Address of His Holiness Benedict XVI

The address of His Holiness Benedict the Sixteenth to the 35th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus.

Dear Fathers of the General Congregation of the Society of Jesus,
I am happy to welcome you today as your demanding work is coming to an end. I thank the new Superior General Father Adolfo Nicolás, for having conveyed your feelings and your effort to respond to the expectations that the Church places in you. I referred to them in the message addressed to Reverend Father Kolvenbach and – through him – to your Congregation at the beginning of your labours. I thank Father Peter-Hans Kolvenbach once again for the precious service he has rendered to your Order for almost a quarter century. I also greet the members of the new General Counsel and the Assistants who will help the Superior in his delicate task of religious and apostolic guidance of your Society. Read more »

The mystic and the Nazis

The University of Missouri Press has just included in its catalogue a book on Etty Hillesum by Meins Coetsier (pictured here), who spent some years in Ireland as a scholastic. Etty Hillesum was a Dutch Jew who died in Auschwitz in 1944, aged 29. For the last two years of her life she kept a diary in which her descriptions of life under German occupation became more and more infused with mystical reflections on God and her own spiritual development. Meins, who, like Hillesum, is Dutch, began his work as a postgraduate thesis in the Milltown Institute, and it comprises an attempt to correlate the mysticism of Hillesum with the philosophy of Eric Voegelin. The title is Etty Hillesum and the Flow of Presence: A Voegelinian Analysis. For more details, see the publishing house website.

The God solution

Professor Simon Conway Morris, of the School of Earth Sciences at  Cambridge University, gave this spring’s Studies / Iona Institute lecture at the Davenport Hotel, Dublin, on 21 February. Using a Powerpoint presentation, he gave a fascinating description of the origins, diversification and convergence of species. A practicing member of the Church of England, Prof. Conway Morris has provoked controversy by his religious views among more secular-minded colleagues. He is a particularly strong critic of Richard Dawkins’ recent bestseller, The God Delusion. One of the world’s leading palaeontologists, his most recent book, in its title alone, explains many of his views. It is called Life’s solutions: inevitable humans in a lonely universe. The next lecture in the series will be on 2 October: Professor Keith Ward’s topic will be “Is religion dangerous?”

Pobal Dé conference: Is love enough?

Gerry O’Hanlon SJ (pictured right) is one of the speakers to address the Pobal Dé conference this year, which will be held in Milltown Park on Saturday 1 March (from Registration at 9am to Eucharist at 4.30pm). Pobal Dé, a group of committed Catholics who are interested in empowering lay people to meet the challenges of the age, take a different theme for each of their annual conferences. The theme this year is Is love enough?: Action makes love real. Besides Gerry, both Alice Leahy, director of TRUST, and Nuala O’Loan, formerly Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland, will address the conference. For more details, email njmcguinness@yahoo.com.

Untangling the web of 19th century inter-church relations

Oliver Rafferty SJ, who taught at various colleges in England, Ireland and the United States, has just brought out a new academic work about Catholicism in 19th Century Ireland. The Catholic Church and the Protestant State: Nineteenth-century Irish realities pays particular attention to the deep complexities and ironies in the relationship between the Catholic Church and the various Protestant churches in Ireland in the decades after the Act of Union. The book can be purchased from the publishers, Four Courts Press.

The mind of Benedict

Michael Paul Gallagher SJ, Dean of the Faculty of Theology at the Gregorian University in Rome, was back in Ireland recently to deliver a lecture on the theology of Pope Benedict. In an interview for RNN, he spoke to Piaras Jackson about the Pope’s theology and attitudes. Michael Paul was asked what themes he sees in the Pope’s writings. You can listen to or read the interview here. Audio courtesy of RNN.

