|
|
|
October 26, 2005 |
Alberto Hurtado Cruchaga SJ was one of five persons whom Benedict XVI canonized on October 23, 2005. Hurtado used to say that injustice created many more ills in society than Christian charity could repair. So he not only roamed the streets with his pickup, searching for homeless children to take to the Hogar de Cristo shelter he founded, but also dedicated a great part of his life to attacking the roots of that injustice.
Nearly all Chileans know about his most lasting legacy, Hogar de Cristo (Christ's home), but few are familiar with his efforts organizing youth groups to study the Church's social doctrine and educating workers to become labor leaders so they could promote social change from their workplaces.
Hurtado's concern for workers and their rights dated back to his days as a law student at Catholic University, where he began studies in 1918. With other students, he set up a legal bureau to counsel workers and organized students to help miners who had migrated to the capital after losing their jobs.
Only a week after graduating, Hurtado entered the Jesuit novitiate and was ordained a priest in 1933. Shortly thereafter he helped to found the theology faculty at the Catholic University of Chile. In 1941, he was named diocesan moderator of the youth of Catholic Action.
A few years later, Hurtado began Hogar de Cristo for abandoned children. Today, Hogar de Cristo has homes in several Chilean cities to shelter and rehabilitate thousands of people, particularly infants and children, adolescents, the elderly and the physically and mentally handicapped, and those suffering terminal illnesses, including AIDS.
In 1947, along with a group of university students, Hurtado founded the Chilean Labor Union Action, a school for the formation of labor leaders. He believed that, if given the tools and a Christian orientation, workers would apply the Church's social doctrine in their workplaces and provoke the social changes needed to correct injustice. [Source: CNS. Do not repost electronically]
Confronted with the widespread devastation in Pakistan and India created by the earthquake that struck the Kashmir region on October 8, the Jesuits of South Asia are trying to determine the possibility of reaching out to the people affected.
Looking at the destruction and loss of life and property, Fr Joe Xavier SJ, South Asian Assistancy Coordinator for the Social Apostolate, attempts to ascertain how Jesuit support to the people on the Pakistani side can be channeled. " I am aware of the complexity involved in this effort," he writes. "I am in touch with the Bishop of Rawalpindi, which is about 15 km away from Islamabad. I have informed him that some of us Jesuits and collaborators have the expertise to work in the aftermath of earthquakes, and I am waiting for his response. We have a few Jesuits in Pakistan but they are in Lahore, which is about 500 km away from the affected area. They will also tell us in what way we could support them. Be ready if some specific needs arise." [Source: Headlines]
Woodstock Theological Center celebrated 30 years of theological reflection at Georgetown University with an anniversary Mass and forum in September.
Cardinal Avery Dulles SJ was the main celebrant and gave the homily, offering his thoughts as one of the earliest fellows of Woodstock and highlighting the need to be guided by theological reflection even in secular pursuits. Reflections were also presented by Maryland Provincial Timothy Brown SJ and Georgetown University Vice President Dan Porterfield.
Woodstock completed its anniversary celebrations with a forum entitled "Re-envisioning the Papacy." The event gathered theologians of various Christian churches to engage in creative thinking about ways in which the papacy might exercise "the ministry of unity," as Pope John Paul II called for in a 1995 encyclical on Christian unity.
For photos and texts from the events, visit: http://woodstock.georgetown.edu/anniversary.htm and http://woodstock.georgetown.edu/forum/papacy.htm [Source: Woodstock Theological Center]
The Jesuit magazine La Civilta Cattolica condemned professional boxing as "a form of legalized attempted murder," saying it has left more than 500 boxers dead over the last 100 years.
In an editorial it said that the moral judgment on boxing can only be "gravely and absolutely negative."
The magazine's articles are reviewed before publication by the Vatican Secretariat of State and are thus thought to reflect Vatican opinion. The editorial against boxing appeared in the October 15 issue, about three weeks after US boxer Levander Johnson died from brain injuries suffered in a lightweight title fight.
The magazine called Johnson the latest victim of a sport that seems to accept the death of boxers. Unlike other sports that also include an element of risk, the violence of boxing is intended and inevitably provokes physical damage, the magazine said. For that reason, it goes against the basic commandment, "Do not kill," it said.
The magazine distinguished between professional boxing and boxing done as a controlled sport in a gymnasium with protective equipment, which it said can be morally acceptable and even useful. Professional boxing, it said, is an industry controlled by powerful economic organizations that are often "pitiless and cruel" and for which the boxer is simply a money-making machine.
