jesuit B u l l e t i n W i n t e r- S p r i n g 2 0 1 2
Finding Home and Welcome
Advocating for Immigrants, Befriending Chinese Students
Looking to the Future • Café Reconcile • Hopeworks ‘N Camden
God is beautiful, more than the rising sun; tender, more than the love of a mother; caring, intimate, more than the highest peak of love; strong, robust, magnificent in God’s greatness. Holy, holy, holy, without stain. What can I dream of in my rapture that is more maddening? This will be the reality in all that possesses beauty, and much more. Understanding, tenderness, intimacy, companionship? Yes! I shall have it and without stain. St. Alberto Hurtado SJ
Photo: Thomas Rochford SJ
bulletin board Jesuit is Chaplain to SLU Public Safety Officers Who Aided Him Fr. Chris Pinné is probably the only person at Saint Louis University to wear both a badge and a collar. The chaplain for the SLU School of Law recently was installed as the first chaplain for the university’s Department of Public Safety and Security. Pinné, 59, returned to St. Louis in spring 2011 following care at Craig Hospital in Englewood, Colo., for the paralysis that developed after he was struck by a vehicle in May 2007, as he walked on the SLU campus from St. Francis Xavier College Church to Jesuit Hall. SLU Public Safety officers quickly arrived on the scene. As chaplain, Pinné provides spiritual counseling and support
Fr. Chris Pinné, law school chaplain, also serves as chaplain to Saint Louis University’s Department of Public Safety and Security.
to members of the department for matters that arise both on and off duty. He also would like to be a conduit for students and officers. “I think part of our role as Jesuits, especially at a university, is to let everybody know that they’re
important,” Pinné said. “My goal would be that the people who work for DPSS know that there’s at least one Jesuit who thanks them, respects them for what they do and is there for them as a chaplain if he or she would ever need me.”
Fr. Kevin Cullen to Attend Jesuit Meeting in Nairobi Fifty Missouri Province Jesuits met in St. Louis Dec. 26-30 for the province congregation that elected Fr. Kevin Cullen to represent the province in Nairobi, Kenya. Father General Adolfo Nicolás has convened a “Congregation of Procurators” for this summer. It will be the 70th in 472 years since the Society of Jesus began. In the life of the Society of Jesus, a “province congregation” takes place either as the first step in the process of electing a new general superior or as part of normal governance in
the Society. The recent congregation served the second purpose. Delegates had to elect someone to represent the province at the Congregation of Procurators that will bring together one Jesuit from each province to consider the state of the Society and decide whether to call a general congregation. Father General asked the province congregations to find time during their sessions to reflect on significant initiatives in the province that demonstrate its capacity to respond in a timely, effective and evangelical way to important new challenges or needs of the world or the Church today. He wanted to know what kind of impact these
initiatives have had on the province as a whole and what factors help the province to respond and what hinders it. Fr. Douglas Marcouiller, Missouri’s provincial, described the recent province congregation as “prayerful, youthful, confident, participative, peaceful, and trusting. It was certainly a time of grace.” Cullen has begun visiting Jesuit communities in the province to widen the conversation that began in St. Louis. He will write a report for Father General summarizing what he has heard and carry his sense of the state of the Missouri Province to Nairobi.
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message from the provincials
Dear Friends, It is in the spirit of holy boldness that we report to you today on our progress of reaching out for the magis (the more), to better serve our Lord and God’s people. The Missouri and New Orleans provinces will be merging, through God’s grace, over the years ahead. Together, we will form the USA – Central and Southern Province. Already we collaborate in some very significant ways. We share one novitiate in Grand Coteau, La., where 14 young men entered in August. Fr. John Armstrong directs formation and education for 70-plus men from both provinces. And, now, we bring together our magazines to introduce you to the many wonderful ministries and people of our provinces. The magazine you are holding represents much work of our staff members. It is our prayer that you will come to appreciate and enjoy reading about the wonderful ministries near the bayous of East Texas and Louisiana as well as incredible works from the Rockies to St. Louis. Douglas W. Marcouiller, SJ Mark A. Lewis, SJ Together, we have much more for which to give thanks Missouri Provincial New Orleans Provincial and praise to God who blesses us in abundance. We will be 13 states “Jesuits are never content with the status quo, the known, the tried, strong from Colorado to Southern the already existing. We are constantly driven to discover, redefine Illinois, New Mexico to Florida and even further south to Belize, for a and reach out for the magis . . . Indeed, ours is a holy boldness, total of 13 parishes, eight retreat ‘a certain apostolic aggressivity,’ typical of our way of proceeding.” and spirituality centers, 11 high – General Congregation 34, Decree 26, No. 27 schools, six universities, two Nativity schools, and other apostolates. Internationally, we serve the Church in Africa, Central and South America, China, Mexico, Russia, Sri Lanka, Rome and beyond. Our Ignatian heritage is our common bond and our love for the Lord Jesus is our shared passion. Our prayer is that you will get to know the new province through these pages. The history of our ministries is one of Jesuits and lay colleagues working side by side in our Gospel mission. As with a marriage, a parent does not lose a daughter but gains a son, so too with us, you will be gaining new Jesuit partners on our journey to bring the Good News to all who need it. Thank you for continuing to walk with the Jesuits. We know that as partners “we must,” as Fr. Adolfo Nicolás, our Superior General, encourages, “be humble enough to ask questions, listen carefully to feedback and admit our need to be taught.” As we go through this period of unification, we need your help, prayer and guidance. As we seek the magis, please continue to walk with us in prayer. By moving forward with you, we can better sustain our ministries in response to God’s call to serve the Church.
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contents
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feature stories 8 | Looking to the Future Missouri and New Orleans provinces are coming together 10 | Easing the Transition Saint Louis University helps Chinese students move west 14 | Finding Home and Welcome
JRSI addresses difficult immigration issues
18 | Technology Offers Hope Entrepreneurial solution for youth in Camden, NJ
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20 | Table of Plenty New Orleans restaurant inspires hope and positive change
Editors Thomas M. Rochford SJ Brooke Arceneaux-Iglesias Advancement Directors Michael Bourg Thom Digman
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Assistant Editor Cheryl Wittenauer Design Tracy Gramm
6 | Jesuit News Cover photo: Near Mexico City, Mexico from Jesuit Migration Service
22 | Formation Robert Macke SJ Matthew Baugh SJ
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24 | International Mission Harold Rahm SJ in Brazil John Stochl SJ in Belize 28 | In Memoriam
news
Four Jesuits to be Ordained Priests Four Jesuits of the New Orleans province were ordained transitional deacons last fall on their way to being ordained priests on June 9 at Spring Hill College in Mobile, Ala. James B. Hooks is at the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University in Berkeley, California; Bao Q. Nguyen, Brian M. Reedy, and Daniel J. Tesvich are at the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry. James B. Hooks during his diaconate ordination
Ordained deacons in Boston (l. to r.): Daniel J. Tesvich, Brian M. Reedy, and Bao Q. Nguyen
Regis University to Launch New Jesuit Higher Education Journal
New Orleans Jesuits Honor 11 for Community Service Eleven honorees were recognized in November at Jesuit High School New Orleans for their service to Jesuit apostolates in the New Orleans Province. Fr. Mark Lewis, New Orleans provincial, presented the Homines Pro Aliis (“People for Others”) Award on Nov. 20, 2011, after a special Mass and brunch for recipients and their families and friends. Those honored were: Hank Ecuyer, Jr., Jesuit High School New Orleans; J. Storey Charbonnet, Good Shepherd Nativity School; Greg Raymond, Manresa House of Retreats; Pam Broom, Café Reconcile; Virginia Roddy, Holy Name of Jesus Church; Craig Silva, The Harry Tompson Center; Francis Nguyen, Ignatius Residence Jesuit Community; Cathy Espenan, Immaculate Conception Jesuit Church; Joan Gaulene, New Orleans Province; Amy Cyrex Sins, Loyola University New Orleans; and Edmond Montaldo, Boys Hope Girls Hope of Greater New Orleans. 6 Jesuit
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Regis University in Denver will launch a new online Jesuit Higher Education Journal in 2012 that will advance the creation, collection and dissemination of works about teaching and learning in the Jesuit tradition. Regis will publish the biannual scholarly journal via an open access online system. The inaugural issue of Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal is scheduled for April. “Making the most of opportunities in digital publishing and communication, the journal will create a new world-wide community of scholars within the Jesuit tradition of higher education that explores, critiques, develops and advances this unique approach to education,” said Marie Friedemann, journal editor and associate dean of the university’s College for Professional Studies.
Strake Jesuit Opens New Retreat and Leadership Center Strake Jesuit College Preparatory in Houston has completed work on its Retreat and Leadership Center just outside the city. Designed specifically for the school’s retreats, it boasts eight cabins, a bunkhouse, dining hall, conference center, library, chapel and a bell tower. School president, Fr. Daniel Lahart, calls the center a second campus for the 50-year-old school. It will help to accommodate activities for students, faculty, staff, alumni, parent groups and other members of the Strake Jesuit community.
Not Your Normal Regency Mr. Jason Brauninger is serving as chaplain for the health care professions at Regis University in Denver, faculty member in the school of nursing and emergency room nurse at St. Anthony Hospital. He recently traveled with medical colleagues to Katmandu, Nepal. The Denver volunteers worked with Nepali doctors and nurses to care for more than 2,000 patients in five days. The group is headed next to Gros-Morne, Haiti, to plan for a possible partnership with a Catholic hospital.
Jesuit Reflects on S. Africa Fulbright Experience Fr. R. Bentley Anderson, associate professor, department of African and African-American Studies at Fordham University, offers some reflections and insights from his recent Fulbright experience in a video interview appearing on the New Orleans Province website. For his Fulbright Specialists project last year at the University of Pretoria in South Africa, Anderson engaged the university’s theology faculty in seminars, lectures and discussions on race and religion in post-World War II South Africa and the United States. The online interview is at www.norprov.org/news/anderson.htm
Tr a n s i t i o n s
vincial of the Missouri Province in 1997. After six years in Jesuit governance, he was tapped by Saint Louis University for its operation in Madrid.
that education is a service industry and that higher education should take the needs of adult learners seriously. He was featured in The Wall Street Journal as an education leader.
Fr. Dave Clarke has returned to the Oregon Province, after 40 years at Regis University in Denver, where his efforts led to the university’s transformation. As Regis president in the 1970s and ‘80s, he recognized
Fr. Ralph Huse is the new superior of the Jesuit community at White House Retreat outside of St. Louis. He just finished six years as rector at Jesuit Hall on the Saint Louis University campus.
New Orleans and Missouri Jesuits on the Move
Frank Reale
Fr. Frank Reale is back in the classroom, his first love, this time at Jesuit High New Orleans. Reale taught at St. Louis University High School before he became pro-
Fr. Tom Cwik is the new pastor of Loyola Parish in Denver, replacing Fr. Eustace Sequeira. Cwik served at St. Francis Xavier Church in Kansas City before completing tertianship, his final stage of Jesuit formation.
Ted Arroyo
Fr. Ted Arroyo is the New Orleans Province’s new assistant for higher education, while continuing to serve as rector of the Spring Hill College community in Mobile.
Fr. Mark Kramer is now teaching theology at Rockhurst University in Kansas City after finishing his doctorate in systematic theology at the Gregorian University in Rome.
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the story behind the news
Looking to the Future By Robert Burns
D
ecember 2006 to January 2007 was a crucial time for the 10 provinces of U.S. Jesuits, who held what are called province congregations to tackle questions about their future as well as elect delegates to the upcoming general congregation. Two years before, Father General Peter-Hans Kolvenbach strongly encouraged U.S. provincials to take a careful look at their mission and to reconsider how best to use their resources to serve the Church in today’s world. At these meetings, the provinces were taking a significant step in the process of heeding his call. In preparation, Jesuits considered two important documents that were the result of planning, research and analysis on the national and local level. One was a stillevolving version of a vision statement called “Responding to the Call of Christ,” a meditation and lens through which they would consider their ministries, apostolic partnerships, Jesuit life and governance.
A combined Missouri-New Orleans province would be stronger and more vital and allow for cooperation, innovation, synergy and more efficient use of resources.
The second document outlined four possibilities for reconfiguring the U.S. provinces. Most of the plans cut the number of U.S. provinces by half, from 10 to five. Jesuits needed to answer this question: How can U.S. provinces be restructured to best marshal resources so that apostolates will continue to flourish, and at the same time be small enough to maintain the Jesuit governance principle of cura personalis, the personal knowledge of a Jesuit’s interior life that a provincial uses to make assignments? Fr. Tim McMahon, Missouri provincial at the time, recalled that two groups, the province congregation and the young men in formation, who would live with 8 Jesuit
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the results of this decision the longest, followed a similar process. They met in small groups to discuss the pros and cons of each scenario. They prepared responses, expressed concerns and explored alternatives. Then they gathered as a whole to compare results. Each reconfiguration proposal had to be evaluated by such criteria as responsiveness to the Society’s mission, apostolic needs and commitments, and whether it would provide enough resources to carry them out. They also had to consider questions of leadership, governance, history, culture and relationships, as well as Jesuit formation, collaboration with partners and the needs of individuals. “At first, many of the men in our province were predisposed to an eventual merger that would include the Wisconsin Province,” McMahon said. At the time, Missouri had a shared novitiate with Wisconsin, and historically Wisconsin was part of the Missouri Province until it separated after World War II. But a possible merger with New Orleans had other advantages. Missouri and New Orleans each had a nearly equal number of Jesuits, a similar number of men in formation and the same number of successful high schools and retreat centers. Both served Hispanic communities. A combined Missouri-New Orleans province most felt, would be stronger and more vital and allow for cooperation, innovation, synergy and more efficient use of resources. In the end, a decision to join with the New Orleans Province emerged as the best option, a consensus reached both by men in formation and the congregation delegates. “Everyone had a good feeling about the outcome and that the process yielded similar results at both gatherings,” McMahon said.
New Orleans went through a similar process during that same weekend, according to Fr. Fred Kammer, provincial at the time. “The group was not predisposed to any particular reconfiguration scenario,” he said. But the consensus emerged that joining Missouri would be the strongest choice. During the New Orleans discussions, Jesuits said that a merger with Missouri would provide for a good distribution of men, institutions and resources and was a good fit culturally. They said that the two provinces shared an emphasis on Hispanic ministry, a focus on education, and that many of the New Orleans and Missouri Jesuits knew each other from formation studies. Every Jesuit community throughout the U.S. had similar discussions over the next six months, and their results were submitted to the Jesuit Conference. In July 2007, the national office of the Jesuits posted preliminary results; later, a final proposal on province reconfiguration was submitted to Father General. In August, Kammer was able to write to his fellow New Orleans Jesuits that they would join with the
Missouri Province. “Our future as a province lies in the direction of eventual unity with the present Missouri Province,” he wrote, “an outcome which was strongly favored by men of both provinces in our various province congregations, community meetings, and individual survey feedback.” When New Orleans and Missouri join together, the new province will range from Florida to Texas and up to Colorado and over to Missouri, with a hook to include Belize in Central America. Already, some changes are under way. One man, Fr. John Armstrong, has been put in charge of young Jesuits in formation for both provinces. In the process, he has amassed many, many frequent flyer miles. High school principals, presidents and superiors have begun to meet while vocation directors of both provinces collaborate. Perhaps the clearest sign that the two provinces are coming together is the start of cross-province assignments. A New Orleans scholastic is doing his regency in the Missouri province, and senior Jesuits have begun to move freely within the expanding boundaries. The new province envisions areas of new apostolic energy and expanded ministry and new opportunities for partnership. It will enable Jesuits to use resources, especially manpower, more efficiently; and that will in turn support new ministries in what is one of the fastest growing parts of the Church in the United States. A Jesuit today knows he will study at schools all across the country or even abroad. If he is missioned to university work, he will be assigned to a school that needs his speciality, but may not be in his home province. Flexibility and mobility have always been keynotes of Jesuit ministry, and they will help the New Orleans and Missouri Jesuits to sustain old friendships as they seek to meet new needs. Robert Burns, former assistant editor of the Jesuit Bulletin, is based in St. Louis. Illustration by Thomas Rochford SJ
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higher education
Photos by: Thomas Rochford SJ
Easing the Transition
Fr. Gary Seibert prepares students in his public speaking class.
