Abortion, John Kerry And Jim Crow

Boston College, which has invited Secretary of State John Kerry, who was a consistent proponent of legal abortion and same-sex marriage during his years in the US Senate; Holy Cross, which invited Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy, also an advocate of legal abortion and same-sex marriage; Loyola University in Chicago, which invited White House speechwriter Jon Favreau, who has compared defense of traditional marriage to enforcement of Jim Crow laws; 

Link (here)

Georgetown Platitudes

If you attend a Jesuit institution you are bound to hear the same platitudes over and over again: “Men and Women for Others,” “Ad maiorem Dei gloriam” and, especially, “cura personalis.” That phrase is supposedly what sets the Georgetown community apart from everyone else. I challenge the vast majority of students here, however, to actually live out a lifestyle of caring for the whole person, because right now cura personalis doesn’t exist at Georgetown. Instead, what dominates is cura ipsius: care of the self.

Of course, this doesn’t mean everyone at Georgetown is self-serving and arrogant. Nonetheless, in my experiences, I’ve been surrounded by far too many living cura ipsius than cura personalis.

Cura personalis would have you thinking that come Thursday, or Friday, or Saturday, Georgetown students would be looking towards enjoying simply the company of their friends, whatever that may entail, or using the down time to do something for others. That’s what the Jesuits will have you think, but the truth is the vast majority of students care about one thing and one thing only: alcohol and whatever may follow from a night of heavy alcohol consumption.

Link (here) to the Georgetown Voice to read the full story

Bing At Gonzaga

In 1910 Crosby was forever renamed. The six-year-old Harry Lillis Crosby discovered a full page feature in the Sunday edition of Spokesman-Review, The Bingville Bugle. The Bugle, written by humorist Newton Newkirk, was a parody of a hillbilly newsletter complete with gossipy tidbits, minstrel quips, creative spelling and mock ads. A neighbor, 15-year-old Valentine Hobart, shared Crosby's enthusiasm for The Bugle. Noting Crosby's laugh, she took a liking to him and called him Bingo from Bingville. The last vowel was dropped and the name shortened to Bing, which stuck.

In 1917 Crosby took a summer job as property boy at Spokane's "Auditorium" where he witnessed some of the finest acts of the day, including a blackface performer named Al Jolson who spellbound Crosby with his ad-libbing and spoofs of Hawaiian songs that brought down the house. Crosby would later say that, "To me, he was the greatest entertainer who ever lived."

Bing enrolled in Gonzaga College in the fall of 1920 with the intent to become a lawyer. While in Gonzaga he sent away for a set of mail order drums. After much practice he soon became good enough and was invited to join a local band called the "Musicaladers"which was mostly made up of local high school kids. He made so much money doing this he decided to drop out of school during his final year, to pursue a career in show business.

Link (here) to Gonzaga University

Pope Francis To Jesuit School Students

The school is one of the educational environments in which we grow to learn to live, to become adult and

mature men and women, capable of walking, of going along the road of life. These were the words of Pope Francis in an address to the numerous -- and enthusiastic -- students, families, and teachers of Jesuit schools in Italy and Albania. The Pope said the most important characteristics, according to the spirit of Saint Ignatius, are interior freedom -- founded on spirituality -- and magnanimity -- that is, having ideals, thinking of others, responding with goodness, and following the path traced out by God. To the Jesuits, Pope Francis said that the schools are a precious instrument.....

Link (here) to the Vatican's YouTube Channel to watch the video

Arizona Jesuit Alumni, Men And Women For Others

Bishop Thomas Paprocki

Bishop Thomas Paprocki faced a hostile Jesuit alumni group during a May talk on the Church's teachings on homosexuality, reports LifeSiteNews. 

Two thousand members of the Jesuit Alumni in Arizona - graduates of 28 Jesuit universities and 47 Jesuit high schools, now living in Arizona - sponsored the event at Phoenix's Shadow Rock United Church of Christ. It featured talks by Bishop Paprocki and dissenting New Ways Ministry leader Sister Jeannine Gramick. Bishop Paprocki defended the Church's teachings on homosexuality before a hostile crowd, and shared that his own secretary had been murdered by a homosexual activist. 

