Jesuits and Friends Issue 89

A faith that does justice

& friends

Issue 89 • Winter 2014 • jesuitsandfriends.org.uk

FREE: please take a copy

May God bring an end to this tragedyPope’s prayer for victims of Ebola

Editor: Paul Nicholson SJAssistant Editor: Ged Clapson Editorial group: Denis Blackledge SJ, Annabel Clarkson, Richard Greenwood, Jane Hellings, Jonathan Parr, James Potter, Sr Anouska Robinson-Biggin fcJ.

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To protect our environment, papers used in this publication are produced by mills that promote sustainably managed forests and utilise Elementary Chlorine Free process to produce fully recyclable material in accordance with an Environmental Management System conforming with BS EN ISO 14001:2004.

Address for correspondence:11 Edge Hill, London SW19 4LR T: 020 8946 0466 E: [email protected]


& friends

Issue 89 • Winter 2014 • jesuitsandfriends.org.uk

FREE: please take a copy

May God bring an end to this tragedyPope’s prayer for victims of Ebola

Cover: Pope Francis prays at the Church of the Gesù in Rome (Credit: SJ Curia)

Registered Charity No. England and Wales: 230165 Scotland: 40490

Have you or someone you know considered life as a Jesuit priest or brother? For more information, visit jesuitvocations.org.uk or contact:

South Africa: Fr Shaun Carls SJ Tel: (+27) 021 685 3465 [email protected]

Guyana: Fr Jerri Melwin Dias SJ Tel: + 592 22 67461 [email protected]

Britain: Fr Matthew Power SJ Tel: 01772 554362 [email protected]

Working in collaboration with Progressio ICS, Jesuit Missions offers short-term placements to 18-25 year olds working with local volunteers on community development projects in El Salvador, Honduras, Malawi, Nicaragua or Zimbabwe.

You don’t need cash or qualifications, just the desire to make a difference.

See page 17 for more

For more information please visit www.jesuitmissions.org.uk

jesuitsandfriends.org.uk 3

CONTENTS

When HIV/AIDS became a major public health issue in sub-Saharan Africa, the Jesuits responded by setting up the African Jesuit

AIDS Network. The lessons learned by AJAN since then are helping to shape our current response to the Ebola epidemic, which continues to spread in a way that the authorities are finding hard to deal with. Work is being done to produce treatments and vaccines but – as you can read in this issue – more efforts are required to prevent it spreading out of control.

Even when sickness cannot be cured, healing may still be hoped for. The hospice movement has shown that it is often possible to help those who are terminally ill to enjoy a good quality of life during their final months, weeks and days. For more than a century, St Joseph’s Hospice in London has pioneered this kind of work and its current Jesuit chaplain, writing here, is proud to be part of that tradition.

Astute readers will have noticed that the picture accompanying this editorial has changed. I have taken over as editor from Fr Dushan Croos, and would like to thank him for his work on the magazine. You will find a reflection on my own work here in the

From the editor...

article that describes attempts to build up community in a rapidly-changing area of London.

These are just three of the projects the Jesuits are involved in, depicted in these pages. None of them can happen without the support of people like yourselves. St Ignatius was very clear that the work of the Society of Jesus is rooted in gratitude: gratitude to God for the chance to carry out his mission, and gratitude to those whose support makes it possible. So, as ever, a sincere thank you to each of you who reads these words.

Paul Nicholson SJ

04 How the Jesuits are responding to Ebola: Paterne Mombé SJ

06 Chaplain Gerard Gallen SJ on the work of St Joseph’s Hospice

07 Welcome to Wapping, writes Paul Nicholson SJ

08 Tom McCoog SJ recalls the Jesuits who did more than dream dreams

09 Remembering two Victoria Cross recipients of the First World War

10 Chris Chatteris SJ considers one of Pope Francis’ prayer themes in a South African context

11 God in art: Raymond Perrier

12 Twenty-five years after their murder, Michael Kirwan SJ considers the legacy of the El Salvador martyrs

14 The ethics of mining and mobile phones: George Gelber

16 Discerning the call of the Spirit with the province’s new novice director, Brendan Callaghan SJ

17 Meet Jesuit Missions’ new Volunteer Coordinator, Clara Sheaf

18 In Zimbabwe, the Jesuits are educating citizens for a just future, writes Richard Greenwood

19 Latest news from the Philippines, a year after Typhoon Haiyan

20 Jane Hellings introduces St Ignatius the Fundraiser

22 Jesuits on the move

23 And what’s more … Jonathan Wright puts the Restoration anniversary in context

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4 Jesuits & Friends Winter 2014

JESUIT MISSIONS Ebola

One of the most lethal diseases in human history

Paterne Mombé SJ of the African Jesuits AIDS Network explains why information is so vital in helping to contain Ebola.

Photo: afreecom/ldrissa Soum

aré

Volunteers with the Red Cross Society of Guinea, disinfecting the hospital of Tahouay in Conakry

Since 2002, the African Jesuit AIDS Network has been involved in the ministry of AIDS care and HIV prevention in sub-Saharan Africa. Although it appears to be sliding down the agenda of international priorities, the pandemic remains a threat to millions of people, families and communities across the region. AJAN is determined to continue supporting those who are affected,

to make sure they have all they need to live life to the full, and to prevent the further spread of the pandemic.

This year, AJAN’s experience is being applied to a new epidemic. Ebola started in Guinea before spreading to Liberia then Sierra Leone; by July, it had reached Nigeria. It is transmitted through direct or close contact with blood, body fluids, and tissues or cadavers of infected

animals or persons and is highly contagious. As of now, there is neither treatment nor vaccine and some studies have estimated the number of people infected could hit 20,000 before the end of 2014.

But Ebola can be contained. And this is why the work of AJAN is so crucial, as its Director, Fr Paterne Mombé SJ explains.


Ebola JESUIT MISSIONS

EBOLA STANDS OUT as one of the most lethal infectious diseases ever known. Only three times in its 66- year-history has the World Health Organisation declared a public health emergency and called for ‘extraordinary measures’. The third time is now. The epidemic is moving faster than efforts to contain it; and the response has been too little, too late. Unless urgent calls for action are heeded, it will get completely out of hand.

At the level of public health strategy in Africa, effective surveillance and reporting mechanisms are vital to contain and control the current outbreak of Ebola. But resources are lacking. It is estimated that Liberia, for instance, has only one physician for every 70,000 people, Sierra Leone one for every 45,000. More healthcare workers need to be deployed, more clinics opened, and more equipment put in place.

Some rural communities refuse to comply with measures proposed by international NGOs (non-governmental organisations) and central authorities, which they see as the source of the problem. So community leaders and

organisations, and this includes the Church, have an urgent role to play to enlighten people and to avoid disaster.

Community responseMeasures to contain Ebola rely on widespread information-sharing, communication, sensitivity and education in hospitals, at home and in any community gatherings. At the individual, family or community level, revising lifestyles, relationships, reactions and interactions is really important, especially around caregiving, mourning and burial practices.

