Jesuits & Friends Spring 2012

Jesuits and Friends A faith that does justice Spring 2012 Issue 8179 Summer 2011 Issue

PL EA gr A SE

at ll TA ef d K ul on E ly a A re tio C ce ns OP iv Y ed

The devastation of Cagayan de Oro The Companions of Magonde Guyana in pictures Humbled by the faith of prisoners

Contents

Spring 2012 Issue 81

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 Editor Editorial group: Denis Blackledge SJ Andrea Brown Annabel Clarkson James Conway SJ Richard Greenwood James Potter Tom Smith

Pupils from Barlborough Hall School show their friendship bands as a symbol of their links with Makumbi School in Zimbabwe. Read more on pages 8 and 9.

Cycling through floods (James Broscombe, May 2010). A girl is ferried home from a visit to the nearest hospital in Aishalton Village, Guyana. Her ankle injury might have been caused as she was clearing grass, either by a machete or a snake-bite. The photo was taken on a clear day after a rainstorm, during the rainy season, about an hour before sunset, when the light was low and soft. James used a Nikon D700, 70mm, f/4.5, 1/250 sec, ISO-800, Fill-Flash. For more photos

by James Broscombe, see pages 12 and 13.

Graphic Design:

Editorial, Tim Curtis SJ Ian Curtis www.firstsightgraphics.com

The ‘privilege’ of going to prison,

Washed away by the torrents, Stefan Garcia SJ

Henry Longbottom nSJ

Come explore this wondrous Presence,

Printed in the UK by The Magazine Printing Company

A relationship that widens horizons,

www.magprint.co.uk

Karl Herrmann SJ

To protect our environment, papers used in this publication are produced by mills that promote

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Michael Beattie SJ

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6 Serving Faith … Promoting Justice,

Nurturing healthy, confident and generous children, A snapshot of Barlborough Hall School

sustainably managed forests and utilise Elementary Chlorine Free

The Chinese Challenge, 400 years after

process to produce fully recyclable

Matteo Ricci, Paul Nicholson SJ

Julian Filochowski

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8 The RMS Titanic – 100 years on, 10

Tim Curtis SJ

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Publications

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Bits ‘n’ Pieces

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material in accordance with an Environmental Management System conforming with BS EN ISO 14001:2004.

Vietnam: where Jesuit vocations flourish, Louis Caruana SJ

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Guyana, Land of Many Waters, Editorial office: 11 Edge Hill London SW19 4LR Tel: 020 8946 0466 Email: director@gbjm.org

the photos of James Broscombe

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Obituary and those benefactors who have died recently

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How you can support our work

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What makes Jesuits tick? asks Matthew Power SJ

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From the Editor...

Ignatius, as he was founding the Society of Jesus, did not want the Jesuits to be the largest religious order in the Church, or the most powerful or the most prestigious.

His dream was for a body of men who were sufficiently prepared and spiritually disposed to go where the need seemed to be greatest. His dream was that Jesuits be flexible and not so entrenched in what they are currently doing that they could not respond to a greater need elsewhere.

St Francis Xavier is a prime example of that. And, at heart, all Jesuits would like to be like him. He was Ignatius’ right hand man in Rome, helping with the composition of the Constitutions and dealing with the correspondence. He was not the one chosen to go on the mission to evangelise the people of India, Japan and China. However, when Nicholas Bobadilla fell sick, Ignatius asked him to go in his place. After a day darning his cassock, Francis was ready to go.

Now, after five years as Editor of Jesuits and Friends, I am on the move too: the British Provincial has asked me to return to Guyana and to work amongst the Amerindians, the indigenous people of the rainforest. So this is likely to be my last issue of Jesuits and Friends, although I’m sure you will be hearing about my work there in future issues.

It is certainly a shock to the system to be asked to leave my current job, looking after missionaries and their supporters, to go once more into the field to help to determine the shape of the future development of the Amerindian peoples. Fortunately, I’ve been given more than a day to repair my cassock! But I will have to learn again how to sleep in a hammock, get used to bathing in cold water and how to cope with a minimum of electricity.

What drove Francis, and what still inspires Jesuits today, is the knowledge that we are part of a network which proclaims our common faith and works for justice. As my Provincial has discerned that this new work is a priority for our province, I will certainly give it my best shot.

As we prepare for the celebration of Holy Week and Easter, let us remember those celebrating these events in situations far different from our own. We are linked by our common faith in the power of grace to overcome every barrier and we are energised by this grace to work for the Kingdom inaugurated by our crucified and risen Lord.

I hope you enjoy the current issue of the magazine and I wish my successor well.

Washed away by the torrents tefan Garcia SJ, a Scholastic of the British Province, was in the Philippines for a three month home visit when Typhoon Sendong hit the island of Mindanao last December. He witnessed the storm and its aftermath firsthand.

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I was swinging a thurible when the storm crashed into the village. It was an early evening Mass and the house blessing of the dormitory where children of the local school lived during term time. We were soaked as we ran back to the main house; I had never seen rain like this before during my stay, despite being in a mountain village regularly enshrouded by cloud and surrounded by rain forests. The water jack-hammered our tin roof.

In the morning, Pedro Walpole SJ, Director of Environmental Science for Social Change, the group that helps run the school with the local community, surveyed the damage in the village. He found that the stream beneath the house had swelled into a river with large trees strewn chaotically on its banks. News from the villagers

With my best wishes and prayers.

Credit: Dr Iso Montalvan

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JM quickly reached us. The road to the village was blocked by a large landslide, which was a problem, since we were meant to leave in the jeep the following day to take our flights back to Manila.

Texts flooded in from family members, as news about a huge storm hitting the normally typhoonfree province of Bukidnon became known. My own worried mother called and informed us how Cagayan de Oro, the nearest large city to the village, was devastated by floods, and hundreds of homes and people had been washed away.