Saint Louis University Welcomes Chinese Students —Speech Class, Ambassadors and Cultural Celebrations By John Gilmore
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n influx of students from China’s burgeoning middle class is meeting America with plenty of help and a welcome mat from Saint Louis University. The university has begun offering summer acculturation, free tutoring and writing services and one-on-one work pronouncing English tongue-twisters with Fr. Gary Seibert, who teaches a popular new communications course, “Public Speaking: Chinese Culture.” “I never had to be Matteo Ricci,” Seibert said of the 16th-century Italian Jesuit who helped establish the first Jesuit mission in China. “The Chinese have come to me.” China’s thriving economy has created so much new wealth that many middle-class families now can afford to send their children to American universities. In the 2011 fall term, 676 of SLU’s approximately 13,000 students—about five percent—came to the St. Louis campus from mainland China. That is more than twice as many students as those who come from 67 other countries combined, and the numbers are increasing.
China sent nearly 128,000 students to U.S. universities in the 2009-10 academic year, said Tim Hercules, director of International Services and Student Educational Services at SLU. The number increased by 30,000 to nearly 158,000 Chinese students in the 2010-11 year. “They understand the value of receiving an education from a prestigious U.S. university,” he said. Hercules’ nine-person team helps international students ease into their new life on the St. Louis campus. “As someone who studied abroad, I have a good understanding of the needs of the students we serve,” Hercules said. “It’s essential that we help these students, who bring so much to our campus, adapt to the academic rigor of SLU and to the cultural differences that come with studying in the U.S. We want to show them everything the university has to offer, the beauty of SLU’s campus and the friendliness of our people.” Hercules and his staff connect Chinese and other international students to a host family program, a series of talks in a relaxed atmosphere, free tutoring and writing services, and a new summer acculturation program that gives them a four-week jumpstart on their college experience. An advisor to Hercules’ team, Fr. Don Highberger, leads a new program in which students serve the international students as peer mentors and ambassadors. “I try to establish a safe zone where they can work through their issues,” Highberger said. “In many cases, we are dealing with 19-year-olds. If they went through the traditional Chinese high school, they didn’t date, participate in lots of extracurricular activities or make many decisions for themselves. This is a maturation time in which they are dealing with lots of issues that are traditionally found in U.S. high schools.” Highberger returned to SLU last year after two years of teaching at a university in China while an associate professor at Denver’s Regis University. Highberger, who has more than 20 years of experience teaching collegelevel communication courses, taught English at Sun Yat-sen University (originally Guangdong University) in Guangzhou. Because many of SLU’s Chinese students major in business, Seibert has designed his “Public Speaking: Chinese Culture” course as a way for Chinese and American students to develop their speaking skills and learn about each other’s cultures. The course is offered in collaboration with the university’s John Cook School of Business.
Seibert, who has a Master of Fine Arts from Carnegie Mellon University, draws on his background in television and theater to enliven the course. He once ran a theater in the basement of Holy Cross Church on 42nd Street in New York “I believe public speaking is one of the most ignored and marginalized areas of academe,” Seibert said. “Not many people want to teach it and nobody wants to take public speaking. But I am thrilled to be teaching it. If we can turn it into more than just a speech class, it has all sorts of amazing collateral benefits.” Seibert said he uses the students’ speeches as tools to “inform, persuade and celebrate.” He warned that explaining what takes place during these classes is like “describing the art of (20th-century American artist) Jasper Johns to a blind person.” “It can be chaotic,” he said. “I wish everyone could see it for themselves.” Last semester, an undergraduate business student who graduated from De Smet Jesuit High School in
Tang Xiruo, a student in Fr. Seibert’s public speaking class Winter-Spring 2012
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Fr. Donald Highberger
St. Louis gave an in-depth speech on the Catholic Church’s rituals and sacraments. “This is material we take for granted, but my Chinese students had no knowledge of it,” Seibert said. “Then we had a young lady from China deliver an incredible speech about the unique way of doing business in China, which is very different than in the U.S.” Yingda Wang, an accounting and economics major at SLU who expects to graduate next year, said the speech course gives Chinese students a place to introduce their culture to American peers. “U.S. students
“The Chinese students may not understand every word I say, but they listen very intently, and I listen to them in a more complete way because everything is new to both of us.” ~Fr. Gary Seibert
have some ideas about Chinese culture but they are not always accurate,” he said. The southeast China student, a frequent visitor to Seibert’s office, said the Jesuit is very patient. “If students have trouble preparing their speeches, he is very willing to help,” Wang said. “When I could 12 Jesuit
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not say all the words in my speech, he went through it with me and pronounced each word. He even had me read some tongue twisters to practice.” Seibert works one-on-one with Chinese students in his language lab and has hosted them for informal gatherings and to celebrate the Chinese New Year at his community near campus. “At times, my office looks like a U.N. delegation,” he said. “The Chinese students may not understand every word I say, but they listen very intently and are like sponges. And I listen to them in a more complete way because everything is new to both of us. They are very patient and I am having so much fun.” Highberger arrived in Guangzhou with what he thought was a basic understanding of what he was getting into. But, he said, “The deeper I got into the experience, the more questions I had.” “The Chinese people have a different mindset and logic system. I began to relate to what early Jesuit missionaries such as Matteo Ricci must have experienced. To even begin to understand China, I had to drop all my old biases and preconceived notions.” Highberger came across research showing that reading and writing in English and Chinese use different parts of the brain. “Recognizing that there are two different ways that the brain organizes and processes information helped me understand what was going on in the heads of my
Chinese students,” he said. “If we acknowledge that they don’t use our standard linear type of logic system, we can work together to reach the same place.” Most students maintain very close ties with their families in China, who see them as their hope and future, Highberger said. They carry tremendous pressure to succeed. Many Chinese students have studied English for at least 12 years, yet have had little chance to speak it until now. “Chinese is a very structured language, and we have this crazy English language with rules that we break all the time,” Highberger said. The Chinese students also are not accustomed to ask questions as they are encouraged here. Their educational system is still largely based on memorization and rote learning. “Memorization is important, but what do you do with that information?” Highberger asked. “When I taught in China, my students were initially very uncomfortable with the dreaded question of, ‘Why?’ But our job as professors is to gradually bring that out of them and develop their critical thinking skills.” Highberger taught a class in China entitled, “Tainted Loans and Tainted Milk,” in the wake of the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis and the Chinese milk scandal in which melamine-tainted milk sickened thousands and resulted in some deaths. “We had some interesting discussions about what was going on in the two countries in terms of businesses attempting to make money without considering the impact on people,” Highberger said. Nearly 500 years after St. Francis Xavier set out to do missionary work in Asia, responding to China’s needs remains a high priority for the Society of Jesus. Seibert points to a simple expression by Ignatius Loyola about the Jesuit “way of proceeding.” “When I read that for the first time at age 19, I did not know what it meant,” said Seibert. “But after years of watching other Jesuits at work and reflecting on my own work, I do now. The way we have of proceeding is to look very hard at what is happening as we walk through this world, and then find ways to help. As with my Chinese students, our apostolates actually choose us—not the other way around. “In the beginning, Ignatius Loyola refused to open schools because he said our mission was to save souls. Eventually, he relented, and here we are today at SLU, trying to help.” John Gilmore is a freelance writer in St. Louis.
