers do not accuse anyone by name, except in one case. After maintaining that in Europe there are growing numbers of informed believers who are separating themselves from the hierarchical Church without, according to them, abandoning their faith, and after lamenting the lack of "non-fundamentalist" pastors able to guide the flock according to modern criteria, the two spouses manifest to the pope not only their own discouragement, but that of many laypeople, priests, religious, and bishops over the appointment of the new archbishop of Utrecht, Jacobus Eijk. This is what the two documents say. But no one has pointed out what happened shortly after the arrival of these letters. Willem Jacobus Eijk, 59, cultured but  "conservative" in both the theological-liturgical field and the field of morality, was appointed archbishop of Utrecht by Benedict XVI in December of 2007. The letter from Father Nicolás arrived at the Vatican on December 12, 2011, and was, as seen in the photocopy that has been released, seen and initialed by the pope on on December 14, 2011. So then, those same days were the final phase for the list of cardinals to be created at the consistory that was later announced on January 6, 2012. And among the natural candidates for the red hat was Archbishop Eijk, since Utrecht is a see of firmly established cardinalate tradition, and his predecessor, Adrianus Simonis, had already reached the age of 80. On January 6 of this year, in fact, Eijk's name was included among the churchmen who at the consistory of February 19 received the biretta, becoming the third-youngest cardinal of the sacred college. Therefore, the "concerns" in his regard expressed by the wealthy Brenninkmeijer couple and endorsed by the superior general of the Jesuits do not seem to have harmed in the least the conviction of pope Joseph Ratzinger that he has chosen the right person for the leadership of the most important diocese of the Church in Holland. If anything, they seem to have reinforced it.

Link (here) to chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it

Transitional Deacon, Named New Editor In Chief Of America

Matt Malone, America’s newest editor-in-chief, served for two years as an associate editor for the publication from 2007-2009, where he covered foreign policy and domestic politics and earned a first place award from the Catholic Press Association for a moving essay recounting his father’s decision to forgive the man responsible for Father Malone’s brother’s death in a drunk driving incident in 1984.  Earlier in his career, Father Malone served as deputy director of MassINC, an independent political think tank, and co-publisher of CommonWealth, an award-winning review of politics, policy, ideas and civic life.  He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, a Master’s Degree in philosophy from Fordham University and a graduate degree in theology from Heythrop College in Great Britain and The Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium. “We are pleased to welcome Father Matt Malone back home to America, a place that’s meaningful to him both as a journalist and a Jesuit.  A talented writer and editor, he is uniquely qualified to help lead America into its next century,” said Albert C. Pierce, chair of the Board of Directors of America Press, Inc.  John Schlegel, SJ, President and Publisher of America, added,  “As the 14^th editor in America’s 100-year history, Father Malone knows he has big shoes to fill, and we’re confident that he will exceed all expectations.”

Link (here) to America Magazine to read the full report.

Use the comment box as suggestion box for ways to improve America Magazine

Celebrity Jesuit On Now Famous Sister

Margaret Farley is an immensely well respected theologian and scholar, and is a revered mentor for many Catholic theologians.  It would be difficult to overstate her influence in the field of sexual ethics, or the esteem in which she is held by her colleagues.  With this stinging critique, the Vatican has again signaled its concern about theologians writing about sexual morality. This Notification will certainly sadden Sister Margaret's many colleagues, her generations of students, and those many Catholics who have profited by her decades of reflection on the faith.  It will also, inevitably, raise strong emotions among those who already feel buffeted by the Vatican's Apostolic Visitation of Catholic sisters in the US, and its intervention into the LCWR

Link (here) to In All Things to read post by Fr. James Martin, S.J.


Sister Margaret Farley’s book is not really a theological book, it is more an anti-theological book, because it tells us that everything that has gone before is more or less wrong and all that we believe now is more or less right, ignoring the inconvenient fact that this modern knowledge is not based on any sort of theological reflection, but rather on the rejection of theological tradition. Margaret Farley is a theologian in the sense that David Cameron and others, with their championship of gay marriage, are theologians.
Incidentally, I have no personal grudge against Sister Farley. I have never met her, and all I know of her is her book. She is perfectly entitled to her views, but the CDF is completely correct to point out to the faithful what constitutes a legitimate part of the tradition, and what stands firmly outside of it. All that surprises me is that it took so long for them to do so.
Link (here) to read full  by Father Alexander Lucie-Smith at The Catholic Herald
 

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas And Jesuit Father John Brooks

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas

Theodore V. Wells Jr. is one of the country's most successful lawyers, defending high-profile clients and usually winning. 

