Author: cfliao
【R.I.P.】Fr. Ignatius Ku Pao-ku went peacefully to the Lord
Fr. Ignatius Ku Pao-ku went peacefully to the Lord on May 24, 2015 at the Infirmary in Taipei, Taipei, at 11:40 a.m.
Fr. Ku was born in Luodian, Baoshan, Jiangsu, on January 12, 1915. He entered the Society at Xujiahui (Zikawei), Shanghai, on August 30, 1935, was ordained to the priesthood on June 3, 1948 at St. Ignatius Church, Xujiahui, and made the last vows on February 2, 1951 in Paris.
All priests of the Chinese Province will celebrate one Mass first intention for Fr. Ku’s eternal rest. Those who are not priests will offer one Mass and Communion and recite one “corona”. The members of St. Robert Bellarmine community will offer two Masses, etc.
Yours in Our Lord,
Luciano Morra, S.J.
Socius
May 24, 2015
【R.I.P.】Fr. Lúcás CHAN Yiu-sing went peacefully to the Lord
We have been informed that Fr. Lúcás CHAN Yiu-sing died after collapsing this morning in Marquette University, U.S., sometime before 10:30 a.m. local time (Tuesday, May 19).
Fr. Lúcás was born in Hong Kong, on June 7, 1968. He entered the Society at Loyola House Jesuit Novitiate, Singapore on Jan. 8, 1993, and was ordained to the priesthood on Aug. 26, 2006 at Hong Kong Cathedral.
All priests of the Chinese Province will celebrate one Mass first intention for Fr. Lúcás’ eternal rest. Those who are not priests will offer one Mass and Communion and recite one “corona”.
Yours in Our Lord,
Luciano Morra, S.J.
Socius
May 20, 2015
1968: The Year of Revolution in American Catholic Education
Fr. Peter Mitchell’s book The Coup at Catholic University: The 1968 Revolution in American Catholic Education, recently published by Ignatius Press, is a detailed studied of revolutionary events that took place in the late Sixties at Catholic University of America. The revolution was led by Fr. Charles Curran, professor of Theology at CUA, who with more than 500 theologians signed a “Statement of Dissent” declaring that Catholics were not bound in conscience to follow the Church’s teaching in Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae.
The battle at Catholic University was focused on the nature, purpose, and limits of academic freedom. Curran and other dissenting theologians insisted they should be free to teach as they wished, without direction or oversight from the authority of the bishops. The bishops, in turn, said that the American tradition of religious freedom guaranteed the right of religiously-affiliated schools to require professors to teach in accord with the authority of their church. Fr. Mitchell used never-before published material from the personal papers of the key players to tell the inside story of the conflict at CUA; his account begins with the 1967 faculty-led strike in support of Curran.
JLAC : Plug on proposed Jesuit arts college in Hong Kong
Dear Friends of the Jesuit Liberal Arts Project, You have been our loyal supportive friends for the past years. Your virtual and physical companionship are much valued by us who have been working on the project. Regrettably, we have to inform you that this project will go no further. The decision was made by Fr. General of the Society of Jesus, who is the one overseeing the whole Society. Decision was made after he has consulted in a macro scale, which included our feasibility report, and weighed the pros and cons of different options and models. Although we are very much disappointed by the decision, we have to remind ourselves that our mission is to conduct feasibility studies of the project for the leadership to consider the appropriateness of approval. The Jesuits remain committed in our mission of education and intellectual work. Our commitment is clearly manifested in the great amount of various resources invested in the past six years so as to allow serious feasibility studies for the project. We are indebted to all our benefactors, friends and supporters who have contributed so much in different manners, such as spiritual, financial, pro bono services, and services at cost. There is no other way we can repay you but remembering you in our humble prayers. We ask you not to make further financial contribution to the project but your understanding and prayers will continue to be much appreciated. It has been a meaningful venture and we thank you for having been a part of it! Fr. Stephen Chow, S.J. Chairman of the Preparatory Task Force
Archbishop Romero to be Beatified May 23; Jesuit Father Rutilio Grande’s Beatification Process Ope
The Vatican has announced that Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero will be beatified in San Salvador on May 23. Italian Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia announced the beatification date on the eve of the anniversary of the assassination of a close friend of Archbishop Romero: Jesuit Father Rutilio Grande, the first priest executed by Salvadoran death squads on March 12, 1977.