The car could not drive past the landslide, so we had to hire motorbikes to get around the piles of mud and rock. We reached Cagayan de Oro on the Sunday afternoon after the Friday night typhoon and went straight to the areas reportedly affected. Pedro, a trained hydrologist, needed to document the damage, in particular photographing where and how the waters flowed. We heard stories of the horror people experienced. One lady had managed to get her family to the second floor of her house, but she

could not escape the terror of Credit: Dr Iso Montalvan the screams of the people around them who were being washed away by the waters.

The great clean-up had begun for those who still had houses, with people desperately clearing out the wet mud that coated everything, before it dried like cement. This was clearly impossible, however, as the shortage of clean water meant that what little they had was reserved for drinking. The car park of the new government needs to City Hall, irresponsibly built next to the redevelop the land from some of the river, was strewn with the debris of large, private landholding what were the municipal vehicles, four corporations and build on these areas wheelers piled on top of minivans. The social housing close to work. Forcing large billboards next to the bridges had poor people to live miles away from fallen on the houses beneath them. their livelihoods will never succeed.

A long-term solution to the People will move back to disaster precarious living conditions of so prone areas closer to their livelihoods many people in the Philippines when memories fade. This time we requires a government crackdown on cannot allow people to lose sight of the land speculating that buys off all the suffering so sharply experienced; the safe land in the city by a few never forget because the next wealthy families, leaving only "biggest disaster" will surely come. It inaccessible or dangerous places for is up to us whether we are ready for it the poor to live. The Philippine or not.

JM FACT FILE According to the Jesuits in the Philippines: At Xavier University in Cagayan de Oro City, staff and students set up a Relief Center to receive donations of food, water, medical supplies and blankets, and distributed them to the many victims of the disaster. It opened its campus as an Evacuation Center to provide shelter to those whose houses had been destroyed by the floods, and its clinic to treat patients. University medical personnel and students were deployed to provide first aid and trauma debriefing. The University also donated five hectares of land in the uptown village of Lumbia to serve as a permanent resettlement area for survivors. Work on the resettlement area began within two weeks of the floods and about 500 displaced families will be relocated to this site.

Credit: Gary Yim / Shutterstock.com

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A relationship that widens horizons Jesuit Missions in London started the Companions’ Programme in 2005. It links Jesuit schools in the UK with Jesuit schools overseas, mainly in Africa. St Rupert Mayer Primary School in Magonde, Zimbabwe, was linked with St John’s Beaumont in Berkshire. Here, Father Karl Herrmann SJ, the Superior at St Rupert Mayer reflects on the relationship with their British counterparts and the value of the programme.

The vision of the Companions’ Programme follows the motto of the Jesuits: Men and women for others.

Here, of course, it is: Children for and with others. It is a friendship that surpasses boundaries and backgrounds.

Ours is a rural school started by the Jesuits in 1962. Today it has about 430 children, many of whom are orphans. In the crèche there are about 70 children, and a teacher has a class of about 45.

Between 2005 and 2009, Zimbabwe

A cuddly companion across continents: pupils at St Rupert Mayer with a St John’s bear

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was in a dire situation, with very high inflation and violence during the elections of 2005 and 2008. Civil servants, including teachers and nurses, quit their professions or left the country in search of better paid jobs. This situation came to an end

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Fr Karl in the classroom at St John’s Beaumont

only during 2009.

Today, the situation in the schools has improved. All primary schools have received enough books for their subjects, thanks to a countrywide initiative from UNICEF. Teachers have come back and are more or less doing their work, although the salary is still very poor. During the bad times, exam results dropped to an all time low (20% pass-rate); but last year, we were back to our old results (about 60%), and hope to improve in the coming year.

Our companionship is a relationship between brothers and sisters, one poor, the other, less so. This is our family situation. What do we do? Part of the programme is the exchange of letters on different topics between the children. Daily we pray for our Companionship-brother and sister. We might soon be able to communicate with each other through the internet (we have a few computers), because our village was recently connected to the web and a booster was erected just

above our school. However, power cuts are the problem.

In 2008/09, when the situation was worst, thanks to our sister school we could help the children with porridge, maheu and some of their schoolfees; the teachers also received a small top-up. When the programme started we had no textbooks. St John’s Beaumont helped us to purchase a number of these. In February 2009, Jesuit Missions held a workshop in Harare to evaluate the programme: all the Jesuit Companions schools in Africa, from Nairobi to Harare, met. It was organised by Ashleigh Callow who, on this occasion, visited our school for the first time. Another result of this meeting was a kind of companionship with Hartmann House, one of the finest Jesuit primary schools in Zimbabwe. Since then we had another Companions’ meeting in October 2011, and I met and spoke to the St John’s Beaumont boys when I visited the school in

November 2011.

The high point so far has been the visit of our headmaster, Mr Charles Suruvai and his deputy, Mrs Concillia Mhuka, who is also the co-ordinator of the programme, to St John’s Beaumont in December 2009. In her report following the visit, Mrs Mhuka wrote: “There is a great deal of success looking at our story so far. The programme brought together children from two worlds far apart and made them one family. Children here are now so into St John’s and always praying for them and bringing in ideas for strengthening the relationship. They also benefited socially through the letters, and spiritually through the Masses and prayers; they benefited physically as well, through the clothes and shoes, and educationally through the stationery, bags and sporting equipment. The school has grown and horizons have been widened due to this relationship. Things are moving forward ...”

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Nurturing healthy, confident and generous children Snapshot of a historic school steeped in the Jesuit tradition

arlborough Hall School in North Derbyshire is set in 300 acres of picturesque parkland in a truly stunning location.

Approached by a magnificent treelined drive, it never ceases to amaze visitors as they arrive at the school.

