St. Isaac Jogues, S.J. On Being A Jesuit Missionary

" No thought of earthly or transitory interest," said he, "induced me to leave my own country; I sought but one object, even when exposing myself to the dangers into which I fell, and that was to announce the Gospel to those who knew it not."

Link (here)

Iglesia de la Compañía

The Jesuit began work on their church in Quito in 1605. The co-ad-jutor  (Brother) Marcos Guerra arrived in the city about 1613, and the had been a brillant architect in Naples, before joining the Order. He corrected mistakes what had so far been done, and gave the final overall shape to the construction. When died in 1668, the church and neighboring buildings, including the three cloisters, were it all intents and purposes finished. Work began on the facade in 1772, and was not finished until 1765, on the eve of the expulsion of the Jesuits from the Spanish dominions. The facade is a marvel of the American barroque and plateresque styles. Six columns of Salomon flank the main entrance, and this was the first time that these pillars had been incorporated into American architectural styling. 

Link (here) to Iglesia de la Compañía in Quito

Unbelievable! Fr. Joseph Fessio, S.J. Is Actually Mentioned At America Magazine

The redoubtable Fr Joseph Fessio SJ, editor of the Ignatius Press, laid into The Tablet recently for its reporting of the Archbishop of Vienna's criticism of the dean of the College of Cardinals, Angelo Sodano, over his Easter remarks about media reporting of  clerical sex abuse as "gossip". 
Link (here) to the blog post at In All Things

Is Liberal [Jesuit] Catholicism Dead? Read the Time Magazine article (here)

Georgetown Names New Foreign Service Dean

Georgetown University has named Carol Lancaster interim dean of the Walsh School of Foreign Service (SFS) to take the helm after Dean Robert Gallucci steps down to become president of the MacArthur Foundation, starting July 1. Lancaster's career has been a mix of public service and education. She held a 13-year career in government, including serving as deputy assistant secretary of state for Africa and three years as deputy administrator for the United States Agency for International Development. After joining the SFS faculty in 1981, Lancaster first served in the African studies program, which she later directed. She also directed the Master of Science in Foreign Service Program for four years. She currently heads the Mortara Center for International Studies and is a professor of politics with appointments in SFS and the government department.

Link (here) to the Georgetown press release.

Carol Lancaster writes about abortion (here) , (here) and (here)

Fr. Raphael N. Hamilton, S.J. is an interesting Jesuit check him out (here) and (here)

Former Jesuit Of 40 Years

I did my service as a combat infantryman with General Patton's Third Army, 87th Infantry Division. I went into combat in the Alsace - Lorraine. We were the first infantry to penetrate into Germany. After a fierce battle we were surrounded by German tanks and I ended up a kriegsgefangenen, a prisoner of war.

After I was liberated from prison camp, I felt called by God to religious life and in 1948, I entered the Society of Jesus and spent the next forty years as a Jesuit priest. While doing PHD studies in philosophy at Louvain University in Belgium, I spent my summers as a substitute chaplain with the American armed forces in Germany. I became very aware of scores of g@y men serving in the medical corp of the army who provided sensitive and compassionate service to their fellow GIs. But they universally reported living in daily fear that by some accident their g@y identity would be revealed and they would face dishonorable discharge.

Once again I felt called by God to bring the message of God's love to my GLB-T brothers and sisters. On my return to the United States, I undertook a two year study of h@m@sexuality from psychological, theological and scriptural perspectives. Convinced that the traditional Catholic understanding of h@m@sexual was based on misunderstanding of both scripture and psychology, I published the result of those studies in my book: The Church and the H@mosexual in 1976. I helped found the New York City chapter of Dignity, as a spiritual home for Catholic g@y men and l@sbians. For almost 45 years I have been involved in a ministry of compassion to my g@y bothers and sisters. 

