Archive for the ‘Radio’ Category

Jesuit  Father Chuck Frederico, vocation director for the Maryland, New England and New York Provinces of the Society of Jesus, was a recent guest on “The Busted Halo Show with  Fr. Dave Dwyer” on Sirius Radio.

In addition to discussing the Jesuit formation process, Fr. Frederico shared his own vocation story.

Fr. Frederico explained that after high school he went to the Culinary Institute of America in New York, which had previously been a Jesuit novitiate, St. Andrew-on-Hudson.

Before attending, one of Fr. Frederico’s high school teachers, a diocesan priest, told him to do three things when he arrived. One, to take notice of the “AMDG” — which stands for Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (“For the greater glory of God”),  the motto of the Society of Jesus — written on the front door. Fr. Frederico recognized this from his grade school days. “I’d been writing that on the top of my loose leaf since first grade because the nuns I had, the sisters of St. Joseph, were founded by the Jesuits.”

His teacher also said in the small chapel there would be a window of St. Aloysius Gonzaga receiving first communion from St. Charles Borromeo. Fr. Frederico recognized this from his grammar school days as well, as he attended St. Charles Borrmeo.

Third, his teacher asked Fr. Frederico to read a book on Jesuit philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, and Fr. Frederico was fascinated by his life.

After culinary school, he went to Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia to study food marketing. “I  met the Jesuits in spirit at the Culinary Institute and in the flesh at Saint Joe’s,” Fr.  Frederico said.

Fr. Frederico was planning to have his own restaurant, but God had different plans.

“I was fascinated by these guys [the Jesuits]. I had six different Jesuits in the classroom, and each of them taught with such passion,” he said.

By his senior year, Fr. Frederico was applying to the Jesuits. Listen to the whole segment with Fr. Frederico online.

Pope Benedict XVI was welcomed to the island nation of Cuba yesterday, by President Raul Castro who met the pontiff at the airport in Havana.

The director of Vatican Radio’s German Program, Jesuit Father Bernt Hagenkord, has been in Havana for a few days, preparing for the Pope’s arrival. He’s been walking the streets and talking to the people there, to find out what their expectations are, and how they intend to greet him.

“A lot of preparation went into this visit, organizationally as well as diplomatically, although it is not really visible in the streets. However, all people I could talk to agree, it will, like its predecessor, leave a changed Church and as many hope, a changed country.”

To listen to the full report from Fr. Hagenkord, please press play: 

The second volume of Pope Benedict XVI’s book series on Jesus was recently released, and Jesuit Father Joseph Fessio commented, “When he speaks to us in this book, as Joseph Ratzinger, he is not engaging the faith of the Church – it’s not a magisterial document.”

Fr. Fessio, who was a student of Ratzinger’s 40 years ago, is director of Ignatius Press, which published the English-language version of the pope’s book, “Jesus of Nazareth – Holy Week: From the Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection.”

Fessio said one interesting part of the book covers the passage in Matthew 27:25 (“And the whole people answering, said: His blood be upon us and our children.”) that has led some to believe the Jewish people are cursed.

Fessio explained, “He [the pope] says the blood of Jesus is not like the blood of Cain that cries out for vengeance. The blood of Jesus is redemptive blood. It’s bloodshed for the life of the world. It’s not for punishment or vengeance, it’s for salvation and redemption. It’s a beautiful reflection on it – two or three pages – that really kind of changes your whole view on that part of the Gospel, which has been used in the past sometimes for anti-Semitic purposes.”

Listen to the Vatican Radio interview with Fessio.

The second volume of Pope Benedict XVI’s book series on Jesus was recently released, and Jesuit Father Joseph Fessio commented, “When he speaks to us in this book, as Joseph Ratzinger, he is not engaging the faith of the Church – it’s not a magisterial document.”

Fr. Fessio, who was a student of Ratzinger’s 40 years ago, is director of Ignatius Press, which published the English-language version of the pope’s book, “Jesus of Nazareth – Holy Week: From the Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection.”

Fessio said one interesting part of the book covers the passage in Matthew 27:25 (“And the whole people answering, said: His blood be upon us and our children.”) that has led some to believe the Jewish people are cursed.

Fessio explained, “He [the pope] says the blood of Jesus is not like the blood of Cain that cries out for vengeance. The blood of Jesus is redemptive blood. It’s bloodshed for the life of the world. It’s not for punishment or vengeance, it’s for salvation and redemption. It’s a beautiful reflection on it – two or three pages – that really kind of changes your whole view on that part of the Gospel, which has been used in the past sometimes for anti-Semitic purposes.”

Listen to the Vatican Radio interview with Fessio.

Jesuit Father Peter Neeley of the Kino Border Initiative (KBI) spoke to NPR about KBI’s efforts in the border town of Nogales, Mexico. Fr. Neeley says that relief operations like the KBI, which ministers to deportees with services that include a soup kitchen, are now common on the border.

“Tijuana, Mexicali, Juarez all have these kinds of services, but Nogales, when they started diverting more people through the desert, that’s when we saw the big need here. They need a really organized way to distribute the food and get more people fed and clothed,” Neeley said.

Neeley runs the cafeteria where KBI volunteers typically prepare three meals a day under a tent large enough to feed 200 people.

Crossing into the U.S. illegally is not a sin, said Neeley, it’s a misdemeanor.

Read or listen to the story on NPR.