Archive for March, 2011

Jesuit Father Greg Boyle received the 2011 Loaves & Fishes Award for Faith in Action, presented by Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of San Francisco in March for his nearly 25 years of building what is now the nation’s largest gang intervention and re-entry program, Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles.

Fr. Boyle said he has never met anyone who was seeking something when he joined a gang. “They are always fleeing from something,” he said on March 4 at St. Ignatius Church in San Francisco. “There are no exceptions.”

Boyle’s career choice of working with the poor and the marginalized took shape when he joined the Society of Jesus and was confirmed when he worked in Bolivia after his ordination. He was then assigned to Dolores Mission Church in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, ground zero for gangs in a challenged area.

In 1988, Boyle started a “Jobs for a Future” program at Dolores Mission, and, in 1992 he launched a business to employ former gang members, Homeboy Bakery. Today businesses include Homeboy Silkscreen, Homeboy Maintenance and Homegirl Café.

He said, “Hope is the antidote. The best delivery system of hope to kids who are struggling, especially younger ones, is a loving, caring adult who pays attention to them. That’s the way it works.” For more on Boyle, visit Catholic San Francisco.

During Vice President Joe Biden’s travels to Russia to meet with President Medvedev, his staff reached out to Jesuit Father Janez Sever asking him to celebrate Ash Wednesday with Biden and his staff. The Russian Jesuit accepted the opportunity with grace and humility “to make this Lent an effective moment in [Biden’s] life.” Sever reflected on his recent thirty day retreat experience for his homily during the service and encouraged Biden and his staff to remember that Lent is an opportunity for spiritual reflection when they should take time to listen to God and to examine their deepest desires. Many of Biden’s staff shared with Sever their background of having attended Jesuit universities. Sever also presented the vice president with a copy of Jesuit Father James Martin’s bestselling book “The Jesuit’s Guide to (Almost) Everything” as Sever finds Fr. Martin’s writing style approachable and inspiring to those seeking to find God in their daily lives. Biden told Sever that he was very familiar with Fr. Martin having had read much of the popular priest’s book and accepted Sever’s gift with thanks and appreciation.

Jesuit Father Andrew Downing, a doctoral student in theology at the University of Notre Dame, recently represented the Society of Jesus at a panel discussion on religious orders at the university, titled “Exploring Diversity in Catholicism.”

Fr. Downing told that audience that the Jesuits are called to service, and that they work to understand the group with which they work.

“That which is more universal is more divine. We go out to those who no one else can go to or will not go to,” he said. “Then we adapt to those places to communicate the gospel.”

Downing said the struggle lies in staying faithful to the gospel while balancing cultural and political currents.

“From that we’ve come to reach a commitment to faith that does justice,” he said. “If we really are to go to those that need us most, we will preach the Christian faith in a way that does social justice for the world.”

Downing said that anyone considering religious life should continuously work through three questions.

“How do they pray? How do they work? And how do they live? That’s how the different orders are distinct, though we’re all trying to serve Christ,” Downing said.

Read more about the panel discussion at The Observer.

Jesuit Father Patrick Howell, rector and professor at Seattle University, wrote recently how despite the fact that the university has relatively few Jesuits as teachers compared to the 1950s and ’60s, they still have a strong impact because they are in key positions, including president, chaplain for faculty and staff and campus ministry director.

Fr. Howell explained that the Jesuits’ focus has changed to adapt to the smaller numbers of Jesuits on campus: “Instead of being almost 100 percent devoted to students, Jesuits now assist lay faculty and staff in understanding, embracing and leading the Jesuit mission. In this age of the laity, Jesuits value collaboration in mission so that everyone here becomes devoted to a more articulate, better understanding of the Jesuit mission for the sake of students.”

While the old era where Jesuits lead every facet of the university may be over, he wrote, “The great gift that the Society of Jesus brings to this enterprise is the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. At the heart of this spirituality is the desire to share the love of Christ with others.”

To read more of Howell’s article, visit the Seattle University Spectator.

Jesuit Father Jim McDermott, a screenwriting student at UCLA, offered one idea on what to give up for Lent this year: Facebook.

“Ah yes, that great and never-ending time suck; for those of us invested in it, how many hours fly by trolling friends, pages, posting, poking, updating, friending, sharing, linking, liking, defriending…In a season in which we want to be released from distractions and open ourselves more fully to the murmurs and the mysteries of our brother Jesus, could there be a better object of our mortifcation?”

For those not ready to give up Facebook for 40 days, Fr. McDermott offers a Facebook-based spiritual exercise to try instead. Read his five-step guide on the Wisconsin Province website.

“No spiritual practice is for everybody. If praying with Facebook helps you see and respond to the face of Christ around you, try doing it once a week,” he wrote.