The African Jesuit AIDS Network (AJAN) has long experience in preparing and distributing easy-to-understand and culturally appropriate material about the AIDS epidemic. We are drawing on this expertise to produce information, education and communication materials about Ebola, which will be disseminated in communities where Jesuits and other Church agencies like Caritas are present.

In addition to those countries which are already affected (Senegal, Mali, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin and Cameroon), we also hope to be able to cover other African countries where Ebola may yet appear, such as Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic and Kenya.

In a second phase of intervention, the illustrated posters and leaflets will be accompanied by workshops and training-of-trainers, to enable local communities to share and trust accurate information that will help prevent the spread of Ebola. l

HOW YOU CAN HELP: Please make a donation to Jesuit Missions to support the work of AJAN and other Jesuit organisations working in public health in Africa.

FIND OUT MORE: Visit ajanweb.org or read the review of AIDS, Ancestors and Salvation: Local Beliefs in Christian Ministry to the Sick by Peter Knox SJ:

thinkingfaith.org/articles/book_20090225_1.htm

“The Church’s health care apostolate in western Africa, which is suffering from Ebola at this time, is particularly important. I pray for the repose of the souls of all who have died in this epidemic, among whom are priests, men and women religious and healthcare workers who contracted this terrible disease while caring for those suffering. May God strengthen all healthcare workers there and bring an end to this tragedy!”

Pope Francis, 23 September 2014

“The response to Ebola has been too little, too late”

Photo: EC/EC

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/Jean-Louis Moss


COMMUNITY St Joseph’s Hospice

A Place of Light and Life

The Jesuits’ association with a hospice in Hackney goes back more than 100 years, as Chaplain Gerard Gallen SJ recalls.

ST JOSEPH’S HOSPICE in London’s East End has strong Jesuit roots. In the late 19th century, the Religious Sisters of Charity arrived in the UK from Dublin where they had established one of the first hospices in Europe. They were invited by Cardinal Vaughan to replicate this work in London. Once they had sufficient funds, they approached the English Jesuit Provincial, Fr Peter Gallwey SJ for advice and support and he took them to Hackney, where the need was greatest. There, a wealthy convert to

Christianity from Judaism, Grace Goldsmid and other unknown benefactors provided financial backing and ‘St. Joseph’s Hospice for the Dying’ (STJH) came into existence in 1905.

For the past 110 years, STJH has been caring for people with life-threatening and debilitating illnesses, people of all faiths and none, and people often from the poorest areas of London and beyond. The presence of the Sisters is still keenly felt to this day. It ought, rightly, to be a source of pride that the Catholic Church, through the Sisters of Charity living and working in the Diocese of Westminster, has been intrinsically involved in this much needed corporal work of mercy for more than a century.

As British hospices go, St Joseph’s is large but it remains small enough to allow for high quality individual care.

It has more than 40 in-patient beds and over 200 patients are cared for in their own homes. It also has hundreds of volunteers who each contribute their time and energy to assist the dying in any way they can.

People often think that if they are admitted to a hospice then they have come to the end and will not get out again. Actually, after admission, with good care, patients do stabilise. If their condition looks stable then they can be assessed for discharge home or to hospital. We try to meet the preferred place of death for all our patients, but we sometimes need to give priority to those needing more urgent care. ‘Sean’ is one example. He was a lovely Irishman who, on admission, did not look good at all. But he remained cheerful and really appreciated the care and attention he received. I would bring him Holy Communion on the ward most mornings, pray with him and give him a blessing. His condition was being so well managed that in time he was considered for discharge. “It seems, Fr Gerry, that I’m too well for this place,” he said to me one morning. “Would you ever say a prayer for a slight deterioration?” A tribute indeed to his trust in God and to the care he was receiving at St Joseph’s.

It is important that we, especially as Christians, are not frightened to talk about or reflect on that which will certainly happen to us all: death. In St Joseph’s, I have found that often it is not death itself that people are frightened of but utter annihilation. The joy that is at the heart of the Gospel is a joy based on a firm belief that ours is a loving, giving and forgiving God who calls us to choose life, who has shared in our living and our dying; in

“Our loving God has shared in our living

and our dying”

Fr Peter Gallwey SJ

Hospices give people the care they need, when they need it most

Hurtado Centre COMMUNITY

essence, a God who comes to us that we may have life and have it to the full.

A fear we all have is that of dying alone. I recall an elderly gentleman whom I visited daily, and who received great comfort from receiving the Blessed Sacrament. He did not seem to receive any other visitors and when he died I conducted the funeral service and was the only mourner there. What a privilege to represent the Church, the Body of Christ, accompanying one of her children through life and death.

The mission for all baptised Christians is to reflect the light and joy of Christ in the darkest areas of life and death. This is certainly a core element of my current Jesuit mission. St Joseph’s Hospice has for many years been a beacon of life and hope for so many people. With the grace of God may this great work of care and assistance through life into death continue for many years to come. It is truly a place full of life and light. l

TO LEARN MORE: If you would like to learn more about the work of St Joseph’s Hospice and/or make a donation, please visit stjh.org.uk


Welcome to Wapping!

Paul Nicholson SJ explores what it means to be part of an energetic local community

“DO WE KNOW our neighbours, or do we just annoy them?” This was one response to a recent consultation carried out by the Hurtado Jesuit Centre. The Centre is based in Wapping, an area of London just east of the city centre, on the banks of the River Thames. Until the Second World War it was a busy place, full of docks and warehouses. Now it forms an ‘urban village’ where wealthy city bankers, traditional East Enders, and immigrants from Bangladesh make up a vibrant, if not always entirely peaceful, neighbourhood.

The consultation aimed to discover what the idea of community really meant to local people. One man replied: “I’m sleeping rough because I can’t afford to live here, and I know there are many empty houses.” This points to a real challenge in living on the edge of one of the world’s financial capitals. Another suggested: “Community never stopped, but people became less proud about the things they were doing because these things were no longer valued.” There was a widespread sense that although people were poorer in the past, they live more isolated lives now. Not all the responses

highlighted problems, though. An elderly woman said: “I love living here. Just today my Bengali neighbours brought over some food, and then another neighbour brought me some books to read, and a student who used to live in the building stopped by with some vegetables from his allotment.”

We Jesuits normally live in communities ourselves, and so would hope to have something to offer others who are trying to build up their neighbourhoods. Amongst its activities, the Hurtado Jesuit Centre assists migrants and asylum-seekers, supports community volunteering and promotes understanding between Christians and Muslims. At its heart is a key question, which was put to those attending the recent launch of the consultation report and which is an important one to ask in any place where people try to live peaceably together: “Where is welcome extended and where is welcome absent?” l

FIND OUT MORE You can read the full consultation report on-line or download it at jesuit.org.uk/hurtadoreport2014. Or find out more about the Hurtado Jesuit Centre at hurtadocentre.org.uk/

Taking part in Hospice Care Week

The local consultation at the Hurtado Jesuit Centre

Photo: Ruth M

orris

FEATURE The Restoration of the Society of Jesus


More than simply dreaming dreams

Archivist Emeritus, Tom McCoog SJ, recalls the contribution of Fathers Strickland and Stone to the Restoration of the Society of Jesus and to the re-establishment of the English Province.

