Heart and Bones -The Pines. Best Song on the season finale of Parenthood.

Heart and Bones -The Pines. Best Song on the season finale of Parenthood.

Porcelain by Lucy Scwartz. NBC Parenthood Season finale

Porcelain by Lucy Schwartz played during NBC's Parenthood season finale 02/28/12

Parenthood "Be My Witness" Season finale

Bahamas Be My Witness played during My Brother's Wedding episode of NBC's Parenthood 02/28/12


"Already Yours" Another Bahamas Song from Sept 20 2011 episode.

"Make Me Feel Your Love" Parenthood "My Brother's Wedding" 02/28/012

This is the song the choir sings at the wedding of Crosby and Jasmine. Can't find the one they played on the show but here's Garth Brooks' great cover of this Bob Dylan Song

JSRI's Fred Kammer, S.J, on Catholics and Capitalism

http://www.loyno.edu/jsri/catholicism-and-capitalism

Catholicism and Capitalism

“Catholic social doctrine is not a surrogate for capitalism.” [Blessed John Paul II]

by: Fred Kammer, SJ Jesuit Social Research Institute. Number 19. Feb 2012

Issues in the current political campaign season, the Occupy Movement, and claims made by free market extremists about Catholic social teaching require us to take another look at the uneasy relationship between Catholicism and capitalism. In the development of modern Catholic social thought, beginning with Rerum Novarum in 1891, there is a shift from an apparent “acceptance,” without formal endorsement, of capitalism by Pope Leo XIII in the beginning of this period. This initial acceptance is gradually changed by the doubts of Pius XI, by Pius XII's recognition of capitalism's tie to egoism, and John XXIII's call for its reform. Paul VI then seems to take a posture of greater neutrality on both capitalism and communism, allowing local church affirmation of the good and criticism of the evil in a plurality of economic and political models operative in local situations.

The In-Depth Criticism of Capitalism by Blessed Pope John Paul II

Pope John Paul II in his earlier writing then attempts to distance the Church from the dominant political and economic schools of both east and west. He harshly criticizes the underlying ideologies of both liberal capitalism and Marxist collectivism and the devastating evil and destructiveness of their interaction.

Then, in Centensimus Annus (1991), Pope John Paul reflects on both socialism and liberalism in light of the fall of the U.S.S.R. and the dominance of capitalism on the world stage. He contends that Pope Leo foresaw the negative political, social, and economic consequences of the social order proposed by socialism, including its suppression of private property [no. 12 in text]. Socialism's flawed anthropology subordinates persons to socioeconomic mechanisms [13] and is rooted primarily in atheism [13] and class struggle [14]. "Real socialism" was embodied in the oppressive regimes which fell in 1989. Their fall, John Paul says, was due to violations of the rights of workers (private initiative, ownership of property, and economic freedom) [23], the inefficiency of the economic system as a consequence of violating human rights [24], and the spiritual void created by atheism [24].

Turning to capitalism and in the context of affirming the efficiency of "the free market," John Paul writes:

We have seen that it is unacceptable to say that the defeat of so-called "real socialism" leaves capitalism as the only model of economic organization. It is necessary to break down the barriers and monopolies which leave so many countries on the margins of development and to provide all individuals and nations with the basic conditions which will enable them to share in development.¹

Again, he asks whether "capitalism should be the goal of the countries now making efforts to rebuild their economy and society?" John Paul's answer is:

The answer is obviously complex. If by capitalism is meant an economic system which recognizes the fundamental and positive role of business, the market, private property and the resulting responsibility for the means of production as well as free human creativity in the economic sector, then the answer is certainly in the affirmative even though it would perhaps be more appropriate to speak of a business economy, market economy, or simply free economy. But if by capitalism is meant a system in which freedom in the economic sector is not circumscribed within a strong juridical framework which places it at the service of human freedom in its totality and which sees it as a particular aspect of that freedom, the core of which is ethical and religious, then the reply is certainly negative.²

