Archive for November, 2009

Jesuit Father Uwem Akpan, author of Say You’re One of Them, the current Oprah’s Book Club selection, will visit five Jesuit colleges and universities across the country to discuss his book, the intersection of spirituality and art, and his life as a Jesuit priest and author. Fr. Akpan’s talks, which will include a reading from his collection of short stories that were recently #1 on the New York Times list for fiction, will be free and open to the public, and will be held on the campuses of Loyola University Chicago, Boston College, Georgetown University, University of San Francisco and Loyola Marymount University.

Father Akpan’s appearances at Jesuit schools across the country will take place shortly after his participation in a live, in-depth discussion about his book with Oprah Winfrey and Anderson Cooper that will be simulcast on Oprah.com and CNN.com. Details of the event, which will take place on Monday, November 9, at 9 p.m. EST, can be found at www.oprah.com/bookclub. RSVP in advance of Monday night’s live web event by visiting the Oprah.com website.

Book Tour Schedule

Two additional free and open-to-the-public book events will be taking place with Father Akpan in New York and Philadelphia. On Wednesday, November 11, at 4:30p.m., the New York Theological Seminary will be hosting a reading at their Interfaith Center, 475 Riverside Drive, New York, N.Y. On Tuesday, November 17, at 7:30 p.m., Father Akpan will speak along with author and fellow Oprah Book Club^® author, David Wroblewski at the Free Library of Philadelphia’s Montgomery Auditorium, 1901 Vine St., Philadelphia, Pa.

Below is a recent CNN.com video with Jesuit Father Uwem Akpan from Nigeria:  

About the Book – Say You’re One of Them

In Say You’re One of Them, published in September 2009, each story in this jubilantly acclaimed collection pays testament to the wisdom and resilience of children, even in the face of the most agonizing circumstances. A family living in a makeshift shanty in urban Kenya scurries to find gifts of any kind for the impending Christmas holiday. A Rwandan girl relates her family’s struggles to maintain a facade of normalcy amid unspeakable acts. A young brother and sister cope with their uncle’s attempt to sell them into slavery. Aboard a bus filled with refugees—a microcosm of today’s Africa—a Muslim boy summons his faith to bear a treacherous ride across Nigeria. Through the eyes of childhood friends the emotional toll of religious conflict in Ethiopia becomes viscerally clear.

About the Author – Jesuit Father Uwem Akpan

Uwem Akpan, S.J., was born in Ikot Akpan Eda in southern Nigeria. After studying philosophy and English at Creighton and Gonzaga universities, he studied theology for three years at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa. He was ordained as a Jesuit priest in 2003 and received his MFA in creative writing from the University of Michigan in 2006. “My Parents’ Bedroom,” a story from his short story collection, Say You’re One of Them, was one of five short stories by African writers chosen as finalists for The Caine Prize for African Writing 2007.

by Peter Feuerherd
New York Province of the Society of Jesus

As he sat, literally and figuratively, in the chair of the late Cardinal Avery Dulles, S.J., Jesuit Father Patrick Ryan, S.J., reflected about following in the footsteps of a Catholic theological giant.

Father Ryan, 70, occupies the office and holds the chair as the Laurence J. McGinley professor of religion and society at Fordham University, a position held by Cardinal Dulles from 1988 until his death in 2008. A former student of Cardinal Dulles, Father Ryan, in the afterglow of Vatican II’s outreach to non-Christians, was urged by the theologian to pursue doctoral studies in comparative religion at Harvard.

He responded with a doctoral dissertation based in part on his own experience in Nigeria. As a young Jesuit teacher in Nigeria, Father Ryan got to know the Yoruba people, a group roughly half Christian and half Muslim, who have long experienced interfaith understanding.

The Yoruba are a model in a post-9/11 world, wrote Father Ryan in the February 2006 issue of National Jesuit News.

“The Yoruba Christians and Muslims, despite some efforts by a handful of fanatic on both sides in recent years, have learned not only to tolerate each other but even to join in each other’s moments of sorrow and moments of conviviality,” he wrote, citing their interfaith families and friendships. Among the Yoruba, Christians and Muslims routinely join together for weddings and funerals.

Read the rest of this entry »

If you were able to conduct a free association exercise among Catholics, the term “Jesuit” would most likely evoke responses like “educators,” “intelligent,” “worldly” and perhaps even “liberal.” But as the largest male religious order in the Catholic church, the Society of Jesus—as the Jesuits are officially known—has nearly 20,000 members spread out across 112 nations around the globe who are involved in an endless variety of work ranging from education and pastoral ministry to medicine, the law, social justice etc. The one common bond that ties this diverse international group together however is their experience of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius.

Formulated in the early 16th century after Ignatius of Loyola’s conversion, the Spiritual Exercises represent Ignatius’ gradual understanding—through prayer—of how God worked in his daily life. It is a powerful tradition that enables people to understand their relationship with the divine through their own unique experiences in the world. While all Jesuits are required to do the Exercises in a 30-day silent retreat at the beginning of their formation, countless others—religious and lay alike—feel drawn to Ignatius’ spiritual insights and do the Exercises as well. The Jesuit Collaborative is a an East coast organization, headed by Jesuit Father Jim Conroy, whose mission is to promote the Spiritual Exercises outside the Society of Jesus. In an interview with Busted Halo, Fr. Conroy discusses the origins of Ignatius’ approach to prayer and why young seekers looking to make sense of their world are often drawn to it. Read his interview here.

If you were able to conduct a free association exercise among Catholics, the term “Jesuit” would most likely evoke responses like “educators,” “intelligent,” “worldly” and perhaps even “liberal.” But as the largest male religious order in the Catholic church, the Society of Jesus—as the Jesuits are officially known—has nearly 20,000 members spread out across 112 nations around the globe who are involved in an endless variety of work ranging from education and pastoral ministry to medicine, the law, social justice etc. The one common bond that ties this diverse international group together however is their experience of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius.

Formulated in the early 16th century after Ignatius of Loyola’s conversion, the Spiritual Exercises represent Ignatius’ gradual understanding—through prayer—of how God worked in his daily life. It is a powerful tradition that enables people to understand their relationship with the divine through their own unique experiences in the world. While all Jesuits are required to do the Exercises in a 30-day silent retreat at the beginning of their formation, countless others—religious and lay alike—feel drawn to Ignatius’ spiritual insights and do the Exercises as well. The Jesuit Collaborative is a an East coast organization, headed by Jesuit Father Jim Conroy, whose mission is to promote the Spiritual Exercises outside the Society of Jesus. In an interview with Busted Halo, Fr. Conroy discusses the origins of Ignatius’ approach to prayer and why young seekers looking to make sense of their world are often drawn to it. Read his interview here.