Jesuits and Friends A faith that does justice Spring 2011 Issue 78
Youth ministry in Guyana
PL EA gr A SE
Life on the other side in Zambia
at ll TA ef d K ul on E ly a A re tio C ce ns OP iv Y ed
Wimbledon College: men and women for others
“The Church needs you, relies on you and continues to turn to you with trust, particularly to reach those physical and spiritual places which others do not reach or have difficulty in reaching.” Pope Benedict XVI – pictured here with Father General, Adolfo Nicolás SJ. To find out more about life as a Jesuit priest or brother, contact Father Matthew Power SJ: 0151 426 4137, matthew.power@jesuits.net, www.jesuitvocations.org.uk
Have you or someone you know considered life as a Jesuit priest or brother? For more information, contact: BRITAIN – Fr Matthew Power SJ Loyola Hall, Warrington Road, Prescot L35 6NZ Tel: + 44 (0)151 426 4137, matthew.power@jesuits.net GUYANA – Fr Edwin Thadheu SJ Jesuit Residence, PO Box 10720, Georgetown, Guyana Tel: + 592 22 67461, getedwinsj@gmail.com SOUTH AFRICA – Fr Russell Pollitt SJ Holy Trinity, PO Box 31087, Johannesburg 2017, South Africa, Tel: + 27 (0)11 339 2826, rp@sj.org.za Or visit www.jesuitvocations.org.uk
Following interest generated by the BBC Two series “The Big Silence”, Christian Life Community is offering two retreat experiences during 2011. These will be facilitated by trained retreat guides, and will take place at the Jesuit House in Barmouth on the beautiful Welsh coast. The first retreat, from 7-14 May 2011, will be a straightforward individually guided retreat (IGR) with a daily Eucharist and a daily meeting with your prayer guide and the option of small group sharing. Silence will be maintained throughout the retreat outside of the optional sharing time. The second retreat is from 27 August - 3 September 2011 and is entitled: “A Journey into Prayer”. The first three days will be an opportunity for building community, and exploring different ways of praying. The remainder of the week will be for an individually guided retreat experience in silence. The cost for each retreat is £250. For further details and an application form please contact: Pat Fitzpatrick Tel: 01256398717 Email: patfitz60@btinternet.com
Contents
Spring 2011 Issue 78
Jesuits and Friends is published three times a year by the British Province of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), in association with JM. Tim Curtis SJ Executive Editor Ged Clapson
Front Cover – Young Amerindians playing volleyball as part of the Amerindian Games. Photo: James Broscombe
Editor Editorial group: Denis Blackledge SJ James Conway SJ
Young members of the Search and Choice programme in Guyana (see page 10)
Alan Fernandes James Potter Siobhan Totman
Editorial
God is young at heart
Tim Curtis SJ
Shola Adegoroye looks ahead
The soup kitchen
to Magis11 in Madrid
A human drama of aspiration and hardship Graphic Design:
Rigobert Minani SJ
4 Run, Pedal or Cheer
Life on the Other Side Ian Curtis www.firstsightgraphics.com
the London Marathon and Nightriders
David Shorten and his experience as a JMV volunteer in Zambia
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Printed in the UK by
Bits and Pieces
The Magazine Printing Company
A Journey in Faith
www.magprint.co.uk
Parishioners from Jesuit parishes prepare for the Easter Vigil with hope and excitement
News and events from around the province
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To protect our environment, papers used in this publication are produced by mills that promote sustainably managed forests and
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Apostleship of Prayer Guyana Youth search and make choice Edwin Thadheu SJ
All my hope on God is founded 10
Michael Beattie SJ
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Recent publications
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utilise Elementary Chlorine Free process to produce fully recyclable
Wimbledon College
material in accordance with an
Helping develop men and women
Environmental Management
for others - James Potter
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System conforming with BS EN ISO 14001:2004.
The Struggle continues in Zimbabwe Makumborgenga Ignatius SJ Editorial office: 11 Edge Hill London SW19 4LR Tel: 020 8946 0466 Email: director@gbjm.org
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Obituaries and those benefactors who have died recently
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Donhead Revisited Ashleigh Callow speaks to two members of staff recently returned from Zimbabwe
15 How you can help
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From the Editor... was lucky enough to do my tertianship (the final part of a Jesuit’s training) in Chile. The long retreat (30 days of prayer and silence) was timed to finish with the celebration of Easter. I don’t know if it was just because I was in silence for these days, but I was much more aware than usual of the weather conditions as the days of the retreat sped by. Now Santiago in Chile is in the southern hemisphere, about as far south of the equator as Libya is north of the equator. This means that by April autumn is well advanced and winter is fast approaching. For me it was a strange experience to celebrate the resurrection of Christ as the trees were shedding their leaves and as the countryside seemed to be dying. The English word “Lent” came about because in this season the days were getting longer. The word “Easter” derives from “the goddess of the dawn” and Easter eggs predate the Christian reinterpretation of Christ bursting forth from his tomb. It seems that everything is loaded in favour of those who celebrate these holy seasons while the world is reawakening and new life is to be seen everywhere. However, I am mindful that some of you reading these words are welcoming the risen Lord as the days get shorter and as the world seems to be shutting down. The cycles of death and rebirth that we find in the seasons and in our liturgical cycle are replicated in the rhythms of living and dying that we experience on a day to day basis in our own lives. One must follow the other. There is no Easter joy without the pain of the road to Calvary. Perhaps it is true to say that our commitment is even more precious when things are tough than when we are filled with Christ’s peace. As I write we are hearing about the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and the troubles in North Africa and the Middle East. Fortunately, we have Jesuits on the ground in Japan and we are able to channel help for reconstruction through them. As the community of those who believe in the resurrection, we can live our faith by helping others who are struggling to recover from natural and man-made disasters. I hope you enjoy reading these articles as much as I have. Let us all pray that the grace of the risen Lord will give us all renewed vigour and strength.
