Archive for August, 2011

Today begins the start of the ten-days of events and festivities that are Magis.

Magis is a pastoral experience of Ignatian programs and events in the days leading up to World Youth Day for pilgrims from Jesuit institutions from across the globe. The motto for this year’s Magis is “with Christ at the heart of the world”  and will be held in locations across Spain and Portugal .

Young people and their Jesuit chaperones have made their way to northern part of Spain – to the Basque country where the founder of the Jesuits, St. Ignatius of Loyola, was born – in order to participate in the Magis gathering. For them, it sometimes means being out of their comfort zone, traveling in a foreign country and not always bunking down in the most luxurious of accommodations but the reward is being together with others who also have a keen desire to do more in the name of Christ.

You, too, can follow along with the pilgrims and experience Magis with them during these three weeks of Magis and World Youth Day in Spain by visiting www.jesuit.org/WYD.

In this video below, Jesuit Father Will Prospero offers some tips to the Magis pilgrims and provides a grounding in the spirituality of pilgrimage, drawing from the experiences of St. Ignatius. Fr. Prospero’s presentation was given last year during an Apostleship of Prayer‘s “Hearts on Fire” retreat at St. Mary’s University Parish in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan.

Matt Miller/The World-Herald

Jesuit Father Timothy Lannon, who began his first official day as the 24^th president of Creighton University on August 1, is the university’s first alumnus to serve as president. He is happy to return to his roots.

“I have a sense of this place,” said Fr. Lannon, who credits previous president Jesuit Father John Schlegel with being instrumental in his decision to become a Jesuit priest. “It’s been a long time since I was here. But one thing that has not changed is that students’ lives are changed here,” he said.

Lannon said he plans to take the next few months to “listen and learn” before announcing any changes or plans for the university.

“I want to get a better feel and build upon those dreams for the university,” he said.

One plan Lannon does have is to try to encourage more young men to join the Jesuit priesthood, something he actively pursued in his previous position as president of Saint Joseph’s University.

Lannon said that as a kid, the priests at his home parish in Iowa “seemed almost too holy” while the Jesuits at Creighton appealed to him. “I am a Jesuit priest first,” he said, “and a university president second.”

Read more about Lannon in the Omaha World-Herald.

Jesuit Father Gerald Blaszczak, who is currently Vice President for Mission and Identity at Fairfield University, has been appointed to serve as Secretary for the Service of Faith at the Jesuit Curia in Rome by Jesuit Father General Adolfo Nicolás.

Among Fr. Blaszczak’s new responsibilities will be the promotion within Jesuit ministries of “dialogue and reflection on the relationship between faith and reason, culture and moral issues and also between the Church and society.” He will also coordinate the Secretariat for inter-religious dialogue and work with the six conferences of the Society worldwide on Ignatian spirituality and pastoral work.

Blaszczak said he was “humbled by the scope of my new job,” and that he was also excited by the possibilities. “I am eager to be involved in projects which I deem so valuable and which have been so close to my heart throughout the years of my Jesuit ministry.”

Late last night, President Obama and the leaders of Congress hammered out a down-to-the-wire deal to raise the federal debt limit, finally breaking a partisan impasse that had driven the nation to the brink of a government default.The deal could clear Congress as soon as tonight — only 24 hours before Treasury officials said they would begin running short of cash to pay the nation’s bills.

Jesuit Father Thomas Smolich, president of the Jesuit Conference of the United States, recently added his signature to an ecumenical and interfaith “Circle of Protection” Statement urging the Federal Government to protect programs for the poor. The statement was signed by more than 50 leaders of Christian denominations, organizations and religious orders across the country and marked the strongest and most unified Christian voice in the budget debate. In it, these leaders asked Congress and President Obama to remember that the most vulnerable who are served by government programs should not bear the brunt of the budget-cutting burden.

The Jesuits continue to urge people to reach out to their elected officials today to reiterate that Congress should give moral priority to programs that protect the life and dignity of poor and vulnerable people in these difficult economic times.