layout Crossroads April 2011 - New York Province Society of Jesus

Transcription

volume 1 • number 3
April 2011
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• The newsletter of the Missouri and New Orleans Provinces
Vern Heinsz with Jeff Putthoff who was visiting the Rockhurst Jesuit Community in Kansas City (top). On a near perfect
February night in Tampa (above, left), faculty, students, alumni, and fans of Jesuit High came to celebrate the opening of
the Hyer Family Park baseball stadium. The opening ceremony began with Richard Hermes blessing the park. James
Page (above, in Washington, D.C.) gets very Ignatian on his novitiate pilgrimage.
CROSSROADS SPRING 2011
The community of Regis
Jesuit High in Denver
(left) supported Chris
Pinné during his long
bout in the hospital with
back problems.
Bellarmine House
(bottom left) hosted a
magnificent Super Bowl
Party while John-Paul
Witt (below)
encountered ignatius.
Crossroads is published three times per year by the Missouri and the New Orleans Provinces of the
Society of Jesus. Material is intended solely for the use of Jesuits and may not be reproduced in other
publications or web sites.
Editor: Thomas Rochford SJ | Production: Michael Gregory and Paul Pilgram SJ
Copyright © 2011 - Jesuits of the Missouri Province • www.jesuitsmissouri.org
4511 W. Pine Blvd, St. Louis, MO 63108 | communications@jesuits-mis.org
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formation
Andre Breaux, Alex Placke, John-Paul Witte, James Page, and Michael Schonhoff
Novitiate
The First Annual Kansas City Experiment
is year began a new tradition for the novitiate of
sending the first year class to Kansas City, Kansas, in
January and February for their “Primi Class Experiment.”
e novices were housed together as an apostolic
community at the rectory of the cathedral of the
Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas.
e first years participated in a variety of apostolic
assignments around the city, including ministry with
recently-released prisoners and teaching English to
Burmese refugees through Catholic Charities. e novices
gained experience in teaching and campus ministry at
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Bishop Ward High School, where they led a vocation
retreat, and at the cathedral elementary school, where
they led a confirmation retreat. Several novices also
learned about ministry to the sick and terminally ill with
Dirk Dunfee at the Southwest Boulevard Family Health
Clinic and with the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth at
Providence Hospital.
Walking the Pilgrim Road
In February, the first years embarked on a pilgrimage.
Each was given $5 and a one-way bus ticket to places as
varied as Albuquerque, Notre Dame, Nogales,
Washington, D.C., and Schenectady. Each was also given
a list of destinations to visit, culminating at their hospital
experiment. e novices were required to beg for shelter,
sustenance and money for transportation at each
destination, were only allowed to take $5 with them for
each leg of the three-week journey and were told to spend
at least one full day walking. André Breaux summed up
the spiritual lessons learned from relying on the
benevolence of strangers, “Every time I worried, God
responded through some unexpected grace or act of
kindness.”
am deeply moved by my experiences in Belize. I've come
to a new and personal understanding of Christ and for
that I am most grateful.” During the month of April, the
second years will undertake a new “Grand Coteau
Experiment”, where they will study Catholic Social
Teaching and social justice issues.
Prayer Request
Please pray for the second year men--Penn Dawson,
Matthew Stewart, Matthew Kappadakunnel, David Lugo
and Louie Hotop--as they prepare for vows in August and
e first years were then missioned to minister to the
for the first year men--Michael Schonhoff, Alex Placke,
needy in their hospital experiments during the months of
John-Paul Witt, André Breaux and James Page--as they
March and April. John-Paul Witt and Alex Placke are
prepare to receive a new class of first year novices this
working with at-risk youth at Café Reconcile and with the
summer.
homeless at the Harry ompson Center in New Orleans.
John-Paul Witt, nSJ
James Page is living and working with the mentally
challenged in a L’Arche community in Kansas City; André
Breaux is living at Jesuit Hall, St. Louis, and working with
Cosgrove’s Kitchen, a ministry of the Society of St.
Vincent de Paul in East St. Louis. Michael Schonhoff is
living at the Regis Community in Denver and working at
Arrupe Jesuit High.
Hospital Experiment
Second Year Novices - Long Experiment
e second year novices departed for their long
experiments in January and returned in early April.
Matthew Stewart worked at Rosebud Indian Reservation
in South Dakota and Penn Dawson worked with British
province Jesuits deep in Guyana. David Lugo ministered
in Santa Maria Chiquimula, Guatemala. Matthew
Kappadakunnel lived in El Progreso, Honduras and said
he appreciated “working with some of the most
vulnerable people in the country, orphaned and
malnourished children.” Louie Hotop lived in Punta
Gorda, Belize, and said of his experience, “I was and still
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Alex Placke and Michael Schonhoff (above left) at the start
of their pilgrimage. John-Paul Witt (top right) leading a
group in prayer. Penn Dawson (above) on experiment in
Guyana.
Bellarmine House
Scholastics pose with Doug Marcouiller after their minor orders installation ceremony.
As another year at Bellarmine House of Studies looks
forward to its summer siesta, we look back on a semester
full of occasions for gratitude. Let’s recall some of those
occasions…
January: Start your semester rousing the rabble
Rousing indeed: a march in the nation’s capitol. Rob
Van Alstyne (CFN), Sean Powers, Alex Llanera (CFN),
Andrew Laguna (CFN, and Stephen Krämer headed off to
Washington DC to join the March for Life on January 24.
For Stephen, that’s his second rabble rousing trip of the
school year—he joined the SOA protest last November.
Or maybe start with a rousing retreat for the rabble.
While others marched for life, Vinny Marchionni (MAR)
and Jonathan Harmon (NOR) led a SLU Greek Retreat.
Or maybe start by joining a rabble of rousers, such as
the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra Chorus. Jacob
Boddicker (WIS) successfully auditioned for parts to be
sung in April and May. More on that below (see “Fine and
Performing Arts”).
It was probably about this time that Dave Suwalsky
and Ron Mercier took their first trip or two of the year to
the sort of out-of-town meetings that burden Jesuits in
positions of such responsibility, which is not to say that
Dave and Ron always regard those trips as burdens.
third week of February, Dayne Malcolm (NEN) showed
up in Kingston for the General’s meeting with the Jesuit
Conference Board and provincials. e week following
Bill Rehg hopped over to Africa, to give workshops on the
brother’s vocation to the Jesuit brothers (at Mwangaza
Spirituality Center outside Nairobi) and second-year
novices (in Arusha, Tanzania).
Then came March, and SLU service trips
During SLU’s spring break (March 12 – 20), five of
ours set out on service trips with SLU students, most of
them so-called SLUCAP trips. Joe Wotawa accompanied
students to El Salvador, where they visited some
communidades de base (Christian base communities)
and various martyrs’ shrines, such as the one for the UCA
Jesuits, and sites such as El Mazote, the scene of a
government massacre of an entire village. With the
support of two other facilitators, Vinny Marchionni led 39
SLU Greeks to Jonesville, Va., where they helped with
home rehab organized by the Appalachian Service
Project, a Christian non-profit. Meanwhile, Matt Spotts
(CHG) took SLUCAPers north by northwest, where the
students were introduced to Lakota culture and the harsh
realities of reservation life at the Pine Ridge and Red Bud
Reservations. Lorenzo Herman (ORE) flew south with
February: the shortest longest month of the year SLU students to Kingston, Jamaica, to work at St. Anne’s
People mainly hunkered down, it seems, or else they
Primary School in a poor, gang-ridden neighborhood.
fled the country to parts warmer and sunnier. For the
And Peter Gadalia (NOR) motored to Motown with
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SLUCAP students, to visit Iraqi
refugee camps in the area.
According to Peter, many Iraqi
refugees have come to Detroit.
Meanwhile, across the pond
Dave Suwalsky had a last fling
aer a fateful decision—stay
tuned—and headed with Frank
Reale to Loyola for his annual
retreat. To complete the fling,
Dave supplemented his spiritual
enrichment with some aesthetic
enhancement, visiting top
Madrid museums (the Prado,
Sophia Museum, Royal Academy
of Fine Arts, and probably some
more that have not been recorded).
Bringing the month to a close, on the weekend of
March 26, Andrew Laguna and David Moore (NOR) led
the teens of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in a retreat.
April
On April 12, Lorenzo was awarded the James D.
Collins Award for Student Academic Excellence in the
African-American Studies Program. On April 19,
Lorenzo presented a paper at the SLU Senior Legacy
Symposium: “Barbie Doll Dipped in Chocolate: e
Pressure for Black Women to Attain White Women’s
Hair.” In other academic news, Joe Watowa recently
disclosed his induction into the SLU Alpha Sigma Nu
Honors Society, or as he prefers to call it, the “Elitist
Society.”
ey came, they saw: e weekend of April 8 – 10,
eight men, discerning their vocation, joined us for the
biannual Come and See, where they learned more about
the Society, its way of proceeding, and its works.
Meanwhile, Dave and Ron continued to go to various
meetings that required out-of-town trips.
The Fine and Performing Arts
roughout the semester, BHOS Jesuits have
continued the venerable tradition of Jesuit presence in the
fine and performing arts. March saw the first reported
major initiative in this line, when Alex took part in the
March 4 – 6 SLU production of Shakespeare’s “Much Ado
About Nothing.” Around that time, omas Flowers latest
book God's Invitation: Meditations on a Covenant
Relationship, came out from Paulist Press. In the book
omas uses a mix of poetry and prose to reflect on the
Old Testament. At least one other March event surely
deserves mention in the arts column: Marc Fryer (NOR),
Sean Powers, and Jonathan celebrated St. Paddy’s Day by
taking part in St. Louis’s St. Patrick Day Race. It wasn’t a
very long a race. But judging from the
colors, it must have been an artistic
performance.
In April, Jacob Boddicker represented
Jesuit presence in the arts by singing in
the Symphony chorus as it performed
Mahler’s Second Symphony and
Barber’s “Prayers of Kierkegaard.” In
May, he will join the chorus for Offe’s
“Carmina Burana.” Meanwhile, Sean
Powers continues to restore broken
Sean Powers, Rob Van Alstyne, Dave
Suwalsky and Brian Taber (above). Super
Bowl party (left).
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down religious statues, recently completing a statue of St.
Ignatius from one of our St. Louis communities. He will
also be displaying at least one of his paintings at the
upcoming Student Art Show in Boileau Hall.
However, one performance of unique import deserves
its own column.
Impromptu Act Reveals Auctioneer
Extraordinaire
No one expected it, not even the principle actor, Rick
Nichols (MAR). It started innocently enough. On March
12, a group of BHOS Jesuits, Bryan Norton (DET) leading
and Rick among them, were quietly attending a Benefit
Dinner and Auction for Sr. ea Bowman Grade School
in East St. Louis. As dinner wound down, an auction got
underway. Toward the end, without warning, the
professional auctioneer handed the mike to Rick, to lead
the auction for the last item. Nichols kept ’em hooked,
and drew a price of $200 for the item, well beyond its
market value. When queried aer his stunning début,
Nichols said, “I didn’t know I had it in me, but I was on
the spot, and I knew I had to step up”—or something like
that. Province Treasurers take note.
Jesuit Community in Wauwatosa, WI; Brian Taber (WIS)
to Marquette University High School in Milwaukee,
where he will corrupt the youth; Luis Infante (MAR) to
extra-special studies at Johns Hopkins University; Elias
Puentes (CFN) and Lorenzo to a year of theology studies,
at Santa Clara University and Seattle University,
respectively.
And then there’s that fateful decision mentioned
above, indeed two such decisions:
Farewell to BHOS Power Hitters
is summer, our long-suffering minister assumes the
position of president at Jesuit High School in Sacramento,
CA. In his two stints as minister under four BHOS
rectors, Dave has been at BHOS through more years,
worked more jobs, written more doctoral pages, repaired
more architectural bungles, committed more funds, and
vented more spleen (all in the service of fraternal
correction, of course) than anyone would care to count,
even if they could. Aer all those hassles and work, he’s
surely ready for anything Sacramento can dish him. But
we will just as surely miss him.
Meanwhile, it’s now official, folks. Frank Reale,
member of the original BHOS community of 1990 who
returned several years ago, will move to Sacred Heart
Farewells
e end of the year looms larger now, when the
Community in exchange for Mike Harter, returning to
community will bid farewell to scholastics as they head off BHOS aer years away. We bid farewell to Frank, and
for regency assignments: Marc to Strake Jesuit High
welcome Mike along with our new minister, Pat Quinn.
School in Houston, to teach whatever they ask him;
Stephen to Jesuit High School in New Orleans, to teach
Bill Rehg SJ
theology; Jacob to the position of minister of St. Camillus
Dave Suwalsky enjoys
the last months of his
glory as minister at
Bellarmine House.