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The soup kitchen: a human drama of aspiration and hardship By Rigobert Minani SJ from the Central Africa Province, currently working at the Jesuit Institute South Africa
ach Monday evening, the Saint Vincent de Paul Association at Holy Trinity parish in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, organizes the distribution of soup to around 100 people. Each week it is the same ritual: men in the majority, with two or three women among them, stand in line; they are silent, disciplined, awaiting their turn to receive a piece of bread and a bowl of soup. Once served, they quickly consume their soup, and devour their piece of bread which is given to them by a team of volunteers. This form of charity is common enough in many places in Johannesburg. It involves a significant number of people. We should therefore try to understand the people who benefit from this good work and why they come. The recipients of this service are people whom we would normally call ‘homeless’. Actually they do have a home from which they originate. If they have risked coming to live in the condition of the ‘homeless,’ it is certainly for a very serious reason. Nobody would willingly choose to leave their home town to live on the street, in subhuman conditions, unless forced to do so. It’s a form of ‘forced migration’. Exploring where they come from obliges us to go well beneath surface appearances. For behind each face we
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meet in the ‘soup kitchen’ is a human drama of aspiration and hardship. These people left ‘their home’ for various reasons. Some left to look for a job; these are qualified economic migrants. Others left because of war: these are called refugees. Others fled natural disasters, drought, floods and such like. In fact a ‘soup kitchen’ is only the tip of the iceberg of a much vaster phenomenon. It is the visible, immediate manifestation of our changing world order. Indeed we are living in times of great social, economic and political changes. These changes face us with ethical, cultural and environmental problems that often degenerate into conflicts which destabilize communities and force them out of their homes. We live in a globalized, highly interdependent world, which creates global interconnections, symbolized by the Internet. And at the heart of this globalized world are paradoxes and deep differences: ‘We aspire to peace, but we make war. The world
spreads out wealth, but the number of poor people continues to increase. We speak about a global world, but more and more communities barricade themselves in. We communicate at the speed of the light and at the same time thousands of people feel isolated and excluded.’ (Jesuit General Congregation 35).
Seen in terms of this growing paradox, migration, symbolized for us in the people at the soup kitchen, appears as a more and more globalized phenomenon and one which requires us to ask deeper questions and seek appropriate responses, worked out at the local, national and international level.
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Life on the Other Side from David Shorten a JMV Volunteer
Let me tell you a story. It’s late afternoon, about 5pm but the temperature still feels like 25 degrees. You are seated in the back of a 4X4 truck hanging on to your seat for dear life as the car bounces over rutted dirt road, which pass as main
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roads in these parts. Occasionally, the front wheels plunge into a puddle big enough for a crocodile to live in. The resulting waves disturb the mirrored surface and the brown reflection of the clear blue sky disappears as water crashes over the lip of the puddle, sending an occasional frog leaping for safety. Despite all this,
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there is happy chatter washing over you; it’s in a language you can’t understand but unlike this morning, you now feel like part of the group through the days shared experiences and so it no longer feels isolating. Your companions are a group of trainee nurses and you are returning from a day spent helping HIV+
Spectators watch the World Aids Day parade pass by
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Children enjoy the safe, clean and tasty drinking water from their new borehole
people in a community outreach programme. As you bounce, you attempt to pop freshly picked fruits into your mouth. The fruit is small, has a brown mottled skin and is a gift from the people you have just been treating. You have never seen a fruit like it and the flesh is so sweet that you can feel a sugar high coming on. You feel unbelievably happy; a simple happiness you had forgotten existed and think to yourself, this is Africa! This is the warmth you feel in your heart, not because you’ve made a difference (even though you have) but because you and the people you are with are trying to change things for the better, for people who have nothing. And nothing means no running water, a hut with straw for walls and clothes you would have thrown out years ago because there are so many holes in them Nothing prepares you for going on mission. You can listen to all the stories, the advice and the “oh you’re going to be great out there” lines that mean nothing coming from people who don’t know you or what you are about to face. Not even the answers to your carefully constructed and
thought out questions from the local priest will help. Yes, you will know some more details but you won’t know what it’s like to live there. Being on mission is a bit like being reborn. You have to learn how to ‘walk’ in an environment totally different to everything you’ve known; where do you find food, talk-time or a decent barber who knows how to cut ‘European’ hair? You have to learn to ‘talk’ in a language and culture you’ve never known before; the gestures that accompany saying “hello”, saying “thank you” or saying, “I’m sorry”. You learn to get up at 6 am to avoid the impossibly hot 9am sun. You walk in the oppressively hot noon sun for lunch, carrying your personal shade creating device… an umbrella or walking from one patch of shade to the next, praying to God for a cloud, just one cloud, to reduce the temperature from 36C to 32C. You learn to get used to the stares; you are after all, the only white face here that isn’t a priest or a nun. You get used to the “hello father” greetings; the outbreaks of laughter after you pass a group of youths (especially of the opposite sex), a harmless joke
about the mukuwa. Perhaps more importantly, mission is about God and you. You have plenty of free time on mission. You can choose to spend time on personal reflection, on building/improving a relationship with God, on deciding where you want your life to go or on getting really good at Solitaire. The important thing is that the opportunity is there. There is none of the usual structure of the life you leave behind you. Yes, you have work; yes, you will come to have friends; but just like everything else here, it’s just not the same. You get to know what’s important to you. Not the steady stream of new clothes, drinks in a trendy bar or other distractions a capitalist media tell you you need! But something else; friends, family, work, university, God, the novel you know is inside you, whatever. You can use the time to figure all these things out. David Shorten is on mission in Chikuni, Zambia. To read more about his experiences whilst volunteering, you can go to http://zambianmadness.blogspot.com If you would like to volunteer please see www.gbjm.org
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THE JOY OF JOURNEYING IN FAITH Fr Denis Blackledge SJ writes... You can see the joy written on their faces: their photographs speak for themselves! Nikki, Sarah, Stephanie and Kevin and their families and friends, along with their parishes, are coming home at Easter. These four unique individuals represent the many from our parishes who are on that official journey of faith, which is called The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. Months of weekly sessions together with groups of similar-minded folk, as well an official welcome from the Bishop at the Rite of Election early on in Lent, have led them to the Easter Vigil. For any parish it is the climax, the absolute highlight, of the Church’s year. It is the moment when catechumens - those who have never been baptised - will be baptised; and when candidates – those who have been baptised in other Christian Churches – will be received into full communion in the Roman Catholic Church. We hand on our warmest congratulations to them all, and as they become part of the family we pray for them, their godparents and sponsors, and for all those who will continue to support them in their ongoing journeying in faith.