During his talk, which argued in favor of traditional marriage, Bishop Paprocki received heckling and insults from the crowd. While the event was titled "Two Catholic Views on Marriage," Bishop Paprocki corrected that error. "There is only one authentic Catholic view," said Bishop Paprocki. "There are two views being presented here tonight by two people who are baptized Catholics, but only one of those views, the one I will present, is consistent with Catholic teaching, while the other view clearly dissents from Catholic teaching." Bishop Paprocki began by telling the crowd how his secretary, a mother of four, had been murdered by a homosexual man after she suggested that he change his lifestyle.

Said Bishop Paprocki:

A Google search on the Internet for the name 'Matthew Shepard' at one time produced 11,900,000 results. Matthew Shepard was a 21-year-old college student who was savagely beaten to death in 1998 in Wyoming. His murder has been called a hate crime because Shepard was gay. A similar search on the Internet for the name “Mary Stachowicz” yielded 26,800 results. In 2002, Mary Stachowicz was also brutally murdered, but the circumstances were quite different. Mary, the gentle, devout 51-year-old Catholic mother of four urged her co-worker, Nicholas Gutierrez, 19, to change his gay lifestyle. Infuriated by this, as he later told police, he allegedly beat, stabbed and strangled her to death and then stuffed her mangled body in a crawl space in his apartment, located above a Chicago funeral home, where they both worked. I know about Mary Stachowicz, not from the Internet, but personally, because Mary was my secretary at the parish where I was pastor before I was named a Bishop. She worked part time at the funeral home and part time at the parish. One afternoon, she didn’t show up at her usual starting time. This was unusual because she was always on time. A call to the funeral home disclosed that her car was still in their parking lot and her purse with her car keys was still at her desk, but there was no sign of Mary. As Mary’s family and friends prayed and worried about her disappearance, Gutierrez prayed with them. Three days later, her mutilated body was discovered in a crawl space in his apartment. Both murders were senseless and brutal, and I condemn them both unequivocally. However, the fact that there are over eleven and a half million more Internet stories about Matthew Shepard than Mary Stachowicz indicates where popular sentiment lies today on the question of same-sex relationships. Shepard’s story has received such widespread attention because his homosexuality was the chief motive for his murder. Mary’s murder was widely ignored by the media, despite the fact that she died as a martyr for her faith.

"The Church’s teaching on homosexuality and marriage is Catholic because it is true, not true because it is Catholic," said Bishop Paprocki. Bishop Paprocki’s full address is available here.
Link (here) to Catholic Education Daily

My Jesuit Professor

As an undergraduate at Loyola University in Los Angeles (now Loyola-Marymount) in the 1950s, I took a course in classical Greek. I'll never forget one day when my Jesuit professor waxed eloquently about Socrates, comparing him to great Christian mystics like St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Avila. There are good grounds for this view. In Plato's Symposium, we hear about Socrates' frequent "trances," in which he would stand, sometimes for twenty-four hours, rapt in contemplation, and then, when all was finished, return to normal life as if nothing had happened. Friends and acquaintances learned not to interrupt him during these events; he would simply not respond. Socrates also had a "voice" by his side from his earliest years. In Plato's Apology, the history of Socrates' trial for "corrupting the youth of Athens," Socrates revealed that he had always followed a voice he heard from childhood, which always gave warnings to keep him from evil. Aside from that limitation, it left him completely free to do as he willed. Socrates said that if there was anything evil awaiting him after death, he was certain his voice would warn him. So, asked to choose his punishment, and unwilling to leave his countrymen for exile, he chose execution. 

Link (here) to the Catholic Education Resource Center to read the full article by Marquette University Professor Howard Kainz

Abortion Advocates In Congress And Educated In Jesuit Universities And Colleges

Mike Quigley (IL-5) earned a law degree from the Loyola University School of Law. He also served as an adjunct professor of political science at Loyola University Chicago lecturing on politics, the environment and local government. Quigley referred to a bill that would have limited abortion to the first 20 weeks of pregnancy in Washington, D.C., as “especially cruel.”

