Posts Tagged ‘Georgetown University’

Jesuit Father Kevin Fitzgerald eyes the ball before playing it over to Georgetown students during a Spike-a-Jesuit game.

For the past 10 years, Georgetown University has held a Jesuit Heritage Week to celebrate the school’s Jesuit character. But one event is more emotional and anticipated than the rest: the annual Spike-A-Jesuit volleyball match.

“I’m a bit of a twisted soul, but I look forward to this match the day after it’s finished,” said Jesuit Father Pat Rogers. “I’m in charge of rallying up the Jesuits and it’s just a lot of fun; we talk it up a whole lot and the guys get really excited about it.”

The Jesuit community had a perfect 8-0 record entering the 2010 match, their first loss. The students defeated the Jesuits for the second year in a row on Feb. 1.

“It’s pretty simple, the students were really quite better than we were,” Fr. Rogers said. “Actually I’m pretty proud of ourselves because we’re a pretty old team, and we get out there and we try and we scrape.”

While the Jesuits lost the first two games and therefore the match in the best-of-three format, both teams decided to keep playing, and the Jesuits won the third and fourth games.

“We started playing as a team, and we have age and wisdom on our side,” said Jesuit Father Matthew Carnes.

Fr. Carnes credited a fundamental Jesuit skill as the reason for their success in volleyball: discernment. “Discerning the weaknesses on the other side, discerning your strengths, and using them to your advantage is what it’s all about,” he said.

As he left the court, Rogers said, “The students better not get too full of themselves, because we will be back.”

For more on the volleyball game, visit the Georgetown Voice.

Jesuit Father David Collins

Jesuit Father David Collins helps Georgetown University students discern if they have a vocation to the Society of Jesus as a leader of the Barbistes, a group that gathers for informal meetings, consisting of Mass, dinner and discussion.

The purpose of the group is not to “funnel people into the Society,” said Fr. Collins of the Barbistes, named after the college at the University of Paris where the candidates who first entered the Jesuits met in the 1500s.

Meetings usually include one of campus’s 64 Jesuits, who talks about his current work and reflects on his decision to enter the order.

“Georgetown students have a phenomenal resource in the Jesuits on campus,” said Danny Gustafson (’11), who is currently applying to enter the Society. “Without the Jesuit community here there’s no way I would have even considered applying. I’ve found their support really moving and inspirational.”

“It’s a prayerful way of making a decision,” said Jesuit Father Kevin O’Brien, Executive Director of Campus Ministry. “The students share with one another their desire for the priesthood, their questions and their struggles.”

For more information, read The Hoya’s article on the Barbistes.

Jesuits at Georgetown, a new video by the Georgetown University Communications Department, provides an intimate portrait of four Jesuits living and working at Georgetown.

The video portrait features Jesuit Father Ryan Maher, Associate Dean and Director of Catholic Studies; Jesuit Father Kevin O’Brien, Executive Director of Campus Ministry; Jesuit Father Christopher Steck, Associate Professor of Theology; and Jesuit Father Matthew Carnes, Assistant Professor of Government.

“This place is alive with questions of religion and religiosity. And frankly, my job is so much fun and interesting and engaging, because I am entrusted to care for all these good people asking great questions,” says Fr. O’Brien. “Real interreligious dialogue must engage the intellect, we must think through questions and engage in serious dialogue; dialogue that will deal with real differences, not just common ground.”

The Jesuits share how they serve as professors and spiritual guides and how they encourage interreligious dialogue and support the diversity of the campus community.

Read more about these Georgetown Jesuits.

Jesuits at Georgetown from Georgetown College on Vimeo.

As a Jesuit institution, Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.  is grounded in a 450-year-old educational tradition inspired by St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus. Since 1980 alone, 30 Georgetown alumni have entered the Society of Jesus, which represents the largest male religious order in the world, to become Jesuits.

On their campus website, the school recently profiled several alumni in various stages of Jesuit formation. Click here to read these next-generation Jesuits’ stories.

Jesuit Father Tom Reese, Senior Fellow at Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University, regularly contributes to the Georgetown/On Faith blog, a partnership between Georgetown University and Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive designed to provide knowledge, inform debate and promote greater dialogue and understanding across religious traditions.

Fr. Reese’s recent posting at the Geogetown/On Faith blog discusses and gives his point of view on energy taxes and regulations. Here is an excerpt:

The pope has also been convinced by scientists that global warming is a reality and will have terrible consequences on humanity and the world unless we do something to reverse it. And unlike politicians, he does not just talk about it. He has installed solar powered technology to reduce energy consumption and has made the Vatican the first carbon neutral state in the world.

In comparison, the United States has done little to respond to the environmental and energy crises that face our country and the world. Sadly, this is not because of ignorance. We have known what to do since the first energy crisis during the Carter administration.

You can read the rest of his latest blog post here.