What Happened to the Jesuits?
In looking over the other entries in the poster contest, I came across one that shows a painting of a black-robed early Jesuit missionary, and the words ... The Jesuit Order - what the heck happened? :-)
One of the things that "happened" to the Jesuit Order was Pedro Arrupe and the idea of "faith that does justice", which brought about the Jesuit Refugee Srevice. Here's a little about it from Wikipedia ...
The Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) is an international Catholic organization that aids refugees, forcibly displaced peoples, and asylum seekers. JRS operates at national and regional levels. JRS's international headquarters are located in Rome. Founded in November, 1980 as a work of the Society of Jesus, JRS was officially registered on March 19, 2000 in Vatican City as a foundation. The impetus to found JRS came from the then father general, Pedro Arrupe, who was inspired to action by the plight of Vietnamese boat people.
JRS has programs in over 50 countries. The main areas of work are in the field of Education, Advocacy, Emergency Assistance, Health and Nutrition, Income-Generating Activities, and Social Services. In total, more than 376,000 individuals are direct beneficiaries of JRS projects.
Over 500 workers contribute to the work of JRS, the majority of whom work on a voluntary basis, including about 100 Jesuits, priests, brothers, and scholastics, 85 religious from other congregations, and more than 300 lay people. These figures do not include the large number of refugees recruited to take part in programs as teachers, health workers and others.
JRS is also involved in advocacy and human rights lobbying.
JRS contributes to refugee research at the University of Oxford and the University of Deusto, Bilbao. At Oxford, the "Pedro Arrupe Tutor" overseas research undertaken in the name of JRS as well as facilitating the formation of personnel at JRS. At the Institute of Human Rights, University of Deusto, Bilbao, JRS and the Loyola Jesuit Province are joint sponsors of the newly established Pedro Arrupe Tutorship. The main tasks of the Tutorship include conducting research, teaching and consultancy concerning refugees and forced migration for church agencies, other non-governmental organizations and for governments ...
And here below is the first part of an article about the work Fr. James Martin SJ, of America Magazine, did with the Jesuit Refugee Srevice in Africa ...
GRANTED, I'm a sucker for all those nature specials on TV, had seen Out of Africa a few times, and more or less followed what had been going on in the continent . . . but like most Americans, I was not particularly interested in going there. Too dangerous, too dirty, and too far." he continues.
Care to guess where Fr. Martin spent his regency, a part of his Jesuit training? You're right. He worked in Nairobi, Kenya, with the Jesuit Refugee Service's (JRS) Mikono Centre. There he helped refugees--Ugandans, Rwandans, Ethiopians, Sudanese, among others--who had been forced to flee violence in their home countries. The center gave many of them seed money to set up small businesses, such as bakeries, chicken farms, and tailor shops, and bought arts and crafts from others to sell at the center and at bazaars. The Mikono Centre's mission was to help these refugees help themselves in a country foreign and at times hostile to them.
Martin with refugee
Author Fr. Jim Martin, SJ, inspects the handiwork of a Rwandan refugee at the Jesuits' Mikono Centre in Nairobi, Kenya. The markets that the center creates for such hand-produced goods give refugees the opportunity to better their lot.
The two stories below come from Fr. Martin's This Our Exile: A Spiritual Journey With the Refugees of East Africa, a chronicle of his experiences there. The most important of those experiences was inculturation, Fr. Martin's desire and struggle to understand the foreign culture that surrounded him so that this former businessman-turned-Jesuit from Boston and a dirt-poor East African refugee could recognize and give witness to the humanity in each other ....
I believe the early Jesuit missionaries would be proud of their present-day brothers.
- a Jesuit Refugee Service team member searches for victims in the wake of the tsunami
One of the things that "happened" to the Jesuit Order was Pedro Arrupe and the idea of "faith that does justice", which brought about the Jesuit Refugee Srevice. Here's a little about it from Wikipedia ...
The Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) is an international Catholic organization that aids refugees, forcibly displaced peoples, and asylum seekers. JRS operates at national and regional levels. JRS's international headquarters are located in Rome. Founded in November, 1980 as a work of the Society of Jesus, JRS was officially registered on March 19, 2000 in Vatican City as a foundation. The impetus to found JRS came from the then father general, Pedro Arrupe, who was inspired to action by the plight of Vietnamese boat people.
JRS has programs in over 50 countries. The main areas of work are in the field of Education, Advocacy, Emergency Assistance, Health and Nutrition, Income-Generating Activities, and Social Services. In total, more than 376,000 individuals are direct beneficiaries of JRS projects.
Over 500 workers contribute to the work of JRS, the majority of whom work on a voluntary basis, including about 100 Jesuits, priests, brothers, and scholastics, 85 religious from other congregations, and more than 300 lay people. These figures do not include the large number of refugees recruited to take part in programs as teachers, health workers and others.
JRS is also involved in advocacy and human rights lobbying.
JRS contributes to refugee research at the University of Oxford and the University of Deusto, Bilbao. At Oxford, the "Pedro Arrupe Tutor" overseas research undertaken in the name of JRS as well as facilitating the formation of personnel at JRS. At the Institute of Human Rights, University of Deusto, Bilbao, JRS and the Loyola Jesuit Province are joint sponsors of the newly established Pedro Arrupe Tutorship. The main tasks of the Tutorship include conducting research, teaching and consultancy concerning refugees and forced migration for church agencies, other non-governmental organizations and for governments ...