It is important to read this statement in full. Many commentators quoted it in part and out of context, even going so far as to reverse the two alternative "if" sentences to end with the affirmative (Richard John Neuhaus).³ Ringing praises of capitalism, as some claimed, or "the moral vision of a political economy such as that of the United States" (Michael Novak)⁴ were at best a new form of theological spin control and at worst a form of "market idolatry" [40] when judged in the encyclical's full complexity. As John Paul explained at an audience on the day Centesimus was released, the Catholic Church "has always refused and still refuses today to make the market the supreme regulator or almost the model or synthesis of social life."⁵

John Paul's position, consistent with the tradition, has been to criticize both socialism and capitalism, even the "new capitalism." As if to respond to the wishful thinking of some free market commentators, the Pope once more made clear in a 1993 address in Latvia his criticism of both communism and capitalism:

Besides, Catholic social doctrine is not a surrogate for capitalism. In fact, although decisively condemning “socialism,” the church, since Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum, has always distanced itself from capitalistic ideology, holding it responsible for grave social injustices (cf. Rerum Novarum, 2). In Quadragesimo Anno Pius XI, for his part, used clear and strong words to stigmatize the international imperialism of money (Quadragesimo Anno, 109). This line is also confirmed in the more recent magisterium, and I myself, after the historical failure of communism, did not hesitate to raise serious doubts on the validity of capitalism, if by this expression one means not simply the “market economy” but “a system in which freedom in the economic sector is not circumscribed within a strong juridical framework which places it at the service of human freedom in its totality” (Centesimus Annus, 42).⁶

Pope John Paul endorses neither capitalism nor communism, nor does he propose some third way between the two or some economic model of its own. The church's proper contribution is Catholic social teaching which, in the prophetic mode, "recognizes the positive value of the market and of enterprise, but which at the same time points out that these need to be oriented toward the common good" [43]. The 1999 discussion by John Paul II of “neoliberalism” in Ecclesia in America[56] adds further weight to the argument that Catholic social teaching remains profoundly critical of current market-driven societies and the injustices which they perpetuate.

Pope Benedict Continues this Critical Analysis

In Caritas in Veritate (2009), Pope Benedict follows his predecessor Pope John Paul II in Centesimus Annus (1991) by highlighting “the need for a system with three subjects: the market, the State and civil society” [38].

The Market

The pope understands and affirms the importance of the economic marketplace as the institution “that permits encounter between persons, inasmuch as they are economic subjects who make use of contracts to regulate their relations as they exchange goods and services of equivalent value between them, in order to satisfy their needs and desires” [38]. He further acknowledges that in the global era, the economy is influenced by a number of competitive and different models tied to cultures. Economic life requires contracts, the point at which commutative justice is most applicable to regulate relations of exchange. But, as the pope notes, “the social doctrine of the Church has unceasingly highlighted the importance of distributive justice and social justice for the market economy…” [35]. Benedict also makes it clear at various points that in a globalized economy, it is access to international and other markets that is most needed by the poor and by underdeveloped nations.

The State

The second sector or subject in society is political authority, which Pope Benedict promotes as ideally “dispersed” and “effective on different levels” [41], including the international. It is “the political community” which has responsibility for directing economic activity towards the common good [36]. Grave imbalances are produced, he writes, “when economic action, conceived merely as an engine for wealth creation, is detached from political action, conceived as a means for pursuing justice through redistribution” [36].

Benedict further acknowledges that, “the State finds itself having to address the limitations to its sovereignty imposed by the new context of international trade and finance, which is characterized by increasing mobility both of financial capital and means of production, material and immaterial” [24]. This has altered the political power of States and calls for a reevaluation of the role of the States. Rather than “being too precipitous in declaring the demise of the State,” however, Benedict suggests that in the current world economic crisis the State’s role seems destined to grow in working towards resolution of this crisis [41]. In addition, he argues that governments must commit themselves to greater collaboration with one another to deal with a transnational integrated economy [41], as well as a stronger and reformed United Nations and other international economic institutions and international finance [67].