Students Yu Bo (top); Feng Kaifeng (middle); and Wang Yingda (bottom) Winter-Spring 2012
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social ministry
Finding Home and Welcome Jesuit Social Research Institute Addresses Migration and Human Rights by Uniting Faith and Action
By Mary Baudouin
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tate anti-immigrant legislation. Self-deportation. Securing our borders. The Dream Act. Comprehensive Immigration Reform. Amnesty. What do these terms mean to American Catholics? Few current social issues are as contentious as the question of how to deal with refugees and undocumented migrants in the United States. The Jesuit Social Research Institute (JSRI), a collaborative project of the Jesuits of the New Orleans Province and Loyola University New Orleans, is working to dissipate confusion, particularly among Catholics, and advocating that immigrants are treated with fairness and justice as called for by the Hebrew and Christian scriptures. Pope Benedict XVI recently upheld Church teachings on immigration when he urged Christian communities to “pay special attention to migrant workers and their families by accompanying them with prayer, solidarity and Christian charity … as well as by fostering new political, economic and social planning that promotes respect for safeguarding of the family, access to dignified
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housing, to work and to welfare.” (“Migration and the New Evangelization,” September 21, 2011) The institute was established in 2007 to address the social concerns of immigration, poverty and race in southern states that border the Gulf of Mexico—Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. Led by former New Orleans provincial, Fr. Fred Kammer, JSRI applies Catholic social teaching to its research and education and in its action and advocacy work. The institute’s immigration efforts are guided by Susan Mary Weishar, Ph.D., former director of immigration and refugee services at Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans, and are focused on opposing unjust anti-immigrant legislation, protecting migrants in detention centers and educating people, particularly Catholics, about issues surrounding migration. “Until Congress has the courage and will to take on comprehensive immigration reform, it appears that considerable time and energy will be needed at the state and local level to oppose anti-immigrant legislation,” she says. “Support by a broad base of Catholic voters
Photo credit: Mobile Press Register
Fr. Ted Arroyo speaks at the August 26, 2011 ecumenical immigration prayer gathering at Mobile’s Lyons Park.
working in coalition with other groups will be [the] key to defeating future anti-immigrant legislation. Many Catholics will continue to draw their inspiration from the Church’s call to uphold and protect the dignity and worth of all persons.” Many states are introducing harsh anti-immigrant bills into their legislatures. Kammer, a native of New Orleans, lawyer, author and former longtime director of Catholic Charities USA, has worked with the Louisiana Conference of Catholic Bishops and other organizations during the last two legislative sessions to prepare and give testimony to the Louisiana legislature in opposition to “Arizona-style” bills, which would have given police officers the authority to question the immigration status of anyone they chose to stop. The bill died in Louisiana, although two bills have passed which require private businesses to “e-verify” the citizenship of employees, a process that compares an employee’s Employment Eligibility Verification form to data from U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Social Security Administration records to confirm employment eligibility.
JSRI has been a resonating voice for justice in the Alabama legislature as well, where in numerous testimonies and speeches Fr. Ted Arroyo, founding director of the institute, has illustrated the clash between fundamental Christian beliefs and the measures imposed by Alabama House Bill 56, which by regulating every aspect of the lives of immigrants in Alabama makes it the harshest anti-immigrant bill ever passed by a state legislature. It also criminalizes the transporting and harboring of undocumented immigrants, making it a piece of legislation that infringes on the First Amendment right of citizens to practice fully the charitable works and service of Christian faith. Weishar explains that this particular bill, deemed a “merciless law” by Alabama bishops, went beyond employee citizenship verification and random interrogation by authorities. She says it banned undocumented students from enrolling in public colleges after high school and that it required Alabama public schools to determine the immigration status of all students. “Public school officials were also required to publish figures on Winter-spring 2012
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“When an alien resides with you in your land, do not mistreat such a one. You shall treat the alien who resides with you no differently than the natives born among you; you shall love the alien as yourself; for you too were once aliens in the land of Egypt.” (Leviticus 19:33-34)
the number of immigrant children, both documented and undocumented, who enrolled in their schools and the costs associated with educating undocumented students,” she says. Alabama’s U.S. District Court entered injunctions against several sections of the law in September of 2011, but it did not block the provision that schools check immigration status until that October, after thousands of children were withdrawn from schools by parents who were terrified that school officials would report parents or their children to immigration authorities. In anticipation of similar legislation being introduced in Mississippi in 2011 — legislation which included provisions to deny birthright citizenship to children born to undocumented parents — JSRI authored a letter emphasizing a faith rationale for rejecting the bill. It incorporated the importance of considering cherished values of many Mississippians — particularly human dignity, family unity and compassion. Mississippi’s two Catholic bishops, the Methodist bishop and the Episcopal bishop signed the letter. While two versions of the harsh bill passed the state House and Senate, it ultimately died in committee. With legislatures in session and the growing movement for states to pass strict laws aimed at coercing migrants to “self-deport,” JSRI continues its work and planning for assisting bishops and advocacy groups. Legislation does not, however, consider the plight of the skyrocketing number of immigrants detained and deported by the United States government. Nor does it 16 Jesuit
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consider the plight of the children of undocumented immigrants, who too often end up in foster care hundreds of miles from detained parents and relatives, says Weishar. “During 2010, almost 363,000 immigrants were detained in a patchwork network of facilities — mostly penal institutions — in more than 250 locations run largely by county authorities or private contractors with little direct federal oversight at a cost of $1.77 billion,” Kammer explains. Although immigrant detention is supposed to be civil, not criminal, most detained immigrants are kept in harsh, punitive conditions in jails and prisons. Many of them lack access to proper nutrition and exercise, medical care, legal and educational materials, phones and visits, he says. To improve human rights protections — particularly in the areas of health care, diet, exercise, safety, legal rights and religious freedom — JSRI is teaming up with the New Orleans Province and 10 other faith-based investors, including several Catholic men’s and women’s
congregations, to use their power as shareholders to influence two private companies that operate detention centers. Through filing shareholder resolutions, speaking at annual Fr. Fred Kammer company meetings and holding dialogues with key management staff, JSRI and its partners are leaning on these companies to review their policies related to human rights, to assess areas where the companies need to adopt and implement additional policies and to report their findings to shareholders. The institute is also compiling reports of human rights violations, such as physical and sexual abuse of detainees, inhumane or degrading punishment, the denial of access to attorneys and the withholding of medical or mental health treatment in these private detention centers. These reports provide a starting point for effective dialogues with company managers. Outside of detention walls, JSRI has worked to increase public awareness about the detention system by leading the recent “Imprisoned, Forgotten, and Deported: A Conference on Immigration Detention, Advocacy, and the Faith Community,” at Loyola University New Orleans. With a grant from the Ford Foundation, the conference was the first of its kind in the United States. It explored how communities are ministering to detained immigrants and their families and how more just policies toward immigrants and detention can emerge. In late 2011, JSRI worked with volunteers and the Loyola University Law Clinic to prevent the deportation of several Haitian detainees who were being processed for removal at three remote detention centers in Louisiana. First removed by Immigration Control and Enforcement (ICE) from Florida, where most of the men had family and legal representation, these men were shocked that the U.S. had chosen to deport them back to Haiti at such a dangerous time in the country’s history. Despite a variety of efforts on the part of JSRI, including work with local, state and national coalitions and with Haitian service providers, letters written to the Obama administration and requests to the Louisiana congressional delegation, 136 Haitians have since been deported. One of the first deportees died from cholera-like symptoms 10 days after arriving in Haiti, and nearly 25 percent of those deported are suffering from psychological trauma. JSRI is working with organizations in Haiti to identify mental health resources for them.
