NATIONAL JESUIT NEWS
NOVEMBER 2003 ■ VOLUME 33, NUMBER 2
Procurators urged to be more attentive and
committed to vocations
By Julie Bourbon
and for the written reports they had submitted
earlier. “As in all prayerful discernment, it is
imperative that we try to face candidly the whole
truth of the Society of Jesus, with its bright and
dark realities, its strengths and weakness, its
apostolic progress and checks,” he said.
He went on to encourage a close examination of the Society’s health, remarking that after
“reading your reports and taking into account
the extraordinary apostolic activity throughout
much of the world, it would be difficult to conclude that the Society is very ill; even sick unto
death.”
Commenting on life in the Society, Kolvenbach urged the provinces to be “more attentive and committed to a vigorous promotion of
vocations.” In talking of being on mission, Fr.
General reminded those present that “Now that
the whole world has become more than ever ‘a
missionary land,’ the meaning of mission is not
primarily a territory to be evangelized or a work
to be accomplished. Rather it means, as St.
Ignatius frequently ends his letters, men on a
mission.”
Photo by Michael M. Deven MD
The 69th Congregation of Procurators of
the Society of Jesus met for five days in September in Loyola, Spain. It was only the fourth
time in the Society’s history that the Congregation has been held outside of Rome. The
meeting is called into session every four years
to determine whether Fr. General should call
a General Congregation, as well as to discuss
the state of the Society throughout the world.
Eighty-five representatives elected by the
provinces and 13 members of the central government of the society in Rome attended.
Procurators were invited to participate in an
eight-day retreat prior to the start of the Congregation. The procurators for the U.S. Assistancy were: Fr. John M. Martin (CFN), Fr.
James G. Gartland (CHG), Fr. Mark G. Henninger (DET), Fr. Bruce A. Maivelett (MAR),
Fr. James J. Burshek (MIS), Fr. Paul F. Harman
(NEN), Fr. Mark A. Lewis (NOR), Fr. Charles
L. Moutenot (NYK), Fr. Patrick J. Lee (ORE),
and Fr. David G. Schultenover (WIS).
Fr. General Kolvenbach opened the Congregation on September 18. In his opening
homily, Fr. General said “a Congregation of
Procurators recalls to mind that it is not a large
board of directors of a multinational corporation, but a company of men whom the Lord has
chosen to continue his salvific undertaking, by
making us partners in his mission in the world,
not by a contract, but by a ‘yes’ to his person.”
Procurators divided into linguistic groups
to discuss issues of particular concern. Six topics were chosen for discussion in the plenary
sessions after the linguistic groups: Jesuits and
laity; the formation of young Jesuits; the governance of the Society at present; globalization
and its impact on the life, governance and apostolate of the Jesuits; and the desire to grow in
oneness with the Church or sentire cum Ecclesia. There were, in total, more than 100 recommendations and proposals made to Fr. General
by the Procurators.
Fr. General delivered the Status Societatis
on the first day of the Congregation. He began
with thanks for the presence of the Procurators
SEEKING PEACE – British Robinson (left), national director of the Office of Social and International Ministries of the Jesuit Conference, spoke at the
United Nations on the 40th anniversary of Blessed John XXIII’s encyclical “Pacem in Terris.” On the dais with Ms. Robinson were Archbishop Celestino Migliore, Vatican nuncio to the U.N., Secretary General Kofi Annan, and Cardinal Edward Egan, archbishop of New York. Cf., story on page 9.
In response to concerns about a crisis in
the Society’s prayer life, he cautioned that this
might be the result of living in a culture in
which “we have lost sight of … God’s manifestations, or because we have abandoned ourselves to such exaggerated activism that prayer
appears to be time lost from our mission!”
Better, he said, to “listen obediently to the
Word of God … to be able to enunciate what
determines their specific mission.”
Further regarding mission, Kolvenbach
made the following observations: it is necessary to “rediscover the missionary character of
the account of conscience”; in order to live the
witness of community life, members of the
Society “must constantly reestablish the union
that individualism and rivalry constantly dissolve”; the Society must look toward the future
of its mission and make choices based on apostolic priorities, championing new initiatives
and at times abandoning old ones; and the Society “must preserve and guarantee the specific
identify” of its mission, whether it is manifested through institutions, professions, specializations or techniques.
Above all, the Society must not forget its
commitment to the “path of solidarity with the
poor – who always risk being the last to be
served in our choice of apostolic priorities –
in the choice of our personal and community
style of life. We should have the courage to be
the voice of the voiceless multitude in the name
of Him Who is their Friend.”
On the third day of the Congregation, Fr.
General took up the subject of collaboration
with laypeople, one of the topics selected by
the Procurators for discussion. Frs. Ildefonso
Camacho (BET), Gilberto Freire (ECU), David
Schultenover (WIS) and Daniel Sonveaux
(BME) made presentations on the topic. They
offered seven salient points:
■ When talking about collaboration with
the laity it is necessary to distinguish several
groups: a) “associates” who want a closer
(institutional) link with the Society; b) lay persons who work in institutions of the Society
under a labor contract; c) laypersons who,
continued on page 2
7 Commentary
8 NEWS
10-11 FEATURE
Ray Schroth talks about a
consolidation of Jesuit villas
Sr. Maureen Fay has been
the first non-Jesuit leader of
a Jesuit university for over
13 years
Loyola High School in Detroit is an
effort to address an urban crisis
News
Continued from page 1
without desiring to become “associates” want
to help and collaborate with specific apostolic
activities of the Jesuits.
■ Our vocabulary could be revised: rather
than collaborators (a term not well accepted in
some regions) “partners” can be considered a
more appropriate term.
■ Collaboration with lay people should go
beyond the need to fill in vacancies caused in
our institutions by lack of Jesuits. Collaboration with laity should not be confined to remedy our needs but to empower the laity to take
its responsibility in the Church.
■ The formation of both Jesuits and laity
for an authentic collaboration, as indicated by
the 34th General Congregation (decree 13, no.
8) is important.
■ It is desirable to have the presence of
lay people in some of the Society’s meetings.
■ There is detectable some resistance on
the part of Jesuits who feel threatened in their
identity (an attitude not limited to senior
Jesuits).
■ Attempts to foster among laity collaborators imbued with Ignatian spirituality
should be considered. The link with the Christian Life Community should be more clearly
defined.
Frs. Jean-Yves Grenet (GAL) and George
Pattery (CCU) introduced the topic of government in the Society. The following items were
suggested for consideration:
■ To increase decentralization of government in the Society by giving more responsibility to the Conference of Provincials; to
encourage decisions made together.
■ Interprovincial cooperation with special
attention to “isolated” provinces and regions.
■ Renovation of the Provincial Congregations and simplification of the procedures to
convene one.
■ Intervention of the Society in the case of
events (terrorism, immigration) of international resonance.
■ Efforts to increase the knowledge of all
the Jesuits regarding the government of the
Society.
■ Study of the reasons why the account of
conscience seems to have declined in the Society;
■ Desirable presence of more young Jesuits
in the Roman Curia.
MOVING?
■
The role and function of the Modera-
tors.
■ The local superior and the director of
work: a study of the experience in the last
years.
■ Subsidiarity: recommend not to bring
to higher levels of government what can be
solved at lower levels.
On September 21, the Procurators voted
overwhelmingly not to ask Fr. General to call a
General Congregation. That same day, Frs. Stefan Kiechle (GSU) and Gabriel Ignacio
Rodríguez Tamayo (COL) presented the topic
of Formation of Jesuits, with the following
opinions and proposals:
■ The candidates who come to the Society now are older than in the past (over 30
years in many cases). They are for the most
part mature persons (a positive element) but
they present a new challenge: how to transmit
the Ignatian charism to a person psychologically crystallized.
■ Young candidates have to be guided to
the discovery of the apostolic aim of the Society, which is not a refuge of tranquil life dedicated to contemplation.
■ The influence of the culture from which
they come (tendency to narcissism, to exercise unlimited freedom, to lead a life of an
irregular rhythm) has to be taken into consideration and subject to challenge.
■ Even if it involves some risks, the
novices have to be treated as adults and have
to be guided to an interior freedom, which is
not subject to inordinate affections.
■ Affective maturity comes late to the present young generation. We repeat it, but
nobody seems to know exactly what it is and
how to achieve it.
■ The passing from one stage of formation to the next one is delicate and requires
study and care.
After the discussion of the topic in small
groups, new ideas and proposals were reported in the plenary session:
■ Given the importance of all the stages
of formation, a spiritual Father should be
appointed in all the houses of formation.
■ The possibility of assigning “mentors”
to all the people in formation should be studied. The mentor will follow the scholastic
through all his years of formation.
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■ Permanent formation should be structured and urged.
■ Preparation for those who are appointed
Superiors in houses of formation is urgent.
Equally is the need to appoint them as full time
formators.
■ Appropriate pedagogy to transmit the
Ignatian charism should be found.
Burshek, 57, attended the Congregation as
the Missouri Province Procurator. He was chosen last winter and spent the better part of February, March and April traveling the province,
meeting with most of the communities, holding
what he called “listening sessions.” He distilled
those sessions into a report that was sent to Fr.
General in June, and met privately, as did all the
Procurators, with Kolvenbach for about 45 minutes.
“The whole idea is to give the General another view of the province,” said Burshek. Overall,
the response from the men in Missouri was positive. “There’s a lot of enthusiasm in that we’re
doing the things we need to be doing. … We are
doing exactly what we ought to be doing for the
Church.”
For Burshek, the experience was enlightening not only for the time spent traveling the
province, but also for the international flavor of
the Congregation once he arrived. “We talk
about the universal nature of the Society, but we
tend to get locked into provinces,” he said. That
notion was dispelled both by the Congregation
itself and the retreat days prior, where he had a
“real sense that not only were we working
together, but praying together, at the home of
Ignatius.”
The New England Province sent Harman,
66, to the Congregation. “It was a very consoling experience. It underscored that we are good
people, working hard,” he said.
Some of the concerns Harman heard
expressed throughout his province, as Burshek
did in Missouri, regarded the declining number
of Jesuits, and particularly younger Jesuits. Harman noted that he was one of the elder statesmen at the Congregation. Nine men were over
the age of 65, although the median age was 53,
and Harman saw many men in their 30s and 40s.
As a time of critical self-reflection, Harman
thought the Congregation to be a great success.
“It’s a chance to say all right, let’s take a look at
ourselves, where we are going forward with
strength and energy and vision and where are
we lagging? I’ve always found Jesuits to be a self
critical group,” he said. “I think we’re pretty
good at knowing where we might be falling
short.”
Both Harman and Burshek felt honored and
moved to be staying in the birthplace of Ignatius.
“It was certainly one of the great privileges of
my life,” said Harman. “It’s always wonderful
to be there. … It’s a great place of pilgrimage.”
Province Correspondents
NATIONAL JESUIT NEWS
EDITOR: Thomas C. Widner SJ
PUBLICATIONS MANAGER: Marcus Bleech
PUBLICATIONS ASSOCIATE: Julie Bourbon
2
National Jesuit News ■ November 2003
Jerry Hayes SJ, California
George Kearney, Chicago
John Moriconi SJ, Detroit
Jackie Antkowiak, Maryland
Phil Steele SJ, Missouri
Richard Roos SJ, New England
Louis T. Garaventa SJ, New York
Kenneth J. Boller SJ, New York
Brad Reynolds SJ, Oregon
Donald Hawkins SJ, New Orleans
Patrick Dorsey SJ, Wisconsin
The articles published here reflect the opinions of
the editor or the individual authors. They are not meant
to represent any official position of the Society of Jesus.
When sending in address changes include your full
address and home province.
mailto:NJN@JESUIT.ORG
Find us on the Web at:
HTTP://WWW.JESUIT.ORG
September 18, 2003
“Does all of this diversity prevent
us from saying something more
general about the universal,
apostolic body of the Society? The
last General Congregation
interpreted the Constitutions for
our time, with the help of
complementary norms, and it
constitutes our highest authority.
It is a point of common reference
and a criterion for our
deliberations during this
Congregation of Procurators.
Read in this light, your reports
testify both (1) to the
extraordinary vitality of a
Society of Jesus, which is
certainly not passing through a
period of stagnation, and (2) to
your concern to know whether or
not all of this vitality really
justifies our existence, whether or
not it is, here and now, the why
and how of our vocation as
servants of the mission of Christ.
Put more simply: do we wish to
become aware of the life we are
called to live as the Society of
Jesus?”
Peter Hans Kolvenbach
Superior General
On the status of the Society of Jesus
National Jesuit News (ISSN 0199-0284) is published monthly except January,
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the Society of Jesus.
Photo by Richard Roos SJ
Provincials hone in on strategizing for the future
Jesuit provincials met October 12-16 at the Boston College villa in Cohasset, Mass. They are, left to right, Frs. Tim McMahon (MIS), Frank Case (ORE), Gerald Chojnacki (NYK), Tom Regan (NEN), John
Whitney (ORE), Tom Smolich (CFN), Ed Schmidt (CHG), Jim Grummer (WIS), Jean-Marc Laporte (CSU), Fred Kammer (NOR), Tim Brown (MAR), Brad Schaeffer (CHG), president of the Jesuit Conference, and
Bob Scullin (DET). Case is general counsel and U.S. Assistant at the Jesuit curia in Rome. Laporte, provincial of the Upper Canada province, is a guest member of the JC board and full member of the Jesuit
Refugee Service board.
By Thomas C. Widner SJ
Photo by Tom Widner SJ
The 10 U.S. provincials, meeting in
Cohasset, Mass., for their fall gathering,
efficiently worked through an agenda heavy
in strategizing for future Assistancy governance, on the subject of migration into the
U.S., and preparation for their May 2004
meeting with the Latin American provincials in Miami.
With the addition of three new provincials appointed this past year, the group that
met Oct. 12-16 will continue to meet triannually with only a single change to occur
in 2005 when a new provincial for California will be announced.
The provincials spent considerable time
discussing their own planning for the Assistancy. Less interested in re-drawing
province boundaries, they expressed deep
concern for strategizing for greater apostolic service. They agreed they need a discernment process in the context of prayer.
They recognized the importance of identifying over what they exercise direct control.
Where do we want to be in the next few
years? the provincials asked themselves.
What about the availability of Jesuits for
mission?
Crucial to their task is the recognition
that strategizing for the future must include
lay colleagues and partners. At the same
time, the provincials also understand that
some Jesuits and lay colleagues are not
ready to compromise specific apostolic
works. Education is required so that all can
appreciate a broader understanding of the
mission of the worldwide Society. The
provincials accepted the idea that they will
require someone to assist them in guiding
them through the process.
In addition to their deliberations on
planning, the provincials spent a session
sharing information with each other regarding some of the most creative work in their
own provinces. Under the title “What are
the best practices in my own province?”
they discussed some of their own innovative works as well as processes that enable
them to provide smooth and effective governance.
The presidents and rectors of the two
theology centers gave reports on their institutions as required by the JC board. Frs.
Joseph Daoust (DET), president of JSTB,
and Robert Manning (NEN), president of
Weston, along with Frs. Gregory Carlson
(WIS), rector of the JSTB community, and
John Privett (CFN), rector of the Weston
community, offered presentations followed
by questions from the provincials about the
operation of their schools.
Fr. Bill Rickle (MAR) of the JC Office of
Social and International Ministries and Mr.
Archbishop Sean O’Malley (left) met with the 10 provincials for an evening during the JC board
meeting in Cohasset. Fr. Bob Levens (far right), former New England provincial, paid a visit while
Fr. Fred Kammer (NOR) looks on.
Don Kerwin of CLINIC (Catholic Legal
Immigration Network) presented a session
on migration in the U.S. The well-received
report is part of the preparation the provincials are doing prior to their meeting with
the Latin American provincials.
The provincials also examined a
preparatory paper written by Fr. Rickle concerning the U.S. status regarding migration
that responds to an initial paper from the
Latin American provincials.
Fr. Francis Clooney (NEN) updated the
provincials on his work in interreligious
dialogue. Fr. Clooney is the provincials’ representative in developing a U.S. response to
Father General’s prioritization of efforts in
this area.
In other business, the provincials heard
a presentation from Fr. Ken Gavin (NYK),
new director of Jesuit Refugee Service, when
the group met as the board of JRS/USA. The
provincials approved the JRS budget for the
coming year as well.
They accepted a report from Company
magazine as required by their by-laws in
which the provincials approved the 20032004 budget for the magazine.
Fr. Frank Case, American assistant in
the Jesuit curia, reported that Father General himself will attend the May 2004 meeting of the provincials of the Americas. He
will also be present in the Oregon province
following that date.
The provincials approved a request of
the Jesuit Conference office to seek and purchase a permanent location for the Jesuit
Conference in Washington. The JC office
now rents space in a building in the Dupont
Circle area.
They approved JSTB’s request for negotiating a permanent purchase of Alma
House on that campus. They also approved
a process for handling third-party requests
for fund raising for Jesuit institutions under
the Jesuit name.
Additional reports were heard from the
JC conference staff members and committees in formation, education, Jesuit life and
ministry, and finance. The provincials will
next meet in Washington in February 2004.
New novices
Fifty-eight men entered the six novitiates that serve the 10 U.S. provinces and
Upper Canada this fall. The total is three
more than entered in 2002. One is a priest;
three entered as indifferents, and three as
brothers. Of the 58, three men are novices
for the Upper Canada Province.
