|
|
| November 10, 2002 |
The Jesuit magazine Civilta Cattolica rejected the idea of a "preventative war" by the United States against Iraq, saying it would be an illegitimate and counterproductive use of force.
The concept of "preventative war," which would have its first application in Iraq, "cannot be accepted, because it would hold the entire planet in a state of permanent war," the magazine said in an unsigned editorial in its November 2 issue.
"For the United States to think it can become the guardian of peace, threatening to intervene in any part of the world where a state may be preparing war, would be a dangerous illusion, destined not only to bring failure but a proliferation of wars without end," it said.
The editorial noted that US officials have argued that a preventative strike against Iraq is warranted because Iraq has weapons of mass destruction and therefore constitutes a permanent threat to regional and global security.
But the magazine said that while UN weapons inspections in Iraq have not always been allowed to proceed, no proof has been brought forward to show a direct link between the Iraqi regime and international terrorism.
It said the United States' apparent willingness to act unilaterally against Iraq represents a worrisome evolution in the world order--one that foresees the United States as the global policeman, with a much diminished role for the United Nations. The magazine rejected the idea that war should be waged preventively on states that are suspected of preparing for war. [Source: CNS. Do not repost electronically]
Fr Pierre Blet SJ, the historian who best knows the Vatican archives regarding the Holy See's relations with the Nazi regime, welcomed the news that the documents will be opened to the public in January 2005 as announced by Cardinal Jorge María Mejía, librarian of the Holy Roman Church.
Fr Blet is the last of the four-member team of historians Pope Paul VI commissioned to study the Vatican archives and to publish the most important documents in 12 volumes ("Minutes and Documents of the Holy See Relating to the Second World War"). He said he believes the opening of the archives will help to throw light on what the Church did to help the Jews.
"During the whole period of World War II, by specific order of Pope Pius XII, the Holy See took care of the refugees and of people suffering because of the conflict," the historian explained.
"In order to do so, the Information Service was created ... [to gather] requests for help and to try to find relatives of people who disappeared during the war," he said. "Some 3.5 million forms were compiled by this office. This little-known work brought enormous benefits.” [Source: ZENIT]
Over the next four years, Marquette University's nursing school will use a $2 million federal grant to train a "sustainable workforce in the field of HIV and AIDS care"--a minimum of 325 nurses to provide health care for more than 10,000 people in Africa who are infected with HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria, according to Karen Ivantic-Doucette of the college of nursing.
She said the program is "really very Catholic-focused" and utilizes people coming from the faith perspective, adding that it grew as a collaboration between Jesuits at the university and in East Africa.
The Africa Democracy Training Program, which is part of the university's Washington-based Les Aspin Center for Government, received a $500,000 grant.
The program will use its money to continue its work in Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Uganda. According to the center's director, Fr Timothy O'Brien, the program has trained more than 150 African leaders from those nations in seven years, including nine alumni running for parliament in Kenya's upcoming elections.
Both Ivantic-Doucette and Fr O'Brien say their programs emphasize education geared toward local autonomy. [Source: CNS. Do not repost electronically]
A Torah, rescued by a Catholic priest from a synagogue in Poland that was being burned by the Nazis during the Holocaust, has been given a new home at Boston College, marking a first in Jewish worship at the university.
The scroll was permanently installed at BC's Multi-Faith Worship Space, which will allow the space to function fully as a synagogue on those occasions when Jewish students gather for prayer.
Inscribed 83 years ago in Krakow, Poland, the Torah was rescued from the flames of the burning synagogue in 1939 by a Catholic priest who, 20 years later, walked into the American Embassy and asked to speak with an American Jew. Upon meeting Yale Richmond, a 1943 graduate of Boston College who was serving at the embassy in Poland, the priest presented him with the Torah and the instructions to find an appropriate home for it.
The diplomat held the Torah in safekeeping for the past 42 years until recently when, browsing the BC web site, he read about the creation of the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning at Boston College. Moved by the creation of a center at his alma mater dedicated to furthering dialog and understanding between Christians and Jews, Richmond offered the Torah to BC.
The gift of the Torah to the Jewish community at Boston College represents "a huge first," said Rabbi Ruth Langer, associate director of the center. "Full Jewish liturgical life is not possible without a Torah scroll. In many ways, a Jewish community is not complete without a Torah; the scroll is not only essential to the community, but it even enables the community to exist fully." [Source: Boston College]
The Washington Theological Union has bestowed Fr Walter J Burghardt SJ with their 2002 Distinguished Service Award in recognition of his outstanding achievement in theological scholarship.
