Jesuits & Friends Issue 68

Jesuits and Friends A faith that does justice

IHS HS

Winter 2007 Issue 68

Remembering Father Arrupe: pages 8 – 9

Mitigating the affects of climate change: pages 12-13

The Poppy Pilgrimage: page 20

Jesuits and Friends A faith that does justice

PRAY-AS-YOU-GO

RAPID RESPONSE

Pray-as-you-go is a daily prayer session, designed for use on portable MP3 players, to help you pray whilst travelling to and from work or study, or at any other time in a busy day.

Consisting of a reading of the day, music and a short reflection, pray-as-you-go provides the perfect antidote to a hectic lifestyle. Find out more and download the daily sessions for free.

www.pray-as-you-go.org

The Heythrop Institute for Religion, Ethics and Public Life feeds into debates on topical issues through its weekly articles. The aim is not to offer a rounded academic discussion of complex issues, but to share with non-specialists views and questions on current events from the Institute’s point of view.

www.heythrop.ac.uk/hirepl

THE JESUIT INSTITUTE SOUTH AFRICA

THE MOUNT STREET JESUIT CENTRE

The Jesuit Institute South Africa seeks to engage with people from all sectors of our society. Motivated by the service of faith and the promotion of justice, and by our conviction of God’s continuous active engagement in all aspects of our lives, we attempt to encourage participation in social transformation through open and respectful dialogue with others. In this way we hope to proclaim Good News to all. www.jesuitinstitute.org.za

Based in Central London, the Mount Street Jesuit Centre provides opportunities for people to find a deeper meaning and purpose in their lives. It does this by offering a range of courses, activities and ministries: pastoral, spiritual development/guidance, theological education and formation (including moral and social theology), young adult ministry and social justice (including the London Jesuit Volunteers). www.msjc.org.uk

In Sydney, Australia, 5—15 July 2008 An

invitation

to join

Up to 2,000 young adults (20s and 30s) from all over the world Celebrating the diversity of our lands and our peoples Deepening their relationship with God and each other Sharing Ignatian spirituality and a ‘faith that does justice’ Complementing and enhancing the World Youth Day programme For more information contact enquiries@magisuk.org or visit www.magisuk.org

Cover photo: The congregation prepares to celebrate Mass at St Pius X Church, Georgetown.

Credit: Hania Lubienska

www.jesuitsandfriends.org.uk

Jesuits and Friends

IHS

A faith that does justice

Contents

Winter 2007 Issue 68

Jesuits and Friends is published three times a year by the British Province of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), in association with Jesuit Missions.

Editorial office: 11 Edge Hill London SW19 4LR Tim Curtis SJ Executive Editor Ged Clapson Editor Editorial group: Denis Blackledge SJ Dushan Croos SJ Alan Fernandes

Congratulations to the Jesuits of Guyana - pictured here with the British Provincial on the steps of Georgetown Cathedral - on the occasion of their 150th anniversary. Photo: Ashleigh Callow

Jane King Siobhan Totman Graphic Design:

Ian Curtis www.firstsightgraphics.com

FROM THE EDITOR 150 YEARS … SO FAR Hania Lubienska and Ashleigh Callow join the celebrations in Guyana ZIMBABWEANS FIND A VOICE THROUGH RADIO Nigel Johnson SJ

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David Birchall SJ 4

Enfield, Middlesex EN3 7NT www.magprint.co.uk To protect our environment papers

ZAMBUKO HOUSE Canius Chisiri SJ Ordinations in Soweto

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DON’T DO ANYTHING, JUST BE THERE: What it means to be a Jesuit volunteer in London Andrea Kelly

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JESUITS ON THE MOVE

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BITS AND PIECES

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YOUR LETTERS

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Printed by: The Magazine Company

WHAT’S HOT IN THE RETREAT MOVEMENT?

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PERSONAL MEMORIES OF PEDRO ARRUPE Michael Campbell-Johnston SJ 8

used in this publication are produced by mills that promote sustainably managed forests and utilise Elementary Chlorine Free process to produce fully recyclable material in accordance with an Environmental Management

WHEN SHAMPOO AND A PHONE CARD CAN MAKE ALL THE DIFFERENCE Arrupe’s great legacy Louise Zanré 10 PRAYING WITHOUT CEASING Apostleship of Prayer intentions Michael Beattie SJ IWOKRAMA: THE PEOPLE, THE FOREST AND THE BIODIVERSITY Malcolm Rodrigues SJ

The Poppy Pilgrimage Paul Garrington

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OBITUARIES

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HOW CAN I GET INVOLVED?

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HOW CAN I HELP?

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System conforming with BS EN ISO 14001:2004.

GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN -

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From the Editor... et me begin by thanking the many of you who let us know what you felt about the new look of Jesuits and Friends.

Many of you responded positively; thanks for that.

Some have provided helpful suggestions. I have tried to listen to what you have to say and I have made some further changes. It is always a great delight to hear from you, so keep your letters coming in.

St Ignatius intended all Jesuits to be “contemplatives in action”. By this he did not mean that we spend part of the day praying and part of the day doing apostolic work, but rather, in our very activity we would find the deepest consolations of serving the Lord. This has given the Society of Jesus a very special flavour, which is discernable in the many works which you will read about in these pages. Each Jesuit, and each lay person collaborating in our mission, encounters the Lord at the deepest level in and through their service of others.

In this edition of Jesuits and Friends, in addition to congratulating Guyana on its remarkable milestone, we also pay homage to Fr Pedro Arrupe, a true giant of a man, who guided the Society of Jesus through the difficult post Vatican II years with such a simplicity of faith and shrewdness of judgement.

Finally, I urgently need to ask your prayers for the forthcoming General Congregation of the Society of Jesus. From 6 January, delegates from all around the world meet together in Rome to elect a successor to Fr Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, a new general for the Society of Jesus. Please pray that the delegates choose the best man for the job. They will also be looking at the global mission of the Society – where in the world today is the need greatest – so that we can continue to respond to the Lord and serve where we can do the most good. There are always new ways to become active contemplatives.

Enjoy the magazine and the coming season of Advent. Please be assured of our prayers and keep us in yours too.

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Fr Tim Curtis SJ

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One Hundred and Fifty years – so far…

Two Jesuit Missions staff recently visited Guyana. Volunteer coordinator, Hania Lubienska, went to investigate missions to which volunteers from this country could be sent, and Ashleigh Callow explored the possibilities of twinning schools in Guyana with schools in the UK. Their visit coincided with the Jesuits’ 150th Anniversary Celebration in the country. Here they share their impressions of their trip.

AC: The prelude to any major celebration is always filled with a heightened sense of excitement and anticipation, and I found the lead-up to the 150th anniversary celebrations no different. Well wishers’ cards were placed on the Brickdam Community notice board, the kitchen was buzzing with preparations and Jesuits started arriving from Rupununi and the Pakaraimas Mountains in the interior of Guyana, as well as Trinidad and the UK, to be part of the thanksgiving Mass.

HL: Whilst we were staying in Georgetown we visited a number of schools and orphanages with the aim of identifying possible “twinning” and volunteering opportunities for our respective programmes. We received a hearty welcome everywhere we went, and when it came to bidding a fond farewell we were often waved off with, “No, it’s not ‘good bye’ because we will see you at the celebration Mass on Monday.”

AC: On 3 September, as the sweltering heat of the day began to fade, the celebrations started to get into full swing. As I walked towards Brickdam Cathedral, in the heart of Georgetown, I could hear the sound of the music group and choir through the open doors. They sang beautifully and expertly played a variety of instruments, some familiar to European ears, some less so, including acoustic guitars, tambourines, a conga drum and a local instrument called the shack-shack.

HL: A colourfully dressed congregation of Guyanese began to gather, including Indians, Portuguese, Afro-Caribbean and Amerindians. I noticed some nuns from the Missionaries of Charity in their distinctive white and blue garments, Mercy Sisters, Ursulines and numerous other religious orders.

Then, as the large gathering of Jesuits proceeded towards the altar in their white cassocks, the choir burst into song expressing the joy that all were feeling in their hearts. I was sitting at the front of the cathedral, but I could feel a pulsating energy around me during the singing. When I glanced over my shoulder I saw hundreds of people waving their arms and swaying in unison. It was truly a joyful thanksgiving service.

