Actors’ Chapel

Fr. Joseph Kelly, SJ, assistant pastor at St. Malachy’s Church in Manhattan, sent in the above marriage register starring Douglas Fairbanks and Lucile LeSueur, better know as Joan Crawford. The couple was married at St. Malachy’s, a spiritual center for the theater community since the 1920s. Located in New York’s Broadway District, the church is perfect for the role of Actors’ Chapel, its popular nickname, as regulars included Spencer Tracy, Gregory Peck, and Jimmy Durante.

Each fall, an interdenominational service, "Broadway Blessing," is held at St. Malachy’s to pray for the new theater season. Referring to the casting process at this year’s service, Fr. Kelly reminded the actors present: "Many are called, few are called back, and only one will get the part."

400 Years of Ratio Studiorum

"The master shall so train the youth intrusted for their education to the Society of Jesus that they may acquire not only learning but also a character worthy of a Christian." — Ratio Studiorum, section XV

1999 marked the 400th year that the Jesuits’ Ratio Studiorum has been in effect. This foundational document of Jesuit education developed after years of drafting, revising, and drafting again; the original Ratio appeared in 1599, codifying the best pedagogy then practiced in Jesuit schools. It was influential in Jesuit school organization worldwide and also in establishing a profile of the ideal teacher.

Jesuit schools around the country planned to celebrate this important anniversary in various ways: Saint Louis University hosted speakers and brown-bag lunch discussions on the Ratio, Fordham University’s school of education sponsored a two- day seminar, and Boston College had a one-day teleconference with a school in Krakow, Poland, to reflect on the significance of the document.

Pilgrimage

Over 300 students from Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, trekked nine miles along the Coeur d’Alene River to Cataldo Mission, the oldest building in Idaho, last September. The annual pilgrimage event, which includes the hike, skits, and a mass, has been helping Gonzaga students kick off the new school year for 30 years.

Freeing the POWs

Boston College theology professor Fr. Ray Helmick, SJ, is back in the classroom after being a part of the interfaith delegation led by Rev. Jesse Jackson to free three U.S. prisoners of war in Yugoslavia last May. The Jesuit was the only Catholic of the sixteen-member group, which included Baptist, Orthodox, Muslim, and Jewish leaders from across the United States.

"It was a united plea of faith to two sides who could see no way out of the cycle of violence," said Helmick, a mediator who has worked in Northern Ireland and the Middle East. Winning the release of the prisoners involved "a lot of shouting, arm twisting, and dirty tricks," he said.

Meet theTeacher

Tim Russert, host of NBC’s "Meet the Press," says he owes a good deal of the success he has enjoyed to the firm but loving guidance of Jesuit mentors at Canisius High School in Buffalo.

In a summer segment of Nightly News, the class of 1969 graduate highlighted his relationship with Fr. John Sturm, SJ, former dean of students at Canisius.

"Fr. Sturm taught respect, preparation, and perseverance, lessons of life that still guide me today," said Russert.

Poet

For over 40 years, Fr. Francis Sweeney, SJ, orchestrated Boston College’s Humanities Lecture Series; guest speakers in that series included poets W.H. Auden, T.S. Eliot, Maya Angelou, and Robert Frost (above, with Sweeney at right). Now Sweeney has published a volume of his own collected verse. Morning Window, Evening Window, named for a poem inspired by stained glass windows at Chartres cathedral, contains 51 poems written by Sweeney over the course of his life.

Jazz Jesuit

Before joining the Jesuits, Fr. Richard Rolfs, SJ, (right) was a well-known jazzman. In the 1940s, he played drums for big band clubs in Los Angeles and for radio shows on NBC, toured with such artists as Kay Kyser and Horace Heidt, and played for movie soundtracks at Universal Studios and Warner Brothers.

In 1948, Rolfs decided to put away the skins and sticks and put on the collar. He entered the Society of Jesus and eventually became a professor of European history at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, where he’s been teaching since 1974.

For years after he left the music business, Rolfs remained a novelty in Los Angeles and a minor celebrity in Europe, where he was known as the Jazz Jesuit. Rolfs doesn’t miss the fame; he is glad he joined the Jesuits. "I’m doing what I was called to do," he says.

Contributed by Mariko Thompson

Education for a New Millennium

"There is tension in the term ‘Catholic university.’ When you strive for the best, there is always tension. We must stay engaged precisely because it is difficult."

—Giuseppe Pittau, SJ,
Vatican Congregation for Catholic Education

"There ought to be no doubt about the centrality of theology in Jesuit education. To say theology is at the heart of our universities is not realistic, but we cannot abandon hope in the promotion of faith and justice in our classrooms and campus ministries."

—Avery Dulles, SJ,
theologian at Fordham University

These quotations were taken from a conference about the future of Jesuit higher education held at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia this June.

The Jesuits quoted above are among the many experts who gave papers or appeared on panels to discuss issues of current concern to those in Jesuit higher education today, including Catholic identity, social justice, secularization, spirituality and campus life, the role of business and economics, administration, popular culture, the Ratio Studiorum, and the humanities.

Contributed by Joseph Lunardi