Link (here) to John McNeill's full post (here)

Star Gazing Jesuits

Transcript of NPR Radio Program April 1, 2010

Krista Tippett, host I'm Krista Tippett. Today, "Asteroids, Stars, and the Love of God." I speak with two Jesuit astronomers who study the composition of meteorites and the life and death of stars, and Father George Coyne and Brother Guy Consolmagno — both have asteroids named after them. We experience the spacious way they think about life, faith, and the universe.

Brother Guy Consolmagno: Van Gogh, when he was drawing stars, is not trying to give us the same information that George is trying to get when he's taking spectra of the stars with the telescope. But he is trying to communicate information, and there's more information in those stars than what's in the spectrum. But there's plenty of information in the spectrum as well as what's in Van Gogh.

Father George Coyne: Doing science to me is a search for God, and I'll never have the final answers because the universe participates in the mystery of God.

Ms. Tippett: This is Speaking of Faith

Read the rest of the transcript and listen to the interview (here)
Photo is of Fr. Francis Heyden, S.J. who was not interviewed

Marquette Warrior On Recruiting Violations

From Milwaukee News Buzz, the following in a story about the role of Archbishop Listecki in the rejection of Jodi O’Brien, l@sbian candidate for Dean of Arts and Sciences at Marquette. 

Professor Nancy Snow (picture)says the selection committee vetted O’Brien’s work and found nothing to object to before recommending her and another candidate for the job. She insists that university leadership has long been familiar with the professor since it sent a representative to Seattle to encourage her to apply for the dean position. Two years prior, she had applied for the same position, which has been occupied by an interim dean, but withdrew from consideration for family reasons.

This appears to confirm our inference that O’Brien was the designated l@sbian affirmative action candidate for the deanship, moved forward by liberal faculty and administrators who viewed her appointment as a move toward “diversity” at Marquette.

Link (here) to the Marquette Warrior John C. McAdams, his post is entitled, Marquette Heavily Requited L@sbian Dean Candidate Jodi O'Brien.

Royal Green Jacket To Jesuit

A Jesuit priest who served in the Royal Green Jackets (now The Rifles) before entering the Society of Jesus  will be joining the Help for Heroes Battlefield Bike Ride at the end of this month as its cycling chaplain.

Father Roger Dawson SJ is currently Assistant Catholic Chaplain to the University of Oxford and was an Army Officer for nine years.  He will be among more than 300 riders cycling from Normandy to Dunkirk between May 24 and 31.  

On the route, he will lead some of the wreath-laying services and prayers at the 1st and 2nd World War battlefield memorials in Northern France.

Link (here) to the full article.

Xavier University Jesuit Working In Prision

Easter’s promise of new life and hope held true for seven inmates at Lebanon Correctional Institution (LeCI) as they were received into the Catholic faith on April 4. Those initiated were Mark Gumm, Neal Harmon, Jeremy Lansing, Larry Stevens, Carl Geddes, Bruce McCune and Jeffrey Whalen.

Archbishop Dennis M. Schnurr presided at the joyous Easter Mass, held in the LeCI chapel and concelebrated by Jesuit Father Gene Carmichael. Approximately 120 people attended the liturgy, including members of various area parishes and about a dozen family members of the incarcerated men, none of whom had worshipped in the prison chapel before.

Link (here) to Rich Leonardi's blog entitled Ten Reasons, his entire post, Easter's Promise
Photo is of the Lebanon Correctional Instituation at night.

Fr. Joseph Flanagan, S.J. "Rest In Peace"

Living an intellectual life, the Rev. Joseph Flanagan, S.J. believed, is a way of knowing God. At times, when lost in thought, he seemed to gaze beyond mortal constraints. For many summers, he and several friends would spend a few weeks away from their work at Boston College (pictured) and vacation along the coast of Maine. “It was a nonstop conversation, punctuated by long periods in which the rest of us would be reading and Joe would sit on the porch,’’ said the Rev. Joseph Appleyard, BC’s vice president for university mission and ministry. “He’d have a book on his lap, but most of the time he’d be studying the ocean and the horizon. I think that’s what fed the mystical side of him.’’ There was a deeply practical side, too. While Father Flanagan led the philosophy department from 1965 to 1993, BC created a doctoral program in the discipline. He also played a major role in creating two undergraduate programs that are considered among the most inspirational and popular the school offers. Father Flanagan, who taught at the university for 47 years and used the example of his own spiritual path to help guide generations of students, died of a heart attack Friday in the Jesuit residence at the college. He was 84 and had finished teaching two courses in the spring semester.
Link (here) to the article.