Civil Society

Pope Benedict is in continuity with his predecessors as well in emphasizing the importance of civil society which Pope John Paul II saw “as the most natural setting for an economy of gratuitousness and fraternity…” [38]. In this country, this sector is what we call the “voluntary sector” or “non-profit sector.” It is very consistent with the principle of subsidiarity, and in Catholic social thought this sector has been critical to arguments against the absorbing tendencies of centralizing governments. It also has been important to cushioning the worst aspects of the market. For Benedict, civil society is essential to preserving important aspects of human society and promoting integral human development. In his words:

When both the logic of the market and the logic of the State come to an agreement that each will continue to exercise a monopoly over its respective area of influence, in the long term much is lost: solidarity in relations between citizens, participation and adherence, actions of gratuitousness, all of which stand in contrast with giving in order to acquire (the logic of exchange) and giving through duty (the logic of public obligation, imposed by State law) [39].

Thus, civil society is a key counter-balance to both the market and the State for Pope Benedict and Catholic Social Teaching.

In conclusion, Pope Benedict highlighted the importance of markets, the necessity of justice to assure that markets are directed to the common good and function effectively, and the role of political authorities in making justice a reality. In response to free market extremists, Benedict is clear that “the conviction that the economy must be autonomous, that it must be shielded from ‘influences’ of a moral character, has led man to abuse the economic process in a thoroughly destructive way” [34]. One way in which he discusses the implementation of economic justice is the redistribution of particular goods to those most in need. (Beware, “Joe the plumber”!) Some examples where the pontiff cites the importance of redistribution are in the economy [37], redistribution of wealth on an unprecedented and worldwide scale through appropriate globalization [42], and a necessary worldwide redistribution of energy resources [49].

---

1. Pope John Paul II, Centesimus Annus, op. cit., No. 35.

2. Ibid., No. 42.

3. Richard John Neuhaus, “The Pope Affirms the ‘New Capitalism,’” Wall Street Journal, editorial page, May 2, 1991. Neuhaus even violated the Vatican’s press embargo in order to give his own spin to the encyclical before other commentators could report on the encyclical.

4. Michael Novak in “The Pope, Liberty, and Capitalism: Essays on Centesimus Annus,” National Review, Special Supplement, p. S-12.

5. Cindy Wooden, “Marxism Worsened Problems of Working Class, Pope Says at Audience,” Catholic News Service, May 1, 1991.

6. Pope John Paul II, “What Social Teaching Is and Is Not,” in Origins, Vol. 23, No. 15, September 1993, pp. 256-58, at 257.

Love Life; Live Lent

From the Lands that gave us the Beatles

Worth a look. A good Lent program.
http://www.livelent.net/

"Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return."

This adds a whole other sense to "Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return." May we know those who gaze upon us.

Ash Wednesday Lent Begins

Busted Halo explains all of Ash Wednesday for us!

Ron Rolheiser on Ashes for Ash Wednesday

The Ashes of Lent

By Ron Rolheiser, OMI

http://www.ronrolheiser.com/columnarchive/?id=566

2000-03-05

We begin the season of lent with ashes on our foreheads. What is symbolized by this smudging? Perhaps the heart understands better than the head because more people go to church on Ash Wednesday than on any other day of the year, including Christmas. The queues to receive the ashes in many churches are endless. Why? Why are the ashes so popular?

Their popularity, I suspect, comes from the fact that, as a symbol, they are blunt, primal, archetypal, and speak the language of the soul. Something inside each of us knows exactly why we take the ashes: "Dust thou art and into dust thou shalt return!" No doctor of metaphysics need explain this. Ashes are dust and dust is soil, humus; humanity and humility come from there. It is no accident that ashes have always been a major symbol within all religions. To put on ashes, to sit in ashes, is to say publicly and to yourself that you are reflective, in a penitential mode, that this is not "ordinary time" for you, that you are not in a season of celebration, that you are grieving some of the things you have done and lost, that some important work is going on silently inside you, and that you are, metaphorically and really, in the cinders of a dead fire, waiting for a fuller day in your life.

