El Salvador Remembers Jesuit Martyrs on 20 Year Anniversary of Their Murders

El Salvador is marking the today's 20th anniversary of the Jesuit Massacre of 1989, when government troops murdered six prominent Jesuits, their housekeeper and her daughter. Click here to see pictures from the commemorative activities in the country.

Jesuit Father Jim Martin Presented with Ignatian Volunteer Corps' Della Strada Award

Stephen Quigley, Chairman of NY Regional Council of IVC, Fr. Jim Martin and Liz McMahon, NY Regional Director

The New York/New Jersey region of the Ignatian Volunteer Corps presented its third annual Della Strada award on October 22, 2009 to Jesuit Father James Martin. 

The Della Strada award takes its name from the church that Ignatius Loyola and the early Jesuits in Rome established to serve the urban poor. This award honors those whose work and lives reflect the Ignatian values of direct service to the poor, and of working and educating for a more just society. 

Fr. Martin truly embodies these values – through his current position as the Culture Editor for America Magazine, the national Jesuit weekly, as well as his books, articles, presentations, workshops and media appearances, and his prior work in a Jamaican Mission, with the Jesuit Refugee Service in Kenya, with street gangs in Chicago, and at the Nativity Mission School in New York.

Prior recipients of the Della Strada award include Fr. Joseph Parkes, President of the Cristo Rey High School in New York, and Fr. Joseph O’Hare, former President of Fordham University and past editor of America Magazine.

The Ignatian Volunteer Corps (IVC) provides men and women, aged 50 and greater, opportunities to serve others, to address social injustice, and to transform lives. IVC matches the talents of capable Volunteers with the greatest social needs of our time through partnerships with hundreds of nonprofit organizations across the United States.

Jesuit Father Sean Carroll, Executive Director of the Kino Border Initiative, to Speak at Georgetown Conference on Immigration Reform

                                             (Photo courtesy JRS/USA) 

A one-day conference at the Intercultural Center Auditorium on the campus of Georgetown University this Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009 seeks to educate and inspire students and others to greater knowledge, commitment and action for immigration reform. Jesuit Father Sean Carroll, Executive Director of the Kino Border Initiative, will be on hand to speak during one of the panels.

A series of panel discussions will put a human face on the migrant experience by: sharing personal narratives of individuals crossing the border; exploring political/legal, economic, ethical and law enforcement perspectives on the current immigration system; making the case for policy changes, discussing ways in which the current system is failing immigrants and our communities. It also will explore the prospects for immigration reform, discuss the key players in the process and talk about what such reform may look like.

400 years of Canadian Jesuit Archives Now Under One Roof

The Jesuit Archive in Canada, a witness to the activity of all the Jesuits who worked both in English and French Canada and its foreign missions since the arrival of the first Jesuits to Canada in 1611, has been joined under one roof in Montréal, to better serve historians, researchers and those interested in Canadian Jesuit history from the 17 century until today. The Archive includes rare books, works of art, documents and publications relating to Canadian Jesuit and early Canadian history.

A celebration of the official opening of the Jesuit Archive in Canada will take place from September 22 – 23 in Montréal. For the schedule of events, please visit jesuit.org.

For more information, (including bios, photographs, and historical material), contact:
• Pierre Bélanger, S.J. – service des communications – les jésuites at:
514-387-2541, ext. 339 – email: pierre.belanger@jesuites.org
• Céline Widmer – Directrice, Archives des jésuites au Canada at:
514-387-2541, ext. 238 – email: cwidmer@jesuites.org
• Erica Zlomislic – Communications Officer – Jesuits in English Canada at:
416-962-4500 ext. 225– email: communications@jesuits.ca

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