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West Coast Theologate
As for the three that will hold down the fort for the
next year, Raul Navarro, Eddie Fernández and Kevin
Burke are hard at work. Raul, in addition to a full load of
classes, has been busy as the community sub-minister.
is is a time-consuming job as Raul helps to coordinate
e West Coast contingent is preparing for major
changes as four of the seven Missouri and New Orleans
province guys will be moving back towards the
promised land. Paddy Hough, Paul Vu and
Drew Kirschman will all be ordained in the
coming months, and Hanh Pham will be
completing the Licentiate degree and heading
into the vineyard of the Lord.
Paddy is coaching the National Champion
University of Berkeley Crew Team as they
prepare for another run for the title. Go Bears!
Having successfully defended his Licentiate
thesis, Paddy has spent his time between the
water (with the crew team) and the Cathedral
(where he deacons).
Paul has been deep in comprehensive exam
preparations while completing his MDiv
studies and deaconing at St. Leo in Oakland. To
Drew Kirschman (middle)
break from the studies, he did some
in Indonesia
snowshoeing over spring break in Denver with
Paul O'Connor (DET). He also gave a talk on
community-wide dinners, house swaps and other special
“How to Teach Effectively” to Sunday school volunteer
events. In addition he serves as the JVC liaison,
teachers, and taught a confirmation class at Queen of
connecting JV's with Jesuits for spiritual direction.
Vietnamese Martyrs Parish in Denver.
Eddie’s generosity and care is evident as he takes on
Drew too has been
additional responsibilities in order to help pick up the
preparing for comps and
slack from some of the JST faculty being away on
wrapping up the MDiv
sabbatical this semester. e death of a dear colleague in
program. In January he
December, Alex Garcia-Rivera, not only has meant more
participated in a JST course
work, but a profound loss of a friend and colleague. In
on interreligious dialogue
addition to in-house responsibilities, Eddie has been on
in Indonesia, which stirred
the road several times to give talks on Padre Kino, the
fascinating insights into
Italian Jesuit missionary who worked in southern Arizona
the diversity within the
and northern Mexico. We are currently celebrating the
Islamic tradition. When
300th anniversary of his death and his cause has been
not preaching at St. Leo’s,
introduced in Rome. Recent stops included San Francisco,
Drew is leading Sunday
Tucson, and Mexico City. “Que viva Padre Kino” and his
services at a juvenile
efforts to help God’s suffering people.
prison. For spring break,
Kevin too has been on the road as he continues to
Drew went hiking in Death
Hanh Pham
guide JST into a new era as a center of pastoral and
Valley with a teaching
theological training of ministers for the future. While his
buddy from years past.
work requires a lot of travel, his efforts are beginning to
Paddy, Paul and Drew are looking forward to the
bear fruit as prospects for enrollment rise and interest in
upcoming ordinations.
programs grows. e future is looking bright.
Hanh is wrapping up the Licentiate degree and getting
Blessings to all as we enter the Easter Season, and see
ready to depart his beloved West Coast. Always active in
you at the summer Province events!
various parishes and with religious communities in
Drew Kirschman
sacramental and retreat ministries, Hanh will be deeply
missed.
Joe Laramie served as deacon when Cardinal Sean O’Malley came to St. Raphael’s
Parish parish in Medford, Mass.
East Coast Theologate
Kevin Dyer flew to Belize for a few months of
pastoral ministry. at leaves Joe Laramie as the only
Missouri Province man in New England. Joe continues
his ministry as a deacon at St Raphael's Parish in
Medford, Mass. Cardinal Sean O'Malley came to bless
the new parish center, and Joe served as deacon. e
Cardinal mentioned the Society in his homily, and had
kind words to say about our education and parish work
in the Boston Archdiocese.
Joe is completing the 'ad auds' for his confession
class, as well as practicing for that first Mass on June 12,
in beautiful Florissant, Mo. At Boston College School of
eology and Ministry (BC-STM), the 'closure seminar'
for the MDiv degree includes a final project. Joe, Aaron
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Pidel (NOR) and John Brown (NOR) are
analyzing Ignatian spirituality websites: what works,
what doesn't, and what changes when you put
spirituality 'online' ?
Brad Schaeffer (CHD) has one more year as rector
of the scholastic community, now called Faber Jesuit
Community. Brad has ably served the complex
transition from Cambridge to Brighton, from Weston to
BC. e wheels are slowly beginning to turn regarding a
search committee and murmuratio.
is summer, Joe will serve at the College Church in
St Louis-- celebrating Mass and hearing confessions. He
will return to BC in the fall to write the STL thesis on
"the Spiritual Exercises and the liturgy."
Joe Laramie
saint louis
Leo Brown Community
Our one and only scholastic, Michael Rozier, traveled
to Honduras with 20 SLU students to dig trenches for a
water system, build latrines, pour concrete floors in
homes and provide health education to several rural
communities in the south of the country. He also took a
group of public health students to the Kino Border
Initiative in Nogales, Ariz., over Spring Break to learn
more about the issues surrounding immigration. In
conjunction with these trips, he created a new course in
the School of Public Health for students going on these
popular short-term trips so that they might consider the
efficacy of the trips and learn how to make them more
supportive of the local health system. He has begun a new
research project evaluating the knowledge of Latinos
about the local health system and identifying barriers to
care. All goes well as he concludes his final semester of
regency. e student association at the university picked
him as one of the ten best teachers in their annual
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ceremony in April. News is that he
will be a Boston College Eagle this
August.
A week or so before Ash
Wednesday, Don Schlichter
returned to Denver for a week of R
& R, and returned readier than ever
to continue his ministry in the New
Pavilion. He keeps us all up to date
on the progress of the “face li” the
Pavilion is undergoing.
Invited by the Communication and
Business departments to teach a
Public Speaking class to business
majors, Gary Seibert is learning a
lot about, well, business. ere are
20 students in the course, 10 of
them American and 10 Chinese. All
presentations and speeches deal with “Chinese issues.”
Tom Rochford was busy putting out his first issue of
the Jesuit Bulletin as editor, a return engagement for a
position he held from 1985-94. At the same time he
attended the Jesuit Conference meeting in Kingston,
Jamaica, to give the provincials a presentation with Alice
Poltorick from the New England Province. ey
presented the plan that the communications directors
from the U.S. provinces suggested the assistancy to follow
as it implements the communications piece of the new
province reorganization. e presentation was wellreceived, and Tom enjoyed a break from St. Louis’ snow
and cold. e latter have not deterred him from doing
plein air paintings even in the snow during the winter.
Gary Seibert
Ralph Vonderhaar celebrated his birthday at Fusz Pavilion
(top). Professor Mary Gould from SLU’s Communication
Department (left, with Mike Rozier) visited Leo Brown
Jesuit Community to talk about her work teaching in a
prison.
Jesuit Hall
Construction highlights
According to Rick Comboy, the Pavilion renovation is
due to be finished by April 30; other projects continue,
such as lo roof replacement, domestic hot water system
replacement, and kitchen electrical panel replacement
(originally installed in 1921).
University update
Larry Biondi (CHG) returned recently from another
fund-raising and student recruitment trek to the Far
East--ailand and China--with good prospects in both
areas. With little rest for the weary, he entered into final
efforts for the opening of Hotel Ignacio, a boutique hotel
on Olive Blvd, just east of Jesuit Hall, and across from
Tegeler and Fitzgerald Halls on the SLU campus.
Among other interests, enrollment proceeds well,
fund-raising is in full swing, construction moves forward
on the south end of campus with the Student Union and
athletic complex nearing completion. rough the
Marchetti Fund, and in support and collaboration with
the Archdiocese of St. Louis, Saint Louis University is
providing e SLU Jesuit Community Scholarship
program: $1,000,000 in scholarship support for students
in Catholic high schools in the Archdiocese. Larry also
announced that the former State Office building
(immediately east of Jesuit Hall, and next to the Ellen
Clark Sculpture Park) is named aer current SLU Trustee
and alumnus, Marvin Wool, and his wife, Harlene. e
building currently houses IT services, Human Resources,
and Business and Finance. e formal dedication of the
building will be in May.
Musical highlights
John Foley gave a lecture and a concert on March 6 at
College Church. e parish asked him to sing and play
various pieces of church music he has written, and then
talk about how he wrote them and what they mean.
Strong singing both from Foley and the audience
highlighted the evening. John was heard to say that he
actually thought these pieces were very good. Come to
the Water, Cry of the Poor, One Bread and All Shall Be
Well were among the selections.
Composers from around the country came back to
the 17th annual Liturgical Composers Forum at the end
of January, put on by the Stroble Center for Liturgy. It
was a good conference and featured two talks by
Professor Eleonore Stump about beauty and one by Lynn
Trapp about all aspects of the organ. Good times were
had by all, including prayer and especially the closing
banquet. Composers remain friends even aer they
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critiqued each other’s compositions (without knowing
who wrote each one).
John also went to the twice-yearly meeting of the
“Social Ministries Group,” which is actually a sharing
session with Jesuits of relatively equal ages, speaking to
each other what their Jesuit lives have been like since the
last meeting. He also attended a meeting of the Jesuits
who work at Saint Louis University, which had
something of the same purpose. It was arranged by Bill
Rehg, and much appreciated.
Time for a change
Aer reaching age 79 this year, spending a little more
than 20 years in the position of Associate Director of the
Advancement Office, undergoing a major surgery
(hernia, heart, and colon) during each of the past three
years, Gene Martens will begin a sabbatical year on June
1. He will stay around St. Louis most of the summer.
Health permitting, he will spend October and November
living with the Jesuits in the Paris, France region, then
spend December in a monastery in the southern French
Alps near Grenoble.
Personal notes
Bob Costello participated in a New York workshop
for CLC members seeking to become group guides. Some
40 people from around the country attended, representing
young adults and a new cultural diversity. Bob's term as
national assistant for CLC will end this summer.
From January 9-14 Jack Hunthausen assisted with the
annual retreat for the Kenrick seminarians in eology
III and IV. He also collaborated with Sr. Sandy Bay,
SSND, in a retreat on the weekend of April 8-10 at the
Mercy Center for a small group of women who have
made an annual retreat there for the past 20+ years.
John Padberg was interviewed on an hour-long
program at the studios of EWTN Live on Wednesday,
March 30. He spoke about the Institute of Jesuit Sources
and about history as an important element in our
knowledge of faith, the Church and the Society of Jesus.
Access the conversation here: http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=QWIR6FeErqY&feature=youtube_gdata
Jim Swetnam taught a course of 28 hours on the
Epistle to the Hebrews from March 14 to April 1 at the
Bishop Fulton J. Sheen House of Studies of the U.S.
province of the Institute of the Incarnate Word at
Chillum, Maryland, just outside the D.C. eastern line. On
April 14 he gave a day of recollection to the priests of the
Diocese of Jefferson City.
Paul Stark
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impressed by their dedication and enthusiasm. When
asked what about his actual job during the trip, John
Life in the past few months at SLUH has been marked curtly replied: “my main responsibility was to make sure
that all students and adults, myself included, came back in
with changes amidst routines. Among the events, we
one piece with the same number of fingers and toes.”
faced the loss of a colleague, the loss of Jim Knapp’s
Due to the death of our Latin teacher Mark
mother, the loss of Dave Fleming, the changes in teaching
assignments, the struggle with health issues, and the grace Tychonievich and the subsequent departure of his
temporary replacement, Marco and Houlie were asked to
of retreats and activities. Life comes and goes.
teach Latin in Mark’s place. is is the second consecutive
One of the highlight of the semester as a community
year that Marco has to teach an extra class due to a faculty
was the SLUH Lenten confession, which has been a
departure. For Houlie, the change was more drastic. He
tradition at SLUH. is year, the four days of confession
gave up all of his theology classes to pick up three Latin
require roughly 84 confessor-hours for all students
(1,100). John Lan estimated that 350-500 students went to classes, teaching grammar to freshmen and Virgil to
confession. Besides the six Jesuit priests at SLUH, we also seniors. Now we understand why the Society asks us to
had four other Jesuits and two diocesan priests who came study classical languages: it may come in handy someday.
Carl Heumann has been busy with teaching, retreats,
to help. A great thanks to all who helped.
and meetings, and hanging out with students. For Carl,
Another big event was the passing of Mrs. Millie
the highlights so far have been: 1) leading a Kairos retreat
Knapp, Jim Knapp’s mother. While we knew her health
and 2) driving to Denver. Concerning the former, Carl
had been in the decline, her loss still came as a surprise.
has become a retreat guru due to his pastoral presence.
