Archive for the ‘NJN Video’ Category

The Ignatian Pro-Life Network, a union of pro-life groups from Jesuit high schools, colleges, universities and parishes across the U.S., held the annual Mass for Life & Rally yesterday in Washington, D.C.

Marchers attended the Mass for Life at St. Aloysius Church along with the Rally for Life following the Mass, to hear speakers and student reports from schools before joining the March for Life. Jesuit Father Joe Laramie was the guest homilist, the full video of which is now available:

To learn about Jesuit Conference’s statement on the abortion issue, read “Standing for the Unborn”.

To follow the Ignatian Pro-Life Network, visit the Ignatian Pro-Life Network page on Facebook.

Homeboy Diner is the latest business venture of Homeboy Industries, a Los Angeles Jesuit-founded ministry that  has helped thousands of gang members quit lives of crime with counseling, tattoo removal and job training.

Founded by Jesuit Father Greg Boyle during the height of the L.A.’s gang wars 23 years ago, Homeboy Industries’ businesses, which include a silk-screen shop, a bakery and an 86-seat restaurant, currently provide job opportunities and training for over 400 ex-gang members.

This summer, when Los Angeles’ City Hall  was looking for a vendor to move into an unoccupied cafe space on the second floor, a new venture, Homeboy Diner, was born.

Ignatian News Network was there for the opening of the cafe with Fr. Boyle and the diner’s new staff.

In November, over 1,100 students, teachers, parish members and others passionate about faith-inspired social justice gathered in Washington, DC for the 14th annual Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice sponsored by the Ignatian Solidarity Network.

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.

When Jesuit Father Larry Gillick joined the Jesuits in 1960, it would not have been possible for him to have become a priest. It wasn’t until 1972, after Vatican II, that changed. Because of childhood accident. Fr. Gillick is blind, and it was not until Vatican II that those with such disabilities would be able to be ordained.

Today, Gillick is a retreat master, leading retreats throughout the country. He currently resides in Omaha, Nebraska and in involved in the Jesuit community at Creighton University. He is loved by many students and is always ready to listen to them and provide counsel. At Creighton, he serves as a student mentor and presides at regular mass at Creighton’s catholic church, St. John’s.

In this video, Fr. Gillick shares the story of his vocation.

Jesuit Father Kevin FitzGerald is an Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Pharmacology and the Dr. David P. Lauler Chair for Catholic Health Care Ethics at Georgetown University.

His research interests have included the investigation of abnormal gene regulation in cancer and ethical issues in human genetics, including the ethical and social ramifications of molecular genetics research. He is an expert on ethical issues in personalized medicine, pharmacogenomics, human cloning research, stem cell research, and genetic testing.

Fr. FitzGerald recently sat down with National Jesuit News to discuss how being a priest and a scientist go hand-in-hand, and how the Church should learn to anticipate upcoming ethical questions.