Holy Cross Mummy to Undergo Restoration

Her name is Tanet-pahekau, which means "daughter of the magic god." She is the Egyptian mummy stored in Holy Cross's Dinand Library for over 100 years-since being donated by an alumnus in 1896.

The mummy is 29 inches long and is believed to be the remains of a toddler who died between 656 and 332 BC; since its arrival at Holy Cross it has begun to deteriorate.

Now the mummy will come out of its hieroglyphs-inscribed coffin to be restored and studied by the Winterthur Museum in Delaware. The museum will be handling the restoration project for free and will keep Tanet-pahekau for two years in exchange before sending her home to Holy Cross.

-Holy Cross Magazine

Seattle Prep Alum Awarded Pulitzer

Seattle Prep graduate David Kennedy ('59) received the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for history for his book, Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945, a comprehensive history of the Great Depression and World War II.

Kennedy, a history professor at Stanford University, spent eleven years studying and writing the book, reading hundreds of accounts and visiting major battle sites of WWII.

He considers Seattle Prep "the place I learned to write. I received a first-class education. The Jesuit scholastics-Jim Powers, David Olivier, and James Meehan-were great writers with good drills and techniques. It was a wonderful time in my life."

-Panther Tracks, SEATTLE PREP

Marquette University High's Partners Project helps make its Neighborhood Safer

When Jesuits at Marquette University High School in Milwaukee looked at their facility a few years back, they saw an aging building in a run-down neighborhood. Despite calls to move, they decided to stay and help stabilize the neighborhood with such student outreach activities as tutoring area youth and painting homes.

But Marquette leaders determined that this was not enough; the school and a local neighborhood association teamed up to create the Partners Project. Marquette students, parents, and alumni started rehabbing a house to promote home ownership in the neighborhood. The school helps secure cash and donated or discounted labor and materials; the neighborhood association works to locate a buyer.

The project is part of the school's plan to help encourage home ownership and reinvestment in properties in the immediate area, which can help reduce instances of crime.

"We now have a great house that someone is happy to move into. But everyone who worked on this project really took something home. Cooperation is a reward in itself," says Dick Sherer ('80).

Jesuit Students, Alums Bring Home Australian Metal

While most people were winding down their summers, Ian Crocker (in swim cap) and a host of other Jesuit students and alumni/ae were in the ranks of athletes gearing up for the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.

Ian, who graduated from Cheverus High in Maine last spring, won gold as a member of the U.S. 4 x 100 medley relay swim team, which set a world record. He finished fourth in the individual 100 meter butterfly, setting a new U.S. record.

Another U.S. swim team competitor, Erik Vendt of Boston College High ('99), won silver in the 400 meter individual medley and placed sixth in the 1500 meter freestyle.

Georgetown University was represented by six alumni: Missy Schwen Ryan ('94) won bronze in pairs coxless rowing, while Alonzo Mourning ('92) was part of the gold-winning basketball team. Rich Kenah ('92) and Bryan Woodward ('97) were in the 800 meter run; Conal Groom ('95) in lightweight men's double rowing; and Kevin McMahon ('94) in the hammer throw.

Santa Clara University's Danielle Slaton, a junior; Brandi Chastain, assistant soccer coach; and Nikki Serlenga, an alumna ('99) helped the U.S. women's soccer team capture silver.

U.S. Jesuit alumni and students competed on other countries' teams as well: Boston College's Carolin Bouchard ('00) was guard on the Canadian women's basketball team; Zoran Lazarevski, a freshman at Wheeling Jesuit University, became the first Wheeling Olympic athlete when he swam the 200 meter butterfly for Macedonia; and University of San Francisco grad Dave Sheldon ('85) played on Italy's baseball team.

Jesuit Brother Receives Humanity Service Award

Br. John Martin, SJ, was the recipient of the International Humanity Service Award from the American Red Cross Overseas Association. The nonprofit group has given the award annually since 1956 to an individual or group for extraordinary service to society.

Br. Martin was recognized for his work at Mary Magdalen House in Cincinnati, where people can take a shower, have clothes laundered by volunteers, get new clothes, use the phone to reach prospective employers, or simply use the restroom. Not a shelter, the house gets between 80 and 120 guests each day.