Reflecting on this event, Jim said: “I am very grateful for
Students now call him affectionately “Papa H.”
the support my family and I received from my brother
Concerning the later, Carl and Houlie drove to Denver
Jesuits when my mother died on January 11. e cards,
notes, emails and Masses were very important to me and during the Spring Break, but Houlie had to fly back for
our family at our time of loss. I am also grateful for those Dave Fleming’s funeral, leaving Carl to drive all the way
back by himself. It was not a big thing, but it was still a
Jesuits who came to the funeral Mass. Please accept my
highlight.
sincere thanks.” Jim continues to celebrate the Divine
Besides being the school chaplain, Tom Cummings
Liturgy every-other Sunday for the Ukrainian Catholic
has devoted a good part of his time working on the liturgy
community in St. Louis. Holy Week will be very busy.
and other activities, ranging from presiding at the various
John Lan was on Kairos retreat when Mrs. Knapp
masses to going on retreats. Tom’s office has become more
passed away. is semester, John is teaching only one
class and working full time in campus ministry. His work crowded each day as more and more students and faculty
have stopped by. Rumor has it that Tom is trying to attract
mainly involves organizing the liturgy and prayer for
more students to the liturgy planning team of the junior
students, going on retreats, and attending meetings.
During Spring Break, John went to the Appalachians on a class by giving them pizzas and soda. e team has been
meeting with Tom every Wednesday to pray and to plan
service trip with students. In the past, students from
for their class masses.
SLUH had been going to Mexico for their Spring Break
at is all from 3 Lawn Pl. Have a nice summer, folks.
mission trip, but due to the current level of violence, the
John Lan Tran
change of venue was decided. is was the first time that
John had been on a service trip with students and he was
SLUH
Ed Burger, Andre Breaux, John Arnold and Dan O’Connell pause during dessert at Ignatius House.
Ignatius House
We celebrated Ed Burger's birthday with proper fanfare
with the help of Rich Buhler, Paul Coutinho, Gene
Martens, Al Rotola, and Ralph Vonderhar. Andre Breaux joined us for mass, social and dinner.
Part of his experiment at Jesuit Hall was the morning
care for Dave Fleming during his two week stay at the
Pavilion. Our community greatly appreciates the care
Andre and the entire Pavilion Staff bestowed on Dave.
Andre also informed us about his experiences in Kansas
City during January and February, his pilgrimage and
his recent service with the St. Vincent De Paul Society
in East St. Louis. Paul Deutsch had an extended stay with us while he
and Lou McCabe hosted a Come and See Weekend and
an Admissions Board Meeting in April. Also, remote
preparation is underway for the celebration of Paul's
55th birthday on May 30. ere might be a coconut
cake in his future.
In February Dan O'Connell and his collegue, Sabine
Koval, published "Sources of History for a Psychology
of Verbal Communication" in the Journal of
13
Psycholinguistic Research. Congratulations to Dan and
Sabine. John Arnold as our Acting Superior hosted the
community for dinner at a local favorite restaurant
while our chef was otherwise occupied. Paul Pilgram traveled to Chicago for a family
celebration and to Kansas City to visit the Jesuit
community and other friends.
A Final Word about Dave Fleming
On Tuesday, March 22, Dave died at the Pavilion.
Our community greatly appreciates the many
expressions of condolence we have received. In case you
do not know, Jim Blumeyer was the principal celebrant
for the mass of Christian Burial at the almost full
College Church. e College Church Choir was in full
voice. Dave's niece and nephew proclaimed the
readings. Dick Hadel gave the homily and Mike Harter
delivered the eulogy. As one mourner said, "I guess he
needs prayers. All I am going to do is tell God, 'ank
You for Dave!' " To that our community asks you to join
us in a resounding "AMEN." Paul Pilgram
Archives
Jesuit History and Research
Mary and Dave continue processing materials
from the Chicago Province. We have been reviewing
the materials and integrating them into the collection
since their arrival in the summer of 2009. We are
nearing the completion of our current project, namely
describing and arranging the papers of the theologates
in the Chicago Province: West Baden, North Aurora,
Hyde Park and Jesuit School of eology Chicago
(JSTC). e archives staff has also made progress in
providing new research tools available through the
web. You will find resources at www.jesuitarchives.org.
Our online resources tab is perhaps the most helpful
area. We recently completed a digital project, and an
accompanying finding guide, of nearly 40 maps from
the Missouri Province Collection. Our technology will
allow patrons to zoom and to identify the missionary
activities of Jesuits among Native Americans in the
Northwestern and Midwestern United States. e
newly digitized maps will be available this summer on
our website.
e archives staff has been fortunate this semester
to have two student interns from Saint Louis
University’s History Department. e interns helped in
cataloguing, processing, and scanning materials in the
existing collections. One important contribution came
in preparing materials of our De Smetiana Series for
future research. Peter De Smet’s personal papers and
publications detail the expeditions of a successful
Catholic missionary in nineteenth-century America.
e students worked with the existing card index,
dating to the 1940s, and migrated the information to a
spreadsheet. e information, available in the coming
months through our website, will allow patrons to
compare De Smet’s maps with his correspondence.
Our student interns also worked with our extensive
photograph collection. ey identified and scanned
over one hundred photographs associated with Jesuit
universities and their urban campuses. A complete
catalogue of the scanned images will be available this
summer on our website.
Mary Struckel and Dave Miros
Photos from the collection:
students playing cards at St.
Mary’s College (above) and
DuBourg Hall at Saint Louis
University (left) decorated for
the Grand Act.
14
A late March snow welcomed retreatants at White House after a conference.
White House
e Community at White House (along with many,
many others) is mourning the loss of Ed O’Brien who
died on March 1. Ed was beloved as a retreat director,
spiritual director and novice director, as well as a friend
and counselor to many. He is missed by all of us in the
community as we continue our ministry at White
House.
We got our new year off to a fine start as we enjoyed
a visit from our provincial, Doug Marcouiller, who
seemed to find everything in good order.
Over the past three months we have welcomed as
visiting retreat directors a stellar group of Jesuits: Casey
Beaumier (WIS), Lou McCabe, Joe Laramie, Tom
Rochford, Rich Buhler, Jim Goeke, and Jim Knapp, each
of whom received great praise for their presentations.
Jim Burshek has been busy with a number of activities
including board meetings at Saint Louis University, St.
Louis U. High and De Smet. In addition to his retreats
Jim led two prayer days – Ash Wednesday and Monday
of Holy week.
John Fava served as deacon and homilist at the
funeral of Herb Bussen and has been busy serving as a
chaplain for the St. Louis Metropolitan Police. John
gave the invocation and benediction at the ird
15
District Awards Luncheon and gave the invocation and
benediction and officiated at the funeral service for
U.S. Deputy Marshal John Perry who was shot and
killed in the line of duty.
Dick Hadel continues to help at one of our local
parishes and Len Kraus and Jim Burshek have been
called upon to fill in for the priests in our own local
parish—the early Mass, naturally.
e Community celebrated Mardi Gras as guests of
our next-door neighbors, Mike and Nancy Jersa, and
then entered into Lent with as much gusto as possible.
In the midst of the beauty of our spring flowers
Gene Renard continues to serve the retreatants as
confessor and spiritual counselor and admonitor to a
turkey on our grounds that keeps pecking at our back
door. Upon returning from the Holy Land, Matt Ruhl
went to Jefferson City to receive a Distinguished Service
Award from the Missouri Bicycle and Pedestrian
Federation for his work with Catholic Charities and the
Cycling for Change Program. ese awards are given to
men and women who promote cycling and walking in
the State of Missouri for the sake of health and the
environment. (Matt drove to Jefferson City to receive
the award.)
Len Kraus
Fusz Pavilion
Our contractors have been
hard at work on the third
floor since mid-November,
and we will move in to this
floor right aer Easter. is
will be a floor designed to
take care of those who need
full skilled nursing as well as
those who need assisted
living. Once it is open, we
can move those who have
had to make do in guest
rooms upstairs, and will take
Chris Penné was the first man to move into the renovated
third floor of the Fusz Pavilion where he is staying while he
some of the strain off of our
does therapy. Regis Jesuit High grad and SLU student Tom
staff who sometimes need to
Costigan visited him.
be all over the building
sometimes. We will also have
Others have gone home to the House of the Father.
some larger rooms for men assigned to the Pavilion but
Brother Herb Bussen fell victim to a nasty bone infection.
who have been in small rooms more suited for short-time He was our faithful prayer leader for several years, and
stays than full- time living. Some finishing touches have
our Vocation Promoter. Bro. John Fava preached for him
happened on the second and fourth floors, with the
at his Memorial Mass, which was well attended by his
installation of over-the-bed lights, standardized signs, and faithful family and many Jesuits.
some tweaks to the call-bell system. Of course, we are
Soon aer Herb’s death, Ed O’Brien joined us. He had
looking forward to the completion of this project, and we grown very weak from his heart condition, and was just
are grateful to all who have worked so hard to make it
not able to recover from it. Mike Harter, who had been
possible, not least to our benefactors. When all is
Ed’s socius when the novitiate was in Kansas City,
complete, we will have 27 beds, and 26 rooms.
preached for him. e Church was crowded with many
Ave atque Vale
Charlie Heiser (WIS) has moved from star boarder to
member of the Pavilion. Bill LaCroix also moved to the
Pavilion from Rockhurst University. Chris Pinne joined
us aer recovery from his recent neck surgery.
Additionally, Bert Otten has been with us briefly as he
attended to some medical needs and have some surgery.
Dave Corrigan spent a few days in the Pavilion while
recovering from shingles. We continue to care for those
with various ills, but who are able to remain in the larger
Jesuit Hall Community.
We have also been joined by Andre Breaux, one of the
novices, who is here for his hospital experiment, while
working full-time for the St. Vincent de Paul mission in
East St. Louis. He helps us with breakfast and spends
some time on Saturdays too.
Family members and fellow Jesuits oen visit in the
Pavilion. Don Gelpi’s brother and sister-in-law have come
to visit, and his close friend Joe Tetlow came in from Lake
Dallas for about a week.
16
people whom Ed had touched by his ministry.
Dave Fleming joined us when he needed nursing care
at the end of his long struggle with pancreatic cancer. e
first few days of his time with us he did his best to attend
Mass and meals in the Pavilion, but soon it became clear
that he could not do this any more. Dave was too tired to
receive many visitors, although his family, friends and coworkers, and fellow Jesuits got in to see him for short
visits. e night before he died, he received a visit, at his
request, from Ed Goldian (ORE), a grade-school mate
from St. Cecilia’s grade school. He died the next morning.
Again the church was packed with people from Dave’s
long and fruitful ministry. Jim Blumeyer presided, Dick
Hadel preached for his friend, and Mike Harter provided
a eulogy, both in word and in a media slide-show, which
even included a picture of Dave in Knickerbockers.
Finally, acting Acting Superior John Arnold of Ignatius
House presided at his commital.
17
She has also set her hand to decorating the dining room
for holidays, and there are even pots of herbs growing in
the Solarium. She has had some art classes for those who
wish. Tom Melancon, director of the Pavilion, is happy to
see the new activities area getting used. Charlie Heiser
has his Manresa group there once a month. e kitchen
area, part of the activities room, is one of the last parts of
the renovation to get finished, but will soon boast an
oven for baking home-made cookies and preparing other
snacks for parties.
Mission of the Pavilion
Don Schlicter, Pastoral Assistant, preached a three-day
retreat early in Lent, and the men made an effort to
withdraw a little from the ordinary chores of daily life.
ere was a conference in the morning, and a retreatrelated activity in the aernoon, with quiet time at lunch.
Bob Simms celebrates a big birthday.
Tom Jost preached a wonderful homily at the Wednesday
Ed Goldian (ORE) entered the novitiate at Florissant, Mass. He pointed out that the primary mission of Father
General is to “pray for the Church and the Society.” us,
but soon transferred to the Oregon Province. Nineteen
the men of the Pavilion, though being retired from their
years ago, he returned to care for his elderly mother.
During his time in St. Louis, he served in the archdiocese usual ministries, are called now to join Father General in
his primary mission. Bill Udick has taken over the duty of
as an associate pastor at three different parishes. His
leading the community rosary and daily prayer for
mother passed away last Christmas. Aer this, Ed was
vocations. Walt McCauley now leads the Lenten Stations
looking forward to returning to his province, but it he
became ill and was hospitalized. Upon discharge, he asked of the Cross, and Charlie Heiser leads the Angelus or the
Regina Caeli aer Benediction. Please let us know if you
to spend some time at the Pavilion to get his strength
have any special intentions you want us to pray for.
back and to undergo some further tests. Soon aer his
visit with Dave Fleming, he began to be in crisis and was
rushed to the hospital. Exploratory surgery revealed that Mission of Health Care for Ours
Tom Melancon attended the newly convened meeting
little could be done for him, and he soon died peacefully.
of
the
Superiors and Directors of Jesuit Health Care
His funeral was held at the Church of the Magdalen,
where he was last assigned. Bishop Edward Rice, the new Facilities this spring. ese men will also meet with the
health care coordinators of the provinces, and the
auxiliary Bishop of St. Louis and a former pastor of Ed’s,
province treasurers about health care matters and
presided and preached the homily, and Brother Deacon
insurance issues. e demographics of the Province tell us
John Fava, a fellow police chaplain, served as Deacon of
the Mass. All the Oregonians in St. Louis--Mike Laveson, that this will be an important internal ministry of the
Province for some time to come.
