Archive for the ‘Governance’ Category

At the final mass during the Russian Regional meeting with Jesuit Fr. Adolfo Nicolás, he was presented with an original icon by the regional superior, Jesuit Fr. Tony Corcoran, (New Orleans Province; left) , Jesuit Clemens Werth (right), in the novitiate chapel in Novosibirsk. Deacon Bredelyev Oleksiy, in the background. (Photo Courtesy Jesuit Fr. Don Doll)

Jesuit Father General Adolfo Nicolás visited the Russian region from July 4 – 10. The visit began in Novosibirsk where he  participated in a meeting of Jesuits working in the region. The theme of the meeting was “Apostolic and Communal Life in the Russian Region: a Challenge/Call to Live in Unity of Minds and Hearts.” The gathering was scheduled for three days and was an occasion for Fr. Nicolás to  learn first-hand the opportunities and challenges facing the region, and to offer reflections regarding the future. From Novosibirsk,  Father General traveled to Moscow where, on the morning of July 9, he met with representatives of the Department of External Relations of the Orthodox Russian Church.  That afternoon, he attended a reception at the St. Thomas Institute, the theology, philosophy and history faculty run by the Jesuits in the Russian capital, and visited with the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Antonio Mennini. The next day, Father General “played tourist” visiting Red Square and other places of interest in Moscow; he also paid a visit to Archbishop Paolo Pezzi of Moscow.

The more than 440 Jesuits who attended the first Midwest Tri-Province Days of the Chicago, Detroit and Wisconsin provinces deemed the event a success for getting to know each other and for sharing thoughts and goals for the future. The gathering was hosted on the Marquette University campus in Milwaukee, Wis. on June 11 and 12 and reflected the future reconfiguration of the three provinces which will eventually result in one combined province for the entire Great Lakes/Midwestern region of the Society of Jesus.

Jesuit Father Tom Smolich, president of the Jesuit Conference of the United States, opened Friday’s session with a vibrant address reminding the Jesuits that the future of the combined three provinces was a response to “the call of Christ” and not a business or administrative decision. Men of the three provinces then had two small-group discussions. The first session gathered men from all three provinces in groups by their entry to the Society of Jesus. The second small-group session grouped the men by their ministry in order to share ideas.

“All of us who gathered at Province Days enjoyed a wonderful and encouraging experience,” said Jesuit Father Tom Krettek, provincial for the Wisconsin province of the Society of Jesus. “I believe the days have created the foundation for future cooperation.”

“The men whom I encountered toward the end of the days said they had a very good, consoling and hope filled time,” said Jesuit Father Walter Deye, socius for the Detroit-Chicago province of the Society of Jesus. “I heard this from Chicago, Detroit and Wisconsin men.”

The Friday evening ordination had more than 200 concelebrants as six Jesuits from the Midwest were ordained by the Most Rev. Blase J. Cupich, bishop of Rapid City, S.D. The new priests are Jesuit Fathers Tom Neitzke of Port Washington, Wis., James C. Ackerman of Cincinnati, Ohio, Mark W. Luedtke of Hinsdale, Ill., Paul C. O’Connor of Cleveland, Ohio, Richard E. Ross of Ann Arbor, Mich. and Michael S. Christiana of Rochester, Minn.

Social events including golf and bowling Wednesday set the friendly tone for the official opening and Jubilarian Mass where men celebrating 50 years in the priesthood were concelebrants and each was presented with a stole to commemorate his anniversary.

There’s a sense of adventure deep in Jesuit Father Tom Lankenau.

The 51-year-old Jesuit priest grew up hunting and fishing. He taught riflery, hiked, climbed and rafted.

As a Jesuit, he has served on the Blackfeet Reservation of Montana, in Belize, Bolivia, Poland and Zambia.

He walks in the cowboy way, slightly bow-legged, and is not afraid to expectorate when outdoors.

But since 2007, Father Lankenau’s service to the Jesuits and to the church has been carried out in a plain office in Southeast Portland. He is the Oregon Province of Jesuits’ socius — an aide, adviser and consultant to the provincial superior. It’s a job of details and he’s taken it on joyfully.

Accepting the post was the continuation of a conversion that began decades ago. The defining characteristic of this priest’s metanoia is openness.

He is a natural administrator who processes data efficiently. On one recent day at the Jesuit offices, he spoke with clerical volunteer Joyceann Hagen clearly, crisply and kindly. He then ambled to an appointment where he gave absolute attention to an interlocutor for more than an hour. Following that, he gave a tour of the grounds, cheerful and unruffled all the while, despite pressing duties.

“It’s a job of service,” Father Lankenau says. “There is fulfillment in that. If I can help Jesuits in the field do their jobs more and more fully, I am a part of what they do.”

Read more about Lankenau’s varied career as a Jesuit in this Catholic Sentinel feature article.

There’s a sense of adventure deep in Jesuit Father Tom Lankenau.

The 51-year-old Jesuit priest grew up hunting and fishing. He taught riflery, hiked, climbed and rafted.

As a Jesuit, he has served on the Blackfeet Reservation of Montana, in Belize, Bolivia, Poland and Zambia.

He walks in the cowboy way, slightly bow-legged, and is not afraid to expectorate when outdoors.

But since 2007, Father Lankenau’s service to the Jesuits and to the church has been carried out in a plain office in Southeast Portland. He is the Oregon Province of Jesuits’ socius — an aide, adviser and consultant to the provincial superior. It’s a job of details and he’s taken it on joyfully.

Accepting the post was the continuation of a conversion that began decades ago. The defining characteristic of this priest’s metanoia is openness.

He is a natural administrator who processes data efficiently. On one recent day at the Jesuit offices, he spoke with clerical volunteer Joyceann Hagen clearly, crisply and kindly. He then ambled to an appointment where he gave absolute attention to an interlocutor for more than an hour. Following that, he gave a tour of the grounds, cheerful and unruffled all the while, despite pressing duties.

“It’s a job of service,” Father Lankenau says. “There is fulfillment in that. If I can help Jesuits in the field do their jobs more and more fully, I am a part of what they do.”

Read more about Lankenau’s varied career as a Jesuit in this Catholic Sentinel feature article.

For Jesuit Father James McCann, it all started with taking a course in the Russian language while in high school.

“They were offering different languages” to students, said Father McCann, 61, a Chicago native. “I probably put down Russian as my third choice. But what I think they did was that they took everyone who put Russian down as any choice at all and put them into the class.”

As providence would have it, McCann liked learning Russian. That led to an interest in almost anything having to do with the East.

That interest led to his current stop, a seven-year stint as head of the U.S. bishops’ Office to Aid the Church in Central and Eastern Europe.

It will play an important role in his next assignment, as rector of the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome.

Read more about McCann’s new appointment  here.