“These numbers have now risen for
three years in a row,” said Fr. John Armstrong (NOR), Secretary for Formation
for the U.S. Jesuit Conference. “This is
the largest group that we’ve had entering
in the US since 1993.” It’s interesting to
note that 31 of the 58, or 53 percent,
attended at least one Jesuit school before
entrance.
“Our vocation directors do not point
to any single factor in the continued
increase,” Armstrong added. “However,
they note that the establishment by the
U.S. provincials of November 5th as
annual Jesuit Vocation Promotion Day
was the occasion for many Jesuit communities and works to host related
events.
“All of the vocation directors see the
importance of having as many Jesuits as
possible involved in vocation promotion
since there is no substitute. Those who
enter the novitiate often do so because of
the personal knowledge that they have of
Jesuits, both before and during the discernment process.”
That 53 percent of the new novices
attended a Jesuit school “points to the
continuing influence of our educational
apostolate in attracting men to the Society,” he explained.
The novices range in age from 19 to
52, with two men in their teens, 43 in
their 20’s, and 12 in their 30’s. There are
none in the 40’s, and one man in his 50’s.
This is a slightly younger group than last
year, although fairly typical of recent
years.
National Jesuit News ■ November 2003
3
Commentary
Can authority ever make sense again?
By Thomas C. Widner SJ
Is the end of Christianity in Europe
near as the New York Times suggests? A
feature Oct. 13 describes the loss of interest in religion on that continent. Europe
has become so secularized that its officials
don’t even want to recognize the contribution of Christianity over the course of
its history.
Can North America be far behind?
French Canada has witnessed a sea change
in its religious practices in 30 plus years.
But so too has the United States. Some
observers would find a direct cause for the
change in the Second Vatican Council but
more lucid observers recognize a more
complicated history that has continued
since the end of World War II.
Immigrants in both Europe and North
America reflect a different perspective. In
Europe, Africans and Asians benefitting
from missionaries are immersed in a traditional religiosity. In North America, His-
panic immigrants remind a secularizing
Catholicism that progress does not mean
abandonment of old-time religion.
In the U.S. the secularized non-believers are called “nones” by those who conduct surveys to describe Americans who
claim no religious identity. The Religion
Writers of America claim the number of
“nones” has doubled in the past decade.
There may be 29 million of them, the third
largest group of people surveyed after
Catholics and Baptists.
Nurturing and Harvesting Vocations
By Thomas S. Acker SJ
Company Magazine, the National
Jesuit News, provincial letters, America,
Jesuit Conference memos all tell the
same tale -- Jesuit presence is speedily
diminishing in the United States. While
a person can cry out that it is not numbers but quality, the refrain echoes in
empty rooms.
It is past time to rethink decisions.
It is the opportune moment to engage in
experiments, to risk, but most of all, to
utilize our fantastic feeder system of
Jesuit preparatory schools.
In my discussions with those teaching in our secondary schools, God is still
offering young men the dream of a vocation, but it is dampened by the Society’s
reluctance to accept this budding vocation into a new novitiate.
The new novitiate (or is it old) has
to be contoured for young men of 18 to
20. One cannot put them into the environment of 29 year-old recruits because
their needs are quite different.
When I entered the Jesuit order in
1947, most of the young men were my
own age, roughly 18 or 19. There were a
few older men who had served in the
army or entered after college. This was
a very difficult time for these more
advanced men because they were at a
level of maturity we younger lads were
only visioning. These older men needed their own novitiate. Now the tables
are turned. The novitiate fits (perhaps)
the 29 year-old but it is not fitted for the
18 year-old.
Why is it important to accept men
immediately out of high school?
At this point, the vocation is budding
and most tender. It needs to be set aside
and given an almost hothouse atmosphere. That is a novitiate.
If these vocations are sent off to a
college setting even with spiritual direction, they will often wither in the hot sun
of freedom, sexual opportunity, and
alcohol. I know this from being president of Wheeling Jesuit University for 18
years and teaching at our schools at the
4
National Jesuit News ■ November 2003
University of Detroit, John Carroll, the
University of San Francisco, and St.
Joseph’s University.
There will be time enough during
regency to test the vocation amidst the
temptations of the world. It is also
important to remember, we are talking
about a Jesuit vocation where it is impossible to get ordained before 30 years old.
The real defining decision is when superiors ask the man: “Do you want to be
ordained?”
My proposal is simple. I would recommend, for example, that the four
provinces that resulted from the old Missouri Province engage in an experiment
together. Within this old Missouri
Province there are at least 17 preparatory schools.
First of all, let the four provincials
agree to work together and actively promote vocations in the high schools.
Agree to accept candidates into a newly
established novitiate. One novitiate
should be established in a rural area, not
in a large city (these young men need “to
come apart and rest awhile”), to receive
all the candidates.
You need to have numbers to make
this work; if recruiting were from all the
high schools, I suggest you could reach
40 even in the first year from the 17
schools combined. This allows companionship on the journey. The manner of
operating the novitiate should reflect,
dare I say it, the type of training we
received: highly disciplined and programmed. Young men work best under
clear and precise rules and conditions.
Clearly, these men will be given the
prospect of college. In fact, from these
ranks will probably come many of your
scholars and college men. When a person enters at the age of 29, there is a
reduced opportunity to get advanced
education given the long training for the
Jesuit priesthood. The much higher age
of those entering the Jesuits of today has
been a direct loss to our college and university apostolate.
One often wonders if the new wave of
provincials with social apostolate train-
ing has not inadvertently biased their
decisions in accepting men into the order.
The social apostolate is not known for its
academic degrees and scholarly pursuits.
Every leadership post has some
essential job requirements associated
with it. For instance, if a college or university president is unable or not fitted
for fund raising, the president cannot last
in the job. That is a task that cannot be
delegated to others. In similar fashion, it
seems to me that a provincial has two
essential tasks. One is “cura personalis”
and the other is to personally recruit new
men.
In this venue, I would think the
provincials would need to visit each of
their high schools and personally initiate the program and return several times
a year to promote it. In my mind, this is
not a task he can delegate to a vocation
director. The president of an academic
institution and the provincial of a
province have special voice and special
charisma.
This approach requires dare and risk.
Several years ago, Dan Goldin, head of
NASA, spoke at the graduation at Wheeling Jesuit University and received a
standing ovation. One of his most striking comments was: “If you have never
failed, then you have never pressed the
edge of your talent.”
We need to press the edge of our talent. We are already failing in our vocation efforts despite good intentions. It is
time for some greater experiment. The
vocations are there but we are failing to
nurture them. May St. Francis Xavier
inspire us as new (old) missionaries.
(Acker [DET] is executive director of
Forward Southern West Virginia, Inc., in
Beckley, W.Va.)
Yet, the surveyors find, two-thirds of
this group still profess a belief in God.
One-third consider themselves religious.
All of them buy a lot of books about spirituality.
What they don’t do is go to church.
“Nones” don’t engage in institutional religious practices.
The Religion Writers consider “nones”
important because their numbers are
increasing. They’re an important part of
everyday community life. They have the
power to influence issues and mobilize
change. You can’t get to them, however,
through traditional institutional channels.
They perplex researchers and public
figures who might want to mobilize
them. Because people with religious
involvement are more likely to be
engaged in community life, “nones” pose
a challenge to those seeking their attention. What is the meaning of the concerns and patterns of social behavior of
“nones”? Why do they join community
groups?
They seem to care about ethics, particularly corporate ethics. They seem to
care about the environment. They seem
to care about global political issues. They
seem to care about relationships. They
are less likely to base their decisions on
what authorities and institutions say.
They are more likely to go outside
already organized groups to get things
done.
If “nones” care not for organized
groups, including the institutional
Church, do organized groups, including
the institutional Church, care about
“nones”? Are “nones” a group that Jesuits
ought to consider ministry toward?
The climate in today’s U.S. culture,
indeed, in Western culture altogether,
takes for granted a failed, hierarchical,
institutional Church. Hierarchical concerns about power and commitment to
orthodoxy rather than compassion and
justice have sidetracked bishops from
their primary duty to preach the Gospel.
Preaching is often without any real
authority, the kind that makes sense to
people. When people are unable to recognize compassionate strength and justice in those who lead them, the
fundamental question concerns the ability of leadership to believe in itself as
representatives of a Gospel that calls for
mercy and justice.
Jesuits have a role here. We are a vital
part of an institutional Church that must
listen to “nones” as well as to all those
seeking meaning in a world that appears
less and less to recognize human beings
as persons rather than objects of conflict.
Are we committed to the Gospel or to our
own quests for power and influence?
Who will burst our own balloons of
arrogance and ennui?
$$$$$
$$
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Global interconnectedness or economic liberalization
This is an edited version of the speech made by Julian
Filochowski, outgoing director of CAFOD, the British equivalent to Catholic Relief Services, after 21 years, delivered on
11 July 2003 to the 25th annual conference of the National
Justice and Peace Network in Swanwick, England.
The church is a global people, united in sacrament and
solidarity, and we are all companions on a journey, following the Lord.
Let us look at the word “companions.” If we split it open,
we have “com” and “panis” – people with whom we break
and share bread – companions on the journey. Jesus was a
bread-breaker and bread-sharer. You could say we are a
bread-breaking, justice-seeking people, striving to follow
the Lord in a globalized and globalizing world, in a divided and broken world. We seek to witness to this in our
prayer, our work, our campaigning, our protests, our advocacy, our lifestyles and, indeed, in our whole lives.
The term globalization is complex and ambiguous. On
the one hand, globalization is about global interconnectedness with all the resonances of community. The networking of movements – Justice and Peace, peoples’
organizations, faith communities, and development agencies – represent the emergence of a global citizenry
responding to global threats, fostering a global ethic and
protecting our common home, Planet Earth. On the other,
globalization is about global economic liberalization, with
the harsher resonances of markets and profit.
We are globalized whether we like it or not and, in the
end, anti-globalization resistance is useless.
Yet, globalization is not like the weather; it can be and
must be shaped and regulated, but, towards what? Towards
the global common good. Pope John Paul II would say,
towards “the civilization of love.”
We must move away from the global common bad,
which is the suffering of the poor alongside the whimsical
and grotesque excesses of the wealthy. The income of the
richest one per cent in our world is equal to the combined
income of the poorest 57 percent, and the gap is getting
wider. That is the global common bad – the growth of that
inequity.
The 1990s was the first decade of the new globalization. It culminated, in the jubilee year, with a global charter, the millennium development goals. This comprised
eight major promises and figured 18 targets relating to
child mortality, maternal mortality, education, gender
equality, HIV/AIDS, the care of the environment, and the
provision of water.
The key goal was that by 2015 we would halve the percentage of people on our planet living in absolute poverty
on less than a dollar a day. It is a contemporary statement
in the secular world of the global common good. But, sadly,
these commitments were completely absent from the globalization processes of the last decade.
Today, there is online education, with the prospect of
a global open university, and instant communications,
which inter alia protect and promote human rights and
gender equality across great political and cultural divides.
And yet, 72 per cent of internet users live in the rich countries, home to only 14 per cent of the world’s population.
$
A computer costs a Zambian teacher four years’ salary,
whereas it costs a British teacher less than a month’s salary.
We’re bothered about computer literacy but 850 million
people in our world today cannot read or write their own
name.
The 1990s saw the percentage of people living in
absolute poverty in East Asia and the Pacific halved – an
achievement. However, in Africa, 58 million people more
were living on less than a dollar a day in the year 2000 than
in 1990. So we see there are winners and losers of globalization.
What does it mean to live on a dollar a day? In Zambia,
I saw that it can mean children taking turns to eat, and
perhaps eating only five times a week. In the shantytowns
of Nairobi or Bujumbura you see people living in squalor,
mud and stench that would make you vomit. Their dignity is taken away.
We must move away from the
global common bad, which is the
suffering of the poor alongside
the whimsical and grotesque
excesses of the wealthy.
The World Bank says: “the distribution of the gains of
globalization has been extraordinarily unequal” – in other
words, they have been a downright human disgrace and
catastrophe. The United Nations Development Program
has said the past decade was marked by an increasing concentration of income, resources and wealth amongst peoples, corporations and countries.
Jesuit Jon Sobrino says that 1.2 billion people in 2003
seeking to live on less than a dollar a day is a “macro-blasphemy.” He and other Latin American theologians speak
of crucified peoples. To be crucified is not simply to die
but to be put to death. There are victims and there are executioners and there is very grave sin. The list of structures
of injustice that crucify people is a long one - the arms
trade, corruption, international debt, unfair trade and
many, many more.
A globe is beautiful, it’s round, it’s equal, it’s special,
but globalization today, as it is experienced by the poor, is
ugly. The greatest harm that the word “globalization” does
is to delude us with a make believe pseudo unity and universality of humankind, which is epitomized in the “global village” phrase. Africans say, “no.” They had globalization
with the slave trade; they had it again with colonialism;
now they are on stage three. It’s not “global village,” they
say, but rather “global pillage.” Globalization tantalizingly promises unity, but it lacks justice. It’s a counterfeit unity,
with the single-minded end being the pursuit of economic opportunities, the maximization of profit and the accumulation of wealth. This unity of the “haves” is centripetal,
moving inexorably from the periphery to the center. In this
model, the “have-nots” are marginalized and redundant.
Authentic unity and universality of the human family comes with a centrifugal movement, from the center
to the periphery, and so inclusive. The challenge is not
whether globalization is good or bad but how we humanize it and make it inclusive. To redeem it, we have to put
the cause of the crucified peoples at the center. We must
make a commitment to the global common good, to
human development for every person.
A strategy and a theology of protest means that we
have to begin with our experience of the poor and our
option for the poor. We have to work with globalization,
against globalization and towards globalization. With
globalization – in the sense of using the forces that can
benefit humanity – particularly the internet and the web,
because information has become a basic human need.
Schools and universities in the south, peoples’ information centers, civil society organizations all need to be
wired up to this global network.
But working against globalization, by doing a critical
analysis to expose its anti-developmental, and de-humanizing consequences, to challenge the orthodoxies of the
economic globalization bandwagon. That is the act of
denouncing.
But the prophet also announces. We have to work
towards globalization by announcing our alternatives –
our reforms.
Now to the theological side of protest. If we are a
bread-breaking and justice-seeking people then we are
also a people of hope. Protest has to be driven by hope
and not by negativity. Even if we are saying something is
wrong, we have to be saying it because of our profound
conviction that human persons can be different, that justice is possible. In other words, it is hope as passion for
the possible that is the grounds of protest.
These are seven characteristics of legitimate and effective protest, identified by CAFOD over the years. First,
protest is informed by the voices of those who suffer; second, it is underpinned by analysis that provides an accurate diagnosis and effective solutions; third, protest is
participatory; fourth, protest is non-violent for protest
that harms lives is not legitimate; fifth, consistency and
coherence, that is protest should addresses our personal
lifestyle and responsibilities as well as the larger issues;
sixth, protest is truthful when it unmasks sinful structures and macro-economic orthodoxies; and, finally,
protest should leave space for the spiritual and religious.
I have just returned from an international Caritas congress in Rome with the theme – “Globalizing Solidarity.”
Delegates came from 198 countries. It was an inspiring
meeting – a microcosm of the church today – breadbreaking, justice-seeking church. Our experience of
protest was discussed, particularly the Jubilee 2000 debt
campaign, which, I believe, changed the world. As a gathering we were not intimidated or overwhelmed by globalization.
We have a cosmic God who cannot be absorbed by
globalization. In campaigning, advocacy and protest we
can change our world; another world is possible. This new
world will be one where the crucified peoples are taken
down from the cross and nobody put up in their place.
National Jesuit News ■ November 2003
5
FEATURE
NTWH – helping the disabled embrace the difference
cookbooks, “The Secrets of Jesuit BreadFor all the brutality of its winters, making” and “The Secrets of Jesuit Soupcoastal Maine in the summertime is a making” lie in stacks throughout the room.
Curry is particularly busy this week,
warm stay in Pleasantville, a drowsy walk
down Main Street, a purple-stained hand- leading staff meetings and rehearsals. He
ful of blueberries, a peek into the obscure has time to discourse on disability, though.
and weird world of small town curio shops. It’s what has brought him here, his own and
In Belfast, the town’s one traffic light blinks that of the students. “Disability is a gift,”
after dark and a man who may or may not he said. A man born with no right forearm,
be the mayor walks from lamp post to lamp he has built a reputation as someone whose
post, carrying a watering can, dousing the physical condition has never slowed or
hanging flowers without getting wet him- deterred his ambitions. “I really believe a
student artist grows in direct proportion
self. Life is safe here.
It has been six years since the Nation- to how much they have accepted their disal Theater Workshop of the Handicapped ability.”
“There is an amazing grace that comes
took up residence in town, along with the
Belson Bakery and the NTWH art gallery. when you embrace your difference,” he conIn 2002, NTWH celebrated its 25th tinued. “You can embrace your brokenness
anniversary and bought a building in lower and go on from there.” Christianity, IgnatManhattan as its permanent home. Fall ian spirituality and art meet here. “Any Br. Rick Curry (MAR) preps his cabaret performers Karen Luxton-Gourgey, Sandi Francis-Roman, Greg
Mozgala, Jason Matthews, and Deborah Williams.
Jesuit will tell you that training of the imagand spring classes are conducted there.
whatever,” he said. “It’s empowering to be part in the workshop for the third year. Her
But it is in the collegial atmosphere of ination is everyone’s birthright.”
