Archive for the ‘Pastoral Ministry’ Category

Jesuit Father John Murray says that when people ask him what it’s like to be a spiritual director, his answer is always the same. “Spiritual director is to be more a companion on the journey, than a person who has the answers to another’s concerns,” he writes in a reflection.

Fr. Murray writes that his life at Eastern Point Retreat House in Gloucester, Mass., where he is director, is a “wild mixture of listening, companioning and managing a good size inn!”

“With our staff of Jesuits and guest directors, we listen and focus and shine some light into darkened hearts,” writes Murray.

He finds managing a retreat house is both a great challenge and a great joy.

“As I reflect on my years as a Jesuit; high school work, then principal, then socius and now as a retreat director, I marvel at how Jesus has become my true love and friend,” he writes.

Read more of Murray’s reflections.

St. Peter's Church, Charlotte, NC / Photo by lumierefl

2011 marks the 25th anniversary of the arrival of the Jesuits at St. Peter Church in Charlotte.

The parish celebrated with a series of events which concluded with a Jesuit-concelebrated Mass on June 26. St. Peter Church was built in 1851 in what was then the southern tip of Charlotte. It was later rebuilt after an explosion at a nearby factory damaged the building’s walls and foundation. As the city grew and more Catholic churches were built, the parish’s population diminished. In 1970, St. Peter Church ceased being a parish.

Then, in 1986, the church regained parish status and the pastorate was assumed by Jesuit priests of the Maryland Province. As the population in the urban area of Charlotte has swelled, the uptown parish has continued to grow as a community deeply concerned with outreach to those in need.

The pastor of St. Peter Church, Father Patrick Earl, was the principal celebrant at the anniversary Mass, celebrated on the Feast of Corpus Christi. Father Earl pointed out the appropriateness of the anniversary celebration being held together with the celebration of the Body and Blood of Christ:

“We celebrate the Feast of the Body and Blood of our Lord, our nourishment in our lives as disciples of Jesus. And we remember the arrival of the Jesuits here at St. Peter’s in 1986. We remember those who have accompanied us on our journey as disciples of Jesus.”

The Jesuit concelebrants at the Mass were Jesuit Father Joseph Sobierajski, long-time pastor of St. Peter; Jesuit Father Thomas Gaunt, one of the first Jesuits to come to St. Peter; Jesuit Father Vincent Alagia and Jesuit Father Timothy Stephens.

[Catholic News Herald - Diocese of Charlotte]

For six years, Filipino Jesuit Father Rene Tacastacas juggled his time as a student and a priest in the United States.

“The experience was very enriching,” Fr. Tacastacas said of the years he spent working on a doctorate degree in rural sociology and at the same time organizing Catholic communities in remote Missouri villages, where he became well-loved. In May, he received the Outstanding Graduate Student Service Award upon his graduation from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Tacastacas was parish priest of the remote town of Titay in the Philippines, but after being named vocation director, his Jesuit superiors sent him to the United States in 2005 to pursue further studies.

“I needed the know-how to pursue rural development, especially involving work with small farmers in the countryside,” said Tacastacas.

When he flew to Missouri in August 2005, his mission was clear: study hard so he could help in the Jesuits’ mission to assist Filipino farmers. Tacastacas specialized in food and agriculture.

In his first few weeks in the U.S., Tacastacas felt lonely, so he volunteered to substitute for any priest who was not available.

Soon, he was being sent to remote towns in Missouri, and he found his purest joys as a priest and as a student in the far-flung communities.

In these towns, he would visit the farms, where he gained first-hand experience in American farming that helped him put into shape his doctoral research’s focus on small vegetable farming.

“Getting to know the farmer-parishioners allowed me to view my studies as primarily directed towards helping small farmers back home,” he said.

“There was no disconnect between my priesthood and my being a student,” said Tacastacas.

Read more about Tacastacas’ time in Missouri at Inquirer News.

Lt. Sam Robinson/San Quentin State Prison

Jesuit Father George Williams recently became the new Catholic chaplain of San Quentin State Prison in California and said of his new job, “God jumps out at you when you least expect it.”

Fr. Williams, who served 15 years in prison ministries in Massachusetts before being appointed to his “dream job” at California’s oldest penitentiary, sees Christ in the Hell’s Angel shouting a greeting, “Hey, from one angel to another, how’s it going?”

He sees Christ in the lifers who are studying theology and said the inmates sometimes stump him with their insightful questions and surprise him with their knowledge of church teaching.

The facility houses nearly 6,000 prisoners, and about a quarter of them are Catholic.

Williams is in charge of a full sacramental calendar: baptisms at Easter; confirmations; confessions, which are significant for their healing and forgiving; the Eucharist; and anointing of the sick.

Although taken aback by San Quentin’s harsh conditions — he wears a bulletproof vest to work — he was pleasantly surprised by the plethora of programs, beautiful Catholic chapel and hordes of volunteers who bring “a humanness here I didn’t expect.”

“You see the Gospel in a totally different light in prison,” Williams said. “The early Christians were no strangers to prison and execution, including Jesus.”

As a Jesuit priest, his mission is to go where the need is greatest, Williams said.

“Nowhere is there a greater need than in the prison system that holds more than 2 million mostly poor and often disenfranchised people,” he said. “I feel a call to respond to that need.”

Read more about Williams at Catholic San Francisco.

Jesuit Father Joel Medina, a former nurse who was recently ordained at age 56, is the newest Jesuit chaplain at Stroger Hospital in Chicago, where the Jesuits have had a continual presence for more than 100 years.

Fr. Medina celebrated his first Mass as a newly ordained priest in the hospital chapel.

“I think it will be a rich experience to be a priest and to serve patients in any way I can,” said Medina, who is familiar with the hospital, as he served there as a Eucharistic minister when he was studying at Loyola University Chicago.

Medina, who is fluent in English and Spanish, said he is looking forward to working with the diversity of people who serve as employees and volunteers at the hospital.

For more on this story, visit the Chicago-Detroit Province website.