This work and the other efforts of institute staff are reported regularly in “Just South Quarterly” and the bi-monthly “Just South E-News.” And, Weishar, Kammer and Arroyo are Dr. Susan Weishar frequently interviewed by local and national media and make presentations to Catholic schools, legal seminars and conferences. One of the newest efforts spearheaded by JSRI is a series of quarterly “Catholic Dialogues on Immigration in Louisiana” to help build awareness and understanding of immigration in the U.S., especially unauthorized immigration, an issue that divides many Catholics. The first dialogue held in January 2012 drew 70 participants guided by two dozen trained facilitators. The mostly Catholic group was surprised to learn about Catholic social teaching that strongly supports the rights of migrants and the need to address the reasons for their flight. At the conclusion of the dialogue, more than three-fourths of the participants expressed a strong desire to become more involved in the Church’s work on immigration. One participant said that the dialogue was valuable because “immigration needs to have a human face,” and she “found the face of Jesus” in the migrants whose stories she heard. This is also true for the work of the institute which aims to give a human face to migrants. The ministry of the Jesuit Social Research Institute extends beyond each law and every detention center. At the center of the immigration issue is a real person — beyond a name on a form — someone struggling to feed a family, make a home, find work and engage in a community. Recognizing how exile and homelessness marked the life of Jesus as well, the work of the Jesuit Social Research Institute for migrants is done in the hope that those in exile in this day and age can find home and welcome — and justice. Mary Baudouin is the provincial’s assistant for social ministries and is on the institute’s staff.
To learn more about the work of JSRI or to register to receive Just South Quarterly or Just South E-News, go to www.loyno.edu/jsri. “Migration is a really important issue for an international body like the Society of Jesus,” Fr. Edward Arroyo, the founding director of the JRSI, said in a recent podcast interview with National Jesuit News. To listen to the podcast, go to: www.norprov.org
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social ministry
Technology Offers Hope By Thomas Rochford SJ
C
amden, N.J., is just the width of a river away from Philadelphia, but the distance between its poverty and its neighbor’s corporate headquarters and comfortable suburbs is enormous. Growing up in Camden can mean sudden violence, inadequate schools, lack of opportunity and little hope for a better future. According to 2007 U.S. Census data, more than 35 percent of Camden’s population lives in poverty, and the school dropout rate is consistently one of the highest in the country. Fr. Jeff Putthoff, a Jesuit from Kansas City, has picked this unlikely place to try a bold initiative that uses digital technology and entrepre-
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neurial business practices to help Camden’s youth find their way forward. Burnt-out homes and empty lots surround the three-story row house headquarters of Hopeworks ‘N Camden, a technology training center where as many as 250 Camden youth can learn technical skills in Web design, programming languages and information systems. They range in age from 14 to 23 and might begin with just a seventhgrade reading level. They leave with technological training, greatly enhanced self-confidence and job experience in the bigger world. Putthoff created Hopeworks as a service for commercial and nonprofit clients that pay for work by
young Hopeworks trainees. Initially, Web design was the main product, but Hopeworks is moving beyond that into other areas and applications such as social media and Geographic Information Systems. “We are not a business that has internships; we are a youth development program that has a business, and that business is part of our strategy for engaging our youth,” Putthoff said. Hopeworks requires no entrance exam and charges no tuition. Most other job development programs for college-age students demand some prerequisite skills just to get in the door, a requirement that would keep out most of the Camden youth. The
young people who want to come to Hopeworks are not illiterate, just poorly trained; but they learn quickly, Putthoff said. “There is nothing the matter with the youth except that they have not been given what they need,” he said. Young men and women come in with few skills and lots of damage from their environment. They cannot imagine themselves belonging in a corporate setting in what seems a world apart in Philadelphia. Hopeworks challenges them to think about themselves and their futures in new ways. They start to reimagine their lives with a different trajectory. The data shows that this innovative approach works. Nearly 100 alumni have progressed to junior college and around 300 jobs have been created. Putthoff graduated from Rockhurst High School in Kansas City and taught at St. Louis University High School, both elite institutions far different than those in Camden that he first visited as a theology student before ordination. He decided to spend a semester living in Holy Name Parish, which the Maryland Province then staffed, while he studied theological and social issues related to serving the poor. After his ordination as a priest in 1998, he asked the Missouri provincial, Fr. Frank Reale, to assign him to Camden, even though it was outside the boundaries of the province. The young assistant pastor was asked to focus on the youth of the parish. During a community-organizing training program in New Orleans, he
met a Lutheran pastor from Camden. The two became enthusiastic about the concept of using technology to engage youth. When Putthoff heard about a Milwaukee, Wis., organization that used Web design as a tool for youth development, he had a starting point. It was not very pretty at first. Putthoff confesses that he knew nothing about technology at the beginning, but he was undeterred. “One of the phrases that we have coined at Hopeworks is ‘Learning to Learn,’” Putthoff said, and he has lived it. A Jesuit novice helped Putthoff set up the first network. “We knew nothing,” Putthoff said. “We had a server and five computers, and we taught ourselves how to network.
Fr. Jeff Putthoff works with Keenen, above, while Lewis, below, concentrates on his work.
Continued on page 26
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social ministry
Table of Plenty
New Orleans Restaurant with Jesuit Roots Inspires Souls and Food By David Emond
W
hen people gather around a table to share a meal, something special happens. At Café Reconcile, a nonprofit New Orleans favorite, gathering around a table goes a step further — it transforms the lives of
Orleans’ once thriving Central City neighborhood. With his army of volunteers and supporters, Tompson initiated an “apostolic enterprise” rooted in St. Paul’s directive to practice the “ministry of reconciliation” in our communities.
When asked about his job, Brandon (above) says, “I can’t imagine working at a better place than the Loews. The people here are very supportive and want me to succeed. I’m learning everything I can. I don’t think I’m ever going to leave!”
neighborhood youth to help them overcome poverty, prejudice and fear. Inspired by the late Fr. Harry Tompson, then pastor of nearby Immaculate Conception Jesuit Church, Café Reconcile was opened in 2000 in a blighted building on a crumbling and violent block of New 20 Jesuit
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Since then, the principal mission of Café Reconcile has been to provide disconnected neighborhood youth ages 16 to 22 with the skills and confidence needed to live stable, productive lives and to earn career-track jobs to ultimately provide for themselves and their families. The primary platform for this
training takes place in their neighborhood restaurant, which attracts weekday lunch crowds of more than 100 New Orleanians and out-of-town visitors. Each student is furnished with a uniform, bus tokens, two meals a day and a work stipend. During lunch service, each is mentored by restaurant staff at five restaurant workstations — steward, floor service or wait staff, pantry chef, sous chef and department chef. In addition to working “the front and back of the house,” students in the program utilize the 21st Century Success Principles curriculum to understand workplace culture. The program offers personalized case management services to help students overcome obstacles like unstable housing and unreliable transportation. Outside referrals enable students to pursue domestic violence counseling, address any substance abuse issues and obtain legal assistance. In 11 years, nearly 800 students have successfully completed the 12-week program and gained employment in New Orleans’ thriving hospitality sector. One of those graduates is Brandon. Growing up in what he calls a “typical New Orleans neighborhood,” rampant with drugs and violence, he never considered a career in the culinary arts. He was struggling to survive the streets, when a few days before his high school graduation his sister was shot and killed.
A few months later, and about to become a father, Brandon enrolled at Café Reconcile after hearing about the program from a friend. He quickly mastered training and landed an internship at the popular Café Adelaide in the Loews Hotel. Two years later, he has been promoted twice and honored as “employee of the month” among a staff of 200 employees. Loews Hotel currently employs 16 Reconcile graduates, and its director of human resources, Ray Bruce, said the partnership with Café Reconcile was an important business decision. “I have made many calls in my professional career, but my call to Café Reconcile seeking to form a partnership was without a doubt the most important call I’ve ever made,” he said. “Café Reconcile is changing the culture of the Loews in a very positive way.” As a social enterprise, Café Reconcile generates about a third of its revenue through restaurant and catering sales, the rest through philanthropy and from grants obtained with the help of the New Orleans Province’s Grants Collaborative, which has helped the organization raise more than $5 million over the past six years.
