Jesuit Retreat House Director Sister Mary Ann Flannery, "Retrieving Arcane Practices Of A Faith That Must Move Forward Believing In The Power Of The Resurrection Rather Than The Feeble Power Of A Human-made System."

Sister Mary Ann Flannery, M.C.

If Pope Francis continues to reach out to the poor and to demonstrate a willingness to entertain discussions

of pluralism engaging other faiths

as well as the place of women in the church, he will have made a significant contribution. 

When Vatican II, the renewal of the Catholic Church initiated by Pope John XXIII in 1960, began, I was a college student. Our church history professor, Sister Ellen Vincent, once pointed out that change would be rapid (thankfully), but after 30 or 40 years, distressed Catholics would galvanize a counterculture issuing reactionary attacks on the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. "Not to be alarmed," she said, "only be aware, and meet the challenge with knowledge of your faith."

Since then, many Catholics have witnessed the rummaging of pre-Vatican II sacristy closets for accouterments, regaling our liturgy with items of the past that belong in museums more than sanctuaries and retrieving arcane practices of a faith that must move forward believing in the power of the Resurrection rather than the feeble power of a human-made system. 

We are lifted to the horizon of hope this post-Easter with the election of Pope Francis, a man who lives the simple message that God truly loves each of us immeasurably. 

Link (here) to The Cleveland Plain Dealer to read the full editorial by Sister Mary Ann Flannery. Sister Flannery is the director of the Jesuit Retreat House of Cleveland in Parma, Ohio

Supporter Of Women Priests And G@y Marriage To Speak At John Carroll Univesity

Dr. Charles Geschke

John Carroll University, a Jesuit institution in Ohio, has invited Dr. Charles M. Geschke, chairman and co-founder of Adobe Systems, Inc., to speak at the university’s commencement ceremony on May 20. University President Rev. Robert Niehoff, S.J., will present Geschke an honorary doctor of humane letters degree. Geschke reportedly helped establish the “Silicon Valley Leaders Say No on Proposition 8” and purchased a full-page ad in the San Jose Mercury News opposing the 2008 California referendum to define marriage as between one man and one woman. Geschke reportedly donated $5,000 toward the ad and was described as honorary co-chair of the group. While addressing the U.S. bishops conference in 1998 on the topic of technology, Geschke reportedly[p2] [a3]  veered wildly off topic to lecture his audience saying, “We as a religion have cut ourselves off from 50 percent of the population. I would never do that in running my business. As a Catholic, I want to say this to the hierarchy – make women much more essential in what you do. It will be essential as we enter the 21st century.” While the statement only hinted at Catholic teaching on women’s ordination, Geschke made his dissent clear and public during his subsequent interview with the National Catholic Reporter.  Asked if he was speaking about female priests, Geschke said, “Absolutely. I think women should have a coequal status in the hierarchy of the Church with men.”
Link (here) to read the full report at The Cardinal Newman Society.

Jesuit Shares Concerns With The Bishops

Last month, a large number of faculty and staff at a Jesuit college signed a public letter urging the university’s president to accept the Obama administration’s compromise on contraception coverage and asking him to push  Roman Catholic bishops to do the same. Now, the president of John Carroll University, Robert L. Niehoff, S.J., has responded with an open letter of his own to the John Carroll community, saying he shares the “concerns” of the bishops. It’s hardly the most strongly worded letter and it seems most concerned with calling for civility, though it’s unclear whom he believes is being uncivil.

Link (here) to the Cardinal Newman Society

A Path Of Continued Confrontation

Faculty members of Jesuit-run John Carroll University in Cleveland have urged U.S. Catholic church acceptance of the Obama administration’s contraceptive insurance regulation as adapted Feb. 10. The federal Health and Human Services regulation mandates that nearly all employee health insurance plans cover artificial contraception and voluntary sterilization services, including plans for employees of many religiously run institutions, even if the sponsors of those institutions are morally opposed to the use of those prescriptions or medical procedures. The faculty letter is in sharp contrast to the stance of the U.S. bishops’ conference, which has waged a high-profile campaign against the mandate, labeling it as a violation of First Amendment religious liberty rights. In a letter Feb. 14 to university president Jesuit Fr. Robert Niehoff, 48 John Carroll faculty members said, “We are all troubled that the bishops have chosen a path of continued confrontation” over the latest version of the Health and Human Services regulation. The signatories said they are all “committed to freedom of conscience and religious liberty,” but they “also believe that access to contraception is central to the health and well-being of women and children.” “The American bishops have accused the Obama administration of attacking religious liberty in mandating insurance coverage of contraception,” the faculty members wrote. “On the contrary, we believe the insurance mandate is driven by a concern for women’s health.” The faculty members asked Niehoff and presidents of other Catholic universities to “urge the bishops to avoid the inflammatory rhetoric they have been using to attack the administration’s policy ... [and] endorse a policy of insurance coverage of contraception that respects the religious liberties and health of all who teach and work at Catholic colleges and universities.”

Link (here) to  National Catholic Reporter for the full story,

Jesuit Frs. Gray And Niehoff On Their John Carroll University

More than 70 percent of students at John Carroll University identify themselves as Roman Catholic, and the 60-acre campus, about 10 miles outside Cleveland, is what one would expect from a Catholic college. There are imposing Gothic buildings, a standard quad, and the requisite student facilities and sports complex. It's a quiet campus and one that students are encouraged to think beyond. "We teach students about themselves, but that's not something that can be fully realized until they put their learning into practice in the world," says Fr. Robert Niehoff,

the Jesuit who serves as president.

Worldwide, the number of Jesuits in higher education is in decline-their order now counts fewer than 3,000 in the United States, a third of them of retirement age.

This is especially evident at schools like John Carroll, where a graying group of 11 Jesuits is turning to lay parishioners to preserve traditions.

"Not long ago, I was out with some students practicing a little of what they call 'pub theology,'" says Fr. Howard Gray, the school's rector.

"I had to go home to bed, and I wished there was a young priest who could have taken my place."

Comments Katie Mahoney, a senior and the editor in chief of the student newspaper:

"It might seem kind of strange that they pride themselves on being a Jesuit school when there are so few Jesuits left, but their influence is still very strong."

The Jesuit spirit of engagement emphasizes service. Sure, there are parties, says one student, but serious community service goes on, too. Every Friday night, student groups make sandwiches for the homeless; other nights, they volunteer at the Catholic work house. Spring break sometimes means Cancún, but it can involve housing projects in Nicaragua or hurricane relief on the Gulf Coast, as well.

The school's academic focus also reflects the realities of life off campus. There are programs in applied ethics and social justice, for example, and others on teaching literacy to schoolchildren. John Carroll has just inaugurated a "Poverty and Solidarity" program, designed to teach students about the causes and impacts of poverty. Ohio, in particular the northeastern part of the state, has seen better economic times. It has been a goal of schools in the region to concentrate on entrepreneurship as a means to both educate their students and help the region out of the doldrums. "Regional engagement was not always a focus in John Carroll's history," says Niehoff. "We now see that as a duty and a focus."

Link (here) to the US News and World Report