Vatican Honors Jesuit missionary to China - Father Matteo Ricci

(Photo courtesy CNS)

By Sarah Delaney
Catholic News Service

A new Vatican exhibit highlights the life of a Jesuit missionary whose extraordinary intelligence, culture and open-mindedness helped him bring Christianity to imperial China four centuries ago.

The exhibit is part of a series of events marking the 400th anniversary of the death of Jesuit Father Matteo Ricci, an Italian Jesuit who spent 28 years evangelizing, absorbing Chinese culture and bringing Western science to the faraway Asian continent.

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 Conference President Tom Smolich Sees Further Collaboration with Indian Jesuits

 
Jesuit Father Thomas H. Smolich, president of Jesuit Conference of the United States, ended his 10-day visit to India on Oct. 27.  He told the Union of Catholic Asian News he was “energized” to see the Indian Jesuits’ works in the fields of education and social development.

“Many of the educational institutions managed by the Jesuits in India are top-notch,” he said after visiting Jesuit works in Delhi, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.

The Jesuit institutions and the infrastructure facilities available in India are designed to change society, he said and added possibility of collaboration between Jesuit Conference of South Asia and its US counterpart.

Read more of Fr. Smolich's interview with UCAN here. 

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.

Why Jesuits Are in Higher Education

Jesuit Father William J. Byron has been a Jesuit for more than 59 years. He is currently a university professor of Business and Society at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, is past president of three Catholic universities and the author of 12 books. In his book Jesuit Saturdays; Sharing the Ignatian Spirit with Friends and Colleagues, Byron shares with great joy and openness the stories and experiences of his Jesuit journey, offering readers the chance to see what it really is that inspires and motivates Jesuits to do what they do.

In an excerpt from his book, Byron explains why Jesuits are predominately found and gravitate toward the fields of education and higher learning: