Archive for the ‘Colleges and Universities’ Category

Photo: JesuitCommons.com

A hundred Jesuit experts and educators from around the world met last week at Regis University in Denver, Colorado, to discuss the future of the “Jesuit Commons – Higher Education at the Margins” program. Higher Education in the Margins is a greater distance education initiative aimed at refugees that was launched two years ago by the Jesuit Refugee Service in collaboration with 13 Jesuit universities.

“The goals are really around the learning, the development of a new knowledge base, development of leaders who can think differently, solve problems on behalf of their community, wherever that community is,” said Dr. Mary McFarland, the International Director of the program.

The conference, she said, is an opportunity to plot the future for the initiative: “We’re learning together how the model needs to evolve, to insure that there is access to those at the margins for Jesuit higher education.” While she acknowledged that, as a new program, “Higher Education at the Margins” faces some challenges, she is optimistic about the outcome: “We’re in a pilot, so it’s not a utopia. We have a lot of challenges that we’re trying to understand collectively from a world-wide point of view… but the outcome is well worth it, it highlights there’s this phenomenal, growing group of people around the world committed.”

To listen to the full podcast about the event from Vatican Radio,

[Vatican Radio]

Leonardo da Vinci has long been considered a true Renaissance man. Jesuit Father John Staudenmaier is following in his footsteps. Fr. Staudenmaier  is currently the Assistant to the President for Mission and Identity at the University of Detroit Mercy (UDM), he was recently honored with the Leonardo da Vinci Medal by the Society for the History of Technology (SHOT). The highest recognition from the Society, the medal is presented to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the history of technology, through research, teaching, publications and other activities.

Founded in 1958, the Society for the History of Technology numbers approximately 1,500 members. An international organization dedicated to the historical study of technology and its relations with politics, economics, the environment, science and the arts, for many years, Fr. Staudenmaier edited SHOT’s quarterly journal, Technology and Culture, while also teaching courses in history at UDM.

At the awards ceremony held at UDM, Fr. Staudenmaier talked about “several deep loves in my life,” in particular, what he calls his prayer life and his commitment to the secular academy. When receiving the award, Staudenmaier described “how my prayer life and the academy are present in my self-awareness as two commitments that do not, however, live in schizoid compartments, nor does either trump the other.”

Staudenmaier’s talk was featured in a UDM podcast which is available on their website here. His remarks are preceded by excerpts of the introduction by Arne Kaijser, former president of the Society for the History of Technology and 2011 chair of the Leonardo da Vinci Medal Committee.

He is a doctor, priest and moral theologian whose medical training and practice have enriched his understanding and study of bioethics.

With this background, School of Theology and Ministry Associate Professor, Jesuit Father Andrea Vicini, is uniquely equipped to study the complex, and often controversial, ethical issues that have emerged in the wake of technological and scientific advances in health and medicine.

“Fr. Vicini is one of the few specialists in medical ethics who is both a physician and a theologian. His broad international background gives him keen insight into the importance of the social and cultural contexts of medical practice,” said Jesuit Father David Hollenbach, the University Chair in Human Rights and International Justice.  “BC and its students will benefit greatly through his presence.”

“Part of the task and responsibility of reflecting theologically on [ethical] issues,” said Fr. Vicini, who joined the STM faculty last fall, “is that you need to combine different elements that are relevant for theological thinking. First is the tradition — theological insight from other theologians in the past and the present. Second is the magisterial, or official, teaching. The other is the experience of the people. This way the universal and the particular are given consideration.”

When dealing with the end of life, he says, the Christian tradition is to see it as a process and to consider the patient’s consciousness, identity and network of relationships. Ethical challenges, however, arise from the interaction of new technologies and end-of-life issues, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), which can be used to determine if brain-injured patients previously thought to be in a vegetative state may, in fact, be reclassified as being in a minimally conscious state.

The technology is still very primitive, but the concept raises issues such as possibility of recovery, access to quality rehabilitative care and family support, according to Fr. Vicini, whose article on this topic will be published later this year in The Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics.

Another emerging field of interest for Fr. Vicini is oncofertility, which looks at preserving the fertility of cancer patients. “Advances in cancer treatment for children and young adults have the positive result of recovery but also the negative result of infertility. Technology is available now that can be used to preserve fertility and restore, not only the patients’ health, but their wholeness.” He wrote on the topic of ovarian tissue transplantation for the journal Theological Studies.

A native of Italy who earned his medical degree from the University of Bologna, Fr. Vicini was born with a physical deformity affecting his left hand. He wanted to become a doctor “to help people, to heal and cure. The experience of disability in my life has helped me feel close to people in need.” He was drawn to pediatric practice in particular, he said, because of its holistic nature and opportunity to build relationships with patients and their families. “You get to witness the healing power of medicine in a special way.”

Discernment led Fr. Vicini to join the Society of Jesus in 1987. “I was attracted to the Jesuit commitment to help people in need in various frontiers around the world through education, social justice work and interactions between scientists and other religions and cultures.” He was ordained a priest in 1996.

To read the full story about Fr. Vicini at Boston College, please click here: [Boston College's New Bioethics Professor]

Jesuit Father Roc O’Connor has been a member of the Society of Jesus since 1967. For more than 25 years of those years, he has planned, performed and written liturgical music. Fr. O’Connor was a part of the St. Louis Jesuits, considered by many to be the fathers of contemporary American liturgical music. Along with the other members, he received four Grammy nominations in late 1970s. Today, O’Connor teaches theology at Creighton University and consults on liturgical matters for St. John’s parish in Omaha, Neb.

In this video piece below, O’Connor discusses his own vocation path and how music has become instrumental in his life as a Jesuit.

Loyola University New Orleans President Jesuit Father Kevin Wildes and six members of the New Orleans community were recently recognized as exemplifying the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his vision, receiving the 2012 Martin Luther King Jr. Jazz Award.

In addition to Wildes, Sunday’s ceremony recognized Marlin Gusman, Orleans Parish sheriff; Wm. Raymond Manning, president and CEO of Manning Architects; Bill Summers, master percussionist; Jim Singleton, chairman of the Dryades YMCA; Dwight Payne, director of VIP Services for the House of Blues; and Stephen Perry, president and CEO of the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The Martin Luther King Jr. Jazz Award honors individuals who have contributed to enriching their community, advancing cultural awareness through music and art, and furthering economic opportunity while adhering to the principles of non-violence.

Fr. Wildes, was appointed in July to the New Orleans Civil Service Commission. This appointment continues Fr. Wildes’ long-time record of service for the city. Following Hurricane Katrina, he played a key role in establishing the city’s Ethics Review Board and in setting up an independent Office of the Inspector General. Wildes currently sits on the Public Belt Railroad Commission.

“While I believe public service is always important, the challenges for post-Katrina New Orleans make public service even more vital today,” said Wildes. “New Orleans citizens are demanding, and rightly so, to live within a city government that functions transparently, efficiently and justly. I am honored to be able to assist in this effort.”