Archive for the ‘Theology’ Category

Jesuit Father Robert Taft holds a rare book in the library of the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome. (CNS/Paul Haring)

The Jesuit’s Pontifical Oriental Institute has the best general collection in the world on Eastern Christianity, including an extremely rare 1581 edition of the Ostrog Bible – the first complete Bible printed in Slavic. “For the Slavic churches, this is the Gutenberg” Bible, said U.S. Jesuit Father Robert Taft, former prefect of the library and former vice rector of the institute.

However, the Bible and other items in the library’s oldest and most valuable collections are in a serious state of degradation. Rome’s temperatures swings and ordinary wear and tear have taken their toll on volumes that are hundreds of years old.

“Everybody knows that that the only way to preserve material like this is to have a standard uniform temperature with humidity control and climate control throughout the entire year,” Fr. Taft said.

The institute and library are funded by the Vatican, but the portion they receive is only enough to increase their holdings and keep the place running.

The institute’s rector, U.S. Jesuit Father James McCann, said he is looking for outside funding for its preservation efforts. Georgetown University hopes to provide a grant to the library that would pay for a digitizing machine plus a year’s stipend for one person to do the scanning, Fr. McCann added.

While digitizing the collections will save on further wear and tear, funding must still be found for repairing the degraded volumes. McCann said he also wants to look for potential donors outside the church, such as “people who love books or specialists who recognize the value of these materials.”

A climate-controlled system for the library and its collections could cost a quarter of a million dollars, said McCann. Not only would it protect the books from heat and humidity, he said, the library would be able to stay open year round instead of having to close in late summer because of the stifling temperature.

Because the institute attracts religious and lay students and experts from many Christian traditions, it plays a key role in the future of ecumenism, McCann said.

The oriental institute “is not an archival library or a museum library. Our things aren’t here to be oohed and aahed over; they’re here to be put into somebody’s hands and used,” said Taft.

For the full story, visit Catholic News Service.

On December 3, 2010, the Feast of St. Francis Xavier, Boston Archbishop Cardinal Seán O’Malley, OFM Cap., presided at the blessing of the Chapel of the Holy Name of Jesus at the Blessed Peter Faber Jesuit Community near the Boston College (BC) campus.

The chapel stands at the heart of the Jesuit Community of the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry (BCSTM). Named for one of the first Jesuits who was known for his preaching and spiritual guidance, the Faber Community is home to BCSTM faculty members and 55 Jesuits from more than twenty countries who are preparing for priesthood and other ministries in the Catholic Church. The new community residence was needed when the former Weston School of Theology in Cambridge, Massachusetts reaffiliated with Boston College and moved to the BC campus.

“The opening of the Blessed Peter Faber Jesuit Community this fall enriches the strong Jesuit presence on the BC campus,” said Jesuit Father Thomas H. Smolich, president of the Jesuit Conference. “The Jesuits appreciate the support Cardinal O’Malley has given to our ministry of priestly formation through his blessing of the chapel.”

Cardinal O’Malley expressed gratitude to the Society of Jesus for service to the Church in Boston and throughout the world. As evidence of his gratitude, Cardinal O’Malley is giving the community an image of Our Lady of Montserrat to place in the chapel. The pilgrimage site of Montserrat in Spain is where St. Ignatius of Loyola formally abandoned his military and courtly life and embraced his new identity as a pilgrim, a first step toward his founding of the Society of Jesus.

In addition to  Fr. Smolich, principal concelebrants of the Eucharist were Jesuit Fathers Bradley M. Schaeffer, rector of the Blessed Peter Faber Jesuit Community, William P. Leahy, president of Boston College, and Steven C. Dillard, secretary for formation at the Jesuit Conference.

On December 3, 2010, the Feast of St. Francis Xavier, Boston Archbishop Cardinal Seán O’Malley, OFM Cap., presided at the blessing of the Chapel of the Holy Name of Jesus at the Blessed Peter Faber Jesuit Community near the Boston College (BC) campus.

The chapel stands at the heart of the Jesuit Community of the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry (BCSTM). Named for one of the first Jesuits who was known for his preaching and spiritual guidance, the Faber Community is home to BCSTM faculty members and 55 Jesuits from more than twenty countries who are preparing for priesthood and other ministries in the Catholic Church. The new community residence was needed when the former Weston School of Theology in Cambridge, Massachusetts reaffiliated with Boston College and moved to the BC campus.

“The opening of the Blessed Peter Faber Jesuit Community this fall enriches the strong Jesuit presence on the BC campus,” said Jesuit Father Thomas H. Smolich, president of the Jesuit Conference. “The Jesuits appreciate the support Cardinal O’Malley has given to our ministry of priestly formation through his blessing of the chapel.”

Cardinal O’Malley expressed gratitude to the Society of Jesus for service to the Church in Boston and throughout the world. As evidence of his gratitude, Cardinal O’Malley is giving the community an image of Our Lady of Montserrat to place in the chapel. The pilgrimage site of Montserrat in Spain is where St. Ignatius of Loyola formally abandoned his military and courtly life and embraced his new identity as a pilgrim, a first step toward his founding of the Society of Jesus.

In addition to  Fr. Smolich, principal concelebrants of the Eucharist were Jesuit Fathers Bradley M. Schaeffer, rector of the Blessed Peter Faber Jesuit Community, William P. Leahy, president of Boston College, and Steven C. Dillard, secretary for formation at the Jesuit Conference.

The Blessed Peter Faber Jesuit Community, a space dedicated to the formation of Jesuit priests, recently opened on Boston College’s campus.

The five buildings that make up the grounds are now home to an international group of 75 Jesuits, whose main apostolate is theological reflection, scholarship and research. Formerly the Weston Jesuit Community, the group includes many students and teachers from the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry.

Last month, the Jesuits — some of them having lived in Harvard Square for 40 years ‑ moved into their new residence.

Jesuit Father Richard Roos, minister of the Blessed Peter Faber Jesuit Community, said the new community — built in less than a year and under budget — allows for relationships to develop more organically among the Jesuits. Prior to the move, the community was scattered throughout Harvard Square, he said, making it difficult to make connections.

Fr. Roos said the design of the property is a gentle reminder of what brings the very diverse group together. In the middle of the ring of five buildings stands a chapel, a space large enough that all in the community may celebrate Mass together.

“That is quite appropriate,” said Roos, “because the heart of our community is Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.”

To hear more about the new Blessed Peter Faber Jesuit Community and to see what the new space looks like, please watch the video below:

This summer, Jesuit Father James McCann was assigned by Pope Benedict XVI to head to Rome to oversee the Pontifical Oriental Institute as its rector. Founded in 1917, the institute was started by Pope Benedict XV for the study of Eastern Christianity and provides theological and spiritual education to about 400 priests, religious, seminarians and lay people. It also has the world’s only academic program for the Code of Canons for Eastern Churches.

With a background in Russian and Eastern European Studies and a doctorate in Politics of Russia and Eastern Europe as well as speaking Russian, Polish and German along with English, Fr. McCann is well suited to take over the reigns of the Pontifical Oriental Institute. Since 2003, McCann served as director of the Office to Aid the Church in Central and Eastern Europe at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops before heading to Rome this month to begin his new assignment.

In the video piece below with National Jesuit News, McCann discusses the “very specialized kind of work” that the Pontifical Oriental Institute does that “is meant for the universal church” and one that he hopes to make known to a wider audience.