Zoe Lofgren (CA-19) graduated from the University of Santa Clara School of Law in 1975. Ranked 100 percent by NARAL, Rep. Lofgren reportedly voted against the ban on partial-birth abortion.

Sam Farr (CA-20) graduated from Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, and attended the Monterey Institute of International Studies and the University of Santa Clara. Rep. Farr voted against the ban on partial-birth abortion.

Pete Visclosky (IN-1) earned a Juris Doctoris from the University of Notre Dame Law School, and a Master of Laws in International and Comparative Law from Georgetown University Law Center. He also earned a 100 percent NARAL rating in 2011. He also, according to VoteSmart, voted against a bill that would have prohibited abortions based on the race or gender of the fetus and voted twice against the proposal to block Planned Parenthood from receiving any federal funds.

Steny Hoyer (MD-5) earned his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C., in 1966. NARAL endorsed Rep. Hoyer in its 2012 Election Guide.

Chris Van Hollen (MD-8) is a graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center. On the House floor, VanHollen said, “A woman’s right to choose her own healthcare is a fundamental one, and the Congress should not tell women how to manage their health or reproductive care.”

Ed Markey (MA-5) attended Boston College (B.A., 1968) and Boston College Law School (J.D., 1972). He reportedly voted against the partial-birth abortion ban.

Mike Capuano (MA-7) received a Bachelor of Arts from Dartmouth College in 1973, and a law degree from Boston College Law School in 1977. He was endorsed in the NARAL Pro-Choice Voter Guide.

Stephen Lynch (MA-8) graduated from Boston College Law School in 1991. While Lynch states that he’s pro-life, he voted against banning federal health coverage that includes abortion, he voted for expanding embryonic stem cell research,and according to the National Right to Life Committee, Lynch voted against the District of Columbia Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act (H.R. 3803) that would have restricted abortions after 22 weeks of pregnancy in Washington, D.C. He received a 55 percent rating on a National Right to Life scorecard, according to On the Issues.

Bill Keating (MA-9) attended Boston College where he received his B.A. and Masters in Business Administration.  Rep. Keating earned a 100-percent score in NARAL Pro-Choice America's 2011 Congressional Record on Choice and earned the pro-abortion rights group’s endorsement in 2012.

Gary Peters (MI-14) earned an M.B.A. in Finance from the University of Detroit Mercy. Rep. Peters earned a 100-percent score in NARAL Pro-Choice America's 2011 Congressional Record on Choice and was endorsed by the abortion advocacy group in 2012.

Hansen Clarke (MI-13) earned his law degree from Georgetown Law School. Rep. Clarke earned a 100-percent score in NARAL Pro-Choice America's 2011 Congressional Record on Choice.

John Dingell (MI-12) finished his military service in the fall of 1946 to attend Georgetown University where he studied chemistry. He continued his studies at Georgetown Law School, graduating in 1952. Rep. Dingell earned a 100-percentscore in NARAL Pro-Choice America's 2011 Congressional Record on Choice.

Dingell was quoted saying, “I have voted to protect a woman's right to choose under Roe v. Wade and will continue to fight to uphold this constitutionally protected right.”

Bill Pascrell Jr. (NJ-9) earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a master’s degree in philosophy from Fordham University in the Bronx, N.Y.  Rep. Pascrell has reportedly received 100 percent ratings from NARAL Pro-Choice America since 2006.

Albio Sires (NJ-8) received a four-year basketball scholarship from St. Peter’s College.  Rep. Sires earned a 100-percent score in NARAL Pro-Choice America's 2011 Congressional Record on Choice.

Tim Bishop (NY-1) holds a BA in History from Holy Cross College in Worcester.  Rep. Bishop earned a 100-percent score in NARAL Pro-Choice America's 2011 Congressional Record on Choice.