WHEN POPE CLEMENT XIV dissolved the Society of Jesus in 1773, the members of the now suppressed English Province were not exactly left like sheep without a shepherd. Those who lectured at the English Academy in Liège (in modern day Belgium) were allowed by the prince-bishop to remain in their posts and continue a communal life, although they were obliged to abandon certain Jesuit customs such as the soutane (cassock). The purpose of the English Academy (formed by the merger of the theologate and the college that had migrated from St Omers to Bruges) was to train Catholic priests for the English mission in Protestant Britain.

Back in England, the vicars apostolic named specific former Jesuits to serve as a liaison to facilitate a transition from religious life to secular clergy. And a few former Jesuits even suggested that they band together to form a congregation similar perhaps to the Sulpicians (the Society of Saint Sulpice), with the English Academy adding to their numbers. Fortunately, two Jesuits resisted such proposals, doing more than simply dreaming dreams: they were William Strickland and Marmaduke Stone.

Born in Westmorland, north west England, on 28 October 1731, Strickland (pictured right) returned to England from Liège after his ordination to work in Lancashire and the north. Ten years after the suppression, in 1783, he was recalled to the English Academy

to serve as its president. In 1790, Strickland returned to London once again to serve as agent for the former Jesuits and was succeeded in Liège by 42-year-old Father Marmaduke Stone. Stone had been studying theology at Liège when the Society was suppressed and, once ordained, he remained on the college staff. When the French revolutionary armies began their advance in the mid-1790s, it was Stone who, in the summer of 1794, supervised the Jesuits’ flight from Liège to Stonyhurst.

Once the English Province had affiliated itself to the Jesuits of White Russia in 1803, William Strickland renewed his vows as a Jesuit and served as procurator.

In this position, he worked energetically to preserve the financial resources of the former province – always in the hope and expectation that the Society would be restored. He eventually witnessed that restoration on 7 August 1814, when Pope Pius VII issued the papal bull Sollicitudo Omnium Ecclesiarum. Strickland died in the London Jesuit residence of 11 Poland Street, Soho, on 23 April 1819, and was buried in the old St Pancras churchyard.

Marmaduke Stone had been appointed English Provincial on 19 May 1803 and served in that role for 14 years. He lived at Stonyhurst until 1827, retiring due to ill health to St Helens in 1829. Both Stone and Charles Plowden (who

succeeded him as Provincial) struggled with Rome to obtain definitive, written approbation of the English Province’s existence to soothe the qualms of the vicars apostolic; they had to wait until 1829 before it finally arrived. After his death in St Helens on 21 August 1834, Marmaduke Stone was buried in the Catholic cemetery in Windleshaw.

The Greeks have Castor and Pollux, the Dioscuri; the Romans, Romulus and Remus; the Christians, Peter and Paul. The English (now British) Province has Stone and Strickland. According to Jesuit historian Brother Henry Foley SJ: “Both of these patriarchs of the restored English Province must ever retain a high place in the gratitude and affection of its members”. lWilliam Strickland by George Romney

© N

ational Trust / Robert T

hrift


We Will Remember Them

As the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War draws to a close, Ged Clapson explores the records of some past pupils who fought, died and were honoured in the conflict.

TO RECALL THE sacrifices of all the alumni of Jesuit schools who were engaged in the First World War would require a volume in its own right. From Wimbledon College, for instance, 43 former pupils of the Army Class lost their lives. They included Maurice Dease who also studied at Stonyhurst and was the first serviceman of the war to be awarded the Victoria Cross. Another student was Gerald O’Sullivan who was recognised for his military service over two periods in the summer of 1915, when the Turks launched a fierce assault on the British line at Gallipoli.

Captain O’Sullivan’s citation acknowledged his “most conspicuous bravery” during operations on the Gallipoli Peninsula, after he advanced in the open under very heavy fire in an attempt to capture a trench on the Turkish frontline. In order to throw his bombs with greater effect, he got up on

the parapet where he was completely exposed to the fire of the enemy. Although wounded, his example led his party to make further efforts, which resulted in the recapture of the trench.

On 21 August 1915, O’Sullivan led his company through a barrage of fire before being forced back by the artillery. Reports said that he gathered together the survivors in a gully and urged them to make “one more charge for the honour of the Old Regiment” and a little band of 50 rushed against the crest of the hill. Only one man – a wounded sergeant – survived; Gerald O’Sullivan’s body was never found and his name is engraved on the Helles Memorial that stands on the tip of the Gallipoli Peninsula (pictured below).

Duty and SelflessnessBorn in County Westmeath, Ireland, Maurice Dease was one of more than 1,000 former students of Stonyhurst College who fought in the First World War; 167 of them lost their lives.

At the start of the war in 1914, Lieutenant Dease served as the Machine Gun Officer in the 4th Battalion, The Royal Fusiliers. When the men took up their

position at the Mons Bridge on 23 August, they came under heavy fire from the German infantry. “The machine gun crews were constantly being

knocked out,” according to the Regimental History records. “Whenever the gun stopped, Lieutenant Maurice Dease … went up to see what was wrong. To do this once called for no ordinary courage. To repeat it several times could only be done with real heroism.”

Dease was hit twice but remained at his post “as long as one of his crew could fire”. His third wound proved fatal. Two months later, he was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross – the first of the conflict – “for conspicuous bravery”.

Former Stonyhurst student, General Sir Edward Bulfin KCB, CVO, was most noted for his actions during the First Battle of Ypres. Writing in the College’s War Record which catalogued the lives and sacrifices of alumni who fought in the First World War, he described “the high sense of duty and disregard of self inculcated by Stonyhurst”. Gerald O’Sullivan and Maurice Dease were just two of many young soldiers, seamen and airmen who were educated by the Jesuits at the beginning of the 20th century and whose bravery and selflessness were bred from a desire to be ‘men for others’. l

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First World War FEATURE

Lieutenant Maurice Dease VC

Captain Gerald O’Sullivan VC


PRAYER The Pope’s intentions

DECEMBER 2014:That the birth of the Redeemer may bring peace and hope to all people of good will.

That parents may be true evangelizers, passing on to their children the precious gift of faith.

JANUARY 2015:That those from diverse religious traditions and all people of good will may work together for peace.

That in this year dedicated to consecrated life, religious men and women may rediscover the joy of following Christ and strive to serve the poor with zeal.

FEBRUARY 2015:That prisoners, especially the young, may be able to rebuild lives of dignity.

That married people who are separated may find welcome and support in the Christian community.

MARCH 2015:That those involved in scientific research may serve the well-being of the whole human person.

That the unique contribution of women to the life of the Church may be recognised always.

Praying with the pope

From St Francis Xavier’s Seminary in Cape Town, Chris Chatteris SJ puts one of Pope Francis’ prayer themes for March into a South African context.

