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June 17, 2005 |
The first and brief stay of Jesuits in Afghanistan goes back to the 16th century. In 1581 Fr Monteserrat and in 1582 Br Bento de Goes were both warmly received by Emperor Akbar. But there was no follow-up until very recently when in 2002 members of the Jesuit Refugee Service went to Kabul to explore the possibility of extending their activities there.
A year later the Jesuit Conference of South Asia commissioned three Jesuits to see what the situation was and figure out under which conditions the presence of the Society would be acceptable. In both cases the conclusion was the same: the political instability of the country did not augur well for the Society's presence in the immediate future. But in April of this year, the provincial of South Asia sent two Jesuits to try once more.
With the help of the JRS/Asia Director, they approached the Vatican Delegate and Apostolic Prefect of Afghanistan who was interested in the proposal. After a consultation with agencies established in Afghanistan, the Jesuits have chosen the province of Hirat as the most appropriate place for the activities of the Society. Experts suggest that teaching English to students and teachers, while engaging themselves in part-time teaching in the universities, is the best way to begin serving the country. That could start in a matter of months, but to secure a more relevant and effective work the collaboration of other Jesuits is sought. [Source: SJ Electronic Information Service]
Bishop Thomas Kozhimala of Bhagalpur, 65, is among the latest victims of cerebral malaria in eastern India's Bihar state, where the disease has killed hundreds of tribal people. He died June 1 as he was heading to Patna to obtain better medical treatment.
Fr Varghese Puthussery SJ, head of the Dumka-Raiganj Jesuit province, said that cerebral malaria has killed several priests and nuns in the region. His predecessor, Fr James Aril SJ, died of it in 2001.
Fr Puthussery said the government refuses to recognize deaths caused by malaria and has directed government doctors in the region to cite other reasons for those deaths.
Church-managed dispensaries try to get medication promptly to people who need it, and under Bishop Kozhimala's guidance church workers ran a campaign to educate people on ways to prevent further deaths. [Source: CNS. Do not repost electronically]
An asteroid measuring 13 to 30 kilometers across has been named after a Filipino Jesuit astronomer by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Minor planet No. 4866 is now officially known as "Badillo," in honor of Fr Victor Badillo of the Manila Observatory.
The official IAU citation for asteroid 4866 Badillo reads: "Victor L Badillo (born 1930) has popularized astronomy in the Philippines for more than three decades, inspiring countless Filipino astronomers. Ordained in 1965, he directed the Jesuit-run Manila Observatory in Quezon City and served as president of the Philippine Astronomical Society from 1972 to 1990."
The asteroid was discovered on November 10, 1988, from Chiyoda, Japan, and was given the preliminary designation 1988 VB3. It revolves around the Sun (between Mars and Jupiter) at an average distance of 450 million kilometers and takes about five years to complete one orbit.
Asteroid 4866 Badillo is currently about 596 million kilometers from Earth, shining very dimly at magnitude 18 in the constellation Gemini.
Fr Badillo, a physicist by training (he obtained his PhD from Saint Louis University), remains an amateur astronomer at heart, mentoring generations of Filipino stargazers through the years. [Source: The Manila Bulletin Online, www.mb.com]
The Archdiocese of Cologne is to withdraw all funding from the Jesuit-run Karl Rahner Academy, apparently because local church officials do not consider it "Catholic" enough. Cardinal Joachim Meisner, Archbishop of Cologne, said a series of diocesan budget cuts to be implemented next year were necessary "in order to concentrate on specifically Catholic concerns."
The Rahner Academy, which offers theological teaching as well as wider dialogue with different schools of thought, currently receives more than two-thirds of its annual E420,000 budget from the archdiocese. The academy's director, Fr Alfons Hoefer SJ, said some cuts had been expected, but the announcement that all funding would be withdrawn came as a shock, since there was no prior consultation with archdiocesan officials.
When the 58-year-old institution first learned of the cuts by word of mouth last October, officials feared it would mean closure for the academy. Some 700 people wrote letters of protest to the archdiocese, many of them personally addressed to Cardinal Meisner, and more than 2,500 others signed a petition urging the academy not to close. The Catholic Men's Association—the governing body responsible for the academy—has since been able to raise enough funding for the next five years, but the institution still must be downsized by one-third.
The dean of Münster University's Catholic theological faculty, Thomas Bremer, said the Karl Rahner Academy was "a messianic sign at a time of religious upheavals." He said the withdrawal of funding gave the impression that the archdiocese was against a critical approach in matters of faith.
The director of the archdiocese's education department said "freedom of speech" was "out of place in a church educational institution." Fr Hoefer said the archdiocese had given him the impression that if the academy were to concentrate purely on theological teaching and the catechism, funding would be available. [Source: The Tablet]
Loyola College in Maryland Names New PresidentFr Brian Linnane SJ, assistant dean and associate professor of religious studies at the College of the Holy Cross, has been elected the 24th president of Loyola College in Maryland. Fr Linnane, who will assume office in July, succeeds Fr Harold Ridley SJ, who died in office in January after serving as Loyola’s President since 1994.