Jerrold Nadler (NY-10) is a graduate of Columbia University and Fordham Law School.  Rep. Nadler earned a 100-percent score in NARAL Pro-Choice America's 2011 Congressional Record on Choice.

Bill Owens (NY-21) is a 1974 graduate of Fordham University School of Law. Rep.Owens earned a 100-percent score in NARAL Pro-Choice America's 2011 Congressional Record on Choice. He reportedly voted against the Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act which would ban aborting children based on their sex.

David Cicilline (RI-1) earned a law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center. Rep. Cicilline earned a 100-percent score in NARAL Pro-Choice America's 2011 Congressional Record on Choice.

Peter Welch (VT) graduated magna cum laude from the College of the Holy Cross in 1969. Rep.Welch earned a 100-percent score in NARAL Pro-Choice America's 2011 Congressional Record on Choice. He voted against banning sex-selective abortions.

Bobby Scott (VA-3) is a graduate of Boston College Law School. Rep. Scott earned a 100-percent score in NARAL Pro-Choice America's 2011 Congressional Record on Choice.

Jim Moran (VA-8) attended the College of the Holy Cross and was awarded a B.A.in economics in1967. Rep. Moran earned a 100-percent score in NARAL Pro-Choice America's 2011 Congressional Record on Choice. Jim Moran wrote just last year on the ProChoice Virginia website, “I will continue to strongly advocate for abortion rights for women. This is an issue of great personal conscience that should be free of government interference. The Supreme Court has proclaimed its legality; the rest should be left to a woman, her family and her physician.”

Adam Smith (WA-9) graduated from Fordham University in 1987 with a degree in Political Science. Rep. Smith earned a 100-percent score in NARAL Pro-Choice America's 2011 Congressional Record on Choice and won Planned Parenthood’s endorsement in 2012.

Gwen Moore (WI-4) earned a B.A. in Political Science from Marquette University. Rep. Moore earned a 100-percent score in NARAL Pro-Choice America's 2011 Congressional Record on Choice. Planned Parenthood endorsed Gwen Moore in the 2010 general election.

The incoming freshman in the 113^th session of Congress:

Jared Huffman (CA-2) graduated cum laude from Boston College Law School in 1990.As a state representative, Huffman earned a 100-percent rating from NARAL Pro-Choice California in 2009. According to his campaign website, “Jared is firmly pro-choice and has a long track record of fighting for women’s rights.”

Juan Vargas (CA-51) graduated magna cum laude with a BA from the University of San Diego and earned an MA in Humanities from Fordham University in New York.After college, Vargas, according to his website, joined the Jesuit Novitiate (introduction) in Santa Barbara. After leaving the Jesuits, he decided on law school and graduated in 1991 with a JD from Harvard Law School, making him a classmate of President Barack Obama. As a state senator, Vargas earned a 100-percent score from NARAL Pro-Choice California from 2003 to 2006.        

 

Lois Frankel (Fl-22) earned a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 1973. NARAL Pro-Choice America PAC endorsed Frankel. Frankel also touted the endorsement of Planned Parenthood on her own campaign website.

John Delaney (MD-6) is a graduate of Georgetown University Law School. NARAL described Delaney as “pro-choice” on their website. According to OntheIssues.com, Delaney voted for public funding of abortion.

Ann Mclane Kuster (NH-2) graduated from Georgetown University Law Center in 1984. She was endorsed by EMILY's List in 2012. Kuster, according to a New Hampshire local news outlet, “strongly supports a woman's right to choose.  She has been endorsed over her opponents in this campaign by every major pro-choice organization.”

Hakeem Jeffries (NY-8) Jeffries holds a Master's Degree in Public Policy from Georgetown University.  NARAL describes him as “pro-choice.”

Link (here) to The Cardinal Newman Society

                   

Fr. Matt Malone, S.J. On Garry Wills

Garry Wills

What is one to make of Garry Wills?  Some years ago I reviewed his book, Papal Sin: Structures of Deceit. It’s a tendentious tissue of half-truths that, taken as a whole, amounts to willful distortion, which is quite ironic in a book that self-righteously presents itself as exposing the Church’s lies. There’s a lot of angry bluster in Garry Wills, but little else. 