All of this has deep roots. There is something innate to the human soul that knows that, every so often, one must make a journey of descent, be smudged, lose one's lustre, and wait while the ashes do their work. All ancient traditions, be they religious or purely mythical, abound with stories of having to sit in the ashes. We all know, for example, the story of Cinderella. This is a centuries-old, wisdom-tale that speaks about the value of ashes. The name, Cinderella, itself already says most of it. Literally it means: "the young girl who sits in the cinders, the ashes." Moreover, as the tale makes plain, before the glass slipper is placed on her foot, before the beautiful gown, ball, dance, and marriage, there must first be a period of sitting in the cinders, of being smudged, of being humbled, and of waiting while a proper joy and consummation are being prepared. In the story of Cinderella there is a theology of lent.

Native American traditions too have always had an important place for ashes. In some Aboriginal communities there was the concept that occasionally someone would have to spend time in the ashes. Nobody knew why a specific person was called at a particular moment to sit in the ashes, but everyone knew that this was natural thing, that ashes do an important work in the soul, and that sooner or later that person would return his or her regular life and be better for having spent time in the ashes. To offer one such example: Certain native communities used to live in what they called long-houses. A long-house was the communal building; in effect, the house for the whole community. A long-house was long, rectangular, with large sloping sides, and with the centre of the roof open so that this could function as a natural chimney. Fires were kept burning, both for cooking and for warmth, all along the centre of the long-house. People gathered there, near the fires, to cook, eat, and socialize, but they slept away from the fires, under the roofs that sloped down either side of the open centre. Now, every so often, someone, a man or a woman, for reasons they didn't have to explain, would cease adhering to the normal routine. Instead he or she would, become silent, sit just off the fire in the ashes, eat very sparingly, not socialize, not go outside, not wash, not go to bed with the others, but simply sit in the cinders, like Cinderella. Today we would probably diagnose this as clinical depression and rush that person off for professional help. They, for their part, didn't panic. They saw this as perfectly normal, something everyone was called upon to do at one time or another. They simply let the person sit there, in the ashes, until one day he or she got up, washed the ashes off, and began again to live a regular life. The belief was that the ashes, that period of silent sitting, had done some important, unseen work inside of the person. You sat in the ashes for healing.

The church taps into this deep well of wisdom when it puts ashes on our foreheads at the beginning of lent. Lent is a season for each of us to sit in the ashes, to spend our time, like Cinderella, working and sitting among the cinders of the fire - grieving what we've done wrong, renouncing the dance, refraining from the banquet, refusing to do business as usual, waiting while some silent growth takes place within us, and simply being still so that the ashes can do their work in us.

NBC's Parenthood features Death Cab for Cutie's song "Transatlanticism" tonight.

Parenthood featured Death Cab for Cutie's song "Transatlanticism" tonight. "I Need You So Much Closer"

Cathy S. Shares a Great Song on the Senior Retreat.

David Wilcox - Hold It Up To The Light. Great Song

Getting Ready for Lent: Risk All for Jesus

"And sooner or later, if we follow Christ, we have to risk everything in order to gain everything. We have to gamble on the invisible and risk all that we can taste and feel. But we know the risk is worth it, because there is nothing more insecure than the transient world. For this world as we see it is passing away" (I Cor 7:31). - Thomas Merton, Thoughts in Solitude

NCR reports on alleged murderer of Jesuits

Salvadoran colonel implicated in Jesuit killings pleads not guilty to fraud, perjury

Feb. 17, 2012

By Linda Cooper and James Hodge

http://ncronline.org/news/justice/salvadoran-colonel-implicated-jesuit-killings-pleads-not-guilty-fraud-perjury

A notorious graduate of the U.S. Army's School of the Americas -- a Salvadoran colonel implicated in the 1989 assassinations of six Jesuit priests -- is fighting criminal charges for allegedly lying on immigration papers that have allowed him to live quietly in the United States for the last 10 years.

Former Col. Inocente Orlando Montano Morales pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges of fraud and perjury in U.S. District Court in Boston.

The 69-year-old former vice minister for public security, who had been working in a candy factory in Massachusetts, faces up to 40 years in prison.

Federal prosecutors say he lied under oath and gave false statements in 2002 when he applied for temporary protected status, a status given to those who fear for their lives if returned to their native country. Montano stated that he had never served in the military or received weapons training.

Since his arrest in August, Montano has acknowledged he had been in the Salvadoran armed forces, but insists he played no role in the Jesuit killings at San Salvador's Central American University.