It said modern boxing is reminiscent of the bloody and mortal combat of gladiators, but the ancient gladiatorial battles disappeared as Christianity spread. [Source: CNS. Do not repost electronically]
In October Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) Italy announced the opening of its new day center for minors, Aver Drom (the 'Other Road').
The center will offer its users opportunities to socialize and integrate into Italian society. It is a space where both Italian and non-Italian children will be able play together, study, get involved in workshops, and grow together in an inter-cultural environment.
Many different activities have been proposed: from support for education to ceramic workshops, a film club to a library, and the establishment of boys and girls scouts comprised of children from various religious and ethnic backgrounds. [Source: JRS Dispatches]
This year's $1 million Opus Prize from the Opus Foundation, which identifies a charity that employs innovative strategies in solving deeply rooted problems in ways that foster personal responsibility and independence, has been awarded to Fr Trevor Miranda SJ, founder of the Reach Education Action Program (REAP) in Mumbai, India.
Holding degrees in business and law, Fr Miranda handled administrative duties for the Society of Jesus until he convinced his superiors that he could be better employed working with the poor.
"I saw that illiteracy is the key to social independence for homeless children and settlers living in illegal slums," Fr Miranda said. "Yet many of these people living at the margin of survival have little time to worry about schooling—they are understandably preoccupied by more pressing questions: Will my hut be there when I return home? Where will my next meal come from?
"Worse, large numbers of children are forced to work, often in hazardous occupations," Fr Miranda said. "Getting these children out of child labor and into work is difficult to do. The extent of this problem is so large that I realized from the start that we needed to have a mass impact."
From a modest start of 15 literacy centers in 1998, REAP, under Fr Miranda's guidance, has grown to more than 450 literacy centers. These "classrooms" for children and women can be found in temples, offices, a home, anywhere—prompting Fr Miranda to refer to his organization as "Footpath University."
REAP has also launched an adult program that focuses on giving women the education, training, and skills they need to take on jobs and escape from the streets.
Fr Miranda will receive the prize on November 7 at Marquette University. [Source: Opus Foundation]
The Opus Foundation is on the web at www.opusprize.org .
Affordable housing must be promoted in the United States, especially in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and the increasing inability of families to afford homes, according to British Robinson, the national director of the Social and International Ministries at the Jesuit Conference, who spoke recently at Marquette University.
Robinson said that 3.5 million people a year experience homelessness nationwide, despite a 13-year housing boom that has resulted in low interest rates and nearly 69 percent home ownership across the country. More middle-income families are hitting an "affordability wall," she said, meaning they can't afford homes even with the low interest rates.
Robinson said housing is the biggest social problem currently facing the United States. Robinson said that of the 302,000 housing units destroyed or damaged by Katrina, 216,000 were low-income.
The hurricane also increased the amount of people in poverty, Robinson said. Prior to the hurricane, she said there were 37 million people nationwide in poverty; after Katrina struck, another million were added to the tally, making this the fourth consecutive year poverty levels have increased.
A pending bill designed to offset the cost of aid for hurricane victims may actually end up harming them, Robinson said. "Operation Off-Set" would cut programs for low-income people such as Medicaid and food stamps, but those in the affected areas who would not normally rely on these programs now have to because they lost their jobs. [Source: Heather Dodgers, the Marquette Tribune]
Jesuit works in Central America, among them Fe y Alegria, the Guatemalan Institute for Education through Radio (IGER), and the Jesuit Development Service (SJD) have initiated emergency operations in affected areas, after Hurricane Stan hit the region, causing extensive flooding and massive landslides. The death toll in Guatemala is estimated at present to be at least 600 hundred, but there are thousands of missing people. Information is still missing from several schools of Fe y Alegria located in a mountainous area heavily hit by the floods.
In El Salvador, the number of victims is less, but the situation remains difficult, with at least 60 people reported dead and 40,000 displaced. Here SJD is assisting 1,000 people who have fled from their villages.
In late September, the Weston Jesuit School of Theology board of directors voted to recommend to their board of members that a letter of intent be entered into between Weston Jesuit and Boston College regarding a possible re-affiliation between the two schools. The possibility of re-affiliation has been discussed by both parties for the past 12 years; the latest vote was the first of a three-part process that could lead to re-affiliation. If the Weston Jesuit board of members passes the vote at their October meeting, the proposal will then go before Father General Peter-Hans Kolvenbach SJ, who will make the final decision before the end of 2005.
The inauguration of the 455th academic year of the Gregorian University, which was founded by Ignatius and Francis Borgia in 1553, began with a Mass of the Holy Spirit at the Church of St Ignatius in Rome. The university’s rector Fr Gianfranco Ghirlanda SJ, who presided, said, "guided by the spirit of Ignatius, our university searches to apply a pedagogy based on a personal relation between the teacher and the student, offering everyone accompaniment to the growth of proper personality which is liberal and responsible."
