Searching the internet for Jesuit and Congregation turns up mostly expected results. It was a surprise to find the arresting headline, Three more police killed in Ireland: shooting outsite Dublin church. The report went on to describe how women and children were hurt when the congregation in Gardiner Street stampeded. Read more »
The Jesuit America Magazine is one publication that quotes the outgoing Father General:
“With the blessing of the Holy Father granted the 20th of June 2005 and after having obtained a positive vote from the Assistants for provident care and from the Provincials of the whole Society on the seriousness of the reasons to resign, I present now to the judgment of the General Congregation my resignation as Superior General of the Society of Jesus.”
Fr Kolvenbach, who had secured Pope Benedict’s permission to tender his resignation to the Jesuit General Congregation, praised the delegates for the “elegant way which you have found to fire me.”
See a slideshow of Fr Kolvenbach’s resignation on the Creighton University website. To read all stories in AMDG relating to GC35, click here.
This year is the centenary of the January Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Among the events organised for the week is the Morning Service programme on RTÉ, 27 January, at 11.15am, which will be led by staff and students from the Irish School of Ecumenics. The Week in Dublin opens with an ecumenical service in St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral at 8pm on Friday, January 18, 2008. The preacher will be Archbishop Alan Harper, the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh. Also, Tom Layden SJ has been invited to preach at the morning service in Knock Methodist Church, Belfast, on Sunday 20 January.
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Violence in Kenya in recent weeks has already taken more than 600 lives, and it is feared that the situation may worsen in coming days. John Guiney SJ, who spent many years working with the Jesuit Refugee Service in East Africa, has been corresponding with his colleagues there. From Elias Omondi SJ, Director of the Hakimani Faith and Justice centre in Nairobi, John has received various messages expressing deep concern about the “thuggery and stealing, as well as something close to ethnic cleansing of the Kikuyus”. In a general communication, Elias stresses that the Hakimani Centre is in full accord with the Catholic Bishops’ Letter, which called for peace and reconciliation, an audit of the election results, and political mediation.
Boston College-Ireland, a branch of the Jesuits’ Boston College, is holding a one-day conference on Sports History at their Dublin campus on St Stephen’s Green next February 16. Most of the papers relate to Irish sports history, covering such topics as ‘DeValera and sport’, ‘GAA and Soccer in Donegal, 1884-1914′ and ‘The Cork City GAA, Civil Disobedience and the Public Assembly Ban of 1918′. For more details, check the Boston College website.
The Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, paid tribute to the work of religious in building Irish society. Speaking at a mass to launch Milltown Institutes’s celebration of forty years, the archbishop said that the Jesuits were among the groups that contributed to Irish cultural renewal. Drawing on Milltown’s history, he encouraged students and faculty to continue to find ways to engage with culture and to shape the future. He praised the work of the Institute and spoke of how he valued the presence of religious congregations who care pastorally for 20% of the Diocese of Dublin. Read more »
Heythrop College is running a five-day Jesuit Theology School in Ushaw College, Durham, for Jesuits and their co-workers from the British and Irish Provinces. It runs from Tuesday 25 March to Saturday 29 March. At the heart of the School is a plenary course on ‘Encountering the Creator’, led by Guy Consolmagno SJ. There are also many elective courses, all led by Jesuit theologians, on such topics as Blaise Pascal, globalisation, original sin, and the vernacular in the liturgy. For details, contact Judith Crimmins at Heythrop College.
Can the body be sold? Prostitution, trafficking and llegal adoption of children and other abuses to our bodies are the subject of Slí Eile’s January debate that is to be held Tuesday 22 January 2008 from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. The guest speaker will be Pauline Conroy, social policy analyst., and the venue The Belvedere, Great Denmark Street, Dublin 1. Among the questions that will be discussed will be: Are we aware that our bodies are gift, to be respected and preserved, temples and gifts? Read more »