However, the 1993 U.N. Truth Commission report tells a different story.

On the night before the massacre, the report says Colonel René Emilio Ponce discussed the plot against the Jesuits in the presence of Montano and other officers. Ponce and Montano were old friends, both 1970 graduates of the School of the Americas, a facility of the U.S. Army at Fort Benning, Ga., which trains Latin American soldiers.

At the meeting, Ponce gave "the order to kill Fr. Ignacio Ellacuría and to leave no witnesses," the U.N. report says. Ellacuría, the rector of the university, and his fellow Jesuits were among the most respected intellectuals in the country and among the strongest voices for a negotiated peace to their country's civil war.

Just hours after the meeting, in the early morning of Nov. 16, 1989, an elite "anti-terrorist" unit of the Salvadoran army stormed the university, dragging Ellacuría and the other Jesuits from their beds and blowing out the backs of their heads with high-powered assault rifles. To eliminate witnesses, the soldiers then executed the priests' cook and her teenage daughter, riddling them with bullets as they clung to each other.

The U.N. report also states Montano was among the officers who participated in a cover-up, who "pressured lower-ranking officers not to mention orders from above in their testimony to the court."

CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF ARTICLE

Catholic Bishops against the Death Penalty

Catholic Bishops Ask Gov Scott in Florida to Stay Execution of Waterhouse

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/features-the-religion-world/2012/02/15/catholic-bishops-ask-gov-scott-to-stay-execution-of-waterhouse/

The Catholic Bishops of Florida issued a plea to Gov. Rick Scott to stay the execution scheduled for today of Robert Waterhouse. The request for mercy was signed by Archbishop Thomas Wenski, Orlando Bishop John G. Noonan, Palm Beach Bishop Gerald M. Barbarito, St. Petersburg Bishop Robert N. Lynch, Venice Bishop Frank J. Dewane, and St. Augustine Bishop Felipe J. Estévez.

Waterhouse, 65, was convicted more than 30 years ago of killing Deborah Kammerer and throwing her nude body into Tampa Bay.

The bishops’ statememnt reads:

“We are aware of the long and solemn process that you undergo in making the decision to sign death warrants. At the same time, we are concerned with the increased pace of one scheduled every three months as has been the pattern since August, 2011.

“We have sympathy for victims who lose their lives to violence as did Deborah Kammerer and pray for the family and friends who suffer the pain of losing their loved one. Anger destroys while forgiveness frees one to live again in peace, blotting out the desire for revenge.

“We ask that the sentence for Robert Waterhouse be commuted to life in prison without possibility of parole. Such action would manifest belief in the unique dignity of every individual and the sacredness of human life. It would acknowledge God as the Lord of life and it would be more consonant with the spirit of the Gospel.

“Though you are authorized, Governor, to sign death warrants, we ask you to not exercise this authority and to refrain from signing warrants. Please investigate the actions of other states where options other than death of an inmate accomplish the goal of protecting society and punishing the offender.”

Great Little Song "Goodnight Moon"

A great little song, featured in a great little movie, Saint Ralph

What they think Jesuits do. This is funny!

Ian Brit sings "In the Shape of us"

Nice song from tonight's episode of Parenthood. "In the Shape of Us." A good song for St. Valentine's day. Peace Fr. Rick

John Dear on Douglass' new book on Gandhi

Jim Douglass new book, Gandhi and the Unspeakable

http://ncronline.org/blogs/road-peace/jim-douglass-new-book-gandhi-and-unspeakable

by John Dear SJ on Feb. 14, 2012

Jim Douglass is one of the world's great teachers, theologians and practitioners of Christian nonviolence. I regularly return for inspiration to his classic works The Nonviolent Cross, Resistance and Contemplation and Lightning East to West, which have been recently republished by wipfandstock.com. Based at Mary's House Catholic Worker in Birmingham, Ala., Jim spent the last two decades completing his groundbreaking work, JFK and the Unspeakable, which detailed the forces which aligned to kill President John F. Kennedy in order to stop his work for peace and disarmament.