Lorenzo Herman, Sean Towhey, Jim Voiss, and Jim
We are looking forward to the completion of our
Sebesta--attended the wake and funeral, and greeted the
many parishioners and friends and family who came and building project, and to showing off our new place to you,
perhaps around Ordination time. Come visit us. And a
filled the church.
Blessed Easter and a pleasant summer to all.
New Activities Director
Sr. Anne Marie Santen, OP, came on board shortly
aer Christmas as our new activities director. Aer she
got her new office set up, she has been arranging regular
activities for the men of the Pavilion, including a film
series with some discussion, games, parties for Mardi
Gras and St. Patrick’s Day, walks and outings for those
who are able when the weather is nice (not too oen this
winter), Wii bowling and golf (Marty Whealen likes that).
Tom Melancon
18
Sacred Heart
Jesuit Community
is is a busy time for the members
of our community. However, many of
the tasks that they are involved in are of
a routine nature and we hesitate to try
the patience of our readers by
recounting endless hours of grading
papers, preparing classes, booking plane
tickets, and attending meetings and
more meetings. But we contribute the
following as a way of doing our share in
this newsletter business.
Bill O'Brien (CHD) continues work
on his translation of the sermons of Claude
La Colombière, and has just signed a contract with the
Liturgical Press for a book on the sacraments. ose
projects, along with a number of pastoral commitments at
SLU and in the Saint Louis area are keeping him busy.
Mike Barber is serving as interim dean of the College
of Arts and Sciences at Saint Louis University at the same
time he is Dean of the College of Philosophy and Letters.
As the latter dean, Mike attended a meeting of the deans
and rectors of the Jesuit formation philosophy and
theology centers in Chicago in early April. Mike
interviewed for the permanent position of Dean of Arts
and Sciences in February, meeting with ten different
constituencies in the space of two days. A paper of his was accepted for reading at a
conference in Washington in May and he attended the
national Seminar for Jesuit Spirituality in Chicago, where
a proposal of his for one of the Spirituality booklets was
reviewed by the members of the seminar. He has been
invited to give a series of lectures in Nanjing, China, in
June. In addition, he has done some pastoral work in the
Hispanic Holy Rosary in Fairmont City and celebrated an
occasional liturgy at St. Margaret of Scotland.
Lou McCabe performed a great service for the
community by helping create a prayerful and comfortable
situation in our house chapel. He took the initiative in
having furnishings made, including being very patient
with the process of getting input on all the various options
and helping us make a final decision when needed. He has
been on the road, and recently stayed in the Dominican
community in Columbia, Mis.; they are helping on the
Busy Persons retreat at the University of Missouri. e
Dominicans offered very gracious hospitality and
refrained from mentioning the
Jesuits at the Theological Seminar on Consecrated Life in
Rome sponsored by the Union of Superiors General
February 7-11. Left to Right: George Pattery (provincial of
Calcutta), Gabriel Mmassi (rector of the theologate in
Nairobi, Adolfo Nicolás and Michael Harter.
controversy between Bañez and Molina on grace. ere
was an excellent meeting of NAVD, the Jesuit Vocation
Directors of U.S. and Canada at Montserrat Retreat House
in Lake Dallas – a beautiful setting for meetings and
making a retreat. Paul Deutsch and Lou McCabe
welcomed eight associates to the Come and See Weekend
April 8 – 10. e men from Bellarmine House and Jesuit
Hall were most helpful and impressed our guests with the
variety of our personalities and the seriousness of our
apostolic zeal.
Doug Marcouiller and John Armstrong continue the
ascetic regimen once characterized by Paul Harman
(NEN) as, “To Jesus, through meetings.” Both are on the
road quite a bit, but do show up occasionally at the Sacred
Heart community, if rarely at the same time.
Michael Harter spent the recent months settling into
being an editor again. So far he has guided one issue of
Review for Religious to and through the press, conducted
his first board meeting, and with technicians and staff
have wrestled new computers into submission. His work
as editor got a “jump start” when he filled in for Dave
Fleming who had been invited to represent the journal at
a major theological seminar in Rome about consecrated
life. e meeting was sponsored by the Union of
Superiors General and gathered some twenty superiors
general (including Adolfo Nicolás) and another thirty
theologians who studied and discussed major papers on
the topic. Mike came away with one of the articles in hand
for the next issue of Review. He was also able to meet with
former novices who are now in Rome pursuing doctoral
studies. He was happy to be invited to serve as homilist
for Ed O’Brien’s funeral and as eulogist for Dave Fleming’s
to participate as part of a public farewell to important
mentors. During more upbeat liturgical outings, he was
the celebrant for a large group of Sisters of St. Joseph who
were marking their golden jubilee, and homilist for
gathering faculty members of RSCJ schools as they
discussed “How their schools are Catholic.”
While Dan Daly claims that he has nothing of
particular interest to report, he is one of our community’s
unsung heroes because of the work he has done during
the past unusually snowy winter. Hardly has the snow or
ice ceased to fall from the sky (and sometimes before it
stops) when Dan is outside shoveling and scraping paths
so that the rest of us can get in and out as safely and
conveniently as possible. Understandably, he welcomes
the springtime when the precipitation is less likely to be
frozen.
Steve Schoenig is finding life as a professor “frantic but
fulfilling.” Although he enjoys introducing the glories and
nadirs of Western civilization to one class, and the
enthralling complexities of medieval canon law to
another, some of his favorite moments in the past few
months have been outside the classroom. To the
Men in special studies
in Europe met Doug
Marcouiller in London
for their manifestation
of conscience. (Left to
right) Doug Marcouiller,
Hung Pham, Scott
Hendrickson and Mark
Kramer.
19
undergrads he has given three tours of the Cathedral
Basilica of Saint Louis, “the closest you can come to the
old Hagia Sophia without leaving the country,” as he tells
them. In addition, he has taken a group of graduate
students to visit St. Meinrad’s Archabbey in southern
Indiana, “just like a medieval monastery—a self-sufficient
world perched on a hill, with a peasant village nestled at
its feet.”
e Medieval Latin Reading Group he runs for the
graduate students has been translating the student songs
called the Carmina Burana in preparation for a concert by
the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in May. A
week later he will be piling in a van with many of the
same students, headed for in Kalamazoo, Mich., for the
annual International Congress on Medieval Studies, the
world’s largest gathering of medievalists. He has had the
pleasure of serving on a dissertation committee for the
first time. Having been a grad student himself not long
ago, he laced his critique with encouragement and
clemency—except when it came to mistranslated Latin,
when he knew no mercy.
John Armstrong
Atlanta
Tampa
Jesuit Retreat Center at Ignatius House
Retreat house office building completed.
On April 11 staff members starting moving into their
new office building shown above. Construction on the
attachment to the retreat house along with updating
former offices that will become rooms for spiritual
direction and private rooms for the handicapped is still
underway. e addition to the building will be a
comfortable waiting room for those looking for spiritual
direction and confessions especially during retreats.
Community events
Staff members Ed Buvens, Edd Salazar and Al
Louapre have been involved in the weekly days of
reflection during the season of Lent. Al will be giving
the annual Holy Week retreat that starts on Wednesday
evening and ends with a brief gathering and lunch on
Holy Saturday. Ed Buvens has been taking lessons in
learning how to play bridge as his means of recreating.
e archdiocesan newspaper included a photo of Ed at
the March 24 rally at the State Capital that drew
thousands of people in opposition to proposed laws
Recent happenings
Weekend retreats occurred just about every weekend targeting undocumented immigrants. e following day
Edd was part of the 8 pm Mass and blessing on the first
during the Lenten season. But there were other special
night airing Atlanta’s Portuguese-language Web-radio
events. Every Wednesday there was a silent day of
reflection directed by a staff member consisting of three station. Aer the celebration he was asked to address the
talks and ending with Mass in mid-aernoon. During
listening audience and gave his blessing in his best
the final two weeks of Lent people can sign up for a 5- or Brazilian-accented Portuguese language. Edd continues
8-day directed retreat ending on Good Friday. Finally
his ministry in the archdiocese using his comfortable
the Lenten season ends with a Holy Week preached
“foreign” languages.
retreat starting on Wednesday evening with a brief
e community hosted Matthew Monnig (NEN)
prayer session ending the retreat at noon on Holy
who had been looking at the graduate program in New
Saturday.
Testament studies at Emory University prior to making
his decision on Duke University. Bill Harmless was
For the third year in a row Jose Fetzer from
Montserrat conducted the annual retreat in Spanish for invited to be part of the board at Emory University
men assisted by Edd Salazar. Niel Jarreau celebrated the taking part in reviewing a doctoral dissertation. Young10 a.m. Easter Sunday Mass to which are invited staff
Hoon Kim (KOR) has been a regular guest on his
members and members of the Board of Directors and
Monday day off at his parish. However, he will be
their families. Other Jesuits are concelebrants. A
leaving his parish work in May to begin studies in Rome
reception followed in the Retreat House dining room.
in the Fall.
Al Louapre
20
Jesuit High, Tampa
The principal-selection
committee included Jesuits
Richard Hermes (far left), Doug
Hypolite (third from left) and
Eric Ramirez (right). They
picked Barry Neuberger
(center), former principal at
Jesuit High New Orleans.
As we begin to bring the school year to a close, there are a
few moments of the year worth sharing. e highlight of
the year came from the grand opening of the newly built
baseball park. On a near perfect February night, faculty,
students, alumni, and fans came to celebrate the opening
of the Hyer Family Park. e evening began with a small
social for the benefactors of the park followed by a
moving opening ceremony including Richard Hermes
blessing the park, an introduction of the Hyer family, and
alumnus Brad Radke throwing out the first pitch. To
crown the evening, the Jesuit Tigers defeated their
archrival Tampa Catholic 4-3.
Doug Hypolite completed his work on the principalselection committee. Aer months of siing through
resumes and going through interviews, the search
committee, under Doug’s leadership, selected Barry
Neuberger. Barry comes to us from Our Lady of the Hills
Catholic High School in Kerrville, Texas, a school he
founded. He has served as principal since the school
opened its doors in 2001. He also served as principal at
Jesuit High School in New Orleans from 1995 – 2001. At
the end of the year, our school’s current principal, Joe
Sabin, will return to the classroom to share his gis of
algebra and geometry.
Randy Gibbens and Frank Brou have kept themselves
very busy this semester with retreat work. Randy works
tirelessly through this school year working with the
21
seniors to put together the Kairos retreat for the juniors.
e impact this retreat has on the students is clearly seen
in the joy the boys have. Frank continues to lead directed
retreats with the seniors and has plans for a preached
retreat for the school’s alumni later this month.
Eric Ramirez has been actively working with the Dads’
Club being the go-between for the school. Besides the
large sums of money donated to the school’s financial aid
fund from parking cars, the Dads’ have been active in the
Tampa community. is was most clearly seen as dads
spearheaded some of the oversight for this year’s Special
Olympics, the eleventh time we have participated. is is a
large part of the school’s service year as over 100 students
came out to participate. However, the Dads’ Club
highlight of the year will come later in April as they put
on the Men for Others Dinner, a special night for sons
and dads to come together. e night’s keynote speaker is
former University of Florida head football coach, Urban
Meyer.
is year the community will be saying goodbye to
two of its members: Bob Macke and Eric Ramirez. Both
will continue their formation in the fall. Bob will be
returning to his old stomping grounds in Boston
attending school at Boston College and Eric will travel to
the Eternal City to begin his theology studies at the
Gregorian.
Eric Ramirez
22
Spring Hill Jesuit
Anthony Wieck is busy winding down his fruitful
experience overseeing college dorm life for two years at
Spring Hill College, combined with teaching some
theology classes, and winding up a new mission to
Dallas Jesuit College Prep, where a dearth of priests
there necessitates his transfer. He continues to comoderate a discernment group at SHC with the wellseasoned Marvin Kitten, and represents the faculty/staff
team as best he can in various scrimmages (sometimes
skirmishes?) with students. In his spare time, Anthony
joins the retreat house circuit, bouncing around during
the year from Convent in Louisiana to Montserrat in
Dallas to White House in St. Louis.
In addition to his rector and campus ministry duties,
Ted Arroyo has been busy in his ministry as Alabama
Associate for the Jesuit Social Research Insitute (JSRI).
In that position he has collaborated with the USCCB’s
Justice for Immigrants higher education project. He also
facilitated the social analysis and theological reflection
for Spring Hill’s five immersion groups which traveled to
Belize, Ecuador, El Salvador, and Nicaragua during
spring break. Other projects include collaboration in
organizing a local south Alabama chapter of Arise
Alabama and the Arise Citizens' Policy Project and a
visit to Holy Family Cristo Rey High School in
Birmingham, one of the Cristo Rey network schools now
endorsed by the New Orleans Province.