“We are lucky to have such beautiful surroundings in which to nurture our pupils,” says Head Teacher, Mrs Wanda Parkinson. “From the youngest to the oldest, our pupils are able to use the woods, lakes and walkways to enhance their learning.”

Barlborough Hall School began as the junior school to Mount St Mary’s College, becoming its Preparatory School when it moved to its current location in 1939. The Hall – a Grade 1 listed building – was built in 1583 and retains much of its character. The chapel and many of the teaching rooms are in the Central Hall, while the Jacobean stable outbuildings and domestic quarters house the Early Years department (for children aged 3-5), the theatre, lakeside studio,

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recreation rooms and gym.

Barlborough Hall seeks to form children who are happy, confident and successful.

It offers education at its most varied, based on the Jesuit tradition. While the curriculum is academically challenging, it also recognises the importance of all areas of a child’s development, spiritual, intellectual, emotional, artistic, and physical. The school’s ethos concentrates on supporting and caring for others.

Throughout the year, pupils, staff and parents hold fundraising events, which involve the whole community, greatly supported by the Barlborough Hall School Parents' Association, a group which very generously helps to organise many of the activities.

The main fundraising effort began in 2003 through the Jesuit Missions Companions’ Programme which linked the school with Makumbi Orphanage and Primary School in Zimbabwe (see

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www.gbjm.org/companionsprogram me/schools/). “The children have really enjoyed supporting their fellow pupils through funding school developments,” says Mrs Parkinson.

“But more important is the connection between the schools,

which gives pupils a deeper understanding of a very different culture. Our relationship with Makumbi has grown over the years through various projects which have been a fantastic opportunity for the children to learn from others.”

From the early years right through to the Upper School and Year 6, children are taught a diverse and rich curriculum in small classes. Pupils have specialist music, French and swimming lessons from the age of three. In Pre-Prep II and I, formal schooling begins along with streaming for main lessons. The Upper school is introduced to Latin and more specialist teaching in the

areas of science and technology, games and languages in a traditional preparatory school system.

large percentage of children engaged in peripatetic music lessons from specialist instrumental teachers. The school’s orchestra and three choirs reflect the excellent quality of music provision. It has a brand new lakeside dance studio, along with facilities for music, drama and academic excellence. Balborough Hall is also committed to keeping the pupils healthy and fit through sport; they all enjoy regular PE lessons and swimming in the indoor heated pool, while older pupils experience a broad variety of sporting opportunities including a wide range of match fixtures against other local schools.

All pupils at Barlborough Hall School enjoy a varied and extensive extra-curricular programme, which helps them to find new interests and develop their talents in many different areas.

There are opportunities to enjoy hobbies after school and on Saturday mornings, including more than 20 activities such as archery, ballroom dancing, baking and needlecraft.

Music and drama play a very important part in school life, with a

Top – Chaplain, Fr Peter Knott SJ, chats with pupils in the school chapel. Middle – Sports and archery are among activities enjoyed at Barlborough Hall. Botto m – Pupils learn about Makumbi Primary School with teach er, Mr Blessing Mwedzi.

Head teacher, Wanda Parkinson, is proud that Barlborough is a warm, happy place for pupils to develop and grow their talents. “This is attributed solely to our ethos and the importance we place on ensuring pupils look out and care for each other,” she explains. “All children proudly carry a vision card in their blazer pocket which sums up our aims and how the whole school community tries to live out the Jesuit ethos in our every day lives.” www.jesuitsandfriends.org.uk Spring 2012 Jesuits & Friends

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The Chinese Challenge, 400 years after Matteo Ricci herish the cultural relics – no striding!” insists a notice at the tombs of the Ming emperors outside Beijing. Chinese culture continues to represent an intriguing challenge for the proclamation of the Christian gospel. In the days of the great Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci, the challenges included learning the language and its variations, developing an empathy with the people, recognising the signs of God at work in their experience and helping them to become more aware of these signs themselves. One key question this raised 400 years ago, and still raises today, is how the Catholic Church in China relates to the Christian community worldwide.

Similar challenges faced a small team from Loyola Hall in Merseyside last year, as they accepted an invitation to lead a month-long intensive course in spiritual accompaniment at the diocesan

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seminary in Beijing. “We were invited by Eamonn O’Brien, a Columban priest who helps to build up the Chinese church by bringing in people from Europe and North America to offer appropriate training,” explained Fr Paul Nicholson SJ, one of the British team.

For 30 years Matteo Ricci - one of the pioneers of inculturation worked to make the Christian faith understandable by, and acceptable to, the educated class of Chinese society. Ruth Holgate, the Director of Loyola Hall, Vron Smith (one of its spiritual directors), and Paul Nicholson who is the Jesuit novice master in Britain, were conscious of building on the foundations of his work.

“The course targeted priests and sisters responsible for religious and seminary formation,” Paul told Jesuits and Friends. “Fourteen took

Jesuits & Friends Spring 2012 www.jesuitsandfriends.org.uk

part, from across China. All had previously studied to master’s level in English-speaking institutions, so language didn’t present too much of a problem. After a six-day retreat, there followed three weeks of theory, role-play, and reflection on supervised experience of directing one another. Discernment was the core skill being taught, the ability to recognise how God is at work in the experience g, Beijin in p The course leaders with the grou (above) of those being listened to.” and in front of Matteo Ricci’s tomb Paul and the rest of the team feel the course went well and plans are already being made to see how it can be followed up. “One idea is for some of the participants to be invited to direct the full Spiritual Exercises. For those of us in the team, the trip could only scratch the surface of a culture which, if not quite as unknown in the West as it was in Ricci’s day, still represents a challenge for anybody entrusted with proclaiming the gospel.”

