He will continue in this role while overseeing the work of the Jesuit Center in Amman and coordinating with the Jesuits of the Near East Province to explore ways in which the New England Province can help in meeting their needs and in working together in this area. Linden succeeds Jesuit Father Al Hicks, who has served the province and the church in Jordan and Iraq as superior for the past eight years.

Born in Quito, Ecuador in 1951, Fr. Cordoba went on to study philisophy, technology and history at Bogota’s Pontificia Javeriana University, before specializing in clinical psychology at Rome’s Pontificia Gregoriana University.

Cordoba has held numerous academic positions, including rector of San Pedro Claver College in Bucaramanga, and dean of the faculty of medicine at Bogota’s Pontificia Javeriana University.

Cordoba remains secretary general of the Colombian Episcopal Conference as he replaces Enrique Sarmiento as bishop, who the Vatican confirmed handed in his resignation on the grounds of age.

For this year’s Teach In, Jesuit Father Agbonkhianmeghe Orobator, provincial of the East African Province of the Society of Jesus, was the keynote speaker who discussed the issues facing his province today. During his time at the Teach In, National Jesuit News interviewed Fr. Orobator about the challenges that the Society of Jesus faces in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia and the Republics of the Sudan in the North and South.

“I think the unique mission of the Society of Jesus is that we are able to think ‘outside of the box’.” I think that is very unique to Jesuits,” says Fr. Orobator. “We can work in parishes, we can run schools, we can run communications centers, we can run many different apostolates, but we can do it in a way that is unconventional.”

The theme of this year’s event was “The Gritty Reality: Feel It, Think It, Engage It,” derived from a speech given by former Jesuit Superior General, Father Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, in 2000 entitled, “The Service of Faith and the Promotion of Justice in American Jesuit Higher Education.” Kolvenbach said, “students, in the course of their formation, must let the gritty reality of this world into their lives, so they can learn to feel it, think about it critically, respond to its suffering and engage it constructively.”

You can watch National Jesuit News’ interview with Fr. Orobator below.

A member of the team that founded Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in 1996, he taught theology at the school from 2000 until 2004, when he was appointed to his current role as president.

“I love being a Jesuit, so the thought of working with Jesuits in formation is a privilege and honor for me,” said Fr. Gartland. “I am looking forward to moving to Boston.”

Gartland will be responsible for the community’s Jesuits, who come from various parts of the United States and as far away as Europe and Africa.

Prior to his post at Cristo Rey, Gartland was pastor of St. Procopius Church, a Mexican immigrant parish in Chicago.  He earned his bachelor’s degree from Xavier University, master’s degrees in philosophy and religious education from Loyola University Chicago, and a master’s in divinity from the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley.

As the Secretary for Higher Education, Garanzini will assist Father General Nicolás on a part-time basis, coordinating and championing Jesuit higher-education issues around the world.

Garanzini succeeds Jesuit Father Ronald Anton.

Magis 2011

Yesterday, around 3,500 people attended Mass celebrated by Jesuit Father General Adolfo Nicolás in the plaza of the Sanctuary of Loyola. The pilgrims celebrated this special Eucharist before being sent forth to their experiences, which will start today in more than 100 locations across Spain and Portugal.

During his homily, Fr. General evoked the founder of the Society of Jesus in this significant place: “God is in the gentle breeze, in its peace and its refreshing calm. And Saint Ignatius tries to make us sensitive to that breeze, to the soft voice of God.” He also wanted to send a message to all the young pilgrims before they left on their experiences tomorrow, “If we are only worried about our welfare or success, we will sink helplessly. If we are worried about service and the suffering of others, where Christ lives… we will walk on the sea.”  After Mass, Fr. General, accompanied by all the concelebrants, prayed in the Chapel of Conversion of St Ignatius.

You can read more about Father General’s visit with the Magis 2011 pilgrims and their send off here.

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.”

During the meeting, the members of the U.S. Assistancy and JESAM in attendance considered strategies for the various ways the U.S. and the African provinces might have opportunities to work more closely together, such as in the arenas of potential exchange programs between the U.S. and Africa’s apostolic works, in creating partnerships between apostolates, and by identifying tertianship experiences in Africa for U.S. Jesuits.

The African Jesuits also shared with their U.S. brothers the challenges the Society of Jesus faces in Africa around educational opportunities; with ethnic and political tensions; in health care, especially for HIV/AIDs and malaria treatments; and also the environmental and ecological concerns facing the continent.

“It bodes well for the future of the Society of Jesus that there will be well trained men in various disciplines to continue and develop the work of the Jesuits in Africa and Madagascar. It goes without saying that the Jesuits of North America have been extremely generous to us in providing the wherewithal for African and Malagasy Jesuits to specialize in these many and varied subjects. The Church and the Society are very grateful for this often unsung and open-handed support for the apostolates of the Society in our continent,” said Jesuit Father Michael Lewis, president of the Jesuit Conference of Africa and Madagascar. “There are men studying everything from engineering, informatics, administration, to pedagogy and the like which will help the Church and the Jesuits of the future to continue offering the work we do for the people of Africa and Madagascar.”

Thirty-seven African Jesuits participated in the gathering (there are approximately 60 African Jesuits currently in the U.S. and Canada), representing seven African provinces and regions, and 16 different countries. The participants came from various places throughout the U.S. and Canada where they are studying, ministering or on sabbatical.

In addition, five people from the U.S. Assistancy participated: three from the Jesuit Conference, including Jesuit Father Tom Smolich, president of the Jesuit Conference of the United States; a provincial assistant from the New York province; and a provincial assistant from the Wisconsin province.

The previous African Jesuit Gathering was in 2006, also hosted by the Jesuit Conference of the United States and was held at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

One of the attendees of the meeting, Jesuit Father Jacques Randrianary of the Madagascar Province of the Society of Jesus who is completing his Masters degree in Film and Television at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, Calif, created this short video piece from the material he captured during the gathering in Baltimore:

Part Ia: History of a Translation
The Roman Missal is the book containing the prescribed prayers, chants and instructions for the celebration of Mass in the Roman Catholic Church. Published first in Latin under the title Missale Romanum, the text is then translated and is published in modern languages for use in local churches throughout the world. In this video, Fr. John Baldovin, SJ, gives a background on the history of the translations, their implications and how we got to the latest translation of the Missale Romanum soon to be implemented in United States parishes in November 2011.

Part Ib: History of a Translation (Cont.)
Part Ia continues in this video piece.

Part IIa: Exploring the New Translation
In this video, Fr. John Baldovin, SJ, explains some of the most important changes occurring in this new translation of the Roman Missal including some of the well-known responses and acclamations of the people and updated translations of existing prayers.

Part IIb: Exploring the New Translation (Cont.)
Part IIa continues in this video piece.

Part III: Examination of Conscience
In this video, Fr. John Baldovin, SJ, encourages Jesuits to consider their own habits as they preside and celebrate the Sacred Liturgy with this new translation and to consider an examination of conscience as they prepare to use and engage with this new text.

On this Earth Day, Álvarez de los Mozos encourages Jesuits and their partners to work toward justice, peace and environmental care.