Coming out of its most successful year yet — with 98 students successfully completing program requirements — Café Reconcile is preparing to offer additional services to the Central City community. Ground has been broken for a state-of-the-art space for GED instruction, parenting classes, computer literacy training, financial workshops and several other skill-building programs. By working in close collaboration with other local organizations, Café Reconcile hopes to provide the youth and the neighborhood it serves with the tools needed to overcome obstacles, and with the support of the community, Café Reconcile can achieve Fr. Harry’s dream of bringing people together to achieve the Gospel mandate of service to others. David Emond is the director of development at Café Reconcile.
Café Reconcile’s Dawanna takes an order.
For more information on the café, visit www.reconcileneworleans.org.
Café Reconcile by the Numbers Length of program Number of program staff Program completion rate Job placement rate 12 month job retention rate Daily customer average Most popular entrée Most popular dessert
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12 weeks 16 63 percent 90 percent 71 percent 115 Fried Catfish Bananas Foster Bread Pudding
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formation
Finding God in Meteorites: Robert Macke SJ By Robert Macke SJ
O
ne of the things that attracted me to the Society of Jesus was the Ignatian principle of finding God in all things. I saw Jesuits seeking and finding God in so many ways, from ministering in the Third World, to delving into questions of philosophy and theology to exploring the grandeur of the universe. As someone with a background in physics and astronomy, I am no stranger to the idea that by studying God’s creation we encounter God. As a 38-year-old, firstyear theology student at Boston College and a recent graduate of a physics doctoral program, I can see in hindsight a pattern of formation as a Jesuit brother that has only strengthened this idea. After I completed philosophy studies in 2006, I began teaching physics and astronomy at Rockhurst University in Kansas City, a wonderful opportunity to teach in my field and minister to students. Introductory astronomy courses are particularly well-suited to this task because they provide a context for inspiring wonder at the universe and exploring the relationship between faith and science. Undergraduates come with so many questions, and they respond very well to encouragement to explore those questions.
During that time, I heard from a Jesuit friend at the Vatican Observatory, Br. Guy Consolmagno, who told me about an opportunity to study meteorite physical properties in a doctoral program. With the provincial’s blessing, I left regency after only one year and spent the next four years at the University of Central Florida measuring the densities of meteorites, the percentages of pore space within them and their responses to a magnetic field. And somehow, as part of graduate studies and in the context of Jesuit life, I was to find God in these rocks from outer space. Studying meteorites can be tedious work, but the pursuit involved travel to New York, Washington, Chicago and London where meteorites are held in museum or university collections. As I studied more than 1,300 specimens, sometimes the tedium of the repetitive process became too great. I then would hold one of the more primitive meteorites in my hand and muse upon it, reminding myself that it was 4.5 billion years old, one of the earliest objects to form when the solar system itself was forming, and holding clues to that history. Continued on page 27
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Heroes and Friends in the Lord: Matthew Baugh SJ By Matthew Baugh SJ
T
wo years ago, I flew to London just after pronouncing my first vows as a Jesuit in Grand Coteau, La. Ten years earlier, I had been an overly ambitious young graduate student at Oxford University, my sights set on a career in politics and foreign affairs. But I also had a profound sense that the Lord was calling me deeper into prayer and union with him. When I began attending daily Mass at the university chaplaincy, I encountered one of the most astonishing preachers I had ever heard, a British Jesuit, Fr. Nicholas King. I soon began spiritual direction with him, and he introduced me to the English martyrs. Four centuries earlier, my brother Jesuits had to enter the country in disguise, under assumed names and beneath the watchful eyes of priest-hunters. Jesuit martyr Edmund Campion, for one, passed himself off as a jewel merchant named Mr. Edmunds. He was regarded as a traitor and public enemy because he left England to become a Jesuit. Campion and his companions — Robert Southwell, Nicholas Owen and Henry Walpole — were among the first Jesuits I ever encountered. They instantly became both heroes and friends in the Lord, men who opened up vast new horizons for me and who pointed out a way of living in intimate friendship with Christ. These were men who had walked the very same Oxford streets that I walked. And they were cheerful. People sometimes imagine martyrs as a gloomy lot. Not these men. They knew what awaited them when, not if, they were captured. Because they did it for love, they were buoyed by that special grace that overtakes all lovers. They also acted out of the boldness that comes from the union of hearts and minds within the Society, where all the missions of individual Jesuits are inextricably linked. As Campion
famously wrote to government authorities shortly before he was captured, “And touching our Society, be it known to you that we have made a league — all the Jesuits in the world — cheerfully to carry the cross you shall lay upon us and never to despair your recovery.” Given what I owe to Edmund Campion — both because of his example and his prayers — it was a real grace to be sent to Campion Hall, the Jesuit academic community at Oxford, for my first mission as a Jesuit scholastic. The provincial asked me to finish the doctorate in international law that I had left unfinished once I discerned my vocation. So, I was back in the place where I had originally heard the Lord’s call. This time around, though, I found myself in a whole new role — as a partner in the Society’s mission to the university. The primary focus of my apostolic work was a vocations group for eight young men discerning the priesthood and religious life. But, I also helped Fr. Nick and a Benedictine scripture scholar lead a group of undergraduate students — consisting mostly of non-believers — on a study-tour of the Holy Land. In both contexts, I found myself looking to Ignatius for guidance. As a student in several Spanish universities and finally at the University of Paris, Ignatius developed a way of proceeding that remains definitive for his followers to this day — engaging in spiritual conversation. As he spoke with fellow students, he looked for where the Lord was already at work in them, and where he could help them encounter God. The experience of trying to do the same at Oxford taught me an important lesson: at a time in Europe’s history when many people have lost all contact with the faith, personal conversations are one of the principal frontiers of the new evangelization.
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international missions
Harold Rahm SJ: ‘Bicycle Padre’ Keeps Rolling at 93 By Brooke Arceneaux-Iglesias
J
esuit Fr. Harold Rahm learned long ago the value of staying close to the people. In El Paso, his first assignment in his native Texas, Rahm celebrated Mass in people’s backyards. He prayed the rosary on street corners and offered bread lines. He got his foot in the door of residents’ homes by asking to use the phone. He rode a bicycle to talk and play with street kids in his battle to eliminate youth gangs. Over the last nearly 50 years, he used similar techniques to reach out to the abandoned, the poor, the addicted and the desperate of Brazil, where he remains today. Rahm, now 93, spends his days directing “Christian Yoga” retreats aimed at helping people use their senses and meditation to form a union with God. “I endeavor to do my little part to serve the poor and those especially in need, both financially and spiritually,” he said. Rahm had an interesting start to his formation as a Jesuit. Before entering the Society of Jesus in 1937, Rahm was a National Guardsman studying to become a doctor like his father.
“I endeavor to do my little part to serve the poor and those especially in need, both financially and spiritually.”