Sometimes things just fit, they feel right. A person, a place, a moment in time, every now and again all these things come together and you feel like you’re home. That was what it was like when I started going to church at Corpus Christi, Boscombe. I had married my husband (a cradle Catholic) in 2002 and when our first child came along it was my husband’s wish that she was baptised a Catholic too; as my family had no strong affiliation to any church it seemed the right thing to do. I felt I had to support my child in the faith we had chosen for her; and slowly over the months of taking Elena to church my faith started to blossom. I have always had a belief but no home to place it and Corpus Christi, its friendly congregation and a very engaging down to earth priest made me feel like the Catholic Church is where I belonged. So with a slight trepidation I joined the Journey in Faith group and what a journey it has been! I have been made so welcome. The sessions have been informative and have helped me understand some of the ‘strange’ practices in church. As the weeks have passed and trust has developed it has been a privilege to hear of the many joyous and sometimes heartbreaking stories people have shared. I look forward to the culmination of the Journey in Faith course at Easter with a stronger belief and confidence but this is just the start of a journey that will continue throughout my life, but which has already been immensely fulfilling. Nikki Nicol
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JM As we stand in line arms folded across our chest we know it’s not long now... But is it really the right thing for us? Have we not been on this journey since we were first baptised? The answer is yes it is the right thing for us and we are learning that we will never know all the answers to every question, but our itch is most definitely being scratched. It has taken the warmth and understanding of our Parish Priest and the teachings we receive to make us see that we do not need to try as hard to welcome God into our life. Faith! Now that can be perceived in so many Along our journey it has grown stronger as we have learned some wonderful things, had some beautiful times at Mass where we can reflect on all things good, and block out the unimportant things that really do not matter at all. It has changed how we feel when we wake in the mornings, when we hold our beautiful daughter Isla. It has encouraged me and my wife Stephanie to believe we are doing the right thing in wanting to raise Isla as a Catholic, so she can also share and feel the warmth in her heart that we now feel in ours since starting this wonderful journey. At the Easter Vigil, when we hold our hands together to receive the Body of Christ...well you can imagine how we’re going to feel ! Kevin Percy
different ways.
Although I've always believed in God, I have never been a practising Christian as an adult. I was brought up in North London by my parents who came over from Mauritius in the early 1970s. They are both non-practising Hindus. As a child I was exposed to many religions and beliefs including Christianity as it played a huge part of my Nan's life. She was my main influence in my faith today. The respect and admiration I had for my Nan's faith, wisdom and stories from the bible taught me an awful lot without realising it. When I met my future husband who is a Catholic, I realised that it would be possible to convert to being a Catholic. We married two years ago in a Catholic ceremony and had our first child who I vowed to bring up as a Catholic. I made a promise that I too would be baptised so I joined the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults last March at St Ignatius, Stamfo rd Hill where I have been living for the past six years. There I met others like myself and immediately felt a huge sense of belonging and friendship among us. I have been waiting for so long to be a part of this community and finally feel very comfortable with who I am and gives my life a sense of purpose. I have learnt that being a Catholic isn't all about praying and simply going to Mass every Sunday. It is about serving God and making good choices in our everyday lives. Sarah Kelleher
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The Youth SEARCH and make CHOICE Edwin Thadheu SJ
The overwhelming aspiration of many young people in Guyana is to migrate to ‘fresh pastures green’ and make a fortune (usually in Canada or the United States of America). The Jesuit priests working in the diocese of Georgetown, Guyana, have to constantly fight this tendency, a little like the mythical “hydra”, for as soon as one head is cut off, another grows in its place. With the arrival of a few more young Jesuit priests in Guyana there has been a noticeable reversal of this trend and, positively, young people are beginning to take pride in their country and become committed to their future development at home.
The formation of the youth here in this country is far reaching and holistic. SEARCH and CHOICE are the two programmes already being run for young people. These programmes target the youth of the city and facilitate their inward journey. The guest talks, monthly recollections, examination of conscience, movie nights, group discussions, camps, etc. help them to experience the indwelling God. When they have to make choices in life, this spiritual
of their country. One such outreach programme is the Geneva Project.
It all began when an elderly woman, Geneva Henry, was robbed and brutally murdered on the streets of Georgetown during a dark September night in 2008. She was a ‘street woman’ who lived many years outside the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Brickdam. Those who had seen her were perturbed by the question: ’Why would anyone want to murder this poor woman?’ Fr Simon Bishop Two Roads diverged in a wood, and I – SJ probed this question with I took the one less travelled by, various groups from different perspectives which in time And that has made all the difference” -Robert Frost triggered mixed feelings of anger and empathy among the youngsters and led to an exclusive experience helps them to choose the feeding programme for the destitute road less travelled by and impels street dwellers and vagrants. This is them to reach out to the needy citizens entirely undertaken by the youth groups in various parishes who prepare, pack and distribute food all by themselves. This bears a witness value to others and leaves an indelible mark on the lives of these youngsters. They agree unanimously, that acts of this kind instill in them a sense of responsibility to their country. As they keep in touch with this reality, they are challenged by various queries stemming from these experiences. To guide them further through “the road less travelled by”, Fr Stephen Patterson SJ accompanies them. This ongoing accompaniment helps them come close to a solution to their unsolved puzzles in life.
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The young people of the pastoral area are the biggest youth group,
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comprising more than 150 youngsters. Their journey is unique too. They come together to explore the relevance of life. It is about a year now since the resuscitation of the youth groups in the city began. The retreats, games, competitions, camps, seminars and other outreach programmes help them change their perception of life and their own future. The groups experience a new momentum and meaning. They take responsibility for pulling the country up by its boot straps and have began to play a lead role in their respective parishes and families. Recently the young people have started a diocesan newsletter
which helps the Guyanese diaspora get networked. Creating a website for the diocese is yet another important task the youth are busy with now. We believe that this website would spread the good news of this turn around in their lives and so spread Gospel values to the society far and wide. Realizing the role of the music ministry to infuse life and galvanize the youth, these groups have ventured into compiling and recording some 450 hymns, including the hymns in indigenous languages like Patamona, Wapishana and Macushi. These activities are steered by Fr Edwin Thadheu SJ whose tireless nature
infuses enthusiasm to the work. His favourite sentence is, ‘if you love then show it in action�. This encouragement urges the young people to render their stewardship in music, liturgy, and other outreach programmes. Fr Marlon Innis SJ, accompanied by a few youngsters, visits the young prisoners in the city of Georgetown. This reclamation ministry provides mutual benefit to both the inmates and the youth accompanying them. These young people’s inward and outward journeys help them realize their commitment to the country and transcend the differences in creating a peaceful and just society.