AC: Father Michael Holman SJ, the British Provincial, gave an inspiring sermon. He described how 150 years ago the Pope had asked the British Jesuits to take responsibility for the Catholic Church in Guyana. Father Etheridge SJ was appointed as the first Superior in 1857. He was a remarkable man whose missionary style paved the way for the work of future generations of Jesuits who have since set up schools and missions, spirituality and interfaith centres and parishes, often in the most inhospitable and

challenging environments deep in the interior of Guyana. In more recent years, the Jesuits launched the Catholic Standard newspaper and a Catholic television station, and were influential both in the formation of a democratic electoral system and in many institutions such as the Guyana Institute for Social Research and Action. Father Holman paid tribute to the people of Guyana and said the most two important words he had to say were, “Thank you.” “Thank you to God, to the Church in the Diocese of Georgetown, to you who have worked alongside us and to the many more who with your kindness and friendship have supported us.”

HL: Whilst I was listening to the sermon, I was struck by the similarity between today’s Jesuits and their predecessors. Their spirit of service, generosity and hard work shines through in all that they do.

I met Fathers Paul Martin and Paulose Vellacada who are currently working within Amerindian communities in the tough interior of Guyana. They work in mission villages which are so remote that the journey involves multiple stages: flights on (erratically) scheduled light aircraft and 12-hour treks along treacherous mountain tracks, with all supplies needing to be carried by each person on their backs, leaving little or no room for the luxuries that we take for granted.

AC: After the celebration Mass, the congregation moved across the street to the Brickdam Jesuit Presbytery where the gathering spilled outside into the garden. It was a wonderful opportunity to hear about the work taking place today in Guyana. I found it fascinating hearing about the translation of the Good News Bible into Patamona: a complex and interesting process that will enable 3,500 people to have access to the Gospel and will ensure the preservation of the Patamona language.

Father Aloysius Church was in his element as he had so many guests to choose from to interview for the Catholic television station. Father Raj Arokiasamy told me about the Centre for Human Development which is about two hours outside of Georgetown and across one of the rivers in this land of “many waters”. Later on in the week I had the opportunity to visit the centre. Here I found interfaith in action as the centre reaches out to a largely Hindu population providing different educational opportunities for the community.

HL: Seemingly over before it had even really started, the wonderful evening came to a close and just as when we had been saying our farewells to people earlier in the week, we were left with a strong sense that this was not the end. Thanksgiving had been offered for 150 years, but there are another 150 years that lay in wait.

The Jesuits have been working among indigenous peoples in the Interior of Guyana for 100 of the past 150 years.

Amerindians now make up 50% of all baptized Catholics in Guyana. Here at Kurukabaru in the Pakaraima Mountains, they are processing from their village to the church.

Credit: Guyana Region

FACT FILE Guyana is a former British Colony which gained its independence in 1966. A densely-forested country with savannahs, spectacular waterfalls, distinctively large plants and trees and a tropical rainforest teeming with brilliantly coloured birds and mammals. But political troubles, ethnic tension and economic mismanagement have left it among the region’s poorest countries. Onethird of the population is descended from African slaves brought across by the Dutch to work on sugar plantations, half of the population are descendants of Indian agricultural workers brought in by the British after the abolition of the slave trade and the indigenous Amerindians, Portuguese and Chinese communities form the rest of the population.

The 150th anniversary of the arrival of the Jesuits in Guyana has been marked by their post office. Three special stamps (pictured) have been commissioned showing Fr Carey-Elwes, St Stanislaus College and the Church of the Sacred Heart. Once the stamps have been issued we have asked Fr Malcolm in Guyana to send us 100 "First Day Covers". If you are interested in reserving one of these, please contact Jesuit Missions. www.jesuitsandfriends.org.uk Winter 2007 Jesuits & Friends

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ZIMBABWEANS FIND A VOICE THROUGH RADIO After ten years as university chaplain in Harare, Fr Nigel Johnson SJ moved to Zimbabwe's second city, Bulawayo. The Provincial asked had him to set up a radio station there. Seven years later, Radio Dialogue, Bulawayo's community radio station, is a very well known feature in the city. But it does not broadcast through the airwaves, as Nigel explains. ll broadcasting in Zimbabwe is a monopoly of the state, and there are no independent broadcasting licences, so we 'broadcast' by other legitimate means.

We work with local groups to make programmes which we then distribute on CDs and cassettes. These are played on public transport, in hair salons, in bars and so on. We enable local community, school and university groups to make their own programmes.

Every weekend we put on Road Shows at local shopping centres. Each show has a theme, often "What is Community Radio?", or "Free the Airwaves". The show involves local singers, dancers, and actors illustrating the theme, then prizes of theme-based T-shirts for members of the audience who come up on stage.

We also put on what we call "Live Radio Shows". These are public discussion meetings, but run like a radio show, to give people an experience of what local community radio will be like, and so to build up support for the project.

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‘On Air’ – Nigel Johnson (centre) and the Radio Dialogue studio

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Once a year, Radio Dialogue has a Music Festival. This includes local cultural dance and song, a Fashion Show competition for local designers, a Family Fun Day attracting all age groups to a local city park. But, with the youth, the most popular event is Kwaito Night featuring local singers and a main attraction of a famous South African group.

Radio Dialogue has been raided by the police, by the Central Intelligence Organisation, by the Broadcasting Authority, and by the Immigration Department. We have had our productions seized, and our events banned. All senior members of staff have been picked up by the police for interrogation, and two of us have spent a few nights in the police cells. We have made the headlines of local state newspaper as subversive ... pirate ... clandestine ... in league with the agents of imperialism and neocolonialism ... plotting to overthrow the government. I have been cartooned in the local state press, being kicked out of the Radio Dialogue window, another time I was pictured lined up with Bush, Blair, Archbishop Ncube, and a local MP, ready for execution at the Bulawayo 'hanging tree'.

But we survive and we continue our activities. This is largely due to the surprisingly good working relationship we have with the local police. None of our activities are illegal, but, under present legislation, we have to apply to police for clearance for every activity we undertake. We are careful to keep to our agenda which is simple: "Giving you a Voice", which sums up the basic aim of community radio. We do what we can to let the voices of the ordinary people of Bulawayo be heard, so that the local community are not just passive listeners, but are active speakers.

Some of the residents of Zambuko House in Harare

NEW DIRECTOR FOR ZAMBUKO HOUSE Emilia James has been appointed the new Director of Zambuko House, the home for street children in Harare. Ms James has been a member of the board of the project and has 14 years’ working experience with the disadvantaged children in both the public and private sector. The outgoing director, Brother Canisius Chishiri SJ, has written to thank all the friends of Zambuko House and all those who have supported it since it was set up 12 years ago.

“The Jesuit Province of Zimbabwe wishes to see the work continue,” wrote Brother Canisius. “The Provincial has asked me to continue supporting the work of Zambuko House for the time being and the new Director. I am happy to do that as a member of the Board and to help Ms James find her own ground. It is important that Zambuko House is kept going at this moment in time when Zimbabwe is in deep crisis. This house is the only house that provides 24-hour service in this city for the glue-sniffing homeless street children.”

Brother Canisuis added that this appointment shows the importance the Society of Jesus has in the Social Apostolate and its lay co-workers. “This is a challenge maybe for some of us as Jesuits to have a lay person take over a Jesuit work.

Maybe this is good timing for us, as these two themes have come up in the preparation for the 35th General Congregation: the importance of Social Apostolate in the Society of Jesus and the partnership with our co-workers who will take over Jesuit works and keep the spirit of the Society.”

In June of this year, Fr Michael Holman SJ, the British Provincial visited Zambuko House to see the home for himself. He spent over two hours talking to the boys and looking at some of their books and works, and Brother Canisius says they felt very much encouraged and supported by his visit. “He assured us of his support in any way he can,” he wrote.

Brother Canisius has just spent ten days at Zambuko House, standing in for Ms James while she was on a study visit to South Africa. He says he was very much impressed by the young boys there. “It was while I was there that one of the boys, who has been part of Zambuko House and has been living with his grandmother, turned up to tell me how the roof of their house had been blown off by the wind and several sheets destroyed. It is part of Zambuko House Outreach programme to support those grandparents who are looking after their grandchildren; by so doing we will be preventing more kids from coming onto the streets. At present, the grandmother is currently looking after five grand children who are all orphans. I am therefore appealing for help to replace the roof before the rainy season.”

ORDINATIONS IN SOWETO At the beginning of September, Bishop Patrick Mvemve of Klerksdorp ordained Matsepane Morare a priest, and Rampeoane Hlobo a deacon, at the Church of St Martin de Porres in Orlando West, Soweto, South Africa. Matsepane (far right) was an altar server at the parish of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Thokoza when Bishop – then Father – Patrick was parish priest there.

He has been appointed assistant priest at St Mary’s Church in Nyanga, Cape Town. Rampe has resumed his studies at Heythrop College in London.