Some NTWH participants, like Curry, around others with a disability. They can 18-year-old daughter Laila was also in
a summer spent eating and living together,
like kids at camp and students in a dorm, were born with their differences; others relate more than the most empathetic non- Belfast earlier in the summer, acting as a
beadle (an able-bodied intern) for one of
that the heart and soul of NTWH make had their bodies broken in sudden and ter- disabled.”
Olmstead didn’t seek out NTWH – a the sessions. More than anything, for Masthemselves apparent. In Belfast, where it rible ways. For many or most, their theater
rained for much of the summer session this experience in Maine is the first sustained friend told him about it – nor does he have tellos, the experience has been both inspiryear, only to turn gloriously clear and hot contact they have had with individuals ambitions to become a professional per- ing and humbling.
“It seems to always evolve into this
the last week, participants of the alumni whose disabilities differ from their own. A former. He holds a bachelor’s degree in
session found themselves back on familiar revelation, perhaps, for the able bodied, rehabilitation services and is applying to magic experience,” she said of the rush to
terrain, with some new faces, frantically one of whom admitted after three weeks graduate schools for social work or coun- the final production, after the madness of
rehearsing their scenes for the season-end- that he was no longer seeing the disabili- seling psychology. His involvement with rehearsals and classes has distilled itself
ing performance. NTWH may be the cul- ties of the disabled, but was starting to see the school, though, was a natural fit from into a single performance, both opening
the beginning, before he developed the and closing night, all in one. She is in awe
mination of a life’s work for Br. Rick Curry what was wrong with everybody else.
Born with cerebral palsy, Avery Olm- booming stage voice he now uses to such of these “unique individuals, who against
(MAR), but it is, in the end, the students
all odds are still pursuing acting,” seemstead, 32, has taken part in the summer great effect in productions.
who are its beating pulse.
“When I got involved with the school, ingly forgetting to count herself among
“The good news is that the founder and session for five years. He lives in Old Town,
director of this organization is still alive,” an hour from Belfast, and employs a wheel- I said okay, this makes sense to me, and I them.
Like most of her fellow participants,
said Curry, 60, from his office on the main chair and a personal care assistant who really enjoyed it, which was a real self
Mastellos was a scholarship student, her
floor of the NTWH-Crosby building in helps him with his daily tasks. Olmstead esteem boost for me.”
In contrast to Olmstead, a big man room, board and travel paid for by NTWH
Maine. “The bad news is – the founder and talks about the “relatability factor,” that
director is still alive.” Behind him, the titles sense of kinship and camaraderie that only with thick glasses and an unruly head of and its benefactors. Her sense of gratitude
dark hair, Katina Mastellos is tiny and to Curry for the opportunity is palpable.
on his bookshelf include “Cold Weather another person with a disability shares.
“You can start to feel like you’re the only graceful. Even walking with her cane, she “Just the idea that there’s somebody out
Cooking,” “Dog Tricks” and “Jesuit Saints
and Martyrs.” Copies of his successful person you know who’s dealing with … has maintained – or regained – some of there in the world doing something so
the lithesome beauty she unique and so generous, who will just take
must have had as a belly you to Maine…” Her voice trails off, only
dancer, before she broke her to pick up again with a final thought. “It’s
neck five years ago in a car a different perspective than your usual
accident that left her tem- everyday reality, somebody who encourages you to do what you love, no matter
porarily a quadriplegic.
She plays the artist Frida what the rest of the world says.”
Running NTWH is, ultimately, the
Kahlo in one of the NTWH
production’s most powerful thing that Curry loves. If he has met with
scenes, but she more resem- discouragement in the pursuit of that goal,
bles Salma Hayek playing it doesn’t show. “Ignatius asked us to pray
Frida, herself the victim of to be able to do a great work, and I truly
a life-altering traffic acci- believe the Lord has answered my prayers,”
dent. “Everything comes he said. In the end, what else could he have
sort of slowly together,” said done? What choice, ultimately, do the disMastellos, who even two abled and able-bodied have but to embrace
years after breaking her their brokenness and make something
neck could move only with whole of it, on the stage and in the world?
the most tremendous effort, This he tells them all the time: “You can
and then ever so slowly. only praise the creator with the face he
“The whole time it’s been gave you.”
For more information on NTWH, visit
like this subtle, gradual
their website at www.ntwh.org.
improvement.”
Mastellos flew from
Students and NTWH staff follow directions as Br. Curry leads. From left to right, Deborah Williams, Meghan McGuinSanta
Monica, Calif., to take
ness, and Jason Matthews provide class support.
6
National Jesuit News ■ November 2003
Photos courtesy of NTWH
By Julie Bourbon
Villa Cutback Report:
To shrink to five
By Raymond A. Schroth SJ
radio, lapsed into long silences, and
longed for large groups and the colIn anticipation of the expected
orful characters that inhabit every
reconfiguration of the American
large community. In its place, the
Assistancy a report to the American
Assistancy has purchased and refurprovincials by a hitherto secret combished a fleet of old yellow school
mittee has recommended the abolibuses with bunks and a bathroom.
tion of all 298 current Jesuit villa
Each bus, equipped with a TV/ VCR
houses and their consolidation into
and a video library of old MGM
five houses.
musicals, all five seasons of SopraAccording to the committee’s
nos and the 100 Greatest Golf Games
mandate, each “new” common villa
of All Time, plus a keg of
was to fulfill three criteria:
cold beer, can accommodate
1) It would equally satisfy
20 men. In two-week trips,
every Jesuit, 2) It would
For those who prefer the ocean:
departing from various
allow for the diverse tastes of
Buzzard’s Beak Bay, on the
locations – Des Moines,
every age group, ethnic idenHelena, and Memphis – the
tification, level of cultural
Quizzinoscas Coast of Northeast
buses will “hit the road,”
sophistication, and emodriving at random, in whattional disposition, 3) It
Newfoundland. This should interest
ever direction the majority
would provide an opportuthose of ours who like to visit foreign
of the riders, following a
nity for spiritual regeneracommunity meeting, may
tion.
countries and favor the European
agree upon.
The committee mem5. The Working Vacabers, whose names are kept
style beaches reached by climbing
tion. The final option is
secret for obvious reasons,
down steep cliffs to the rocks below.
designed for two classes of
conducted their research
men: 1. Those whose jobs
over five years during which
are so important that they
they visited all 298 villa
houses, monitored behavior patterns, escape the hurly-burly and tension of are compelled to work all day, all
recorded conversations, evaluated downtown KC, there are “urban year; 2. Those who retired immediwine closets, golf courses, video col- explorer” car trips to Leavenworth, ately after ordination and have never
worked since. These special prolections, and libraries. In June they Dodge City, and Hannibal.
3. For those who love the moun- grams allow both types to both have
met for two weeks at Hilton Head to
tains: The Assistancy has invested in a change of venue and contribute to
draw up their recommendations.
Fundamentally the report’s phi- a simple but comfortable trailer camp the good of the Society by their toil.
losophy was to pattern the proposal in Tonapah, Nevada. Technically, cen- One is Faraway Farm, in North
according to the three deepest long- tral Nevada mountains are not exact- Dakota, where in the clean air the
ings of the human spirit – for the sea, ly like the ones most Jesuits are men rise at dawn, clean the stables,
the city, and the mountains – and accustomed to – with towering pine slop the pigs, harvest and bale
man’s two most powerful urges – to and walnut trees, deer, bears, hidden wheat, and break rocks to build a
waterfalls, babbling brooks, and fence around the pasture till sunset.
move and to produce.
These are the five recommenda- woodland pools. Which makes Tona- At mealtime they have the satisfacpah and its nearby Lone Mountain tion of dining on the wheat and pork
tions.
1. For those who prefer the ocean: (9,108) all the more interesting, with they have worked with all day.
The alternative is the S.S. Perfect
Buzzard’s Beak Bay, on the its brown, dusty coloration and the
Quizzinoscas Coast of Northeast New- thrill of occasional sand storms that Storm, a tuna fishing boat that pulls
foundland. This should interest those blow up from nearby Death Valley. out of Gloucester on Memorial Day,
of ours who like to visit foreign coun- And from here one can view the great rides the high seas up and town the
tries and favor the European style distant mountain ranges of the Rock- East coast until docking on Labor
beaches reached by climbing down ies to the east and the Sierra Nevada Day, loaded with tons of tuna fish in
steep cliffs to the rocks below. The to the west – simply by driving to the its freezer ready for market. Every
beach (or rock space) is about the size horizon, squinting, and peering into man will be equipped with standard
of the standard rec room. The the distance. For those who like to rubberized fisherman’s gear and a
absolute privacy will spare our men play cards, Las Vegas is only 200 pole with a string and a hook. They
the distractions of New Jersey, Flori- miles to the South. For those inter- will stand all day strapped to the
da, Long Island, and California ested in science, Nevada is the world’s railing and haul those tuna fish in
beaches – young men and women most popular nuclear weapons test- till community mass at 5:15. They
will be imitating the first Apostles
cavorting in the surf, loud volleyball ing ground.
4. For those who like to “hit the and making money at the same time.
games, rap music, and cell phones.
The water is much too cold for jelly- road”: The committee recommends What could be a better vacation than
fish, and the only visitors are the that the growing practice of one or that?
Of course all this has to be
seals, walruses, and penguins that two men just taking a car and drinest there during June, July, and ving around the country be discon- approved by Rome.
(Schroth [NYK] is professor of
tinued. Their survey reveals that
August.
2. For those who, like Ignatius, Jesuit couples within three days got humanities at Saint Peter’s College
love the city: the Society has bought bored with one another, quarreled and media columnist for the Nationan apartment in a changing neigh- over which tapes to play on the car al Catholic Reporter.)
borhood in downtown Kansas City.
Kansas City was chosen because,
located exactly in the heart of America, it is equally distant from, and
therefore equally convenient for, all
other Jesuit houses. The apartment is
stocked with educational videos
depicting beautiful cities all over the
world and a 20-years complete collection of National Geographic magazine. For those who may wish to
Dulles to
again address
John Paul II
Conference
Avery Cardinal Dulles (NYK) will offer a major presentation at the 2004 eighth bi-annual Conference on
the Thought of Pope John Paul II for Jesuits at Marquette University. The theme for the upcoming conference is “The Theology of the Body.”
The principal text under consideration consists in
the series of Wednesday papal audience talks that have
been assembled under that same title. One of the
world’s leading ecclesiologists, Cardinal Dulles will
treat “The Theology of the Body of Christ.”
Other major presentations will handle related
aspects of the pope’s thought. Examining the Pope’s
method, Fr. William Kurz (WIS), professor of theology at Marquette, will discuss “The Scriptural Foundations of ‘The Theology of the Body’.”
Fr. Earl Muller (NOR), professor of theology at
Sacred Heart Seminary in Detroit, intends to illuminate “The Nuptial Meaning of the Body in the Thought
of John Paul II.”
Finally, Fr. Christopher Cullen (MAR), professor
of philosophy at Fordham, will treat philosophical
foundations in “Between God and Nothingness: Matter in John Paul II’s Theology of the Body.”
The Conference will take place June 18-20, 2004 at
Marquette University under the sponsorship of the
Jesuit community.
The Conference’s purpose is to promote greater
knowledge and a critical appreciation of the Pope’s
thought among Jesuits. Limited to Jesuits at the request
of previous participants, it is an opportunity to encourage greater openness among Jesuits and to foster
brotherhood in Ignatian service of the Church. Talks,
discussions, and publications have been marked by
respect for papal teaching while acknowledging areas
in which there is need for further development of papal
thought as well as its pertinent application.
Registration includes a dinner with the Jesuit community at Marquette, a special Conference dinner, and
regular meals at Alumni Memorial Union. Individual
rooms for participants are available in Straz Tower.
The community’s lakeside villa house is available
from Sunday afternoon, June 20, until Wednesday,
June 23. For more information and registration, contact John M. McDermott, S.J., Pontifical College
Josephinum, 7625 North High St., Columbus, OH
43235-1498 (tel.: 614-985-2281; e-mail: jmcdermo@pcj.edu).
The proceedings of the first two conferences have
been published as “The Thought of Pope John Paul II,”
ed. J. McDermott, (Rome: Gregorian University Press,
1993; also available from Loyola University Press,
Chicago). The proceeding of the third and fourth conferences appeared as “Prophecy and Diplomacy: The
Moral Doctrine of John Paul II,” ed. J. Conley and J.
Koterski (New York: Fordham University Press, 1999).
The proceedings of the fifth and sixth conferences,
again under the editorship of John Conley and Joseph
Koterski, are to be published in the near future as
“Creed and Culture” by Saint Joseph’s University Press,
Philadelphia.
National Jesuit News ■ November 2003
7
News
First woman, non-Jesuit university president
looks back over decade plus leadership
By Julie Bourbon
To be the first non-Jesuit president of a
Jesuit university, and to be a woman to
boot, one would almost have to be a
Dominican. At least according to Fr. General. At their first meeting, recounted Sr.
Maureen Fay, that’s exactly what Kolvenbach said: “How fitting. A Dominican.”
She laughs in
the retelling but
recalls the “total
silence” that greeted her the first time
she walked into a
meeting with the
presidents of the 27
other Jesuit colleges
and universities.
The year was 1990,
when the UniversiSr. Maureen Fay
ty of Detroit combined with Mercy College, where she was
the first non-Mercy sister president. A
woman of firsts, she is now the thirdlongest serving university president in the
Assistancy.
“They’re a fun group. Challenging, but
fun,” said Fay, a member of the Adrian
Dominican Sisters, a small order headquartered in Michigan. A native of Chicago, the 67-year-old has spent the last 20
years working in the Motor City. This
school year will be her last at UD Mercy;
she will leave her post in the spring.
No longer the only non-Jesuit president,
Fay has been joined by layman Jack
DeGioia, who became president of Georgetown University in 2001. “We were very
happy to meet,” she said, in a seemingly
characteristic bit of understatement. Tall,
bespectacled, with an air of friendly
authority, Fay sits in her office, with a fifth
floor view of the campus, including a fountain outside the student center that was
filled in a hurry one morning over the summer to accommodate a mother duck and
her ducklings. Fay was out there herself,
supervising the proceedings, prompting an
onlooker to remark that only at this school
would you see the president out on a hot
day in June, trying to lead a duck to water.
“She’s kind of a legend,” said DeGioia,
whose own path to the presidency was
smoothed a bit by Fay’s trailblazing. “She
had already established a framework that
made it easy for the group to accept someone like me. …Knowing Maureen
was there was a great reassurance.”
UD Mercy sits on a small piece of
land, on the edge of a part of Detroit
that has yet to recover from the riots
of the late 1960s. Unlike some of its
bigger, richer sister schools, UDM
has a decidedly urban feel, and Fay
likes it that way. The school, she said,
has tried to use that to its advantage.
Fay herself is involved in several civic
groups that work on economic, social
and housing revitalization issues.
“How do we use the urban center as an educational platform?” she
asked, noting, for instance, that the
School of Architecture houses the Detroit
Collaborative Design Center, a non-profit
dedicated to renewing the city and training students to build sustainable communities and revitalize urban areas. “As the
city goes, so goes the university. A lot of
institutions chose to run out of Detroit.
This one chose not to.”
An educator since graduating from
Siena Heights College in 1960, Fay was
preparing to be a president at one of the
Mercy Sisters’ universities when she was
tapped to be the dean of continuing education at St. Xavier College in Chicago in
1976. She spent seven years in the position,
acting as dean of graduate studies, in addition, for the last four years. She taught at
Northern Illinois University at the same
time. Fay holds a master’s degree in English from U of D and a doctorate in social
sciences from the University of Chicago.
“I wasn’t particularly looking for a presidency,” she said, but evidently a presidency
was looking for her. In 1983, Fay took up
the mantle of leadership at Mercy College.
Little did she know, at the time, what challenges lay ahead.
About five years into her term, talk
began about merging three schools – University of Detroit, Mercy College and
She recollects that he told the other presidents not to worry.
“It became clear that to bring somebody in (from the outside) at that particular time would be silly … she seemed
the natural one to be president,” said
Mitchell, who noted that there was some
resistance at first to the idea of a woman
president, but it quickly faded away. “I
think it was a surprise to a lot of people.
As people came to work with her
and know her, they just came to see
what a fine leader she was.
“She is one of the leading
church women in the United
States.”
Ten years later, she received
correspondence from Fr. General
commending her for the respect in
which she is held by the Society.
Fay is still able to recall, with a
smile, an AJCU meeting at which
she was in attendance where the
topic of conversation was “what are
we going to do when we don’t have
any more Jesuit presidents?”
Clearly, that is an issue of concern. “I
think they (the Jesuits), like a lot of religious communities, are struggling with a
manpower shortage,” said Fay. “I think the
big challenge for them and us to figure out
is how you maintain the charism as the
numbers grow smaller.”
After next spring, Fay will have worries of a different kind. She does not know
yet what her assignment will be, but she
feels that the time is right to take on a new
challenge, and she wouldn’t mind returning to the classroom. “I’d love to do it. I
miss teaching,” she said. “You just need
to know when is the right time to go. St.
Ignatius of Loyola said the fruit of the
right decision is peace.”
“How do we use the urban
center as an educational
platform? As the city goes, so
goes the university. A lot of
institutions chose to run out of
Detroit. This one chose not to.”