WHAT IS SCHOLARLY research for – especially in developing countries? Is there any technology which cannot have a military application? As a Jesuit working in South Africa, I wondered this after seeing a report on a website called Defence Web, which explained how Airbus and the National Aerospace Centre have a joint project for the application of fuel cells on airliners. Researchers like to claim that their work is neutral, that it simply unlocks the secrets of nature: it is up to lesser beings, such as engineers, to apply them in an ethical manner. But in a world in which funding is life, the one who pays the piper still calls the tune.

In a developing country, the funding often ultimately comes from the developed world and has at least some of the developed world’s interests at heart. South Africa’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), for instance, undertakes research and development for socio-economic growth. Last year, it joined forces with Denel, the largest manufacturer of defence equipment in South Africa, ‘to expand their collaboration in research and technology projects, including joint product development’. In 2012, Denel received R700 million (£40 million) from the South African government to keep it afloat, money that – many would say – could have been given to the poor.

Happily, scientific research at South African universities tends to be more in touch and in tune with the real needs of the ordinary people. At the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in Johannesburg, research is orientated towards integral development and the common good, from Antiviral Gene Theory to Wellbeing and Development. Academics do generally fight hard to preserve their intellectual independence, even in a world where funding is fickle.

Those of us who need the funding to continue such work would urge donors to be careful about through whom and to whom funds are funnelled, avoiding outfits like Denel which squander resources on the ‘merchants of death’. And please pray that we might have the energy and the courage to continue to work for a society in which ‘no one is in want; no one goes hungry’. l


Jesuit Institute SOUTH AFRICA

God in art and artistsRaymond Perrier of the Jesuit Institute of South Africa considers the spirituality of art.

IMAGINE A GROUP of highly talented artists who through their work were able to influence large parts of the population, sometimes invisibly and subtly. Now imagine a Church supporting and collaborating with that group of people over many centuries.

But then imagine that relationship being lost, so that it felt that the Church and artists now operated in two parallel universes. What a shocking waste and a missed opportunity that would be!

Over the summer, the Jesuit Institute of South Africa participated in the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown. It is hard to imagine the sheer scale of the event: 2,500 performances of 350 different productions in dozens of venues dotted around the small city. Performers from across the country, the continent and indeed the world: some of them young and inexperienced school-learners; others world-renowned stars. And performance events ranged from drama to puppetry, classical music to contemporary dance, comedy to visual arts.

In previous centuries, the Church was the single most important patron of the arts and religious subjects were the focus of most artistic expression, from Michelangelo’s Pietà to Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus; Leonardo’s Last Supper to Dante’s Divine Comedy or Goethe’s Faust. The arts and religion both help us to look beyond our day-to-day concerns and draw us up to something higher, or inwards to something deeper, or outwards to something bigger. Theologians have fancy terms for this – the transcendent or the numinous or ‘the other’; in other words the recognition that there is more to reality than what lies on the surface. One of the defining characteristics of humans is our

desire to reach out to these higher, deeper, bigger realities.

The arts and religion also paradoxically do the opposite. They help us to see within the big picture, the role of the individual human person. The arts and religion at their most powerful show us that the big questions and the grand vision are made up of individual persons. That connects closely to the fundamental Christian understanding that each human is uniquely created by God.

Collaboration and creationThe Jesuits ran St Aidan’s school in Grahamstown for almost 100 years and, ironically, the school closed 40 years ago, just as the Arts Festival was starting. The school is now the office of the local education department and the room that was the chapel – a beautiful stone neo-Gothic building – usually stands empty. But for the 11 days of the Festival it was filled again with praise of God: not as a chapel but because it was a jazz café. The artists who performed there – who had not taken vows of poverty, chastity and obedience – helped raise up the hearts and minds of their listeners in a way that was still strangely prayerful.

Collaboration in the past between the Church and artists has been constructive, creative and mutually enriching because the Church was able to take seriously the unique characteristics of the individuals who are artists. All the artists I spoke to at the Festival had a sense of the spiritual, of the other; but most did not find formal religion a place that helped them to explore that. Indeed, some had stories of being excluded or rejected by churches.

The artists I met felt they were creative because they felt created and that their creations in turn connected them with the Creator. One famous South African singer, now operating on the world stage, commented to me that he could feel deep inside the difference between singing religious songs and other works. The Second Vatican Council stated that we are ‘co-creators’ with God in God’s enterprise. The challenge to formal religion is to find a way of co-creating with artists, so that we can all journey together towards the one Creator. l

FIND OUT MORE Visit the website of the Jesuit Institute of South Africa: jesuitinstitute.org.za

Joseph Capelle’s Stations of the Cross on display in St Patrick’s Catholic Church, Grahamstown during the National Arts Festival


FEATURE El Salvador

Mysterious fruits of hope and vision

Michael Kirwan SJ considers the significance of the martyrs of El Salvador, 25 years on.

THE ASSASSINATION OF six Jesuit priests and two lay helpers at the University of Central America in El Salvador on 16 November 1989 was a horrific act of violence, one of many in a particularly brutal civil war. Like every act of Christian martyrdom, however, it is also a life-giving event, mysteriously fruitful of all that is the opposite of cynical cruelty. Like the murder of Archbishop Oscar Romero in 1980 and Fr Rutilio Grande SJ in 1977, these deaths have produced hope and vision for those who are left behind.

The individuals who are being remembered in this 25th anniversary year are a varied group: a philosopher (Ignacio Ellacuría, also the rector of the University), a sociologist (Segundo Montes), a social psychologist (Ignacio Martín Baró); theologians (Juan Ramón Moreno and Amando López); an educationist (Joaquin López y López); and a mother and daughter, horrendously caught in the conflict (Julia Elba Ramos and Celina Ramos). Ironically the two women were eliminated so as to ‘leave no witnesses’:

and yet the testimony of these men and women, 25 years on, is radiant.

It is nothing short of heroic to involve oneself in higher education and research in a way that can actually make a difference to the poorest. All centres of learning, including Jesuit ones, struggle to survive in the face of market-led pressures on the academy. In Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis warns academics that they should not regard themselves as exempt from prioritising the poor. That a group of academics, from theology, philosophy and other disciplines, should lose their lives because they dared to put their learning at the service of the poor, consoles me: sometimes we get it right. As Fr Jon Sobrino SJ, the prominent Jesuit theologian who was absent from the community when the killings took place, but was certainly one of the prime targets of the assassins, described it:

“The University should become incarnate among the poor, it should become science for those who have no science, the clear voice of those who have no voice, the intellectual support of those whose very

reality makes them true and right and reasonable, even though this sometimes takes the form of having nothing, but who cannot call upon academic reasons to justify themselves.”

With the news of the deaths, there were offers from Jesuit academics all over the world, to take the place of their murdered brothers.

Testimony and solidarity The deaths of the Jesuits and the two women were ‘sacramental’, as were the deaths of so many unnamed civilians and other religious: a ‘cloud of witnesses’. Some made a decisive choice to stay and be vulnerable; many others had no such choice.