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Helping develop men and women for others Former Superior General, Fr Pedro Arrupe SJ, urged students in Jesuit schools to be ‘Men and Women for others’. This is something about which Wimbledon College is passionate, as Senior Chaplain, James Potter, explains. The following are just a few examples of what the pupils are engaged in.
Sixth-form sleep-out for homelessness Last October, 60 Sixth-formers from Wimbledon College had the humbling privilege of listening to the moving personal testimonies of a rough sleeper and a former homeless person. They experienced for themselves a tiny glimpse of what it must be like to be homeless by sleeping rough on the school playgrounds for a night. As well as raising awareness of homelessness, the event also raised over £1,000 for local homelessness charities.
Intergenerational discussion forums and lunches Our intergenerational programme brings together pupils from the school and older members of the local community, either informally over a lunch or in our discussion forums and ‘Question Time’ style debates. This cross-generational experience is a very rewarding and enlightening experience for all involved, building community relations and mutual understanding.
Project Manvi Project Manvi was established in 2002 to improve the lives and education of Dalit children in and around the town of Manvi in Karnataka State in India. Over the years, Wimbledon College has supported the project through its prayers and raising money. One of the most significant contributions has come from sixth-form students and staff who spend a month out in Manvi each summer, working hard to build a primary school for the Dalit children. In 2010, 20 boys from Wimbledon College, along with eight girls from the Ursuline High School got their hands dirty and experienced what it is to live out being men and women for others as they helped to build a hostel for the school children to stay in. www.projectmanvi.co.uk
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HCPT and Lourdes Hospitalité Pupils from the sixth-form have the opportunity to engage in an intense experience of service, through going on pilgrimage to Lourdes with our local HCPT group at Easter or with the Wimbledon College Old Boys Hospitalité group in the summer.
Social Justice A small social justice group in the college aims to raise other pupils’ awareness of injustices around the globe and help them to take positive action. Last October, over 1,000 pupils took part in CAFOD’s ‘Act on Poverty’ campaign. By posting their pledges and messages on our very own No.10 door, they joined others from around the country in sending over 20,000 messages encouraging the government to keep its promises and take decisive action on poverty. Other projects have involved sending Christmas greetings cards to prisoners, and praying for peace in Sudan.
Jack Petchey award winner Jason Perera A number of students from the college have been awarded Petchey awards for their fundraising and charitable achievements. Most recently Jason Perera, a Lower Grammar student, received the award for his efforts in raising money to purchase books and stationery for children in a remote village in Sri Lanka. He works hard to raise the money during the year and personally distributes the things in the summer when he goes home to Sri Lanka.
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The Struggle Continues In Zimbabwe Makumborenga T. Ignatius, the Co-ordinator of the Jesuit Relief Fund in Zimbabwe, reflects on the critical situation in the country.
Since September 2010 the Jesuit Relief Fund of the Jesuit Province of Zimbabwe has re-invented itself in line with the changed and changing socioeconomic and political situation in the country, as well as a result of dwindling funds. From the initial ‘open’ door policy by which food aid was given to everybody, the programme has shifted its focus to a carefully selected target group consisting of the most vulnerable. It is now working mainly in collaboration with Church institutions, like the Society of St Vincent de Paul (SVP), as well as child welfare and home-based care institutions. It is especially active in the diocese of Chinhoyi and the Archdiocese of Harare with a possibility of resuming collaboration with the Archdiocese of Bulawayo. There is an ongoing rigorous needs assessment exercise in progress to ensure that the programme assists only the most vulnerable. Also in motion is an equally rigorous and on– going monitoring and evaluation of the programme through regular on-site visits and comprehensive evaluation forms to make it more effective. These have resulted in a noticeable improvement in general accountability and feedback on what is distributed. As of December 2010, two food consignments (of the scheduled six by August 2011) worth about US$226,000 have been sourced through a local supplier. The combined target population for the programme is between 30,000 and 50,000 beneficiaries. However, the figure is likely to rise considerably, reaching its peak in the January to March 2011 period when most households, especially in rural areas, are likely to have run out of their own cereal 14
produce. It is estimated that about 1.3 million people in rural areas and about half-a-million urban dwellers will not be able to meet their minimum cereal requirements in the period January-March 2011 as cereal production stocks diminish for a majority of the poor households in the country. This represents about 15% of the total population. In the west and south west of Zimbabwe, villagers have been forced to barter their cattle for maize. This has led to the emergence of unscrupulous middlemen who sell maize-meal and maize at exorbitant prices well beyond the reach of many. In Muzarabani some villagers, without anything for barter, are reportedly surviving on seasonal wild fruits. Although the 2009/10 farming season was reasonably good, a combination of both flooding and a prolonged midseason dry spell and the invasion by armoured crickets and quelea birds destroyed what would otherwise have been a good harvest. Although the meteorological services have forecast normal to above normal rainfall for all parts of the country, a ‘dark cloud’ looms over the 2010/11 farming season. There are some concerns over the sporadic and patchy rainfall patterns, with some parts of
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the country reportedly dry. Last season, about 11% of the planted maize was declared a write-off countrywide due to a prolonged midseason dry spell. There have also been reports of armyworm attacks in farming areas in some parts of the country. By the first week of January 2011 more than 50 hectares of the maize crop in Mashonaland East and Central had been destroyed, with 800 more hectares under threat from the rapidly spreading worms. Armyworm outbreaks were also detected in Midlands and Masvingo with more than 150 hectares already affected and more than 1000 hectares under threat. It remains to be seen whether the government and the humanitarian organisations serving the country will be able to put together mitigating measures and a winning formula, as well as providing the much needed agricultural inputs and expertise. All things being equal then we can expect a bumper harvest for the 2010/11 farming season. But before then the food security situation remains uncertain and the struggle to feed the nation continues. Zimbabwe, yet to reach the Biblical ‘promised land of milk and honey’ in food security, is still a basket case. Aluta continua – the struggle continues!