Marygrove College – to create one large
Catholic university of Detroit. It took several years to put the merger together, during which time Marygrove dropped out of
the discussions. Fay and Fr. Robert
Mitchell (NYK), at the time the president
of the University of Detroit, worked for two
years to bring the consolidation to fruition.
The two had an understanding
between themselves that neither sought
the presidency of the university. So it was
a surprise to Fay when she was asked to
take the helm of the new school. She
declined, saying “I feel as if I’ve been playing poker with people’s lives for two years.”
But there seemed to be a consensus
that the best man for the job was a woman,
and that woman was Maureen Fay. When
she accepted the position, she asked
Mitchell to act as chancellor for two years.
Web Resources
8
http://www.jesuit.ie/livingspace
http://www.usccb.org/comm/glossary.htm
http://www.jesuit.org
This sibling website of Sacred Space offers resources on
prayer, scripture and life. One section presents case
studies of 'real life' ethical dilemmas such as workplace
reform then illuminates them with scripture and an
interpretation. Other sections are Making Sense of the
Mass and Sunday Scripture Reflections.
This is a service of the US Catholic Bishops Conference
that has its origins in a guide prepared for media
personnel before the 1987 Papal visit to the country. It
contains over 200 definitions that are useful not just for
the media, but also in the classroom and even for
preparing questions for parish trivia nights.
Keep up to date on the latest happenings of the Society
of Jesus in the U.S. The latest headlines, formal
statements, news, job postings, vocations information,
and more, can all be found in the redesigned website.
National Jesuit News ■ November 2003
Modesty, refugee work go
hand in hand
Social ministries’
director addresses UN
Photo by Michael M. Deven MD
British Robinson speaks before U.N. participants.
British Robinson, director of Social
and International Ministries at the
Jesuit Conference, participated in a
United Nations symposium marking
the 40th anniversary of John XXIII’s
papal encyclical Pacem in Terris and
the silver jubilee of the Pontificate of
John Paul II. The October 7 event, held
at U.N. headquarters in New York, was
sponsored by the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the U.N.,
the Pontifical Council for Justice and
Peace, and the Path to Peace Foundation.
Robinson was one of seven speakers to address the audience of about
300. Other speakers included Archbishop Celestino Migliore, Secretary
General Kofi Annan, President of the
General Assembly Julian Hunte, Cardinal Edward M. Egan, Archbishop
Renato R. Martino and Canadian Senator Douglas Roche.
Speaking briefly and eloquently,
Robinson delivered an address titled
“The Hope for Peace in Our Time and
Place.” The sole woman to make comments and the only speaker born after
Pacem in Terris was written, Robinson
called the encyclical “almost shocking
in its simplicity, spellbinding in its
truth,” and asked “where is equal time
for peace?” in our media-driven world
today.
Citing corporate trade in oil, diamonds, timber and coltan, and the
abject poverty that leads to the trafficking of small arms and light
weapons, Robinson said that only a
reduction in “the market for civil conflict” will lead to the establishment of
peace. She held up as examples the burgeoning democracies of Chad and
Cameroon, which have benefited from
international collaboration to reduce
poverty and improve lives in both
countries.
Robinson lauded the efforts of the
Jesuit Refugee Service, which, in giving displaced persons the skills to
rebuild their lives, contributes to
“social and economic development,
positive change, and, ultimately, peace.”
She closed by calling upon the audience to become “embedded peacemakers” and to look inward to discover
God’s vision of the goodness of the
world. “I believe in my heart and
mind,” Robinson said, “that peace is
possible.”
States about the conditions of refugees
worldwide. In their own words, refugees
It should almost have come as no sur- would speak for two to three minutes about
prise to those gathered to honor Fr. Frank their experiences, often in their native
Moan (MAR) at the National Migration Con- tongue with a voiceover translation. The
ference in Washington, D.C. this past sum- spots ran free. “We got a lot of mileage out of
mer that he was a no-show. A modest man, it,” he said.”
Karl, who worked with Moan for about
the founder of Jesuit Refugee Service USA
and Refugee Voices can be engaged in con- 10 years at Refugee Voices, first came to
versation for almost a full hour before men- know of him through JRS news dispatches.
tioning his trip to Bosnia in the early 1990s, “I was appreciative of the work he was
at the height of sniper activity in Sarajevo. doing,” she said. Karl’s own background
before her tenure as associate
“That was probably the most
director of Refugee Voices
daring thing I ever did, because
included work in the “mission
I had to go in by a U.N. plane
countries” such as Nicaragua
and I couldn’t go in without a
and a shared interest in working
flak jacket and helmet,” recalled
with the displaced. “He’s very
Moan, 76. “At that time, even
committed. … He’s a very down
though you landed supposedly
to Earth kind of person and yet
in a safe place … when the plane
deeply spiritual.”
landed, we were told we had to
Six years ago, Moan went to
run from the plane to the
Camden to be the administrahangar.”
tive assistant for JUST (Jesuit
It was for this work in Fr. Frank Moan
Urban Service Team) at Holy
Bosnia, and for his efforts on
Name Church. Set in a neighbehalf of refugees in Cambodia,
the Philippines, El Salvador, Jordan, Israel borhood that is roughly half Hispanic and
and around the globe that the USCCB and half African-American, JUST raises money
the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, for the parish, the school, medical clinic,
Inc. honored Moan. Although a flat tire kept legal clinic and the social service agency.
him from actually making it to the event, Retired for the last 18 months, Moan still
the show went on, including a performance helps out in the parish, hearing confessions
of the piece “Children of War,” a dramatic and filling in at Masses.
Mostly, though, he is enjoying taking it
collection of war stories as told by survivors.
His former colleague Sr. Barbara Karl, easy. “I love it!” he said of the retired life.
S.N.D.de N., accepted Moan’s award on his He swims, walks and reads quite a bit, and
spent the summer months doing some
behalf.
Now retired and living in Camden, N.J., “light” reading, including Thucydides’ hisMoan was working as the chaplain of tory of the Peloponnesian Wars. “I was a
Georgetown’s law school when he was asked Latin and Greek teacher and am now havto spend the summer of 1982 helping with ing a chance to read some of the works I
an education project in Thailand. It would assigned at my leisure.”
Friends have been pressing him to write
be a life altering decision. The following
spring, when he heard that a JRS office was about his experiences with JRS and Refugee
being opened at the Jesuit Conference, he Voices, but he has not found the time for that
fair task yet. “If I die, you can tell everybody
asked to be considered for the job.
“JRS only existed in the Rome office at that everything is in boxes, arranged by
that time,” said Moan, who got the job and year,” he joked.
Refugee work is still close to his heart,
held it for four years. It was a barebones
operation at the beginning. “I had to go out and he keeps up with current events through
JRS’ twice-monthly publication of Disand get furniture and a telephone.”
Much of the early work was in Southeast patches. “Most of the stuff which is in DisAsia and, indeed, it was that corner of the patches never gets into the public press,” he
world that first engaged the Society’s inter- said. “It distresses me.”
Equally distressing to him is the conest in and commitment to serving refugees.
Moan related that it was Robert McNama- tinued imperilment of refugees and disra, secretary of defense under Presidents placed persons across the globe. Time
Kennedy and Johnson, who first approached marches on, headlines turn to other subPedro Arrupe about the Vietnamese boat jects, but the suffering continues. Moan recollected sneaking into Iraq to visit Kurdish
people landing on the shores of Thailand.
“McNamara went to Arrupe to ask what refugee camps on the border of Turkey in
the Jesuits could do,” Moan said. Arrupe in the summer of 1991, at the end of the first
turn asked the provincials worldwide to Gulf War. The more things change, the more
send men to Thailand. “That’s where it all they stay the same.
Moan laughs at the mention of having
began. … That was the last great ministry
that he (Arrupe) introduced, the refugee left behind a “legacy,” of helping to shine a
spotlight on a shameful and recurring globministry.”
After four years with JRS, Moan left to al problem. He will only concede, when
found Refugee Voices, a radio program ded- prompted, that “I have indeed” had an intericated to educating people in the United esting career.
By Julie Bourbon
National Jesuit News ■ November 2003
9
FEATURE
Teaching young men
not just the value of
an education;
teaching them to
value themselves
Photos courtesy of Loyola High School
By Julie Bourbon
They call their newsletter the Landmark, and it is a fitting name for the school.
Ten years ago, Loyola High School in Detroit
was housed in an old orphanage built by
Henry Ford. They spent one year there, the
school’s first, until the Archdiocese sold the
property and they were forced to move into
their current facility. The school is a sight
to behold, although it was a sight of an
entirely different sort in 1994.
Abandoned for 10 years, the former St.
Francis de Sales School on Pinehurst needed a little work: a new roof, new ceilings,
new boiler, plastering, windows, lighting.
The old church has been converted into a
gym and abandoned housing has been
cleared to create athletic fields. Future plans
include blocking off a side street to create
a larger campus with more green space. It
is a bright, vibrant place, from the wildly
painted bulldog mascot in the yard outside
to the sanctuary of the library to the accomplished student paintings lining the first
floor hallways.
An inner city
school for inner
city youth, part of
Loyola’s mission
has always been to
teach young men
not only the value
of education, but
also their own
value, despite coming from often difficult financial and
Fr. David Mastrangelo
life circumstances.
“At-risk urban males – we don’t like to
use that language,” said Fr. David Mastrangelo (DET), Loyola’s president. With
160 students this year, the school is at its
pinnacle of enrollment, dedicated to its mission of nurturing “a culture of hope and
success for young men challenged by an
urban environment who may not be working to their academic and social potential.”
“We don’t call ourselves a college prep
school. What we do say is that our goal is
to get every kid to the next step of his formal education, whether that’s college, a twoyear college or job training,” said
10
National Jesuit News ■ November 2003
Mastrangelo. “I have to remind myself what
a big deal it is to graduate from high school.
Most of these kids are the first ones in their
family to go to college.”
The young men, who come to Loyola
after taking a standardized test and submitting to interviews, are typically not performing at grade level when they start,
having fallen an average of two to three
grade levels behind. Some can do the work
but aren’t motivated; some have the motivation but not the skills. Some are learning
disabled, and are benefiting from working
with a special education teacher hired last
year in place of a previous arrangement
with the public schools for special ed. assistance.
Recent alumni have gone from Loyola
High School to the University of Michigan,
Eastern Michigan University, Wayne State
University, local community colleges and
the army. Beginning this year, they will also
have another life opportunity they might
not otherwise have had: gainful employment in an office environment.
Adopting something like the Cristo Rey
model of attending school and holding
down a job, the school this year began the
Loyola Work Experience Program, Inc. or
LWEP. Limited to juniors and seniors, who
were thought by virtue of their status as
upperclassmen to be sufficiently mature,
the program entails working one day a week
plus one Friday a month to help defray the
cost of their tuition. Families pay roughly
$3,200 per student; the remaining $6,000
plus is subsidized by the school or, in the
case of the LWEP participants, the 16
employers.
Seventy-six young men are taking part
this first year at jobs ranging from working
in customer service and human relations at
the Ford Motor Company, to positions with
law firms, health systems and Detroit Edison. All of the jobs are clerical, including
data entry, filing and answering the phones.
“So far, so good,” said Dennis Ross,
LWEP assistant director. “For many, it’s
their first time in an office setting.”
To help prepare the young men for their
maiden voyage into the corporate work
world, the program’s supervisors sponsored
training sessions over the summer. They
covered business etiquette (including prop-
Tyrone Finnie is recognized during Loyola’s first graduation in 1997.
er work attire and phone manners), learned
computer data entry, participated in team
building exercises, even went on a scavenger
hunt throughout the city to find their new
offices.
Not only are the jobs helping the students’ families with tuition – the jobs pay
$6,250 per student or $25,000 over the
course of the year for the four students who
rotate through the week at a particular job
site – they are helping the students grow in
a way that the classroom experience alone
doesn’t.
“We could see an immediate impact on
these young men’s self-esteem and confidence,” said Ross, who gathers each morning with the young men for prayer and to
inspect their attire before sending them off
to the work site, where they put in a full 9
to 5 day. The jobs “help develop skills and
abilities, especially in the communications
area, and wherewithal in the business setting. … We very much appreciate the support of our sponsors. We’re very grateful.”
A Detroit native who spent four years
working at Boston College’s Learning
Resource Center, Ross calls the Jesuit presence in these young men’s lives “a Godsend.”
“They’re giving a tremendous effort and
giving back to urban areas. … They’re willing to provide the means,” he said. “I appreciate the effort.”
Parents are appreciative too, said Mastrangelo. He estimated that about 75 percent of parents come to the quarterly
parent-teacher conferences and are active
in school life. Each family pays a $50
involvement fee, which parents or guardians
can work off throughout the year. About
two-thirds of the students are being raised
by single parents who take great pride and
comfort in sending their sons to Loyola
High School each day.
“I think parents like us because we’re
safe. We don’t have metal detectors. It’s a
safe place, they like that. It’s faith-based,
they like that,” he reflected, adding with a
laugh, “It’s not co-ed, the kids don’t like
that.”
For more information on Loyola High
School, visit their website at www.loyolahsdetroit.org.
Clockwise from above: English teacher J. Michael Steele works with his ninth graders. Practice time for the school’s football team. Principal Tom Dobbs can be found in the hallways. Here he chats with
Christopher McClendon (left) and Ryan Pinkston. Spirit Week at the school provokes a pyramid-building contest. Theology teacher Bonney Hillen enjoys class time with Michael Kyles (left) and Javari Bassett.
“I think parents like us because
we’re safe. We don’t have metal
detectors. It’s a safe place, they like
that. It’s faith-based, they like that,”
he reflected, adding with a laugh,
“It’s not co-ed, the kids don’t like
that.”
National Jesuit News ■ November 2003
11
province briefs
OREGON
■ That costumed panther bounding across Seattle Prep’s gym
during the year’s first convocation
was none other than the new president, Fr. Greg Vance. When the
mascot’s identity was eventually
revealed, students’ whoops and
applause reverberated. A formal
installation and reception
followed a few days later – more
sedate and apropos, but nowhere
near the fun.
■ Fr. Jim Jacobson, long-time
chaplain at Oregon's state pen,
received the Salvation Army’s
Chaplain of the Year Award at the
American Correctional
Association’s Congress of Corrections in Nashville.
■ The architects for the
province’s Loyola Jesuit Center
received an Honor Award for Religious Architecture – New Facilities, by the Interfaith Forum on
Religion, Art and Architecture and
Faith & Form magazine. The Center will be featured in the magazine’s Spring 2004 issue.
■ Meanwhile, construction is
underway for a new two-story
community residence at
Portland’s Jesuit High School.
Community members, currently
residing in three apartments offcampus, expect to move in sometime next spring.
■ The province’s procurator, Fr.
Pat Lee, returned from Spain ready
to share the inspiration and spirit
of the recent Congregation. His first
report was to a combined gathering
of Jesuit communities from the
Portland area on October 1.
■ Spokane and Oregon Jesuits
mourned the death of Marcia
Renouard in early October. For the
last 27 years, Marcia served as the
very capable administrative assistant at Gonzaga University’s
Jesuit House. In September, the
community celebrated her retirement with a special reception.
Weeks later they hosted a much
sadder reception for Marcia's family and friends after her funeral.
■ A Yup’ik tradition honors the
dead with a feed on significant
anniversaries, so the Eskimo village of Cheforank did just that for
Fr. Norm Donohue in October,
marking the 20th anniversary of
his death. The current pastoral
minister, Fr. Paul Cochran, was
on hand to partake in the meal
and Eskimo dancing that followed.
CALIFORNIA
■ Fr. Mike Kennedy appeared on
the season premier of the popular
television program The West Wing
last month, giving communion to the
show’s main character, Martin
Sheen. But critics seemed more
interested in knowing who the tall
acolyte was that assisted him at the
Mass.
■ Although he is back in Hollywood
as superior of the Jesuit Community
at Blessed Sacrament, Fr. Tom
McCormick continues his ministry
to the Santa Barbara Pastoral Region
by directing and teaching courses in
the Permanent Deaconate Formation
Program.
■ Finishing up his internship hours
for a Marriage and Family Therapy
Degree, Fr. Michael Turnacliff has
moved in with the St. Agnes Parish
community of San Francisco to be
closer to his patients. Michael is likewise getting quite well versed in the
pastoral role as he assists Fr.
Cameron Ayers.
■ Fr. Dave Robinson has returned
to the California Province after serving the community of St. Joseph’s
Parish in Benin City, Nigeria for the
past three years. Dave has rejoined
the St. Ignatius College Prep community in San Francisco and is working around the bay in spiritual
direction.
■ After successfully completing his
comprehensive exams at Claremont,
Fr. Pat Kelly (DET) has been beating
the research trail in France this
semester, seeking material for his
thesis in the area of theology and
play. Pat recently co-authored a
book with professor Jim Yerkovich
titled “WE: A Model for Coaching
and Christian Living.”
■ Br. Jim Siwicki was recognized at
Santa Clara for expanding and energizing the Alumni For Others
program along with offering them an
array of spirituality programs. Last
year, more than 1,750 alumni and
friends worked at over 30 community service projects serving abused
women and children in transitional
shelters, at risk students in Jesuit
Nativity Schools, the elderly and the
homeless.