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During National Guard maneuvers, he found a crucifix in his pocket that he began to contemplate and which led him to the Bible and other religious books, including “These Terrible Jesuits.” Rahm’s captain helped him leave the National Guard when the Jesuits accepted him. He learned to shed his racial prejudices while at the novitiate at Grand Coteau, La., later volunteering to work with Mexicans and the people of Sri Lanka. Over 14 years in El Paso, where he was fondly known as the “Bicycle Padre,” he said he learned to work with the people in South El Paso which was ruled by gangs in those days. He and his team worked with schools, founded clubs, and built a youth center. They engaged adolescents in sports, music, bands and theater, offering free lunches and daily ice cream. As the teens grew up, he said, they did not join the gangs. When Rahm arrived in Brazil, he set out to find priests and scholastics to staff the Centro Kennedy Mission in São Paulo, which worked to improve lives through education and human development. He and his team worked with alcoholics and drug addicts and founded Amor-Exigente or Tough Love, Continued on page 27
Jack Stochl SJ: From English Class to Prison By Thomas Rochford SJ
F
r. Jack Stochl found his heart’s home when he first went as a Jesuit scholastic in 1948 to Belize, where he remains today at age 87. The government of that Central American nation recognized his commitment last fall when it presented him with the Meritorious Service Award for his 64 years of helping the people of Belize by teaching English and, more recently, caring for prisoners. This disciplined man followed the same daily routine for years, rising at 4 a.m. to exercise, pray and teach English each morning at St. John’s College in Belize City. He ran the Extension School in the late afternoon and evening, returning home in time for bed at 9:30 p.m. Stochl founded the Extension School in 1957 in the heart of Belize City. The school’s academic offerings were limited but effective, and were aimed at helping students earn a grade school diploma or “leaving permit” that would qualify them for a government job. He had great organizational skills and was ready to take charge of things. Fr. Jim Short, who now lives at Bellarmine House in St. Louis, worked with Stochl for years, including time together at St. Martin de Porres Parish in Belize City. “Jack had a good touch with people and chose good teachers,” he said. “He had goals and knew what he wanted to achieve.” That keen sense of focus was evident in his various roles over many years in the Jesuits’ mission in Belize. He was first and foremost a dedicated and demanding teacher of the English language, constantly pushing his students to master English. He served as headmaster of the secondary education division of St. John’s College from 1965 to 1969 and from 1987 to 1992; he was the mission superior from 1977 to 1983. The Meritorious Service Award noted his radio work as well, saying that “his voice may be familiar to some early risers because for the past 34 years, going back to the days of Radio Belize, he has delivered a brief Morning Devotion talk each week.” He took up residence at St. Martin’s parish in 1987 and served as its pastor from 1995 until 2004. “He turned out to be an excellent pastor,” Short said, someone who continued the good relationships with people in the parish that his predecessors had begun.
In 2005, when he turned 80, Stochl became pastoral minister to inmates of the Belize prison. At the urging of a parishioner, he reluctantly visited prisoners who were reading the Bible. Stochl said he was not sure at first whether they were sincere or just faking, but “we got along comfortably and I continued to visit them each week. So when I retired from the parish and looked for something to do, the prison was the obvious choice.” Stochl’s work has grown. He goes to the prison at least five days a week and offers Mass on Saturdays for around 100 inmates with no guard present. He also runs three weekly counseling groups and visits men in the maximum security and punishment sections. “Being present to them and interested means a lot,” he said. He is secretary of the Belize branch of Prison Fellowship International, and is involved in two rehabilitation programs. “The work grows on you, and so do the inmates once you get to know them as persons.” The thread that connects these different areas of Stochl’s ministry is his sense of identifying with the Belizean people. He became a Belizean citizen in 1974, not as a political statement but as a sign that he would remain with the people. Early on he developed a great affection for the Garifuna, Afro-Caribbean people who live along Belize’s southern coast and other parts of Central America. As a scholastic, Stochl worked with a number of Garifuna students to create a way of writing their language. He continued this project during summer vacations in theology with the help of now retired Bishop Martin. The result was a dictionary and a small prayer book. In Belize City, he always took time to chat with ordinary people. Now, he talks with prisoners, teaching a religious sensibility that will help them. “He is where he should be,” Short said. “His heart is in the right place.” Winter-spring 2012
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H o p e w or k s
continued from page 19
We dove in not because we had a great resource that we knew how to use but because we had a youth crisis, and we had to figure out how to work with the youth.” Hopeworks continues to evolve. The Crib is a former convent that was recently renovated to house and support up to eight Hopeworks students in college. Residents work in corporate internships while they study. Hopeworks also started a video operation this year and is close to starting a cloud-computing administrative group and a social media consulting group. “We are trying to grow with the market and grow in the market where we can fit,” he said. “I like that part of the job. It is always new and always evolving, so I am always having to learn.” The Jesuit is fearless about trying new things. “Being an entrepreneur means seeing an opportunity,” he said. “If you don’t move fast, someone else gets there.” Hopeworks’ 10 full-time and four part-time staff members, along with 30 to 40 volunteers,
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help around 250 youth per year in an intense one-on-one program. Since the students don’t pay tuition, Putthoff must raise money to make up the difference between Hopeworks’ revenue and costs. Putthoff tries to help supporters see the challenges that a youth in Camden faces. That does not mean that he thinks young people should get a handout. Hopeworks pushes them to meet their commitments. “We have a phrase, ‘Be Big,’” the director said. “If a youth comes late to Hopeworks, and we don’t confront him, we don’t respect him. Respect means that you hold them to a standard that they are not used to when they are outside Hopeworks. “Respect means you have to take up the privilege you have. Being Big means seeing the possibilities in yourself, of having a sense of your own development compared to six months previous. Being Big means actually
becoming a resource for someone else and owning the resources inside yourself.” Putthoff has to work against the perception that Camden is hopeless. “We have to distinguish ourselves not in the problem, but in the solution we have,” he said. “People often assume I do this work because it is what ‘Jesuits do’ and I suppose that is mostly correct,” he added. “However, more personally, I find Jesus alive here. This is the place where my relationship with Him has grown. Living and working in such poverty with its accompanying violence and terrible, traumatizing abuse challenges my sense of justice, my understanding of sin. “I don’t find easy answers every day, nor is God readily giving me platitudes. Rather, I often find myself with the crucified Christ of Camden. As a Jesuit, I have asked to be close to Jesus, especially in His sufferings. How truly little did I understand that till I began working in Camden.” For more information, or to learn how to donate, go to: http://www.hopeworks.org
Macke
continued from page 22
Embedded within the meteorite are a few tiny grains of material that survived the heat and shock of its forming and that remain essentially unchanged from the moment they were created in stars. They are literally stardust. I am awestruck, and in that awe I once again encounter God. This work also allowed me to minister to people in the sciences. Simply by being a scientist and a member of a religious order, I stand as a counterexample to the false notion that science and faith are incompatible. My presence has sparked many conversations with colleagues who wish to explore that idea more deeply and who have no other way to do so. Now that the doctorate is completed and theological studies have begun, I have not abandoned the
pursuit of science. Fr. Cyril Opeil has provided space in his lab at Boston College where I can construct some new research instruments. Furthermore, by helping out with campus ministry at my alma mater, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, I can continue to have good conversations about faith and science with its many students of science and engineering. In my spare time, I research properties of lunar materials, which led to a visit over Christmas break to study Apollo moon rocks at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. But most importantly, I am discovering that theology studies themselves provide tools for integrating these pursuits with the many other ways in which we are called to find God in all things.
R a hm
which now has 10,000 volunteers who serve 200,000 people each month throughout Latin America. He said he also was given the use of Vila Brandina, a ranch the length of 32 city blocks. He and a team of Brazilians founded the now-national Christian Leadership Training Movement for high school and college students. Later, they initiated the Catholic Charismatic Renewal which now includes millions of Brazilians.
