Serving In Christ's Name

As president of the Jesuit Conference, which is headquartered in Washington, Fr. Timothy Kesicki, S.J. will be responsible for coordinating the activities of about 2,800 members of the Society of Jesus. Kesicki said his latest assignment “comes at a very exciting time for the church and the Society of Jesus here in the U.S. and around the world.” “Clearly, the election of Pope Francis, the first Jesuit pope in history, has highlighted the Jesuit vocation,” Kesicki said.  

“My hope is that since the pope is one of us, he will give us a challenging mission and that I will be able to play a role in helping to carry it out with renewed zeal and commitment to serving in Christ's name here and around the world.” 

Kesicki is scheduled to lead a spiritual retreat for priests in June at St. Paul Seminary in Crafton. Since being ordained in 1994, Kesicki has served with the Jesuit Refugee Service in Adjumani, Uganda, and worked in U.S. cities including Detroit, Cleveland, New York and Chicago, where he serves as the provincial of the Chicago-Detroit Province of the Society of Jesus. 

Link (here) to Triblive

It Was In That Cave Where He Wrote The Spiritual Exercises

Priest Josep Maria Bullich, S.J. attends a mass at the Cave of Saint Ignatius of Loyola in Manresa, Spain. Saint Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Company of Jesus, arrived in Manresa in March 25, 1522 after leaving his sword and knife at the altar of Our Lady of Montserrat. He stayed in a cave outside the town for 10 months. He spent hours each day praying and working in a hospice. It was in that cave where he wrote the Spiritual Exercises, a compilation of meditation, prayers and contemplative practices guiding to find God in all things that is one of the central characteristics of Jesuit spirituality. Pope Francis has been the first Jesuit elected as Pope.

Link (here) to The Windsor Star

Fairfield University And Fairfield Prep

Fairfield University and Fairfield Prep are so tightly bound into Fairfield's fabric that it seems like they've been here forever. In fact, having arrived in the early 1940s, they're relative newcomers to our colonial town. How did Fairfield end up with a centrally-located, 200-acre Jesuit campus? It's an intriguing story of the dispersal of a prominent Fairfield family, fortunes made and lost, and uncannily-timed, extraordinarily favorable transfers of real estate. The Society of Jesus has a centuries-long tradition of teaching. By the fall of 1941, there were two dozen Jesuit colleges and universities in the United States. But amid Fordham, Holy Cross and Boston College, the Jesuit New England Province envisioned a preparatory school and college in the greater Bridgeport area. The initial search for a suitable campus came up empty. But just then, word came that the heirs of Oliver Gould Jennings were selling Mailands, his 40-room mansion on 76 of the finest acres in Fairfield. In 1920, on the strength of an estimated $80 million fortune, Lashar built Hearthstone Hall, a lavish, 44-room English manor house on 105 acres right next door to Mailands. But Lashar's fortune went up in smoke in the 1929 stock market crash, and the few million dollars that remained was hardly enough to support a Hearthstone Hall lifestyle. After the real-estate taxes went unpaid for several years, the town seized the property -- almost to the day of the Jesuits' Mailands purchase. In early 1942, First Selectman John Ferguson approached the Jesuits with an offer they couldn't refuse. As reported in the April 1, 1942, Bridgeport Post, the Jesuits snapped up the Hearthstone Hall estate for back taxes and some fees, or $68,500. What could Ferguson have been thinking? Perhaps he didn't want the town to be saddled with maintaining the deserted estate; perhaps he foresaw the benefits of Fairfield becoming a college town. Whatever his reasoning, the sale was widely considered a giveaway, and contributed to Ferguson's failure to be re-nominated for another term. So, faster than you could say "Saint Ignatius of Loyola," the Jesuits owned a splendid 180-acre campus and what would become McAuliffe and Bellarmine halls. A few years later, for a stiff $28,500, the college added the 18-acre Morehouse property on the corner of Barlow and Round Hill roads. In 1989, an expanding Fairfield University acquired the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur convent, conveniently adjacent to the old Mailands property. In creating the Dolan Campus, it became the indirect beneficiary of the catastrophic decline of John Fox In the early 1950s, Mr. Fox, who once owned a controlling interest in Western Union, bought a 47-acre estate, complete with a 21-room mansion, which had been built for Oliver G.'s son, Lawrence. A costly adventure in the Boston newspaper business brought Fox to total ruin, and the Sisters took possession in 1959. Fox, a Harvard Law graduate and once-powerful tycoon, eked out a living playing piano in Boston waterfront bars until he died penniless and alone in 1985. The alternate fate of the grand estates from a past age that make up today's Fairfield University complex cannot be known. What would Fairfield be like if we had a corporate headquarters on North Benson Road or a hillside full of McMansions instead? Who knows. But the Jesuits, perhaps with some divine assistance, have delivered unto us a cultural and educational asset and a driver of the town's economy. With dissenting opinions duly noted from those of us enduring student misbehavior in the beach neighborhood, I think we're the richer for it.