WISCONSIN
■ After months of intense training,
novice Ben Bocher placed 45th out
of some 10,000 people in the Twin
Cities Marathon, 17th in his age
group. The novitiate is gearing up
for a Come & See Weekend in
which 12 candidates will get a taste
of what novitiate life involves. Several of the novices decided to apply
following a previous weekend and
now it is their turn to welcome others into their home.
■ The Mulumba House Community was involved in the benefit performance of Larry Gallagher's
Beehive at the Joslyn Art Museum's
Witherspoon Theater on October 8.
Br. Mike Wilmot made a metal
sculpture for auction as part of the
fundraiser for St. Benedict the
Moor and Sacred Heart parishes.
With help from a friend in Gesu
Housing, he built the stage for the
event.
■ Fr. Bob Tillman was inducted
into the Creighton Prep Hall of
Fame on October 9 for his 20 years
of service to the school.
■ The Raynor Library has dedicated its archives and the Francis Paul
Prucha Reading Room, named
after Marquette’s longdistinguished Native American historian Fr. Paul Prucha. Paul has
been instrumental in building the
resources of Marquette's archives.
Talks were given on Dorothy Day
and Lakota Catholicism, followed by
an address by Paul and a reception.
■ Fr. Jim Gladstone, of the Marquette University Jesuit Community, has been named the new
formation director of the Wisconsin
Province. Historians will note that
this is Jim’s second go-round as formation director; times have
changed, but like fine wine, solid
formatores remain vibrant. Fr.
William Kelly has been named the
new minister of the Marquette University Jesuit Community.
■ Fr. Clint Albertson has put
together three of his slide lectures on
the LMU Jesuit Community web
page (www.jesuit.lmu.edu) which tell
the stories of castles and cathedrals
throughout Wales, France and England. Clint is also quite well versed at
giving talks on the evolution of
church architecture.
■ The Institute for Latin American
Concern (ILAC) celebrated 30 years
of existence in the Dominican
Republic. Fr. Ernesto Travieso is
one of its founders and director of
development. The program, in
cooperation with Creighton University, brings health care to the
underserved and provides an opportunity for students and faculty to
learn another culture. Participants
have come from Creighton U.,
Creighton Prep, Marquette, Marquette H.S., Georgetown, Gonzaga
H.S., Wheeling and Scotus H.S. in
Nebraska.
-- Jerry Hayes SJ
-- Patrick Dorsey SJ
-- Brad Reynolds SJ
12
National Jesuit News ■ November 2003
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
‘Living’ presence made self
known in ministry
To the editor:
In November 1974 in response to a food emergency that
affected more than 500 million people worldwide, the United
Nations convened a World Food Conference in Rome.
This was the first major UN session to look at the international food problem in a comprehensive manner. At that time,
Fr. John Blewett (cf. page 17) was educational advisor to Fr.
Arrupe in Rome. I was monitoring the Conference for the Center of Concern. In the lobby of the large Center where the Conference was being held, between formal sessions, government
ministers, delegates and their staffs, UN officials, NGOs, and
the press mingled about, sharing views, catching up with others, exchanging position papers, etc. Many comings and goings.
About midway through the deliberations, as the rich, industrialized nations were being sharply challenged to come up with
more favorable terms to address the acute starvation particularly as it was being experienced in Africa, Newsweek’s cover
photo featured a distraught African mother holding her emaciated dying child in her arms. The photo was a story in itself.
John bought two issues of Newsweek, cut out the cover photos and mounted them on two boards, which he draped over his
shoulders so that the pictures were clearly visible, front and
back. Below the photos, he had printed in large, bold type,
“WHATEVER YOU DO TO ONE OF THESE...”
Then, dressed in black suit and collar, he came to the Conference Center and spent the better part of a day strolling slowly back and forth in the lobby making sure ministers, delegates
and all those mingling about saw the photo, read the caption
and were sharply reminded of the purpose of their Conference.
He caused a bit of a stir. The press, of course, loved it! Some
passersby were clearly moved; others tried to ignore him. That
didn’t seem to matter to John. What did matter was that those
most vulnerable and in need were a “living” presence in the
heart of the debate.
It was a glimpse of my brother in a different role, which made
a lasting impression on me, and I like to believe, on the Conference itself.
Jane Blewett
Laurel, Md.
General statistics for www.jesuit.org
January-September 2003
Average number of successful hits = 1,368,949
Average number of visits = 37,426
Average number of unique visitors = 15,899
Average number of visitors who visited once = 13,015
Average number of visitors who visit more than once =
2,884
Most downloaded files in September
Spiritual Exercises (3,160)
What Makes a Jesuit H.S. Jesuit? (1,046)
Standing for the Unborn (681)
IAT Summer 2003 (186)
NJN June 2003 (106)
Hundreds of women and men
serving as Jesuit Volunteers
Of the 434 women and men ser ving the
poor in the U.S. and in 11 other countries as
Jesuit Volunteers this year, 201 graduated from
Jesuit colleges and universities. All have made
at least a one-year commitment that began this
August.
Boston College gave 35 graduates for service as Jesuit Volunteers, while Gonzaga University gave 22. Other Jesuit
schools with 10 or more
graduates serving as Jesuit
Volunteers are Xavier University (15), Marquette
University (14), and Saint
Joseph's University (10).
In addition there are
nine from Creighton University, eight from Loyola
College in Maryland, Santa
Clara University, Seattle
University and the University of Scranton. Seven
graduates of the College of
the Holy Cross and Saint
Louis University are also represented.
The remaining Jesuit schools giving volunteers are: Loyola Mar y mount Universit y
(5), Saint Peter’s College (5), Canisius College (4), Fordham University (4), Loyola Universit y New Orleans (4), John Car roll
University (3), LeMoyne College (3), Rockhurst University (3), Spring Hill College (3),
Reg is Universit y (2), Universit y of Detroit
Mercy (2), and Fairfield University, Georgetow n Universit y, and Wheeling Jesuit University with one each.
Twenty-seven of the 28 Jesuit colleges and
universities are represented in the JVC and JVI
programs this year through alumni involvement.
The Jesuit Volunteer Corps ministers in five
regions throughout the United States. Volunteers
serve in urban settings like Detroit, New York,
Houston, Chicago, Seattle, and Los Angeles and
in rural settings such as Alaska and Native
American
reservations.
They put their faith into
action by working for social
justice in many ministries,
including caring for people
with AIDS, advocating for
people living in homeless
shelters, teaching elementary and high school students, organizing in low
income communities, resettling refugees, and facilitating
after-school
programs for at-risk children.
This year 101 volunteers will serve with the JVC Northwest, 82 in
the JVC Southwest, 87 in the JVC East, 49 in
the JVC South, and 41 in the JVC Midwest.
Jesuit Volunteers International ser ves in
Belize, Haiti, Nicaragua, Peru, Chile, Bolivia,
Nepal, Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, South
Africa, and Tanzania. The volunteers accompany the poor in these developing countries
by working in schools, with youth, and in
parishes.
There are 74 volunteers serving a two-year
commitment in the JVI this year.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Professor of Hebrew/Bible
Canisius College
Buffalo, New York
Executive Director
Holy Spirit Center
Anchorage, Alaska
Full-time, tenure-track, PhD preferred (ABD
considered). Undergraduate teaching, Introduction to Religion, strong secondary fields, areas of
expertise. Candidate should support college's mission statement (www.Canisius.edu). Canisius College is an independent, co-educational,
medium-sized institution of higher education
conducted in the Roman Catholic and Jesuit tradition. Minority candidates strongly encouraged.
Position contingent on funding.
Dossier including CV, transcripts, three references to Fr. Benjamin Fiore, S.J., Religious Studies Department, Canisius College, 2001 Main
Street, Buffalo, NY 14208 (716-888-2820, FAX
716-888-3137, Fiore@canisius.edu).
Application review begins January 15, 2004.
Preliminary interviews at AAR/SBL meeting in
Atlanta.
Holy Spirit Center provides Ignatian based
retreats, pastoral programs, and related services. We are seeking a dynamic, innovative
executive director who demonstrates effective
collaborative leadership. Applicant will have
administrative experience. Persuasive oral and
written communication skills, demonstrated
professional expertise in fund raising, budgeting, marketing, and strategic planning.
Refer to job description and application on our
website, http//home.gci.net/~hsrh. Please submit your application and resume addressing
minimum qualifications to Search Committee,
Holy Spirit Center, 10980 Hillside Drive,
Anchorage Alaska 99507. Position will remain
open until filled. Review of applications will
begin December 4, 2003, with a start date in
July, 2004.
MISSOURI
■ The National Association of Hispanic Priests at their convention in
Denver this fall gave to Fr. Tom
Prag its Buen Pastor Award for his
service to the Latino community.
The group gives one such award
annually to a Hispanic priest, and
another to an Anglo priest. For the
past eight years, Prag has
spearheaded local Jesuit presence in
the Latino community. He was the
founding superior of the Miguel
Pro Jesuit Community, and was
instrumental in gathering broad
local support for a new
neighborhood Hispanic grade
school, Escuela de Guadalupe. Prag
will be moving to St. Louis in January to take up the ministry of the
Exercises at White House Retreat.
■ This has been a big year for Fr.
Bill Hutchison. He has enjoyed the
celebrations of his 50 years in the
Society, and has enjoyed even more
seeing the 20 new homes being built
by his Northside Community Center
take shape for November occupancy. It is a major step forward in the
revitalization of the Ville neighborhood, the location of St. Matthew
Parish in St. Louis. Hutchison was
recently recognized by the Center
for Counseling and Family Therapy
at Saint Louis University with its
Garanzini Service Award (named for
Fr. Mike Garanzini, who helped
found the center).
■ Regis University president Fr.
Mike Sheeran awarded an
honorary doctorate to Cardinal
Roger M. Mahoney of Los Angeles.
He described Mahoney as “a
churchman of courage (who) is
unafraid to be a force for reconciliation in an American Church longing
to find common ground.” The Cardinal’s talk kicked off the fall
sequence of the school’s lecture
series to commemorate the 40th
anniversary of Vatican II. Fr. Ed
Oakes, visiting professor at
Mundelein, later spoke on “Vatican
II: A Conservative or Liberal Council?”
■ After many years in Rome, Fr.
Bob O’Toole has begun his new
work as president of the Gregorian
Foundation.
NEW ORLEANS
■ Fr. Mark Thibodeaux and his
retreat team at Strake Jesuit
Preparatory in Houston are implementing a new retreat for juniors.
The retreat features a day of community service work that leads into
a night of reflection and continues
the following day.
■ Fr. Provincial Fred Kammer
presided at the final vow Mass of
Fr. Dan Lahart (MAR), president
and community superior at Strake
Jesuit.
■ Br. Ferrell Blank was appointed liaison officer between the vicepresident for finance and
administration at Spring Hill College and a film company making a
feature called “Dead Birds.” The
movie was filmed on location,
mainly at Oak Grove, the former
college retreat and conference center in the woods north of Mobile.
■ The new dean of the Loyola
University School of Law, Brian
Bromberger, an Orthodox Jew and
native of Australia, remarked after
attending his first Mass, the annual
Mass of the Holy Spirit, that the
Catholics had “borrowed” much of
the ritual from Jewish sources.
■ The annual pilgrimage for Jesuit
friends and benefactors featured a
bus trip to the Jesuit novitiate at St.
Charles College in Grand Coteau.
Fr. Warren Broussard offered the
visitors real Cajun fare for lunch.
■ Fr. Fran Pistorius, pastor,
presided at the first Lifeteen Mass
at St. Ignatius Church in Spring,
Texas. The church was filled to
capacity.
■ Fr. George Lundy and Br.
Terry Todd are enjoying a sabbatical at Sangre De Christo Center, 10
miles from Santa Fe, New Mexico.
■ Jesuit High School of New
Orleans recently practiced a “lockin” procedure, in the event that a
terrorist or other dangerous person
managed to get into the school.
■ Fr. Tom Madden, a member of
the staff at the Jesuit Spirituality
Center in Grand Coteau, has
become pastor at neighboring St.
Charles Borromeo Church.
■ Fr. Dave Fleming took time
away from his new position as
province formation director to lead
recent Ignatian Spirituality Days for
Jesuits and colleagues at both White
House Retreat in St. Louis and
Sacred Heart Retreat in Colorado.
His talks centered around the theme
“Exercises for the Heart.”
■ In addition to Mr. Aaron Pidel,
three more scholastics of the
Southern Province have moved
into Ciszek Hall for First Studies at
Fordham: Messrs. Jay Hooks,
Brian Reedy and Jeff Johnson.
-- Philip G. Steele SJ
-- Donald Hawkins SJ
National Jesuit News ■ November 2003
13
PROVINCE BRIEFS
CHICAGO
■ On October 26, Fr. Eugene J.
Nevins, director of Catholic Chaplains
at Cook County Hospital, Fr. James E.
Chambers (PAT), and Fr. Robert E.
Finn celebrated the 100th anniversary
of Jesuit service to the patients and
staff of the hospital. Bishop John
Manz attended the celebration along
with many Jesuits, hospital staff and
patients. For a century, Jesuits have
served as chaplains in the hospital
without receiving compensation.
■ Fr. Robert L. Bireley’s new book
“The Jesuits and the Thirty Years
War: Kings, Courts, and Confessors”
was recently published by Cambridge
University Press.
■ On September 12, Xavier University’s Fr. Robert C. Baumiller
(MAR) gave the keynote address at
the conference “Made in God’s Image?
A Dialogue between Genetics and
Religion,” at the Carolinas Medical
Center in Charlotte, N.C. Baumiller’s
lecture was titled “From Genesis to
Genetics.”
■ Fr. Ken Overberg’s new book
“Into the Abyss of Suffering: A
Catholic View” was recently published
by St Anthony Messenger Press.
Overberg also took the picture of a
cross on Mt. Nebo in Jordan that
appears on the cover of the book.
■ During Ordination Weekend this
summer, Fr. Daniel L. Flaherty presented “Seventy Five Years: The
Chicago Province of the Society of
Jesus,” a 40-minute video highlighting
the Chicago Province’s long history on
the occasion of its 75th anniversary.
Fr. Edward J. Siebert (CFN), director
of Loyola Productions, produced the
film for the Chicago Province. Complimentary VHS and DVD copies of
the film are available from the Chicago Province Office (773-975-8181).
■ Fr. Gene Phillips, a film scholar
and English professor at Loyola University, recently contributed to Radio
Free Europe reports about film directors John Schlesinger and the late
Academy Award winner Elia Kazan.
■ Fr. Ludwig F. Stiller (NEP) was
presented with the Bhim Thapa
Memorial Award for his significant
contribution to the history of Nepal.
■ Frs. David A Godleski and Warren J. Sazama (WIS) co-hosted “Six
Weeks a Jesuit,” an intentional discernment program for men considering the Society. Seven men from
around the U.S. participated in the
program, which asked them to live as
if they were Jesuits for six weeks.
DETROIT
■ Fr. John Saliba’s (MAL) book
“Understanding New Religious
Movements” (Altamira Press, 2nd
edition, 2003) has recently been
published. It offers an
understanding of the many religious sects and cults that have
developed in the last 40 years.
■ Br. Jerome Pryor recently
delivered a paper at the Annual
Assembly on Teaching in the
Humanities sponsored by the
School of the Visual Arts in Manhattan. The paper was entitled
“Using the Film ‘Valmont’ to
Teach Rococo Humanities in a
University Humanities Appreciation Course.”
■ Five Jesuit brothers, Jim
Gates, Dick Hittle, Jim Horgan,
John Moriconi and Joe
Shubitowski, spoke to the first
year Detroit and Chicago novices
on September 30 about their vocation and the role of the Jesuit
brother today. The talk was organized by Br. Jim Boyton, the
Detroit Province vocation director
and minister at the novitiate.
■ Ss. Peter and Paul Parish in
Detroit was honored with a benefit dinner at the Detroit Athletic
Club on September 24. The occasion was the 125th anniversary of
Jesuit ministry at the parish.
Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick of
Detroit was in attendance, as well
as Oakland County Executive L.
Brooks Patterson. The dinner
raised $65,000 for the parish.
Sponsors included all major labor
unions in the Detroit area and
some corporations as well.
■ On September 17, St. Ignatius
High School in Cleveland
celebrated Jesuit Appreciation
Day. The hour long extended
homeroom rally featured a special
video, proclamations from Bishop
Pilla, Fr. Provincial Robert
Scullin, and Cleveland Mayor
Jane Campbell and testimonials
from a student, a teacher and the
board president.
■ Fr. Joe Mulligan, based in
Nicaragua, traveled to Honduras
in September for a series of events
commemorating the 20th anniversary of the disappearance of Fr.
Jim Carney. For more
information about the disappearance and the investigation, please
contact Mulligan at
mull@ibw.com.ni
-- George Kearney
14
National Jesuit News ■ November 2003
-- John Moriconi SJ
Fr. Byron accepts position as acting
president at Loyola New Orleans
But he said the Catholic Church now has “a noNEW ORLEANS (CNS) -- Named acting president of Loyola University New Orleans on Oct. 7 nonsense, quick-action policy and it’s all for the
was Fr. William J. Byron (MAR), former president protection of children.”
“Whenever something like this happens, it’s
of The Catholic University of America and a former dean of arts and sciences at the New Orleans like a kick in the teeth,” Fr. Byron added. “I have
university. He will serve until a permanent suc- deep, deep sympathy for this good man who’s been
accused. I have deep sympathy for anyone who’s
cessor is named.
