Jesuits Help Host an Evening Prayer for Peace in the Middle East

Jesuit Father Al Hicks, singer Joumana Modour, Director of the Jesuit Center Raed Awwad and Jesuit Father Clarence Burby present a gift to Modour for her performance at the Evening of Prayer for Peace in the Middle East.

 
An Evening Prayer for Peace in the Middle East, featuring acclaimed Lebanese singer, Joumana Modour, was held on Saturday, October 17, 2009 at the Melkite Church in Amman, Jordan.

The event was coordinated by Raed Awwad, Director of the Jesuit Center in Amman and Maroun Nejim, director of the Jesuit Refugee Service in Amman, with the help of the Catholic Church communities in Jordan. Over 1,200 people from Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt and Iraq attended including 200 people who arrived by bus from Palestine. Among those present were Melkite Archbishop Yasir Aiash, Jesuit Father Clarence Burby and Jesuit Father Alfred Hicks, both of the New England Province of the Society of Jesus.

U.S. Congress Honors Jesuits on the 20th Anniversary of Their Deaths in El Salvador

 
The U.S. House of Representatives debated and approved, on the suspension calendar, a resolution remembering and commemorating the lives and work of six Jesuits, their housekeeper and her daughter on the upcoming 20th anniversary of their deaths in El Salvador. The resolution was sponsored by Congressman Jim McGovern (D-MA), who led the Congressional investigation into the assassinations when he was a senior aide to then-Rep. John Joseph Moakley (D-MA).

The House today passed House Resolution 761, which stated, in part:

"Remembering and commemorating the lives and work of Jesuit Fathers Ignacio Ellacuria, Ignacio Martin-Baro, Segundo Montes, Amando Lopez, Juan Ramon Moreno, Joaquin Lopez y Lopez, and housekeeper Julia Elba Ramos and her daughter Celina Mariset Ramos on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of their deaths at the University of Central America Jose Simeon Canas located in San Salvador, El Salvador on November 16, 1989."

During the bloody civil war of El Salvador in the 1980s, in the early morning hours of November 16, the six Jesuit priests and their housekeeper along with her daughter were executed by soldiers. Many Jesuit institutions around the country will mark the 20th anniversary of the murders with lectures, vigils and screenings of documentaries about the killings and the struggle for justice.

“The witness of these martyrs continues to inspire us today, these many years later,” said John Kleiderer, acting secretary of social and international ministries at the Jesuit Conference of the U.S. “They were unwavering in their defense of the poor and oppressed. We honor their memories and their legacy of work on behalf of justice and peace. We are grateful to the members of Congress for remembering and honoring them today.”

Jesuit Uses Camera to Tell Refugees' Stories

Photo Courtesy Creighton University 

Jesuit Father Don Doll has seen corners of the globe few Americans ever will.

Fr. Doll, a journalism professor at Creighton University in Omaha, has photographed war-torn countries where refugee camps are commonplace. In April, Doll was with Jesuit Refugee Service, an international Catholic relief agency, in eastern Chad along the Darfur border where he was among 250,000 Sudanese refugees.

Doll said his goal as a photographer is to provide an honest depiction of what is taking place. In an interview with the Milwaukee Catholic Herald, Doll discussed his work as a photographer and the images he has captured.

“I like pictures that show what a serious situation it truly is,” said Doll, who has photographed for National Geographic magazine. “Sometimes you can just sense in their eyes the horrors of what they’ve seen. There’s a heaviness in their heart.”

To read more about Doll's work in the Sudan with Jesuit Refugee Service, click here. 

To see Doll's images taken of Sudanese refugees in Chad, please visit his website, Magis Productions.

Jesuit Father Tom Reese Appears on Lou Dobbs to Defend Stance on Immigration

Jesuit Father Tom Reese, Senior Fellow at Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University, appeared on Lou Dobb's television program last week to defend the Church's stance on immigration. Reese spared off against commentator Dobbs and Fr. Patrick J. Bascio, who was on the program to promote his new book outlining his case against immigration.

To view Father Reese's lively discussion with Dobbs and Bascio, please click on the video link below:

Jesuit Father John Dear Talks Peace With Catholic San Francisco

Jesuit Father John Dear, ordained in 1993, has been a peace activist for more than two decades, having been arrested more than 75 times protesting for peace and having spent more than a cumulative year behind bars.

"Life to me is the journey toward peace,” said the Jesuit. “After all these years of working, the journey to peace is still the most important thing, greater than any one event or success.”

Though he remains committed to peace, Dear said he tries to avoid the word “pacifism.”

"Pacifism connotes passivity,” Father Dear said. “Non-violence involves active derring-do, confronting the opponent non-violently. Peace is not just a tactic or a strategy. It’s a whole new way of life. Jesus didn’t say, ‘Blessed are those who like peace.’ He said, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers.’”

To read more about Father John Dear's mission of peace, go here.