Link (here) to The Fairfield Citizen for the full story

Why Commencement Speakers Are Chosen

The university delayed announcement of the 2013 commencement speakers until nearly the end of final exams, finally revealing a lineup that some find underwhelming. While those receiving honorary degrees Saturday are likely deserving, the Georgetown community also deserves a selection process that is transparent and timely.

Each of Georgetown’s schools has its own graduation ceremony and commencement speaker. The process for securing speakers can take as long as eight months, yet the university released the news May 9. Other colleges announced their commencement guests months before graduation — Howard University and The George Washington University in March, the University of Virginia in January.

We have commended Georgetown in the past for finding speakers tailored to each undergraduate school’s academic focus. Yet the university hurts its cause by making these selections entirely in the dark. That is made even worse when news of the speakers breaks hardly a week before graduation, giving people little time to digest and appreciate the choices. It would not be appropriate to have students vote on speaker options, and the reasoning behind these choices as it currently stands might be entirely sound. A simple explanation from the university of why commencement speakers are chosen would benefit everyone involved.

Link (here) to The Hoya

Pope Francis A Great Encouragement

Head of the Progressive Front coalition (FAP in Spanish) Hermes Binner met with Pope Francis at the end “Here and there” by German Jesuit Florian Paucke who lived in the province of Santa Fe, run by Binner from 2007-201, during the 18th century. Following the meeting with the Pope, FAP’s head granted an interwiew to Argentina’s media saying that Bergoglio's election to lead the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics “is a great encouragement for the Argentine society.” Although not a Catholic himself, Binner -who will be running for office in October’s legislative elections-, considered the pontiff an example for peace and a proof that Argentina can “come up” with “strong leaderships.” After St. Peter’s audience, Francis’ agenda included also receiving governor of the province of Chacho, kirchnerite Jorge Capitanich who said the Pope sent his blessing to all Chaco’s people.
of the weekly general audience in St Peter's square at the Vatican. The socialist leader handed ex Argentine cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio a copy of the book
Link (here) to the Buenos Aires Herald

One time Jesuit John McLaughlin, And President Richard Nixon's Watergate Scandal (here)

Catholics Seem To Have Forgotten How Greatly The Protestants Feared The Jesuits

Hammer of Heretics

John Donne, as Protestant controversialist, singled out the Jesuits for special opposition in Ignatius His Conclave. Now that the religious controversies of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation are largely submerged in an ocean of indifference, even Catholics seem to have forgotten how greatly the Protestants feared the Jesuits.   The dread of Jesuit sophistication is well expressed, in Edmund Spenser’s Faerie Queene, when Errour vomits forth literature:

Therewith she spewed out of her filthy maw
A flood of poison horrible and black,
Full of great lumps of flesh and gobbets raw
Which stunk so vilely, that it forced him slack
His grasping hold, and from her turn him back:
Her vomit full of books and papers was,
With loathly frogs and toads, which eyes did lack.

When St. Robert Southwell arrived in England in 1586, intercepted communications identified him only as Robertus.  Elizabethan authorities took the newcomer for elder Jesuit Robert Parsons—and were terrified at the very thought of the Catholic havoc he might cause.  St. Peter Canisius was feared throughout the German-speaking world as the Catholic “Hammer of Heretics.”  And he did hammer them, too.

Link (here) to Crisis Magazine to read the full article.

Cheers Of Support And Laughter

The Fine Gael leader, who was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in law, proved a particular hit among the graduates' parents, who delivered cheers of support and laughter throughout. But it was his reference to a "strong Boston" that garnered the loudest applause. Later in the day, two survivors of the Boston marathon bombings, Brittany Loring and Liza Cherney, had recovered enough to receive their postgraduate diplomas from the Carroll School of Business.

Despite the positive response from the crowd, Mr Kenny was initially welcomed by more than 40 pro-life protestors at the entrance of Boston College. Pro-life activists joined Boston Cardinal Sean O'Malley in boycotting the event due to Mr Kenny's stance on the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013.

John O'Donoghue, from Artane in Dublin, who was with the original pro-life amendment campaign in Ireland and is now living in Massachusetts, said he was "shocked" at the Fine Gael leader's presence.  

"I'm absolutely shocked that a top Jesuit college would invite a man that is supporting the abortion bill. (He) shouldn't be let inside the door here."

But speaking about the abortion legislation issue, the Taoiseach said: "As the head of government, I have a duty to stay with the Constitution, which I have pointed out on many occasions.There is no change in the legislation. The situation in our Constitution has been endorsed on two occasions by the people, what the Government are doing here is setting out clarity and legal certainty, which is intended to save lives, not to end them."

Link (here) to The Irish Independent

New Mission

Father Adolfo Nicolas, the worldwide leader of the Jesuit order, has been named the president of the (USIG), the umbrella group for representatives of men's religious orders. Father Nicolas, who was the vice president of USIG, replaces Archbishop José Rodriguez Carballo, who was named in April as secretary of the Vatican's Congregation for Religious. Archbishop Carballo had been president of USIG for only a year; previously Father Pascual Chavez Villanueva, a Salesian priest, had served two terms as president. International Union of Superiors General

Link (here) to Catholic Culture

Price Of Sodomy 19.6 Million Dollars

Fr. Donald McGuire, S.J.

