Back to School

Fr. Joseph Koterski, SJ, Professor of philosophy at Fordham University, gives a crowd-pleasing lecture titled "Dante's Divine Comedy: How to Solve a Mid-Life Crisis." But these students, Fordham alumni, are no9t in it for the grade. Fr. Koterski and a dozen other faculty members presented lectures to alumni at the 19th Alumni College, a program designed to bring them back to campus and to let the faculty present their research to alumni. This year there were about 150 people who participated in the program whose theme was the Ratio Studiorum and its 400th anniversary.

The alumni love returning to campus and classrooms where they once sat as students but often joke that they are glad they are not students today. Another bonus for the day -- no tests or final exams.

Praying On-Line

Too busy to pray with all that e-mail to catch up on? The Irish Jesuits have developed a solution: a web site called Sacred Space, which allows you to make a daily habit out of logging on and praying while at your computer. The user is guided through a prayer session in about ten minuets, and it includes a different passage of scripture for reflection every day. The site helps people get in touch with God in their everyday lives. Take a look at www.jesuit.ie/prayer.

Jesuit Alumna Wins Pulizter for Play

Margaret Edson, who earned an MA in English from Georgetown, won the Pultizer Prize in Drama for her play, wittily entitled W;t. The work is about an English professor dying of ovarian cancer. Edson wrote the play in 1991, but it took unitl last fall for the production to make it to New York, where it met with big success. Peter Marks of the New York Times called it "A brutally human and beautifully layered new play ... you feel both enlightened and, in a strange way, enormously comforted."

Students Mind their Manners

Believing that proper manners are an important part of higher education, Gonzaga University's Career Center held an Etiquette Dinner for students to give them an opportunity to improve their dining etiquette and become more comfortable and confident when they meet potential employers. Merrily Nbjerkstrand, an etiquette consultant from the Northwest school of Protocol, taught students which fork was which and everything else they needed to know for the six-course meal. You can bet there were no food fights at this dinner.

Jesuit Publication Turns 150

The Society of Jesus celebrates the 150th anniversary of its Italian weekly, La Civiltá Cattolica in the year 2000. Vatican approval of all articles is an essential part of the newspaper's identity. From its first issue in 1850 and until the early 60's, drafts of each issue were reviewed by the pope in a metting with the newspaper's director. Since 1963, the director has been five days before publication with a high-ranking Vatican official to review the proposed edition.

Two of Ohio's Jesuit High Schools Featured on Cheerios Box

The reason that some Ohio students ate their breakfasts looking at pictures of their classmates is that a General Mills promotion called Team Cheerios featured Ohio football "winner" St. Ignatius in Cleveland and St. Xavier in Cincinnati on boxes of Cheerios. The back-of-the-box text recognized the teams for their excellence on the field and in the class room

The two teams met in a a football game, dubbed the "Cereal Bowl." St. Xavier defeated St. Ignatius 50-33, perhaps because they ate more Wheaties, or in this case, Cheeriors. There will be a rematch, however, as the teams will meet at least once each season over the next three years.

Mapping Our Past

Loyola Marymount University's vista of west Los Angeles overlooks the former lands of the vast Rancho La Ballona, first settled in the 1820s by Agustin and Ygnacio Machado. The subdivision of the rancho in 1876 among the heairs is recorded on a hand-drawn linen map, carefully preserved by the family.

Gayle Machado and her four sons donated this precious document to Loyol Marymount's Center for the Study of Los Angeles in memory of her late husband, James Machado, Sr., '39. It is rare that such a document has remained so long in possession of the original land-grant family.

Tony Bennett Lends His Voice to a "Hopeful" Cause

Crooner Tony Bennett recently gave a concert to open a fund-raising even for the Jesuit-founded Boys Hope/Girls Hope of Detroit. The Portrait of Hope photography exhibit, sponsored by HOUR Detroit Magazine, opened after Bennett's concert and honored the non-profit organization with a traveling photography exhibit. Boys Hope/Girls Hope od Detroit helps at-risk children realize their potential and provides them with family-like homes and quality education.

Sacred Heart Celebrates Christmas with Tradition

The Coeur d'Alene Indians at Sacred Heart Mission in DeSmet Idaho, incorporate their own traditions in celebrating Christmas that makes for a unique Midnight Mass. The creche depicts Joseph, in headdress, and Mary, in buckskin and holding a wrapped baby, look down from a cave above a tepee village. The midnight ceremony includes portions of the Latin "Mass of the Angels," a drum song, and a traditional dance by young men "honoring food," adapted to the meal of the Eucharist. Young women pray in ancient sign language during the Lord's prayer, and 150-year-old hymns resound throughout the communion service. The mass concludes with a solemn blessing.

After mass a red-suited Santa Claus in an eagle feather bonnet leads the children outside for their traditional candy sacks. Fireworks light up the winter sky, the loud explistions of color a reminder of when the old men used to fire their rifles into the air to celebrate the birth of their savior.