Julia and Celina, like so many others, have their own testimony to give, alongside their Jesuit co-workers. Twenty-five years later, women continue to be especially vulnerable, as we have seen from the example of extreme Islamism, at the same time as they continue to be undervalued in the Church. During recent decades Jesuits have expressed, in an official

Sales of Mary Pimmel-Freeman’s posters and prayer cards will be supporting: Fe y Alegria (old.feyalegria.org) and Share El Salvador (share-elsalvador.org)


El Salvador FEATURE

decree, their solidarity with women – this was, for many both within and outside the Society, a controversial gesture.

In the light of our current conflicts with the ‘war on terror’, we need to keep in mind why these people were killed. They fell victims to the purest human greed, a military political system which served to protect the wealthiest families of El Salvador, and which would not tolerate any change to their exclusive status quo. But the ideology of fear also played its part. The protection of this system by the US arose from a hideous ideological decision: to regard international communism as the supreme human evil, which had to be suppressed at all costs, especially in America’s own backyard. This was the idolatrous doctrine of ‘national security’.

The cost was borne by thousands, killed in anti-Communist struggles across Central and South America, but also by the disfigurement of the US’s claim to

moral authority. For many, the same mistakes seem to be apparent in the ‘war on terror’, where fear and ignorance of another great international enemy can lead the West towards similar escalations of conflict. In such situations, no compromise is possible: ‘you are either for us or against us’, and those like the Jesuits who reject this crusading polarisation, who seek a just reconciliation from the middle-ground, risk their own destruction.

A theological reading of these deaths – as martyrdom – calls attention to those who died, because they ‘make the body of Christ visible’, to quote the theologian William T. Cavanaugh. He speaks of the sacramental witness of deaths such as these, giving as an example the decision of Archbishop Romero on 20 March 1977 to prohibit all Sunday Masses in the country except the funeral of the Jesuit priest Fr Rutilio Grande, together with the old man and boy who were shot with him. Such

an intense, concentrated focus upon the altar, soaked as it were with contemporary blood, underlines the significance of Eucharistic sacrifice. So, too, does the proclamation of the word presente, when the names of the dead are read out during Mass. It is a word which will be shouted often and loudly in El Salvador during this 25th anniversary. l

READ MORE: Dean Brackley SJ reflects on the Jesuit martyrs of El Salvador on Thinking Faith:

thinkingfaith.org/articles/20091116_1.htm

ABOUT THE PAINTINGS: The paintings of the murdered Jesuits and their companions (above) are by Mary Pimmel-Freeman and are available as posters and prayer cards from the Ignatian Solidarity Network: [email protected]

Prayers and reflections at a vigil for the martyrs of El Salvador


JESUIT MISSIONS Mining

Mineral mines that bring misery

As the European Parliament prepares to discuss the “responsible sourcing of minerals”, Ged Clapson looks at how the Jesuits and their partners are getting involved.

IN 2008, THE 35th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus (GC 35) recognised the fundamental relationship between people and creation and called for a deepening of this relationship, saying: “Care of the environment affects the quality of our relationship with God, with other human beings and with creation itself” (Decree 3: 32). This commitment to the environment led to the Jesuits establishing the Governance of Natural and Mineral Resources (GNMR) Network, which supports and advocates on behalf of local communities affected by mining activities.

Advocacy Consultant George Gelber represents Jesuit Missions on the GNMR. He believes the Jesuits’ involvement in some of the poorest regions of the world places them in a strong position to challenge mining companies over their ethical policies. “The rapid economic growth of the past two decades has driven up the price of metals,” he says. “Mining companies are exploring further and further afield, pushing into ever more challenging and environmentally sensitive areas. No country is off limits, no region too hot or too cold. Many of the most valuable and precious metals are found in poor countries, particularly in Africa, where instead of bringing

prosperity and development, they have brought misery and death. Economists talk about ‘resource curse’ to describe the impact of mineral wealth on countries where, far from a blessing, it fuels conflict and corruption.”

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is one example of a country that has been fought over by warring factions for years. Six years ago it was estimated that the control that armed groups had over mining in eastern DRC was earning about US$185 million a year; one AK47 costs about US$30. When militia groups get their hands on precious

© SashaLezhnev

Patrice (15) has worked as a child miner since he was eight

Miners panning for gold in Eastern Congo


Mining JESUIT MISSIONS

metals, they can buy the weapons and ammunition they need to go on fighting for years. That is why they are called conflict minerals.

Legislation“The armed groups do not mine the minerals themselves but force local miners to hand them over for a fraction of the price that they fetch in the international market,” George explains. “Once sold on through traders and intermediaries, refined and made ready for use, they end up in factories in Asia which produce must-have smart phones. Our mobile phones alone contain tin, tungsten, tantalum and gold. And while we are used to questioning where our foods come from and whether they are responsibly sourced, few people stop to think about where these metals come from.”

Child labour and other forms of abuse are rife in the mines. Ben (15) told researchers that he had worked in a mine since he was ten and narrowly avoided a mine shaft collapse last year,

a common occurrence. Jacques used to be a militia commander in eastern DRC with the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR). “When the FDLR come to a mine, the first thing they do is get the girls and abuse them,” he explained. “Then they force many people to work and kill those who don’t want to work.”

The United States Congress has passed a law which obliges companies using minerals sourced from DRC or any of its nine neighbouring countries to certify that they are not causing conflict. And GNMR, of which Jesuit Missions is a member, is working to strengthen European legislation, recognising that voluntary regulation in the EU would fail to make a serious demand for conflict-free minerals. George Gelber also believes that

consumers can exert direct influence on mining companies and the IT corporations they supply.

“Last May, Apple published its first conflict minerals report, which gave a detailed account of where it obtains key materials that end up in its products,” George says. “It showed that four of the 21 smelters it used in DRC or adjoining countries had not been certified as conflict-free. Some people are already asking stores whether the mobile phones or gold jewellery they are selling are conflict-free. Staff across the counters might not know what customers are talking about, but they can be asked to report questions like this to senior managers. As more and more questions come in, they may become more aware of the issue and will see the need to take action.”l

FIND OUT MORE about the Church in Africa and reconciliation. See Thinking Faith:

thinkingfaith.org/articles/20091014_1.htm

© SashaLezhnev

“Consumers can exert direct influence on mining companies

and IT corporations”


VOCATIONS Noviceship

Discerning the call of the Spirit

Brendan Callaghan SJ considers what it means to be a Jesuit novice and a novice novice-director.

FIVE NEW NOVICES arrived at Manresa House, Birmingham at the start of September. The new men, from the Netherlands, Lithuania and Britain, joined the two novices who had completed their first year, both belonging to the British Province, and a novice-director who took on this ministry at Easter. At this stage of the programme, life is a mixture of prayer, study, work around the house and gardens, conversations with the novice-director, and relaxation.

At the heart of the noviceship are the Spiritual Exercises, made over four weeks after about four months as a novice. In this prayer-filled engagement with the God revealed in Jesus, guided by the wisdom of Ignatius and the experience of his director, the novice puts aside work and study to allow God’s Spirit to work more freely in him. Bringing together his own life-story with the story of Jesus, and listening always to the ways in which his heart and spirit respond, he comes to a deeper recognition of how and where God is inviting him to service and

companionship, and what God is offering to him.