Jesuit officials in Chicago will pay $19.6 million to settle a civil lawsuit brought by six men who claim theyDonald McGuire, formerly of Oak Lawn, is serving a 25-year prison term after being convicted in Chicago in 2008 of federal charges that he brought a minor across state lines to engage in sex. He also was convicted in 2006 of molesting two boys in Wisconsin during the 1960s. were molested by a former priest and onetime spiritual advisor to Mother Teresa, an attorney for the plaintiffs said Monday.

“The amount of the settlement is reflective of the magnitude of misconduct by the top Jesuit officials,” said Jeff Anderson, an attorney for the plaintiffs. 

The $19.6 million settlement against the Chicago Province for the Society of Jesus was reached in January.

Officials for the Jesuit order — the Roman Catholic religious order to which McGuire belonged — could not be reached for comment Monday evening. The plaintiffs range in age from their 20s to their 40s, and claim McGuire abused them when they were children between 1975 and the early 2000s, Anderson said. Some of the six plaintiffs were also victims in the criminal cases against McGuire, and Anderson says evidence uncovered for the civil lawsuits was turned over to prosecutors in Chicago and Wisconsin.

Link (here) to CBS Chicago

First, In The Purgative Way; Next, In The Illuminative; And Finally, In The Unitive.

St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus, should be ranked among those apostolic the ministry of salvation and taught the principles of holiness. Truly he was born to help men. God taught him much, and from these heavenly communications Ignatius composed his admirable book of Exercises. This work is exceedingly well fitted to direct souls in the paths of salvation and perfection,  The clients of this great Saint then look upon him as a mediator and a patron in the important matter of eternal salvation, and as a guide and pattern in the dangerous paths of the spiritual life. The virtues of Ignatius, therefore, which are herr proposed for meditation, will be arranged in accordance with the three degrees of the spiritual life.

men who have exercised

Hence, the Saint will be presented as a bright model—first, in the purgative way; next, in the illuminative; and finally, in the unitive. 

At the end some considerations will be added on the Saint's most precious death. Each meditation will be accompanied by a prayer to St. Ignatius, three of his practical sayings, an example, a practice, and an aspiration to be made frequently during the day. The meditations will be ten in number, in memory of the ten months which St. Ignatius spent at Manresa, amid great bodily sufferings and heavenly joys of soul. These meditations can be used for the ten Sundays, or for the nine days proceeding the Saint's feast; and for the feast itself, in order to secure his powerful protection and obtain the grace to imitate, in some degree, his wonderful virtues. The meditations will also serve to gain more largely and surely the plenary indulgences, which two Popes granted for the purpose of promoting and spreading devotion to St. Ignatius. By the brief "Splendor Paterna gloria," our most holy Lord, Gregory XV., granted a plenary indulgence to all the faithful, who, on the feast of St. Ignatius, after confession and communion, shall pray for the Pope's intention in a church of the Society.

Clement XIII. graciously issued the following:

Decree.

Plenary indulgence of the ten Sundays in honor of St. Ignatius of Loyola, 

at the audience granted by the Holy Father, (January 27, 1767).

Moved by the humble prayer of Lawrence Ricci, General of the Society of Jesus, our most holy Lord, Clement XIII., kindly granted a plenary indulgence for all their sins to all the faithful, who, on ten consecutive Sundays before the feast of St. Ignatius, or on any other ten Sundays of the year, shall, with true repentance, confess their sins, go to communion, make pious meditations, pray or perform other Christian works in honor of the said Saint, and for the glory of God, and shall devoutly visit a church of the Society. This indulgence can be gained on any one of the ten Sundays. His holiness willed that this favor should hold good for all time to come. 

Given at Rome, in the office of the Secretary of the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, 

on the day and in the year of the aforesaid audience.

CARDINAL ANTONELLI. S. Borgia,

Secretary to the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences.

 

Link (here)

Boston College Associate Professor, "A Particular Version, Of A Particular Kind Of ‘Morality,’ Will No Longer Be Tolerated"

Enda Kenny outlined his vision for a very different Ireland during a Dáil Éireann speech in July 2011 when responding to the publication of the Cloyne Report. Like earlier reports—Murphy, Ryan, and Ferns—Cloyne echoed the well established narrative of clerical child sex abuse and confirmed the Catholic hierarchy’s failure to report such abuse to the civic authorities. The Bishop in question observed the dictates of the Vatican rather than the law of the land.

But Cloyne was of a different order too. It detailed how the Vatican deliberately organized to frustrate an Irish State-commissioned inquiry into clerical child sex abuse as recently as 2009. In an unprecedented move, Mr. Kenny, a devout Catholic, entered the Dáil chamber, the seat of political power in Ireland, and called the Vatican to account. And, he declared the primacy of the State’s standards, not those of the Catholic Church, in all matters related to the protection of Ireland’s children.