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Vietnam: where Jesuit vocations flourish ver the past few years, the British Province has been helping the Jesuit centre for studies in Vietnam, at Ho Chi Minh City, the city formerly known as Saigon. The official name of this centre is St Joseph Scholasticate and it caters for the formation of many young Jesuits as they get trained for work in that country or for missionary work in other countries. Up to now, the help of the British Province consisted primarily in sending two philosophy lecturers from Heythrop College, University of London, to teach philosophy there for some weeks during the summer.

Fr Louis Caruana SJ was in Ho Chi Minh City in August 2009 and again in August 2011, and Fr Terry Walsh SJ was there in August 2010, and is planning to go again this summer.

The Jesuit presence in Vietnam started around 1615. For about 150 years, Jesuits worked strenuously to establish a solid foundation for the

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Vietnamese Catholic Church, and to have a positive impact also on the local culture. In fact, it was primarily the Jesuit Fr Alexander de Rhodes who rendered the Vietnamese written language into its Latin alphabet version still in use today.

Their work stopped in 1773, and only restarted 184 years later, in 1957.

The new strategy they adopted was to focus on training priests for all of Southeast Asia. The Pontifical College they ran in the city of Dalat produced 14 bishops and about 250 priests, serving a Catholic population of about six million.

In 1975, things changed drastically when the communists took control of southern Vietnam and all foreign Jesuits had to leave.

Only a very small group remained: 11 priests, ten scholastics, one brother,

four novices and 15 candidates.

Living in a communist society, these Jesuits faced many difficulties but continued to develop and serve God’s people with perseverance and generosity. The group thrived and increased, and on 14 July 2007, it was officially promoted to the status of a Jesuit Province. These last years, vocations have flourished, and

Jesuits in Formation in Ho Chi Minh City with Fr Terry Walsh and (right) Fr Louis Caruana

in 2010 there were 42 Jesuit priests, 75 scholastics, 23 brothers, 22 novices, and 100 candidates. The number of scholastics studying at St Joseph Scholasticate at present is 54.

Jesuit Missions has also been involved in this wonderful apostolic adventure in its own way. It was instrumental in shipping about 120 philosophy and theology books for the library of St Joseph Scholasticate, ensuring thereby that the young Jesuits in Vietnam will have no lack of useful books to read.

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GUYANA Land of Many Waters uring the past two years, Jesuits and Friends has featured some of the photographs of James Broscombe who, between February 2009 and November 2010, was stationed in the interior of Guyana with his wife Sarah, a volunteer with Jesuit Missions. On his return to Britain, James compiled some of his photos into a stunning book: Guyana, Land of Many Waters. Not only do they provide a colourful record of the scenery, people and aspects of life in this beautiful country of South America; they also explore some of the techniques James uses for taking photos and the challenges he faced.

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tas from Dadanawa ‘I took a journey with Duane de Frei ge of Masakenari. It Ranch up river to the WaiWai villa tribe who still hunt took a week to reach this remote smoke or drink not with curare tipped arrows and do any alcohol. three generations, is ‘This WaiWai family, spanning with a crop of sugar returning from their riverside farm n communally in the cane. All food is shared and eate village.’

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‘The villages in the interior of Guy ana depend upon a group of hardy Bedford truck drivers who are available for hire to carry goods and construction mat erials into areas with no roads. Most journeys involve gett ing stuck in soft mud or long breakdowns which may take days to repair.

‘This young boy is the son of a truck driver. Most of his education will be on the road, but he will at least become an expert in vehicle repair!’

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‘I was determined to take a new photograph of Kaieteur Falls, different from the usual trav el brochure pictures. I was planning to take a night exp osure showing star trails behind the falls, but on the first even ing there I realised that the mist from the water builds too quickly to be able to see the stars. ’I was lucky with the lightning! The storm started far away to the left of the waterfall, and was travelling to the right, but very slowly. I waited for abo ut half an hour, taking 30 second exposures of the waterfa ll, but the lightning was always out of frame to the left. The final lightning strike of the night was above the waterfa ll, right at the edge of the picture. My settings were right and I’d managed to catch it.’

own is rumoured to ‘The Anglican Cathedral in Georget the world. I’d decided be the tallest wooden building in re photograph of it at I wanted to take a long exposu t. In my second year dusk, but I wanted a high viewpoin bank building near the in Guyana, work started on a new building was high Cathedral. As soon as the new the building site de sua enough I managed to per picture.’ a take to up manager to let me climb

Guyana, Land of Many Waters by James Broscombe is currently ava ilable at www.blurb.com and www.jmbph otography.co.uk

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What Makes Jesuits Tick?

Matthew Power SJ eaders of Jesuits and Friends are well aware of what Jesuits and their co-workers are getting up to at the beginning of the 21st Century. Some of the men who contact me to express interest in a Jesuit vocation often have little idea.

Certain myths – that we are the shock troops of the Vatican, or are all subversive revolutionaries, may have piqued their curiosity; some episode from our past – the heroism of our British martyrs or the breath taking boldness of the Paraguayan

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reductions as captured in the film The Mission, might have fired their imaginations; or they may have had an experience of imaginative contemplation in a chaplaincy retreat. But few will have a clear sense of our day to day lives, how we live in community, what we dedicate our lives to now, and what deep down makes us tick.

‘Young people can only choose what they know and love’. So reflected the Jesuit Provincials gathered in General Congregation back in 1995.

‘Every Jesuit and every Jesuit community must do everything possible actively to present the Society to others in such a way that those whom God calls will know and appreciate who and what we are’.

(Decree 10, General Congregation 34) It is this need to let people ‘know and appreciate who and what we are’ that is leading to a series of events going under the title, ‘Exploring Jesuit life’. We began with a weekend in November 2010 in Loyola Hall Jesuit Spirituality Centre: an open event for all-comers. It was

evening event in Oxford (29 April), the Hurtado Centre, Wapping (13 May) and in St Aloysius Parish, Glasgow (in the autumn, date to be confirmed).

