Archive for the ‘Spirituality’ Category

Jesuit Father David Collins

What do you get when you mix a dorm filled with undergraduate students and a Jesuit-in-residence? An opportunity for Ignatian spirituality. At Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., Jesuits-in-residence serve as mentors to students. For instance, Jesuit Father David Collins, one of the university’s Jesuits who lives in a student dorm, holds open houses every week so that students can stop by to talk.

“It’s an unstructured way for students to come up and, in fact, raise issues that they want to talk about,” Fr. Collins said. “The advantage of putting so much emphasis on an unstructured open house is that it allows themes to be set by students.”

Fr. Collins, a history professor, said the experience of living in a residence hall allows faculty to interact with students they might never otherwise meet.

Jesuit Father Dan Madigan

Jesuit Father Dan Madigan, from Australia, is in his first year as a Jesuit-in-residence on campus, and for him the experience offers a chance to broaden his understanding of American college life.

“I was very interested to meet resident assistants — that was an eye-opener, because I didn’t go to a school like this,” Fr. Madigan said. “I went to undergrad in Australia, and we always go to state university as commuters, so we don’t have the sense of 24/7 residential contact.”

Like Fr. Collins, Fr. Madigan likes that he can meet a more diverse group of undergraduates — and give students the opportunity to get to know a Jesuit.

“We make a lot of the fact that this is a Jesuit university, but many students never get to meet a Jesuit,” Fr. Madigan said.

Jesuit Father Matthew Carnes

Jesuit Father Matthew Carnes is a chaplain-in-residence for the first time at Georgetown this year, but he has previously been a Jesuit-in-residence at Santa Clara University in California, and he has big plans.

“I’m going to lead a secret Jesuit tour,” Fr. Carnes said. “Essentially, at nine at night we go with flashlights to different historical sites, get keys to see secret places around campus and finish up with ice cream at my apartment.”

The Jesuits say that dorm life is no more chaotic than is typical for a college community.

“Other than when the Yankees won the World Series, I’ve never been kept up at night,” Fr. Collins said. Read more about the Jesuits-in-residence at The Hoya website.

Ten Jesuit tertians from around the world are starting the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius today in Portland, Ore. This four-week retreat is an important component of tertianship, a part of the Jesuit formation process.

Tertianship is usually made ten to fifteen years after the novitiate and at the end of a Jesuit’s professional training. St. Ignatius called it a “school of the heart” because it’s a time when the tertian deepens his own commitment to the Society of Jesus.

“The retreat of the Spiritual Exercises is perhaps the key moment of tertianship. After years of living his life as a Jesuit, the tertian once again engages in this month-long program of intense prayer and reflection and brings his lived experience as a Jesuit before our loving God,” explains Jesuit Father Dave Godleski, the delegate for formation and Jesuit life at the Jesuit Conference. The Jesuit Conference represents the nine U.S. provinces of the Society of Jesus, promoting common goals and overseeing international projects.

Because of the long retreat’s importance in the tertianship program, the Jesuit Conference is asking for prayers for the tertians and their directors:

• Jesuit Father Mark Bandsuch (Chicago-Detroit Province)
• Jesuit Father James Conway (British Province)
• Jesuit Father Emerito Salustiano de la Rama (Philippines Province)
• Jesuit Father  Jean-Alfred Dorvil (French Canada Province)
• Jesuit Father Wieslaw Faron (South Poland Province)
• Jesuit Father Ian Gibbons (Missouri Province)
• Jesuit Father Edwin T. Gnanaprakasam (Madurai)
• Jesuit Father Michael Harter (Missouri Province) – assistant tertian director
• Jesuit Father Raymund Benedict Hizon (Philippines Province)
• Jesuit Father Charlie Moutenot (New York Province) – tertian director
• Jesuit Father Godwin Mulenga (Zambia-Milawi Province)
• Jesuit Father John Murphy (California Province) – retreat director
• Jesuit Father Ignatius Hadimulia Sasmita (Maryland Province)

After completing the Spiritual Exercises, the tertians will study Society documents, including the Jesuit Constitutions and decrees from recent General Congregations. After studies, they will do apostolic experiments, which often involve pastoral work with the poor. Once the tertianship period is completed, the Jesuit is called to pronounce his final vows in the Society.