Fr Burghardt was presented the award on October 25 in Washington DC, where he delivered a lecture on "Justice 2002: Critical Issues that Confront America Today."
Fr Burghardt taught historical theology for 32 years at Woodstock College and the Catholic University of America and spent 44 years as editor of Theological Studies. [Source: Washington Theological Union]
A top Vatican official has said that "ruinous positions" on interreligious dialogue being taken by some Catholic theologians have weakened the Church's educational efforts among the faithful.
Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos told a Vatican conference that these theologians, in their efforts to promote interreligious dialogue, were continuing to mistakenly present non-Christian religions as "equally valid" to Christianity.
In particular, Cardinal Castrillon criticised Belgian Jesuit, Fr Jacques Dupuis, whose book, Toward a Christian Theology of Religious Pluralism, was scrutinized by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 2001.
The cardinal cited Fr Dupuis' statement that God's self-revelation through Jesus was 'limited, incomplete and imperfect,' in part because of the limitations of Christ's own human consciousness.
On the contrary, Cardinal Castrillon said, the divine mystery is fully revealed in Christ.
Christ expressed through his life and language all that God meant to reveal and all that could be expressed to humans. What the Church needs to underline in its teaching is the 'completeness, centrality and saving universality of Christian revelation,' he added. (Source: The Universe (UK), http://www.totalcatholic.com/News.asp)
The Vatican Apostolic Library is in the process of posting hundreds of thousands of historical manuscripts, previously accessible to a privileged few, on its web page.
Manuscripts of Emperor Justinian, love letters of King Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn, and missives of Lucrezia Borgia to her father, who had become Pope Alexander VIall may be consulted at the new site.
The presentation of the new Internet resource was made by Cardinal Jorge María Mejía, archivist and librarian of the Holy Roman Church. The site for the library is <http://212.77.1.230/en/v_home_bav/home_bav.shtml> To give an idea of the quantity of the bibliographic material in the Apostolic Library, Cardinal Mejía said the shelves to store it would stretch about 55 miles. [Source: Zenit]
For the whole of the 30 Jesuits Provinces in Europe 78 new novices, 2 more than last year, entered the Society of Jesus in 2002. Front runner remains Poland: both provinces together take 23 percent of all new European novices, 11 in the Greater Poland Province and 7 in the South Poland Province. The six provinces of Spain have together 10 new novices, and Italy has 7. Striking is the high number of new entries in the Independent Russian Region: 7 new novices join the 3 novices of the second year. In addition, the Near East Province (Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, and Turkey), also belonging to the CEP, has 5 new novices.
Besides the 78 new novices, there are 62 novices who start the second year. Fifty-eight novices took their first vows. (Source: Jesuits in Europe)
The Pontifical German-Hungarian College, founded by Saint Ignatius with the blessing of Pope Julius III, recently celebrated its 450th anniversary.
In a special audience with John Paul II, the pope encouraged the students to learn the authentic romanitas which will serve them to establish closer links between the Holy See and the particular Churches when they go back to their dioceses. (Source: SJ Electronic Information Service)
The Canadian Geographic Magazine has given an award to Fr John McCarthy SJ for his ecological activities. On the occasion of the award, Fr McCarthy attributes his ecological interests to his experiences as a child but, especially, to the decisions of the last General Congregation of the Society when, for the first time, an ecological decree was voted. He expects that the Church will contribute to the ecology a theological, spiritual, and cultural element in order to understand the will of God with regard to the world in which we live. (Source: SJ Electronic Information Service)
JesuitUSA News is a service of Company Magazine. In addition to the print edition, almost all of the items in Company Magazine can be viewed via the World Wide Web at www.companymagazine.org or www.companysj.com. Any correspondence concerning this mailing list should be sent to the editor at news@companysj.com . The newsletter is available to all Jesuits, to those who work with them, or to those who are simply interested in what they are doing. Tell your friends; the price is right! If you are requesting addition to the list, please include your real name as well as your email address. If you are changing your address, please include YOUR NAME as well as both the NEW and the OLD email addresses.
The editor of this Newsletter is Richard VandeVelde SJ who is ably assisted by Ms Rebecca Troha, Assistant Editor. They would both like to remind you of the following useful WWW links for items of Jesuit interest. Many of these links will lead you to others.
|