June 13, 2006

Java: Klaten Destruction Ignored by Aid Workers, Media, and Government

Fr Drajad Soesilo SJ visited the three districts of Wedi, Guantiwarno, and Bayat in the Klaten region following the magnitude 6.3 earthquake that struck the island of Java on May 27.

In an Asia News interview, Fr Soesilo reported " These three areas are among the most heavily devastated by the quake. No government relief has arrived to these areas; the people have been completely forgotten...even the media has not paid due attention to the tragedy of these three districts, concentrating only on the ancient royal city of Yogyakarta and the Bantul region."

An estimated 2,000 people died in the Klaten region. Provisional statistics released by the Indonesian Social Affairs Ministry were at 6,234 dead and ore han 130,000 displaced total. [Source:Asia News]

Vietnam Government Returns Jesuit Property

On May 10 Vietnam Jesuit and government representatives signed the documents officially transferring the Dac Lo Center back to the Society of Jesus.

The Jesuits had run a television station inside the center that produced educational programs They forfeited the station to the government in 1975, as the communists did not allow private organizations to be involved in mass media production. Ho Chi Minh City Television has occupied the building since 1977.

Fr Vincent Dinh Trung Nghia SJ noted that the reacquisition of the building is "very meaningful for our congregation, as we have no other premises in the center of the city." The building will house the regional superior's office.

The Jesuits have also asked the government to return another former property, a onetime hostel and chapel, which was put under government control in the 1980s after some Jesuits were accused of distributing anti-government propaganda and imprisoned. [Source: Union of Catholic Asian News]

Photo: Sumeth Perera SJ

Historic Service in the Tower of London Recalls English Jesuit Martyrs

A service in the Royal Chapel of the Tower of London on May 6 commemorated the martyrdom of English Jesuits St Nicholas Owen (who died on the rack in the Tower), Bl Edward Oldcorne, Bl Ralph Ashley, and Fr Henry Garnet.

The service was inspired by the devotion to the Five Wounds of Christ current at the time of the martyrdoms in 1606. After each of the five readings one of five candles on the altar was lit, each commemorating one of the four martyrs and the last the 1,500 or more who died while imprisoned in the Tower. [Source: British Province]

Jesuit Parish Hosts Anniversary Celebration for Ministry with Gay and Lesbian Catholics

Blessed Sacrament in Hollywood hosted the 20th anniversary celebration of the Los Angeles Archdiocesan Ministry with Lesbian and Gay Catholics.

Blessed Sacrament is one of eight parishes in the archdiocese with lesbian and gay outreach programs.

Pastor Mike Mandala SJ said that he was proud of the ministry and observed "people in the Ministry with Lesbians and Gays here are involved in the full ministry of this Blessed Sacrament Community. They're involved with each other. They're involved in every facet of the community. That speaks of the spirit of God with them and with us." [Source: The Tidings]

Jesuit Granted France's Highest Honor

Fr Cedric Prakash SJ received the Legion of Honor for "his commitment to the defense and promotion of human rights in India," the French government said in a May 15 statement.

Fr Prakash heads Prashant, a Jesuit social action group that organizes strategies for nongovernmental organizations. He also organized the Concerned Citizens' Tribunal and has testified before the US Commission on International Religious Freedom about the state of religious freedom in Gujarat.

Gujarat, a state in western India, is under the control of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party that won control of the government in the early 1990s. Since then Christians, who number about 400,000 among Gujarat's 50 million people, have been harassed and attacked. [Source: Catholic News Service]

Cause of Fr Kibe SJ and Japanese Martyrs Moves Forward

On May 9 the Congregation for the Causes of Saints presented a favorable report regarding the beatification of Fr Peter Kibe SJ and 187 martyrs. The cause will now go to the Cardinal's committee of the Congregation for approval.

Fr Kibe (1587-1639) traveled from Macao, crossing the China Sea, the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf, and traveled over 1,000 miles of desert, across Muslim countries, until he reached the Holy Land. He is regarded as the first Japanese to visit the Holy City. From there he traveled to Rome where he was ordained a priest. Fr Kibe returned to Japan where nine years later he was captured, brought to Tokyo, tortured, and martyred.

Three of the other 187 martyrs are also Jesuits: Fr Julian Nakaura, Fr Diego Ryousetsu, and Br Kei-an Fukunaga. [Source: EAO News]

Jesuit Outlines "Ten Commandments" for Protecting Environment

A Catholic social vision for the environment can be translated into "a short ethical set of ten commandments," according to Fr John Coleman SJ, a Professor of Social Values at Loyola Marymount University. According to Coleman, "Environmental issues...would loom very large, indeed, in any thoughtful scrutiny of contemporary signs of the times which call for a Catholic discernment and response."

Some of the commandments include: all humans have common but differentiated responsibilities to sustain the environment, environmental ethics will stress forms of deliberative democracy, and an environmental ethic will show care for future generations. [Source: Catholic News Service]

Condoleezza Rice Says Protests Show Democracy Alive at Boston College

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that the protests over her commencement appearance at Boston College are a sign that democracy is alive on campus. According to Rice what is anti-democratic is "to insist on a monopoly of your views." "That's the bargain of democracy," she said, "you get to say what you think but others get to say what they think too."

The decision to invite Rice was opposed by about 200 professors who said the invitation and honorary degree Rice received showed support of the Bush administration's Iraq War, which Pope John Paul II and the US bishops opposed on ethical grounds.