Credit: South Africa Region

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On 14 November this year, the Society of Jesus celebrates the 100th anniversary of the birth of Pedro Arrupe who went on to become Superior General of the Jesuits (1965-83). The present General, Fr Peter-Hans Kolvenbach SJ, called him “a spiritual master in the line of St Ignatius Loyola”, who shared Ignatius’ special love for the poor and for the Church, and – like Ignatius – led the Jesuits “through a challenging period of renewal”. Michael Campbell-Johnston SJ worked alongside Fr Arrupe for many years and here pays tribute to him with his...

PERSONAL MEMORIES

of

PEDRO ARRUPE

first met Father Pedro Arrupe in the summer of 1968 year. However, after living for five years on my own in two when I went to Rome to present a report on the “Social small rooms under a wooden house in Middle Road La Survey”, requested by the 31st General Congregation Penitence, the change to a community of over 100 Jesuits in a and, in my case, drawn up after a whistle-stop tour in huge, barracks-like institution was traumatic and Guyana and random interviews. Its principal disconcerting. After a few months I wrote a note to Father recommendation was to close down the Caribbean Arrupe asking his permission to go and live in a poorer part of Leadership Training Centre in Barbados, where I had just Rome and come into the Curia each day to work. His spent a year trying to teach sociology and economics to a handwritten reply ran as follows: “Your idea is an excellent motley group of trade unionists from the region, and to one and I would like to come with you. But my advisors won’t open a social institute in Guyana let me, and I can’t let you”. where most of the Jesuits were But it was a wonderful and heartening working. Father Arrupe accepted the experience working with Father Arrupe. report and, to my astonishment, I fully endorse John Harriot’s excellent added: “You suggested it, so you go description in A Planet to Heal, the first and do it”. collection of his talks and writings Thus was I “missioned” to Guyana and published in English: “On balance Pedro was there before year-end, involved in Arrupe is probably one of the most the intricate task of trying to set up GISRA genuinely loved and admired Generals in (the Guyana Institute for Social Research Jesuit history. The plain fact is that the and Action). Less than two years later, General is a captivating human being.

Father Arrupe came out for a packed Few people can leave his presence Fr Arrupe (left) with the author. one-day visit. He spent an hour in GISRA, without feeling more spring in their step.

Credit: JRS meeting with our newly-appointed board He is a charismatic figure who has no of directors and encouraging us to establish close relations need of the conventional props and trappings of authority. He with the social institutes in Latin America (CIAS) on which he assumes no airs and graces, and is devoid of affectation. He is set great store. He had breakfast with the Prime Minister, direct, sincere, unassuming, without a hint of patronage or Forbes Burnham, but told us he didn’t feel up to sharing the playacting. As a public figure he has learned, sometimes from “prairie oyster” with which the latter started his day: in this mistakes which he looks back on with wry amusement, the case, a beaker full of neat rum mixed with two raw eggs, need for diplomacy, but he has no natural taste for politics. pepper, salt and hot chillies.

He drives himself hard, gets along on five hours sleep, is up In July 1975 Fr Frank Ivern came out, ostensibly to make a early for his morning prayer, but scarcely looks the grimretreat but in reality to assess whether I was a fit candidate to visaged ascetic. He bubbles with high spirits, laughs a lot, take over our Social Secretariat in the Roman Curia. loves jokes against himself. Those who worked with him in Apparently I passed muster since I was there by the end of the Japan still remember the gaiety of the ‘Arrupe picnics’ he

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used to organise on the grassy hills outside Tokyo. He also enjoys singing. His attractively youthful speaking voice is matched by a beautiful singing voice, and he has a wide repertoire of Basque folk songs and lieder. He speaks and writes Japanese, English, French, Italian, German - and, of course, Latin and Spanish.”

It was my privilege to preside over what turned out to be his last meeting as General, which took place in Bangkok on the Feast of the Transfiguration in 1981. At the end he gave an impromptu talk fortunately recorded by an Indian Jesuit. It was only on replaying the tape next day after his stroke in Rome airport, that we realised the significance of his insistence on the need for prayer which he declared to be his “swan song for the Society”. I remember he used the Spanish expression “canción de cisne” which we had to translate for him.

I was present in the Curia when the Pope appointed Father Dezza as his delegate to govern the Society, with Father Pittau as a replacement should there be need. It was a tense time with everyone bewildered and not knowing what to say or do.

Father Dezza inaugurated his mission with a community Mass in the house chapel. At the greeting of peace Father Arrupe, attending in a wheel-chair in the corner, began to get agitated and make signs. Since his infirmarian failed to calm him, Father Dezza went over to see what the matter was. Father Arrupe stretched out his arms and embraced him in front of the whole community. It was his way of saying he accepted the Pope’s decision and inviting us to do likewise.

I was also present at General Congregation 33 which accepted Arrupe’s resignation and elected Peter-Hans Kolvenbach as his successor. Arrupe waived his right to attend the Congregation but came into the aula (hall) immediately after the election, leaning on his infirmarian’s arm and peering around trying to see who the new General was. But Father Kolvenbach walked across to meet him and they embraced to a huge standing ovation. It was a magic moment and there were not many dry eyes among the delegates. The same was true when his moving farewell message was read out. It fell to me to provide the English version and I had the greatest difficulty in keeping my voice steady. At Arrupe’s request we all joined him in a special farewell Mass at La Storta where, as Lainez recounts, Ignatius had a vision of Christ on the Cross and heard the words “I shall be favourable to you in Rome”. He adds: “Not knowing what these words might mean, our Father said, ‘I don’t know what will become of us; perhaps we will be crucified in Rome’”. We also said goodbye to Don Pedro at a party in the Curia gardens to which all the Jesuits in Rome were invited.

Father Arrupe spent ten years in the little infirmary in the Curia slowly dying. At first we didn’t know how seriously ill he was and even hoped for a recovery. I remember acting as translator for him at a meeting he had with Son Sann, exPrime Minister of Kampuchea who came to thank him for the work Jesuits were doing in the refugee

camps on the Thai-Kampuchea border. He spoke in French and Arrupe replied in Italian which I had to translate. But it soon became obvious his words made no sense at all and I had to make up what I thought he would like to say, hoping I wouldn’t run out of ideas. But I was somewhat disturbed when I saw Son Sann’s son carefully noting what I was saying and had to explain the situation to him afterwards. One thing Father Arrupe did appreciate in the early days of his illness was visiting the Eritrean refugees we were trying to help in the Centro Astalli, underneath the old rooms of St Ignatius. I drove him there several times and to a camp we set up in a city slum, always accompanied by Brother Bandera, his faithful infirmarian.

In his sermon at Fr Arrupe’s funeral in 1991, Father Kolvenbach stressed Arrupe’s attraction to the figure of Abraham, called by God to set out for an uncharted land, and showed how this had been true at several moments in Arrupe’s life. In spite of the massive crowd which overflowed the Church, the funeral service was in many respects a lowkey affair which would have appealed to Father Arrupe. Only the thunderous applause which erupted as his coffin was carried out at the head of the procession of dignitaries showed that it was something out of the ordinary. As the man next to me put it, he belonged not to the Jesuits but to the entire people of God. Pedro Arrupe SJ by George Bishop.

A revised edition of Fr Arrupe’s biography, re-published by Gracewing to mark the centenary of his birth. £17.

Contact Ged Clapson, 114 Mount Street, London W1K 3AH for your copy.

Father Arrupe on a visit to Glasgow, January 1970. www.jesuitsandfriends.org.uk Winter 2007 Jesuits & Friends

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WHEN SHAMPOO AND A PHONE MAKE ALL THE DIFFERENCE

CARD

One of Father Pedro Arrupe’s most significant legacies was establishing the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS), which now operates in over 50 countries across the world. With a mission to accompany, serve and defend the rights of refugees and forcibly displaced people, JRS works not only with refugees overseas, but also with the most marginalised and isolated asylum seekers and refugees in the UK, as Louise Zanré, UK Director explains.

mmigration detention in the UK is arbitrary and open-ended. It is not ordered by a court, but by an immigration officer, and there is no automatic review by a court. There is no time limit to detention – a detainee may be held for anything from a few hours to years. Asylum seekers in detention are particularly vulnerable and traumatised by detention due to their personal circumstances and life history. It is also much more difficult to pursue an asylum claim from detention.

JRS has a Jesuit staff member, Fr Harry Elias, who is Assistant Catholic Chaplain at Harmondsworth and at Colnbrook centres in West London, and who provides pastoral support to detainees within the centres. We also have a small group of volunteers who visit detainees and offer practical help to asylum seekers, such as following up matters with solicitors, accompanying them to bail hearings, and making sure they are receiving adequate health care within the centres. JRS also

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“When I came I was 17 years old. I left my country because I had been raped and tortured. If I wanted to stay alive I had to leave. I have already been taken twice to a detention centre. My child can’t make friends at school because she is suddenly taken away, she has concentration problems also. I came because I wanted a better life for my child. Today we are sleeping on the floor at a friend’s house. JRS has always been there for me. They give me some money to live, feed my child and travel to see my solicitor.” Gloria from Uganda

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provides detainees with phone cards regularly so that they are able to contact legal representatives, family and friends.