As time allows, we will aim in all these events to convey how we live in the spirit of St Ignatius today, why we occupy the place that we do in the Church – on the frontiers engaging with other faiths and the secular world, why we do so alongside lay collaborators, and what sustains us in our community lives and in our prayer. We hope they will be eyeopening and heart engaging occasions!

For more information on the ‘Exploring Jesuit life’ events, please email: matthew.power@jesuits.net

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

advertised in such a way as to indicate it might be of help to those considering a vocation to the Society, but was also open to others. One of the most engaged participants was a young woman, not Catholic, researching different models of community living and church engagement. We repeated the weekend in November 2011; and this year we will be adding to the programme an afternoon/early 14

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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

The ‘privilege’ of going to prison Henry Longbottom nSJ s well as the ‘experiments’ lasting a month or more, when Jesuit novices work full-time in schools, make pilgrimages begging for their food and lodging, or serve alongside Mother Teresa’s sisters helping the homeless, the men in the initial stage of formation in the Society of Jesus spend one day each week in a variety of pastoral placements. Here Henry Longbottom, a British Province novice who began his training last year, describes a day in the work to which he has been assigned.

Fellow novice Mark McDevitt and I became godparents last September.

The simple but dignified baptism and confirmation liturgy took place during a community Mass attended by about 30 male worshippers. As the priest welcomed him into the Church and the congregation applauded, my godson, a Birmingham-born man in his 30s, had an expression of excitement and serenity. Afterwards, he described the experience as being one of the most important events in his life.

It certainly had a powerful impact on me, reminding me of my own baptism when I was 13 and my reception into the Roman Catholic Church a few years ago. The same sacraments yet very different

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contexts. I say this because the venue for the baptism last year was the chapel at HMP Winson Green, where Mark (a second-year novice) and I take part in this apostolate which he pioneered in 2010. The congregation consisted of inmates (plus two prison officers looking on at the back) and the priest officiating was the Catholic chaplain. My new godson is a prisoner who had discovered his Christian faith in jail.

He is fond of animals and so he chose St Francis of Assisi as his confirmation name.

As a Jesuit novice, one aspect of the novitiate I particularly enjoy is my “social apostolate” at the prison. The other novice and I go there on Thursdays and Sundays to assist with the work of the chaplaincy. Jesuit ministry begins with day one of the novitiate.

We help out with the liturgies, bible classes, and visits to individual prisoners. It is challenging but rewarding work. As I am let through the heavy gates of the prison’s reception area in the morning, I have no idea what a day might throw up, what I might see or what stories I might hear. The inmates can ask very searching questions (they have a lot of time to ponder existential issues) and they often hang on every word of

your answer. I have been struck by the amount and intensity of faith among prisoners.

It is very humbling. It can also be quite harrowing at times, especially when visiting inmates who are on “suicide watch”.

I was a solicitor before joining the Jesuits and there is a nice symmetry for me to be working in a prison now.

I am seeing things from the other side or you might say getting an insight into the sharper end of law. I am certainly experiencing the human aspect more acutely, seeing prisoners as individuals rather than simply as “a case” or a statistic. In listening to the prisoners, I am often struck by the difficult and chaotic nature of their upbringing and family lives.

Of course, every case is different but I cannot help detecting a general pattern, especially among the younger chaps, that a combined absence of male role models together with substance abuse leads them into a downward spiral of crime. It is a great privilege to be able to hear accounts first hand.

Henry Longbottom wrote this originally for the novitiate blog, where weekly postings offer a flavour of the varied life of the novitiate. You can read, and subscribe to, the blog at http://manresaamigos.wordpress.com

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Michael Beattie SJ reflects on the Pope’s Apostleship of Prayer intentions over the coming months, as he invites us to

Come adore this wondrous Presence ome adore this wondrous Presence” is the translation by the late Father James Quinn SJ of Tantum Ergo Sacramentum, referring to the presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Jesus Christ is present to us in other ways, too, and the Holy Father’s intentions for the next few months seem to have as a common bond the wondrous presence of Christ in our lives.

In April, we offer our day for young people, that they will hear the call of Christ and that many of them will have the faith and generosity to offer themselves for priestly service and for the religious life. The Holy Father also wishes us to pray that Christ will

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be central to minds and hearts of all who live in Africa.

In May, the month dedicated to Mary, the Mother of God and our Mother, the emphasis of our prayer is in regard to Family life. We pray that Christ may be worshipped and valued as the central figure in every human family.

“Tantum ergo Sacramentum” fits perfectly into the papal intention for June. We are so blessed with the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. We pray that more and more people will come to a realisation of this “Wondrous Presence”. We pray too that the countries of Europe, struggling with

so many problems at this time, will never forget their Christian heritage.

Christ, yesterday, today and the same forever.

In July, we are asked to pray that all may find safe and wholesome employment. The Rule of St Benedict states: “laborare est orare – working is praying”. Praying puts us in the presence of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Using the prayer of Blessed John Henry Newman we could pray that we ourselves and indeed all Christian volunteers in foreign countries will “spread the fragrance of Christ everywhere”.

April That many young people may hear the call of Christ and follow him in the priesthood and religious life. We pray that the risen Christ may be a sign of certain hope for the men and women of the African continent.

May That the initiatives which defend and uphold the role of the family may be promoted within society. That Mary, Queen of the World and Star of Evangelisation, may accompany all missionaries in proclaiming her Son Jesus.

June That believers may recognise in the Eucharist the living presence of the Risen One who accompanies them in daily life. That Christians in Europe may rediscover their true identity and participate with greater enthusiasm in the proclamation of the Gospel.

July That everyone may have work in safe and secure conditions. That Christian volunteers in mission territories may witness to the love of Christ.