Recently, he was being particularly adolescent on the Colbert Report, leading Fr. Matt Malone, S.J., to make the following comment on the America website: “It is not really Mr. Wills’s unorthodox views that give us cause to question his Christian commitment; it is his manifest lack of charity.” 

But his books play an important ideological role, which is why this inflated man continues to have currency. In America, Christianity remains a powerful cultural and political force, and Catholicism is often its  most visible institutional form. For progressives of all stripes, it’s therefore ideologically important to discredit Christianity and Catholicism. That’s what Garry Wills sells. 

Link (here) to the full article by R.R. Reno at First Things

John Brennan, President Obama’s Nominee For CIA Director Graduated From Fordham University

As a college student in the 1970s, John Brennan, President Obama’s nominee for CIA director, traveled in Indonesia where – he recalled in a speech in New York in 2010 – “despite my long hair, my earring and my obvious American appearance, I was welcomed throughout that country, in a way that is a reflection of the tremendous warmth of Islamic cultures and societies.” Brennan’s Feb. 13, 2010 address to a meeting at the Islamic Center at New York University, facilitated by the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), provided an insight into his views on Islam, a faith which he said during the speech had “helped to shape my own world view.”  Travels around the world over more than three decades had taught him about “the goodness and beauty of Islam,” said Brennan, whose 25-year career at the CIA until 2005 included a stint as station chief in Riyadh. “Like the president during his childhood years in Jakarta, I came to see Islam not how it is often misrepresented, but for what it is – how it is practiced every day, by well over a billion Muslims worldwide, a faith of peace and tolerance and great diversity.” In the speech, during which he drew applause after speaking in Arabic for more than a minute, Brennan used terms evidently designed to appeal to his audience, such as “Al-Quds” for Jerusalem, “Palestine” and “as the Qur’an reveals” – in keeping with the Muslim belief that the Qur’an was “revealed” directly by Allah to Mohammed through the angel Jibril (Gabriel). He condemned what he said were negative stereotypes in the U.S. about Muslims and hostility towards Islam, adding that government actions and policies had contributed to the problem but saying this would change under Obama.... 

As Obama’s counterterrorism adviser, Brennan – a Jesuit-educated Catholic with a degree from Fordham University – has played a prominent role in the administration’s outreach to Muslims, American Muslims especially. He has also been a leading proponent of the effort to stop using terms many Muslims find offensive, such as “jihadist” as a descriptor for terrorists acting in the name of Islam.

“They are not jihadists,” he told the NYU audience in 2010, “for jihad is a holy struggle, an effort to purify, for a legitimate purpose. And there is nothing, absolutely nothing holy or pure or legitimate or Islamic about murdering innocent men, women and children.” Brennan had made similar comments the previous August, telling a Center for Strategic and International Studies event that “describing terrorists in this way, using the legitimate term ‘jihad’ – which means to purify oneself or to wage a holy struggle for a moral goal – risks giving these murderers the religious legitimacy they desperately seek but in no way deserve.”

Link (here) to read more at Jihad Watch

41 Members Of The House Of Representatives Are Jesuit Educated

Data compiled by the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities counted nearly 10 percent of Congress as having attended Jesuit higher education institutions. That includes 11 senators and 41 members of the House, who collectively attended 14 different Jesuit schools. Georgetown University has the most alumni in Congress, with 21, followed by Boston College with seven and Fordham University with five, the College of the Holy Cross with four and Creighton University with three, the association reported. Loyola University Chicago, St. Peter’s University and University of Detroit Mercy each has two alumni in Congress. Loyola University Maryland, Marquette University, St. Joseph’s University, Santa Clara University, Wheeling Jesuit University and Xavier University each has one. Nine Jesuit alumni were elected in 2012, including Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, who is the first Buddhist elected to the Senate (she served as a member of the House since 2007); and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., a Baptist, who both hold advanced degrees from Georgetown.

Link (here) to The Catholic Sun

Jesuit's Pay Joe Biden's Son $80,000.00 To Be A Lobbyist

Anti-lobbyist rhetoric lost among festivities
Jim McElhatton
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

DENVER | Under Sen. Barack Obama's self-imposed ban on accepting money from federal lobbyists, Michael Dino isn't allowed to give a dime to the Democrat's presidential campaign. Neither could Steve Farber. But for the better part of two years, the two men have been raising tens of millions of dollars from major corporations to finance this week's launch of Mr. Obama's presidential bid. Mr. Dino, a registered federal lobbyist, and Mr. Farber, who was a lobbyist until last month, are two of the top officials for the Host Committee of the Democratic National Convention, which pays for many of the expenses for festivities here. Mr. Dino is its chief executive, and Mr. Farber is the co-chairman. Campaign-finance watchdogs are troubled by the arrangement, which they say clashes with Mr. Obama's anti-lobbyist campaign rhetoric.

The lobbying of Sen. Joseph R. Biden (Sen. Joe Biden has received an honoray degree in 1976) Jr.'s son, Hunter, is also drawing scrutiny as Republicans target his work. Hunter Biden, 38, is a longtime federal lobbyist for a variety of interests, including the Jesuit university located in his father's hometown, Scranton, Pa. According to federal disclosures, Hunter Biden has been earning about $80,000 a year since 2006 to lobby for the University of Scranton.

To be sure, watchdogs say they're equally troubled by the lobbying by top officials at both the Democratic and Republican committees. Like Mr. Obama, Sen. John McCain also has railed against the influence that lobbyists and their money have in Washington, and has barred lobbyists from his campaign staff. "It undermines the message that both candidates have been making on the campaign trail," said Craig Holman, legislative representative for Public Citizen, an advocacy group. "When it comes to the campaign finance, both conventions are one big gaping loophole." Aides to Mr. Obama say he wants to change how conventions are funded in the future, but did not have time this year to insist on those changes because of the long primary, in which he narrowly beat Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democratic nomination. "Barack Obama is committed to reforming our political system and getting the special interests out of politics. He has changed the way presidential campaigns are funded and made significant changes at the DNC. He also expressed a desire to significantly change the way conventions are funded in the future should he be elected president," said Obama campaign spokesman Nick Shapiro.

Link to the full story (here)

Photo is of Hunter Biden (Georgetown grad) listening to his father and V.P. candidate Senator Joe Biden

Liberation Theology, Jesuit Trained, Former Bishop And Love Children

President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela is appalled that his fellow Marxist comrade-in-arms, ousted Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo, has lost his Socialist control of Paraguay. Accordingly, the Venezuelan government is scheming to return Mr. Lugo to power. The Houston Chronicle reports that, “Paraguay’s new president on Thursday joined his defense minister in asserting that Venezuela’s foreign minister tried to convince the country’s military leaders to support former President Fernando Lugo in the face of a Senate impeachment trial.” 

Maria Liz Arnold, Paraguayan defense minister, claims the Venezuelan official visited a group of Paraguayan army, navy and air force brass on the day Lugo was dethroned and requested they support the former Jesuit-trained Liberation Theologian Roman Catholic bishop-turned president. Apparently Mr. Lugo allegedly used Paraguayan taxpayers’ funds to pay off scores of mistresses, who were raising his large number of ‘love children.’ 

Fortunately, the Paraguayan military refused to endorse Mr. Chavez’s coup d’ etat plot and supported Paraguay’s Senate decision to oust Lugo. The Houston Chronicle quotes Paraguayan President Frederic Pena as saying that, “the minister’s complaint is absolutely true. The decisions were taken to show by example that here we don’t tolerate military men who want to turn themselves into (policy) deciders or who accept recommendations or suggestions from foreign countries.”

Link (here) to the Dallas Blog

Moon Landrieu

While it is always tempting to cozy up to powerful graduates, Loyola University in New Orleans might have done better on the occasion of celebrations for the Jesuit institution’s 100th anniversary to avoid singling out for praise a prominent “pro-choice” graduate.

