News Service
Archive 2005
Archive 2006
News Summary 2007
Update: 28.11.2007
FeaturesOrdinations and Final Vows
Jesuit bishop appeals for Iraqi Christians
Bishop Antoine Audo SJ is visiting London to call for urgent assistance for Iraqi Christians who are now refugees in Syria.
Bishop Audo, who is based in Aleppo, is responsible for Syria's Chaldean Catholic community. There has been a huge rise in the Chaldean population in Syria since the US-led invasion in 2003. The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has reported that 44% of asylum seekers reaching Syria since their register started in 2003 are Christians, despite the fact that Christians form only 4% of the Iraqi population. Many families live in overcrowded conditions and have lost their livelihoods. Some rely on help from family members abroad; others meagre state rations.
Before the invasion, Iraq's Christian population was estimated to be around 800,000, the majority living in Baghdad or in and around Mosul in the north. But bombings, violence, kidnappings, and threats have forced many to flee.
... Jesuits in Britain, november 26, 2007
Urbano Navarrete SJ on the list of the new Cardinals
During the general audience of October 17, The Holy Father announced that he intends to call a Consistory on November 24 in which he will appoint 23 new Cardinals: 18 under the age of 80, and therefore entitled to participate as electors in the an eventual Conclave, and 5 who are above the age of 80 (non-elector Cardinals). In the latter group is Father Urbano Navarrete, S.J., age 86, former Rector of the Gregorian University and Professor of Canon Law.
With the addition of Father Navarrete, at present there are 10 Jesuit Cardinals: two electors and 8 non-electors. The electors are: Card. Jorge Bergoglio (Argentina) and Julius Darmaatmadja (Indonesia). The non electors: Card. Avery Dulles (USA), Ján Chryzostom Korec (Slovakia), Carlo Martini (Italy), Paulus Shan Kuo hsi (Taiwan), Tomás Spidlik (Czech Republic), Albert Vanhoye (France), Urbano Navarrete (Spain).
... S.J. Electronic Information Service, October 19, Rome
Jesuit Cardinal Kozlowiecki passes away
Cardinal Adam Kozlowiecki, S.J. died in Lusaka (Zambia) on September 28 at the age of 96.
Born in Poland in 1911, he joined the Society in 1929. Arrested by the Gestapo together with 24 other Jesuits in Krakow ,he was interned in Auschwitz and Dachau.
After his liberation he joined the Jesuits in the mission of Rhodesia (now Zambia), where in 1959 he became the first Archbishop of Lusaka.
After repeated requests to be replaced by an African, the Pope accepted his resignation in 1969, and Father Kozlowiecki became a simple missionary without cross staff or mitre.
He was appointed cardinal by Pope John Paul II in 1998. An occasional visitors to the Curia, he edified all by his simplicity, his honesty and his sense of humour. May God rest his soul.
... S.J. Electronic Information Service, October 5, Rome
Maltese JRS Collaborator Dr Katrine Camilleri wins UNHCR Award
The Nansen Award is named after the Norwegian arctic explorer Fridtjof Nansen, who was appointed in 1921 by the UN's predecessor, the League of Nations, to be the first High Commissioner for Refugees. The Award, consisting of a medal and a $100,000 monetary prize, is given out yearly to a person or group for outstanding services in supporting refugee causes.
This year's winner is Dr Katrine Camilleri of the Jesuit Refugee Service in Malta.
Ms Camilleri is a human rights lawyer who defends the rights of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants coming to Malta. The accent of her work in the past years has been on defending the rights of migrants held in detention. She defends individual cases in court without asking money from her clients and she comments on legislation and legal practices in Malta. She teaches refugee law at the University and coaches students who study refugee law. Last year JRS Malta published a legal guide in several languages for migrants arriving in Malta. The editor of the book is Dr Camilleri.