On February 3, Pope Francis formally recognized that Archbishop Romero, who was shot and killed on March 24, 1980, as he celebrated Mass in San Salvador, was murdered “in hatred of the faith” – and not for purely political reasons. Last month, the Vatican also announced that the beatification process for Fr. Grande had been opened.
“It is impossible to understand Romero without understanding Rutilio Grande,” said Archbishop Paglia, chief promoter of the archbishop’s sainthood cause, at a February news conference.
Scholars and theologians agree that Archbishop Romero was strongly influenced by the pastoral work that Fr. Grande carried out in poor rural communities in northern San Salvador.
Archbishop Romero once said: “When I looked at Rutilio lying there dead I thought, ‘If they have killed him for doing what he did, then I, too, have to walk the same path.'”
The Italian newspaper Avvenire reported that the archbishop met Fr. Grande in 1967 at the seminary of San Jose de la Montana, where the Jesuit taught.
New deacons in three Jesuit Provinces/Regions
On January 4, Hun Jun Lee SJ and Jae Wok Lee SJ of the Korean Province of the Society of Jesus were ordained, along with Irish Jesuit Shane Daly, to the diaconate by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin in the Milltown Park Chapel in Ireland.
Three weeks later, on January 27, Matthew Tan SJ of the Malaysia-Singapore Region of the Society of Jesus was ordained to the diaconate by Archbishop William Goh at the Church of St Ignatius in Singapore.
Then on February 12, six deacons were ordained in the Vietnamese Jesuit Province. Francis Xavier Nguyễn Thanh Hùng SJ, Anthony Nguyễn Hoàng Dũng SJ, Joseph Đỗ Cao Bằng SJ, Peter Nguyễn Xuân Anh SJ, Paul Nguyễn Thái Sơn SJ, Peter Đào Kim Sơn SJ were ordained to the diaconate by Most Reverend Joseph Nguyen Tan Tuoc, Bishop of Phu Cuong in the chapel of Saint Joseph Jesuit Scholasticate in Thuduc, Ho Chi Minh City.
The ordination on February 12 came just weeks after the Province concluded its yearlong celebration of 400 hundred years since the arrival of the first Jesuit in Vietnam.
These Jesuits have been ordained deacons as part of the path to priestly ordination, but, as Archbishop Martin said in his homily at the ordination in Ireland, being a deacon is never simply a category within the Church. “The deacon is a witness to something that belongs to the essence of the Church, that call to serve, not just the outward form of service within the liturgy, but a service of journeying with others on the path of life.”
Pope Francis: Why He Leads the Way He Leads
Pope Francis: Why He Leads the Way He Leads
by Chris Lowney
TIME Magazine’s Person of the Year: Pope Francis
Learn about the First Jesuit Pope from America’s Leading Jesuit Publisher
“Pope Francis by Chris Lowney is that rare and splendid work that leaves you keenly excited and spiritually moved. The writing is lucid, vivid, inviting, and rich. It’s a major achievement. I strongly recommend it to any Christian in a leadership role.”
– Joseph Tetlow, SJ
From choosing to live in a simple apartment instead of the papal palace to washing the feet of men and women in a youth detention center, Pope Francis’s actions contradict behaviors expected of a modern leader. Chris Lowney, a former Jesuit seminarian turned Managing Director for JP Morgan & Co., shows how the pope’s words and deeds reveal spiritual principles that have prepared him to lead the Church and influence our world—a rapidly-changing world that requires leaders who value the human need for love, inspiration, and meaning.