He replaces Fr. Bernard P. Knoth (CHG), who been a victim of sexual misconduct.”
The allegation against Fr. Knoth, 54, was invesresigned as president. Chicago Provincial Fr.
tigated by a review board of the ChicaEdward Schmidt decided that a comgo province of the Jesuits and was
plaint alleging sexual misconduct in the
determined to be credible, said Fr.
1980s was credible and removed him
James P. Gschwend (CHG), provincial
from ministry.
delegate, in a statement. He said Fr.
Fr. Knoth denied “any inappropriKnoth has requested a leave of absence
ate conduct” in a statement announcfrom the Jesuits.
ing his resignation. The alleged
No other information about the
misconduct was said to have taken
alleged misconduct was disclosed,
place in 1986 at Brebeuf Jesuit Preparaincluding whether the accuser was
tory School in Indianapolis where
male or female.
Father Knoth served as principal from
Fr. William Byron
Fr. Byron, 76, was born in Pitts1983 to 1988.
burgh and grew up in Philadelphia. He
Father Byron said at an Oct. 7 press
conference at the university that Fr. Knoth “has entered the Jesuits in 1950 and was ordained a
served this university generously and well as pres- priest in 1961. He holds a doctorate in economics
ident for eight years.” He described the resignation from the University of Maryland, two theology
as “another event in a series of tragic events that degrees from Woodstock College, and a bachelor’s
in my view constitutes the greatest crisis that the degree in philosophy and master’s degree in ecoCatholic Church has had to deal with in the United nomics from St. Louis University.
States.”
ANNOUNCEMENT
Director of Campus Ministry
Georgetown University
Washington, District of Columbia
At Georgetown University, the nation’s oldest
Catholic and Jesuit institution of higher learning,
the Office of Campus Ministry serves both the University’s Roman Catholic students and students of
other faiths. The Campus Ministry staff includes
Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, and
Orthodox Christian chaplains. The Director of
Campus Ministry reports to the Vice President for
Mission and Ministry and works with the Vice
President and other University officials to promote
the Catholic and Jesuit character of the University.
The Director is expected to guide the department in its efforts to help students integrate their
intellectual lives, their spiritual development, and
service to others; to foster inter-religious understanding and coordinate interfaith activities on
campus; implement programs and activities on all
three campuses to involve faculty, staff, and students in fostering the religious life of the University; and serve as a resource for, and liaison with,
academic and student affairs programs that promote the Catholic and Jesuit nature of the University and will assist the Vice President and others
with the collaborative development of new programs in these areas. Consequently, it is necessary
that the Director have a strong knowledge of and
deep identification with Roman Catholicism.
Under the supervision of the Vice President for
Mission and Ministry, the Director will oversee
departmental administration, staffing and policies, including the development, presentation, and
management of the annual operating budget.
Campus Ministry includes a full-time staff of 23,
a part-time staff of 10 and an annual budget of
approximately $2.4 million. The Director must be
a charismatic, creative, decisive, energetic, effective, and principled leader with an in-depth understanding and personal commitment to the Catholic
and Jesuit character of Georgetown and Ignatian
spirituality. It is preferable that the Director possess a Ph.D., D.Min. or equivalent, significant leadership experience in campus ministry, and proven
managerial skills within a pastoral setting. Compensation for this position is competitive with similar positions at other private research universities.
Qualified candidates are asked to submit a
letter of interest, a current curriculum vitae,
and a list of four references. Completed applications will be reviewed immediately. Application deadline: December 5, 2003. Preferred
starting date: March 1, 2004. Please direct
applications or inquiries about the position to:
Rev. Ryan J. Maher, S.J., Chairman of the Search
Committee; Office of Mission and Ministry;
Georgetown University, 113 Healy; Box 571250;
Washington, DC 20057. Phone: 202-687-5902.
Email: rjm27@georgetown.edu. Applications
filed electronically can be sent to: vb5@georgetown.edu.
Photo by Nancy Urbanas
ILVC names new
executive director
Suzanne Geaney has been appointed executive director of the
Ignatian Lay Volunteer Corps by its board of directors. She has been
a member of the board since its inception in 1995.
Geaney most recently served three years as Development Director and 10 years as Director of Social Ministries for the Maryland
Province Jesuits. A native of Paterson, NJ, she is a graduate of the
College of the Holy Cross (B.A., English). She
holds a Masters in Social Service from the
Bryn Mawr College Graduate School of Social
Work and Social Research. She is married
and has two children.
ILVC currently has 200 volunteers in 12
locales including Baltimore, Chicago, Detroit,
San Diego, the New York metropolitan area,
St. Paul, Minneapolis, Elmira, Syracuse,
Rochester, the Washington DC metropolitan
area, and central New Jersey. They volunteer
two
days a week in social service agencies,
Suzanne Geaney
schools, nursing homes and prisons.
The inspiration of St. Ignatius Loyola guides a unique spiritual
facet of the program: a spiritual reflector assigned to each volunteer helps him or her deepen their spiritual lives as they serve the
poor. Most volunteers have found the program meaningful enough
to renew their commitments annually. Directors of organizations
where the volunteers are involved value their mature, steady contribution and rely on them as part-time employees.
Currently there are 35 million Americans age 65 and older and
by 2030 there will be 70 million. “The retirees who join the ILVC
want to stay involved in their communities after their retirement.
They want to use their experience and skills to both give back to
society and enhance their lives. ILVC’s mission meets all those
desires,” said Geaney.
For more information on the ILVC, call 1-888-831-4686 or visit
www.ilvc.org on the Internet.
Jesuits needed to teach
English in Vietnam
and Thailand
The Jesuits of Vietnam and Thailand are inviting U.S. Jesuits as
well as some laypersons to assist novices and scholastics in Vietnam
as well as religious women and laypersons in Thailand in improving
their English-speaking skills during the summer of 2004.
A group of Jesuit novices and scholastics in Ho Chi Minh City will
study English June 14-July 9. Participating Jesuit teachers will live in
a local hotel and travel 30 minutes each class day to teach 25 to 30
students.
A second group consisting of 25-30 women and men in Chiangmaii, Thailand, will study June 28-July 23. Teachers here will reside
at the Jesuit Retreat House with participating students. This group
includes religious women, lay teachers in the Catholic schools, and
seminarians from Bangkok.
Most of the students have already studied some English, but few
of them speak an “active” English. They have also had very little contact with Westerners. The experience is an opportunity for linguistic
and cultural exchange going both ways. The teaching method will
include the use of music, film, poetry, writing, humor, and small
groups. The group will work with pronunciation and writing and
communication skills. Liturgy will be conducted in English.
Participants are asked to pay their own travel expenses and work
for room and board while there. The teaching opportunities are expected to continue on an annual basis. Interested Jesuits are asked to contact Fr. Tom Weston (CFN), 510-653-5843, for more information.
MARYLAND
■ Fr. Jim Redington has begun
a joint appointment as both
Woodstock senior fellow for
interreligious dialogue and associate professor of interreligious
dialogue at the Jesuit School of
Theology, Berkeley.
■ Fr. Leon Hooper (CFN) has
taken over from Fr. Joe Tylenda
as the new head of the
Woodstock Theological Library
at Georgetown University, while
he continues as Senior Fellow at
the Woodstock Center.
■ At the end of July, Fr. Joseph
Hacala became the President of
Wheeling Jesuit University. Fr.
General appointed Fr. Terrence
Toland as Acting Rector of the
Jesuit Community at WJU, effective October 3. Fr. George
Hohman served as Acting Superior from August 2 to October 2.
■ At WJU's Mass of the Holy
Spirit, Bishop Bernard Schmitt
was the principal celebrant. Fr.
Provincial Timothy Brown
delivered the homily. Following
the Mass, there was a picnic lunch
for the campus community.
■ Fr. Brian O'Donnell has
become the acting Co-Director of
the Appalachian Institute at
WJU.
■ Fr. Jeffrey Baerwald (NYK)
has opened the Loyola Clinic at
Belvedere Square in Baltimore.
This clinic, offering psychological, audiological and speech
pathology testing for young people in Baltimore has been a longtime vision for Baerwald.
■ In early September, Fr. Paul
Stark (MIS) and the Office of
Campus Ministry, together with
the Jesuit Community, hosted a
cook-out for WJU students who
had graduated from Jesuit high
schools.
■ In early October, Fr. John
Donahue was host for an extraordinary set of memorial lectures in
honor of the late Raymond E.
Brown, SS, at St. Mary’s
Seminary.
NEW YORK
NEW ENGLAND
■ Fr. Joseph O’Hare bade farewell
to Fordham University’s
presidency this past summer as Fr.
Joseph McShane took office. The
new dormitory – Millennium Hall –
will henceforth be known as O’Hare
Hall. Joe has seen no lightening of
his schedule. In August he gave one
of the plenary session addresses at
the Association of Southeast and
East Asian Catholic Colleges and
Universities in Bangkok. The
Catholic University of Taiwan invited him for a week in September to
discuss the identity and mission of
Catholic universities. Joe also
devoted much time this summer as
a member of the New York City
Charter Revision Committee, and is
now settling in at America House
as an associate editor.
■ On their patronal feast in June,
Sts. Peter and Paul Parish in Norwich, Conn., pastored by Fr. Phil
Pusateri, celebrated 20 years of
Jesuit ministry to the parish. The
festivities were even happier
because of the recent extension of
the Jesuits’ commitment to the
parish.
■ New York Province Jesuits have
been ministering in Nigeria since
the 1960s. Fr. Ramon Salomone,
the regional superior, announced
that he will be writing Fr. General
to start the lengthy process of the
region becoming an independent
province. Fr. Provincial Gerald
Chojnacki has endorsed this first
step as a “consensus of holy
desires.”
■ On September 27, Frs. Paul
Holland, Gerry McKeon and Jim
Dressman, chaplains to the
University of Connecticut at Storrs,
surprised nine pre-candidates to
the Society with their first-hand
knowledge of Jesuit international
ministries. The three, who were
telling their vocation stories at a
Come and See Day for pre-candidates, had labored for two years in
Zambia, eight years in Jamaica and
41 years in Nepal, respectively
■ The third bi-annual Father
Janer Award was given October 2
to three great supporters of the
work of the original Nativity Middle School in Lower Manhattan.
Fr. Walter Janer (PRI), the
school’s founder, never imagined
that some 40 replicas would spring
up around the country. The Janer
Award is given for service in providing educational opportunities to
underserved youth and this year
was awarded to Pierce Butler
(Georgetown University
alumnus), Dr. Paul Reiss (former
AVP of Fordham University), and
Fr. James Keenan, president of St.
Peter’s Prep in Jersey City.
■ Fr. Vincent M. Cooke was honored by the Buffalo Renaissance
Foundation as their 2003 Renaissance Man.
■ Fr. Ed Quinnan has been dealing with fire marshals and
insurance adjustors as Mt. Manresa Retreat House recovers from
arsonist damage.
■ Fr. Charles Borges (GOA)
hosted a conference of scholars in
Goa, India in early September to
discuss the relationships between
the early Jesuits and the Church
in Rome.
■ Fr. Mike Flynn, pastor of our
newest parish ministry, St. Mary of
the Assumption on Staten Island,
reports a very successful HAP summer for 97 local youngsters.
Jackie Antkowiak
-- Louis T. Garaventa SJ
■ Karl Chartier, Mario Powell,
Tom Simisky, and Bret Stockdale
entered the newly-combined novitiate in Syracuse, New York, on
August 23 as New England Province
primi novices, and in doing so they
made history. On that day they
became the first class of New England primi to enter outside the
province since the opening of the
“new” Shadowbrook in 1958.
■ On Oct. 30, Fr. Normand A.
Pepin of Fairbanks, Alaska,
received the state’s annual arts
award in recognition of his contributions as a composer of music.
The presentation was made at the
annual awards banquet in Anchorage by Gov. Frank Murkowski, a
Roman Catholic and a native of
Fairbanks. Normand is the third
Jesuit to receive the arts award in
three consecutive years. One of the
members of the awards committee
was quoted as saying that “a number of people felt it was about time
[Normand] received the award.”
■ On November 22, Fr. Thomas F.
Clark, pastor of St. Francis de
Sales-St. Philip’s Parish in the Roxbury section of Boston, will receive
the Robert Leo Ruffin Award from
the archdiocese’s Office for Black
Catholics. This award, which has
been given only twice before (in
1997 and 2000), is described as
being presented to “individuals
who have offered selfless sacrifice,
creative vision and significant service to the Black Catholic community, who have fostered educational
opportunities and demonstrated
strong personal faith and compassion, and who have reflected in
their lives active concern for the
unity of the Church.”
-- Kenneth J. Boller SJ
-- Richard Roos SJ
National Jesuit News ■ November 2003
15
memorials
Henry F. Birkenhauer SJ
(Detroit) Father Henry F. Birkenhauer died June 13,
2003, at Colombiere Center, Clarkston, Mich. The cause
of death was congestive heart failure. He was a Jesuit for
69 years and a priest for 58 years.
Henry was born in Toledo,
Ohio, on February 26, 1914. He
attended St. John’s High School
(1928-1931) and also the old St.
John’s College (1931-1933) before
entering the Society of Jesus at
the Milford novitiate, Milford,
Ohio, on September 8, 1933.
At West Baden College, West
Baden Springs, Ind., he received
an A.B. in Latin (1936). Special
studies took him to St. Louis
University (1939-1942) where he received an M.S. in
mathematics (1941) and a Ph.D. in geophysics in 1942.
He returned to West Baden College to study theology (1942-1946). Ordained June 13, 1945, he made tertianship at St. Stanislaus novitiate, Parma, Ohio,
(1952-1953) and professed the four vows at Gesu Church,
Cleveland, Ohio, on August 15, 1960.
Henry’s teaching career began at Xavier University,
Cincinnati, Ohio (1938-1939). He was a professor of
mathematics at John Carroll University (1947-1962) and
later became the director of the department.
As a seismologist, Henry achieved national recognition. Asked by a group of U.S. scientists to participate
in an expedition to the South Pole as the chief seismologist, he also became the team’s spiritual advisor. The
trip lasted for 15 months. Henry became known as the
Polar Priest.
In 1963 he stepped out of the classroom and became
tertian director. In 1968 he returned to John Carroll University as the assistant to the president and then president of the university from 1970-1980.
During these years he also gave retreats at the Jesuit
Retreat House in Parma, Ohio. In 1980 Bishop Anthony
Pilla asked Henry to be the Episcopal Vicar for Religious
of the Cleveland Diocese. In 1984 he became the rector
of St. John’s High School.
Not one to hang up his shoes, Henry did retreat
direction at Holy Rosary/St. John’s parish in Columbus,
Ohio. He returned to Cleveland where he became a
member of the spirituality team at St. Ignatius High
School until 1999, retiring to Colombiere Center to pray
for the Society and the Church.
A man for others, Henry could not refuse anyone
who asked for his help. An excellent administrator, a
great scientist, and a very rich human being, he was a
man with a tremendous desire for God and a deep desire
to do what God asked of him. He had a special gift in
bringing Jesus into the lives of others.
-- Dick Conroy SJ
Francis D. MacPeck SJ
(California) Father Francis D. MacPeck, 70, died June
27, 2003 in Long Beach from a combination of pneumonia, emphysema and asthma. He would have celebrated his Golden Jubilee in the Society this summer
and had been a priest for 36 years.
Frank was born in San Diego in 1932, but spent
much of his youth in Las Vegas. Baptized in 1950, he
attended Loyola University, 1950-53, and entered the
novitiate at Los Gatos on August 14 of that year. He studied philosophy in Spokane and completed regency at St.
Ignatius High School, San Francisco, 1960-64, where
Frank taught Spanish and English.
He studied theology at Alma College and was
ordained to the priesthood in 1967. During fourth year
of theology, Frank spent a month as chaplain to the United Farm Workers in Delano, Calif. He made tertianship
in Florence, Italy and his solemn profession in 1976 in
Torreón, Mexico.
16
National Jesuit News ■ November 2003
Originally slated for doctoral studies in philosophy, Frank
was drawn to working with the
Spanish-speaking and spent 18
years working in Mexico. In 1969
he joined the first group of Californians in the newly assigned
mission endeavor in Jalapa, Veracruz, where he served in a barrio church among the poor.
In 1974 he was assigned to the Carlos Pereyra Prep
School in Torreón, where he taught and served as director of the preparatory department, remaining until 1981.
After a sabbatical Frank went to the Instituto Cultural,
an intermediate and secondary school in Tampico, where
he taught ethics and religion and served as chaplain and
retreat director. From 1985-87 he served in the same
capacities at the Instituto Lux in Leon.
Returning to the United States in 1987, Frank taught
for a year at Verbum Dei High School in Watts before
serving as an associate pastor at St. Joseph’s Church, San
Jose, 1988-91. Other teaching assignments at Cantwell
High School, Los Angeles and Bellarmine Prep, San Jose,
followed. In 1997 he became associate pastor to St.
Peter’s Church, San Francisco, where he provided leadership following the death of the pastor and the destruction of the church by fire. Ill health mandated his coming
to Sacred Heart Jesuit Center in 2002. In early summer
of this year Frank took up an assignment at St. Athanasius Parish, Long Beach, but shortly after his arrival
there, he was hospitalized with his final illness.