The “Cloyne speech” represents a watershed moment because it encapsulates a new vision for the nation: This is the Republic of Ireland 2011. A republic of laws, of rights and responsibilities; of proper civic order; where the delinquency and arrogance of a particular version, of a particular kind of ‘morality,’ will no longer be tolerated or ignored.That “version … of morality” for too long masked a history of collective abdication of responsibility for Ireland’s most vulnerable citizens. It fed the open secret of abuse, abandonment and neglect in Irish society as nation and State looked the other way and chose not to see what we all knew happened in our midst. Mr. Kenny drew a line under that history.

Link (here) to Irish Central the article by James M. Smith is an associate professor in the English Department at Boston College.

A Boston College Commencement Address And Edward Kennedy's Funeral Liturgy Are Canonically Very Different Things

Cardinal O'Malley At Edward Kennedy's Funeral

Michael Coren has a pretty good article over at Catholic World Report on Boston Cdl. Sean O’Malley’s “fundamentally different” from the prelate’s 2009 decision in the Kennedy funeral matter. Well, I deny Coren’s assertion that O’Malley’s decisions stand in contrast to one another and, while the burden is on Coren to demonstrate his assertion, I’ll mention a few points for my readers’ reflection.
decision not to attend Boston College’s commencement in protest against its invitation to Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny (another politician who’s Catholic when it’s convenient but pro-abortion when it counts) to deliver the main address. But Coren contrasts O’Malley’s decision in the Kenny commencement matter as

First, a commencement address and a funeral liturgy are canonically very different things. Anyone wishing to compare them must show first of all how an academic exercise is sufficiently like a sacramental of the Church to support any arguments resting on their alleged comparableness. 

Now, I can point to a boatload of dissertations discussing the canon law of Catholic funerals, but I know of none on the canon law of Catholic commencement exercises; so one draws, therefore, analogies between commencement and funerals at one’s own risk. Second, and more to the point, O’Malley’s decision in the Kennedy funeral case was made, as I argued then and argue today, quite within the bounds of—nay, in compliance with!—the canon law on Catholic funerals.

Link (here) to Dr. Edward Peters full article

A Sign That Things Are About To Change At Boston College

Ireland's prime minister Edna Kenny isn't the first abortion-rights proponent to be honored by the college. In Scott Brown, delivered the commencement address at the Boston College School of Law. In 2007, the law school invited Edward Markey—a Massachusetts Congressman with a 100% abortion rights voting record in Congress—to speak at its commencement. In 2006, Mr. Markey joined 54 other Catholic Democrats in the House in signing a "Catholic Statement of Principles," reserving the right to disagree with the Catholic Church on important issues like abortion. Mr. Markey is now running for John Kerry's vacated Senate seat. There has been an uneasy relationship between the church and the wider Boston College campus community as well. In 2009, when college administrators placed 40 crucifixes on classroom walls throughout the Boston campus, a number of faculty members were furious. In interviews with the Boston Herald and InsideHigherED.com, one professor described the display of crucifixes as offensive, while another found it "insensitive" and "indicative of a bias toward one way of thinking, elevating one set of ideals above others, honoring one group of people in preference to the rest." Complaining about the crucifixes, 

2010, the pro-choice Republican senator from Massachusetts,

Boston College Chemistry professor Amir Hoyveda wrote a letter to the editor of the Boston Herald, saying that he could "hardly imagine a more effective way to denigrate the faculty of an educational institution."

Boston College pro-choice law students have formed BC Law Students for Reproductive Justice. On their website as of May 16, the Boston College pro-choice law students vow to "promote awareness of reproductive issues in order "to ensure that future lawyers will be prepared to successfully defend and expand reproductive rights." 

In a sense the professors and students are continuing the tradition of the longtime proponent of abortion rights, the late Rev. Robert Drinan, who was dean of Boston College Law School for 14 years (1956-70) before serving in the U.S. House of Representatives. While a congressman, Drinan could be counted on to vote for increased access to abortion, just as earlier, while a dean, he had helped counsel Catholic politicians on how to accept and promote abortion with a clear conscience. In 2011, the Boston College Law School held a symposium to honor Drinan.

Yet Cardinal O'Malley's refusal to countenance the college's support for Prime Minister Kenny may be a sign that things are about to change. In April, Pope Francis chose Cardinal O'Malley as one of eight cardinals to advise him on running the church and reforming the Vatican bureaucracy. This honor brings with it a responsibility to ensure that Catholic colleges and universities are faithful to the Catholic mission. The cardinal's Boston College boycott is a good start.

Link (here) to The Wall Street Journal to read Anne Henderdshott's full article.