Shana Mongwanga (Detention Outreach Worker) and Marion Bettenworth (volunteer visitor) in front of detention centres in West London. Credit: JRS-UK

Destitution The government acknowledges that there are around 400,000 – 450,000 asylum seekers in the UK awaiting decisions or waiting return to their countries of origin.

Letters seen recently addressed to clients suggest that decisions will not be taken until summer 2011. In the meantime many of these people are left with no recourse to public funds and also with no permission to work. While some receive limited support from the government in the form of hostel accommodation and supermarket vouchers, others are reliant for the most part on charity or on the support of friends.

We offer assistance based on need. For those receiving supermarket vouchers, we buy the vouchers at face value, so that the small amount of money goes further through using local markets – and so that they are able to buy bus tickets, for example.

Jesuits & Friends Winter 2007 www.jesuitsandfriends.org.uk

For those who are completely destitute, we provide day bus passes so that they can attend medical and legal appointments and also so that they can fulfil any immigration reporting requirements they may have. Once a month, we provide a basic pack of toiletries – soap, toothpaste, shampoo and such like and we will even make a small weekly grant towards food , though for a maximum of ten weeks, due to pressure on our funds.

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“St Ignatius called us to go anywhere we are most needed for the greater service of God. The spiritual as well as material need of nearly 16 million refugees throughout the world today could scarcely be greater.

God is calling us through these helpless people. We should consider the chance of being able to assist them a privilege that will, in turn, bring great blessings to ourselves and our Society.”

Final paragraph from Fr Pedro Arrupe’s letter of 14 November 1980 establishing JRS

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A full assessment is carried out with everyone who comes looking for help from us. We are then able to refer individuals on for counselling, for medical attention, for legal advice or for other specialised services.

Advocacy Based on the lived experience of our clients, whether detained or destitute, we then undertake advocacy work. This can involve providing speakers for events or responding to requests for

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“When I arrived in the Detention Centre I had to go through many heavy locked doors, like in a jail. I felt there was not much difference between both.

I suddenly wondered if I came to England to seek asylum or to spend the rest of my life in jail. It was very stressful. In jail you at least know why you are there and when for how long. In a detention centre you do not know any thing even what could happen on the day” Serge from Congo

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information from students or other interested individuals around the country. In this way we raise awareness about refugee issues in the UK and hopefully encourage others to speak out on behalf of refugees and asylum seekers here. We also are involved in campaigns and in lobbying government at national, local and EU levels.

If you would like more information or to help us in our work, please contact Jesuit Refugee Service, 6 Melior Street, London SE1 3QP

Praying without Ceasing verybody who reads Jesuits and Friends will have some sense of the need for prayer. To quote the old song we are, all of us, ‘Standing in the Need of Prayer’. The problem is that in our frenetically busy world when we are, so often fretting and worrying about so many things it can be so difficult to make prayer part of our lives.

This is where the Apostleship of Prayer is so useful. We are given the tools to ‘pray without ceasing’. Two simple exercises are recommended. First thing in the morning when we awake from sleep, concentrate for a couple of seconds and say to the Lord: ‘Jesus I offer my day to you’ then get on with all that the day brings. So long as we are not consciously breaking the commandments, all the situations we find ourselves in and the things we have to do become a continual prayer, giving honour and glory to God. It was Saint Irenaeus, that great bishop of Lyon in France in the second century who exhorted his people with the words ‘The glory of God is that we live our lives’.

The Holy Father, Pope Benedict asks those of us who make this daily offering ‘Jesus I offer my day to you’ to unite it with his own prayer intentions which he proposes month by month for the good of humanity.

In each issue of Jesuits and Friends the prayer intentions of the Holy Father will be printed. All we have to do is to have a sort of permanent intention of offering our day for those requests of the Holy Father. Most of us cannot get to Mass each day of the week but we should remember that somewhere in the world, the sacrifice of the Mass is being celebrated at every moment. Pope Benedict would like us to unite our prayer with the continuous celebration of the Sacrifice of the Mass. In this way our simple daily offering ‘Jesus I offer my day to you’ becomes ‘Apostolic’; we are, as it were, ‘sent’ into our world to work, through our prayer-filled day, to build up the great family of God, the Church.

Exercise two should happen early evening. Choose a moment and review the day and say ‘thank you’ for the nice things that

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have happened, ‘thank you’ for so much we take for granted: our lives, our health, our family and much more. Review the day a second time and say ‘sorry’ to the Lord if there have been failures in what we have said or done, failures that alienate us from God or from our neighbour.

So, for those of us who are so busy or distracted that our left hand does not know what our right hand is doing, these two exercises ensure that all we do is integrated into our love for the Lord, and each of us in our own way will find God in all things.

Prayer, like the popular song is ‘a many splendoured thing’.

There are many many ways of praying. This Apostleship of Prayer is just one of them but its strength lies in the fact that it ensures that no matter what problems or pressures the day may bring, prayer is assured and with God’s grace our friendship with the Lord deepens, day by day, as our lives unfold.

Michael Beattie SJ

POPE BENEDICT’S PRAYER INTENTIONS December 2007 For those stricken with AIDS For all who live in Asia

January 2008 For the unity of all Christians For the Church on the African Continent

February 2008 For loving care and support for the mentally handicapped For religious sisters and brothers in foreign lands

March 2008 For a spirit of forgiveness and tolerance in the world For Christians who are being persecuted

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Since its formation in 1996, the Iwokrama International Centre (IIC) for Rain Forest Conservation and Development has provided Guyana with a growing international reputation as a pioneer in the field of sustainable use of rainforests and community relations. Father Malcolm Rodrigues SJ, a Jesuit from Georgetown, was a long-standing member of the Board of Trustees of IIC until May of this year.

Here he reflects on the work of the Centre, ahead of the Kyoto Protocol meeting this December in Indonesia.

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A GIFT TO THE WORLD At the meeting of the Heads of the Commonwealth in Kualalumpa, Malaysia in 1989, the then President of Guyana, Mr Hugh Desmond Hoyte, made available to the Commonwealth and the world almost one million acres of virgin rain forest in Guyana for the study of conservation and sustainable utilisation. This offering gave rise to the Iwokrama International Centre for Rain Forest Conservation and Development (IIC), seven years later in 1996, as a legal entity enacted by the parliament of Guyana on 7 May 1996.

The 371,000 hectare Iwokrama Forest and adjacent North Rupununi Wetlands combine to provide an ecosystem of a variety of habitats which include over 200 lakes, braided rivers flowing over volcanic dykes, 1000 metre mountains, lowland tropical forests, palm forests, and seasonally flooded forests and savannahs. These are homes to an extraordinary biodiversity, which include over 475 species of birds, and the highest recorded number of species of fish (over 400) and bats (over 90) in the world, for an area of comparable size.

PEOPLE CENTERED AND PEOPLE DRIVEN There are 16 indigenous communities of the Makushi Indians, who have been using the forest and wet lands resources for thousands of years and continue to do so today. Moreover through a conscious policy and practice of community and stakeholder engagement over the years, IIC has been able to develop operating frameworks for business operations in the areas of ecotourism, sustainable timber harvesting, and skills training. Community and stakeholder engagement has thus become an integral part of the unique expertise of the IIC. An example of the wide range of engagement with the local communities is that there are now 16 wildlife and environmental clubs in the North Rupununi, which encourage the young people to take an interest in the environment,

local monitoring of the environment, responsibility and leadership roles in the community. These youngsters are the future forest rangers, environmental officers, tree spotters, fish managers, and ultimately the ones who will continue to guard and manage the sustainable use of the national forests.

change. The Iwokrama scientists argue that even if there were to be a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, the world will still need to cope with a changing climate for the next 40-plus years, because of the gases already there in the atmosphere. Thus they argue that there is no choice These two big cats relaxing over the cool creek Thus one very salient and between mitigation and important lesson which we acclimatisation – both have water are part of Iwokrama’s varied biodiversity, have learned over the 10 to be pursued urgently. In which includes the giant otter and the Harpy Eagle, years of the IIC’s existence is this regard the Director the world’s largest eagle. that without the equitable General, Dr David Singh, an partnership with the alumnus of the Jesuit indigenous peoples – sharing school, St Stanislaus their knowledge, skills, expertise, their College, hopes that at an way of proceeding - the dream of important meeting on the Iwokrama would never have been Kyoto Protocol this realised to the level at which it exists December in Bali, today: it is now an internationally Indonesia, there could be recognised and esteemed scientific recognition in the entity of a high calibre.