Dr Camilleri works for the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS), a Catholic NGO active in more than 50 countries world wide. Journalists in Malta and workers of the Jesuit Refugee Service have been attacked several times in 2006. Six cars belonging to the Jesuits were burned the day after a public statement supporting the migrants was published. The day after an interview was printed with the director of JRS Europe, the house of Dr Camilleri was attacked. Her car was set on fire and the front door of the house were she lives with her husband and two small children was torched. The culprits were never found.
Dominicans and Jesuits together on the web
Contrary to what many believe, Dominicans and Jesuits are not always competing with one another. Indeed, they are even capable of working together. A recent agreement offers a beautiful example of such collaboration in the field of distance learning. Domuni, the Dominican Online University and the Brussels based International Centre Lumen Vitae, run by the Society of Jesus, are now offering a joint programme.
The two institutes were already present on the web. Now, they are putting together their academic resources, their pedagogical know how and their technical tools. A recent agreement foresees mutual recognition of the courses offered by both partners and the setting up of an academic training, with corresponding diplomas, in matters of practical theology (evangelisation, catechesis, pastoral work).
The courses already offered by Lumen Vitae are nowadays available on line on the Domuni website and opened to all. Other courses are getting ready. Soon a common programme shall be offered.
Agreements had already been signed between the Salamanca Escuela de Teología as well as the Irish Priory Institute and Domuni for Online teaching, with mutual recognition of credits and diplomas. If we add the courses offered by F.O.I. (Formation Œcuménique Inter-confessionnelle), we now have the experiences of five different study centres being combined in order to form a rich network of different complementary specialisations. The Lumen Vitae Centre bring along its wide experience of higher training in an international set up and its expertise in pastoral and catechetical matters.
The agreement has been signed by the respective presidents of the institutes, Fr Benoît Malvaux, S.J., and Fr Michel van Aerde, O.P. André Fossion, S.J., is in charge of the Lumen Vitae programme.
Contact addresses :
* Domuni : 1, impasse Lacordaire F-31078 Toulouse Cedex 4
* Domuni Av.de la Renaissance n° 40 B-1000 Bruxelles Tel : +32(0)2/ 743 09 70
After the Earthquake: SOS Peru
The earthquake which struck the central and southern parts of Peru last August 15 has made, after a week, more than 500 dead and more than 1000 wounded victims, according to official sources. The number of damaged people is considered as superior to 85.000, caused by the destruction of somewhat 17.000 houses. The disaster is so big that Peru itself cannot possibly meet the immense needs of the victims.
The chiefly damaged places are Pisco, Ica, Chincha and Cañete. In Lima the damage is limited. Most needed are food and accommodation for shelter. Thousands of families are sleeping in places open to wind and rain, and in Peru it is the winter season.
ENTRECULTURAS, the Spanish Jesuit NGO started immediately a help program.
The mobilisation of help and materials from ENTRECULTURAS by means of "Fe y Alegría" and the development office of the Jesuits in Peru started immediately. The day after the earthquake, a help team started the distribution of food, medicines, and medical materials for the injured and the damaged. In Lima six collecting places have been arranged in Institutions of the Society of Jesus in order to collect and organise the humanitarian help.
Meanwhile the coordination centre of Chincha should be functioning by fitting out distribution points with enough food and foreseeing the needs of the coming week. This first phase of the urgent assistance will concentrate the efforts in the town of Chincha and the affected districts of Lima where there are schools of "Fe y alegria".
"Fe y alegria" has a school with 1.200 pupils in Pueblo Nuevo, a marginal district of Chincha, which according to Juan Cuquerella, National Director of Fe y Alegria Peru, "has almost disappeared with the earthquake". Unfortunately 8 pupils died in their houses (as the earthquake happened 40 minutes after the end of the lessons). There are also a few teachers hurt, but not gravely.
The Fe y Alegria school n° 30 in Chincha, directed by the Sisters of Saint Paul, has been damaged badly. Also the major part of the Fe y Alegria schools in Lima have suffered, although there have no persons been injured.