Drawing on interviews with people who knew him as Father Jorge Bergoglio, SJ, Lowney challenges assumptions about what it takes to be a great leader. In so doing, he reveals the “other-centered” leadership style of a man whose passion is to be with people rather than set apart. Lowney offers a stirring vision of leadership to which we can all aspire in our communities, churches, companies, and families.
【R.I.P.】Fr. Aloysius B. Chang Ch’un-shen went peacefully to the Lord
Fr. Aloysius B. Chang Ch’un-shen went peacefully to the Lord on March 15, 2015
at Cardinal Tien Hospital, Taipei, at 1:10 a.m.
Fr. Chang was born in Suchow, Jiangsu, on March 3, 1929. He entered the Society at
Xujiahui (Zikawei), Shanghai, on August 30, 1947, was ordained to the priesthood on
March 18, 1960 at the Immaculate Heart Church, Hsinchu, Taiwan, and professed the last
vows on Feb. 2, 1965 in Rome.
All priests of the Chinese Province will celebrate one Mass first intention for Fr.
Chang’s eternal rest. Those who are not priests will offer one Mass and Communion and
recite one “corona”. The members of St. Robert Bellarmine community will offer two
Masses, etc.
Yours in Our Lord,
Luciano Morra, S.J.
Socius
March 15, 2015
Letter of Father General on Re-creating the Apostleship of Prayer
On January 3rd 2015 Father General has written a letter to all Society on Re-creating the Apostleship of Prayer. “As we celebrate the Nativity of the Lord in this season, I cannot help recalling our personal and apostolic life depends greatly on the importance we give to our prayer, which should be centered on our mission and on direct contact with the world that surrounds us. Pope Francis reiterates this in many ways for all the faithful, and he does so quite directly and particularly for us in the Society. In a number of personal meetings I have had with him, he has fervently urged that we persevere in prayer as the most valuable resource for our apostolic mission and our personal wellbeing. Encouraged by this counsel of the Pope, I want to remind you today, on the titular feast of the Holy Name of Jesus, of the Society’s commitment to the Apostleship of Prayer. As is well known, this movement of ecclesial prayer was born in the bosom of the Society 170 years ago, and from the start it possessed a profound missionary sense and was intimately united to prayer for the intentions of the Pope. Over the years, the Popes have confirmed the Society in this ecclesial service which seeks to promote prayer as an apostolic activity of the faithful.” Then he adds: “In an effort to recover the original richness of the devotion, a few years ago I proposed to those responsible for the Apostleship of Prayer that they undertake a process of renewal for this ecclesial service.” After recalling the previous efforts at renewal, Father General stresses that: “I am aware that re-creating the Apostleship of Prayer will be a long process, which will inevitably require personal conversion on the part of all of us involved in it. Its great strength is that it makes an effort to provide a simple, effective, and fresh way for people to offer the whole of their lives to the Lord from a missionary and apostolic perspective. I urge the whole Society to embrace this proposal with enthusiasm and to implement it with dedication. Its aim is to create a global network of prayer for the needs of the Church and the world.” The letter ends with some recommendations tom the Major Superiors.
Society of Jesus marks 400 years in Vietnam
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam: More than three thousand people participated in the concluding Eucharist marking the arrival of the first Jesuits in Vietnam 400 years ago. Fr. General joined the group of 15 Bishops and Jesuits of Vietnam in making this great occasion a key event in the history of the Society of Jesus.
The Jesuits who arrived in Vietnam soon after the death of Matteo Ricci in Beiging in 1610, were inspired by his style and began to make friendship with the local people by learning their language and culture. For instance, the works of a French Jesuit, Alexandre de Rhodes (1591-1660), led to the adoption of Romanized script for the Vietnamese language which is still used today.
Though the suppression of the Jesuits was brought about one and half century after their arrival initially, in 1957, the South Vietnamese government invited them to help develop universities, followed by requests from bishops in Vietnam to assist in training local clergy.