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Donhead Revisited... The Companions’ Programme links schools in the UK with schools overseas. Donhead School in Wimbledon is part of this programme and is in a cluster partnership with three schools in Harare – Hartmann House and their feeder school, St Michael’s Preparatory School as well as St Peter’s Mbare Primary School. In December 2009, Donhead welcomed pupils and teachers from their partner schools in Harare. Ten months later, two teachers from Donhead, Eileen Groenen and Penny Frost, had the opportunity to visit Harare. Shortly after their return Ashleigh Callow had the chance to chat to them about their visit. What prompted you to go out to Zimbabwe? EG: We wanted to go to Zimbabwe because it was important to visit our Companion schools and to further our links. I think the visit strengthened our links because we established personal contact with the pupils, staff and parents - saw where they lived, and saw the schools we are in communication with. It’s been very important, and has helped to make the partnership more tangible. What surprised you about the schools you visited? PF: The extreme warmth of everyone’s welcome… it didn’t take us by surprise as such, but we found it very moving. What was a highlight of your trip? PF: I found it really good to hear about everyday life in Zimbabwe – the joys as well as the challenges and difficulties and how families and individuals overcame these.
EG: Everything! We quickly became very much part of the communities we visited and nothing was too much trouble for the people we met. We will be eternally grateful for their generosity. St Ignatius prays, “Teach me Lord to be generous”. In the spirit of St Ignatius, the people we met in Zimbabwe could not have done more for us! How has your visit enabled your partnership to develop, and how will the partnership be maintained in spite of the distance? PF: We had a joint meeting to discuss
our partnership agreement where it was important for us all to be together to contribute to the discussion. We then made decisions on the topics we would like to focus on during the course of the year for our classes and our Companions’ group. We agreed to continue doing a news booklet from each class relaying topics covered in class during that term. How are you going to let the Donhead community know about your visit? PF: Because we’ve now got a clear picture of the schools we’re partnered with we can give a more realistic message to the children, and the Donhead community.
PowerPoint presentation for the Donhead Society. The pupils found the photo display we put up in the entrance hall very exciting and a number of parents have asked questions in response to our display.
You know that your boys are often asked to reflect on “God in all things”, where did you see God during your visit to Harare?
Both: We saw God in the people.
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God is young at heart
World Youth Day, WYD, was started by Pope John Paul II as a way to inspire the youth and encourage them in living the teachings of Christ. The first official WYD was held in Rome in 1986. Since then, there have been 10 International World Youth Day celebrations, where the youth continue to answer the invitation of the Holy Father in staggering numbers and carry home the message received there to be Christ's light to the world. The next one will be held in Madrid, from 15 – 22 August 2011. It will be preceded by Magis11 – an Ignatian gathering for young adults which includes various ‘experiments’: placements among the poor or disadvantaged or in other areas of service. Shola Adegoroye, a member of the Christian Life Community in London, attended the World Youth Day and Magis08 celebrations in Sydney Australia in 2008 and here reflects on how the experience changed her life.
Recalling my experiences of World Youth Day 2008 and Magis08 I am left with two indelible images. I felt an indescribable outpouring of love; God’s love and the amazing gift of this experience that has so fundamentally shaped my life and continues to do so nearly three years later. And secondly, I smile. Not just a small polite smile but a big Cheshire cat grin type of smile as I’m hit with a powerful wave of warm memories of the friendships that I gained and that continue to develop. I recall the resonating comfort of experiencing shared prayer with over half a million other young people. These memories will stay with me forever.
his extra special blessings and Sydney opened its heart to the deep and lasting impact that I have come to recognise hosting a WYD brings. I was privileged to hear so many stories of lives that were previously closed to God, but now being open once more to his love. Stories of vulnerable hearts, once broken, being miraculously restored with the dignity of a love that only God can give.
Mark would be best placed to have his “experiment” living close to the land, sharing Aboriginal life? And that Toby would be deeply touched by his grace working with the homeless in the city centre? Or that I could gain so much from spending a week preparing and creating music to share with our fellow pilgrims in the days leading up to the Holy Father’s visit?
I was lucky enough to share some of these experiences with two other members of my CLC group (Mark Sikkes and Toby Lees) who also came to Sydney.
Although we spent the majority of our Magis08 and WYD pilgrimages separately, quite beautifully we all came away with the same thing: a deeper relationship God and a longing to serve him. I am really looking forward to Magis11 and WYD in Madrid this August.
I am still amazed at the power of God’s providence during the pilgrimage. How did he know that
I was surprised that my brain and my body arrived in Sydney at the same time! The 24 hour journey was enormously long but strangely it left me feeling energised, hopeful, excited about what lay ahead. Having experienced the wonderful celebration of World Youth Day in Toronto in 2002, it seemed impossible that the level of kindness and generosity that the Canadian people showed could be replicated again. However, God gave Australia one of
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JM
Run, Pedal or Cheer
Every Jesuit school in the British Province will be fielding runners in the Virgin London Marathon this year. They include teachers and head teachers, pupils, former pupils and parents of pupils, from prep and junior schools as well as the senior schools and colleges. They will form a team of 27 runners aiming to raise £65,000 for their development projects overseas (JM) and work in the UK (JRS). Many of the school runners are supporting their schools’ Companions programme. At least two of the runners will be donning the familiar Wombles costumes, which have been a feature not just of the Wimbledon team but also of the entire Marathon for 15 years. The Wombles were created by Elizabeth Beresford MBE (above) who sadly died on Christmas Eve last year. She enthusiastically gave her permission for them to be used in the event and over the years became a staunch supporter of the JM team. “At first it was doubted that someone could run dressed head to toe in fur,” recalls Alan Fernandes, Deputy Director at JM. “But after a successful trial run with Orinoco (the fat lazy Womble) in 1997 the team quickly grew to around 30 runners of which five would be Wombles. Dr Brian ThurbyPelham, an old boy from Donhead and Stonyhurst, was one of the first
Wombles and also possibly the fastest costume character with 3hrs 45mins in 1998. He would regularly stop outside Buckingham Palace to wait for the other Wombles to catch up, during which time he would make a phone call to Elizabeth who would be watching the race with her friends in Alderney. This year Orinoco will run his 15th straight marathon in a row!” The London Virgin Marathon will, however, not be the only energetic sporting event in which Jesuit projects overseas will be supported. Three JM ‘Angels’ are aiming to ride 100km in the London Nightrider on 11 June 2011. They are all staff members at the Jesuit Missions office in Wimbledon
and, having heard about the plight of refugees in South Africa from the JRS Director, Fr Rampe Hlobo SJ, they were motivated to go beyond their normal work and raise some funds. The event is a moonlit bike ride through London to raise money for the charity of riders’ choice. They will set off from Crystal Palace in south east London at about 11pm and along the way will take in some of London's most famous streets and landmarks. The ride will finish at Crystal Palace in time for breakfast. “£3,000 is our minimum target,” says Alan Fernandes. “For the 1,000s of miles of training we are going to do and the very necessary need for support for JRS, we would like to raise closer to double that. We know Rampe Hlobo SJ as a colleague and a friend and have heard first hand about the issues concerning refugees, especially in South Africa. You can sponsor the riders as individuals or as a team by going to http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team /JM-Angels And to sponsor the Marathon runners, go to www.jesuitmissions.org and click on ‘London Marathon’.
