Minims & Maxims: Fall 2003

Tortilla Factory: Food and Funds for an El Paso Parish

Located just a few miles from the U.S.-Mexico border, the Segundo Barrio of El Paso, Texas, is one of the poorest sectors of the United States. The Jesuits' Sacred Heart Parish is firmly committed to working with the poor.

One of the parish's newest ministries factors food into the equation. Pastor Fr. Rafael García, SJ, saw the desire in his community for high-quality corn tortillas, a staple at every meal in the area. He notes that many would spend a large amount of time to cross the border to Juarez, Mexico, just to get them. Recalling a Jesuit project in the Dominican Republic that for many years made Helados Manresa, a well-known ice cream, he got an idea.

Fr. García now oversees a tortillería, which makes corn tortillas and operates out of the parish gymnasium. The business opened this April and employs two people full time and three part time. Once costs for staff and ingredients are covered, the rest goes toward social projects to help the poor. One project the parish envisions is a home for women in crisis.

"Since there are no tortillerías in our barrio," Fr. García explains, "it is a win-win situation for all that we start our own: provide Juarez-style tortillas, employ some people, raise funds for our social ministries." Those who stop in for fresh tortillas are also tempted by breakfast and lunches; the menu includes tacos, egg dishes, burritos, and menudo, tripe soup.

Bible Study

Half a million people in the State of Chiapas in Mexico's far south now can read the Bible in their own Tseltal-Mayan language thanks to Jesuits at a mission in Bachajón. The translation was completed in twelve years with the help of two Tseltal people and the Jesuit Theological Institute of Mexico in Mexico City.

Founded in 1958, the Jesuit mission is immersed in the indigenous culture and works to help this marginalized Mayan group overcome struggles with alcoholism, malnutrition, land rights, and political discrimination and repression. Knowledge of the language helps the Jesuits offer advice on legal and educational matters.

Museum Becomes New Home for Jesuit Treasures

This refectory table, dating to the 1840s, was handcrafted by Jesuit brothers of the St. Stanislaus community in Missouri; the pewter candlesticks came from a Jesuit mission near Trinidad, Colorado. They are part of the Collection of the Western Jesuit Missions, recently unveiled at the Saint Louis University Museum of Art. Fr. David Suwalsky, SJ, helped the curators identify and prepare the items, which had previously been housed at the museum at St. Stanislaus.

In addition to an assortment of tools and objects used by the pioneer Jesuits of St. Stanislaus, the collection includes chalices spanning four centuries from Belgium, France, Italy, the United States, and Canada; a rare collection of Greek and Latin books dating from the sixteenth century, many brought to this country by Pierre DeSmet, SJ; and baroque and rococo paintings once owned by Belgian nobility. Visit the museum's website at http://sluma.slu.edu -- Saint Louis University's UNIVERSITAS

Loyola High Students Help Prepare Others for High School

Loyola High School in Los Angeles offers a Community Outreach Tutoring Program that brings together freshman tutors and eighth graders from inner-city Catholic schools preparing to take the Catholic High School placement exam.

Not only do the Loyola High tutors help the students build skills in math and English, but they also build confidence by going over interview techniques as well. The program, beginning its third year this fall, came about from a request Catholic grade school principals made to get help with preparing students for the placement exams and interviews.

Graduates of Jesuit schools are involved as well: Loyola High, Loyola Marymount University, and Santa Clara University alums help out with sessions.

This past year about 250 eighth graders from 25 schools participated in the Saturday morning sessions held at Loyola, and 300 freshmen volunteered as tutors; this fall 300 students from 28 schools are expected.

Bing's 100th Birthday Celebration

Harry Lillis Crosby, better known as "Bing," was one of the most famous performers in the first half of the 20th century. He helped define pop music and became a motion picture icon. His single "White Christmas" is still the largest-selling record of all time.

Gonzaga University, his alma mater, celebrated his legendary life this year -- the 100th anniversary of his birth -- with social events, lectures, movies, and a banquet, which included Frank Sinatra, Jr., as a speaker.

Crosby and his family moved to Spokane when he was three; the house that his father built is now home to Gonzaga's Alumni Association. Crosby attended Gonzaga High and then Gonzaga University, participating in music, debate, and athletics before moving on to Hollywood, but came back for an honorary doctorate in 1937. -- Gonzaga Quarterly

Restoration Anniversary

British Jesuits celebrated the 200th anniversary of the restoration of the Society of Jesus in Britain this September at St. Aloysius Church in Glasgow.

Pope Clement XIV had suppressed the Society in 1773 in response to concerns about its influence expressed by European heads of state.

The Glasgow event marked Pope Pius VII's 1803 decision to allow Jesuits in Britain to be affiliated with the Russian Province, where the order of suppression never took effect. The move led the way for the full restoration of the Society in 1814.

Wolves on the Prowl for a Cause

An annual service project held in early November at Loyola University New Orleans began as a campuswide project -- a day where Loyola students, such as Michelle Deforest and Kim Woods, above, work together for the greater good of New Orleans.

"Wolves on the Prowl," as the event is called, has been so successful that the university's alumni chapters have gotten involved as well. This marks the second year that alumni chapters in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Puerto Rico, Tampa, and other locales will volunteer in their own communities in Loyola's name on the same day.

Back in New Orleans, more than 250 students and alumni will spend the upcoming day painting and cleaning up a middle school.

Bolivia Immersion Trip

This past summer, Mimi Limbach and eight other faculty and staff from Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia traveled to Bolivia for a faith-justice, mission-based immersion experience. The ten-day journey was designed to increase their understanding of the Society's mission.

The group, drawn from many departments, got together during the spring semester to prepare for the trip with meetings, readings, and speakers.

While in Bolivia, Jesuits and staff members of the Jesuit-run educational agency Fe y Alegria guided and hosted the group through Santa Cruz and La Paz.

Participants visited Jesuit missions, communities in which the Jesuits are working with the poor, and schools operated by Fe y Alegria.

Upon return to campus, participants began to share their experiences with the campus community through presentations, photo displays, and written reflections.

Visit www.feyalegria.org for more information on Fe y Alegria.

Torah Saved from Nazi Flames Gains New Home

A torah rescued by a Catholic priest from a synagogue in Poland being torched by the Nazis in 1939 has a new home at Boston College. The Torah will allow the college's Multi-Faith Worship Space to function fully as a synagogue when Jewish students gather for prayer.

The priest walked into the U.S. Embassy in Krakow in 1959 with the scroll and asked to speak to an American Jew. He met Yale Richmond, Boston College '43, gave him the scroll, and asked him to find an appropriate home for it.

The diplomat had held the Torah until he read about the creation of the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning at BC. 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.

"Full Jewish liturgical life is not possible without a Torah scroll," says Rabbi Ruth Langer, associate director of the center. -- Boston College

Jesuit's Cross-Country Ride Raises Money

Ask Fr. Eric Zimmer, SJ, the age-old question "What did you do for your summer vacation?" and you will get a great answer. This Georgetown University assistant professor of communications spent the summer bicycling from coast to coast and raised over $20,000 for Project Rachel, which offers post-abortion counseling.

He began his 3,500-mile journey in Washington State in late May and completed what he called his "LifeRide" in late July when he arrived back in Washington, D.C.

Most evenings he stayed in Catholic parishes along the route, where he often spoke about post-abortion healing.

Averaging 75 miles a day, he traveled through Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan, then south to Indiana, where he turned left and traveled through Ohio and Pennsylvania, finally taking the C&O Canal towpath from Western Maryland back home to the District of Columbia.