He had a quick wit and had a penchant for taking a
contrarian stance in political and theological discussions. Quick to smile, he nevertheless had little patience
for what he considered political correctness and was not
shy of expressing his heart-felt convictions. A lively
exchange of opinion was the usual fare at table and in
the rec room. Frank was quite successful in teaching and
sacramental ministry among the Hispanic people. “El
Padre Paco” enjoyed a great rapport with the people in
the parishes and schools he served.
-- Dan Peterson SJ
Francis J. Falsetto SJ
(Oregon) Father Francis J. Falsetto died of cancer on
July 1, 2003, in the Jesuit Infirmary at Gonzaga University. He was a Jesuit for 68 years and a priest for 55 years.
Frank was born in 1916 in Spokane, Wash. He
attended Gonzaga Preparatory School and following
graduation in 1935 he entered the Jesuit novitiate at
Sheridan, Ore. He completed three years of regency at
Seattle Preparatory School (1942-45). He was ordained
in San Francisco in 1948.
Following tertianship at Port Townsend, Wash., and
a year of special studies at Seattle University, Frank
embarked on a 23-year career moving around for brief
successive periods as teacher of physics, mathematics,
and science at Seattle Prep, Gonzaga Prep, Xavier High
School in New York, and Bellarmine Prep in Tacoma. His
longest teaching assignment (1974-83) came as professor of physics at Gonzaga University.
At 67 Frank, deciding that a change of ministry was
advisable, undertook parish work for six years as assistant pastor at St. Charles Borromeo Church in Gold
Beach, Ore., and as pastor for two years at St. Michael
Church in Oakridge, Ore. He enjoyed the experience and
loved the people.
In 1991 he continued pastoral ministry working out
of Bellarmine Prep in Tacoma for three years until his
specialty called again and he put in three years as assistant in the physics department at Gonzaga University.
He spent another three years working there as pastoral
minister.
He moved on to parish work for four years at St.
Henry Church in Dexter, Ore., until he was overtaken by
failing health and went to the infirmary in Spokane.
A community man, Frank relished the give-and-take
of the recreation room and the table and was faithful at
Mass and prayer. Of a critical bent, he ventured tart comments on movements in the Church and the world, all
seasoned with a dry sense of humor.
When diagnosed with cancer he was content to go
to the infirmary. He knew he was dying and was open
to it. He left this world quietly, fortified by the sacraments and by his “faith, hope, and love of the eternal
goods which Christ Our Lord merited and acquired for
us” (Const. S.J.).
-- Neill R. Meany SJ
Andrew J. Scopp SJ
(New England) Father
Andrew J. Scopp, 70 died unexpectedly in North Adams, Mass.,
July 6, 2003. A native of Milford,
Conn., he graduated from Fairfield Prep in 1950 and entered
the Society at Shadowbrook in
Lenox, Mass., the same year.
He started philosophy at
Weston College in 1954 as well
as the study of Arabic in preparation for work in the province’s Baghdad mission.
Completing the degree in 1957, he traveled to Baghdad
for regency, taught high school, and studied advanced
Arabic.
He returned to Weston in 1960 to begin theology
and graduate level work in Arabic at Harvard and
Georgetown Universities. He also learned how to celebrate the Chaldean liturgy in Syriac so that he would
be able to celebrate public liturgies in some of the
churches of the Middle East.
Ordained in 1963, he completed theology in 1964.
Tertianship followed at Pomfret, Conn. In 1965 he studied religious education at Lumen Vitae in Belgium and
in 1966 returned to Baghdad to teach religion at our
secondary school with its enrollment of 1,000 boys, half
of whom were Christian.
One year after the 1968 takeover of power in Iraq
by the anti-foreigner Baath party, U.S. Jesuits were
expelled from the country along with other foreigners.
Andrew joined several other ex-Baghdad Jesuits to teach
at the Jesuit school in Cairo, Egypt, for the next three
years.
In 1972 he began a second career in hospital chaplaincy at the former Boston City Hospital obtaining certification as a General Health Chaplain.
In 1977 he transferred to Worcester State Hospital
and specialized in mental health chaplaincy. He received
certification as a mental health chaplain from St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Washington, D.C.
In 1980 Andrew obtained a federal grant under the
auspices of former President and Mrs. Jimmy Carter to
conduct an experiment in providing post-mental health
hospitalization liaison services to religious communities and parishes of all faiths. As project coordinator he
traveled throughout New England and New York state
conducting workshops in parishes and at local mental
health centers, until the project ended in 1983.
He next served as general chaplain at Bridgeport,
Conn., Hospital while ministering to the Hispanic community there. In 1984 he became Catholic chaplain at
Bangor Mental Health Institute in Maine. When state
government cutbacks eliminated his position in 1991,
he took on similar duties at Norwich State Hospital in
Connecticut.
From 1995 to 2000 he served as chaplain at a health
care facility conducted by the Little Sisters of the Poor
in Enfield, Conn. He taught Scripture classes for the sisters, the residents, and interested outsiders at the health
care facility. He led prayer groups as president of the
Enfield Conference of Christian parishes.
From 2001 to 2002 he was Catholic chaplain at Medfield State Hospital in Medfield, Mass., and from 2002
until his death he served as much loved pastor at St.
Joachim church in Readsboro, Vt.
-- Paul T. McCarty SJ
John E. Blewett SJ
(Wisconsin) Father John Edward Blewett, 81, died
July 7, 2003 at the Fusz Pavilion in St. Louis. He was a
Jesuit for 62 years and a priest for 50 years.
Born in Buffalo, N.Y. on April 14, 1922, John grew
up in Fond du Lac, Wis. He entered the novitiate at
Florissant, Mo. in 1940 at the start of World War II.
During the war John showed
an aptitude for learning languages at both Florissant and at
the Saint Louis University
philosophate.
When the war was over the
Society put out a call for volunteers to work in Japan and help
the people rebuild. John went to
Japan as a regent to learn Japanese (1947-50). He met a young
priest working in Hiroshima,
Pedro Arrupe.
Post-war Japan was a land overflowing with American servicemen stationed there. They flocked to schools
like Sophia University to earn some college credit. John
wanted to return to Japan with a Ph.D. So after his ordination in June 1953, and after tertianship in Münster,
Germany, John matriculated at Saint Louis University
and wrote a dissertation on John Dewey.
He began teaching at Sophia in 1959 and soon
became academic dean (1962). He was good at networking and could speak three languages – Japanese,
French, and German. So it was not surprising that Pedro
Arrupe called John to Rome in 1967 to establish a secretariat for education in the Jesuit curia.
Within seven years John visited nearly 1,000 Jesuit
institutions from elementary schools to graduate
schools. He established and directed the International
Center for Jesuit Education in Rome, which brought
together information on all the Jesuit institutions and
sponsored many other programs. These programs
included symposia on Allocation of Resources, 1969;
Issues of Justice, 1972; and Family Life Education and
Population Questions, 1974. He co-founded a network
of directors of education of 35 Catholic religious orders
of women and men headquartered in Rome. He wrote
over 40 articles on Jesuit education in India, East Asia,
Latin America and the United States and edited a book
“John Dewey: His Thought and Influence” (Greenwood
Press, 1973).
During this period he became interested in the
Roman Jesuit institutions – the Gregorian, the Biblicum,
and the Orientale. In order to put these institutions on
firmer financial ground he helped establish the Gregorian Foundation (1972). Later he became director of
development for the foundation (1978) and finally president (1984).
All of this activity came to a sudden halt in 1987
when John suffered a massive heart attack, which continued to severely restrict his ministry.
Among the condolences his family received was one
that summarized John well: “He was a man of God,
whose life was characterized by his gentleness, his intellectual richness, his artistic sense and his profound
prayerfulness.”
-- Charlie Baumann SJ
Francis Molloy SJ
(New England) Father Francis (“Pat”) Molloy died of
pneumonia at Campion Center in Weston, Mass., on July
9, 2003.
Like some other New England Province men, he came
from the Jamaica Plain section of Boston. After attending
parochial school there, he began studies at Boston Latin
School. Today it would be called a “scholarship school.”
He quickly earned the respect and
admiration of his classmates for
his brilliance and scholarship.
This was despite the fact that he
had the use of only one eye, the
other having been damaged in a
boyhood accident.
He graduated from the Latin
School in 1936 and began studies
at Boston College, where again he
was also admired for his brilliance. He was also well liked as a
lively sports buff, in particular for baseball – he was a
lifelong Red Sox fan.
Pat entered the Society at Shadowbrook in Lenox,
Mass., in 1940 and after novitiate and juniorate there he
came to Weston for philosophy.
This particular discipline stimulated his lively intelligence and it was in this field that he did his research
and teaching throughout most of his later career. He did
his initial teaching at Boston College High School from
1945 to 1947.
He returned to Weston for theology, in which he was
again the admiration of his classmates for the brilliance
of his insights. After ordination in 1950 and completion
of theology in 1951, he did tertianship at Auriesville, N.Y.
He began a long career as professor of philosophy, first
at Boston College until 1954 and then at Fairfield University until 1956.
In that year he began a 41-year span as professor of
philosophy at Boston College, the last six of these years as
professor emeritus.
Failing health, and especially a stroke, which took
the power of speech from this lively minded, sociable,
and voluble man, required that he move to Campion
Health Center in 1997. The cheerful and sociable attitudes of a lifetime continued to shine, even through physically debilitating illness. He rolled with the punches. He
never complained.
-- Paul T. McCarty SJ
Richard J. Huelsman SJ
(Detroit) Father Richard J. Huelsman died July 18,
2003, at Colombiere Center, Clarkston, Mich. The cause
of death was congestive heart failure. He was a Jesuit for
60 years and a priest for 49 years.
Dick was born in Chicago on March 3, 1926. His parents moved often when he was a child. Consequently his
elementary schooling was spent in Chicago, Cleveland,
Detroit and Cincinnati.
Dick did all four years of high school at St. Xavier
High in Cincinnati (1935-1939) and attended Xavier University (1939-1940) before changing to John Carroll University in Cleveland (1940-1943)
where he received a B.S. in chemistry. It was while he was at John
Carroll that he gave thought to
becoming a Jesuit. Two months
later on August 20, 1943, he
walked through the doors of Milford novitiate, Milford, Ohio.
In the summer of 1946 he
began his study of philosophy at
West Baden College, West Baden
Springs, Ind. (1946-1948). He
taught chemistry at the University of Detroit High School
(1948-1951) during regency. Returning to West Baden
in 1951, he began his study of theology and was ordained
to the priesthood by Archbishop Paul C. Schulte on June
14, 1954.
He made his tertianship at St. Stanislaus, Parma,
Ohio, (1955-1956). Four years later at John Carroll University he professed his four vows.
In 1956 he became a professor and spiritual director
at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio,
until 1967. Dick remained in Columbus and did Special
Studies at Ohio State University to obtain an M.A. and a
Ph.D. in education guidance (1967-1972).
After his studies he served as a spiritual director and
youth minister at St. Christopher’s parish (1972-1983),
Immaculate Conception parish (1983-1991), and St.
Matthias parish (1991-1999) in Columbus. His health
began failing and in 1999 he became a resident of the
Colombiere Health Center where he prayed for the Church
and the Society.
Spending most of his life outside a Jesuit community, Dick kept in touch with his fellow Jesuits by sending
each member of the Detroit Province a greeting card on
his birthday. At times he would even telephone to wish
the Jesuit his prayers and greetings.
-- Dick Conroy SJ
Paulinus F. Forsthoefel SJ
(Detroit) Father Paulinus F. Forsthoefel, 88, died July
19, 2003, at Colombiere Center, Clarkston, Mich. The
cause of death was congestive heart failure. He was a
Jesuit for 69 years and a priest for 55 years.
He was born on April 4, 1915 in St. Sebastian, Ohio.
He attended the old St. John’s College, Toledo, Ohio,
(1933-1934) before entering Milford novitiate, Milford,
Ohio, on September 7, 1934.
In August 1938, he began his
three years of philosophy at West
Baden College, West Baden
Springs, Ind. During his regency,
he taught at Loyola Academy,
Chicago, (1941-1943) and St.
Xavier High School, Cincinnati
(1943-1944).
Returning to West Baden College in 1944, Paul studied for his
S.T.L. (1944-1948). Ordained to
the priesthood on June 6, 1947,
Paul did his tertianship at St.
Stanislaus in Parma, Ohio, (1948-1949). He then went to
Ohio State University, Columbus, to obtain an M.S. and
a Ph.D. in genetics (1953).
He returned to the University of Detroit to teach
genetics until 1987. From 1967 to 1970, Paul was also a
member of the Board of Trustees at St. Louis University.
National Jesuit News ■ November 2003
17
memorials
He retired from teaching in 1987 but remained active
in taking on the small responsibilities of the Jesuit community. For many years the minister could count on him
to take early morning supply liturgy for the surrounding parishes and for the groups of Sisters in the Detroit
area.
He was mugged early one morning on the way to say
Mass at Gesu Church, but he continued his supply work.
He enjoyed doing whatever the minister would ask of
him -- mailman, guest master, setting up for community socials and keeping the house history for the community. You name it and Pauley would take on the
responsibility if asked.
He was well liked by his students, faculty and Jesuit
brethren. He could make himself comfortable with all
groups of people. Pauley was also an avid fisherman.
Every Friday after lunch, he and a few of his fishing pals
would travel five hours to Omena, the province villa.
They would fish Friday night, all day Saturday and then
return on Sunday morning to Detroit. If Omena was not
available, he searched out a local lake and off he would
go.
On one occasion, Pauley fell through the ice, a harrowing experience that did not deter his love for fishing. A week later he was out on the water fishing.
The Monday evening dinner always had a sample of
Pauley’s fish. Fried blue gill was a favorite. For a number
of years he displayed fish heads on his bedroom wall.
The bigger the fish, the bigger the head on the wall.
In 2000, his health declining, he retired to Colombiere Center to pray for the Church and the Society.
-- Dick Conroy SJ
Carl G. Kloster SJ
(Missouri) Father Carl George Kloster, 85, died of
cancer July 20, 2003 in St. Louis. He was a Jesuit for 68
years and a priest for 55 years.
Born in St. Louis, he attended St. Louis University
High before entering the Society at St. Stanislaus Seminary in Florissant, Mo., in 1935. After philosophy at
Saint Louis University, regency at Campion in Prairie
du Chien, Wis., and theology at
St. Mary’s, Kan., Carl was
ordained in 1948.
Carl was about as close to a
born administrator as we’re likely to see. He became principal of
Campion right out of tertianship,
and then spent the next 25 years
in high school administration —
21 of them at Rockhurst in
Kansas City.
Following 14 years as principal, Carl held the posts of rector and president. Rockhurst (and Jesuit secondary education in general)
struggled to find an administrative model that would
serve it well in new and changing circumstances. Carl
ably guided the school through the great cultural and
ecclesiastical upheaval of the late 60s and early 70s.
A man of meticulous organization and high expectations, he found it easy to fit the mold of the Jesuit
leader of the time: stern, demanding, and relentlessly
hard-working. But however strong-willed he was, Carl
was never mean; and his deep gentleness always softened his edges.
As Jesuit manpower began to decrease dramatically
in the mid-70s, Carl sensed that the time had come for
him to move on. So after a much-appreciated sabbatical and a few years back in the high school trenches, Carl
began a series of assignments as community minister
at Regis University in Denver, the novitiate, and finally
the Xavier Jesuit Center.
As he shed the old administrator’s role, Carl’s brothers in community found a wonderfully spiritual, encouraging, edifying companion and servant. Mostly his
18
National Jesuit News ■ November 2003
brothers experienced his gentle kindness, good-natured
teasing, and genuine interest in each individual’s welfare; and guests always felt warmly welcomed and
attended to.
Whether in a position of great authority or one of
humble assistance, Carl was the quintessential servantpriest; indeed he found the “ministry” in “administration.”
He once told a student assembly that his love for
Rockhurst High was so great that he would “remain even
to just sweep the floors, should I ever leave my present
role.”
Everywhere he went he brought the same gracious
attentiveness, gentle humor, and priestly goodness.
Young and old alike were drawn to Carl. No doubt God
has embraced him as warmly as Carl welcomed so many
throughout his long and loving life.
-- Philip G. Steele SJ
Joseph P. Johnson SJ
(New Orleans) Father Joseph P. (J.J.) Johnson, son
of a distinguished Catholic family in Montgomery, Ala.,
died suddenly of an apparent heart attack at Ignatius
Residence on July 28, 2003. He was 75.
In 1945, after his early years in Montgomery, J.J.
enrolled at Spring Hill College. Photographs shared with
friends from his Spring Hill days witness to the future
Jesuits and others who influenced his early life. In 1948,
at the age of 22, he applied for the Society and entered at
Grand Coteau.
He was ordained to the priesthood at Spring Hill in
1960 by the late Archbishop Thomas J. Toolen of Mobile.
He did his philosophy and theology studies at Spring
Hill and St. Mary’s and in 1962 went to Port Townsend,
Wash., for tertianship.
J.J. pursued a variety of interests in his lifetime. Perhaps most surprising of all were the voice lessons he
took in San Francisco with the expectation of singing
opera roles on stage. He continued to struggle and
search.
For seven years as a conscientious young Jesuit, J.J.
taught in the high school classrooms in Tampa, El Paso,
and Houston. But he is better remembered for the 12
years he served as a chaplain in the Navy (1968-80). Seeing much of the world, military life must surely have
appealed to one who loved the outdoors as much as J.J.
did.