[Sources: Headlines, Electronic Maryland Province News, www.jesuits-europe.info]
Resurrection Elementary School in Pascagoula, Mississippi, was scheduled to reopen October 3, thanks in part to volunteer crews from Spring Hill College, who visited the school a few times to get it back into shape.
The Spring Hill group arrived at Resurrection equipped with gallons of bleach, a pressure washer, hammers, and gloves; they removed furnishings and debris, washed away mud and mildew, power-washed hallway floors, and scrubbed classroom walls.
University of Detroit Mercy's (UDM) new master of science degree in Intelligence Analysis is one of the first comprehensive academic responses to the 9/11 Commission Report issued last year. Almost every course in the program is interdisciplinary. Some courses will be team-taught, and a variety of professors will speak about specific topics in related fields. Foreign language skills are needed, and the new degree can be linked with language study.
Erick Barnes, UDM assistant professor of Sociology, Criminal Justice, and Security Administration, expects it to be a rapidly growing field. The federal government needs as many as 30,000 specialists, and the program will track the specific knowledge, skills, and abilities federal agencies are seeking.
Jesuit High New Orleans [temporarily closed because of Hurricane Katrina] planned to open a satellite school at St Martin's Episcopal School in Metairie, Louisiana, on October 17. The school day will begin at 4:20 pm and end at 9:55 pm, Monday through Friday.
The New Orleans newspaper the Times-Picayune reported that the school’s football team began a three-game season October 22. Jesuit High's swimming team has begun practicing and will compete in the state championships in November. The cross-country runners will compete for state honors as well.
"Through My Lens: Spokane 1995-2005," an open photography exhibition held in celebration of the Gonzaga University Jundt Art Museum’s 10th Anniversary, opened October 21 and will run through December 14. The non-juried exhibition was open to all individuals currently residing within a 50-mile radius of Spokane. The photographs were to deal with some aspect of the Spokane region and be produced within the last 10 years.
In conjunction with the exhibition, on October 27 the museum will host writer and photographer Fr Brad Reynolds SJ, Artist-in- Residence at Jesuit House Community. Fr Reynolds will discuss the social and ethical implications of photographing people and why it is a privilege.
[Sources: CNS. Do not repost electronically, AJCU Connections, Jesuit High New Orleans, Gonzaga University]
Interreligious dialogue is a religious activity in which those who want to know, love, and follow God share their experiences of faith and ask themselves how they are progressing in love of God and neighbor, said Fr Thomas Michel SJ, director of the Jesuit Secretariat for Interreligious Dialogue in Rome.
Fr Michael, who spoke at the Gregorian University in September during a conference marking the 40th anniversary of "Nostra Aetate," the Second Vatican Council's document on interreligious dialogue, said all religious believers try to answer the question, "Does God have something to say to us?"
Muslims believe the answer is found in the Quran, while Christians believe the answer is found in Christ, he said.
"So what is there left to talk about?" Fr Michel asked. "There is a world of things to talk about. We have two communities who want to know, love, and follow God and love our neighbors."
In dialogue, all can find better ways to fulfill their religious quest, he said. [Source: CNS. Do not repost electronically]
The June 13 and 20, 2005 issue of The New Yorker featured a short story by Uwem Akpan SJ, titled "An Ex-Mas Feast." Akpan is a member of the new North-West Africa Province. For the past year he has been a graduate student in creative writing at the University of Michigan and a member of the Ann Arbor Jesuit community.
His story can be read online at: www.newyorker.com/fiction/content/articles/050613fi_fiction1
An interview with him is at: www.newyorker.com/online/content/articles/050613on_onlineonly01
The Jesuits in Europe web site has a new address at www.jesuits-europe.info. The new ".info" domain was chosen because it better reflects the site’s mission: to inform others about what is going on in the Conference of European Jesuits and in the provinces. Each week the homepage will feature a Jesuit work or initiative in Europe.
Oct 25, 1567. St Stanislaus Kostka arrived in Rome and was admitted into the Society by St Francis Borgia.
JesuitUSA News is brought to you by Company Magazine. The newsletter is free and available to all interested persons. Spread the word. Persons can subscribe to the Newsletter in one of several ways:
Once subscribed you can manage your own subscription -- delete yourself, change your email address, or even indicate that you will be "out of the office" for some specific period of time. Other correspondence, especially comments, suggestions, complaints, or queries, should be sent to news@companymagazine.org.
|