Archive for the ‘Africa’ Category

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.

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Jesuit Father Don Doll has seen corners of the globe few Americans ever will.

Fr. Doll, a journalism professor at Creighton University in Omaha, has photographed war-torn countries where refugee camps are commonplace. In April, Doll was with Jesuit Refugee Service, an international Catholic relief agency, in eastern Chad along the Darfur border where he was among 250,000 Sudanese refugees.

Doll said his goal as a photographer is to provide an honest depiction of what is taking place. In an interview with the Milwaukee Catholic Herald, Doll discussed his work as a photographer and the images he has captured.

“I like pictures that show what a serious situation it truly is,” said Doll, who has photographed for National Geographic magazine. “Sometimes you can just sense in their eyes the horrors of what they’ve seen. There’s a heaviness in their heart.”

To read more about Doll’s work in the Sudan with Jesuit Refugee Service, click here.

To see Doll’s images taken of Sudanese refugees in Chad, please visit his website, Magis Productions.

Jesuit Father Don Doll has seen corners of the globe few Americans ever will.

Fr. Doll, a journalism professor at Creighton University in Omaha, has photographed war-torn countries where refugee camps are commonplace. In April, Doll was with Jesuit Refugee Service, an international Catholic relief agency, in eastern Chad along the Darfur border where he was among 250,000 Sudanese refugees.

Doll said his goal as a photographer is to provide an honest depiction of what is taking place. In an interview with the Milwaukee Catholic Herald, Doll discussed his work as a photographer and the images he has captured.

“I like pictures that show what a serious situation it truly is,” said Doll, who has photographed for National Geographic magazine. “Sometimes you can just sense in their eyes the horrors of what they’ve seen. There’s a heaviness in their heart.”

To read more about Doll’s work in the Sudan with Jesuit Refugee Service, click here.

To see Doll’s images taken of Sudanese refugees in Chad, please visit his website, Magis Productions.

Jesuit Father Michael Czerny, SJ, a Canadian Jesuit based in Nairobi, Kenya, has been appointed one of about 30 experts who will assist the bishops at Synod of Bishops for Africa at the Vatican from Oct. 4 – 25, 2009.

In 2002, Fr. Czerny founded the African Jesuit AIDS Network as a way to help Jesuits in Africa work on the problem of HIV and AIDS. Fr. Czerny spoke with Vatican Radio about how the Church offers hope to people living with HIV AIDS. Go here to listen Vatican Radio’s interview with Fr. Michael Czerny, SJ.

Jesuit Father Michael Czerny, SJ, a Canadian Jesuit based in Nairobi, Kenya, has been appointed one of about 30 experts who will assist the bishops at Synod of Bishops for Africa at the Vatican from Oct. 4 – 25, 2009.

In 2002, Fr. Czerny founded the African Jesuit AIDS Network as a way to help Jesuits in Africa work on the problem of HIV and AIDS. Fr. Czerny spoke with Vatican Radio about how the Church offers hope to people living with HIV AIDS. Go here to listen Vatican Radio’s interview with Fr. Michael Czerny, SJ.