He took part in a day-long collaborative training in
Birmingham in how to deal with Arizona copy-cat type
immigration legislation when it comes to Alabama. On
March 2 he gave testimony before Alabama State House
of Representatives about the need for comprehensive
immigration reform at the federal level and the
inadvisability of passing such Alabama legislation which
would criminalize Good Samaritans in the state of
Alabama. He met with Catholic social services workers in
Baldwin County Alabama about collaboration on JSRI’s
core issues of race, poverty and migration. He also
presented a paper “Contemplating the Katrina Whirlwind:
From ‘Apocalypse Now’ to Solidarity for the Common
Good” at the annual meeting of the Society for the
Scientific Study of Religion.
e Jesuit community hosted the AJCU Campus
Ministers for drinks before going to Wentzells for a
southern seafood feast.
Ferrell Blank has been helping to teach the safety
boating class to students on the Spring Hill campus. Recently Ferrell was asked to monitor channel 16 for
rescue 21 and to take notes for the Coast Guard Auxiliary.
Marvin Kitten
(Above) Anthony showing off his skills in the homecoming
volleyball game. (below) Tom Byrne '82, former student of
Bobby Rimes (left), endowed the campus ministry center in
the new student center in honor of Bobby. It is now
officially known as The Bobby Rimes SJ Center for
Campus Ministry.
new orleans
Nathan Halloran leading students in rosary walk
Jesuit High School
Celebrate the Arts
Hundreds of Jesuit High School parents, alumni, and
guests attended this year’s annual celebration and auction
in Traditions Courtyard. Representative foods from the
city’s best restaurants were served, and the Jesuit High
School Jazz Band provided entertainment. e annual
celebration, which this year had the theme “Celebrate the
Arts,” is one of Jesuit’s premiere events at which
benefactors can provide their financial support to help
Jesuit offset its operating expenses for the year.
St. Robert Bellarmine Convocation
on Science and Faith
Joseph Hill organized a day of presentations on
questions of faith and science on Saturday, Feb. 5. Over
seventy participants participated in the conference, which
explored how Sacred Scripture is not only compatible
with science but fosters it and offers it a transcendental
goal. Jesuit High School’s theology and science
departments cooperated in sponsoring the event. Nathan
Halloran presented a talk at the conference on the
historical question of Adam and Eve in Church
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documents. A number of Jesuits from
outside the community came to present
their papers. R.V. Baylon came from
Spring Hill College to speak on recent
advances in medicine and biotechnology
that have put the spotlight on the
relationship between science and religion.
Kevin Cormier, who is working on his
Ph.D. in chemistry at the University of
Texas Southwestern Medical Center,
discussed the challenge of the
supernatural to the closed-world system
of conservation of mass energy.
Annual Pro-Life Day
Jesuit High students and the Pro-Life Club took part
in activities commemorating Pro-Life Day on March 23.
Students from all grade levels prayed the rosary with
Nathan Halloran, who led them in a rosary walk to a
cross that was made up of blue and pink flags
representing the 4,000 boys and girls who lose their lives
to abortion every day in the United States. Nathan, who is
also moderator of Jesuit’s sodality, meets with his club
every ursday during the lunch hour for a short period
of meditation and prayer.
Preparing for Transition
Raymond Fitzgerald stopped working full-time in the
province office on March 15. He wishes to express his
gratitude to the Jesuits and lay staff of the school for their
personal and professional support. He has focused most
of his energies on preparation for transition to his new
ministry as president of Jesuit High School. He is
appreciative of the high degree of support from Jesuits
and our lay colleagues.
On the Mend and On the Move
Larry Huck completed chemo eight weeks
ago and is recovering well. He thanks all in
the province for their prayers and support.
He asks that you continue your prayer for
his continued recovery. Larry has been
meeting with the architects and engineers
preparing the blueprints for the renovation
of St. Charles College to go out to bid in
late May or early June. He will be leaving
the community soon and has already
started moving his belongings to Grand
Coteau. Larry will be completely moved by
May 7.
Larry attended the recent celebration and
auction with his parents Mary and Jimmy
Huck (who is director of maintenance at
Jesuit), Michele Benson Huck and her
husband Jim Huck, Jr. ’86 (Brother’s
brother), and Billy D’Aunoy is one of Jesuit’s
maintenance workers.
Nick Schiro on parade with ROTC Marching Band.
The Power Behind the Scenes
Billy Dardis has been working with parents
on a number of projects this semester. He
was active with the preparation, execution,
and clean-up of both the annual bazaar and
the celebration-auction. He has also been
present at alumni reunions and luncheons. Billy continues
to drive the bus for students going on retreats and days of
reflection, and manages the cheerleader tryouts and
training.
Fr. Nicholas Schiro Honored
Jesuit High School’s Marine Corp ROTC recognized
Nick Schiro for his years of service to the school. e
entire student community assembled for the annual
parade at which the ROTC Marching Band played the
Student Mass in Extraordinary Form
Bill Farge celebrated the 9:00 p.m. Loyola University
National Anthem, followed by principal Mr. Michael
Giambelluca’s address expressing his congratulations and student Mass in the Extraordinary Form on Sunday, April
thanks to Fr. Schiro for his dedication and Ignatian vision. 3 in Holy Name of Jesus Church on the campus of the
university. Chris Backes, a graduate of De Smet Jesuit
High School and Alex Hall, a graduate of St. Louis
University High School served as acolytes. e Mass was
sponsored by the Office of University Ministry.
Bill Farge
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25
Loyola Jesuit Community
Contemplative in Action
In February, Fred Kammer participated in a panel on
domestic poverty at the annual Catholic Social Ministries
Gathering in Washington, DC, hosted by the US Bishops'
Conference, Catholic Charities USA, Catholic Relief
Services, and 10 other national Catholic organizations. In
March Fred gave the keynote address on Child Poverty in
Louisiana to the 41st Annual Assembly of the Louisiana
Interchurch Conference, which includes all the Catholic
bishops of the state. He is also a new member of the
Board of Governors of the Tulane University Medical
School.
many parishioners Holy Name has. Lent offers a greater
opportunity for shriving. As part of the "Catholic Come
Home" program, Holy Name has increased its times for
confessions. en there is the opportunity to hear the
Holy Name School confessions. And as a way of thanking
the Brothers of the Sacred Heart for his high-school
education, Donald is once again dedicating time for
confessions at Brother Martin High School.
A Walk on the Wildes Side
Loyola President Kevin Wildes reports that in 2006
the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of
Teaching created a classification for colleges and
universities with an institutional focus on community
engagement. is year Loyola University New Orleans
was among the 115 U.S. colleges and universities for its
Preaching to the Choir
2010 Community Engagement Classification.
Paul Schott will preach the retreat to the retired and
e renovation of Loyola’s old library into the Tom
ailing Jesuits at Ignatius Residence during Holy Week.
Benson Jesuit Center progresses as the architectural firm,
Peter Rogers spoke to CODOFIL Rive Ouest on
Holly Smith, ponders the building’s future.
March 15 about growing up in the Teche Country of
Fieen faculty, staff and senior administrators are
Louisiana. He is also pleased to note that his study of
participating in national Jesuit programs this year. Four
Madame Bovary received a fine review in the Oxford
are participating in the Ignatian Colleagues program, five
University journal French Studies.
in the AJCU Leadership conference, five are engaging in
the Heartland Delta Faculty Conversations and in a new
See Jim Text
Catholic intellectual initiative called Collegium.
e Loyola New Orleans home page (www.loyno.edu)
Two new international immersion service programs
presently hosts a picture of former president James Carter
are being offered to Loyola faculty/ staff, including a
(no relation) contemplatively holding his cell phone with
program in Belize facilitated by LIM Director Dr. Tom
every intent of contributing $5.00 to Loyola New Orleans.
Ryan with 14 participants, and a program in Jamaica in
e accompanying text reads: “Ever since Fr. Carter
May in collaboration in the Alumni Association.
found out making a $5.00 donation to Loyola with an easy
A new collaboration the School of Nursing brought
20222 – we can’t stop him from texting. Help Loyola (and
faculty member Dr. Adrienne Bethancourt to Kingston,
Fr. Carter) reach its goal of 300 alumni <and alumnae?>
Jamaica, with students to work with children with special
donors in 30 days. Inveterate surfers can see pictures on
needs. is nursing program will be expanded to the
the Loyola New Orleans home page. us far 300 have
school’s graduate students, faculty and professional
texted.
alumni in the near future.
Finally, Kevin notes that two Jesuits, Mark Mossa and
Bonus Pastor
Mark ibodeaux headlined the 2011 Lenten Series:
As the archdiocesan ecumenical and interfaith officer,
'Sacred Words, Sacred Music.' e series also presented
Donald Hawkins has no badge, but he does have
the 'Shades of Praise: e New Orleans Interracial Gospel
responsibilities. He recently attended the 41st Louisiana
Choir' on March 23 and Loyola alumnus and recording
Interchurch Conference, where he had the pleasure of
Christian artist, David ies, on April 6
hearing Fred Kammer as the keynote speaker. e topic of
the conference was "Bread, Not Stones," caring for the
Carne Vale
impoverished children of this state. Overall, Louisiana
March brought the annual Mardi Gras madness to
ranks 49th among the states in caring for its children.
New Orleans. It brought a week’s vacation to exhausted
As pastor of Holy Name of Jesus Church, Donald is
Loyola students. Several of the younger Jesuits joined our
providing support for a new stewardship drive in the
students in yelling “throw me something, mister” at as
parish. One of its first missions is to find out exactly how
many parades as possible – even in less than clement
weather. A pack of the older “fathers” fled the festivities to
either Loyola’s villa in Waveland, Miss., or the province
villa in Perdido, Al. A few others sought other climes, but
a good time was had by all.
Come Follow Me
From March 3-10 Jerry Fagin guided 53 pilgrims on a
Magnificat-sponsored pilgrimage to the Holy Land. One
of the pilgrims had the privilege both of attending a Mass
celebrated on the alleged spot of the multiplication of the
loaves and of receiving the sacrament of Confirmation
there. e tour was enriched by the expertise of their
Christian Palestinian guide who hailed from Nazareth.
e group exulted in the experience and the Palestinians
were thankful for the American dollars.
Hospes Venit
April 6 the community hosted 26 members of Jesuit
university campus ministers. Our community guest
rooms are so few that they had to rent a local guest house.
We did put up a couple in the several Spartan cells which
mimic guest rooms. Ted Dziak hosted Antonio Sarmiento
(COL) Hugo Gomez (COL) and Estaban Ocampo from
the Jesuit university in Bogota, Columbia. He shared with
them Loyola’s efforts to maintain its Jesuit identity. e
new president of Detroit/Mercy, Antoine Garibaldi, a
native of New Orleans, enjoyed our hospitality and visited
with his friend, George Lundy.
Faith and Good Works
On March 14, Fred Kammer delivered the keynote
address to the 41st Annual Assembly of the Louisiana
Interchurch Conference meeting in Lafayette, Louisiana. Recruits
e following day the Assembly members adopted a
Loyola had hoped to get four Jesuits for its ministry in resolution committing the members to work
the coming year. As present it seems that only two will
collaboratively to improve the Louisiana Kids Count
join us: Sylvester Tan in the French department and Greg ranking as the 49th worst state for children. He gave a
Grovenberg in campus ministry. e community owes
morning of reflection to the Ignatius Chapel community
Ted Dziak a mountain of thanks for his work in bringing at Loyola on April 2, on the scriptural roots of the faith
these Jesuits to Loyola.
that does justice.
Leo Nicoll
journey, and George Murphy enjoyed an outing with
them at Perdido before Terry le. Ted Kalamaja went to
New arrivals. Tom Griffin has joined our community. Spring Hill to make his retreat.
Around the house. During Holy Week Paul Schott is
Jack Vessels is with us for several months; he got a checkup to prepare for open-heart surgery, then underwent the directing the community’s annual 8-day retreat. It begins
operation on April 6. Novice Alex Placke is living with us on the day before Palm Sunday and ends on Easter
Sunday. Jack Heaney enjoys playing the piano in the
for a few weeks while working with the poor at Café
mornings almost every day. For his daily exercise John
Reconcile and the Harry Tompson Center. A special
Puza walks to Our Lady of Wisdom Medical Center to
welcome to them all.
Illnesses. A virus attacked several of our members for a visit Fran Pistorius, then walks back. During the football
season Ken Buddendorff organized football pools for all
while. Fred Reynolds spent a few days in the hospital to
of the Saints’ games. He did the same for the finals of the
help his breathing problem; he is now on oxygen 24/7.
March Madness basketball tournament.
Because of his condition, he has been moved to the
Visitors. Among our delightful visitors was Hernando
Southwest Louisiana Veterans Home. We visit him
Ramirez, one of our retreat directors at the Grand Coteau
periodically.
Travels. e Appalachian trails called Terry Todd back, Spirituality Center, who spent a few days with us. Leo
Nicoll, our regular Saturday visitor, was also one of our
so Terry is taking a two-and-a-half-month “sabbatical”
and is once again making the long trek that he made with visiting Sunday Mass celebrants, as well as Peter Rogers,
companions some years ago, but this time alone. He le at Mike Bouzigard and Jerry Fagin. We welcome visiting
the beginning of March; we expect him back in mid-May. celebrants.