Boston College officials said Rice's career justifies an honorary degree and that the invitation did not automatically mean support for US policy in Iraq. [Source: Catholic News Service]

Loyola University Chicago Establishes Undergraduate Program in Islamic World Studies

Loyola University Chicago has established a new minor in Islamic World Studies which will be available to undergraduates in the upcoming academic year.

The program intends to situate the study of Islam and Muslims within a global, rather than a limited Middle Eastern context.

According to the proposal the designation Islamic World Studies was chosen "to highlight the global focus of the proposed minor and to avoid the more limiting connotations of either 'Middle Eastern Studies' or 'Islamic Studies'." [Source: Loyola University Chicago]

Remembrance of Things Past

• Jun 15, 1871. P W Couzins, a female law student, graduated from Saint Louis University Law School, the first law school in the country to admit women.
• Jun 16, 1675. St Margaret Mary Alacoque received her great revelation about devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
• Jun 17, 1900. The martyrdom at Wuyi, China, of Blesseds Modeste Andlauer and Remy Asore, slain during the Boxer Rebellion.
• Jun 18, 1804. Fr John Roothan, a future general of the Society, left his native Holland at the age of seventeen to join the Society in White Russia.
• Jun 19, 1558. The opening of the First General Congregation, nearly two years after the death of Ignatius. It was summoned by Fr Lainez, the Vicar General. Some trouble arose from the fact that Fr Bobadilla thought himself entitled to some share in the governance. Pope Paul IV ordered that the Institute of the Society should be strictly adhered to.
• Jun 20, 1626. The martyrdom in Nagasaki, Japan, of Blesseds Francis Pacheco, John Baptist Zola, Vincent Caun, Balthasar De Torres, Michael Tozo, Gaspar Sadamatzu, John Kinsaco, Paul Xinsuki, and Peter Rinscei.
• Jun 21, 1591. The death of St Aloysius Gonzaga, who died from the plague, which he caught while attending the sick.
• Jun 22, 1611. The first arrival of the Jesuit fathers in Canada, sent there at the request of Henry IV of France.
• Jun 23, 1967. Saint Louis University's Board of Trustees gathered at Fordyce House for the first meeting of the expanded Board of Trustees. SLU was the first Catholic university to establish a Board of Trustees with a majority of lay members.
• Jun 24, 1537. Ignatius, Francis Xavier, and five of the companions were ordained priests in Venice, Italy.
• Jun 25, 1782. The Jesuits in White Russia were permitted by the Empress Catherine to elect a General. They chose Fr Czerniewicz. He took the title of Vicar General, with the powers of the General.
• Jun 26, 1614. By a ruse of the Calvinists, the book, "Defensio Fidei" by Francis Suarez was condemned by the French Parliament. In addition, in England James I ordered the book to be publicly burned.
• Jun 27, 1978. Bernard Lisson, a mechanic, and Gregor Richert, a parish priest, were shot to death at St Rupert's Mission, Sinoia, Zimbabwe.
• Jun 28, 1591. Fr Leonard Lessius's teachingon grace and predestination caused a great deal of excitement and agitation against the Society in Louvain and Douai. The Papal Nuncio and Pope Gregory XIV both declared that his teaching was perfectly orthodox.
• Jun 29, 1880. In France the law of spoliation, which was passed at the end of March, came into effect and all the Jesuit Houses and Colleges were suppressed.
• Ju n 30, 1829. The opening of the Twenty-first General Congregation of the order, which elected Fr John Roothan as General.

• Jul 1, 1556. The beginning of St Ignatius's last illness. He saw his three great desires fulfilled: confirmation of the Institute, papal approval of the Spiritual Exercises, and acceptance of the Constitutions by the whole Society.
• Jul 2. In 1928, the Missouri Province was divided into the Missouri Province and the Chicago Province. In 1955 there would be a further subdivision: Missouri divided into Missouri and Wisconsin; Chicago divided into Chicago and Detroit.
• Jul 3, 1580. Queen Elizabeth I issued a statute forbidding all Jesuits to enter England.
• Jul 4, 1648. The martyrdom in Canada of Anthony Daniel who was shot with arrows and thrown into flames by the Iroquois.
• Jul 5, 1592. The arrest of Fr Robert Southwell at Uxenden Manor, the house of Mr Bellamy. Tortured and then transferred to the Tower, he remained there for two and a half years.
• Jul 6, 1758. The election to the papacy of Clement XIII who would defend the Society against the Jansenists and the Bourbon Courts of Europe.
• Jul 7, 1867. The beatification of the 205 Japanese Martyrs, 33 of them members of the Society of Jesus.
• Jul 8, 1767. D'Aubeterre wrote to De Choiseul: "It is impossible to obtain the Suppression from the Pope [Clement XIII]; it must be wrested from him by occupying papal territory."
• Jul 9, 1763. The Society is expelled from New Orleans and Louisiana at the bidding of the French government.
• Jul 10 , 1881. Fr Frederick Garesche' wrote from Sequin, Texas, to his Superior: "The cowboys who had not deigned at first to lift their hat to the priest or missionary; who had come to the mission as to a camp meeting, for the fun of the thing, gave in, and their smiles and awkward salutes showed that they had hearts under their rude exterior."

From the Editors

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