Fr Linnane has also served as vice president of the Jesuit honor Society Alpha Sigma Nu, as a member of the Seminar on Jesuit Higher Education, and as chair of the Catholic Theological Society of America’s Committee on Admissions. [Source: Loyola College]
Fr Myles Sheehan SJ, senior associate dean at Loyola University's Stritch School of Medicine in Maywood, Ill, said the treatment of Pope John Paul II during his last days demonstrated that medical personnel are not ethically required to "do everything" when someone is dying. He noted that the pope did not die in the intensive care unit of a hospital, but remained in his apartment.
Fr Sheehan said that family members sometimes attacked him when he as a physician decided some procedures would not bring any benefit to the person who was dying.
"Overly aggressive intervention can be medically and morally wrong and distract from the patient's preparation for the end of life," he said during a presentation to the annual Catholic Healthcare Administrative Personnel program held at St John's University in New York.
Fr Sheehan also contended that the attention paid to the case of Terri Schiavo, the 41-year-old Florida woman who died after a court ordered her feeding tube disconnected, was not matched by attention to the needs of ordinary people at the end of life.
The principal issue in regard to feeding is not tubes but finding money to pay people to help those who have difficulty feeding themselves, he said.
"Too often, ethics is a hobby for people who like controversy," and talking about controversial cases becomes a matter of entertainment, he said.
He questioned the "endless discussions" that were carried on about a few individual cases while the situation in the ordinary nursing home was ignored.
Fr Sheehan called for a person-centered approach that concentrated on what would benefit the individual patient, rather than a rule-centered attempt to apply the same procedures to all. [Source: CNS. Do not repost electronically]
The Ignatian Lay Volunteer Corps (ILVC) has come to the Newark Archdiocese, tapping into the wisdom and experience of retirees. According to its mission statement, the volunteer corps provides retired men and women, age 50 and over, "the opportunity to serve the needs of people who are poor, to work for a more just society, and to grow deeper in Christian faith by reflecting and praying in the Ignatian tradition."
"We follow the Jesuit philosophy and send you where you're needed, and you adapt your skills," said Edmund Stankiewicz, coordinator for the corps' northern/central New Jersey chapter, which was started last November.
He noted, for example, that one volunteer who is a retired certified public accountant works in a soup kitchen. Volunteers work two days a week at a nonprofit organization in their area.
The Baltimore-based corps was founded by Jesuit Frs Jim Conroy and Charlie Costello in 1995. Since then, it has spread to several major US cities and has more than 200 volunteers.
The 15 volunteers in the Newark area include retired lawyers, business owners, teachers, physicians, nurses, and people who have worked in the pharmaceutical industry.
The corps' spiritual side involves monthly meetings that allow participants to pray, reflect, and share their experiences.
William Crowley, a former teacher, volunteers at his parish, St Mary of the Assumption in Elizabeth, which includes helping with the parish's soup kitchen, food pantry, and overnight shelter.
He joined the corps after completing a 36-week program on Ignatian Spiritual Exercises that left him yearning to be involved in ministry. [Source: CNS. Do not repost electronically]
More information about the ILVC is available at www.ilvc.org
Company magazine stories on ILVC are at:
www.companymagazine.org/v202/allinadayswork.htm
www.companymagazine.org/v183/backtowo.htm
www.companymagazine.org/v131/nevlate.html
A symposium titled "Migration Studies and Jesuit Identity: Forging a Path Forward" was held at Fairfield University in June. The school joined with the Association of American Jesuit Colleges and Universities, the Social and International Ministries Office of the US Jesuit Conference, and Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) in hosting the event, which was attended by about 100 people from 20 Jesuit institutions of higher learning in the United States, Mexico, Central America, and Africa.
According to Fr Richard Ryscavage SJ, a visiting professor at Fairfield University, the migration symposium was the first time Jesuit universities and colleges have tried to join forces and work on one academic area.
Fr Ryscavage, former head of JRS USA, explained that migration also poses challenges for the Catholic bishops.
"The Catholic Church in the US is growing by 1 million people a year," he said, "but it's mostly because of immigrants." He noted that another million enter the country as undocumented immigrants.
"It's putting stress on the church as bishops learn how to work with the influx of new Catholics in their parishes," he said. One solution is for the bishops to see the universities as a teaching and training resource in this area, he added.
The Society of Jesus has identified migration as one of its primary apostolic priorities. One aim of the symposium was to explore ways the Jesuits and their schools can establish working together to make migration an area for academic research, curriculum development, and advocacy. Georgetown and Fordham universities both already have graduate initiatives dealing with migration.
Fairfield University plans to use the symposium to develop a center at the university with a full-time staff member to continue networking and promoting joint curriculum development, research, lectures, and events on migration. [Source: CNS. Do not repost electronically]
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