Loyola notes in its official anniversary announcement:

"Loyola has been nurturing the social and intellectual milieu of the community for the last 100 years,” said Jesuit Father Gregory Lucey, president of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities. That impact is especially potent when Loyola graduates move into positions of power, such as Xavier University President Norman Francis, former state Supreme Court Justice Pascal Calogero, former Mayor Moon Landrieu and Mayor Mitch Landrieu, Lucey said. “It makes a difference in the culture of a community, the social awareness and good public policy of a community,” he said.

Mayor Mitch Landrieu, also a former lieutenant governor, had a “pro-choice” voting record when serving in the Louisiana state legislature. When Loyola honored the Landrieu family at commencement exercises in 2005, former New Orleans Archbishop Alfred Hughes skipped the event, citing the “pro-choice” positions of Mitch Landrieu and his sister, U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu.

Link (here) to the full post at The Cardinal Newman Society

"Jesus Is Beautiful, Jesus Is Beautiful."

Oh supernatural beauty of my Jesus, which made an impression even on the animals themselves! Oh ungrateful men, where is your heart? Is it possible that you are not moved at the sight of such lovable beauty? The cause of your insensitiveness is obvious: If you do not love Jesus, it is because you do not know Him. My brother, what is it that has the greatest power over your heart? Beauty, is it not true? Why do you not turn then your love towards this beauty of Jesus so pure and so holy? If only you knew, my brother, how beautiful He is, my Jesus ----- "Love Me, My daughter," He said one day to a virtuous virgin to whom He appeared, "Love Me, My daughter, because I am beautiful, generous and noble of heart." 

Yes, my lovable Jesus, You are certainly beautiful and You have by Your beauty alone softened the most obstinate hearts from evil ways. Fr. Bernard Colnago, S.J. found himself once in a cottage with five brigands and a wicked woman. What did he do to convert them? Did he open Hell before their eyes? No, but assuming a religious countenance, he said to them in a serious and modest tone, "Jesus is beautiful, Jesus is beautiful." 

These words were the arrows which pierced those hearts of stone and all were converted. 

Link (here) to read the full mediation entitled The Beauty of Jesus by St. Leonard Port-Maurice

A Campaign Of Ignatian Retreats

Fr. Francis de Paule Vallet Francis de Paule Vallet's entrance into the Jesuits followed an Ignatian retreat. But he didn’t enter the Jesuits to follow a religious vocation as an untried young man. He entered tested by trial, converted by grace and pre-occupied with one great idea: to convert the world and turn it back to Christ by converting the adult man. The question and its resolution were clear: Convert the world by getting adult men to do the Exercises and do them well. He threw his whole soul into the novitiate and sought ardently after perfection. The testimony of his saintly Novice Master amply proves the purity and goodness of his soul. But more striking than this is that the serious Jesuit fathers permitted the young Vallet to organize a campaign of retreats during his novitiate. Though he couldn’t preach, he was the driving organizing impetus behind a campaign of retreats that within a couple years drew over 1800 men. Completing his novitiate in 1909, Fr. Vallet followed the classical Jesuit curriculum for eleven years. Two years after His priestly ordination in 1920, he was given his first assignment to preach retreats in Manresa. From this time on he would devote his energies to the realization of his divinely inspired plan: the conversion of the adult man through the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius. To meet this objective, Fr. Vallet, with the permission and approval of his beloved superiors, left the Jesuits to found the Parish Cooperators of Christ the King. Parish Cooperators devoted themselves entirely to the preaching of the Ignatian Retreat. A retreat campaign began by a series of preparatory conferences given in various places in the target regions.These conferences were directed by the Father but were complemented by the testimony of one or more Parish Cooperators. There then followed intense publicity which included the foot-work of Parish Cooperators going door to door, speaking in public places, taverns and barbershops, etc. After this preparatory work came the campaign of retreats itself. One retreat was preached and then followed by two or three others. The retreats always increased in numbers because the alumni of one retreat became the ardent promoters for the next. The following figures will give an idea of the effectiveness of the first 5 years  of Fr. Vallet’s campaigns in Spain:

1923 In three campaigns of 19 retreats 1,293 retreatants 1924 In five campaigns of 27 retreats 1,400 retreatants for a total of 2,697 1925 In five campaigns of 35 retreats 2,620 retreatants for a total of 5,317 1926 " " " 3,223 retreatants for a total of 8,540 1927 " " " 4,103 retreatants for a total of 12,643

Link (here) to read the full story at The Society of St. Pius X  Link (here) to a current Ignatian retreat campaign.  "Hearts on Fire"

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.