The protocol that standing relationship began with Iwokrama forests should attract working with the indigenous some form of funding for communities as partners, then later as avoiding deforestation, stakeholders and more recently as especially since it is shareholders; this says a great deal, thought that around a both for the leadership of the quarter of all greenhouse s forest Rangers trained for work in the communities and also for the Board of gases in the atmosphere Trustees of Iwokrama, especially the are attributable to Director General, who interacts with rainforest destruction. It these communities on a regular basis. The communities are would be wonderful if citizens could decide to forego a flight now organised as a legal entity known as the Northern to a destination and use a train or coach instead while, at Rupununi Development Board (NRDB), which oversees the the same time, finding out how much carbon credit they are interests of each community in its relationship to Iwokrama, entitled to and send that money to the work of Iwokrama and which, by agreement between the President of Guyana here in Guyana. and the Commonwealth General Secretary, has the right to nominate a member to the IBOT (International Board of To find out more, visit www.iwokrama.org Trustees).

STANDING FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE While the staff of Iwokrama continue to research and investigate many ecological issues and study biodiversity in partnership with the indigenous communities, the issue of Climate Change has been placed high on the agenda. The Board, in close collaboration with the Director General and his staff at the Centre, are convinced that there is a crucial role for “standing forests” to mitigate the effects of climate

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Retreats are becoming increasingly popular, and the various Ignatian centres in Britain offer a variety of different types of retreats, from the traditional to the unusual. The Director of St Beuno’s Spirituality Centre in North Wales, David Birchall SJ, looks at recent developments in the retreat movement and asks...

What's

Hot in Retreat Giving?

etreats change lives. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, knew this when he badgered his friend Francis Xavier unmercifully to do a retreat. In the 16th Century retreats changed lives; in the 21st Century retreats change lives, so what's new?

I could tell you about the relatively new retreats at Loyola Hall for the bereaved, for lesbians and gay people, for the divorced or separated, or for those with addictions; or the even newer retreats on Sacred Touch, praying with Icons or praying with Mary Ward and Ignatius. I might even mention the new Film Retreat or the retreat at St Beuno's that is so new it has not happened yet – on cooking. There are constantly new retreat ideas being tried out at the Jesuit Centres of Loyola Hall, St Beuno's and retreats in Spain and Scotland run by the Ignatian Spirituality Institute. And if you read the magazine called Retreats, published by the Retreat Association, which lists most of the Christian centres and some beyond Christianity, you will find retreats on every topic under the sun anyone for a crystals retreat, a sewing, clowning or flowerarranging retreat?

Yet for all the new retreats, it is the old fashioned retreats, given in a very similar way to those that Ignatius gave in the 16th century, that still draw the most people to the Jesuit Centres of Spirituality.

What is it that draws thousands of people every year in Britain and hundreds of thousands across the world to spend a week or more in silence away from home, away from family and friends, away from TV, phones and computers? To many people the idea of walking past people in a building, listening to

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music rather than talking at meals and going for solitary walks in the countryside might seem strange. However, solitude tempered by a daily visit to a retreat guide is an excellent way to open yourself to God and deepen your selfawareness. One of the frightening things about a retreat is that it gives me a space where there are few distractions to keep the mind from burying that nagging desire to change jobs or take up a vocation; or maybe it will be a personal unhappiness, bereavement or some other trauma which will come to the fore; or even philosophical or psychological issues such as a concern over the purpose of my life or a lack of self-esteem. In a retreat, I come face to face with myself. But this is an opportunity for growth, not something to fear.

Anything that does surface can be presented to God who loves me and shared with an understanding and accepting

retreat guide. Retreats can sometimes be like a holiday, yet often they are not easy. Invariably, however, they are deeply worthwhile and lead to healing, a greater acceptance of God's love for me as I am, and a greater sense of being called to find God in all things and build God's kingdom on earth.

One of the recent changes in the way week-long retreats are given is that they are rarely now presented as miniversions of the full 30-day retreat of Saint Ignatius. This cut down version of 30 days given over eight days was popular until about 20 years ago, and is still common in many nonEnglish speaking European countries. Over 30 days, there is plenty of time to get to grips with my sinfulness, my own personal vocation and pray over events in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. This dynamic doesn't work over a week. Retreat-givers now mostly try to find where the retreatant is; what his or her concerns, desires, needs are; how he or she relates to God. Then the retreatant focuses on where they are currently, rather than follow any preplanned programme.

Twenty years ago Jesuit retreat houses were filled by religious sisters doing their annual eight-day retreat, with a sprinkling of priests, brothers and lay people. Today, religious sisters form only a small percentage of those going on retreat. Lay people have taken over. Whereas 20 years ago, 95% of all retreatants at St Beuno's would have been Roman Catholic, many retreats today have more Anglicans, other denominations and even people not committed to any church than they have Roman Catholics.

Increasingly in British Society, people are divided not by which Church they go to, but whether they are believers in God or not. The old divisions between denominations are breaking down. Many people who belong to what Catholics would have referred to as ‘Protestant Churches’ are now open to seeing what the Catholic tradition has to offer. Many Christians are now seeing that they don't have to go to the

Buddhists or New Age people if they want mysticism, meditation and prayer; it’s been in the Christian tradition since the beginning.

Ten years ago in Jesuit circles there was a trend away from the big retreat centres to offering people guided prayer and retreats in daily life. A symbol of this was the closing of the only Jesuit retreat centre in Scotland, Craighead, and the opening of a new nonresidential centre in central Glasgow. Going to retreat houses was considered by many to be too elitist, too institutionalised. But interestingly the very people who first met the spirituality of Saint Ignatius at a parish week of guided prayer are now finding that they can deepen this initial experience by going away and spending some concentrated time with God; time without everyday distractions. Even the non-residential centre in Glasgow is now offering people residential retreats in other centres. Loyola Hall and St Beuno's have never had more people coming on retreat. Much of this popularity is due to a spirit of openness to all genuine seekers after God. So where will the retreat movement go in the next 10 to 20 years? There will need to be a good deal of flexible thinking and willingness to change. Changes will need to be made in styles of operation which were invented by religious priests, sisters and brothers for religious sisters, priests and brothers. Unless there is an unexpected upsurge in vocations to the priesthood and religious life, retreats will be mainly led by lay people trained in Ignatian Spirituality.

The future will depend upon whether the centres can organise the changes necessary.

I think it is highly unlikely that the Spiritual Exercises which have inspired the spiritual lives of so many since the 16th Century will die out in the 21st Century. But like everything else, flexibility and adaptation will be necessary.

CONTACT DETAILS St Beuno’s, St Asaph, Denbighshire LL17 0AS Tel: 01745 583444, info@beunos.com, www.beunos.com Loyola Hall, Warrington Road, Prescot, Merseyside L35 6NZ Tel: 0151 426 4137, mail@loyolahall.co.uk, www.loyolahall.co.uk Ignatian Spirituality Centre, 35 Scott Street, Glasgow G3 6PE Tel: 0141 354 0077, iscentre@btopenworld.com, www.iscentre.btinternet.co.uk Jesuit Institute of South Africa, Trinity House, 12 Stiemens Street, Braamfontein, 2001, South Africa Tel: +27 (11) 403-3790, enquiries@jesuitinstitute.org.za, www.jesuitinstitute.org.za

Photos show various views in and around St Beuno’s.

Credit: David Birchall www.jesuitsandfriends.org.uk Winter 2007 Jesuits & Friends

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DON’T DO ANYTHING: JUST BE THERE arlier this year, the London Jesuit Volunteers attracted 20 volunteers to its pilot season. They worked, among others, alongside refugees and the homeless, people with learning difficulties and prisoners, with Ignatian spiritual reflection at the heart of their activities. Andrea Kelly, who is in her 50s and works as a medical educationalist at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, writes here about her placement and how it took her out of her ‘comfort zone’.

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there. When I arrived on my first visit at the end of March, I found the house in the throes of major building work (including an unnaturally white cat who turned out to be a very black cat covered in builder’s dust!). Andrew would be arriving in June – a young man who had been in an institution since early childhood, and was very severely disabled. The ground floor was being rebuilt to accommodate him – and the community were getting ready to receive him, with great care and excitement.

My placement with the London Jesuit Volunteers (LJV) took me to The Dove – one of five L’Arche community houses in the Lambeth borough of the capital. L’Arche is an international community where people with and without learning disabilities live and work together. The Dove is home to Andrew, Caroline, Betty and Keith and the multinational team of assistants who live with them. Some volunteers come to work in the community workshops, or the office. Other like myself become friends to a particular house family – hopefully to develop a long term relationship and provide some continuity as assistants complete their period of service and move on.