Clarence Thomas, also a respected lawyer, ascended to the highest court in the land, the Supreme Court. 

Edward P. Jones is the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “The Known World,” and has received a MacArthur “genius grant.” The three men have more in common than unusually high levels of achievement. All are African-American. All are graduates of the College of the Holy Cross. All say their success as undergrads — and in large measure later in life as well — was greatly influenced by the direction and support they received from the Rev. John E. Brooks, the Jesuit priest who was president of Holy Cross during the uneasy times of the civil rights movement and integration. The college was a the hilltop bastion of about 2,200 white males when Father Brooks, then a professor of theology at Holy Cross, brought a group of 20 newly recruited black men to the campus in the strife-riven fall of 1968. A book, “Fraternity,” by Bloomberg Businessweek writer Diane Brady traces the college careers of five of those young men and their later-life reflections on the challenges of breaking down the racial barriers.

Link (here) to read the full story telegram.com

40 Million Dollars To Loyola University Chicago

Michael Quinlan and Ronald McDonald

A former CEO of McDonald's Corp. has given Loyola University Chicago $40 million for a revamped business school, according to a published report Sunday. The donation from Michael Quinlan, who was head of the Oak Brook-based fast food chain for 11 years until 1998, is the largest gift the private university has received from an individual, according to the Chicago Tribune. The money means the Jesuit Catholic university can build a nine-story building for the business school at the university's downtown campus. The building will be named after Quinlan, who holds both undergraduate and master's degrees from Loyola. "When people ask me where did I go to college, I am very proud to tell them I am a two-time graduate of Loyola," Quinlan said. "It has given me more than I have given it." The donation was announced Saturday during an annual dinner at the university. Quinlan started working in a McDonald's mailroom as an 18-year-old Loyola student, and he eventually worked his way to the top of the fast food chain over the next 35 years, and later serving on the board of directors. Quinlan is credited with helping develop the Egg McMuffin. Quinlan, who received a full scholarship to Loyola, was the first in his family to graduate from college. In 2001 he was chairman of the university and head of the committee that chose the school's current president 

Link (here) to read the full story.

Celebrity Jesuit On Stumbling Blocks

The LCWR today charges that the CDF's report has itself caused both "scandal and pain."  Both the Vatican and the LCWR are saying that the other's actions are, literally, a "stumbling block" to the faith of others. In Greek, a skandalon was a stumbling block, and the word occurs several times in the New Testament.  It is a word Jesus reserves for some of his harshest critiques.  In Matthew 16, he uses the word to castigate Peter: "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things." And later, in Matthew 18: "If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were fastened around your neck and you were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of stumbling blocks! Occasions for stumbling are bound to come, but woe to the one by whom the stumbling block comes!"

Link (here) to the full blog post by Fr. James Martin, S.J. at America Magazine's blog.

Rejecting Repentance

Richard Giannone

Richard Giannone’s new book, Hidden: Reflections on Gay Life, AIDS, and Spiritual Desire. Giannone is a Professor Emeritus at Fordham. His book’s title strongly suggests its contents; it describes the quest of a man to find spiritual acceptance with his ex-priest gay lover, for the sake of whom he ended six years of sexual abstinence. It also describes the author's personal growth in caring over the years for two elderly women, one with dementia (his mother), and perhaps even a growing recognition of God. I do not mean to minimize this suffering, this service, or this recognition. 

But Giannone is determined to recast God to suit himself, holding Him apart from the moral teachings of His Church, which he rejects with the standard clichés. God definitely enters the picture only on the author’s terms, and Giannone’s conclusion, on the last page, is by now predictable: “God will have to take me as I am and evermore shall be. For him who dined with sinners, tax collectors, and the uncircumcised who did not follow Mosaic law, that should be no obstacle.” 

Here, then, is a thoroughly contemporary man, mired in the spirituality of changing cultures, accepting sin but rejecting repentance—the quitessential modern figure who has refused “to repent and believe the Gospel” (Mk 1:15). Unsurprisingly, therefore, the book is endorsed as a “classic in the revered genre of spirituality”, placed in the same class as Thomas Merton’s Seven Story Mountain, by the Jesuit Mark Massa of Boston College. And naturally his book is proudly published by Fordham University Press.