And here below is the first part of an article about the work Fr. James Martin SJ, of America Magazine, did with the Jesuit Refugee Srevice in Africa ...
GRANTED, I'm a sucker for all those nature specials on TV, had seen Out of Africa a few times, and more or less followed what had been going on in the continent . . . but like most Americans, I was not particularly interested in going there. Too dangerous, too dirty, and too far." he continues.
Care to guess where Fr. Martin spent his regency, a part of his Jesuit training? You're right. He worked in Nairobi, Kenya, with the Jesuit Refugee Service's (JRS) Mikono Centre. There he helped refugees--Ugandans, Rwandans, Ethiopians, Sudanese, among others--who had been forced to flee violence in their home countries. The center gave many of them seed money to set up small businesses, such as bakeries, chicken farms, and tailor shops, and bought arts and crafts from others to sell at the center and at bazaars. The Mikono Centre's mission was to help these refugees help themselves in a country foreign and at times hostile to them.
Martin with refugee
Author Fr. Jim Martin, SJ, inspects the handiwork of a Rwandan refugee at the Jesuits' Mikono Centre in Nairobi, Kenya. The markets that the center creates for such hand-produced goods give refugees the opportunity to better their lot.
The two stories below come from Fr. Martin's This Our Exile: A Spiritual Journey With the Refugees of East Africa, a chronicle of his experiences there. The most important of those experiences was inculturation, Fr. Martin's desire and struggle to understand the foreign culture that surrounded him so that this former businessman-turned-Jesuit from Boston and a dirt-poor East African refugee could recognize and give witness to the humanity in each other ....
I believe the early Jesuit missionaries would be proud of their present-day brothers.
- a Jesuit Refugee Service team member searches for victims in the wake of the tsunami
posted by crystal | 2:14 PM
10 Comments:
A better question might have been, What happened to the catholic sense of humour? When did it become reduced to mocking those you dislike?
Really, the entries in that contest in the humour category are shameful!
Nice post, by the way.
:)
I agree with Talmida (also about your good post). Some of the entries in the "humor" category showed remarkable mean-spiritedness and lack of caritas. Oh well, that's the spirit of the times, I guess.
I thought your poster and Steve's were truly inspirational.
Hi Talmida :-) - I was surprised by some of the entries. It reminded me of the joke contest a while ago at the Ship of Fools - kind of mean-spirited.
Liam, thanks. We both said mean-spirited :-) Steve's poster is the best I've seen - truly evocative of hope.
Hi Crystal,
Thanks as always for sticking up for the Jesuits. A couple of years ago I might have been one of those lamenting that they'd lost their way, but the more I think about it, the more I think Ignatius would be proud of the current breed.
My brother-in-law is in the Society, so I've had sort of an inside look from a short distance. I think that there are people who look back at what they would perceive as a golden age, but I think there may have been a lot of Jesuits going in during the old days who might have been doing it for the wrong reasons. Jesuits were considered the elite of the elite, the top of the heap. Everyone in the Catholic community respected them and looked up to them. They sort of had their noses in the air vis-a-vis everyone else. Outside of the Catholic community there was awe and a bit of fear of them. Some men were looking for this. In their intellectual pursuits and achievements, there may have been a tendency to get too comfortable - to reside on leafy campuses and seminaries, enjoying academic circles and preening at being published, hobnobbing in fundraisers with powerful and wealthy movers and shakers, cocktails and cigars in the afternoon with the other gents... The Arruppe years happened to coincide with the crisis in celibate vocations in general, but I think they had their hearts and their theology in the right place. Their locating themselves in the midst of the poor and getting their hands dirty in mundane matters might not have been what a lot of these aforementioned types were looking for. If they attracted less men who wanted that adulation, that doesn't mean their theology was wrong. I had cousins and friends educated by "old" Jesuits. some of them were so cranky and bitter that they caused many youn men to abandon their faith, and this was a long time ago.
The JRS is an awesome group of people - they do a lot of good for a lot of people.
Obviously, I'm partial to the Jesuits. Just as with any group of men, there are some whackos in the order, that can't be denied; but my experiences with the Jesuits have always been rewarding. They are a big reason I'm still an active Catholic.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Jeff and Steve, thanks for your comments.
Not raised a Catholic, I first learned of the Jesuits when my college boyfriend bought me the books in the Three Musketeer series by Dumas. One of the main characters, Aramis, was a Jesuit and in the later books, became the Superior Genral of the Order ... he was just the kind of guy people of that time thought Jesuits were - brilliant, deceptive, brave, mysterious :-)
Since I've been a Catholic, I've gotten to know a few Jesuits in real life ... they have all been good, talented, committed people.
Very nice post.
I wanted only to say that all Catholics should pray for those who have left the Catholic faith because of "bitter, cranky," mean, insensitive professors or priests or teachers or whomever, or for whatever reason. One cannot BELIEVE in the gift we Catholics are given through the Most Blessed Sacrament and still turn their back on Catholicism. Better yet, pray for everyone, including yourself.
Anonymous, thanks for your comment :-)
Post a Comment
<< Home