The LJV programme came along at a critical moment for me. I was feeling increasing discomfort at that gap between the faith I profess in church, and what happens in the rest of my daily life. I also felt that over the years my home and working lives had become much less aspirational than they were in my 20s, and that I had little or no contact with the people who are marginalised by our society. I knew I needed to do something about this, but it was only when LJV provided the support – in the form of companionship with other volunteers, and a commitment to regular, guided prayer and reflection – that I could sense how it might be possible to get started.

In January 2007, at the outset of the LJV pilot season, we stated our placement preferences, however, with the encouragement to be open to use our skills where they may best serve the greatest needs. I had indicated an interest in L’Arche and was both excited and daunted when the placement was confirmed. The arrangement was simply that I would go for dinner at The Dove weekly, on Friday evenings, and gradually get to know the community

On that first visit I met the three other permanent residents – Caroline, who talks a lot, and Betty and Keith who say very little but nevertheless communicate very effectively – and four of the assistants – Marcela (from the Czech Republic) and Eileen (from Germany), who are special needs teachers; Mary (from Poland) who plans to train as a music therapist and Helen (from Northumberland) who hopes to be an audiologist. Together before dinner, we lit a candle and sat in a circle – and Betty chose a picture (the healing of a sick woman) from a book of drawings of the life of Jesus, which we took turns to look at and comment on. We thought together of the people we wanted to pray for, we said and signed the Our Father, and sang the L’Arche prayer: “Oh Lord, through the hands of your little ones bless us. Through the eyes of those who are rejected smile on us”.

Dinner followed – with a decidedly celebratory “bring on the weekend!” feel to it – and I have since discovered that L’Arche is really good at parties and celebrations of all kinds.

The challenge turned out to be that I was not being asked to do anything,

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but just to be there (and to find ways of communicating without words). This was really difficult after a lifetime of targets, objectives, “get in there and sort it”, “just do it” and the like. I felt pretty exposed, and I know I have a long way to go to grow into this role. This was something I took back to my LJV peer reflection group, which met monthly. From the start I found the commitment of other LJV volunteers inspiring, and the sharing of anxieties and difficulties – as well as the moments when we make connections between the volunteering and other parts of our lives - fed our prayer life as a group.

Chris Bemrose, leader of L’Arche Bognor Regis, writing in the Church Times on 6 July, suggested that L’Arche offers an alternative model to modern management practices.

Although L’Arche offers highly professional care, its language is not the language of efficiency and productivity: “Just spending time with someone – with no particular objective, except that of becoming a friend – is not just allowed, but encouraged”. The model is the family, and as in a family the focus is on the

weakest: “L’Arche tends to be guided by the person who is … most vulnerable”. Andrew arrived in mid June – amidst celebrations. Within a week his carers realised he had been sitting for years in a wheelchair that was uncomfortable. The fight is now on to get the NHS and Social Services to address the problem - a commentary upon priorities in our secular society.

In July 2007, as our pilot period drew to its close, I realised I was committed now to L’Arche, and wanted to continue. This in spite of feeling I was “outside my comfort zone” – and also that I had not been entirely successful at regular practice of journaling or the examen. As we read back St Teresa’s prayer “Christ has no body now but yours …” I was struck by how this applied to both the person caring and the person cared for – and how in fact we find ourselves in both roles. And certainly I have learnt that the poor teach us about our own poverty.

The names of the residents at The Dove have been changed out of respect for their privacy.

ON THE MOVE everal of our schools have new head teachers.

Lawrence McKell is now Head at Mount St Mary’s College, Spinkhill, and John-Paul Morrison takes over as Head at St Ignatius College, Enfield, in January. At St Aloysius College in Glasgow, Aileen Brady has been appointed Head of the Junior School, with Phil Crampsey now Assistant Head at the Senior School.

There are new chaplaincy appointments too. Fr Tim Byron has been appointed Chaplain at St Ignatius College, Enfield, in place of Fr John Moffatt, who has taken over as Catholic Chaplain to Oxford University. He will be assisted

by Fr Roger Dawson. Meanwhile, Fr Lawrence Nam has moved from Wimbledon to Edinburgh, where he is now on the chaplaincy staff at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

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New Community in residence

The new home of the Corpus Christi Jesuit Community, Boscombe. Credit: Ged Clapson

All Change The Corpus Christi Jesuit Community in Dorset can be contacted at 757 Christchurch Road, Boscombe, Bournemouth, Dorset BH7 6AN. The Community consists of Fathers Robert Carty, William Crooks, Charles Edwards, Michael Flannery, Geoffrey Holt, Derrick Maitland, Anthony Parish, Patrick Purnell, Joe Dooley, and Clifford Taunton, and Brothers James Harkess, Jack Parsons and Norman Smith. Fr Michael Barrow is the Superior of the Community, with Fr Peter Willcocks the assistant to the Superior.

Fr Michael Kirwan and Bro James Spence are both on sabbatical; while Frs Anthony Carroll and Dominic Robinson are undertaking further studies as part of their ongoing formation in Mexico and Ireland respectively. Fr Joe Chira, former Regional Superior in Guyana, has been appointed assistant to the novice master in Kerala, India.

In London, Fr Keith McMillan has been appointed Assistant Priest at Sacred Heart Church in Wimbledon, and Jesuit-in-Formation Raphael Gonsalves has become a member of the Helix Gardens Community in Brixton Hill.

Fr Brian McClorry has moved to St Beuno’s in North Wales; and in South Africa, Fr Matsepane Morare joins Fr Gerry Lorriman as assistant priest at the Cape Town parish of St Mary’s, Nyanga.

Brother Stephen Power has returned from Jesuit Refugee Service in Rome to take over as Province Treasurer. He is resident at Copleston House.

Finally, Michael Edwards has been appointed the Province’s Director of Education, based at the Curia, and Peter Richardson is the new Programme Manager for Jesuit Volunteer Community in Manchester. www.jesuitsandfriends.org.uk Winter 2007 Jesuits & Friends

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Pieces

AND PIECES BitsBITS‘n’

Books for Arrupe Sixty boxes containing 2,000 books and periodicals were dispatched via Jesuit Missions to Arrupe College in Harare over the summer. They belonged to Terry McLaughlin, a Fellow of St Edmunds College, Cambridge, who died last year.

Pictured here are Guyanese scholastics, Raphael Gonsalves and Marlon Innis, and Dominic Tomuseni from Zimbabwe, who helped pack the boxes prior to shipping.

Sociological theories unravelled Essential reading for students and scholars of theology and the sociology of religion: a new book by Anthony Carroll SJ, who until recently taught philosophy at Heythrop College in London. Protestant Modernity: Weber, Secularization, and Protestantism explores the sociological theories of secularization expounded by Max Weber, considered one of the founders of the modern study of sociology in the late 19th/early 20th centuries. These have vastly influenced the study of Protestant belief and in his book, Anthony reconstructs Weber’s original writings to highlight Protestant motifs, reviews current secularization theories, and settles debates about contested meanings of secularization. Protestant Modernity is distributed for the University of Scranton Press. $35.00sc ISBN: 978-1-58966163-9 (ISBN-10: 1-58966-163-X)

Archbishop ordains Roger and Tim Tim Byron and Roger Dawson have been ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Kevin McDonald of Southwark at Sacred Heart Church in Wimbledon, South London. They are pictured here with their mothers, Cherry (left) and Marie.

Byzantine Rite at Farm Street When the ceiling of the Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral in central London collapsed over the summer, the Jesuits of Farm Street Church offered the congregation a venue for their weekly Divine Liturgy. It is estimated that repairs to the 116-year-old former Congregational chapel could take around 40 weeks and cost hundreds of thousands of pounds. The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church is a Church of the Byzantine rite and is the largest of the Eastern Catholic Churches. It is a full member of the Catholic Church and acknowledges the authority of the Pope of Rome.

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Faiths Together Two dozen people, including five Muslims and a Buddhist, have taken part in a year-long project run by Heythrop College and the De Nobili Centre in Middlesex entitled Faiths Together. It was described as ‘an opportunity for inter-religious learning’ and in addition to talks and lectures, it included visits to various sites with a view to breaking down barriers and opening up conversations between people of different faiths. The party is pictured here taking a tour in a bullock cart of the grounds of Bhaktivedanta Manor in Hertfordshire, which attracts Hindus from all over the world.