Link (here) to Catholic Culture to read the lengthy and thought provoking piece

Reiki And Soul Painting

A soul mandela

"The History of Woman," a fundraising exhibition featuring 115 pieces of art by 49 local artists, faculty and students, runs through Saturday, June 23, at the Thomas J. Walsh Art Gallery at Fairfield University's Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts. All the artwork -- in celebration of cultural acceptance and individual expression -- is for sale, with proceeds benefitting the Quick Center and Montage Initiative, a Bridgeport-based nonprofit organization that works to improve the status of women. Also a related book signing and reading will take place Thursday, May 31, at the Fairfield University Bookstore, 1499 Post Road in downtown Fairfield. Author Julie Barbero Mughal, assistant director for the Center for Faith and Public Life at Fairfield University, will read from her book "Land Without Hats," a collection of oral histories exploring how widows are treated in different cultures. Accompanying the reading will be demonstrations by two "History" artists: Anna Linley, a Reiki master and soul mandala artist (drawing portraits of the soul) and Diane Platt, sculptor. The event is free.

Link (here) to read the full article at CTPost,com

The Jesuit And The Crime Boss

Father Robert Drinan, S.J. and 
James "Whitey" Bulger

Organized Crime Boss James "Whitey" Bulger

It’s a name that jumps off the page of Whitey’s federal prison records. But it’s only the first one that jumps off the page; an even bigger name would follow. Father Robert F. Drinan, a Jesuit priest who was dean of the Boston College Law School, knew Whitey's brother, William, who was one of his favorite law school students. (AP) When Bulger put Drinan on his list of correspondents as a “close” friend, the Bureau of Prisons asked Boston Police to do a background check. And the Boston Police replied that Drinan indicated he had known the family for a long time and would be happy to correspond with Bulger. How in the world would Drinan be connected to the “habitual criminal?” Most likely through a certain Boston College undergraduate, who may have been one of Drinan’s favorite students. The student was William Bulger, Whitey’s younger brother, and he would soon attend BC’s Law School, where Drinan was dean. “The inference is that it’s through Bill Bulger there’s established a beachhead with Robert Drinan,” Lehr said. From early on in Whitey’s prison term, Father Drinan was listed as the person who would be Bulger’s parole adviser upon his release. The only correspondence Lehr has seen is the one letter the prison held onto. Father Drinan died in 2007. His papers and a recent Drinan biography contain no reference to either of the Bulger brothers. And when I talked to Drinan’s former congressional aides, his former chief of staff and his closest political advisers, they were stunned at the link to Whitey. A typical response came from Jerome Grossman, who became one of Drinan’s best friends after recruiting him to run for Congress as a progressive, anti-war candidate in 1970. “It’s a complete surprise,” Grossman said. Then again, those who knew Drinan say the priest kept his priestly duties and corporal acts of mercy — like visiting or writing to prisoners — a private matter and apart from public duties. The letter to Drinan closes with the tone of an order being directed to a future subordinate: Well, Father Drinan, that’s about it and it’s the true story seen through my eyes… Write me as soon as possible. James J. Bulger 77607 Seeing the same letter, former Boston Police Detective Eddie Walsh smiled. The 90-year-old figures he’s seen just about everything. He first saw Bulger in 1955. “Bulger’s very devious and would try anything he could do to get out of there, you know,” and reach as high as he could to do it, Walsh said. I ask him about Whitey checking into the psychiatric ward. “What’s this tell you?” I asked Walsh about Bulger’s nervous breakdown letter. “It tells you he’s full of baloney,” Walsh replied.

Link (here) to read the full piece at WBUR

Amazing Catch

You never know when your dreams are going to become reality. For St. John's senior pitcher Joe Robie and junior catcher Corey Tipton that day was Monday during the Three Rivers Athletic Conference baseball championship game at Mercy Field. During the Titans' 8-4 win over Fremont Ross, they combined for a gem good enough to become the No. 1 play of the day among the top 10 plays on ESPN's national broadcast of SportsCenter. The play can be viewed here. In the third, with a runner on first and one out, Ross shortstop Tyler Wolf hit a short pop in front of the plate along the first-base line. Tipton sprung from his crouch, had his path blocked by Wolf in the batter's box, and dived to keep the ball in the air with his mitt. Robie then dived to make a bare-handed grab just before the ball hit the turf for the unusual 2-1 popout. "That was awesome," Robie said. "I never really expected that. I was swimming [after the game], and I picked up my phone, and I had all these missed calls and texts. People were going crazy about it. Then I saw it on [ESPN], and I was like, ‘No way.' "As a little kid I always dreamed of being on SportsCenter's Top 10 and, what do you know, it came true. It's one thing to be on there, but it's another thing to be No. 1. I never thought in my wildest dreams that would come true. I saw it on there, and I still don't believe it."