" He Who Ate My Bread Has Lifted His Heel Against Me"

Pope Francis’ early morning homilies in the Casa Santa Marta residence chapel — often under Monday, the Holy Father set the tone for the week leading up to Pentecost Sunday. He focused on the Holy Spirit who, he said, helps Christians remember the history of the faith and the gifts God has given. Without this grace, he said, the faithful risk slipping into idolatry. Many Christians don’t know who the Holy Spirit is or what He is, he said, and the Holy Spirit “is always somewhat ‘the unknown’ of the faith.” And yet, he continued, the Holy Spirit is “God active in us” and “awakens our memory” of how Christ redeemed us of our misery and sin.
reported — continue to challenge the faithful, and this past week was no exception. On

Without this memory a Christian is not a true Christian, but becomes an “idolator,” the Pope went on, a “prisoner of circumstance, a man or woman who has no history.” To remember the grace of God is especially important, he said, when, for example, “a little vanity creeps in, when someone believes themselves to be a winner of the ‘Nobel Prize for Holiness.”

The Holy Father concluded with an invitation to Christians to ask the grace of memory so that “they will not forget that they were slaves and the Lord has saved them.” On Tuesday, the Holy Father again mined the theme of idolatry, but also the selfishness personified by Judas. Selfish people like Judas do not understand what giving and love are and become traitors, isolated and alone, he said. But if we really want to follow Jesus we must “live life as a gift” to give to others, “not as a treasure to be kept to ourselves.” Judas “never understood what gift really means,” the Pope said, and this was clearly seen when he bitterly criticized Mary Magdalene for washing Jesus’ feet with expensive perfume, saying that it could be used for the poor. “This is the first reference that I personally found in the Gospel of poverty as an ideology,” the Pope said.

Link (here) to The National Catholic Register

SEIU Union Victory At Georgetown

Georgetown University's part-time faculty members have overwhelmingly voted to form a union affiliated SEIU Local 500, which now represents more than three-fourths of the adjunct work force at colleges in the District of Columbia. "This victory will help improve conditions at Georgetown, but because we are joining adjuncts at other institutions across the region, the implications go far beyond Georgetown," Kurt Brandhorst, an adjunct instructor in the Georgetown philosophy department, said in an SEIU news release announcing the results of the vote. The union election did not cover adjuncts at the Georgetown University Law Center or the Georgetown University Medical Center.

with the Service Employees International Union, marking a major victory for the SEIU's effort to organize adjunct instructors throughout the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. Just under half of the 650 adjunct instructors eligible to vote on unionizing at Georgetown did so, and more than 70 percent of voters opted to form a collective-bargaining unit. With that vote, counted on Friday, Georgetown is set to join American University and George Washington University in having adjunct faculty unions affiliated with

The goal of the SEIU's regional organizing campaign is to bring adjuncts at enough area colleges into the union to put all colleges here under market pressures to improve adjuncts' pay, benefits, and working conditions. 

The SEIU also has unionized adjuncts at Montgomery College, a public institution with campuses in three of Washington's Maryland suburbs, and is considering campaigns at other colleges in the area. Last month it began a similar regional organizing campaign in Boston, and it said it is considering another one in Los Angeles. The effort to organize adjuncts at Georgetown was made easier by the Roman Catholic university's decision not to oppose the campaign. "They were not just neutral but very cooperative throughout the entire process," Christopher Honey, a Local 500 spokesman, said on Friday in an interview. "They really upheld their social values."

Link (here) to The Chronicle of Higher Education

Watch Fr. Daniel Berrigan, S.J. Brake Into A Draft Office, Steal Files And Publicly Destroy Them

Fr. Daniel Berrigan, S.J.

Martin Sheen once recounted about the May 17, 1968 burning of draft files in Catonsville, Md., by nine Dan and Phil Berrigan — broke into a draft office, stole files and publicly destroyed them as an act of nonviolent resistance against war and imperialism, the face of protest changed.

But the iconic images and audio from that historic event were almost lost in the annals of history.unusual suspects to protest the Vietnam War. 

The Catonsville Nine, as they came to be called, marked the beginning of dramatic new forms of antiwar resistance. When seven men and two women — all Catholic, including two priests,

Link (here) to Waging Non-Violence to watch a video of Fr. Daniel Berrigan, S.J. commit a criminal act in which he was sent to prison for.

Read Luke Hansen, S.J. at America glamorize the incident (here)

Fr. William Doyle, S.J. Chaplain Of The Battle of Ypres "They Speak His Name With Tears"

By Father William Joseph Doyle, S.J.

[The following letter, written by Father William Doyle a few days before he was killed during the advance of Irish troops north-east of Ypres on August 17th, 1917, is a chapter of autobiography needing the fewest possible notes in its elucidation. This Jesuit Chaplain of the Irish Province was the son of Mr. Hugh Doyle of Dalkey, co. Dublin, for many years Registrar of the Dublin Bankruptcy Court; he was forty-four years of age when he wrote this to his father, aged eighty-six.* Educated at Radcliffe by the Rosminians, William Doyle nevertheless became a Jesuit. He studied in Belgium, was ordained at Milltown Park in 1907, was Professor at Clongowes (where he founded and edited The Clongovmian) and subsequently laboured in Limerick and in Dublin. In November, 1915, the call to more strenuous service came to him, and three months later he went to the Front with the 16th Irish Division. For his bravery at Ginchy he was awarded the Military Cross, and he was afterwards commended by his Commanding Officer for the V.C., which, however, he was not to receive. As a preamble to his own letter may be quoted a line from that of a brother-chaplain, written about Father Doyle before his death : "He is a marvel. They may talk of heroes and saints—they are hardly in it!" That exclamation neither the saints nor heroes aforesaid, nor yet the eighth Urban of the scrupulous Decree, will in anywise take amiss.]