Bits ‘n’

CD of David Gammie

Jesuit Portraits

A CD of David Gammie playing the organ of the Sacred Heart Church, Wimbledon, has just been released to support the Organ Appeal Fund. It features organ music by Bach, Beethoven, Richard Wagner, Engelbert Humperdinck, Guy Weitz (a former Wimbledonian) and others. The CD costs £12 (or two for £20) and is available by post from Organ Appeal Fund, c/o 2 Farmhouse Cottages, Leatherhead Road, Oxshott, KT22 0EZ (cheques to be made out to Organ Appeal Fund).

Mary-Cabrini Durkan, a secular Ursuline, has produced a 120-page book entitled ‘Ours’ – Jesuit Portraits. It provides profiles of a broad range of Jesuits over the centuries, from Ignatius, Xavier and Faber through missionaries such as Matteo Ricci and Jacques Marquette to martyrs of the 20th century. Edmund Campion and Gerard Manley Hopkins are singled out from among the British Jesuits. It is a colourfully illustrated book which Father Peter-Hans Kolvenbach described as ‘inspiring’ and Thomas Lucas SJ from the University of San Francisco said it was “... a very useful and richly illustrated short guide to Jesuit history and important Jesuit figures.” Its text serves as an ideal introduction to these topics for the general reader, and its diverse archival visuals are a treat for the eye.”

‘Ours’ – Jesuit Portraits by Mary-Cabrini Durkan is published by Éditions du Signe and costs €16.50. Contact ursulines@fuse.net for more information.

OUR READERS WRITE …

Pieces

We are always pleased to hear from Jesuits and Friends readers. If you have something to say, please write to us or e-mail us at the address shown:

Restoring Faith Dear Editor Having rejected the teaching of the Church and the reality of God, most people in this country today are brought up to believe that they are just an accident of nature, without any meaning or purpose to thei r existence. They are taught that they appear for a brief mom ent of time before endless extinction, that there is no acco untability for their behaviour on a day of Judgeme nt and no God who loves and cares for them personally; with this kind of personal belief, it is little wonder that law and order has broken down in Britain, with many suffering depr ession or living just for themselves, no matter who they harm. “I’m only here for a short time – why shouldn’t I behave as I want?” is the prevailing attitude. Deny the exis tence of God and reject the Ten Commandments and this is what happens: lack of self discipline, moral meltdown, conf usion and despair. Society really does reap what it sow s!

And what of the future? Man y people are profoundly worried about the kind of soc iety we are passing on to future generations. Indeed, this concern is now so great that a free booklet has actu ally been issued to thousand s of congregations nationwide, outlining techniques on how to restore faith and avert total moral collapse (individuals can download it free from www.chu rchsurvey.co.uk).

Rev J. Willians BD Dip. Theol., Leigh, Surrey Ed: Dear Rev Willians. I am sure many people will agree with you or at least engage in a healthy debate on this topic . You asked us to publish your address in case anyone wishes to contact you directly. Readers can write to Rev Williams at the Vicarage in Claypit Road , Leigh, RH2 8PD.

Fr Tim Curtis SJ Editor of Jesuits and Friends Jesuit Missions 11 Edge Hill, Wimbledon London SW19 4LR E mail: director@jesuitmissions.org.uk

Full of Hope Dear Editor larly at the back of our Jesuits and Friends is left regu time I read it with great church – St Wilfrid’s. This l eciated the article about Pau interest. In particular, I appr have ts addic drug y man that on O’Reilly and his realisati to come off drugs. deeper needs than just trying hen in Preston where dinners I go to the Salvation Army kitc women of the road. While and are served every Friday to men , listen to their sad them of e serving food, I go to som them. stories, and try to encourage refugees was so full of The article on repatriation of ing are very positive steps. uild hope. Repatriation and re-b Long may the work continue.

Sr Kay Rowley LSA, Preston

a long time – whether from an Ed: Dear Sister Kay. Recovery can take hope and love, we believe it can be addiction like drugs or a war. But with achieved, don’t we?

Magazine Choices Dear Father Tim Preferred Reading and Reasons 1. Comboni Mission (since 1989) – it helps the world 2. Jesuits and Friends (from 1990) – ditto 3. Portsmouth People (from 1996) – ditto LAST: Lay newspapers – I don’ t read them but they’re good for cleaning the fridge etc.

Francis, Bournemouth

Ed: Thanks for your generous endorsem ent, Francis. Good to know you enjoy reading Jesuits and Friends – and thank s to all the many people who contacted us to say they like the new style and conte nts.

GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN...

PAUL GARRINGTON

n expedition to the battlefields of the Great War has become a tradition and, indeed, part of the curriculum for Upper Figures (Year 7) at Stonyhurst St Mary’s Hall (SMH). The first venture, over a decade ago, has since developed into an event which can now be described as a pilgrimage rather than a tour, because, as part of their preparation, every member of the party studies a Stonyhurst soldier who fought in the areas we visit and did not return from battle.

It is a sobering and fulfilling experience to visit the graves of those who endured such terrible conditions when considering that they knew Stonyhurst as well as we do, walked its galleries and sat in its classrooms, gazed on Pendle Hill in its summer glory or endured the Lancashire winter weather in pursuit of sport (football, rather than rugby at that time) and then, during Mass in St Peter’s Church, rendered the Pater Noster as lustily as its descendents, the present Stonyhurst congregation.

This year’s expedition had an extra aspect to add to the sense of pilgrimage. It is our custom to lay poppy wreaths in honour of the Stonyhurst fallen at the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme and at the Menin Gate in Ypres. This year, we honoured the fallen of two more Jesuit schools, St Aloysius College, Sydney and Preston Catholic College, Lancashire.

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Three wreaths laid at the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme in honour of the fallen from three Jesuit schools.

We have a strong bond with St Aloysius College. Murray Happ, the Director of Development, visited SMH last year and Andy Couch, who had recently left St Aloysius, came to join us as a Gap Student. My son, Jonny, was already at St Aloysius as a Gap Student there. Between us, we decided to visit the graves of St Aloysius men and to lay wreaths in their honour. Preston Catholic College closed

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This cemetery is small enough to allow each member of the party to represent one grave.

its doors nearly 30 years ago and so the opportunity to honour its fallen is consequently much reduced. As an old boy of the school, I thought that our expedition provided the proper occasion and so I prepared wreaths with the Catholic College crest, the family coat of arms of St Aloysius (rather fitting in the circumstances) to be laid alongside those of the other two Jesuit schools.

When the wreaths were laid at the Thiepval Memorial and at the Menin Gate in Ypres, there was a great sense of humility amongst the party, who were proud to represent their own school and to accept the responsibility of representing others. While we commemorated the sacrifice of these brave old alumni, we were able to celebrate the fact that they were indeed “men for others”.

It is a fulfilling experience to accompany an SMH party on ventures such as these. Their enthusiasm and energy remain unabated throughout the five days, despite the arduous nature of the travelling. Their respect is never diminished, however, and frequent comments from other visitors are unanimous in praise of their demeanour. Last year, a journalist from The Independent newspaper met us and was so impressed that he devoted to us a large section of his article about the 90th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme. Praise indeed.

Each expedition presents many profound moments which live long in the memory. This year, we visited the grave of Stonyhurst old boy Edward Joseph Weld in Lijssenthoek Cemetery near Ypres. Wounded by a sniper, he was taken to a casualty clearing station where he was attended by a French priest, Abbé Tiberghein, himself a Stonyhurst alumnus. In a letter to Edward’s parents, Abbé Tiberghein said, “I gave him a last Absolution, told some prayers, and asked him to give his soul in the hands of God. He did it.”

Edward Weld was 17 years old.

DEATHS & OBITUARIES

Tony Montfort Born on 1 September 1940, Tony Montfort was educated by the Jesuits in Wimbledon, first at Donhead, then at Wimbledon College. He became an active member of nearby Sacred Heart Jesuit Church, working particularly with young parishioners in the Cub Scouts. His first ambition was to be a chef: he came third in an international catering competition and took great pride in the bronze medal he was awarded by the Queen Mother for catering. But after a period of volunteering with the Society of Jesus, he was asked by Fr Peter Low SJ (at that time, Director of Jesuit Missions) to work full-time in support of the English Jesuits’ overseas missions.

On succeeding Fr Low as Director of JM, Tony became known for his enthusiastic and creative management of work and projects. Over the next four decades, he established the Wimbledon office of this work of the British Jesuits as a crucial worldwide support for priests, brothers and lay co-workers working in all parts of the world. He was a respected and popular speaker in parishes in Great Britain, a knowledgeable source for the media, and a tireless fundraiser. During his time as Director, JM negotiated with the creator of the Wombles, Elisabeth Beresford, for the charity to be able to dress supporters running in the London Marathon in the Wimbledon-based characters’

Brother Francis Waddlelove SJ BROTHER FRANCIS WADDELOVE SJ was born on 6 April, 1915, at Leigh in Lancashire. He was educated at the Brothers' School in Bolton. He joined the Society of Jesus at Roehampton, London, on 7 April, 1933, and shortly after First Vows he went out to what was then Rhodesia – now Zimbabwe.