Unfortunately

Wikipedia now has an entry entitled, S@xual abuse scandal in the Society of Jesus.

Robert Spencer The Author Of Jihad Watch On His Jesuit Georgetown Experience

My own Georgetown University experience suggests otherwise. Georgetown is home to the Prince Alwaleed Bin-Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, which receives millions from Saudi Arabia, and has come under fire for this very fact, and Georgetown's Center of Contemporary Arab Studies is a den of Islamist apologetics. Also, I recall the following anecdote: While attending a class (Politics in the Arab World) taught by one professor Samer Shehata -- who thinks the U.S. should befriend the Muslim Brotherhood , incidentally -- we were discussing how the Muslim world needs to begin separating church (or mosque) and state, Shehata, quite sarcastically pointing to a crucifix on the wall (apparently forgetful of the fact that Georgetown is a private, Jesuit school) made a remark like, "Yeah, but what about that?" One wonders what role all of these factors may have played in covering up the name of Jesus.

Link (here) to the full post at Jihad Watch.

Jesuit Of The Dalit's Was Murdered By Communistic Moaists

At present, security forces are on high alert in the Indian states of Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh after Maoists called a bandh or general strike yesterday against an offensive launched by the central government in October 2009. 

Last Monday, a rebel commando blew a bus killing more than 40 passengers, including civilians and special operations officers. The government has responded by announcing its intention to employ the air force against the People's Liberation Guerrilla Army, the Maoists’ military force. This conflict has been going on for over 40 years and has been particularly negative for the local population caught between Maoist insurgents and landowners who are seizing their land for their own use. 

For this reason, the only hope many locals have is vested in the witness of people like Fr Thomas, who gave his life for the poor. “Passion for human dignity guided his ministry,”  

Fr Jose said. “He worked ceaselessly to develop a network of night schools around Hazaribag. This gave people an opportunity to share their concerns; a whole range of social issues and needs came to the fore this way. A T became involved in every aspect of people’s lives. He felt himself called to be on the side of the poor, the victims of injustice in whatever form. He sought dialogue and initiated methods to help the poorest of the poor, people like bonded labourers held in the crippling clutches of landlords and money lenders.”  

One example that illustrates who Fr Thomas was is that of Azad Nagar (Freedom Town) village, in Hazaribagh district. A group of 25 families from the Bhuyian, a Dalit sub-caste, live there, working in slave-like conditions. With the help of Fr Thomas, they were able to buy their own land and build proper homes, escaping from enslavement. “Fr Thomas was a victim of Maoist violence. However, his death has enriched the Jesuit mission in Hazaribagh district,” Fr Jose said. "Indeed, local Dalits, including the poorest of the poor, can live in dignity and get an education. The assistance provided by the mission has helped them become self-sufficient. “They now can hope in a brighter future for their own children. More importantly, A T Thomas is still loved and cherished by those whom he selflessly served,” the Jesuit clergyman said. Every year in fact, thousands of Dalits and Tribals come from around the district to visit his tomb and the place where he made the ultimate sacrifice“ He lived for the poorest of the poor even facing threats of violence, violence that eventually led to his martyrdom, confirming that he based his mission on Christ Crucified,” said Jesuit Father M K Jose as he spoke about Fr Anchanikal T. Thomas, a fellow Jesuit who was killed on 25 October 1997 as he inquired about why some people were being abused in the village of Sirka (Jharkhand).