Link (here) to The Toledo Blade to read the whole article

A Brief Will Be Presented To The Archbishop Of Washington, D.C.

Archbishop Wuerl and Pope Benedict XVI

William Peter Blatty and other concerned alumni have created an online petition -www.gupetition.org - on which he asks donors to curb their contributions to Georgetown for one year. It also states that the rights of Catholics to a Christian education have been violated by Georgetown's "21-year refusal to comply fully with the law of the Church." Because of this, he is initiating the canon lawsuit against Georgetown. Among the remedies the petition seeks is that there be a "declaration by the appropriate ecclesiastical authority that Georgetown University is no longer entitled to call itself a Catholic or Jesuit University."  There is precedent for this, said Father Michael Orsi, the Chaplain and Research Fellow in Law & Religion at the Ave Maria School of Law, a Catholic law school in Naples, Fla. "Catholic theologians are given a mandatum by the bishops of the dioceses that they are qualified to teach Catholic theology," he said. The rulebook for this is the Ex corde Ecclesiae, an order issued by Pope John Paul II in 1990. It defined what Catholicism means for Catholic universities. All educational facilities must have the endorsement of the local bishop. "The other side of it is the bishop can remove a Catholic theologian," Orsi said. He mentioned two instances where this was done. One was the case of Father Charles Curran, a theologian at the Catholic University of America. He taught about subjects that were considered antipodal to Catholic teachings. He was determined by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to be ineligible to be a professor of Catholic theology and was fired from his teaching position in 1986. The Congregation was run by then-Cardinal Josef Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI.  The other cited by Orsi was more recent. St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix was stripped of its "Catholic" appellation in December 2010. Phoenix Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted issued a decree dissolving the hospital's affiliation with the Catholic Church. He wrote in his decree that he could not confirm the hospital was providing its services in line with Catholic precepts. "It is not done enough," Orsi said. 

If Blatty's lawsuit moves forward, a brief will be presented to the Archbishop of Washington, D.C. He must make the determination that Georgetown no longer conducts itself as a Catholic university should. 

"Georgetown, of course, will say they have mass, they have the Knights of Columbus on campus," Orsi said. "This will be their attempt to say they are Catholic. They will say that allowing Sebelius was merely an expression of free speech on campus."

Link (here) to the full article at Legal New Online

Order And Disorder

St. Micheal the Archangel defeating Satan

St. Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises is, basically, a guide for retreat directors. It outlines a series of meditation topics, methods of prayer, and principles to help in the process of “the discernment of spirits.” The first set of principles for discernment deal with interpreting the experience of spiritual consolation and spiritual desolation. He goes into great detail defining those terms and describing what he means by them. He does this in order to help retreatants and retreat directors learn to identify and process what is going on inside the soul as a person seeks to follow God more closely. In the first two rules for the discernment of spirits, he makes two critical observations. First, he points out that two “spirits” are interested in influencing our souls: The good spirit (God, and God’s messengers, like the angels), and the evil spirit (the devil and his minions). God wants to lead and guide and draw each one of us closer to himself; the devil wants to obstruct our progress towards God, and, if possible, turn us away from God entirely. But both “spirits” have to work within the confines of human nature, influencing us from within our souls, where we experience feelings, attractions, repugnance's, thoughts, memories, desires… In reflecting on and interpreting those interior experiences, we exercise our freedom and make decisions, and our decisions either bring us closer to God or distance us from him. 

This is why St. Ignatius considers it so important to be able to identify the source of those interior experiences; we need to know whether they are being stirred up by the enemy of our soul in an effort to thwart our spiritual progress, or whether they are nudgings and whisperings from our Lord. 

Second, he distinguishes two basic states in which particular individuals can find themselves. On the one hand, a person can be on the path of sin, living life by seeking happiness in any number of idols instead of in a relationship of obedience and love towards God. On the other hand, a person can be on the path of holiness, seeking to grow in friendship with God and to purify their souls from inordinate attachments that impair that friendship.

Link (here) to read the full post by Fr. John Bartunic at the blog entitled, Catholic Spiritual Direction

Eco-Justice At Jesuit Parish

Living in right relationship with all God’s Creation is at the center of our Christian faith. The Eco-Justice Ministry seeks not only to reduce our carbon footprint and live more sustainably, but to open ourselves to a radical change of heart and mind in how we live on and with the earth.

• We promote ways in which we as individuals, as families, and as a faith community can care for creation by making our homes and the church-school campus more sustainable.
• We promote governmental policies that are environmentally sound.
• We advocate for those who are most severely burdened by the effects of environmental degradation and climate change.