... Entreculturas, Madrid, 23 August 2007
Vatican censures Sobrino, who calls procedures 'not honest'
Rome/New
York, 14 March 2006 (National Catholic Reporter) - Two books on
Christology by a pioneer of the liberation theology movement contain
statements that are “either erroneous or dangerous,” according to a
formal Vatican notification published today, “and may cause harm to the
faithful.”
The ruling from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith finds various flaws in the works by Jesuit Fr. Jon Sobrino, a former theological adviser to Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador. Most notably, it complains of insufficient emphasis on the divinity of Christ.
Contrary to some early reports, the Vatican has not barred Sobrino from teaching or publishing, though a Jesuit spokesperson in Rome said that future disciplinary action has not been ruled out.
Sobrino himself has not yet commented, but in a December letter to Fr. Peter Hans Kolvenbach, Superior General of the Jesuits, Sobrino said he could not accept the Vatican’s judgment for two reasons: first, because it misrepresents his theology; and second, because to do so would be to acquiesce in what he described as a 30-year-long campaign of defamation against liberation theology, which, Sobrino wrote, “is of little help to the poor of Jesus and to the church of the poor.”
The letter, which is dated December 13, 2006, has not been made public, but NCR obtained a copy.
The books in question are Jesus the Liberator, originally released in 1991, and Christ the Liberator, first issued in 1999.
Read the full story by John L. Allen JR
A copy of the notification is on the Vatican Web site
Conference by Jon Sobrino in Madrid, June 2006
Jesuits "Certain" About Superior's Exit in 2008
General Congregation Likely to OK His Resignation
ROME,
FEB. 26, 2007 (Zenit.org).- A
spokesman for the Society of Jesus said it is "morally certain" that the
upcoming general congregation will formally approve Father Peter-Hans
Kolvenbach's request to step down as superior general.
Father Kolvenbach received Benedict XVI's approval for his proposed resignation next year, though the Jesuit Constitution stipulates that the superior-general position is for life.
The Dutch-born Father Kolvenbach cited his age -- he will turn 80 in 2008 -- and his 25-year tenure as the superior of the Jesuits as reasons for his resignation.
In the wake of recent media reports, Father José de Vera, director of the Jesuits' information office, clarified the situation.
"A few months ago Father Kolvenbach obtained the Pope's permission to present his resignation," Father de Vera explained in a statement sent to ZENIT. "He will do so in the next general congregation which he has convoked for January 2008."
"Theoretically the congregation could reject the proposal of resignation presented by Father Kolvenbach," the Jesuit spokesman said. "Resignation from the office of superior general has no effect if it is not agreed to by the Society in general congregation.
"Practically speaking, this will not happen because the superior-general has followed to the letter the process established for the case of resignation."
The Society of Jesus had recently asked the Pope if the organization's rule that superiors-general have a life term in their office should continue in force.
According to Father de Vera, the Holy Father chose to maintain the stipulation. This does not discard the possibility, the Jesuit added, that, "in special cases and after previous consultation with the Pope," the superior general "can present his resignation to the general congregation."
Father General addresses a letter to All Major Superiors
Rome, 8 January 2007 - On the feast of the Epiphany 2007, Father General addressed a letter to All Major Superiors in which he expressed his gratitude to the Lord for the graces received during the past Jubilee Year. He believes that the Jubilee Year had helped the Society to deepen the perception of the innovative and even revolutionary way Saint Ignatius understood and practiced consecrated life. We ought to thank the Lord, said Father General, for the grace of creative fidelity to what the Lord initiated in Ignatius, Francis and Peter: a dynamic fidelity accompanied by a certain apostolic boldness which, as Father Arrupe liked to say, is never satisfied with the status quo, the known, the tried and the already existing.The example of Ignatius, Xavier and Favre encourages us to reject consumerism, bourgeois living and mediocre work. Thus the first Jesuits invite us to prepare for the thirty-fifth General Congregation by making the Society a corporate body united in prayer.
Father General concluded his letter asking the intercession of Saint Ignatius, Saint Francis Xavier and Blessed Peter Favre to obtain abundant blessings upon the Society during the preparation for the upcoming General Congregation.