This past February, Seattle University (SU) temporarily housed 100 homeless men and women who make up the Tent City 3 community, which was developed in 1990 as a means of providing safe shelter for homeless men and women. Tent City 3 moves around to various locations in Seattle; previous hosts include the Jesuits' St. Joseph Church. According to the National Coalition for the Homeless, this was the first time a university has hosted a homeless community.
In fall 2003, Seattle University president Fr. Stephen Sundborg, SJ, invited the university to read Radical Compassion, a book written by Jesuit Gary Smith about his experience working with the homeless in Portland, Oregon. In 2004 the university considered ways to follow up on the reading, and a group of grad students developed the idea to host Tent City at SU.
Learning and service opportunities for the university community included on-site legal and health clinics staffed by the faculty and students of the law and nursing schools. Student and community groups prepared hot meals. There were also educational site visits and panel discussions.
"A number of Tent City residents have expressed interest in sharing their experiences with students and others to help break down the barrier that so many of us put up when confronted with homelessness," said Joe Orlando, director of the Office of Jesuit Identity and Mission and chair of the university's Tent City committee. "We hope this effort will go far in accomplishing that objective."
Gonzaga University (Spokane) students Brian Brett and Pete Tripp were killed in an avalanche during a January snowboarding trip in Idaho. A third student, Sean Forbes, escaped and sought help.
A vigil service was held on campus for the victims.
"Both the Brett family and the Tripp family are deeply grateful to the students and the Gonzaga community for the love and support they have shown to their families," said Fr. Rick Ganz, SJ, who directs university ministry at Gonzaga.
Spring's the time for Loyola University Chicago associate professor of nursing Judi Jennrich to travel to Belize, where she and her students, including Laura Anderson (left), have been providing free medical services and supplies to the people.
These annual spring break trips began in 1993 as part of a nursing course that includes the field experience.
This March, Dr. Jennrich, along with a nurse practitioner, nursing students, and a few alumni, head to Belize for a week to do village school health screenings, including vision checks and referrals to ophthalmologists. The team also provides general health information, including oral hygiene, and performs 300 physical and developmental exams for preschoolers.
The group also focuses on women's health, which includes nutrition counseling, blood pressure and diabetes screening, breast exams, and pap smears. The team brings along all of its own equipment as well as teaching aids, pamphlets, and gifts. In addition, the group gives workshops on health topics for lay health workers.
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Christ with Children, woodcut in the catechism of Peter Canisius, Michael Zimmermann, Vienna, 1555. In 1759 a former owner wrote down the name of Canisius being the author in the margin of an illustration in this anonymously published book (copy owned by the Dutch Jesuit Province). |
In April 1555, Dutch Jesuit Peter Canisius's famous catechism was published in Vienna at the request of King Ferdinand of Austria. The book became one of the most successful religious bestsellers in Church history, and it was the most frequently issued publication by a Dutch author ever: 1,075 different editions in 26 different languages.
In celebration of the 450th anniversary of this catechism, the Museum Het Valkhof in Canisius's hometown, Nijmegen, in the Netherlands, is holding an exhibition from late February through late May. During the preparations for this exhibition, the Dutch Jesuit Province acquired a copy of the 1555 catechism.
The Jesuits' copy, the only one in the Netherlands, has its original calf binding, with tooled decorations showing the emblems for caritas, spes, and fides, and bronze clasps. The title page is missing, but the first owner wrote his name on the endpaper: "Gallus Horlinger me possidet" (GH owns me) and mentioned the price he paid: 16 "white" pounds.
The exhibition will feature several different editions and versions of the catechism. A book on the history of the catechism will be published by Dutch Jesuit Paul Begheyn, the guest curator of the exhibition.
It was two years ago that students at Bellarmine College Prep in San Jose approached English teacher Tom Alessandri with an idea: organize a film festival so that students such as Ferg Mitchell and Vince Tran (above) could show off the skills they were developing in fine arts classes.