Later will come a pilgrimage and apostolic “experiments”, offering the possibilities of living in dependence on God’s providence and tasting the realities of Jesuit apostolates and communities.

The task of the noviceship is a simple one: for this man as a novice, does his sense of who he is (with his particular history, resources and vulnerabilities) sufficiently match what the Society is (with its particular history, resources and vulnerabilities), for him to say: “Yes – this is where the Spirit is calling me in the Church to serve God and God’s people”? The novice-director’s role in this task is to help the novice learn how to discern – how to recognise in his experience as a novice the ways in which God is drawing him – while himself listening to the Spirit as he makes his own discernment concerning each novice.

These discernments and decisions have been the stuff of the noviceship

since the time of Ignatius. In a culture which has both a strong emphasis on the value of the individual over and against the communal, and real confusions over the place of permanent commitments of any sort, it is probably more difficult for today’s novices than for their predecessors.

Building community with fellow- novices from four different countries provides both challenges and enrichments, but more importantly it shapes these men for a Jesuit future which will inevitably be more international. With a formation team drawn from Britain, Ireland and Belgium, and the presence of two Nigerian Jesuit graduate students, the novitiate community already mirrors that future. l

FIND OUT MORE Please keep the novitiate community in your prayers, that the Spirit may guide them all. And read about life as a novice on manresaamigos.wordpress.com/

Carlos Chuquihuara SJ makes his First Vows as a novice

Photo: Ruth M

orris

Service and faith in action

Since 2007, Jesuit Missions has placed more than 60 volunteers overseas where they have had the opportunity to put their faith into action. Jesuits and Friends has been

discussing the programme with the new Volunteer Coordinator, Clara Sheaf.

Joanna (far right) spent a month in Kyrgyzstan

My time in Kyrgyzstan challenged and stretched me. It also inspired and strengthened me. I made friendships that I will never forget. I organised summer camps for children as well as working with university-aged young people helping to improve their English. The Jesuit centre at Lake Issyk-kul is a truly incredible place which has so much to offer every person who has the privilege of visiting.

Hugh’s placement, lasting for six months, was based in Dodoma, Tanzania

I would really recommend volunteering with JM. I worked as part of a team of volunteers from around the world mainly doing teaching. It taught me many new skills and gave me memories that will stay with me for years!

J&F: So Clara, what’s new with Jesuit Missions Volunteering?CS: Well actually, there are a lot of new things happening! For one thing, we’re very excited about our new partnership with Progressio/ICS that gives young people the opportunity to experience short-term placements. They need to be 18-25 years old and able to spare roughly 12 weeks.

J&F: That does sound exciting. Where will they go and what work will they be doing?CS: At the moment they can choose between El Salvador, Honduras, Malawi, Nicaragua and Zimbabwe. The work varies as it’s based on the needs of the local community at a particular time. But in the past volunteers have supported women’s income generation and organic farming projects; they’ve run water, sanitation and hygiene sessions in schools. And they’ve also been involved in agricultural activities such as soil preparation, planting and harvesting aloe vera, various seasonal vegetables and other products.

J&F: What makes it special?CS: For me, there are two things. Firstly, since they go with Jesuit Missions they have an experience that’s rooted in Ignatian spirituality; and secondly, volunteers from the UK work in partnership with volunteers from the host community, so it really creates a global team.

J&F: But I’m over 25, does that mean I can’t volunteer with Jesuit Missions?CS: Not at all! For a start the short-term placements do offer a leadership role and for that you just have to be over 23 – there’s no upper age limit. Our long-term placements, on the other hand, are open to all ages.

J&F: And what sort of work do the long-term placements offer?CS: Unlike the short-term placements these are hosted by Jesuit communities around the world. In the past, volunteers have worked in countries like Tanzania, India, Thailand, Zambia and Colombia. They take on a range of different roles

including teaching, as well as specialist roles such as nurses. We hope to have details of new opportunities early in 2015.

J&F: How long do the long-term volunteers spend overseas?CS: Usually, it’s around six months but some volunteers have spent a year and some have actually ended up staying for two years.

J&F: So where can I get more information?CS: Just log on to our website jesuitmissions.org where you will find more information, stories from past volunteers and – if you want to apply – there’s a simple form to complete and submit. But please feel free to ring me or send me an email if you’d like more information first. Applications are welcome throughout the year! l

FIND OUT MORE Contact Clara Sheaf on 020 8946 0466 or email [email protected]


Volunteering JESUIT MISSIONS


JESUIT MISSIONS Zimbabwe

Educating citizens for a just future

The Jesuits in Zimbabwe have a vision for the pupils in their schools, as Richard Greenwood has been finding out.

ONCE THE BREAD basket of Africa, years of mismanagement have left Zimbabwe as one of the poorest countries on the continent. In recent years three million people have left the country, including more than 20,000 teachers. Jesuit schools in the country were not immune to this problem and education standards throughout the country have dropped. “The future for those children left in school was locked,” said Fr Joe Arimoso SJ on a recent visit to the UK. “Too many were simply dropping out from school and not getting the education that they needed to reach their potential.”

After studying education for a year at Roehampton University in south west

Jesuit Missions has launched an ‘Education for Justice’ programme for schools here in the UK. Building on and enriching the existing Companions Programme, it will provide students and educators with tools and opportunities to

London, Fr Joe (above) was named the Delegate for Education in the Jesuit Province of Zimbabwe in 2007, a time of great turmoil in the country. He admits: “It was not until a few years later that we could see the deep impact that this time had on the education system. People assumed if a school was ‘Jesuit’ that it was a good school. With so many teachers leaving the country, this was no longer guaranteed. We were simply running poor schools in poor communities, but anyone can do that. We

needed to ensure that we were running ‘good schools in poor communities’.”

Historically, the role of Education Delegate in the Zimbabwe Province was limited to coordinating some activities, visiting schools and trouble-shooting. Fr Joe recognised that a different approach was needed. “Once we realised how deep the problems were it became obvious to me that I needed to have a vision and a strategy to unlock the future for our children in Zimbabwe. I wanted our pupils to have an education for justice. Many of our schools were, and are, in a poor condition, with broken windows, uneven floors, poor quality toilets, that sort of thing and it’s important we fix these problems. But they are just one part of a

identify and tackle patterns of injustice locally and globally, empowering those involved to promote ‘A Faith that does Justice’. You can find out more by visiting jesuitmissions.org.uk

Preparing active citizens: pupils at Makumbi Primary School in Zimbabwe

Photo: Jesuit Missions


The Philippines JESUIT MISSIONS

greater need. What is needed is a family of Jesuit schools in Zimbabwe and the UK. I see it like engineering: we need to focus not just on the hardware but also on the software. This means prioritising good citizenship, offering youth leadership opportunities and strengthening our staff development. We’ve got to make it worthwhile for students to stay in school. Too many pupils drop out each year because they don’t see the value in the current education system.”