continued from page 24
Today, Instituçào Padre Haroldo, a center in his name in Campinas, Brazil, offers several programs for the therapeutic treatment of alcoholics and drug addicts. He said the treatment involves learning new values, behaviors, skills, habits and responsibilities in order to integrate back into society. He also started the Pastoral Sobriety, the search for sobriety as a way of life, and has ministered to prostitutes and street children. “I would like to stress that I only founded these movements,” Rahm said. “It is evident that the wonderful Brazilian people and leaders direct and work in them. I personally should not receive the credit.” Rahm has written books on spirituality, addiction and his experience with gangs. For more information on the Instituçào Padre Haroldo, visit www.padreharoldo.org.br/site
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in memoriam
Br. George A. Murphy
Br. George Anthony Murphy (New Orleans Province) died Nov. 19, 2011, at Ignatius Residence in New Orleans at the age of 89. He recently had celebrated his 70th Jubilee as a Jesuit and 50 years as a formed brother in the Society of Jesus. Br. Murphy was interred at St. Charles College in Grand Coteau, La., where he was the long-time guest master. Br. Murphy was born in Columbus, Ga., on Oct. 11, 1922, and entered the order on Aug. 14, 1941, at St. Charles College. He pronounced final vows in 1961, a year after receiving a certificate in Library Science from Loyola University New Orleans that prepared him for his life’s work in libraries. More on the web at: www.norprov.org/news/inmemoriam.htm
Fr. George F. Lundy
Fr. George Francis Lundy (New Orleans Province) died Dec. 20, 2011, at the age of 64, and was interred at St. Charles College in Grand Coteau, La., where he had entered the Jesuits in 1966. Fr. Lundy was born on Jan. 26, 1947, in Chicago, and was ordained in 1978. He earned his doctorate in education at the University of Chicago. His career included posts as director of the Institute of Human Relations and university provost at Loyola University New Orleans. He also was vice president of the University of Detroit Mercy, and president of Wheeling (W. Va.) Jesuit University. He was Catholic campus minister at Southern University in Baton Rouge, La., where he also was superior of the Jesuit community and the provincial’s assistant for higher education. He was a published author, and in his last months of life, led the Moratorium Campaign to ban capital punishment. More on the web at: www.norprov.org/news/inmemoriam.htm
Fr. Ricardo J. Steinmetz
Fr. Ricardo J. Steinmetz (Missouri Province) died Jan. 27, 2012, at Juan Vergara Casas in Mexico City, Mexico, at the age of 86. He was born in St. Louis on March 2, 1925, and entered the order at St. Stanislaus Seminary in Florissant, Mo., on Aug. 8, 1942. He taught mathematics as a scholastic at Regis High School in Denver, and was ordained to the priesthood on June 16, 1955, at St. Mary’s College in Kansas. Fr. Steinmetz served at Immaculate Conception Parish and Muffles College in Orange Walk, Belize, from 1957 to 1966. He was then assigned to Mexico where he served for the remainder of his life. For most of his time in Mexico, he heard confessions at a diocesan retreat house in Atotonilco, Guanajuato. When retreats were in session, Fr. Steinmetz heard confessions for eight hours a day. More on the web at: www.jesuitsmissouri.org
Br. J. Joseph Remich
Br. James Joseph (Joe) Remich (New Orleans Province) died Feb. 20, 2012, at Ignatius Residence in New Orleans at age 92. He was born on May 30, 1919, in Pensacola, Fla. He served in the United States Army during World War II and then worked at the United States Post Office until 1959 when he began his Jesuit life at St. Charles College in Grand Coteau, La. Brother Remich’s life was lived behind the scenes for the most part, laboring at the province office and at the Jesuit Seminary and Mission Bureau. He worked as assistant treasurer from 1963 to 1972, and then as treasurer from 1972 until 1990. In 2004 he was missioned to Ignatius Residence to pray for the Church and Society. Those who lived and worked with Brother Remich saw in him a model of faithful service and dedication to religious life. More on the web at: www.norprov.org/news/inmemoriam.htm
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jubilarians
Denver Jubilees Family and friends gathered at the St. John Francis Regis Chapel at Regis University on Oct. 30, 2011, to celebrate the many years of service of three Denver-area Jesuits who have reached important milestones in their ministry to the people of God. Fr. James B. Guyer celebrated 50 years in the Society of Jesus; he is a historian and long-time faculty member at Regis University. Fr. John J. Waters has been a Jesuit for 60 years, with most of his service in pastoral work. Waters worked in Honduras and Belize, was pastor in Denver and Pueblo, and served on the provincial’s staff. Fr. Robert R. DeRouen reached the remarkable milestone of 70 years in the Society. He taught until the 1980s in all of the province high schools, and then focused on retreats and spiritual ministries.
Concelebrants at the Oct. 30 Jubilee Mass at St. John Francis Regis Chapel in Denver
Photos: Thomas Rochford SJ
Fr. Robert DeRouen (above) greeted friends after the liturgy. Fr. James Guyer (below) spoke with Thom Digman, the province’s advancement director, before the liturgy.
Fr. John Waters (left) with his fellow jubilarians during the entrance procession Winter-Spring 2012
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The following people have been permanently enrolled in the Jesuit Association and are remembered in the prayers and works of the Jesuits of the Missouri Province. Living Rose M. Baleja Susan Bozovich Merton Dierks Cornelius J. O’Connor Ursula M. Pierce
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www.jesuitsmissouri.org • 1.800.325.9924 Jesuit Bulletin XCI • Number 1 • Winter-Spring 2012 The Jesuit Bulletin is published and distributed by the Jesuits of the Missouri Province. All communications about editorial matter should be addressed to the editor at: 3601 Lindell Boulevard, St. Louis, Missouri 63108-3393. All communications about change of address, memberships, burses, and requests should be addressed to Thom M. Digman, Advancement Office of the Jesuits of the Missouri Province, 4511 West Pine Boulevard, St. Louis, Missouri 63108-2191. Email: moprov@jesuits-mis.org
Deceased Tom Aley Genevieve Aschenmacher Jeremy Bahr John Bauer Mary Ann Benoist Smit Frank Boeving William Buchanan Daniel B. Burke Margaret (Peggy) Burns Clara Gebura Callahan Melvin Cardwell Dan Chapla Keith Clark Frances E. Cognac Daniel Dalzell Mary Duggan’s deceased family members and friends Jerome F. Doyle Sr. Kathy Evans Lutz Lisa Ann Fisher Patricia M. Fitzgerald Fr. John J. Flanagan SJ Pietro Frenna Rita Fisher Fuller Geraldine Fullinwider Elizabeth Galle Julie A. Garnier Margaret Gerhardt Fred H. Glarner III Sr. Joan Granzeiler SH William Hartrich Cecelia Heffarnan Victor Hoffman Steve Holmes John Horenkamp Sr. Michael C. Howe Patricia Huckstep Colonel William Hudson Brandon Hsueh J. Vincent Hurley
John P. Julian Faith Keiner John Michael Kimney Jane Koenig Jo Ann C. Kroewung Claire Zoe Lakey John Patrick Landers Larry LeRoy Charles Dale Lyngar Ed Macauley Jeanne Marciniak Elmer McCoy William J. McKenna Carolyn Meagher Kathie Lee Mellody Mary Metz Fr. Leo M. Miller Helen C. Moennig Billy Moore Dolores Muller Mary E. Neville Mary Ann O’Connell Fr. J. Paul O’Connor SJ Rosemary O’Connor John O’Leary Cindy Parrott Fr. William J. Parsons SJ John Marion Pellillo Patty Peterson Gretchem G. Potts Henry E. Reiling Jr. Fr. Raymond H. Reis SJ Berniece Resovich Mary Pat Reynolds Gene Sanders John Schreiner Fr. Frederick Schuller SJ Norm Skelton Fred Speckmann Will Spellman Jerry Sullivan Dermott A.P. Smith MD Arthur Taylor Elizabeth Thomasson Fr. William A. Ulrich SJ Fredericka Walsh Dr. C. Keith Whittaker Laddie Wiechman Mary Jane Wientge
Caring for Older and Infirm Jesuits ONE LIFE AGE
RATE
55
4.0%
60
4.4%
65
4.7%
70
5.1%
75
5.8%
80
6.8%
85
7.8%
90
9.0%
Give a Gift That Pays You Back Learn more about gift annuities. Send us a note in the envelope in this magazine or contact us online at:
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or years they taught classes, preached sermons, administered the sacraments. Now their mission is praying for the Church. When it comes to supporting their mission and sustaining the long-term future of the Jesuits, many donors favor a Jesuit gift annuity. When you set up a Jesuit gift annuity, you will receive lifetime payments that remain constant even with a fluctuating stock market. This offers you the opportunity to supplement your retirement income and continue to make a difference by supporting the mission and ministries of the Jesuits. How it Works A Jesuit gift annuity is a simple contract between you and the Jesuits. You make a donation using cash or marketable securities; we, in turn, pay you a fixed amount for life. With this type of gift, you can feel secure knowing that you can count on receiving stable payments for as long as you live.
Your age when the payments begin and the amount of your donation determine the size of your payment. The older you are, the higher the fixed rate (see chart). You receive payments for life; and, if you choose, for the life of another person. After that, the remaining funds are used to support our mission and ministries.
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