When Jesuit Father David Shields returned to his native Milwaukee in 1996 after teaching and ministering on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota for 22 years, he had an idea to create an affordable, accessible place where the Latino community could gather to pray, talk and learn.

His idea resulted in Casa Romero, an urban, bilingual spiritual renewal center he founded in Milwaukee 11 years ago. Since then hundreds of families and young people have flocked to the center on their own journeys of self-reflection and discovery, reports the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel.

The purpose of the center is to form and renew individuals and to strengthen families, thereby building community, according to Fr. Shields. One family program aims to deepen the bond between parents and teens through various activities that include sharing cultural and faith values. Another program is a bilingual retreat for teen girls and their moms.

The center has also expanded its programs to serve beyond the Latino community. There’s an “Urban Plunge” community service retreat for suburbanites and those from rural areas who want an urban experience.

Fr. Shields says the “Plunge” is becoming increasingly popular. “It’s an educational hands-on mission trip where individuals serve at the Saturday meal program at Gesu Church, visit with the homeless at Repairers of the Breach, or go to a homeless shelter,” he said.

“I think there’s a real concern in the heart of people,” Fr. Shields said. “They’re surprised when they meet homeless people and learn they’re ‘just like me’ and realize that they could be a couple of paychecks from that situation,” he said.

Casa Romero is housed in a former convent that had been vacant. The building was purchased for $100, and gifts and donations helped renovate it.

“There was no big plan,” Fr. Shields said. “We have no reason to exist, except by the grace of God.”

To read more about Fr. Shields and Casa Romero, visit the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel website.

A little more than a year ago, more than two million young people came to an almost silent hush as they stood on an airfield just outside of Madrid. They were waiting, with nervous excitement, for Pope Benedict XVI to announce the next host city for World Youth Day. Finally, he spoke:

“I am pleased now to announce that the next World Youth Day will be held in 2013 in Rio de Janeiro.”

And just as quickly as the word “Rio” passed the Holy Father’s lips, the crowd exploded with cheers of excitement and joy.

As the merry din quieted down, the pope continued, asking the young people to share their experiences from World Youth Day in Madrid with their friends at home. “I invite you to give a bold witness of Christian living to them. In this way you will give birth to new Christians and will help the church grow strongly in the hearts of many others.”

For 3,000 of the young people present in Madrid, their experience included MAGIS, a Jesuit-organized event held in the days before World Youth Day. MAGIS derives its name from the Jesuit phrase meaning “the more.” The roots of the phrase come from St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, who encouraged those who follow Christ to examine their ability to do more for him and, in turn, for others. It is an expression of an aspiration and inspiration of Ignatius and is a tenet of Ignatian spirituality.

On July 12, 2013, 3,500 young people will once again come together for MAGIS, starting in the Brazilian city of Salvador-Bahia, located 1,000 miles north of Rio. For three days, the MAGIS pilgrims will be immersed in the city’s 463-year Jesuit history and heritage, before traveling in smaller groups to numerous locations throughout Brazil.

Brazilian pilgrims stand with the World Youth Day Cross at the closing Mass in Madrid. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

Jesuit Mike Rogers, the coordinator for American participants, says the three days in Salvador-Bahia are vital to focusing hearts and minds in preparation for the weeklong experiences.

“The program itself, MAGIS, is named after a key principle of Ignatian spirituality. Ignatian spirituality compels us; it pulls us deeper. The question needs to be, ‘Okay, now what?’ MAGIS is a time for young people to reflect, to pray and to act. Contemplation always needs to lead to action, and MAGIS gives us the opportunity to see how Christ loves the world in a very concrete and rich way,” Rogers says.