Fr. Richard Jones Honored as Top U.S. Missionary

Fr. Richard Jones, SJ, who has spent 40 years among the Native Americans of South Dakota, received the Catholic Church Extension Society's 2000 Lumen Christi Award, an annual recognition of missionaries who work in poor or isolated areas of the United States.

Fr. Jones launched the first adult education program at the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota in the 1960s in response to the large number of high school dropouts. After a term as head of that program, he remained on the reservation and oversaw spiritual renewal. In the 1970s he initiated weekly charismatic renewal meetings, which continue today.

Fr. Jones has always retained a positive attitude. "We have no problems here, only challenges," he says.

His teaching style integrates Catholic teaching with Native American tradition. "We're trying to understand them and they're trying to understand us," he said. "It's not us imposing on them. It's a two-way street. You love them, and they'll love you."

The First Christmas Carol

The first American Christmas carol was written by a saint—and a member of the Society of Jesus.

Now known as "The Huron Carol," it was written by John de Brébeuf, Jesuit missionary to the Huron Indians, who was martyred in 1649 by the Iroquois. Fr. Brébeuf worked among the Hurons from 1626 until he was burned at the stake.

According to Fr. Francis X. Heiser's account (The Christmas Book, Harcourt Brace, 1952), Fr. Brébeuf wrote the Huron language Christmas hymn, "Jesous Ahatonnia" (Jesus is born), which he adapted from a sixteenth-century French folk song. The Hurons who escaped the Iroquois attacks preserved the hymn. They later settled at Loretto, near Quebec, led by other missionaries.

Readers today may see in "The Huron Carol" an example of early missionaries' authentic "inculturation." In order to transmit intelligibly the full Christian truth, they made use not only of local language but also of local cultural idiom.

The English rendition of the text of the hymn as it appears here is from Selections from the Pius X Hymnal (McLaughlin & Reilly,), except for the second stanza, which is from Fr. Heiser's book.

Twas in the moon of wintertime When all the birds had fled, That mighty Gitchi Manitou Sent angel choirs instead; Before their light the stars grew dim, And wond'ring hunters heard the hymn: Jesus, your King, is born, Jesus is born, In excelsis gloria. O, harken to the angels' word, Do not decline To heed the message which you heard: The Child Divine, As they proclaim, has come this morn Of Mary pure. Let us adore. Jesus is born, In excelsis gloria.

Within a lodge of broken bark The tender Babe was found, A ragged robe of rabbit skin Enwrapp'd His beauty 'round; But as the hunter braves drew nigh, The angel song rang loud and high: Jesus, your King, is born, Jesus is born, In excelsis gloria. The earliest moon of wintertime Is not so round and fair As was the ring of glory on The helpless infant there. The chiefs from far before Him knelt With gifts of fox and beaver pelt. Jesus, your King, is born, Jesus is born, In excelsis gloria. O children of the forest free, O sons of Manitou, The Holy Child of earth and heav'n Is born today for you. Come kneel before the radiant boy; Who brings you beauty, peace and joy. Jesus, your King, is born, Jesus is born, In excelsis gloria.

St. Thérèse Documentary Explores Her Appeal

The relics of St. Thérèse of Lisieux completed a four-month tour of the United States earlier this year and attracted about 1.1 million people. However, when Thérèse died of tuberculosis in 1897 at age 24, she was virtually unknown outside her convent cloister in Lisieux; barely 30 people attended her funeral and burial.

This changed with the publication of her journal a year after her death under the title Story of a Soul, which became a religious bestseller and spread her story and spirituality around the world. The popularity and influence of her work led to her canonization less than 30 years after her death. In 1997, the tour of her relics began in France to commemorate the 100th anniversary of her death; today the tour continues indefinitely because of popular demand.

Fr. Mark Scalese, SJ, working at Frank Frost Productions, helped produce a video, "Thérèse: Living on Love," that documents the remarkable public response to the relic tour. Broadcast on PBS and NBC stations across the country, it explores why this saint's message has such a universal appeal and includes rare photographs of Thérèse, along with narrative from her journal. For ordering information visit www.ElijahProject.org or call 800-888-6298.