July 30th, 1917.—For the past week we have been moving steadily up to the Front. It was half-past one a.m. when our first halting-place was reached, and we marched again at three. It was the morning of July 31st,. the Feast of St. Ignatius, a day dear to every Jesuit, but doubly so to the soldier sons of the soldier Saint. Was it to be Mass or sleep ? Nature said " sleep," but grace won the day; and while the weary soldiers slumbered the Adorable Sacrifice was offered for them. As we fall into the line once more the dark clouds are lit up with red and golden flashes of light, the earth quivers with the simultaneous crash of thousands of guns—the Fourth Battle of Ypres has begun. . . . The road was a sight never to be forgotten. On one side marched our columns in close formation. On the other galloped by an endless line of ammunition waggons, extra guns hurrying up to the Front, and motor-lorries packed with stores of all kinds ; while between the two flowed back the stream of empties and ambulance after ambulance filled with wounded and dying. We marched on through the City of the Dead—Ypres, out again by the opposite gate. A welcome halt at last, with perhaps an hour or more of delay. At that moment the place for sleep did not matter two straws—a thorn-bush, the bed of a stream, anywhere would do to satisfy the longing for even a few moments of slumber after nearly two days and nights of marching without sleep. I picked out a soft spot on the ruins of a home, laid me down with a sigh of relief.

August 1st.—Morning brought a leaden sky, more rain, and no breakfast. Our cook, with the rations, had got lost during the night, so there was nothing for it but to tighten one's belt.

Sunday, August 12th —We have just got back to camp,, after (for me at least) six days and seven continuous nights on the battle-field. I shall give you the principal events of these exciting days, as I jotted them down in my notebook. (August $th.) All day I have been busy hearing the men's confessions, and giving batch after batch Holy Communion. My poor, brave boys—they are lying on the battle-field, some in a little grave dug and blessed by their chaplain, who loves them all as if they were his own children. Do you wonder that, in spite of the joy that fills my heart, many a time tears gather in my eyes as I think of those who are gone ? As the men stand lined up on parade I go from Company to Company giving a General Absolution, which I know is a big comfort to them. Then I shoulder my pack and make for the train which, this time, is to carry us part of our journey. "Top-end for Blighty, boys; bottom-end for Berlin !" I tell them as they clamber in, for they like a cheery word. "If you're in Jerryland, Father, we're with you too," shouted one big giant, and is greeted with a roar of approval.

Fr. Charles F. Suver, S.J. "The Jesuit of Iwo Jima"

Fr. Charles F. Suver, S.J. "Mass at Iwo Jima"

Jesuit Father Charles F. Suver, a native of Ellensburg and a 1924 graduate of Seattle College, celebrated Mass prior to the famed flag raising. What’s more, the idea to plant the Stars & Stripes atop the 550-foot volcano was hatched six days earlier in the priest’s shipboard cabin, 

according to the late Jesuit Father Donald Crosby’s 1993 book, “Battlefield Chaplains: Catholic Priests in World War II.” Father Suver, a Navy chaplain, was among 19 Catholic chaplains and 58 chaplains assigned to minister to the three Marine divisions that wrested Iwo Jima from the Japanese in the war’s bloodiest battle in the Pacific, 

Father Crosby said in his book. On the eve of the landing assault, the then 38-year-old chaplain gathered with friends in his cabin after supper to chat.  “One young officer in the group said that if he could take an American flag from the landing craft, perhaps someone could hoist it on top of the volcano…,” Father Crosby wrote.  “Challenged a young lieutenant, ‘Okay, you get it and I’ll get it up there.’ Not to be outdone, Suver added, ‘You get it up there and I’ll say Mass under it.’ “Six days later he would keep his promise.” But it would be a long six days. Father Crosby, who researched Marine records and contacted several hundred former chaplains in writing his book, chronicled how Father Suver and a fellow Jesuit chaplain narrowly escaped death on several occasions during the battle for Iwo Jima.

Afterwards, “both remain haunted by their memories of the struggle,” the author said. “Most important, both found that the Iwo Jima experience gave them a deepened appreciation of their vocation as Roman Catholic priests, just as it did for their non-Jesuit and non-Catholic colleagues.” 