This year's festival included about a dozen submissions from students, including a "mockumentary" about the dean of discipline's office told in the style of TV's Law & Order. General submissions, shot digitally, run up to ten minutes; graphic-design submissions run between one and two minutes.
This year's festival featured alumni Gregg Hurwitz, a best-selling author, and Greg Walker, supervising producer for CBS's Without a Trace.
Fr. James Donnelly, SJ, arrived in Nepal as a Jesuit missionary in 1961. Originally from the Jesuits' Chicago Province, he has worked as an English teacher, school administrator, and writer of English textbooks for Nepal's school system. He is called a "walking encyclopedia" by friends and students due to his extensive knowledge in various fields, including high-altitude mountaineering.
Last November, Nepal's king, Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev (above), presented Fr. Donnelly with the Auspicious Right Hand of the Gorkha Dynasty Award for his work in education and social service. Fr. Donnelly is the fifth Jesuit priest to be given a royal award in Nepal.
Fr. Donnelly said he "got a smile out of the king" when he said he had enjoyed his 43 years of service in education in Nepal and was looking forward to more opportunities to serve in the future. --Catholic News Service
Among the participants in the 29th annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., this January were students, staff, and faculty from many Jesuit schools in the United States, including Strake Jesuit College Prep (Houston), Marquette University (Milwaukee), the Weston Jesuit School of Theology (Cambridge, Mass.), and Rockhurst University (Kansas City).
For those from Georgetown University, Georgetown Prep, and Gonzaga College High, D.C. is home; for those from Saint Joseph's University (Philadelphia) and Fordham University (the Bronx), it was a day trip. Others, such as a group from Creighton University (Omaha), hopped planes.
The date of this year's march was shifted from Saturday, January 22, the anniversary of Roe v. Wade in 1973, to Monday, January 24, to give participants the chance to meet with their House and Senate representatives.
Jesuits and students attended mass at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception on Sunday night and a Jesuit Prayer Breakfast for Life, sponsored by the Jesuit Conference, the next morning. Then they met with other marchers near the Washington Monument and walked up Constitution Avenue to the Supreme Court.
Jesuit participants in this year's march attended Georgetown's Cardinal O'Connor Conference on Life at Georgetown University, which, according to Fr. Bernard Barry, SJ, campus minister at Saint Louis University, added a "learning component" to the experience.
Barry, the driving force behind the gathering of Jesuit schools, said that we need to stand for the unborn because this is a crucial "social justice issue that gives a voice for the voiceless. I can't think of anyone more voiceless than the unborn." --Sean Raftis, SJ
Saint Joseph's University's annual Hand-in-Hand Festival brings about 2,000 people to campus, including adults with mental and physical challenges from across Philadelphia and area high school students who have volunteered to be their "buddies" for the day. This is the 29th year Saint Joseph's has hosted the event, during which faculty, staff, and students from various campus organizations, sports teams, and fraternities and sororities volunteer to run game booths, play music, serve as mascots, and act as buddies.
Hand-in-Hand, which earned a 1988 Presidential Citation from the White House Office of Private Sector Initiatives for "outstanding contributions to the American spirit of volunteerism and community action," is the model for similar festivals at ten other colleges and universities, including the University of Scranton and Georgetown University.
Fr. Petey Lutz, SJ, (1873-1948) from Buffalo, had remarkable peace of soul. When he was dying, Sam Wiley, a young Jesuit studying theology, was watching over him. Sam said, "Father, when you get to heaven, please remember us to Mike Cashman." Mike was a young Jesuit who was in prison camp with us at Los Baņos in the Philippines during World War II, but he developed cancer and died before he was ordained.
Petey nodded his head, closed his eyes, and went into a coma for three days. When he opened his eyes, it just happened that Sam was watching over him again. Petey asked Sam, "What was that name?" --James Reuter, SJ, The Philippine Times Jan 01, 2005
Fr. Peter Fennessy, SJ, has developed a web site devoted to stamps from around the world (including Vietnam and the United Arab Emirates) that commemorate individual Jesuits and Jesuit buildings, institutions, and discoveries.