Link (here) to more about this at the Jesuit Parish, St. Joseph in  Seattle, Washington

What Is Justice?

Bonasera kissing the hand of Don Vito Corleone

As a Roman Catholic priest, I often hear the confessions of people seeking God's absolution; yet, I have a confession to make. In 1972, when I was halfway through law school, several of my classmates and I took a study break to see Francis Ford Coppola's adaptation of Mario Puzo's novel The Godfather.' In the opening scene of the film, Bonaserra, an undertaker,seeks a favor from Don Corleone. Bonaserra's daughter, a recent victim of violence and attempted sexual assault who nonetheless retained her honor and virtue, convalesces in the hospital. The undertaker wants the Don to kill the two young men who tried to rape his daughter. He implores Don Corleone for justice-that is, revenge. The Don reminds Bonaserra that his daughter is still alive and that murdering the perpetrators would not bejustice. The Godfather and the undertaker compromise: the two boys responsible for the assault will suffer as Bonaserra's daughter has. Don Corleone and Bonaserra agreed that making the attempted rapists suffer as their victim had was justice. Was that justice? More importantly, what is justice, and what is the role of the Christian academy regarding it?

Link (here) to read the full essay entitled, Realizing a Mission: Teaching Justice as Right Relationship at The St. John's Law Review by Fr. Robert John Araujo, S.J.

The War-Cry Of St. Ignatius Of Loyola, "Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam!"

Brave soldier of Spain, braver soldier of God!
How hard and how rugged the pathway you trod.
Manresa seems easy compared with the school
"Where you in ripe manhood became like a fool,
Rehearsing your grammar with children once more.
Your voyage to Palestine's mystical shore
"Was less than the journey to class day by day—
But that, St. Ignatius, was always your way:
To use the means fittest for gaining your end,
"While begging of God special succour to lend—
To shrink from no labour or danger or care,
To work as if nothing depended on prayer,
And then, as if all with God's clemency lay,
Most earnestly, constantly, humbly to pray.*

How grand must your nature have been, and your heart,

So deep and enduring a stamp to impart
To Xavier and hundreds of heroes since then.
You truly are one of the leaders of men;
You lead them to God. Oh! the dupe and the
knave

Who at you and your children carp, snarl, and rave,
They know you not, Father Ignatius! but I
Know well you and yours, and full gladly would
die

That not the bad only should slander and blame

The Company banded by Captain so great!
Let Heresy give them the praise of its hate;
Let sensual, proud unbelievers detest—
The demons of hell know their enemies best—
But ye who love Jesus, rejoicing applaud
All, all who are striving to win unto God
The souls Jesus died for.

When earth's war is done,
Ignatius, what captive hosts you shall have won!
Great Xavier's magnificent soul your first spoil.
And so all the marvellous fruits of his toil;
And all who your flag to the end shall uphold—
Canisius, Alphonsus, the laybrother old;
The three youthful saints to the youthful so dear ;*
De Britto and Suarez, unlike in their sphere;
Francis Regis at home drawing thousands to God,
And Claver, apostle of negroes abroad;
De Lugo and Bellarmine, who teachers teach,
With Segneri, Bourdaloue, mighty in speech;
And Southwell, true poet, true martyr; St. Jure,
Rodriguez, ascetics large-minded and sure;
With all who your wise, gentle spirit and rule
Have followed in pulpit, confessional, school;

Tour honour and theirs to attest. Cruel shame,

And all who have striven to sanctify men
By prayer and example, the voice and the pen;
And all -who have laboured and labour unknown,
And thus shall toil on till the last trump has blown:
In all that each one of your children endures,
A share shall for ever, Ignatius, be yours.

Ignatius, a saint ere your earliest vow,
A hero, an angel—what must you be now?
How vile seemed the earth when you looked up to
heaven ! (Quam sordet terra dum coelum aspicio)

To God and his glory your grand soul was given;

God's glory alone was your joy and your pride,

"For God's greater glory" you lived and you died.

Oh, great St. Ignatius, look down from your throne,
And do not the least of your children disown;
Pray, pray for us unto the Father of all,
Through whom and in whom you our father we
call.

And we—may we each, in our place and our day, Work for God while obedience guides safely our way;

May each to each duty, how humble soe'er, Give soul and sense wholly, with faith and with prayer;

May each, to your war-cry (Ad Majorum Die Glorium) unflinchingly true,
Live and die as the son of such father should do;
And be it to all—yes, to all of us—given
To meet as your children, Ignatius, in heaven.
Link (here) to the poem written by Fr. Matthew Russell, S.J.