Douglass has planned other books on the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and Robert Kennedy. In the process, he began to study the widespread conspiracy to kill Mahatma Gandhi and the latent support for his assassination within the new Indian state. That study has resulted in another powerful book, Gandhi and the Unspeakable: His Final Experiment With Truth, a shocking exposé and inspiring meditation published this week by Orbis Books. I urge all those interested in Gandhi and nonviolence to read this profound work.

As we all know, Gandhi was assassinated in New Delhi by a Hindu fundamentalist on Jan. 30, 1948, as he walked to his public evening prayer service. Since the previous summer, more than a million people had been killed in the civil war between Hindus and Muslims as Pakistan split off from the new India. Right-wing Hindu extremists such as the assassin were enraged by Gandhi's nonviolent campaign to reconcile Hindus and Muslims. Gandhi spent his last months walking, campaigning, praying and fasting for an end to the violence, and at the time of his death, was planning to go to Pakistan on a mission of peace.

Just as Douglass investigated the reasons why JFK was assassinated by myriad forces, including members of the U.S. government, he explores the reasons why Gandhi was killed and why the Indian state might have benefited from his death. Douglass' journey took him to the Library of Congress, where he read the sole "Printed Record of Mahatma Gandhi Murder Case, Vols. 1-8," the court record that once belonged to Nathuram Godse, Gandhi's assassin. Douglass used this massive material and other original sources to explore Gandhi's mythic struggle of nonviolence against the forces of what Thomas Merton called "the Unspeakable."

http://ncronline.org/blogs/road-peace/jim-douglass-new-book-gandhi-and-unspeakable

Dorothy Stang SND. Witness for the Gospel

Jim Martin, S.J., over at America Magazine's Blog calls, our attention to this anniversary

Jim Martin writes: "Seven years ago today, Dorothy Stang, an American Sister of Notre Dame de Namur, was martyred in the Amazon as a result of her work with the landless poor there. When two hired gunmen met her on a muddy path they asked if she was carrying a weapon. In reply, she took out a Bible and began to recite the Beatitudes. "Blessed are the poor in spirit...blessed are the peacemakers." Then she was shot. This video shows some of her generous spirit and the love that the people had for her. The first few minutes are particularly affecting, and will remind you of so many of the women religious who have a passion for the Gospel and for the poor. "

Social Sin and Social Grace

Social sin can be countered and struggled against in millions of ways and in a myriad of manners. May Social Grace have its sway. Here the Olgala Sioux Tribe struggles to free their people from those who would enslave them by selling products inimical to their health. Although the damage done by alcohol to college students isn't as bad as the destruction ravaged on reservations, maybe colleges and universities should sue the alcohol companies for all it costs to deal with intoxicated and out of control students. - Fr. Rick.

February 10, 2012
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/10/us/south-dakota-oglala-sioux-tribe-sues-beer-makers.html?_r=1&src=recg

South Dakota: Oglala Sioux Tribe Sues Beer Makers

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

The Oglala Sioux Tribe of South Dakota sued some of the world’s largest beer makers on Thursday, saying they knowingly contributed to devastating alcohol-related problems on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The tribe said it wanted $500 million in damages for the cost of health care, social services and child rehabilitation caused by chronic alcoholism on the reservation. The suit filed in United States District Court of Nebraska also names four beer stores in Whiteclay, a Nebraska town near the reservation that, despite having only about a dozen residents, sold nearly five million cans of beer in 2010. The suit names Anheuser-Busch InBev Worldwide, SABMiller, Molson Coors Brewing Company, MillerCoors LLC and Pabst Brewing Company.

Jesuits: The Men Behind the Collar

Loyola Chicago's student paper has a good article on Jesuits. Click Here - Fr. Rick

The Phoenix/Dan Rogers

Jesuits at Jesuit Jam

A number of Loyola’s Jesuits, including the ones above, participated in the annual Jesuit Jam last weekend that was held in the Gentile Arena.

Posted: Wednesday, February 8, 2012 4:52 am | Updated: 5:05 am, Wed Feb 8, 2012.

by Lauren Bogacz lbogacz@luc.edu | 0 comments

Last summer, theology student Ben Anderson was in northeastern India, traveling and visiting tea plantations where tribal groups still live in what he called slave-like conditions. A Catholic labor organizer traveling with him has spent his life working to improve the conditions of these plantations. He turned to Anderson and asked: “Why did God make the tea workers so poor and you in your country so rich?”