The Tenth Brother Graduates From Strake Jesuit

You may have heard about the Garcia-Prats family of Houston -- a family of 12 with 10 sons. The Garcia-Prats have had a son in attendance at Strake Jesuit College Preparatory in Houston since August 1990 -- 22 consecutive years.And this month, the last of their 10 sons will graduate high school. Timmy Garcia-Prats, the 10th son of Joseph and Cathy Garcia-Prats, will follow in his nine older brothers' footsteps. All of the Garcia-Prats men have continued on to college. With Timmy choosing to attend Marquette University in the fall, the Garcia-Prats' sons will have attended 10 different undergraduate universities.

Link (here) to ABC Houston

Exorcising Georgetown University

Georgetown University alumni, students and others are preparing a canon law suit to be filed with the Archdiocese of Washington and the Vatican, seeking remedies “up to and including the possible removal or suspension of top-ranked Georgetown’s right to call itself Catholic or Jesuit in its fundraising and representations to applicants.” 

The effort is being led by the distinguished Georgetown alumnus William Peter Blatty, who won an Academy Award for his screenplay and book The Exorcist and has been honored by Georgetown with its John Carroll Medal for alumni achievement. Blatty is urging Georgetown alumni, students, parents, faculty and anyone associated with Georgetown to join the lawsuit at www.gupetition.org. The website includes an inspiring letter by Blatty and a description of Georgetown’s historical ties to the Jesuits, the Washington Archdiocese and the Vatican. Blatty has asked The Cardinal Newman Society to advise the effort, share documentation on Georgetown scandals, and provide administrative support. 

CNS President Patrick J. Reilly told Georgetown’s campus newspaper The Hoya: For 19 years, The Cardinal Newman Society has documented numerous concerns at Georgetown that significantly compromise the university’s Catholic identity. We’re thrilled that the distinguished alumnus William Peter Blatty has invited us to assist him and others in their efforts to defend Georgetown’s Catholic mission from those who would undermine or abandon it. Such intervention is necessary only because Georgetown’s leadership has repeatedly demonstrated its unwillingness to uphold Georgetown’s obligations under the U.S. bishops’ guidelines, Ex corde Ecclesiae and Canon Law.

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

Superstar Georgetown Student Celebrates Mothers Day

Sandra Fluke with long time boyfriend Adam Mutterperl  (source)

Forget flowers or breakfast in bed. The National Women’s Law Center has a fun, exciting and indeed ironic way to way to celebrate Mother’s Day this year: birth control stories! On Monday noted contraception activist and Georgetown Law student Sandra Fluke took to Twitter to encourage like-minded women to share their contraception stories for the day honoring moms across the country.  “The stories of the past prepare us for the fights of today! @NWLC is collecting Mother’s Day stories re: #contraception http://bit.ly/JjXcq1,” Fluke tweeted. The feminist NWLC is collecting and publishing stories about the birth control struggles of moms and grandmas this week — in the process stoking a narrative that women’s access to birth control is on the brink. It’s been nearly fifty years since the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Connecticut v Griswold striking down state bans on birth control. Since then, contraception has become so central to women’s lives that 98 percent of women use it at some point during our reproductive years,  NWLC explains on their site. “Yet we still see politicians re-litigating accessible, affordable contraception and other women’s health needs.” “Have you ever asked your mom, aunt, grandmother, or another loved one in your life what challenges she had gaining access to birth control?” they ask. “We want to hear the stories!”

 (RELATED: More on Sandra Fluke)

Link (here) to The Daily Caller