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BITS’n’PIECES
Sesquicentennial International Cookery Book St Aloysius' College, Glasgow, is compiling an international cookery book in support of the College Charities, and as part of its 150th anniversary celebrations. The aim is to have a diverse range of recipes from around the world submitted by those immediately associated with the College and those who are further afield. They will try to include as many recipes as possible in the final book which they hope to have published for the 2011 Charities Fayre. Proceeds from the sale of the Cook Book will help to fund the College Charities,
including St Aloysius' Children's Fund, the Lourdes Pilgrimage, the Arrupe Programme, the Companions' Programme - St Aloysius' School Kibera, Glasgow Starter Packs, and the St Aloysius' College Bursary Fund. Mrs Lynn McWilliams in the College's Department of Religious Education, who is helping to compile the recipes, says they hope they will come from different parts of the world. 'We're asking people who would like to contribute to fill in a form with their recipe details; and then, if possible, ask someone who
they know in another Jesuit work anywhere in the world to contribute a recipe as well.'
Welcome, Deacon John South African born Jesuit, John Enslin, was ordained deacon at St Ignatius Church, Stamford Hill, on 22 January. John, 49, comes from Johannesburg and read Theology at Pretoria University and Philosophy at Rand Afrikaans University, before achieving a Masters in Philosophy and Theology at the University of Stellenbosch. He entered the Society of Jesus in Cape Town in 1996. John continued his studies in South
Africa, Dublin, Spokane, Boston and Munich, and served his regency at the Jesuit Institute South Africa. While studying for his BD and MA at Heythrop, he has been engaged in pastoral ministries at Stamford Hill, where he continues working with the Latin American community. He was ordained deacon by Rt Rev John Arnold, Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster.
James & Sarah Broscombe Return James and Sarah Broscombe returned to the UK after serving for two years in Guyana. They spent most of their time there in Aishalton in the deep south where they were involved in helping the Amerindian community generate their own development projects, some of which have been reported in previous issues of Jesuits and Friends. James is also a keen photographer. We are using two of his photos in this issue for both the front and back cover. To see more of this photographic journal of their stay in Guyana, go to www.jmbroscombe.blogspot.com, where he has posted one photograph for each day of their stay.
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Updates Festo Mkenda SJ, who completed his DPhil last summer, has come back to Campion Hall as a Junior Research Fellow for this calendar year. He has just been elected to a Visiting Fellowship at St Cross College for the same period - a considerable accolade that gives recognition to his personal and academic contributions to the life of the University of Oxford. Please note that Chris Chatteris SJ's new address is: St Francis Xavier Orientation Seminary, PO Box 46876, Glosderry 7702, Cape Town, South Africa.
APOSTLESHIP OF PRAYER
All my hope on God is founded Where there’s life, there’s hope” is a saying that is as old as the hills. One of the earliest references to it is to be found in a letter written by the great Roman orator, Cicero to his close friend Titus Pomponius Atticus. Just over one hundred and fifty years later St. Paul was to tell the Church in Corinth: “In short, there are three things that last: faith, hope and love; and the greatest of these is love. The next batch of Apostleship of Prayer monthly intentions appear to have hope woven through them very much like a length of cotton stitched in and out and in and out of a piece of fabric. Life, hope and faith for young people set the scene for April. We pray that by receiving the message of the gospel the young will indeed “have life and have it to the full” (St. John 10.10). Who was it that said that young people have an almost biological destiny to be hopeful? We pray that all youthful hope may be founded on Almighty God. We are also asked to pray for all who work as missionaries that their hopes of effectively communicating the gospel of Jesus Christ may be realised, initially, by the quality of their own lives. We hope and pray in the month of May for all who work in today’s highly sophisticated means of communication as journalists, cameramen, broadcasters, editors, feature writers and columnists that they respect truth, dignity and the inherent worth of every human being. If all media workers placed all their hope on God and in the Good News of the
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Gospel then perhaps there would be no need for this prayer intention! The Good News of the Gospel, in our prayer this month is focussed on the people of China that they may remain faithful to the letter and the spirit of God’s holy word. Annually in June we celebrate the feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. Many of us from our earliest days have been schooled to place all our hope in Jesus, using this famous title. In June the Holy Father asks us to pray for priests that they, in their lives, may manifest the loving merciful care of Jesus as exemplified in his Sacred Heart. Jesus Christ, “the man for others” showed a total loving dedication to each one of us when he gave his life for us on that first Good Friday afternoon. St. Paul reminds us of this: “It is not easy to die even for a good man – though of course for someone really worthy a man might be prepared to die - but what proves that God loves us is that Christ died for us while we were still sinners” (Romans 5.8). We pray especially for missionaries everywhere that God the Holy Spirit will give them the necessary grace and inspiration to touch many minds and hearts. In spite of an enormous amount of medical research the scourge of AIDS is still with us and those who suffer hope for a definitive medical breakthrough. In the month of July we hope and also we pray that God will bless the ingenuity of medical research scientists who work to eradicate this disease. Missionaries are again on the mind of the Holy Father in July, this time with specific reference to women, lay and
religious, who give of their time and energy so generously in the cause of the Gospel and gospel values. These good people hope and pray that they may be true witnesses to the Risen Lord. “Where there’s life, there’s hope”. I wonder how a great orator like Cicero would have reacted if he had known of and believed in the Incarnation of Jesus Christ and all its implications. Would he have proclaimed in flawless Latin the famous words of Robert Bridges: “All my hope on God is founded”? I wonder! Michael Beattie SJ
April That the gospel preached by the Church may give new life, hope and faith to the young. That those who do not know Christ may find Him by the quality of life and the gospel witness of all missionaries.