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Serving Faith … Promoting Justice M has secured the services of Julian Filochowski to help it with advocacy. But what do we mean by ‘advocacy’ and why is it important to the work of the Jesuits? Jesuits and Friends caught up with him recently to find out.

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J&F: Julian, why is it important for JM to get involved with advocacy?

Julian: The Society of Jesus seeks to serve faith and promote justice both in the UK and overseas. JM is privileged to help other provinces and our regions in this task.

Sometimes the promotion of justice can mean challenging laws and procedures, rhetoric and action, governments and private enterprise, when they bear down oppressively on the most vulnerable in our world.

J&F: Isn’t this what JRS does?

Julian: Under its banner ‘Accompany, Serve, Advocate’, the Jesuit Refugee Service offers direct assistance to refugees and asylum seekers, but it is also a formidable lobbyist for refugee rights, both at the United Nations and with governments who contravene the rights of people fleeing conflict and persecution.

J&F: Practically, how will advocacy help our Jesuits working in Guyana, South Africa and Zimbabwe?

Julian: Let me give just one example. Within its overseas funding, JM provides assistance to the Amerindian people in Guyana through income-generating projects in the communities. Yet amongst the biggest threats to their future are national and international mining companies which extract the gold, uranium and diamonds that lie underneath and around their

A scar cut in the rainforest by mining at Marudi, Guyana (James Broscombe)

traditional lands. Great swathes of polluted forest and river are visible from the air, threatening not only the ecology but the communities themselves with poisoned waters in the streams they depend upon. Their land rights are infringed and crops damaged. Social ills have followed, including trafficking and prostitution.

So, to advocate for the rights and well-being of Guyana’s Amerindians might well become part of JM’s future agenda alongside more traditional projects.

J&F: And I understand that JM is able to make a contribution to advocacy at a global level?

and communicate effectively. They will seek to witness to faith alongside promoting social justice.

And this September, the British Jesuits will welcome to London the advocacy network dealing with mining for its first week-long meeting. JM hopes to learn from advocacy experience in India, the Philippines, the Democratic Republic of Congo and elsewhere that might usefully throw light on the challenges posed in Guyana, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

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Julian: Yes, the Society of Jesus worldwide has now set up five Global Ignatian Advocacy Networks, each with a major focus theme. They will take advantage of the potentially unparalleled advocacy resources that the Society can count on - from documented testimony collected on the frontline by Jesuits tackling poverty and exclusion, from the researchers in Jesuit universities analysing the underlying issues with real competence, from Jesuit-linked agencies which already campaign

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The Global Ignatian Advocacy Network (GIAN) goes back to the early 2000s when some Jesuits expressed the desire to network and collaborate on common projects. Their five core themes are migration, peace and human rights, the right to education, ecology and the governance of natural and mineral resources.

Collaboration enhances their work, draws upon the expertise that the Society has already in several areas and takes advantage of its global reach to spread the impact beyond local confines. It is founded on General Congregation 35’s call to establish advocacy links and build bridges across communities, sectors and regions.

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The RMS Titanic – 100 years on

hen the RMS Titanic set sail from Southampton on 10 April 1912, she was the largest ship afloat at the time. On board was a remarkable Irish Jesuit Scholastic, Francis Browne, who, by luck, was an enthusiastic photographer. His uncle had bought him a ticket for the first leg of the journey to Queenstown (now Cobh, Co Cork, Ireland). During his 24 hours on board, he took many pictures, including the famous picture of the Marconi Room, from which the distress signal was sent when the vessel hit an iceberg in the Atlantic on its maiden voyage. On board he met a millionaire American couple who offered to extend his ticket to New York, and he sent a telegram to his Provincial, asking for permission to go. The reply was “GET OFF THAT SHIP – PROVINCIAL”. Fortunately, Browne was an obedient Jesuit, otherwise we would not have his memorable pictures and he may well have been amongst the two-thirds of the passengers who lost their lives. He was ordained in 1915.

To mark the centenary of the Titanic’s tragic maiden voyage, Messenger Publications in Ireland have re-published Father Browne’s Titanic Album, edited by Eddie O’Donnell SJ. Contact sales@messenger.ie for details. And you can see his photos for yourself at the ‘Flowers for the Titanic’ commemoration at St Francis Xavier’s Church, Liverpool, from 20 – 22 April. More information on www.sfxchurchliverpool.com (phone 0151 298 1911).

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Below: Aboard the Titanic – first class accommodation, the grand staircase and the Marconi Radio Room. Photos courtesy of Davison & Associates

FACT FILE Name: Owner: Port of registry: Builder: Launched: Maiden voyage: Stop over in Queenstown, Ireland: Hit an iceberg & sunk in North Atlantic Ocean: Rescued: Perished:

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RMS Titanic White Star Line Liverpool Harland and Wolf, Belfast 31st May 1911 10th April 1912 11th April 1912 15th April 1912 710 1,514

PUBLICATIONS The Philosopher’s Friend and Tales of Detection by Moff he Philosopher’s Friend and Tales of Detection is a rather off-the-wall take on some key philosophical themes by “Moff” (also known as Fr John Moffatt SJ).

Fr Moffatt is passionate about many things: cricket and football, crime detection and puzzles, politics and key political players, British education and new educational policies, philosophy and the existence of God. He has also been known, on occasion, to down a pint or two in a public house whilst engaging in debate on any of his favourite topics. This book is the ideal vehicle to articulate these passions in a way that is both stimulating and challenging. I think it would be immensely useful to anyone trying to engage young people to think seriously.

The art of philosophy is to be able to make generalisations about the nature of things from particular instances which we observe. From what we can see we make inferences about what we cannot see and then examine them to see if they make sense. Plato was concerned with abstracts, such as “beauty” and how these concepts are related to given

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instances of something we judge to be beautiful.