His last active years, before retirement in New
Orleans, were devoted to pastoral ministries in the Diocese of Las Cruces, N.M. He served as pastor of St.
Anthony Church, Artesia, N.M., for 11 years (19892000).
-- Louis A. Poché SJ
Wilfred P. Schoenberg SJ
(Oregon) Fr. Wilfred P. Schoenberg, 88, died of natural causes in the province infirmary at Gonzaga University on August 4, 2003. He was a Jesuit for 64 years
and a priest for 52 years.
“Schoenie” was born in Uniontown, Wash., in 1915.
He was educated at St. Aloysius Grade School and Gonzaga Prep in Spokane, a city where most of his priestly
ministry took place. After high school he spent six years
as a skilled florist before entering the Jesuit novitiate at
Sheridan, Ore., in1939.
He returned to Spokane for philosophy at Mount St.
Michael’s. There, in a small room, he began assembling
the historical collection that over several decades grew
into the twice-expanded, immensely reputable Jesuit
Oregon Province Archives.
Regency followed at Gonzaga Prep, then housed in
barracks from the former Baxter army hospital/German
prisoner-of-war facility. He obtained accreditation as
an archivist at the National Archives in Washington D.C.
He studied theology at Alma College and was ordained in 1951 in
the last class of Oregon Province
men to be ordained in San Francisco.
Schoenie completed tertianship at Port Townsend. The next
nine years saw him at Gonzaga
Prep teaching religion and sociology, putting in after-school
hours directing miscreant students in the disciplinary “rock pile,” and then on to the
university to work in the archives in the evening.
All the while he authored numerous books on church
histories of the northwest and others, a prodigious outlay, all written out in longhand for a typist. Simultaneously his hand was in various other projects, all pushed
forward by his iron will, incredible memory, and driving energy.
As director of the Indian Museum, he masterminded the Native American Cultural Center involving a
unique building to house his amassed collection of Indian memorabilia, crafts, etc. To finance the project he
crossed the nation by car in all kinds of weather. After
some years he was crushed when financial upkeep forced
closure of the center and distribution of its contents.
Schoenie found some small consolation in its conversion into a campus convention center.
Schoenie’s whole adult life had been a Calvary of constant deep respiratory affliction. But this never curbed
his strong determination.
One last project was the accumulation of thousands
of post cards depicting Catholic churches of the world.
But at last this relentless work machine wore out.
A most devout, prayerful person with a faith that
moved aside every obstacle to his purpose, Schoenie
loved the Lord deeply, and went home to Him with a will.
-- Neill R. Meany SJ
The following Jesuits have died since
the NJN last published and prior to
our October 10 deadline. Their
obituaries will appear as space and
information become available.
Corrigan, James B. (WIS)
Crain, George L. (CFN)
Dieckman, Leonard E. (MIS)
Knott, Francis X. (MAR)
Moffitt, Joseph M. (MAR)
Neenan, Robert P. (WIS)
Porter, Richard L. (WIS)
Wallner, Francis A. (MAR)
September 17
September 9
September 12
September 12
September 17
October 9
September 28
September 10
BOOKS
Amid Crisis, Jesuit Center Offers Ignatian
Discernment to Church Leaders
By William Bole
Fr. Daniel Pakenham recalls that when
he first preached about the sexual abuse
crisis, he could barely say anything “without falling apart.” Across the street from
his Wisconsin parish was a family with
four boys, all abused by the same priest,
starting when they were around eight
years old.
“You could imagine the anger that
escalates to fury, the dismay and disappointment,” said Pakenham, who is pastor of St. Mary’s Church in Elm Grove,
Wisc.
As a parish priest, he certainly knows
the desolations of being a leader in the
Catholic Church during these difficult
days. Yet he also knows the deep consolations that are all around him in the faith
community, where the Spirit is busily at
work.
“I had a six-sacrament week a couple
of weeks ago. I thought, if I could do it, I’d
ordain somebody just to make it a complete picture,” said Pakenham in remarks
last spring at a forum held at Georgetown
University.
Pakenham’s experiences illustrate that
while there may be cause for feelings of
desolation, there is also the reality of God
acting in the happenings of our day. But
how should we discern God’s presence and
call amid the challenges of Church as well
as society?
For more than four centuries, Jesuits
have engaged in spiritual exercises that
help them to see how God is acting in their
lives and to cooperate more effectively
with God’s plan. Now, the Woodstock Theological Center is bringing these methods
of discernment to a wider community of
Church leaders seeking guidance in these
times through two new companion books.
Titled “Spiritual Exercises for Church
Leaders,” Woodstock fellow Dolores R.
Leckey and freelance writer Paula Minaert
write against the backdrop of conflicts and
crises in the Church. It is the first publication of its kind to tap the resources of
Jesuit spirituality and theological discernment. (Separately, Woodstock has
published an occasional paper titled
“Restoring Trust in Church Leadership,”
based on last spring’s forum.)
Specifically, the books draw upon the
spiritual insights of St. Ignatius together
with the theological method of Fr. Bernard
Lonergan. Published by Paulist Press, the
companion set includes a book for readers and participants in small groups as
well as a facilitator’s guide.
Pakenham was part of a small-group
process that led to the book, and the grati-
tude he expressed for his six-sacrament
week, amid the anguish of scandal, is reflective of the discernment encouraged by Leckey and Minaert.
The authors also suggest the need for
historical perspective, which leads to an
understanding that the present problems
and conflicts are not “the whole story” of
Catholicism today. “The Church has always
had to deal with division, corruption, and
apathy. But it has also been a way of nurturing people to great love and self-sacrifice,” say the authors.
According to Leckey and Minaert, there
is an urgent need for discernment in the
Church, including the need for pastors,
bishops, and others to become more attentive to their experiences of leadership, in
the context of God’s redemptive presence.
Ultimately, Church leaders need to become
more adept at discerning how God is calling them and their communities to live as
disciples.
As its main tool for helping to promote
these goals, “Spiritual Exercises for Church
Leaders” presents “The Examen of St.
Ignatius of Loyola.”
The companion books guide readers
through the meditation, beginning with
the quiet awareness of God’s presence, followed by the prayer for insight. Then there
are the two steps of reflection upon one’s
experiences in a given segment of time or
period of a day, ending with the participant making concrete plans for collaborating more effectively with God as He acts
in our lives. The authors emphasize that
gratitude is at the heart of this discernment.
“Spiritual Exercises” also introduces
an alternative way of doing the Examen, as
developed by Fr. Dennis Hamm (WIS).
Hamm puts a special emphasis on feelings
and an extra emphasis on gratitude in his
five-step version of the Examen. For example, the second step involves reviewing the
day in thanksgiving.
“Gratitude is the foundation of our
whole relationship with God,” he writes.
(Elsewhere in the book, participants
are asked to reflect on the words of
Ignatius, “Every sin, at its heart, is a sin of
ingratitude.”)
Several chapters of “Spiritual Exercises” (and several sessions of the smallgroup process) follow the trajectory of
Lonergan’s method of achieving genuine
understanding and human authenticity.
These chapters and sessions take the
reader through stages of being attentive to
experience, posing questions in pursuit of
understanding those experiences, evaluating those understandings, and making
decisions or taking action. The stages are
summed up in Lonergan’s four transcendental precepts: be attentive, be intelligent
(or exploring), be reasonable (or discerning), be responsible.
“Spiritual Exercises” is an outgrowth
of Woodstock’s Church Leadership Program, coordinated by Leckey.
Inaugurated in 1996 with support from
the Raskob Foundation for Catholic Activities, the program has brought together
small groups of Church leaders who prayerfully reflect on their experiences of leadership in light of the call to discipleship.
Former Woodstock director Fr. James L.
Connor (MAR), and former fellow Msgr.
Richard Liddy, designed the retreat workshop format and played key roles in guiding the work.
The small-group approach is part of a
deeper sense that this process of discernment needs to be communal -- if trust is
to be restored at various levels of the
Church.
“I think the word we want here is a
word widely celebrated after Vatican II,
namely dialogue,” former Commonweal
magazine editor Peggy Steinfels said at the
Woodstock-sponsored forum last May. “For
unless and until those who love the Church,
leaders at every level, and of every kind,
can talk candidly and compassionately
with one another, it will be difficult to earn
trust. And without trust, there can be no
growth or development.”
“Spiritual Exercises for Church Leaders” is available by calling 1-800-218-1903.
Those interested in the Woodstock paper,
“Restoring Trust in Church Leadership,”
may call 202-687-3532 or send an email
request to woodstock@georgetown.edu.
(Bole is a fellow of the Woodstock Theological Center.)
Erich Przywara SJ: His Theology
and His World
By Thomas F. O’Meara OP
University of Notre Dame Press,
Notre Dame, Ind., 2003
272 pp., cloth, $35.00
ISBN 0-268-02763-3
This is a comprehensive study of
the life and thought of the German
Jesuit (1889-1972) whose work remains
largely unknown in the English-speaking world. Przywara, whose position in
the periodical Stimmen der Zeit was
influential, was instrumental in introducing the writings of Cardinal Newman into Germany and for giving a
more theological interpretation of the
Spiritual Exercises. Fr. O’Meara is the
William K. Warren Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame.
Q&A: The Mass
By Dennis Smolarski SJ
Liturgy Training Publications,
Chicago, 2002
119 pp., paper, $11.95
ISBN 1-56854-358-1
Questions and answers in the first
volume of the Q&A series (“The Mass”)
have appeared previously and are gathered here in one convenient volume for
reference and study. Questions are
grouped into subject topics including
introductory rites, liturgy of the word,
liturgy of the Eucharist, concluding rites,
ministers, weekdays and miscellaneous
issues.
Q&A: Seasons, Sacraments and
Sacramentals
By Dennis Smolarski SJ
Liturgy Training Publications,
Chicago, 2003
120 pp., paper, $11.95
ISBN 1-56854-391-3
In this second volume (“Seasons,
Sacraments and Sacramentals”), Fr.
Smolarski answers questions about the
liturgy and its celebration – 40 in all –
including baptism, confirmation,
penance, marriage and anointing of the
sick; funerals and blessings; liturgical
architecture and objects; devotions; and
celebrating Advent and Christmas, and
Lent and Easter. Fr. Smolarski is on the
faculty of Santa Clara University.
National Jesuit News ■ November 2003
19
Jesuit Relations
A Jesuit voice made for telling tales
Photo by Dee Richards
every other day, as do many of his confreres
there. “It’s well used.”
Uncle Frank entered the Society in 1944 after
finishing at Loyola High School in Baltimore, as
he promised his parents he would. He spoke to
the provincial, Fr. Vincent Keelan, who had been
a classmate of grandpa (pop) and who suggested that Frank consider the priesthood, instead.
He told Uncle Frank he was probably smart
enough. “Let’s put it this way: you’re accepted
into the Society now,” he remembers Keelan saying.
Four years at Wernersville followed. Uncle
Frank and the other novices worked farmland
in the hot summer of 1944, bringing in tomatoes and potatoes for a Pennsylvania Dutch
farmer named Earl Baer. He remembers thinking that some of the priests were mean to the
brothers back in those days, and being a little
glad that he followed the provincial’s advice.
Fr. Frank Bourbon and one of his 28 nieces and nephews, NJN reporter Julie Bourbon, at the Saint
Joseph’s Infirmary.
20
National Jesuit News ■ November 2003
Killing The Buddha
http://killingthebuddha.com
This is a site for “people
embarrassed to be caught in the
spirituality section of a
bookstore.” It's not Catholic or
Christian, but a place for people
who may be on the way there.
Currently there's an article on
the popular new Archbishop of
Boston Sean O'Malley looking
ahead to when the euphoria
has died down. Another reflects
on Johnny Cash's songs of
salvation. And “Slot Machine
God” looks at the pros and cons
of religion for those whose
beliefs “can change as easily as
the weather.”
November 5th, Jesuit
Vocation Promotion Day
www.jesuit.org
November 5th is Feast of All
Saints and Blessed of the Society
of Jesus. Vocations pages and
scheduled events for the 10
provinces in the U.S. can be
found by visiting the website of
the Society of Jesus in the U.S.
1616 P St. NW, Suite 300 ■ Washington, DC 20036-1420
became a required course in Baltimore. Ask him
sometime to tell you about his trip to the morgue
We most looked forward to the nighttimes
to see the decapitated head. That tale found its
when Uncle Frank visited. Dad’s older brother,
way into ghost story time one night.
one of his five brothers (and five sisters), the
Talking with Uncle Frank is like dipping a
family priest, greatly tall and imposing in size,
toe in the ocean – you get a little wet, you can
with a deep, sonorous voice that we could never
even swim, but you’ll never know the sea.
imagine a student disobeying, a voice made for
There’s too much of it. We didn’t talk about his
telling tales. Uncle Frank, who presided at Mass
year at Immaculate Conception Parish in New
in the living room, said grace at the table and
Orleans or how his recommendation in part
lingered over dessert just long enough to make
influenced my decision to attend Loyola there.
us nearly crazy with anticipation, until mom
We didn’t talk about his years as a pastor in
said okay, okay, it was time to get in our pajaHigh Point and Arden, N.C., where he built a
mas.
parish we visited circa 1982. My parents, my sisThen, like a campfire in the living room, we
ter and one of Uncle Frank’s sisters, our aunt,
gathered around to hear him weave his tales of
who sat between us in the back seat, cranky from
ghosts and the supernatural: the Amityville horlack of cigarettes, us cranky from lack of being
ror, the angry spirits in Elke Sommers’ dining
outside the car. I remember that the parishioners
room, the dead worker who visited our greatthought the world of him but then he moved on.
grandparents in their home at the Panama Canal.
Perhaps it is that peripatetic lifestyle, always
Uncle Frank, with his lifelong
traveling from assignment to
interest in the living and the
assignment, that makes talking
dead, thrilled us and terrified
to a Jesuit, even your uncle, like
Talking with Uncle Frank is like dipping a toe in the
us and kept us coming back for
fitting together pieces of a jigocean – you get a little wet, you can even swim, but
more, even as we grew older.
saw puzzle or a stained glass
My parents’ marriage in
window. All those pieces and
you’ll never know the sea. There’s too much of it.
1957 was the first ceremony he
fragments add up to a life in the
performed, so in a way, Uncle
Society.
Frank is responsible for me
There is a stained glass
and my five older brothers and sisters being
At Woodstock from 1948 to 1951, he and the panel just inside the back door of the infirmary,
here. And some of my 22 first cousins, as well. other seminarians were responsible for rural fire forming one of the walls of their small chapel. It
Fr. Frank Bourbon (MAR), Jesuit, scholar, police protection in Baltimore and Howard Counties. depicts Ignatius giving up his sword to God. Sr.
chaplain, uncle, teller of ghost stories.
The county and the state each supplied one Maryann Burgoyne, SM, an infirmary adminis“I was thinking about becoming a brother,” engine; 14 men, Uncle Frank included, respond- trator who has taken a real shine to Uncle Frank,
recalled Uncle Frank of his first thoughts of ed to the bell when it rang. “The older guys, the tells me that the men gave input on the design.
entering religious life, as a junior in high school. theologians, were in charge of the fire crew.” One They wanted something Ignatian.
Seventy-six, his black hair now white, his lop- has to wonder what the neighbors thought.
“People know when they come in that it’s a
ing gait slowed a little, he lives at the Saint
He didn’t know becoming a priest would holy place, not just an infirmary. It’s a Jesuit
Joseph’s Infirmary in Philadelphia. Diagnosed entail fire fighting, but it began a lifelong inter- community,” she said. “This is a Jesuit comlast year with Parkinson’s, he has been there est in chaplaincy work that included the Num- munity number one. It’s not a nursing home.”
since February. We spent a chilly, rainy after- ber 6 Engine on Massachusetts Avenue in DC.
Like many of his brothers here, Uncle Frank
noon at the infirmary this fall, attending Mass, “I think it made me grow up,” he said of those will take a variety of medications today (11, to
eating lunch (we lingered too long and he missed years. “They thought the world of me. The be exact) and says that the Parkinson’s has
his haircut), chatting in the library.
majority (of firefighters) had no religious back- caused his handwriting to go “to hell on roller
“I don’t want to fall behind on the news ground.” So he gave them some.
skates,” which makes it a little difficult to keep
magazines,” he said, looking around at the
He also taught a police ethics course to up his always-voluminous correspondence. He
shelves. Always a voracious reader, he visits Maryland state police officers for nine years. It is chatty with the other men, who number about
17, some more mobile than others, all with a lifetime of stories to tell.
Uncle Frank violates the infirmary-imposed
diet whenever possible (my parents, God love
them, aided and abetted when they visited
recently; alas, he and I never left the grounds)
and is going to take part in the Adopt A Pop program, in which he will be matched with a St. Joe’s
student as a buddy and visitor. It will have to be
someone with broad interests.
The bishop who ordained Uncle Frank asked
him, half jokingly, years ago, about the long
course of study to become a Jesuit. “He said,
‘What do you guys do? Do you offer ordination
as a reward to your men for a life well spent?’”
he recalled, laughing.
Were he here today, he might phrase the
question in reverse. Have you offered a life well
spent in exchange for ordination? Ask us at
Thanksgiving, when Uncle Frank says the blessing and regales us with a tale or two, which we
have never, in all our years, yet heard.
national jesuit news
By Julie Bourbon