Fr. Sigitas Tamkevicius, SJ, Archbishop of Kaunas, Lithuania, publisher, and cold war hero visited Xavier University this winter and was presented with the university's St. Francis Xavier Medal for his heroism in defending and preserving the Catholic Church through personal sacrifice during his 40 years as a priest.
Archbishop Tamkevicius has shown exceptional courage, especially during the Russian occupation of Lithuania. In the late 1960s after refusing to collaborate with the KGB and continuing his priestly work, he was removed from ministry by the government and assigned to factory work. During this time he conducted clandestine retreats and conferences for religious, intellectuals, and youth.
In 1972 Archbishop Tamkevicius helped create an underground publication, The Chronicle of the Catholic Church in Lithuania. From 1972 to 1983 he edited and published the magazine, which detailed the suppression of religion and violations of human rights in Lithuania that were often sanctioned by the government. He was able to disseminate the publication in Moscow and the West, succeeding in his mission to draw attention to the problems in Lithuania.
In 1983 he was accused and convicted of many charges, including passing documents to Russian dissidents and the Western media and organizing processions. Sentenced to six years of hard labor and four years of exile for his crimes, he was released from exile at a labor camp in the Tomsk district of Siberia in 1988.
Archbishop Tamkevicius is chancellor at Vyautas Magnus University in Kaunas, Lithuania, and is chairman of the Catholic Information Service.
—Xavier University
Sudanese
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Loyola Basilica's Dome Restored
After 17 months of work, the complex restoration of the dome of the Loyola Basilica in Spain was completed last summer. Built in 1735 according to the original design of Italian architect Carlo Fontana as modified by Martin de Zaldúa, the basilica has a double dome. The external part was restored from 1992 to 1994, and then the internal structure needed reinforcing. The new illumination enhances both the architecture and its ornamentation. |
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Isaac Jogues CarvingA new wood carving of a Jesuit Isaac Jogues now hangs at the American Saints Mausoleum in St. Agnes Cemetery in Menands, N.Y. The piece, over six feet tall and five feet wide and weighing over 300 pounds, is made up of over 40 individual carvings that fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. After hours of design by Jim Lewis and Christopher Lohr of Icarus Woodworking, the woodworkers started carving in May and finished in November. The team of ten craftsmen allowed themselves little room for error between the pieces—1/32 of an inch. Three other carvings were made for the mausoleum as well: Kateri Tekakwitha, Our Lady of Guadalupe, and Juan Diego. |
Taxing TimesXavier University accounting students are giving free basic federal and state income tax preparation assistance to Cincinnati-area residents every Thursday evening leading up to tax day. They are doing so through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, developed by the IRS to assist low-income taxpayers. Accounting students from Seattle University's Albers School of Business and Economics are offering free income tax preparation service through VITA as well. By April 15 they will have prepared about 900 returns. This marks the 31st year in which the university's students are offering the program to Seattle-area residents; accounting professors, tax professionals, and representatives from the IRS are also on hand to help out. | 
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New University Presidents |
Fr. Joseph McShane, SJ, president of the University of Scranton, has been named Fordham University's next president. Fr. McShane will succeed Fr. Joseph O'Hare, SJ, this summer. Fr. McShane is a trustee of St. Joseph's Prep, Loyola University New Orleans, and the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Pennsylvania; he is on the executive committee of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities. Fr. Timothy Lannon, SJ, has been elected the 26th president of Saint Joseph's University. Fr. Lannon will succeed Fr. Nicholas Rashford, SJ, at the start of the 2003–04 academic year. Fr. Lannon comes from Marquette University, where he was vice president for university advancement and associate executive vice president. He previously served presidential internships at Holy Cross and Boston College. | |
 Fr. Joseph McShane, SJ |  Fr. Timothy Lannon, SJ | |
The image in Canadian history of black-robed Jesuits riding roughshod over native peoples distorts the historical record, according to research by University of Calgary's Haijo Westra.
A paper by Latin scholar Prof. Westra, to be published by the University of Muenster, argues that the eyewitness accounts of French Jesuits, written in Latin, reveal admiration for the aboriginal peoples of Canada. Westra says that the English translations of the Jesuits' reports have missed important classical references that lend altogether different nuances to their observations.
The reports were sent from Canada to Rome, where they were edited and published. Later accounts were published in Paris in a series called "The Relations," which became very popular, imprinting the image of Canada on the European mind. Yet the original Latin accounts have never been checked for their indirect quotations of classical authors.
"The best example of something being lost in translation is the Latin phrase durum genus," Westra says. "The English translation as ‘a hardy race or stock' is accurate, but misses references in Ovid and Vergil that describe durum genus as the tough, new humans created by Deucalion and Pyrrha after the flood. With associations of rebirth from sin and punishment as well as aboriginal hardiness as opposed to European decadence, it suggests the Jesuits had a much higher order of respect for the natives than verbatim English translations credit them with."
Westra, working with a database that includes major works of classical Latin literature, cross-references phrases from the Jesuits' reports with Latin works with which they would have been familiar.
When he began looking at "The Relations" Westra noticed there were no footnotes for Latin sources and concluded that English translations likely missed important classical references. "It was surprising to me that the language of the text had not been evaluated, since this is a major source for Canadian history. I believe it's important to make the historical witnesses speak and be understood fairly."
—University of Calgary
Singer Roberta Flack took part in Georgetown University's "Let Freedom Ring" celebration at the Kennedy Center to commemorate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in a series of academic, artistic, and extracurricular activities to take place throughout the semester for students, faculty, staff, and the community. These events lead up to the 40th anniversary of his "I Have A Dream" speech in August 2003.
Gonzaga University hosted its annual "Celebration of Peace" in memory of Martin Luther King, Jr., which included a one-woman dramatization of Rosa Parks.
Rev. C. T. Vivian, a living legend of the Civil Rights Movement who continues his activism today, spoke on "Building a Civil Rights Movement for the New Millennium."
Regis University spent a week celebrating MLK's life and legacy in civil rights, including daily lunchtime events such as a panel discussion of "What does the MLK legacy mean to me?" a theatrical performance entitled "In the Footsteps," and a tour of Denver's City Park that focused on the Civil Rights Memorial. A luminary lighting and remembrance service followed by speakers and a special banquet dinner for students concluded the week.
The first edition of the new web-only periodical Just Good Company is now available. The monthly journal of religion and culture is produced by the West Coast Compañeros, a group of former U.S. Jesuits mainly from the California and Oregon provinces, and is edited by Robert Blair Kaiser, a correspondent for Newsweek in Rome.
The Review for Religious is a quarterly journal published by the Missouri Province. Their website includes a large part of one article from each issue. It also includes extras, like the full text of the book A Spirituality for Contemporary Life: The Jesuit Heritage Today by Fr. David Fleming, SJ.