It was at this moment that Anderson felt like a Jesuit.

“I was standing at the foot of the cross with the forgotten of the world and trying to articulate with them God’s invitation for life,” said Anderson, 27, who is working toward a master’s degree in philosophy at Loyola.

With the upcoming celebration of Ignatian Heritage Week from Feb. 12-19, students should take the opportunity to learn more about the Jesuit lifestyle, said junior Sean Barry.

“I think Jesuit Heritage Week is important, because it reminds us all of the Jesuit institution and why we go to the university,” said Barry, who hopes to someday become a Jesuit himself. “This is time set aside for us all explicitly to understand the Jesuit charisms.”

St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit order, underwent a spiritual conversion in 1522 and was inspired to devote his life to God. When the Society of Jesus was approved by Pope Paul III in 1540, the first Jesuits (including Ignatius) were officially ordained into the Catholic priesthood. Together, these men established the foundational values the Jesuits still practice today.

Those pursuing life as a Jesuit often have distinct inspirations and experiences that motivate them to devote their lives to God.

“I wanted to commit myself to something much larger than myself,” said Fr. Brendan Horan, S.J., who is a professor of political science and a special assistant to the Rev. Michael J. Garanzini, S.J. “The opportunity to live and work in a number of other countries and experience their diverse cultures has been a particular blessing.”

The steps to becoming a Jesuit are the same for every man interested in becoming one, and the process takes from nine to 12 years.

There are three stages that a man goes through in the process of becoming a Jesuit priest: the novitiate, the regency and theological studies. During this period, they are known as a scholastic.

The novitiate is a two-year period that emphasizes spiritual growth. It consists of a 30-day pilgrimage and a month-long silent retreat, part of the Spiritual Exercises written by St. Ignatius.

After novitiate, Jesuits take their perpetual vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. The next three years are typically spent obtaining a master’s degree in philosophy.

The regency phase follows, which is usually spent teaching in a Jesuit high school. When this is finished, a person generally earns a master’s degree in divinity, which fulfills the requirements for priesthood. Many Jesuits later pursue a Ph.D. in a subject they’d like to teach.

For Fr. Michael Agliardo, S.J., the entire process includes an opportunity to increase awareness about the world.

“The formation process involves gaining an understanding of the world through exposure to other cultures and learning to look critically at your own,” said Agliardo, a sociology professor who spent time working with the poor in the Dominican Republic.

Fr. Charles Jurgensmeier, S.J., director of Loyola’s music program, remembers his own experience of becoming a Jesuit, which included many interviews, a physical and an appointment with a psychiatrist to make sure that he was “mentally fit” for the lifestyle.

The interview process is thorough, Jurgensmeier said, because the Jesuits want a complete picture of the applicant before he is admitted.

“They really get to know you, asking questions about your prayer life, how often you go to mass, about the faith itself and your relationship with Jesus,” he said. “They also asked about my family, schooling, health and background.”

Jesuits can do a variety of jobs, including but not limited to the fields of social work, education and helping at parishes and retreat houses, according to Agliardo, a sociology professor.

Many Jesuits work at Loyola, teaching and helping out at events on both the Lake Shore and Water Tower campuses. Not to mention, Loyola’s President the Rev. Michael J. Garanzini, S.J., is also a Jesuit. And because Loyola is a Jesuit Catholic university, its mission coincides with the five characteristics of a Jesuit education: commitment to excellence, faith in God, service that promotes justice, values-based leadership and global awareness.

Jurgensmeier said that part of his responsibility as a Jesuit is to help others seek the truth he said he has found.

“Cura personalis, or ‘care for the person,’ is the mission of the university, regardless of who the person is,” he said. “We challenge students’ points of view by having them take classes in disciplines that they normally wouldn’t.”

The question he asks is: “Where do I find God in all of this?”

Go to luc.edu/ignatianheritageweek for more information on the events taking place during Ignatian Heritage Week.

© 2012 The Loyola Phoenix. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.