Claude Boudreaux
Vincent Orlando drove him to the beginning of his
Ignatius Residence
26
Friends gather for the first HarryFest
Immaculate Conception Parish
Nearly 1,000 people attended the April 3 block party
on Baronne Street in New Orleans to celebrate the life and
legacy of the late Harry Tompson. is first-time event,
dubbed “HarryFest” marked the 10th anniversary of
Harry’s death at the age of 64 and kicked off the 160th
anniversary celebration of the Church of the Immaculate
Conception, known to generations of New Orleanians as
“Jesuits’ Church.”
Tompson is remembered for many reasons, among
them his service as president of Jesuit High School (New
Orleans) and director of the Manresa Retreat House
(Convent, Louisiana). His lasting legacy, however, is a
thriving downtown parish, which he pastored during the
last years of his life, and three associated outreach
ministries.
In 1994 Tompson inherited a dying downtown parish
with a rundown church. He parlayed his many
friendships throughout the city in order to launch a
renovation and revitalization campaign. He would later
use these same connections to reach out to underserved
individuals in and around downtown New Orleans.
Aer completing a stunning renovation of the church
and filling its pews with admirers and devotees, Harry
opened a welcome center for the homeless immediately
next to the church. Its post-Katrina replacement is named
e Harry Tompson Center in his honor. Shortly
thereaer he co-founded what would later become Cafe
Reconcile, an innovative and now nationally recognized
vocational program that provides culinary and hospitality
industry job skills to at-risk youth. Finally Tompson
began to lay the foundation of a tuition-free school for
inner-city children. Although cancer took him before its
opening, the Good Shepherd Nativity Mission School is
today the realization of this dream.
ese initiatives may not stand out as much in postKatrina, post-Superbowl championship New Orleans as
they did in the late 1990’s. Today, for example, New
Orleans has elected officials of both races who enjoy
significant cross-racial support. Saints fan camaraderie
transcends ethnicity. But when Tompson invited his
mostly white and suburban flock (which had gathered
more for love of him than anything else) to engage in the
work of outreach and reconciliation to groups of almost
exclusively African-American origin, few were enthusiastic. ey engaged nonetheless – for love of Harry.
Stephen Sauer, the current pastor of Immaculate
Conception, is working to advance Tompson’s legacy of
service and to finish the renovation of the church. Most
pressing among the capital projects is the restoration of
the church’s 148 antique stained glass windows. Sauer
knew Tompson personally and also knew that a memorial
Mass and a family-oriented street festival would not only
please Harry, but also serve as the perfect kick-off for a
capital campaign. And thus with HarryFest Jesuit
Church’s Legacy Campaign was also begun.
“Harry’s most spectacular legacy is the community of
compassion and care that is Jesuit Church today,” says
Sauer. “It's not a perfect community. It's not tension-free.
But like New Orleans, it is evolving. ere is more racial
harmony, a greater sense of community stewardship, and
deeper hope – all signs of the Spirit.”
As Fr. Harry neared death, he would stand in the back
of church and plead with parishioners, warning them that
if his school or his homeless ministry or his cafe were to
fail, his entire life would be in vain. If the vibrant
community that gathers and ministers today on Baronne
Street is any indication, however, it is clear to all that Fr.
Tompson’s life was not in vain.
Stephen Sauer
27
28
Spirituality Center Grand Coteau
is venerable old building
that has sheltered Jesuits in their
first beginnings and in their
last years of life is scheduled for
a major renovation beginning in
August. is is not just a face-li
but an extensive interior makeover. e project is expected to
last a minimum of three years.
e current Province
calendar notes that the
cornerstone of the "new
college" was laid in May of 1909
and the building was completed
by October of the same year.
e first unforeseen
complication was the
breakdown in February of the
boiler that provided steam to
heat the house. at has meant
that our ministry of individually directed retreats will end
sooner than originally planned. e Spirituality Center
will be closed from early in November until the first part
of June. e vowed community will have to move out
during this time. Our destinations are presently being
negotiated. e area to the le as one enters the grounds via the
service road, known to most Jesuits as the "pine grove,"
has seen the last of the trees that gave the place its name
and managed to survive the several hurricanes of recent
years that destroyed many of its companions. St. erese
of Lisieux stands alone as the guardian of this grassy
space. Soon the area will be replanted with oaks and
magnolias and other flowering trees. A kind benefactor
will make this transformation happen. e many
azaleas planted by Mr. Johny Tate and Fr
Tom Jenniskens recently testified to their foreseight
in glorious fashion by their beautiful if all too brief
flowering. Andy Whitman, who joined the community last
August as a mathematician in residence, called attention
to his new home when he was honored on Jan. 26 with
the reception of the award Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice in
recognition of his 28 years of service with the Vatican
Observatory. e medal was pinned on Andy by Jose
Fuentes (ARU) the present director of the Observatory
and delegate of the Holy See. Fr. Provincial, Mark Lewis,
was present among the many guests who attended the
reception and dinner in Andy's honor. e impending renovations has necessitated the
cleaning out of the accumulated "stuff" that has cluttered
the building, not only the fourth floor of the central
section but also the old refectory and the one-time
laundry building. What was our "trash" has proved
another man's "treasure." Many of the items were put on
sale at the antique store across the highway in front of the
college. Our agreement with the proprietress was to share
half and half of whatever she sold. e total we have
realized aer three times participating in this "Seven Mile
Yard Sale" sponsored by the town has been $9,557, and
counting.
e five second-year novices have returned aer their
three-month long experiment and are regaling us with
accounts of their living and serving the poor in the bush
of Guyana and in ird World venues like Guatemala,
Honduras and Belize, not to mention wintering on the
snowy plains of South Dakota.
Tom Madden
belize
Melhado Hall Community
On April 1 the best we could say was, "ank God, at least
no one was killed." One of our workers, Leonardo, was on
an errand in our community's Tacoma pick-up a few
miles up the Northern Highway when he met head-on a
Chinese gentleman who was too eager to pass another
truck in a section of limited visibility. Unfortunately for
all, he didn't make it. Leonardo was le shaken a bit and
has lingering pains, but is basically OK. e Chinese man
was taken in an ambulance to the hospital, but released a
bit later. e crash made the national television news that
night, as it completely blocked traffic both ways for about
two hours on this main artery between the city and the
airport, and indeed to the whole north of the country.
Brian Christopher has been occupying his time with
an NGO he cofounded last July called the Centre for
Community Resource Development (CCRD), as a
response to the rising tide of violence in Belize City. e
organization focuses on economic development primarily
on the neighborhood level in order to help families-particularly women--find ways to make ends meet, as well
as to create employment opportunities for young men and
youth, who are easily seduced by gang life. During this
first year the organization has been focusing on the St.
Martin’s area: mapping neighborhood assets and skills
and bringing together groups of local leaders to find ways
to organize around those assets. In addition, CCRD has
several larger projects on the drawing
board, working closely with the
Organization of American States and other
local businesses and NGOs, to find ways to
create economic opportunity. Currently,
three programs are in the design phase: one,
to grow cotton and manufacture textiles
locally to help revitalize the local garment
industry; two, to create a technology
training program for at-risk youth
interested in finding alternative means of
making a living; and three, working with the
Belize Tourism Board to create a cafe
located within walking distance of the
tourist village to offer training to Belizeans
from disadvantaged communities, who are
interested
in finding a way into the
(top) Joe Damhorst (left) chats with Dan White who came
hospitality industry. While this work keeps Brian busy, he
to see how his novices were doing.
also finds time to assist at St. Martin de Porres parish and
Noel Alamilla and Jeff Harrison look from the left while Tim do chaplaincy work at the prison.
Thompson and Bill Snyders watch from the right as Harold
Teel examines the tiny gift his 'Kris Kringle' gave him
during our annual community Christmas party.
29
John Maher
texas
Sacred Heart Parish • El Paso
Jack Vessels has just undergone serious heart surgery.
e operation on April 6 was to replace his aorta valve as
well as to do a massive by-pass. Our 85-year-old brother
came out of these operations like a champion, and much
more quickly than the doctors expected. We ask all of you
to continue to pray for Jack’s full recovery.
Pete Zagone has been working in the finance office
this past year, and has made some fine contributions as to
office procedures, especially in the area of computerization. As Pete comes to the end of his four-year regency,
he can be proud of the many contributions he has made
in almost every area of our parish ministry: organizing
youth groups, teaching Confirmation class, church
building maintenance, maintenance of the automobiles,
supervision of the Pastoral Center, and support for the
Jesuit Volunteers in El Paso. Most recently, he has become
an accomplished journeyman electrician. When Pete
moves on from Sacred Heart this summer, we will miss
him dearly.
Louis Lambert recently began helping as part-time
chaplain at the White Sands Missile Range. Louie works
regularly on Mondays at omason Hospital, and
celebrates Mass at Santo Niño de Atorcha as well as Our
Lady of the Light Churches. He generously accepts
ministerial responsibilities anywhere he feels there is a
need. As a member of Sacred Heart’s staff, he also has a lot
of responsibilities here in the parish. How he finds the
time to be the house buyer, the gardener, the tree keeper,
as well as our “pigeon control” agent is little short of
amazing.
Sam Rosales, like Louie, responds to many, many
needs across the diocese. His weekly radio show on Radio
Guadalupana, the Catholic Radio Station located in
Ciudad Juarez, is becoming very popular. Many members
of the community as well as parish staff members tune
30
him in on Monday aernoons to hear his intellectual and
creative commentaries on the scriptures. Sam is perhaps
the most accomplished Scripture scholar in our
community.
Frank Renfroe continues to be a hard working pastoral
assistant, despite several setbacks in recent months due to
some challenging health issues. Because of this, he has
wisely backed off of prison ministry. However, he is
throwing himself even more into parish ministry, never
wasting that le-over time. He is just like Brother
Alfonsus Rodriguez, the first to go down to the door
when someone needs a priest, seeing Christ in whoever is
calling. Frank’s response is always: “Ya voy, Señor!” or
“Here I come, Lord.” His patience and his wisdom make
him perhaps the most sought aer counselor in the Jesuit
Community, whether it is in English or in Spanish.
Eddie Gros does all in his power, energies, and
creativity to keep Sacred Heart functioning. Fundraising,
improving the physical plant, and advocating for the
vulnerable members of the parish seem like extracurriculars but they are important to Sacred Heart’s
overall mission. is past year, Eddie has made the
infrastructure of the parish his number one priority,
recruiting new participants in all the ministries, holding
staff meetings for the first time in recent history, doing
job descriptions and performance evaluations for the
employees, organizing Lenten talks, as well as closely
accompanying every aspect of Sacred Heart’s religious
and sacramental instruction programs. He tries to be of
support to teachers, students, sacramental candidates and
parents. Eddie sees that attention to these areas is crucial
to overall parish health.
Finally, we were very honored that Paxti Alvarez
(CAS), International Secretary for Social Justice and
Ecology for the Society, visited us, accompanied by our
own Tom Green, National Coordinator of Social and
International Ministries at the Jesuit Conference. eir
visit this past February was a real boost to us in our
ministry here on the border.
Eddie Gros
Immaculate Conception
Parish
On the far western fringes of our province you will
find our apostolate and Jesuit community. Many good
things are happening, thanks be to God. Immaculate
Conception is a complex and busy place. The parish has
a large elementary and middle school (St. Mary’s with
560 students), a home for the elderly (also St. Mary’s)
and a home for pregnant teens who are in need/crisis
(Amadea Shelter). Ministries include sacramental, music,
hospitality, marriage preparation, catechetical in English
and Spanish, RCIA, seniors’, young adults’, social justice
and spiritual direction. On Sundays, the parish sponsors
a meal for persons who are homeless. This ministry has
brought many volunteers together, steady groups from
our parish and others.
Our community consists of Dick McGowan, Joe
Vanderholt, Leo Leise, Oren Key, Arturo Araujo (COL)
and Rafael Garcia. Arturo will be leaving us aer three
years in our community. He graduated with honors from
the University of New Mexico -- where he was also
teaching -- with a Masters of Fine Arts. On the weekends,
he has been assisting at San Martin de Porres, a large
parish with a large Hispanic population. Arturo will be a
professor of art at the University of San Francisco. We will
miss him.
Our buildings are old and so renovations are always
needed. It seems that renovation-upgrading of rest rooms
has been a central part of this. In the past three years, St.
31
Mary’s School has undergone major remodeling,
including the rest rooms, re-roofing, new air conditioning
and heating system, new windows, and other areas. As we
wind-down that capital campaign and project, we look
forward to much needed renovations in the church
building. ese will include new rest room facilities
(handicapped accessible) and bride’s room/multi-purpose
room and an outdoor plaza/gathering space. is
fundraiser is gathering momentum.