MPG: Pope Benedict has insisted, over forty years of his life as a theologian and a thinker, that faith is very simple. It is a love story between God and humanity. And how can we find the language for that today? He’s worried that this is difficult. Read more »

Work experience for Jesuit novices

Two novices, Eddie Cosgrove from Ireland (pictured) and Phil Harrison from Britain, are currently in Dublin on work placements. Eddie is working in Gardiner Street and Slí Eile, while Phil is working with the JUST project in Ballymun. Along with the other first-year novices, they finished their month-long Spiritual Exercises retreat two weeks ago. The two second-year novices, Wouter Blesgraaf from the Netherlands and Maurice King from Ireland, continue their Long Experiments with L’Arche in Lambeth and the Nechells parish in Birmingham respectively.

Belvedere hold out against Clongowes

In a dramatic finish, Belvedere snatched victory over Clongowes in the semi-final of the Leinster Schools Senior Cup on February 24 in Donnybrook. Clongowes were ahead, 7-5, in the dying minutes when Belvedere winger, John Conroy, dodged a number of tackles to make a touchdown. Clongowes made a frantic rally in injury time, getting a number of penalties only to have a try disallowed in the final seconds. Belvedere, who won 12-7, will face either CBC or St.Mary’s in the final on March 16th.

Garnered from Gardiner Street

The opening chapter of RTE broadcaster Aidan Mathews’ new book, In the Poorer Quarters, begins with memories of the Jesuit church in Gardiner Street, Dublin. This sets the tone for a man seriously engaging with modern faith issues in the context of a tradition. The book, written by the former Gonzaga student, is based on his RTE radio programme of the same name. It is a contemporary dialogue with the Gospel of Mark taken from twelve months of his broadcasts. The book is currently being serialised in the Irish Catholic. Chapter 12, entitled Crossings, was reproduced in last week’s edition. Read the first chapter on CatholicIreland.net; for details on the book, see www.veritas.ie.

GC35 delegates meet Pope

Thursday 21 February was a highlight for the GC35 delegates in Rome. Normal business was suspended, as they were all invited to meet with the Holy Father in the Clementine Hall, one of the audience halls of the Vatican. “There was an air of excitement as we were shepherded up immense staircases,” Jim Corkery SJ writes; “Swiss Guards standing at the ready, frescoes of breathtaking beauty drawing our gaze upward once we reached the magnificent Sala Clementina, where we were to meet the Pope. But my air of excitement gave way to quite a different mood once we were seated and the Pope arrived.” Read his full account here.

Media matters

A number of Jesuit ventures featured in the news this week. Richard Leonard SJ was interviewed by Dave Fanning (standing in for Ryan Tubridy) about his book Movies that Matter: reading film through the lens of faith. A film buff himself, Dave Fanning asked Richard to come on his own programme the next time he is in Ireland. You can listen to the interview here (at around 48 minutes).

On Wednesday, Pat Kenny hosted a lively exchange between Professor Simon Conway Morris and Professor David McConnell about Darwinism and religion. The occasion for this piece was Professor Conway Morris’s lecture on Thursday 21 February, organised by Studies review and the Iona Institute. Listen here.

Also on Wednesday, Eugene Quinn, director of JRS Ireland, spoke with Mary Wilson on Drivetime (RTE Radio 1) about JRS’s recently launched guide to the Irish education system for migrant parents. And the following day, John Carr of the INTO also spoke about the guide on Radio na Gaeltachta.

Richard Leonard SJ in public

Richard Leonard SJ gave two presentations in Dublin, firstly at a Slí Eile event in the Gresham Hotel on Tuesday 20 February, and then at the launch of his book, Movies that Matter, in Trinity College on Wednesday 21 February. To see a slideshow of these events, click on the image.

Talking movies

Richard Leonard SJ was interviewed by Dave Fanning (standing in for Ryan Tubridy) on RTE radio on Tuesday. He was asked about how he squares his work as a Jesuit with all his work on cinema and about both his attitude and that of the Church to on-screen sex and violence. Richard’s recent book, Movies that Matter: reading film through the lens of faith, will be launched by Peter Sheridan on Wednesday 20 February at the Uí Chadhain Theatre in the Arts Building, Trinity College, at 7.30pm. On Tuesday evening at 7.30pm, he will be a guest of Slí Eile at one of their monthly debates. For more details about the Slí Eile event, contact Fernando Galligo at 086-1021490 or the Slí Eile office (01-8880606).