Archive for the ‘Media’ Category

Every Jesuit makes an annual 8-day silent retreat, and Jesuit Brendan Busse, a scholastic, welcomes this time away.

“I need this time. I long for it. Of course I do what I can to nurture silence in my heart on a daily basis, but these annual retreats are privileged moments, graced times. They are, in a word, a gift,” Busse wrote in a blog entry for The Jesuit Post, before leaving for his yearly retreat.

“It’s not that I can’t find the joy of love and the presence of God immersed in our world,” Busse wrote. “It’s simply that I need time to be with God. Or really: it’s simply that I need God. I immerse myself in silence so that I can clear the air, the desk, the mind, the heart, and make room again for God.”

Busse compares daily life to a game of basketball, with moments of rest and re-collection occurring when there are pauses in the game. For Busse, the silent retreats are like those moments:

I’ve stepped away from the game to retrieve something lost, to catch my breath, to find the one thing necessary for the game to continue. The Compassionate Stranger bends over and takes the ball in hand and then performs a simple, perhaps thoughtless, act of generosity, an act of random kindness. Given the opportunity to be of ‘a little help’ they toss the ball back to me, and I jog back to join the players on the court so the game can continue.

Read Busse’s full entry at The Jesuit Post.

On Friday, July 20, after the shooting rampage in an Aurora, Colorado movie theater that left 12 dead, Jesuit Father James Martin, culture editor at America magazine, posted the following on Facebook:

“Gun control is a pro-life issue. Pray for the families of the victims in Colorado, and for an end to the taking of life by violence.”

That post sparked a debate on Fr. Martin’s Facebook page that USA Today’s Faith & Reason blog reported on later that day, in a post titled “Would Jesus pack heat? Is gun control a God issue?”

On July 22, Fr. Martin expanded on his views in a post on America magazine’s blog. Fr. Martin stated that he is a religious person, not a political person, and that he believes gun control is a religious issue:

“It is as much of a ‘life issue’ or a ‘pro-life issue,’ as some religious people say, as is abortion, euthanasia or the death penalty (all of which I am against), and programs that provide the poor with the same access to basic human needs as the wealthy (which I am for). There is a ‘consistent ethic of life’ that views all these issues as linked, because they are.”

Fr. Martin wrote that he prays for the victims, but suggested that “our revulsion over these crimes, and our sympathy for victims, may be more than an invitation to prayer. Such deep emotions may be one way that God encourages us to act.”

Fr. Martin said religious people should meditate on “the connection between the more traditional ‘life issues’ and the overdue need for stricter gun control.”

Jesuit Brother Guy Consolmagno, a researcher and spokesman at the Vatican Observatory, recently shared his thoughts on science and religion on The Washington Post’s blog.

With news about the Higgs boson particle, the so-called “God Particle,” that’s helping scientists understand how the universe was built, Br. Consolmagno says he’s explained multiple times that “No, the God Particle has nothing to do with God…”

Although not a particle physicist, Br. Consolmagno is often interviewed because of his role as a Vatican astronomer. He says some are surprised to hear that the Vatican supports an astronomical observatory, but that science and religion complement each other:

But the real reason we do science is in fact related to the reason why so many people ask us about things like the God Particle. The disciplines of science and religion complement each other in practical ways. For example, both are involved in describing things that are beyond human language and so must speak in metaphors. Not only is the ‘God Particle’ not a piece of God, it is also not really a ‘particle’ in the sense that a speck of dust is a particle. In both cases we use familiar images to try to illustrate an entity of great importance but whose reality is beyond our power to describe literally.

Read more of Br. Consolmagno’s commentary on the Higgs boson discovery on Catholic News Service and Catholic News Agency.

This year, Loyola Press is celebrating its 100^thanniversary, a milestone few companies ever reach. The fact that Loyola Press is a Catholic publishing company makes the achievement all the more remarkable.

In 1912—the same year in which the Titanic sank and Woodrow Wilson was elected president—Jesuit Father William P. Lyons founded Loyola Press as a publishing ministry of the Chicago Province of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits). Lyons was simply following in the footsteps of the Jesuits’ founder, Ignatius of Loyola, who was one of the first people to purchase a printing press in the 16^th century. Originally located in the basement of St. Ignatius College (now St. Ignatius College Preparatory School) and employing only a handful of people; today, the company employs nearly 90 people.

Throughout the last 100 years, Loyola Press has maintained rigorous standards for its high-quality textbooks and spirituality resources. Through religious education programs like Finding God, Christ Our Life, and the bilingual God’s Gifts, children not only learn the foundations of the Catholic faith but also discover practical ways to live out their faith.  With Voyages in English, which has been in continuous use and publication since 1943, students develop critical skills in grammar, usage and mechanics that help them become successful writers, readers and speakers..

Loyola Press publisher Jesuit Father Paul Campbell, says, “While our various language arts and religion textbooks are generally geared to children, our substantial list of spirituality books is aimed more at adults. Over the course of Loyola Press’s history, we have published literally hundreds of books that draw women and men into a deeper relationship with God and inspire them to serve others.” Some of those books have generated sales in the range one might expect from the big New York publishing houses: The Gift of Peace by Joseph Cardinal Bernadin remained on the New York Times bestseller list for 16 weeks; Fr. Jim Martin’s My Life with the Saints has sold more than 110,000 copies.

With a century of success behind it, nonprofit Loyola Press is already thinking about and planning for its next 100 years. “Our resources are selling globally, and our rapidly expanding digital content, including eBooks for adults and children, makes it possible for people to interact with Loyola Press whenever they want, wherever they want,” says Teresa Locke, president of Loyola Press. “The Jesuits have always been about serving people’s real needs, about meeting people wherever they are. Today, they are in the digital world, and that is where Loyola Press will interact with them.”

Popular digital offerings include the 3-Minute Retreat, where music, images and Scripture verses allow busy people to spend a few quality moments reflecting on their faith; and IgnatianSpirituality.com, where visitors can gain helpful insight into St. Ignatius Loyola and the spirituality he embraced. For additional information about Loyola Press, its print and digital resources, and its 100^th anniversary, visit www.loyolapress.com.