Dick, Joe and Oren, our semi-retired priests, along
with Leo and Rafael work hard in our busy downtown
parish. We have three daily masses and many confessions,
especially at noon. e archbishop has called us the
“confessors of the archdiocese.” At noon, we have two
priests hearing confessions at times for up to an hour. e
crowd at weekday noon mass and confessions is like a
community within a community. People come from
throughout the city but the main group is downtown
workers.
We look forward to the arrival of Patrick Hough who
will be ordained a priest this summer. He will join our
community and parish apostolate in the fall. Patrick will
undoubtedly get good “training” as to what it means to be
a priest at a Jesuit downtown parish.
anks to a lot of preliminary “legwork” by Mike
Shawver, our director of Young Adults and Social Justice
Ministries, a JVC community will be starting here in
Albuquerque in August. ere was much interest from
many agencies that work with persons who are poor,
homeless or immigrants. Catholic Charities, an
immigration law center, a day shelter for persons who are
homeless will benefit from the JV’s presence and work. As
a Jesuit parish, we hope to support them as needed and
possible.
Our community members stay active in many ways.
Our most “juvenile” member, Oren, a mere 90 in age,
attends a gym regularly and goes for walks around the
neighborhood. If I get to 90, I hope I can be in that good a
physical shape.
Rafael Garcia
colorado
fellow volunteers in this program to the mission of Regis
University. He also produced a short video that featured
Mike Sheeran and the teachers of these courses which was
sent to Kakuma refugee camp as part of a celebration of
A full eight months aer Bart Geger defended his
the opening of this program.
dissertation in Madrid, he finally received his doctoral
Mike Sheeran reports that initial plans have been
diploma in the mail. us ends a long “dark night of the
drawn up for a new university office building located on
soul” for the new rector, who was repeatedly accused by
Regis Blvd. (W. 50th Ave.) in one of the parking lots East
his brothers in community of having fabricated the story of Loyola Hall. Construction is scheduled to start in
of his defense in order to justify a return-visit to Spain.
October. When completed a year later, this building will
(For the record, Bart never explicitly denied that
hold most of the offices for the College for Professional
accusation.)
Studies (CPS – “adult programs”).
In addition to his regular duties in campus ministry,
Regis College and the Rueckert Hartman College of
Bart presently teaches a course on the communion of
Health Professions will greatly expand classroom and
saints. He spends much of his time giving talks on Jesuit
office space in the former CPS building. at building – at
spirituality and history to faculty, student, and alumni
the far North end of the campus -- was initially built by
groups at Regis University, Arrupe High School, and local Regis Jesuit High School as “the New High School.” e
parishes. Of the various topics that he presents, the one
two projects should relieve the shortage of classrooms
that generates the most attention is “What’s the Fuss?
caused by the recent growth of Regis College and
Why Jesuits Always Have Been Controversial.”
Rueckert Hartman College.
With the help of Jason Brauninger, Bart hosts a new
Gary Menard guided the Arrupe Robotics Team
discernment group at Regis called “Societas” for students through their second season. In March, the Roboconsidering a Jesuit vocation. And with the little free time Generals participated in the Colorado Regional Robotics
at his disposal, Bart tries to finish some articles for
Competition, hosted by Regis University. Technical
publication, one of which is a badly-needed exposé of
difficulties prevented the team from winning, but a good
Dan White’s attempts to convert the novices of Grand
time was had by all, especially Gary.
Coteau into fans of the Green Bay Packers.
Jason E. Brauninger
Don Highberger has been busy teaching online classes
to students in two African refugee camps. e course is
being taught to students in Kakuma and Dzaleka camps
as part of the Jesuit Commons project which is associated
with the Jesuit Refugees Service and Regis University. is
experience has given him a greater understanding of the
tremendous hardships of life in these camps and has been
edified by the work of the Jesuit Refugee Service
personnel working with his students. It has also confirms
his appreciation for the generosity and commitment of his
Regis University Jesuit
Community
32
gave the Regis University Alumni/ae Lenten Lecture and
preached a retreat at the Milford Jesuit Spiritual Center in
Ohio. ese outreach efforts have resulted in an increased
number of first time people who have signed up for
At the end of February, Ed Kinerk’s mother died at the age programs at the retreat house. Dick May keeps our
of 90. Ed was about to celebrate the Sunday 10:00 a.m.
finances accurate and up to date.
Mass when he received a phone call from his family in
In addition to weekend retreats, the Jesuit members of
Kansas City informing him that his mother was dying. As our staff have also given five days of prayer during
a family member held the phone to his mother’s ear, Ed
February, March and April. Gene Arthur has once again
was able to tell her how much he loved her and that he
tied down the most intriguing title: “Feeling Bad about
and the whole Sunday morning community would
Feeling Good.” At the end of March, an AJCU planning
remember her in the Mass that was just ready to begin.
task force used the retreat house for a two-day meeting.
When Ed finished the Mass and called his family, they
One participant remarked that Sacred Heart is the besttold him that his mother died right aer phone call
kept secret in the assistancy. During these last three
ended.
months, the retreat house also hosted a number of
Ed serves on a number of trustee boards: Arrupe
Protestant groups who have used our facilities for their
Jesuit High School, Escuela de Guadalupe Board, St.
programs. e most recent, the Methodist Academy of
Francis Mission Foundation Board, and the Chatfield
Spiritual Formation, filled every available room in the
Reservoir Water Board. Vince Hovley is a board member retreat house.
for Fr. Woody’s Haven of Hope, which provides food,
While the gray fox has returned, our deer continue to
shelter, clothing, counseling, rehabilitation and hygienic
be our greatest attraction. Know that you are always
services to the homeless and indigent of the Denver
welcome at Sacred Heart, either for a retreat or a visit.
metro area. Both Ed and Vince help periodically with
Dick Dunphy
weekend Masses at local parishes. Dick Dunphy continues
his work of giving parish missions in the area. Dick also
Sacred Heart Jesuit
Retreat House
33
Xavier Jesuit Center
Regis Jesuit High
is year marked the 50th anniversary of Bill Miller's
being active at Regis University. A special celebration had
been planned for April 8. Events included an annual
lecture, the naming of the Chemistry floor and a large
reception, all in his honor. On Sunday morning, March
27, while getting ready to celebrate Mass at St. William's
Parish in Fort Lupton, Colorado, Bill experienced such
intense pain that an ambulance was called to rush him to
the emergency room. He ended up at St. Anthony Central
Hospital in Denver and was diagnosed with severe blood
clots in his le leg. Tests revealed that his veins were in
very bad shape. When he was put on blood thinners, he
started hemorrhaging very severely, and they discovered a
dissection of the aorta. Bill came very close to dying.
Gradually, the blood began to find its way to his le foot
and the aorta healed. On ursday, April 7, Bill was
discharged from the hospital, though still in a very
weakened condition. When Regis was notified of Bill's
hospitalization and condition, the special celebration for
him was postponed to a later date when he would be able
to attend and enjoy it. When Regis University's Board of Trustees met April
7-8, we were able to welcome a number of Jesuits who
were here for that meeting: Andy Alexander (WIS); Kevin
Cullen; Vern Heinsz; Joe Marina (NYK); and Bob Niehoff
(ORE). Kevin and Bob stayed over for the HeartlandDelta Conference, and were joined by Bob Weiss. Two
weeks earlier, Joe Feeney (MAR) stayed with us while
attending the Annual Gerard Manley Hopkins
Conference at Regis University. Tom Jost travelled to St. Louis for the Superiors'
Meetings, March 18-19, and stayed over to participate in
Don Schlichter's three-day retreat for the men in the
Pavilion. Tom was delighted to celebrate the Eucharist in
the Pavilion on March 23. Jack Daly drove out to San Diego to visit his sister
during the first two weeks of March. He had good weather
and a good time. Curt Van Del, on the advice of his
doctors, is planning to move to St. Louis in the middle of
May. We will miss having Curt as part of our community. e warming weather and greening lawns remind us
that we are approaching Holy Week and the beautiful
celebrations of the Triduum. For some it means more
opportunities to get outside and exercise and play golf.
Springtime is always welcome here on the slopes of the
Rockies.
Spring is here. In the last few weeks, the weather in
Colorado has been becoming warmer and snow is
melting on the Rocky Mountain caps. With the changes in
nature, our community sadly says bye for a temporary
departure of Chris Pinne. Aer his third spinal surgery
three months ago, Chris is now paralytic. He will be at
Jesuit Hall in St. Louis for his recuperation and therapy
programs. Although Chris has not received much good
news in the last few months, he has been a source of
inspiration for all who know him. In one interview by the
students, Chris disclosed to them that he has been
praying using Fr. Arrupe’s famous prayer in acceptance
the will of God.
On Ash Wednesday, the entire school body was
moved when they saw Chris in a wheel-chair to attend the
Mass with them. Later, as Chris began his homily, he had
to take a break by laying out on his wheel-chair. Again,
more than a thousand young men and women,
respectfully kept silence for more than two minutes to
watch the priest whom they love now laying back in the
wheel chair in front of the altar. God has used Chris in a
different way to bring the Good News to our students.
We miss him, but we know that he will be in better care at
Jesuit Hall.
is spring semester, RJHS earned several titles. Our
boys’ basket-ball team won its third straight State
Championship while the girls’ team came in second. Our
swimming team continues to be ranked at the top of the
state. Up in the YMCA camp in the Rocky Mountain
park, our students proved that they are great Latin
scholars by winning the state title. And our robotic team,
a brand new club of this year, brought home the trophies
from the Highest Rookie and All Star Robotic Competition award from the Denver Regional competition.
Our school also welcomed Bailint Nagy, a young Jesuit
from the Hungarian province who came to study our
school pastoral program. It is a blessing to have him with
us for a few days. We learned that the Society now has a
brand new co-ed boarding high school that currently
provides education for around 700 poor students in the
northwest region of Hungary. We are hoping that his visit
is the first step for a future brotherhood between the two
schools.
Tom Jost
34
Dong Vo
35
Loyola Parish
Eustace Sequeira (ZAM) writes that closing Loyola
School was a painful decision which caused a lot of grief.
All the good intentions were not enough. Loyola staff
and students all received priority placing in other
Catholic schools. e future use of the buildings in the
coming year is still subject to discussion. ere are
individuals who wish to rent space there, but the parish
would like to have the building aer a year or two when
we intend using it for education once again.
Loyola Parish celebrated Lent with talks by speakers
on various topics including grief, aspiring sages, the
family, Belize Mission and Ignatian spirituality. e first
two topics were presented by parishioners, the next by
Fr. Ken Leone of the Denver Archdiocese and the last
two by Leo Weber and Steve Yavorsky. ese talks have
helped bond the parishioners who were able to celebrate
Leo Weber’s 85th birthday aer his talk on Belize.
Joseph Tuoc Nguyen started his first mission of the
year of 2011 with a series of retreats and parish missions
for Vietnamese Catholics in Japan. He was invited there
by Cao Son an (VIE), a Vietnamese-Japanese Jesuit.
Since there are not many religious vocations in Japan,
Cao Son an has been helping the bishops and
religious orders in Japan to bring young religious men
and women from Vietnam to Japan.
Lent is a busy season for Joe Tuoc. He began the first
morning of his Lenten time in the French Quarter at
Cafe Du Monde followed by ten straight nights of parish
mission for three Vietnamese Catholic parishes in the
New Orleans area. Lent is also the crawfish season down
there, and Joe loves crawfish. In mid-April Joe stopped by
Denver for one day to do laundry, then flew to Toronto,
then to Southern California for Palm Sunday. He is in
Denver for Holy Week and Easter break. Joe turned 60 on
April 19 but was on the road on that momentous day.
Leo Weber figures the only thing he did differently
from his ordinary routine was to give one of the Lenten
Reflection talks at Loyola Parish, as mentioned above. He
was asked to talk about memories and stories of his years
in Belize, and remembered enough to not have to make
anything up. He finds that short-term memory is less
dependable than long term memory. Leo gave his talk
exactly one week before his 85th birthday. e gathered
participants surprised him with a birthday cake at the
reception in Brady Hall.
Steve Yavorsky’s routine has been as usual. Both the
Ignatian Spirituality Program and the Ignatian Spirituality
Project continue. By mid-May the LightWorks retreat will
be concluded for this year, as well as the Spiritual
Exercises in Everyday Life, and classes on the Exercises.
e fourth retreat for homeless women took place on
Palm Sunday weekend.
Steve Yavorsky
Kansas City
Dan White (above) and Alex Placke (above right) show their enthusiasm for the hospitality of Rockhursts’ Jesuits.
Rockhurst Jesuit Community
e Rockhurst Jesuit Community began the new year
by welcoming Mark ibodeaux, Dan White and the firstyear novices from Grand Coteau, La. Mark, Dan and the
novices traveled north for a six-week group experiment in
nearby Kansas City, Kan. We enjoyed hosting them as our
guests on various occasions, including for the annual
Rockhurst Jesuit Community Super Bowl party. In
addition to Dan White and the novices, Kansas City
visitors Jeff Putthoff and Brian Christopher joined us.