Father Suver’s landing craft had been among the ninth wave of landing crafts to reach the shores of Iwo Jima the morning of Feb. 19. They hit the beach at 9:40 a.m., which Father Suver thought was “far too early for a priest,” Father Crosby wrote. The chaplain soon discovered his heavy Mass kit would be of no use amid the hazardous surroundings, so he planned to bury it and return for it later. His assistant, however, convinced him to leave the kit out in the open, correctly surmising that another Marine would come along and spot the priest’s name on the kit and bring it to him. The flag raising took place on Feb. 23. 

Father Crosby’s book chronicles how Father Suver celebrated Mass atop Suribachi afterwards on an altar consisting of a board laid across two empty gas drums. 

But Jesuit Father Jerry Chapdelaine, a friend of Father Suver’s, said last week from his residence at Bellarmine Prep in Tacoma that the reverse was true. Father Suver “told me the Mass was said before the raising of the flag – not after,” Father Chapdelaine said. “A lot of people got the deal wrong about the saying of the Mass…Father Suver told me (that he said to his men), ‘I’ll say Mass to you guys and then you raise that flag.’” Father Crosby’s book describes how Father Suver could hear Japanese soldiers chattering in caves nearby as he celebrated the Mass. The capture of Suribachi was a prelude to 29 more days of fierce fighting, in which the Marines suffered most of their casualties, Father Crosby wrote.  

“So many of the men (Father Suver) had seen on top of Suribachi were to ‘remain behind on Iwo.’ One of the severely injured was the brash young lieutenant who had boasted that he would put the flag on top. Tragically, he had been shot in the back before the flag raising and remained paralyzed for the rest of his life. Another Marine had carried the flag to the top.” 

After the war, Father Suver spent more than a dozen years ministering with the Jesuit Oregon Province’s Mission Band, conducting week-long spiritual renewals and other activities. He was pastor of St. Aloysius Parish in Spokane from 1958-66, and later did marriage counseling and retreat work in Seattle, then was chaplain at the Park Rose Care Center in Tacoma, residing with the Jesuit Community at Bellarmine Prep. “I remember him when I was a kid; he was on the Mission Band,” said Father Chapdelaine, who became good friends with the wartime chaplain when they resided at Jesuit residences in Portland and Tacoma. “He was one tough guy…physically strong, and he had lots of courage. But he was a very gentle man, too. “He talked about his fears (on Iwo Jima), but he (said he) didn’t think about that stuff much. He was pretty focused on what was going on. He was sensitive to the guys. 

“And he loved being a military chaplain. He told me they (the military) weren’t going to take him, that he was too old when he applied.” Father Suver died of cancer in 1993 at age 86, 

at the Bessie Burton Sullivan Skilled Nursing Residence at Seattle University. It was Easter Sunday. “He wanted to die on Good Friday – that’s what he told me,” said Father Chapdelaine, who celebrated his funeral Mass at St. Joseph Church in Seattle. “I don’t know if it was connected (to Iwo Jima) or not.”

Link (here) to CatholicMil.org

Endowments, S.J.

There are 79 private colleges with endowments of more than $250 million that charge low-income students  We found 17—about eight percent of four-year Catholic colleges in the U.S.—that had endowments larger than $250 million in FY 2010. Not one of the 17 appears on Burd’s lists of most charitable colleges for low-income students, measured by percent of students receiving federal Pell Grants and the average cost of attendance (net price) for each low-income student in the 2010-2011 academic year an average net price over $10,000; 51 that charge over $15,000; and 26 that charge over $20,000. That prompted The Cardinal Newman Society to look specifically at Catholic colleges.

.The Jesuits’ Saint Louis University had an even larger endowment—more than $700 million in FY 2010—and yet charged low-income students an average of $23,842.  And Boston College, with one of the nation’s largest endowments of nearly $1.5 billion,still charged needy students an average of $13,128. 

But six wealthy Catholic universities appear on Burd’s list of institutions with relatively low percentages of Pell Grant recipients and high net price for the neediest students—including three Jesuit institutions,despite the Jesuits’ traditional emphasis on social concerns. At Santa Clara University in California, Burd reports, the average price charged to low-income students was a whopping $46,347—more than150 percent of their families’ annual income. And yet Santa Clara’s endowment (more than $600 million) was among the largest 100 for private colleges in the U.S.

Link (here) to The Cardinal Newman Society

Fr. Franz Magnis Suseno, S.J., "Will Indonesia's Condition Worsen?"

Fr. Franz Magnis-Suseno, S.J.

Rev. Franz Magnis Suseno, a philosopher and renowned Jesuit priest, has sent a letter to the Appeal of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for promoting religious tolerance in Indonesia. 
Conscience Foundation (ACF), objecting to its plans to bestow the World Statesman Award to President

"During the eight-and-a-half years of his presidency, Yudhoyono has never told Indonesians to respect minority rights. He obviously does nothing to protect minority groups," Suseno said, as quoted by tempo.co. In his letter, Suseno mentioned that hundreds of Ahmadis and Shiites have been expelled from their hometowns or killed because they were considered heretics. "A question arises: will Indonesia's condition worsen and eventually become like Pakistan and Iraq, where Shiites are killed every month for religious motivations?" wrote Suseno. 