Through Jesuit Missions and its Companions Programme, all Jesuit schools in the UK and others throughout the country have developed links with the schools in Zimbabwe. “This has been a tremendous success, “says Fr Joe, “and we want these links to stay strong. However, we think we can achieve even more if we all work together, pooling our resources and our talents.”

Fr Joe says he wants to create an education system that puts justice at the heart of what the Jesuits in Zimbabwe do. “With 14,500 pupils in our 18 Jesuit schools, we are well-placed to provide an education that can result in forming active citizens eager and prepared to create a democratic future for their country. I believe that an education for justice means accepting that we all have a responsibility to change the world in which we live.” l

TAKE ACTION The Zimbabwe Province has identified a need for £50,000 over three years to help achieve the priorities laid out by Fr Joe and his team. You can help respond to the education crisis in Zimbabwe by donating to Jesuit Missions. Thank you for your support.

“We can achieve even more if we all work together, pooling our resources and our talents”

School books, chapels and fishing boats

A year after Typhoon Haiyan, communities in the Philippines are rebuilding themselves, thanks to your generosity

POPE FRANCIS will be visiting the Philippines in January 2015. He will see at first-hand how communities are rebuilding themselves and meeting some of the survivors of Typhoon Haiyan, which swept across the islands 12 months ago. Thousands were killed (the final death toll may never be known) and almost six million were made homeless.

The international community responded with aid and humanitarian assistance for the communities affected by the disaster. The Vatican donated $150,000 and Pope Francis asked people to pray in solidarity for the victims. In the UK, almost £300,000 was donated to Jesuit Missions to be sent to Jesuits in the Philippines who are working among the 11 million people who were affected by the typhoon. Their teams distributed vital supplies among the hundreds and thousands who were displaced and were struggling to find food, clean drinking water, medical supplies and shelter.

Barangay Binudac, the main fishing village of Culion Island, provides most of the fish for nearby towns. It was devastated when Typhoon Haiyan hit Culion and dozens of fishing boats

were damaged or destroyed. As the result of donations from Jesuit Missions, partner agency in the Philippines SLB has been able to distribute fibreglass boats to the fisherfolk of Barangay Binudac, which will help supplement the livelihood of families in the village.

On the nearby islands of Samar and Leyte, the new school year began without classrooms and educational resources. “I visited the Province of Dinagat Islands and conducted meetings with the priests of the areas of Libjo, Dinagat Town, Basilisa and Cagdiano to assess their needs,” says Bernie Aton, SLB’s Programme Manager. “And our Project Officers visited destroyed chapels in Salcedo, Samar Province, accompanied by engineers and parish priests to inspect the damage.” l

THANK YOU Funds donated to Jesuit Missions in response to Typhoon Haiyan have been channelled through SLB, the Church-based, Jesuit-led network of lay people, priests and religious committed to the service of the Church and the people of the Philippines. For more information about their work, see slb.ph

Fishing boats at Barangay Galas, Philippines

Photo: Leah Flor Jimenez

FEATURE St Ignatius

St Ignatius the fundraiser

While renowned for his Spiritual Exercises, the founder of the Jesuits was also quite an entrepreneur, as Jane Hellings discovered.


St Ignatius begs for alms in London by Albert Chevallier-Tayler, copyright Jesuit Institute


St Ignatius FEATURE

FOR NEARLY 500 years, the work of the Jesuits at the frontiers of the Church has been powered by gifts and bequests from faithful, generous and visionary people. These supporters are an integral part of the Jesuits’ long history of service to the Church.

St Ignatius was a skilled fundraiser who honoured the donors who enabled the Society of Jesus to grow and thrive so quickly in his lifetime. His only trip to Britain was in search of funds and he rejoiced to find great generosity here.

St Ignatius is famous as the most prolific correspondent of the 16th century. Over 800 of his surviving letters are about finances, fundraising and appeals. He insisted that Jesuits write to him regularly so that he in turn could share these letters with the Society’s supporters:

“… many friends wish to see [your letters] and find a great deal of delight in them.

If we don’t show them letters we estrange them,” he wrote.

He also insisted letters were well written and presented: “If we show a disorderly letter they are dis-edified”!

St Ignatius learned a lot from entrepreneurs. While he disapproved of those who laboured only for financial reward, he grew increasingly to admire their hard work, single-mindedness and skill in managing products, markets and finance to maximise returns and avoid wasting hard-earned resources. He understood that donors need to know their gifts are used wisely. He wanted his Jesuits to adopt these methods both of management and communication, and sometimes chastised them with the example set by hardworking tradespeople.

St Ignatius truly honoured and respected those who supported him. He would make great efforts to return the kindness

of his friends and allies whenever it was in his power. His correspondence is full of instructions to Jesuits to this end. Finally, St Ignatius was punctilious about expressing gratitude, not just to God through the daily examen prayer, but to all benefactors and supporters.

“Ingratitude,” he wrote, “is the most abominable of sins and should be detested in the eyes of our Creator – it is the cause of all sins and misfortunes.”

Today Jesuits and their co-workers strive to follow in St Ignatius’ footsteps in many ways – not least in his example to honour and give thanks to their donors and volunteers. The Society’s Constitutions require every Jesuit priest to offer at least one Mass per month for benefactors. And each November – the month of remembrance – we give especial thanks to God for all our loving supporters who have gone before us, sharing their great gifts so that we could be spiritually enriched. l

TO REMEMBER THE JESUITS IN YOUR WILL OR TO MAKE A GIFT: See back page

Edith Arendrup was a member of the Courtauld family. In 1887 she founded and endowed the Sacred Heart parish in Wimbledon, persuading the Jesuits at Roehampton to serve the parish. A monument on the south wall of the church to its founder proclaims: “It was through her Christian vision that this parish of the Sacred Heart came into being; it was through her generosity the church was built”.

Those who make gifts or bequests, however small or large, are joining a revered group of inspiring Catholics who dedicated their lives and talents to the faith.

Helena Wintour was a skilled embroiderer, fostered as a child after the gunpowder plot in 1605, in which her father Robert and other relatives were involved and either executed or fled overseas. She spent her life praying, fasting, doing charitable works and making exquisite vestments for Catholic priests. One set is embellished with pearls and precious stones from her own jewellery box. She left several of these vestments to the Jesuits in her will, and they remain among our treasures at Stonyhurst College.

Sir Charles Tempest and his sister Monica traced their ancestry in Broughton North Yorkshire back to the 12th century. The Tempest family had the distinction of being the only Yorkshire Catholic family to retain both their faith and their lands into the 21st century. Sir Charles and his sister built the Sacred Heart Church in Blackpool in the 1850s, which was served by Jesuits until 2004. They also gave generously to the establishment of Farm Street Church in London, and St Stephen’s in Skipton.


MISCELLANY

Jesuits on the moveObituariesALL BENEFACTORS are remembered in the Masses and prayers of every Jesuit in our province. Thank you for your generosity.

PRAY for those who have died recently. May they rest in peace.