Link (here) to the full article at AsiaNews

Jesuit Educated L@sbian Theology Professor Mary E. Hunt And The Horrors At Marquette University

As an alum of Marquette (Arts, ’72) and an equally out lesbian with similar specialties—albeit a theologian rather than a sociologist—I am more than a casual observer of the situation. I am not acquainted with Dr. O’Brien though this travesty has brought her work to my screen. I have shared my views with President Wild. This is a complicated and disheartening situation, a cautionary tale all around, and the integrity of Catholic higher education hangs in the balance..........According to reports Dr. Obrien accepted the offer and went to Milwaukee where the university hospitably deputized a faculty member to help her find housing. 

She was not an unknown quantity. In fact, she is a tenured professor at Seattle University (likewise a Jesuit school) where she chairs the Anthropology, Sociology and Social Work Department. To add to her Jesuit bona fides, she held the Louis B. Gaffney Endowed Chair (2007—2009), a rotating endowed chair for professors who connect the mission of the Society of Jesus with the academic life of the campus and the larger community. 

Sounds like the real McCoy to me, sort of the type who would be named to Alpha Sigma Nu, the Jesuit honor society of which I am a member. But wait, she wrote about lesbians and she is one. Horrors!

Link (here) to the full opinion piece by self-described l@sbian theology professor Mary Hunt.  

Mary Hunt (pictured) received the Masters in Divinity degree from the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley and the Masters in Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School. Her undergraduate degree in Theology and Philosophy is from Marquette University.

A New Jesuit Prayer Website

Check out the Canadian Jesuit institution of higher learning Regis College the have started a new prayer website entitled "For This We Pray".

Who Is This Jesuit?

This Jesuit received his BS at the Stevens Institute of Technology. He served in the U.S. Navy as an engineering officer. . He returned to Stevens Institute and, after receiving the degree of Mechanical Engineer (ME), was employed as a foundry engineer for the International Nickel Company until 1950. It was during these years that he first became interested in issues concerned with science and religious faith. He entered the Jesuit Order in 1950. After three years of studies in spirituality along with courses in Latin and Greek, he received the MA degree in philosophy at Boston College. The title of his thesis was Modern Science and Creation in Time. He received the PhD in physical inorganic chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania in 1961 and then went to Woodstock College in Maryland, where he studied theology for four years, and was ordained. During the final two of those four years at Woodstock with two other Jesuit seminarians he completed a NASA supported study of the nuclear resonance fluorescence (Mössbauer Effect) of tektites supplied by the Goddard Space Flight Center and the Smithsonian Institution. After one year (1965-66) of studies in spiritual and ascetical theology, he was awarded a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellowship to Ohio State University where he participated in a research program concerned with the physical chemistry of igneous rocks. Since that time he has taught in the chemistry departments at Loyola College, Johns Hopkins University, and Wheeling Jesuit University, where he was Rector of the Jesuit Community; also in the theology departments at Loyola, Wheeling and Georgetown University. Between 1973 and 1979 he served as President-Headmaster of Loyola High School-Blakefield.

Have guessed who this Jesuit is? If not find out (here).

How In Heaven

Marquette University has seen much controversy erupt over its retraction of a job offer last week to sociologist Jodi O'Brien over her sexually explicit writings. But according to Christopher Wolfe, emeritus professor at Marquette University and director of Thomas International Center, the uproar has been over the wrong thing.

"The question that should be asked is not why Marquette President Father Robert A. Wild backed off the hiring," Wolfe writes, "but how in heaven did the hiring ever occur in the first place?" 

In a May 10 column for the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Wolfe points out that O'Brien's writings included an article "which alternated turgid post-modernist prose with imaginative lesbian sex vignettes and dialogue, including gender-bending and domination."

The graphic imagery, as LifeSiteNews.com reported, was the reason Marquette University president Fr. Robert Wild cited for withdrawing the offer to O'Brien to become dean of the Marquette College of Arts and Sciences. 

Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki (pictured) reportedly influenced the final decision, which sparked a furor on Marquette's campus

from advocates claiming discrimination against O'Brien because she is openly l@sbian.

But the problem with O'Brien's position, Wolfe continues, runs deeper than her vulgarity. 

Link (here) to the full Lifesite article by James Tillman

Excommunicated L@sbian Womanpriest Was Once A Jesuit Volunteer

Janine Denomme, a former Jesuit volunteer, worked with homeless women, taught high school theology and wrote grants for a number of nonprofit organizations. Most recently she served as director of a youth program at The Center on Halsted, a community center for Chicago’s lesbian/g@y/bis@xual/transgendered community. She also completed a doctoral dissertation on the role of church women in civil rights. At her Chicago parish, Denomme’s talents were tapped for liturgy, preaching, the parish council and spiritual direction -- experiences that only strengthened her vocation. Although she has presided at an alternative Catholic faith community and considered ordination in a Protestant denomination.

Link (here) to the non-Catholic NCR to read the full story.

Jesuit And The East

Benedict XVI appointed Jesuit Father James McCann, (with picture) head of the U.S. bishops' conference Office to Aid the Church in Central and Eastern Europe, as rector of the Pontifical Oriental Institute. The bishops' conference announced the appointment today of Father McCann, 61, who is expected to take up his position at the Rome institute in September. The conference's general secretary, Monsignor David Malloy, affirmed that "Father McCann has shown dedication to efforts of U.S. Catholics to help the church in Russia, Central and Eastern Europe." The secretary continued: "He has represented the bishops well both here and abroad. "With clear vision and a keen observance of need, he has seen that funds collected for the church in Russia, Central and Eastern Europe are wisely spent on rebuilding the Church where it is most challenged and has been instrumental in educating men and women, especially through the priesthood and religious life, for Church ministry." James McCann was born in Chicago. He joined the Society of Jesus in 1967 and was ordained a priest in 1979. The priest has a licentiate in theology from Centre Sèvres in Paris, a master's degree in Russian and Eastern European Studies from Yale University, and a doctorate in Politics with a specialization in Russia and Eastern Europe from Princeton University. He has worked in Germany, Russia and Kazakhstan. The conference communiqué noted that the priest "brings significant understanding to his position of service to the oriental churches, which are the focus of the Pontifical Oriental Institute." The institute was established for the study of Eastern Christianity in 1917 by Pope Benedict XV, and entrusted to the Society of Jesus in 1922 by Pope Pius XI.

Link (here) to the Zenit article

Homeboy Jesuit Fr. Greg Boyle, S.J. "A Dramatic Drop In LA's Gang Violence And Crime"

For all the accolades Homeboy Industries has garnered for its work taking gang members off the streets and training them for jobs, generating the revenue to pay for its services has proved increasingly difficult 

The organization actually receives little funding these days from local government, which instead is focusing more on gang intervention programs that focus on reducing violence among current gang members, he said. The recession has hurt Homeboy in several ways. 

The private donations that typically help balance the budget are down. And there are fewer jobs for graduates of Homeboy's various programs. "A lot of good workers lost their jobs," Boyle (pictured) said. "So when there's an opening for something, who are they going to pick, one of my guys who's tattooed and is a felon, or somebody with a good work history?" 

Boyle said L.A.'s dramatic drop in crime — and gang violence — may have in its own way contributed to Homeboy's financial problems. 

With less gang violence, he said, helping reformed gang members feels less urgent to some donors.

Link (here) to the full LA Times article.

Phoney Irish Jesuit

He is already facing allegations of financial and sexual impropriety. Now it has emerged that Mike Meegan, (here) the Kenya-based founder of Icross, an Irish-African charity, dressed as a priest while working with orphans and Aids victims in Africa during the early 1980s, despite having never taken religious vows. 

A photograph taken of Meegan in Kenya in the early 1980s in Kajiado, in the Rift Valley Province, shows the charity worker wearing a priest’s uniform. Meegan has previously dismissed suggestions that he passed himself off as a member of the clergy while working in Kenya, claiming that he may have been “perceived” as a priest because of the Irish missionary tradition in Africa. 