May That those working in communication media may respect the truth, solidarity and dignity of all people. For unity and gospel fidelity for the people of China.
June
That priests, united to the Heart of Christ, may always be true witnesses to the caring and merciful love of God. May The Holy Spirit inspire many missionaries who will be fully committed to preaching the Gospel.
July Prayer for the physical and spiritual healing of AIDS sufferers. That religious women in missionary lands may bear joyful witness to the Risen Lord.
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RECENT PUBLICATIONS
Faith Matters he five talks that formed the 'Faith Matters - Fundamentals of Faith' series have been published by St Paul’s. The focus of the series was living the Catholic faith in today's world. The speakers in the autumn 2009 series included Jesuit priest, Fr John Edwards SJ, who addressed Catholics and Prayer. Westminster priest, Fr Stephen Wang, considered the Catholic Moral Vision. And Dominican, Fr Richard Finn OP took as his subject, Authority and conscience in Church and Society. The other two speaker were Fr John Hemer MHM and Mgr John Armitage whose topics were Catholics and the Bible and Catholic Social Teaching respectively. 'Faith Matters - Fundamentals of Faith' is on sale in bookshops at £6.95, or by contacting Pauline Books and Media: www.pauline-uk.org For details of this year’s Faith Matters talks, see www.rcdow.org.uk/faithmatters
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The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything James Martin SJ
he author is a Jesuit through-and-through, and the subtitle of the book - A Spirituality for Real Life - gives away its style of content. Martin speaks from his own lived experience as man and as Jesuit, and is never afraid to add a touch of humour or vulnerability. From the start of his 14 chapters, he invites the reader into the Jesuit way of going about things, which is neither more nor less than giving a living description of what it is to become and be truly human. He introduces us to St Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, and shows how Ignatius himself struggled and grew in his love, friendship and eventual total relationship with Jesus. It is always good to pick up a book that has no footnotes, as it opens itself up more easily to those who at first might not think it is for them, or might think it is too highbrow for them. Martin has a great ease for using clear and simple language, which draws in the reader. He leads his reader gently and progressively through the whole experience of the Ignatian way, touching the whole rainbow of human emotions, which page after page fills out the subtitle. Desire is at the heart of the book: our desire for God, responding to our God’s initial desire for each one of us. It is a matter of finding God in all, not in spite of all – better, of letting God find self in all, not in spite of all, for the letting go is of the essence. Here we have a key which unlocks the Jesuit mystique and shows it to be a simple way for anyone of any background to become a better friend and follower of Jesus by following the way of St Ignatius. It is a joy to read, a seminal book that can be nibbled a little at a time, or taken in one grand sweep. I shall let the great contemporary Dominican writer, Fr Timothy Radcliffe OP have the final word from his own review of the book: “This book is filled with wisdom and wit. Even Dominicans should read it!”
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Fr Denis Blackledge SJ The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything – A Spirituality for Real Life James Martin SJ [HarperOne, New York, hardback, 420pp, 2010, $26.99 – available on Amazon at £18.99 or less 20
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RECENT PUBLICATIONS
Book Review: THE JESUITS IN PARAGUAY ne of the most remarkable achievements in Jesuit history was the creation of the Jesuit Reductions in Paraguay which lasted from about 1609 until 1767 when the Society of Jesus was dissolved. For many people Roland Joffé’s 1986 film The Mission with Robert De Niro and Jeremy Irons put Paraguay on the map for the first time and brought the Jesuit period to life. Joffé’s film deals with the devastating effect upon the indigenous Guaranís arising from the transfer of power over the Reductions from the Jesuits to civil authorities. Not only had the Jesuits tried to protect them from the slave, gold and silver hunters who flooded in from Europe, bringing prostitution and alcohol, but also from the locally born mixed race populations in both Spanish and Portuguese colonies who sought to enslave them with differing degrees of cruelty. In the protected environment of the Reductions, the Jesuits, in a remarkably short space of time, raised the Guaranís to a very high level of cultural sophistication and introduced them to European agricultural expertise and many other skills. The Guaranís became bilingual in the Guaraní language and Latin, performed baroque music to a very high standard and also learnt to compose music. The Jesuits included some highly proficient musicians, most notably Domenico Zipoli who gave up an important musical post in Rome in order to join the Jesuits in the Reductions. Outstanding also was Father Anton
O
Sepp who not only taught music but created workshops for the construction of instruments. Most of the music from the Reductions was thought to be lost until a chance discovery in the 1970s of thousands of pages of musical manuscript including many compositions by Zipoli. One historian has described the Jesuit period as a vanished Arcadia. Paraguayan conductor, composer and musicologist Luis Szarán has contributed to this book a chapter on Music in Paraguay which also includes some fascinating information on the Jesuit period. Maestro Szarán founded Sounds of the Earth (www.sonidosdelatierra.org.py), a project which teaches music to thousands of orphans, street kids and other underprivileged children. Paraguayan Robert Munro is the commissioning editor and publisher of Paraguay: 200 years of independence in the heart of South America, fully illustrated in colour, on many aspects of Paraguayan history, geography and culture and has gathered together a team of contributors from diverse backgrounds, each of whom draws from a different area of expertise. The particularly excellent chapter on The Jesuits’ Influence in National is by Margaret Identity Hebblethwaite whose name will be familiar to readers of The Tablet for which she was Assistant Editor from 1991 to 2000 when she founded Santa Maria de Fe, a charitable educational project in Paraguay where she now lives (www.santamariadefe.org). It is
located in one of the 30 villages which were created by the Jesuits during the period of the Reductions and probably has now the most interesting ruins and museum from that period. Paul Duffy
Paraguay: 200 years of independence in the heart of South America, Robert Munro, 2010. To order now for £17.00 including P&P, please send a cheque payable to R. C. Munro and your name and address to: 111 Netherton Road, Appleton, Abingdon, Oxford, OX13 5LA. Alternatively you can pay by Credit Card on www.paraguay200.com Robert Munro was born in Paraguay to a Scottish father and a Paraguayan mother. He is married to Rosemary who plays the Paraguayan harp and they have two grown up sons, Jamie and Colin, and one grandson. He worked in banking in Asuncion, London, New York and retired after 30 years. He now devotes his time and energy to promoting Paraguay, its music, particularly the harp, and its culture. Paul Duffy was a pupil of St Ignatius College, Stamford Hill (1947-1953), and has always had an interest in the history of the Jesuits. He lived and worked in Paraguay for nearly three years when he had close contact with the Jesuit community.