He also mentioned the difficulty faced by local Christians in obtaining church permits. "Intolerance flourishes at the grassroots level," he said, as quoted by tempo.co. Suseno questioned the ACF's deliberations in giving the award to Yudhoyono. "How come they did not ask the Indonesian people's opinion before they decided to give Yudhoyono the award?" he said. 

Link (here) to The Jakarta Post

Today At The University of San Francisco

Barbara Garcia

On Friday, May 17, the (Jesuit) University of San Francisco will hold the 2013 commencement exercises for Barbara Garcia, director of health at the San Francisco Department of Public Health. Ms. Garcia was appointed by then-Mayor Gavin Newsom in 2010. She is an open lesbian. Garcia is probably best known to the wider public following national news coverage of a decision of the San Francisco board of supervisors that the city’s Healthy San Francisco  program—that is, the taxpayers—will, in addition to coverage for abortion and contraception, provide free “gender reassignment surgery.” their School of Nursing and Health Professions. The commencement speaker and recipient of an honorary degree will be

As director, Garcia will be in charge of implementing this program. On November 10, 2012 Gay Star News reported “San Francisco will now offer mastectomies (removal of the breasts), genital reconstructions and other surgeries recommended for some transgender people under the city’s 5-year-old universal health care plan.” Garcia justified the procedures: “The community felt the exclusion on Healthy San Francisco was discriminatory and we wanted to change that as the first step.”

As the San Francisco program shows, there are many people who take gender reassignment surgery seriously, rather than seeing it as a mutilation born of mental illness. To put “gender reassignment surgery” into a proper perspective, let’s examine an identical syndrome called Body Integrity Identity Disorder. The noted bioethicist Wesley Smith, writing at the Human Exceptionalism blog at National Review, describes it: “BIID, also known as ‘amputee wannabe,’ is a terrible mental illness in which sufferers obsesses and truly anguish about becoming an amputee–which they perceive as their true identities.” He went on to explain his experience at something called the “transhumanist” conference:

Link (here) to read the rest at California Catholic Daily

Our Invitation

A Boston College spokesman has been forced to defend and justify their selection of Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny as the commencement speaker after hearing criticism from Catholic groups over his stance on Ireland abortion law reform debate. Kenny has become a target for Catholics after expressing his support for legislation that would allow abortions if the circumstances pose a real and substantive threat to the mother’s life. The Boston Globe has reported that the Catholic Action League have expressed and encouraged others to express their outrage for the Jesuit school’s decision.

Executive director of the advocacy group C. J. Doyle asked “How does any rational person reasonably take seriously the Catholic opposition to abortion when a Catholic institution honors someone who is in the process of legalizing abortion in their country?” He added “This is a terrible scandal.”

Boston College defended their choice in saying the selection was made to celebrate the great relationship Ireland and the university share. Spokesman Jack Dunn explained “Boston College invited Prime Minister Kenny a year ago to speak at our commencement in light of our longstanding connection with Ireland and our desire to recognize and celebrate our heritage. Our invitation is independent of the proposed bill that will be debated in the Irish Parliament this summer.” 

The ceremony is scheduled for May 20 at Alumni Stadium where Kenny will reportedly be presented with a Doctor of Laws degree.
Link (here) to Irish Central

Planned Parenthood President On Boston College's Commencement Speaker

Mary Walz President of Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts

The multi-billion dollar abortion industry Planned Parenthood has congratulated the Jesuits of Boston College for honouring Enda Kenny with a Doctorate in Law and their invitation to him to give the commencement address.

Marty Walz, the President and CEO of the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts, called the Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny an “appropriate commencement speaker.” Walz went on to say that “It is disappointing that a measure to provide health care to a woman whose life is in danger would draw protest in Massachusetts.” 

The Catholic Action League called Marty Walz’s remarks “a revealing endorsement, which should, but probably won’t, embarrass the leadership of Boston College. Everything we ever wanted to know about Enda Kenny and his unpersuasive claims that he plans no major changes in Ireland’s abortion laws, has now been explained to us by Marty Walz. As for Boston College, the only thing more threadbare than its Catholic identity is its institutional credibility. Boston College, a school built by and for Catholics, now stands with Planned Parenthood and a pro-abortion government against the Church and the pro-life movement. It is an unconscionable betrayal.”

Link (here) to Protect the Pope

Boston College Prayer Vigil

On Monday, May 20th, Students for Life of America (SFLA) and other local and national pro-life notatbc.com/?page_id=172) outside the Boston College graduation ceremony to protest Ireland's 1st pro-abortion Prime Minister giving the commencement address and receiving an honorary degree at the Catholic institution. SFLA will gather together to stand up for women, show the value and worth of children in the womb, and voice support for keeping Ireland abortion-free. Organizations will host a prayer vigil and public witness

Event Details:
When: Monday, May 20th

8am - Prayer Vigil and Public Witness

9am - Press Conference

Where: Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA -- Corner of Beacon Street and Reservoir Avenue

Link (here) for more information