Great company, good food, an exciting game and related
contests, frivolity and overall hijinks ensued. We look
forward to hosting next year’s novices when they return
to Kansas City for their experiment in January 2012.
We were sad to bid farewell and God’s blessings to Bill
LaCroix this semester. Bill has suffered some health
problems in the last several months, and so, in
consultation with Bill Oulvey and the Province, was
missioned to the Province infirmary in St. Louis. Before
leaving, the community hosted a community celebration
in Bill’s honor. In addition, Bill was feted by a few
members from the Rockhurst University philosophy
department. We miss Bill and wish him God’s blessings as
he transitions to the infirmary.
Rockhurst High School President Terry Baum (CHD)
reports that the high school may well welcome as many of
315 students next August into its Class of 2015. is will
36
represent the largest freshman class in the school’s history.
e school administration had hoped to enroll 285 and
accepted students with the hope that the yield rate would
mirror prior years (roughly 82-84%). at was blown out
of the water with a yield rate greater than 92%.
Terry is excited that Rockhurst High School will install
solar panels on both the performance gym roof and the
Loyola Center roof in early May. Adam Blake, RHS ’03,
who purchased controlling interest in a Kansas City solar
energy provider, made a generous gi to his alma mater
to make the project feasible for the high school. e solar
panels will generate a relatively modest 2-3% of the
school’s electricity needs, but it is a beginning. In the
future, it is hoped that the school could generate 20% of
its power needs using alternative sources of energy, while
also raising students’ awareness about renewable energy
efforts.
As a lover of opera, Terry embraced with reverent
gusto a new partnership between Rockhurst High and the
Lyric Opera of Kansas City. e Opera is celebrating the
twentieth anniversary of its educational outreach
program in mid-January, 2012, with the world premiere
of a family opera based on Lois Lowry’s book, e Giver.
e premiere will take place in RHS’s Rose eatre. It is
hoped that some Rockhurst students will be in the cast, as
well as provide technical support to the production.
37
Jim Blumeyer remains busy with his duties at the
Ignatian Spirituality Center. He has several lay directors of
the 19th annotation retreat whom he oversees and meets
with regularly. He also ministers at St. Francis Xavier
Parish. In addition, he has traveled to offer weekend
retreats this year at the White House in St. Louis, as well
as the Montserrat retreat house in Lake Dallas, Texas, and
the Manresa House of Retreats in Convent, La.
Marty Bredeck reports that in this last year of his
teaching full-time, his courses continue to be fully
enrolled: Christianity I: Foundations; Sacraments;
Christianity in Film. He hopes that when he begins
teaching one course per semester as an adjunct the
enrollments hold steady. Marty will continue ordering
books for the Greenlease Library and shopping for
Belfonte Yogurt for the Jesuit community.
In his second year of regency, Max Buehler has
continued teaching freshman Spanish and sophomore
theology at Rockhurst High School. He has been coaching
the school’s cross country and track teams, while also
taking part in retreats with the junior and senior classes.
Max has been working on a project involving a teacherexchange with the chosen people of the Hyrum Brandt
Hebrew Academy in Kansas City and had a lot of fun
traveling to New York City with one of the Alum Service
Corps volunteers and seeing the city for the first time.
Another enjoyable past time of his has been working on
new sweater designs and playing trivia at a local
establishment with other teachers from the high school.
Luke Byrne is completing his 12th year as chaplain for
the Rockhurst University athletic teams. From early
November thru late February he works primarily with the
men’s and women’s basketball teams. is year, the men’s
team qualified for their conference tourney, but lost in the
first round to the eventual national champion. e
women’s team had greater difficulty winning and needed
all the spiritual solace that Luke could provide them. In
early March, the Rockhurst University baseball and
soball teams made their annual Spring Break trips for
games in warmer climates. e women’s team traveled for
games in Arizona, while the men’s team traveled to the
Sunshine state. It was a hard decision, but the chaplain
decided that the men’s team needed his assistance for
their games in Tampa. Luke did a great deal of "supply"
work at nearby schools and parishes during the first
quarter of 2011, while also making monthly trips to
Oklahoma City, where he serves as spiritual director for
clergy. He continues to assist Notre Dame de Sion Lower
School with their all-school masses’.
Kevin Cullen continues as the Vice President for
Mission and Ministry at Rockhurst University. Kevin has
been working with committees involved in the hiring of
faculty and administrators, while also offering retreats
and workshops for faculty and staff. In addition, Kevin
has offered retreats and days of reflection for a couple
women’s religious congregations in Leavenworth and St.
Paul, MN. He travels regularly to Denver to serve on the
Regis University Board of Trustees.
Tom Curran, OSFS, reports on significant campus
improvements at Rockhurst University, beginning with
the Rockhurst University North Parking Garage. A
groundbreaking ceremony was held on March 4 and
construction of the parking garage has already begun. e
garage construction launches the first phase of the master
plan, which will guide campus improvements for
approximately the next twenty years. e garage must be
built first so that a new academic building and residence
hall can be built on the site of current parking on the
south side of the Kinerk Commons (quadrangle).
e facility will add 10,000 square-feet of space for
retail and services to Troost Avenue. Potential tenants will
be sought to benefit the campus community and
community at-large, including a health clinic and a small
convenience store. e garage design, including
environmentally friendly green walls and storefronts
facing Troost, was developed in partnership with
neighborhood leaders over the course of many planning
sessions.
As a fully-licensed nurse practitioner, Dirk Dunfee is
busy during the week where he cares for lots of needy
patients at the Southwest Boulevard Family Health Care
Clinic in Kansas City, Kan. He reports that he is “very
proud to be there. e need is overwhelming and will get
worse,” presumably in light of the downturn in the
economy. Dirk is very happy also to be preaching
regularly on the weekends at St. Francis Xavier (Fish)
Church where he has many fans of his prophetic
preaching style.
Ian Gibbons serves as the director of the pastoral
office at Rockhurst High School. In addition to his
responsibilities as pastoral director, he teaches a section of
sophomore scripture. He attended a JSEA meeting in
Tampa, Fla., for directors of community service, served
on an RHS search committee for a new assistant principal
for student affairs, led a TEC retreat for the Kansas City,
Kansas, archdiocese, and has been serving as the Catholic
chaplain for visiting NFL teams. Last summer Ian
completed a Masters Degree in Catholic secondary
education leadership at the University of San Francisco.
38
Gregg Grovenburg works in the department of
campus ministry at the university where he serves in
various capacities. In addition to his involvement on
campus, Gregg has offered supply help at a variety of
parishes in metro Kansas City. He is a loyal fan of
Rockhurst High athletics and frequently attends high
school sports events.
Vern Heinz works with Jim Blumeyer at the Ignatian
Spirituality Center, assisting directors of the Nineteenth
Annotation retreat to whom he offers talks on the
Exercises. Vern also has several directees with whom he
meets regularly. He travels regularly to Denver where he
serves on the Regis University Board of Trustees.
Glenn Mueller continues as sacramental minister at
Guardian Angels in Westport. e Guardian Angels
‘Green Team’ is offering a number of creative,
environmental projects as part of the parish’s initiative to
raise environmental awareness. e Guardian Angels
men's group will sponsor its second annual Trivia Night.
Glenn reports proudly that the parish Social Outreach
Committee organized a collection of beds and bedding
for some of the 5,000 children in our metro area. In
addition, parishioners prepared over 100 boxes of
personal care items for women and children who in order
to escape domestic abuse must move into shelters.
In his last year of full-time teaching, Lou Oldani is
offering 20th-Century U.S. Drama, Studies in the English
Novel, World Literature Since the 16th Century, and
College Composition I and II. Next year he expects to
continue teaching the composition courses as well as
serving as moderator of the St. omas More Book Club
of Rockhurst’s Library Guild members.
Marty Bredeck and Lou Oldani were respectively
informed by Marquis Who’s Who that each has passed the
15-year milestone as a Marquis Who’s Who listee.
Bill Oulvey has been busy as the new Rockhurst Jesuit
Community rector as of October 1, 2011. For the most
part, Bill has been occupied with travelling, supervising
house improvements and welcoming visitors. Bill has
been installed as a member of both the Rockhurst High
and Rockhurst University Boards of Trustees. is
semester Bill traveled to Seattle University for a Higher
Education Rectors’ Organization (HEROs) meeting, as
well as visited Strake Jesuit in Houston for the High
School Leadership Group (HSLG) meeting. Bill oversaw
the installation of expanded electrical service to the
community, the rehabbing of several house bathrooms
and some improvements to the chapel, including track
lighting and refurbishment of the chapel chairs.
In March, Bill hosted his friend, Lloyd Baugh (CDA),
a Jesuit from the English Canadian Province who is
Lloyd Baugh (CDA, far right) visited Rockhurst to give a
presentation on South African film.
enjoying a sabbatical from the Gregorian University
where he has taught for over two decades. Lloyd gave a
presentation on a South African film, Son of God, which
he uses in his course at the Gregorian on the depictions of
Christ in film. Bill facilitated Dave Suwalsky’s
presentation on the province finances.
Bill Sheahan teaches junior English and sophomore
scripture at Rockhurst High. In addition, he assists with
the school’s pastoral needs, including the Kairos retreat
program. He served as the Adult Director on the
February Kairos, one that was delayed one week due to
severe weather. He also assisted for the second year in a
row as the varsity soccer team chaplain and was overjoyed
with the team when they won the 2011 Missouri Class 3
soccer championship last fall. Bill enjoyed accompanying
Ian Gibbons and meeting colleagues involved in
community service activities at the JSEA Service
Directors’ conference in Tampa, FL, in March.
John Vowells is enjoying his first year as pastor to the
flock at St. Francis Xavier. Lately, he is busy with Lenten
activities, including penance services, weekly Stations of
the Cross, as well as the parish’s annual Lenten Soup ‘N
Spirituality speaker series each Wednesday night.
Jake Wheeler oversees chemistry lab sessions and
assists the admissions office with interviews for
prospective students, including President’s Scholarship
Award interviews.
Jim White serves Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kansas
by covering Masses, confessions and other sacramental
duties. Jim welcomes visitors to his house on the edge of
the prairie.
Bill Sheehan
39
KENYA
Bob White, Nairobi
Aer four years helping St. Augustine
University of Tanzania grow from 1,000 to
more than 20,000 students, I moved to
Nairobi, Kenya, at the provincial’s request to
help Hekima College grow toward
university status. e East African Province
is very much in expansion, opening high
schools in the capital of Tanzania, in the
new country of Southern Sudan and in
northern Uganda once ravaged by the
Lord’s Resistance Army. Some of you may
remember Tony Wach (WIS) and Jim
Strzok (WIS) who are major players in
starting “Campion Jesuit College” in
northern Uganda.
So now am teaching communication for
conflict resolution in Hekima College’s MA program in
Peace Studies and International Relations. e “Peace
Institute” is located in a beautiful new building a few
blocks away from the school of theology. It is one of the
first degree programs in peace studies in Africa and its
graduates work all over Africa, many now starting BA and
other programs in peace studies. One of my MA
supervisees will go up to Sudan in a few months to start a
BA in peace studies in the new Catholic University of
Sudan and another hopes to start a Peace Institute in
genocide-torn Burundi. e big job is making the Peace
Institute a major research center with a PhD; this requires
developing the library and on-line facilities, and I have to
say the Lord has blessed us in that. In the move toward
university status, I have been given the task of developing
a curriculum for a degree program in development in
communications. Here in Africa a big “if ” hangs over
everything. So let’s see what will happen.
e university system here in Nairobi is expanding at
break-neck speed—faster than they have the teaching
personnel to do the job—and within months of my arrival
here, the University of Nairobi came asking for help to
coordinate their new PhD program in communications.
Likewise, the director of the PhD program in
communications at Daystar University asked for help
there. So evenings are spent conducting seminars with
hopeful PhD candidates—teachers most of them from the
10-12 BA programs in communications around Nairobi.
I am happy to get back to a pleasant Jesuit community;
Loyola House is the visitors community and province
headquarters. So everybody in the province and many
from other parts of the world are passing through. It is
great to get to know the people of this growing province.
For all of this, the support of your prayers is much
appreciated.
Bob White
Brian Van Hove admires the calligraphy
of the pontifical blessing parchment
received from Rome for the dedication
of the new altar and renovated
sanctuary of St. Mary's University Parish
in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, on April 10.
The Pastor is William F. Prospero (WIS).
The renovation took over one year to
complete. The original relics of Saints
Auctus and Vigilantis from the 1959 altar
were installed by the bishop. Prospero
is a native of Milwaukee and Van Hove is
a native of Superior, Wisconsin. Mt.
Pleasant is the parish for Central
ichigan University in the
Saginaw Diocese.
Walt McCauley enjoyed
the full measure of the
years that the Lord
gifted him. Joe Tetlow
came up from Dallas to
preach at his funeral in
St. Louis and John
Armstrong, Walt’s third
cousin, gave the eulogy.
40

layout Crossroads April 2011 - New York Province Society of Jesus

Transcription

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