It might seem a big jump from “what’s the point of cricket” to “well, without a God our universe is devoid of meaning”, but this is exactly the sort of bridge Moff is eager to cross. I’m sure the material in the book went down well as Fr Moffatt was challenging his students at Oxford or Enfield to think about life and its opportunities.

If you share his passions, or at least some of them, then this is a book for you.

The Philosopher’s Friend and Tales of Detection by Moff (Lulu 2011) is only available through the internet at www.lulu.com price £6.99 + postage and packing.

Christianity in Evolution, an Exploration

by Jack Mahoney SJ n any challenge to the doctrine of original sin, Christians – and especially Catholics – have had to relate it to the doctrine of redemption, and specifically the Incarnation. Anyone exploring original sin and accepting evolution is forced to question why the Incarnation was necessary and the evolutionary role and significance of Jesus Christ.

These are issues that Fr Jack Mahoney SJ faces squarely in his book Christianity in Evolution, An Exploration, which was launched with a lecture at Gresham College in the City of London last month. It is inevitable that in such an “exploration”, a Jesuit theologian like Professor Mahoney asks fundamental questions about why Christ became man and what was achieved by his death. Before Darwin, death throughout the Bible was viewed largely as the divinely-imposed penalty or punishment for original sin – the human sin of disobedience. The author, however, argues that Christ’s purpose “was not to save us from original sin … and placate God, for which there was no need, but to save humanity from individual death and meaninglessness, by conquering

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death and in his resurrection leading his fellow-humans to a new phase of evolutionary existence with a loving God.” Fr Mahoney acknowledges that his proposals may cause alarm or distress in some quarters.

Some argue that evolution, though challenging the Augustinian definition of Original Sin, does not have such far reaching consequences as Fr Mahoney suggests. However, this is definitely first rate theology and well worth a read.

Christianity in Evolution, An Exploration is published

by Georgetown University Press and is available from Amazon (priced from approx £15). You can also listen to Fr Mahoney’s lecture at the launch of this book on the Gresham College web site (www.gresham.ac.uk).

Follow the link to past lectures and events.

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BITS’n’PIECES Lottery Supports SFX Repairs t Francis Xavier’s Church in Liverpool (SFX) has been awarded a Heritage Lottery grant of £151,000 towards the repair of its stonework. As it is on the side of a hill winds from the Irish Sea buffet the building on a regular basis. The grant will help to finance the first phase of necessary repairs and will concentrate on the eastern side of the nave. In total, the church will need about £1.5million to bring the stonework up to a decent standard.

In 2000, a Heritage Lottery grant of £780,000 enabled the replacement of the roof of SFX and English Heritage said it would be willing to consider the phased funding of repairs to the stonework. The latest grant will further secure the place of this magnificent Grade II* listed church, situated in one of the most deprived areas of the country, as a centre of worship and pastoral activity.

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Procurators In Nairobi

Schools Welcome New Chaplain

r Adrian Porter SJ will represent the British Province at the Congregation of Procurators of the Society of Jesus in Nairobi this July. At the Province Congregation at the beginning of the year, Fr Peter Gallagher SJ was elected as Substitute Procurator.

The Congregation of Procurators in Kenya has to decide whether the Society should call a General Congregation. It will also be considering the state of the Society as it looks forward to 2014, the 200th anniversary of its Restoration by Pope Pius VII. Writing to the Jesuits last year, Father General said: “As the Restoration was an event of re-creation for the Society, I would like to invite Jesuits today to engage in a deeper reflection on the signs of new life and apostolic creativity in both traditional and new ministries in the Society.”

ather Simon Ellis has taken on the role of Director of Chaplaincy at Mount St Mary’s College and its preparatory school, Barlborough Hall. Fr Simon, originally from Cambridgeshire, was a Church of England priest near Nottingham and in Bristol, before being received into the Catholic Church and ordained as a Catholic priest in 2011. He said he felt “honoured and privileged” to have the role at the Derbyshire schools. “Although I have only been in post for a short time, I have already seen and experienced just how special life is at both Barlborough Hall and Mount St Mary’s. The two schools offer a unique educational experience. As Director of Chaplaincy, my role is to support and offer advice on a range of matters to all involved with the two schools, overseeing worship and to have a significant involvement in pastoral care.”

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Restoration Of St Peter’s Church congregation of 900 pupils, parents, staff and alumni from Stonyhurst College in Lancashire attended a Mass of Celebration in January for the re-opening of St Peter’s Church, after a year-long programme of restoration and conservation.

Masons have replaced large expanses of stone, eroded by wind and rain; stained glass windows were re-leaded and cleaned; stencilling from the 1850’s and 1950’s, previously covered by whitewash, was painstakingly re-painted, and the magnificent ceiling was restored in this historic 180-year-old building. The repairs, renewals and redecoration were funded in part from the sale of the Cuthbert Gospel.

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The New Running For Charities Magazine Team n addition to a change of Executive Editor (see page 4), several new members joined the editorial team for Jesuits and Friends at the beginning of 2012. Andrea Brown will bring her experience from London Jesuit Volunteers at the Mount Street Jesuit Centre and also the Hurtado Jesuit Centre in Wapping. For the first time, tertiary education will be represented on the team: Annabel Clarkson from Heythrop College, University of London, will bring her expertise as the college’s Head of External Relations to the magazine. And Tom Smith, a member of Christian Life Community and a regular participant in FS Plus at Farm Street Church joins the group with input from young adults’ activities in the province.