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DEATHS & OBITUARIES Fr James O’Neill SJ 30 September 1914 – 4 February 2011 James Vincent O’Neill was born in Paisley on 30 September 1914 and went to school at St Aloysius’ College in Glasgow. On entering the Society of Jesus in 1932, he served his novitiate and juniorate at Roehampton near London, and after four years pursued his philosophy studies at Heythrop College, Oxfordshire. He returned to Heythrop in 1943 to study theology. He taught at St Ignatius College, Stamford Hill; Corby School in Sunderland; Barlborough Prep School in Derbyshire and St John’s Beaumont near Windsor. His parish assignments took him to Bournemouth (Sacred Heart), Accrington, and St Mary’s on the Quay in
Bristol where he was also hospital chaplain. Fr O’Neill returned to working in Jesuit schools in 1962 when he resumed teaching at Mount St Mary’s College in Sheffield and Barlborough Hall, where he was also Spiritual Father to the boys. From 1972 to 1974, he supplied at Craighead, Stonyhurst, Clitheroe and Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, before being assigned to work in the parish of Christ the King, Brora, Sutherland. He spent 23 years there and in 1997 moved to Sacred Heart Church in Edinburgh. After some years helping in the parish, Fr O’Neill, who was an uncle to Fr Hugh
Duffy SJ, moved to St Joseph’s House (Little Sisters of the Poor) where he also served as Chaplain. He died at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary on 4 February 2011. May he rest in peace.
Fr Gerard Lorriman SJ 1 February 1915 – 21 February 2011 Father Gerard Lorriman SJ had just celebrated his 96th birthday at the time of his death, making him the oldest Jesuit in the British Province at the time. He was the only priest in the Province to have been married and to have children. And a 1987 photo of him confronting armoured personnel carriers and tear gas as he led a funeral procession near Cape Town at the height of the apartheid regime in South Africa has become an icon of resistance to injustice. Gerry was born in Tynemouth on 1 February 1915, and was educated by the Xaverian Brothers at Clapham College. On leaving school, he studied medicine at Durham University and qualified as a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS). Gerry served in the Royal Army Medical Corps during the Second World War, after which he
worked as a medical tutor at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle-uponTyne. He married Maria Adele in 1945. In 1959, after working with Ciba and at the Brompton Hospital, Gerry joined the Treasury Medical Service and was appointed Principal Medical Officer and Medical Adviser to the Diplomatic Services. On the death of his wife in 1970, Gerry applied to enter the Society of Jesus and took his first vows at Loyola Retreat Centre, Rainhill in 1974. He studied theology at Heythrop College in London, and the Gregorian University in Rome. On returning to the UK, he worked at St Aloysius’ Church in Glasgow, before serving his tertianship (further studies) in the USA (1982-83). In 1983, Gerry was assigned to South Africa, with a view to hospital chaplaincy.
In the event, he was appointed parish priest at St Mary’s Church in Nyanga, one of the oldest townships in Cape Town. Apart from a three year period when he was at St Joseph’s College in Rondebosch, he remained at Nyanga until 2008. Fr Gerard Lorriman SJ died at Nazareth House in Cape Town on 21 February 2011. He leaves a son, John, and a daughter, Francesca.
Please pray for those who have died recently. May they rest in peace. Mrs Audrey Towlard Lord Richard Acton Mr Frank Mercieca Mr Herbert Gibbs Mrs Marilyn Hodson Mr John Douglas Dr Denis Dooley Miss Ann Brophy Mr H S Cranfield Mr Brian Hanrahan Mr Hubert Ronnie Smith Mr George Keller Mr Bernard Hagan Mr Graeme Grant Mr Frederick Haney Mr Chris Billingsley 22
Mr Kennedy Ryan Mrs June Brown Mr George Pace Fr James O’Neill SJ Fr Gerard Lorriman SJ Nicolas Eklou Komla SJ Professor Maurice Eminyan SJ Fr Louis de Vaucelles SJ Mrs Christine Crouch – wife of Mr Larry Crouch, headmaster of Stonyhurst St Mary’s Hall Mr Brian Duffy – the first lay headmaster of St John’s Beaumont Lady Marcia Power – Mother of Br Stephen Power SJ
Jesuits & Friends Spring 2011 www.jesuitsandfriends.org.uk
Mrs Elizabeth Power – Aunt of Br Stephen Power SJ Mr Engelbertus Gerardus Blesgraaf – Grandfather of Wouter Blesgraaf SJ Mr Raymond Ryden – Father of Fr Edmund Ryden SJ Mr Frank Rafferty – Brother of Fr Oliver Rafferty SJ Domine Helen Britt-Compton – Sister-in-Law of Fr Peter Britt-Compton SJ Mrs Pamela Xavier – Aunt of Ramesh Vanan SJ Fr Colin Fortune, Sacred Heart Missionary – Brother of Fr Alan Fortune SJ RIP
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How Can I The JESUIT DEVELOPMENT FUND helps to establish and maintain churches, schools, retreat centres and apostolic works of all kinds at home and overseas. At present the trustees are assisting the development of our work in South Africa, and providing nursing care and attention for the elderly Jesuits of the Province.
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Thank you for your generosity 1
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Pr 1. The soup kitchen in Braamfontein is a vital facility for refugees and homeless people in the neighbourhood – page 4 2. The elderly are a particularly vulnerable group in Zimbabwe who are assisted by the Jesuit Relief Fund – page 14 3. Please support the youth groups in various parishes in Georgetown who prepare, pack and distribute food to destitute street dwellers and vagrants – page 10 4. Your donations for the victims of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan will be channelled through our local partners.
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The world is charged with the grandeur of God. It will flame out, like shining from shook foil ‌ Gerard Manley Hopkins SJ
Photo: James Broscombe, Lightning Strike at Kaitur Falls, Guyana