Between 1938 and 1995, Br Waddelove served at Monte Cassino, Chishawasha, Driefontein, St Michael's, Mhondoro, and Campion House. In the first years, he was involved in a great deal of building work and in his time at St Michael's, Mhondoro, he built the church which is still used. But he would also be involved in the agricultural work of the missions. It was while he was on his second assignment at Chishawasha (1958-69) that he inaugurated the Credit Union movement, which subsequently became Savings Clubs. These meant that Br Waddelove was able to help people by gathering groups to bulk buy, at a much reduced price, items such as building materials for a new township near the Hunyani River, Seke. Savings Club grew into a national project, and in his latter active years, he gave them his full time and effort. Over the years Br Waddelove’s work caught the attention of the Adenauer Foundation who nominated him for the Adenauer Prize.

He loved engaging with simple people, old ambuyas even, who could not read or write, teaching them how to read and keep the simple accounts the savings club needed. He was humorous and patient, and one of the best speakers of Shona among the European Jesuits. He was a man of prayer, loving the rosary and Mass. He had decided views on his faith which could not fail to impress because of his simple sincerity. His gruff manner and his dissatisfaction with too many liberal views could mislead you. On his retirement, he lived first at Canisius House and then at Richartz House. He died on 8 July 2007, at the age of 92, 74 years of them as a Jesuit, all but four of them in Zimbabwe. May he rest in peace.

costumes: over the past ten years, the JM Wombles have raised over £600,000 and become a regular attraction in the annual event.

The Jesuit Missions office became renowned during Tony Montfort’s directorship for its warm welcome and hospitality – especially for overseas visitors. In particular, Jesuits returning to Britain for health reasons always knew they would be well cared for and the relationship that Tony established with local hospitals, clinics and surgeries ensured they received the very best attention.

On his retirement, the British Jesuit Provincial, Fr Michael Holman SJ, set up the Tony Montfort Fund, which raised almost £30,000 in donations to support projects overseas.

Tony died on 26 June 2007 at St Raphael’s Hospice in Cheam, Surrey. After his funeral at Sacred Heart Church, Wimbledon, on 6 July 2007, he was buried among friends in the Jesuit plot at Garth Road Cemetery. May he rest in peace.

A more detailed biography and numerous tributes from around the world can be found on the Jesuit Missions web site: www.jesuitmissions.org.uk

Please pray for those who have died recently His Eminence Cardinal Adam Kozlowiecki SJ - First Archbishop of Lusaka Fr Robert Bulbeck SJ Br Franc Pregelj SJ Br Francis Waddelove SJ Bp Augustine Harris - Bishop Emeritus of Middlesbrough and alumnus of St Francis Xavier College, Liverpool Mr Tony Montfort – Director of Jesuit Missions from 1961 to 2005 Dr Harry Church – Brother of Fr Aloysius Church SJ Mr Constantine Majichi – Father of Br Felix Majichi SJ Sr Helen Costigan FCJ - Sister of Fr J Costigan SJ Mrs Ann Brady – Aunt of Fr Gerard Gallen SJ Mrs Mastasia Cifor – Mother of Calin Cifor SJ Mr James Edwards – Brother of Fr John Edwards SJ Mrs June Porter – mother of Fr Adrian Porter SJ Mrs Joan Satchell – Sacred Heart Parishioner and organiser of Jesuit Missions stamp-cutting group Sr Nora Blake Mr Christopher Pegge Ms M. W. Dunphy Dr A. S. Cullen Mrs J Rainford Mrs Joan Chandler Mrs Regina de Soltura Mrs Cecilia O’Neil Mrs Elizabeth Mary Strudwick Miss J Reddy Mr Peter Leake Mr Thomas Moran Mrs Yvonne Pairaudeau The obituaries for Fr Robert Bulbeck and Mrs Ursula Haxton Br Franc Pregelj will Mr Denis Hindle be published in the next edition of Jesuits Miss Sheila Mary Lambkin and Friends.

Mr Patrick Edward Kelly www.jesuitsandfriends.org.uk Winter 2007 Jesuits & Friends

21

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XAVIER VOLUNTEER PROGRAMME

JESUIT VOLUNTEER COMMUNITY

LONDON JESUIT VOLUNTEERING

CHRISTIAN LIFE COMMUNITIES

XVP is the overseas voluntary service agency of the British Jesuits. XVP works with Jesuits and other Catholic missionary and development workers in Africa, South Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe. XVP volunteers raise their own funds and live out the Jesuit motto, “men and women for others”.

JVC is for people ages 17 – 35 who volunteer for a period of time (from three weeks to a year) of UK based community living with a simple lifestyle, voluntary work and Ignatian Spirituality.

London Jesuit Volunteers places busy adults of all ages in direct service for a few hours a week with those who are materially poor, vulnerable and marginalized in our society, integrating action with reflection.

CLC are small groups of people who meet regularly to help each other deepen their life of prayer.

CLC’s special characteristic is Ignatian Spirituality, helping members integrate prayer and action in daily life.

CONTACT Hania Lubienska Jesuit Missions 11 Edge Hill London SW19 4LR

CONTACT The Programme Manager 23 New Mount Manchester M4 4DE

CONTACT Lisa Directo Davis Mount Street Jesuit Centre 114 Mount Street London W1K 3AH

CONTACT St Joseph’s, Watford Way Hendon London NW4 4TY

T: + 44(0)20 8946 0466 E: hania@jesuitmissions.org.uk W: www.xvp.org.uk

T: + 44(0) 161 832 6888 E: staff@jvc.u-net.com W: www.jesuitvounteers-uk.org

T: +44 (0) 20 7495 1673 E: lisa@mountstreet.info W: www.msjc.org.uk/ljv.htm

JESUIT VOCATIONS Britain Fr Matthew Power SJ Loyola Hall, Warrington Road Prescot L35 6NZ T: + 44 (0) 151 4264137 E: matthew.power@jesuits.net

T: + 44 020 7511 6331 E: clcew@iname.com W: www.clcew.org.uk

If you would like more information about life as a priest or brother in the Society of Jesus, please contact:

South Africa Vocations Director 493 Marshall St, Belgravia Johannesburg 2094 T: + 27 (0) 11 614 5539 E: webmaster@sj.org.za

Guyana Fr Joachim d’Melo SJ Jesuit Residence PO Box 10720 Georgetown T: +592 22 67461 E: sjgum@networksgy.com

Don’t forget to pray for vocatio ns...

Prayer for New Eyes Grant me, O Lord, to see ever ything now with new eyes, to discern and test the spirits that help me read the signs of the times, to relish the things that are yours and communicate them to oth ers.

Give me the clarity of unders tanding that you gave Ignatius.

Amen (From the Spiritual Legacy of Pedro Arrupe SJ)

22

Jesuits & Friends Winter 2007 www.jesuitsandfriends.org.uk

www.jesuitmissions.org.uk

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

A BEQUEST We would be delighted if you remember Jesuit Missions 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 28p, thanks to the government scheme. If you need further details contact the Jesuit Missions office.

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

Zambuko House helps the street children of Harare make a fresh start. Can you help?

(See page 7)

Jesuit Missions is offsetting its carbon footprint by making a donation to the Iwokrama Rainforest project. What about offsetting your carbon emissions? (See page 12)

Help Nigel Johnson keep his “radio station” afloat. A donation will help him provide his people with a voice. (See page 6)

JRS help refugees in this country with the basics they need for a new start. Would you like to make a donation? (See page 10)

www.jesuitmissions.org.uk

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.

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

T: + 44 (0) 20 8946 0466 F: + 44 (0) 20 8946 2292 E: director@jesuitmissions.org.uk

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Jesuit Missions · 11 Edge Hill · London · SW19 4LR

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Help

IH

General Congregation 33, 13 September 1983

– The newly-elected Superior General of the Society

of Jesus, Father Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, is embraced by Father Pedro Arrupe.

God, our Father, I wish to respond to your love in all I will do today.

I offer you my prayers, thoughts, words, actions, and sufferings in union with your Son Jesus Christ, who continues to offer himself in the Eucharist for the salvation of the world.

I pray for the Society of Jesus preparing to celebrate its 35th General

Congregation, bringing together Jesuits from all over the world.

May the Holy Spirit, who guided Jesus, guide them to your Son’s Heart so that they may love and serve you in all things to your greater glory and honour.

With Mary, the mother of our Lord and of the Church, I pray especially for this month’s intentions as proposed by the Holy Father.