With the guiding theme of “Nations Await Us,” MAGIS organizers are sending the young pilgrims to cultural, geographical and social frontiers, where they will experience aspects of Brazilian life and encounter its people. The pilgrims will contemplate environmental, spiritual, educational, ethnic, urban and rural questions. But most importantly, they will be challenged to be a meaningful presence in the world, in the life of the people they will meet and in the places they will be sent to.

“Some of the programs will focus on the environment of Brazil with a possible trip to the Amazon rainforest; learning about the different religions of Brazil, such as the native and African religions and their relationship with Christianity; service projects in and around Rio de Janeiro; and finally, pilgrimage opportunities,” says Rogers.

MAGIS pilgrims from France, Mauritius and Germany participate in their MAGIS experience in Cordoba, Spain. (Kaitlyn Schnieders)

After their week of experiences throughout Brazil, MAGIS pilgrims will reunite in Rio at the Colegio Santo Inacio in the Botafago neighborhood, just outside the city center. MAGIS participants will be close to the action, but just outside the crush of the millions of other pilgrims packed in Rio’s city center for World Youth Day. Once in Rio, MAGIS pilgrims will participate in the MAGIS closing Mass, attend a World Youth Day gathering at Copacabana Beach, climb the Corcovado Mountain to the world famous Christ the Redeemer Statue and, finally, celebrate Mass with Pope Benedict XVI.

Rogers, currently in Brazil on a MAGIS planning visit, said a number of Jesuit colleges and universities have expressed interest in sending students, with Americans making up approximately 300-400 of the 3,500 worldwide MAGIS participants. With MAGIS less than a year away, excitement is building.

“We’ve set up an application system and process, which is quicker and fairer to our institutions. We’ve outlined programs and created a website, a Facebook page and a Twitter feed with members of the Jesuit Post providing coverage.”

If you’re interested in participating in MAGIS or want more information about this unique World Youth Day opportunity, check out the Jesuit Conference’s MAGIS website or contact Jesuit Mike Rogers.

—Kaitlyn McCarthy Schnieders

Jesuit Fathers Gregg Wood, Tom Provinsal, Ted Kestler and Chuck Peterson with Jesuit novice Christopher Kepler in Alaska

The Society of Jesus founded the Diocese of Fairbanks 125 years ago, and today that legacy continues in the work of Jesuits actively promoting vocations and developing native leadership in Alaska.

In the past, Jesuit priests would either live among native people or visit them frequently. Jesuit Fathers Tom Provinsal, Ted Kestler, Chuck Peterson and Gregg Wood agreed that today the priority of the Catholic Church in “bush villages,” remote native communities only accessible by plane or boat, is the promotion of vocations and catechetical formation and training of lay people.

“How do you combine what we call practical theology with theology?” questioned Fr. Kestler, who described himself as a “theologyholic.”

Members of Alaska’s indigenous communities learn by doing, he explained, whereas the church, influenced by Western culture, puts theory before practice.

“In the Catholic Church, there are some things you can’t teach by doing, but other things you can. We need to find a balance,” Fr. Kestler said.

Relationship building is key in the efforts of finding that equilibrium, the Jesuits concurred, but that is equally difficult when the ministers are absent from the communities they serve for long periods of time.

However, in the absence of priests, local leaders are becoming more independent in making decisions to address social issues, such as alcoholism and drug abuse, affecting their younger generations.

“What this says to me is that our best role is to be somewhat on the sidelines encouraging them to say, ‘yes, you can,’” said Fr. Wood.

Today, he said, native deacons are active participants in the church’s planning, together with the Jesuits and diocesan priests.

The priests are convinced that Eskimos have unique insight and methods of learning that could be very useful if they’re given more opportunities to actively participate in the church in leadership roles.

Thus, their efforts are being focused on the training and formation of those leaders.

“[In Alaska] we are on a frontier,” said Fr. Wood. “And people are going through tremendous changes and transitions in a very short span, and we are in that frontier with them.”

Read the full story at U.S. Catholic.