• Mrs Agnes Ainsworth • Dr John Ainsworth • Mrs M Carnegie• Miss B Green• Miss G Haigh• Mrs Marjorie Harris• Mrs R Henry• Fr Gerard W Hughes SJ• Rev G Jones OSB• Joseph Fintan O’Brien

(OS, nephew of the late Fr Conor Hennessy SJ)

• Major General John Page• Mrs Barbara Soares• Mrs D Watson

In Preston, the Jesuits have returned to Winkley Square after renovations to the property. The St Wilfrid’s Community has been joined by Frs Matthew Power, Stephen Patterson, Gerry O’Mahony, Ron Darwen and Tom Shufflebotham. Fr Bernard Walker moves from Preston to join the staff in Glasgow, working in St Aloysius parish and with the junior school.

Fr Edmund Willoughby has moved to Blackburn and Fr Joe Duggan is working temporarily at Holy Name in Manchester.

Fr Dermot O’Connor of the Irish Province is now Superior at St Beuno’s where Fr Roger Dawson has taken over as Director.

Fr Mike Smith will move from Glasgow to London in the New Year to work with detainees.

At Sacred Heart parish in Edinburgh, Fr Peter Scally has been joined by Fr John McCabe.

Fr Paul Nicholson is moving to the Mount Street Community in London in London and will take over from Fr Chris Boles as Socius.

Fr Adrian Porter is now resident at St John’s Beaumont and Br Stephen Power has moved to the Hurtado Jesuit Centre in Wapping.

Fr Gerard W. Hughes SJGerard William Hughes was born on 24 March 1924 in Skelmorlie, Ayrshire, and entered the Society of Jesus in 1942. After studying at Heythrop

College (at that time in Oxfordshire) and Campion Hall, Oxford, he was ordained in 1958, and made his final vows as a Jesuit at Stonyhurst College, Lancashire, three years later.

From 1967 to 1975, Father Hughes served as Chaplain at Glasgow University, before concentrating on the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius, first at Southwell House in Hampstead, where he was a member of The Way community, and then at one of the Jesuits’ formation houses, St Beuno’s in North Wales.

Ignatian Spirituality always played a major part in the life of Gerry W Hughes.

After leaving St Beuno’s at the end of 1983, he worked ecumenically on spirituality in the UK, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore, Sweden and Finland, introducing retreats in daily life and offering training courses to enable lay people to accompany other lay people in prayer and in retreat-giving. He was one of the founders of ‘Manresa Link’, an ecumenical association promoting the Spiritual Exercises, while based at Manresa House in Birmingham. He was the ‘support person’ to the Birmingham JVC community for many years and served as guide for Jesuits at various stages in their formation, including as novices.

Fr Hughes studied theology in Germany just after the war and that made a big impression on him. He was involved in a particular way in spirituality for those involved in social justice, and working especially with justice and peace groups and individuals. In this

regard he had a life-long link with Pax Christi.

‘Gerry W’ (as he was affectionately known) will probably be best remembered for his inspiring talks and books. His 1985 book God of Surprises was described by Gerald Priestland as “one of the great books of spiritual guidance”. The sequel, God in All Things, was published in 2003. Other books included Oh God, Why? and an account of his personal spiritual journey, God, Where Are You? His final book, Cry of Wonder, was published on 23 October 2014, shortly before his death on 4 November.

Writing on his web site, Gerry W Hughes summarised his faith that was deeply rooted in Ignatian Spirituality: “I am a Jesuit priest. As a Christian I believe that God really is in all peoples and in all things, a loving and compassionate presence”.


AND WHAT’S MORE...

Through disappointments to great solace

As the 200th anniversary year draws to a close, Jonathan Wright puts the Restoration of the Society of Jesus in context.

WE OFTEN READ that the Society of Jesus was destroyed in 1773 and restored in 1814. In terms of the Jesuits’ global, legal existence this is not inaccurate. It is important to remember, however, that the Society never entirely disappeared during the suppression era. It survived, indeed thrived, in the Russian empire and in 1801, a papal brief granted official recognition to this outpost of the supposedly expunged Society. This encouraged many groups of ex-Jesuits, including men in England, to seek formal links with the “Russian Society”. There was progress elsewhere. In the early 1790s, Ferdinand of Parma allowed a handful of Jesuits to return and in 1804, Pius VII issued the papal brief Per alias which restored the Society in the kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Exciting developments also unfolded in the fledgling United States and other places.

Such events both delighted and confused ex-Jesuits around the world, not least those in Britain. In the wake of 1773,

members of the former English Province worked extremely hard to sustain a sense of Jesuit identity while abiding by the rulings that showered down from above. During the 1770s and 1780s they met in London taverns to debate the most sensible course of action. By 1802 a kind of affiliation with confrères in Russia was secured and, soon afterwards, there was a Provincial of England, Scotland, Ireland and “of those places linked with England”. It was all decidedly hush-hush, however. The road towards full authentication was destined to be rocky. There was disappointment when the 1804 brief Per alias made no mention of England and even after the global restoration in 1814 it took a surprisingly long time (until 1829) for total legitimation of the English branch of the Society to arrive. Even then, the British Government saw things rather differently than Rome.

Countless challenges lay ahead for the hundred or so British Jesuits in 1829. Difficult decisions had to be made about

how to allocate scant resources, and there was the small matter of coping with a broad cultural mood that had little affection for any Catholic religious order. There was, however, great solace in remembering that, in the worst of times, British Jesuits, or ex-Jesuits, had stuck together. There had been quarrels and disappointments but a victory of sorts had finally been secured.

Anyone with doubts about the future should buy a time-machine and travel to the Turk’s Head Tavern, Soho, in 1776, where English ex-Jesuits sought to forge a link between the Jesuit past and the possible Jesuit future. This was difficult then, and is no easier now, but the attempt was made. l

Jonathan Wright is co-editor, with Robert Maryks, of Jesuit Survival and Restoration. He is honorary fellow in the Department of Theology and Religion at Durham University.

Pope Francis presides at the Liturgy of Thanksgiving for the Restoration of the Society of Jesus, 27 September 2014

Photo: SJ Curia


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For nearly 500 years the work of the Jesuits at the frontiers of the Church has been powered by gifts and bequests from faithful, generous and visionary people. Your love and support over the

years make you a part of our long history of service to the Church.

Please complete and return to: Jane Hellings, Jesuit Provincial Offices, 114 Mount Street, London, W1K 3AH [email protected]

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By leaving a gift in your will to the Jesuits in Britain you will help to ensure a strong future for all the ministries you care about:

• building a fairer world for the poor both at home and overseas

• nurturing the faith of young people in schools, universities and parishes

• extending the intellectual apostolate through higher education and publishing

• driving vocations

For more information on how to leave a gift in your will to the Jesuits please go to jesuit.org.uk/legacy or complete and return the form below and we will send you more details.

Lord, you have given all to me.To you I return it.

Give me only your love and your grace.That is enough for me.

St Ignatius

Jesuits and Friends Issue 89

Documents

Transcript of Jesuits and Friends Issue 89