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he Jesuit Missions team in the Virgin London Marathon is attempting to raise over £75,000 this year – a 50% increase on last year’s total. The 30 runners on 22 April include pupils and staff from schools who are raising money for their Companion schools, a married couple, siblings, former Stonyhurst pupils, a head teacher from Zimbabwe, ex-JM staff and relatives of current JM staff and many more. All have a link to the Jesuits and the work of JM. Three of the team are raising funds for JRS UK and the rest will go towards projects in Guyana, Kenya, South Africa and Zimbabwe. For details of runners and the projects they will be supporting, visit the JM web site: www.jesuitmissions.org

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DEATHS & OBITUARIES

Fr Charles Praeger SJ

10 June 1920 – 8 November 2011 A native of Harrow, Middlesex, Charles Walsh Praeger was brought up as a member of the Church of England and was educated at Merchant Taylors’ School. He studied Modern Languages at St John Baptist College in Oxford and, in 1940, while at university, he was called up for military service and sat for a War Emergency Degree. He spent five-and-a-half years in the army, serving in the Middle East, during which time he was received into the Catholic Church, at Stella Maris Monastery, Mount Carmel, Haifa (September 1946).

Charles was fluent in French and

German, and also had an interest in Italian and Russian. He resumed his studies at Oxford after the war and achieved an MA in Modern Languages.

He took a post as lecturer in French and German at the Army Education College in Mount Carmel until the evacuation of civilians from Palestine forced him to return to England in 1948. He then spent some time as a junior lecturer in English at the Polish University College in London.

In September 1948, Charles entered the Society of Jesus at Roehampton and between his philosophy degree (1952) and his theology degree (1959) – both at Heythrop College in Oxfordshire – he achieved his Teacher’s Certificate at

Roehampton. As a scholastic, his first teaching appointment was at Stonyhurst College in Lancashire; and after his ordination in 1958, he taught at Preston Catholic College and at Cardinal Newman College, created in 1978 by the merger of Lark Hill Convent Grammar School, Winckley Square Convent School and Preston Catholic College.

Fr Praeger continued living in Preston as a member of the St Wilfrid’s Jesuit Community until 2004 when he moved to the Oulton Abbey Care Home in Staffordshire. After four years there, he moved to the Corpus Christi Jesuit Community in Boscombe, Dorset, where he died on 8 November 2011.

Please pray for those who have died recently.

May they rest in peace.

Mr Michael Parnham

Fr James Berry SJ

Mr Evaristo Makaka - brother of Fr Pat Makaka SJ

Fr John Eddy SJ

Mr Vicente Gadea

Mr Owen Hayes

Fr Stanley B. Marrow SJ

- father of Sergio Gadea SJ

Miss Joan Day

Mrs Maureen Kelly

Mr Anthony Suvekeen

Mr Pat Rimmer

- aunt of Fr Gerry Gallen SJ

- father of Roshan Suvakeen SJ

Mrs Joanie Archer

Mrs Anna Bage

Rt Rev John Jukes

Mrs E P Murnaghan

- aunt of Fr Amar Bage SJ

Revd Roy Dorey

Mr Andrew Harvie

Mr Dariush Mehrtash

Sr Valsa John SCJM

Mr Oscar Idion

- cousin of Br Bernard Elliot SJ

Sr Lucy Cairns DC

Mr Redmond Mullin

Mrs Frances Monks

Sr Anne Holden SHCJ

Mrs Angela Gibbons

- sister of Br Ted Coyle SJ

Sr Hilda Denyer RA

Mr Denys Twist

Mr Brian Rogers

Mr Piers Wooley

Mrs Sally Byrne

- brother of Fr Ted Rogers SJ

Mr David Charles Rogers

Miss Edith Mary Sexton

Mrs Agnes Washington

Mr Alan Lester

Mrs Claris Wray

- sister of the late Fr Vincent Hawe SJ

Mr M Trotter

Mr Paul Haddon

Mr Leo Bridges

Mrs Maureen Ferguson

Mrs Olga Keswani

- nephew of the late Fr John Bridges SJ

Mrs Ethel MacDonald

Mrs Margaret Tudor

Fr Charles Praeger SJ

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Mr Ranjit Croos-Fernando

Why not send a donation to support us?

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.

Help?

YOUR GIFTS in response to any appeals, or for any of our Missions overseas, should be sent to JM, which is the central mission office. Please make all cheques and postal orders payable to JM.

The JESUIT SEMINARY ASSOCIATION helps to defray the expensive cost of training Jesuit priests and brothers.

A BEQUEST We would be delighted if you remember JM or the appeals mentioned here in your Will.

We shall be happy to send you details of the official wording.

GIFT AID For every pound you donate we can reclaim 25p, thanks to the government scheme.

If you need further details contact the JM office.

All Benefactors are remembered in the Masses and prayers of every Jesuit in our Province.

Thank you for your generosity 1

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1. The Jesuits in the Philippines responded to the catastrophe of Typhoon Sendong but also work long-term with vulnerable communities.

2. The gift of education and friendship: thank you for supporting the children of Zimbabwe.

3. Guyana is a land of great beauty but also many challenges. Please help the work of Jesuits working throughout the country.

4. Every pound helps! Please sponsor our runners in the Virgin London Marathon who are running for projects in Kenya, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Guyana and refugees.

You can send your donations to the address below, or log on to our website where you can increase your donation by 25% through the Just Giving scheme. Thank you!

JM 路 11 Edge Hill 路 London 路 SW19 4LR T: + 44 (0) 20 8946 0466 F: + 44 (0) 20 8946 2292 E: director@gbjm.org Reg. Charity Nos. England and Wales: 230165 Scotland: SCO 40490

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"May You be praised, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, You who feed the whole world with goodness, grace, and mercy.�

(Believed to be the wording of the blessing at the end of the Last Supper at the time of Jesus)

This illustration of the Last Supper was especially commissioned for the re-built Redemptorist Chapel in Chisawasha, Zimbabwe, after the previous chapel was destroyed by fire. It is one of a set of paintings by the late Fr Tony Berridge SJ who died suddenly last year.