But a series of letters written to Meegan in 1981 indicate that the Jesuits and Irish Missionary Union were concerned about claims emanating from Kenya that the charity worker was portraying himself as a priest. Joseph Dargan, the then Provincial of the Jesuits in Ireland, wrote to Meegan in September 1981, requesting that he did not “give the impression that [he is] a member of the Society of Jesus or a Jesuit brother”. The letter was prompted by accusations from missionaries that Meegan was “presenting himself” as a Jesuit brother. “I do not know how true this is,”  

Dargan wrote, “but it has been brought to my attention from so many different quarters that I feel I should let you know about it.” 

The missionary union later circulated Dargan’s letter to its members. Some had requested clarification about Meegan’s status as a priest. Brendan O’Reilly, who was the executive secretary/director of the union, later wrote to Meegan justifying his decision to distribute the clarification from the Jesuits to his members, after a complaint from the charity worker.

.

Link (here) to the full article

The Lawyers And The German Jesuit Abuse Scandal

For the first time since news of the abuse scandal at the Bonn Jesuit boarding Aloisiuskolleg came together on weekends in winter, the king called "Square Table" for the Investigation of abuse cases. Also present was Ursula Raue, Berlin Missbrauchsbeauftragte the Jesuits.

Link (here) to a lengthy article in German at German Radio, use Google translate.

A Holy Cross Jesuit In Rome And Orvieto

A chilly and rainy Saturday in Rome, untypical for this time of year, has provided the opportunity to relax and reflect–and not to go rushing about in this tempest to add lines to the list of worthwhile things I have seen in Rome. At my age, that would be unseemly. This trip to Rome, aimed at two weeks’ research in the Jesuit Archives, has been a wonderful experience. It started with an overlong flight on Monday night. 

We flew over North Africa in order to avoid the Icelandic ash plume. I was taken by the fact that I was seeing Africa for the first time, albeit from 30,000 feet, the place where my niece spent three happy and generous years in the Peace Corps and the place of origin of so many colleagues, acquaintances, and friends.

The superior of the House of Writers, a genial Californian named Fr. Ernie Martinez, made room for me in the infirmary since the regular guest rooms are full. It has the advantage of a comfortable chair and bed and a private bathroom; and it’s agreeably close to the dining room. What food! I love the fresh-baked rolls and cappucino for breakfast; the main meal at 1, served in four courses; and the informal suppers–leftovers and sandwich makings. Last night, they offered four types of pizza: the sweet onion pizza was fantastic, washed down with a good glass of beer. What company! I have enjoyed re-connecting with Father Jim Pratt (HC ‘76) whom I knew in his student days. 

Jim now works at the Curia in the Istituto Historico and is a font of information and hospitality. Tomorrow, we will travel to Orvieto on a day trip; since his Italian is fluent and his personality is friendly, I’m looking forward to a good outing, even on a meterologically drippy day. The Jesuits in this house are a microcosm of the whole Society. Many of the younger men in the house work at Vatican Radio, and most of them (Southeast Asians, Poles, Chinese, and others) can converse in English. 

Yesterday, when I went to breakfast at my accustomed time, we had a surprise visit from Fr. Adolfo Nicolas, the general of our Society. Since he wasn’t expected, few were present and I had the pleasure of sharing the table with him and one other Jesuit. 

Fr. General has happy memories of New England, where he learned English at the former Jesuit house at Shadowbrook in the Berkshires.

(On it, I highly recommend the Shadowbrook website prepared by Ms. Alice Howe, curator of the N.E. Jesuit Archives.) A great surprise and treat to meet the head of our Society, a genial and unassuming man.

Link (here) to the full post of The College of the Holy Cross  Jesuit,  Fr. Anthony Kuzniewski, S.J. at his blog post is entitled the Eternal City.