Author: cfliao
Nuns’ prison ministry serves inmates, families
KALYAN NAGAR, India (UCAN) – A ministry by Apostolic Carmel nuns aims to give prisoners and their families hope for the future, while at the same time supporting government attempts to rehabilitate inmates.
Sister Lancia, who coordinates her congregation’s social work in eastern India, said her congregation started their prison ministry in 2007 as they felt an urgent need “to do something” to serve the wives and children of convicts.
At present, two nuns and three lay staff members visit four federal correctional homes in Kolkata, capital of West Bengal state, says Sister Lancia.
Some 8,000 people, including 500 women, live in these homes, according to Sister Alexia, the other nun involved in the ministry.
The team also visits the prisoners’ families on Fridays and Saturdays, sometimes spending as long as five hours with each.
According to Sister Lancia, the ministry is part of the congregation’s charism to reach out to the abandoned and neglected and aims to instill in prisoners “a positive outlook” on life so that they can be independent after their release. She added that many prisoners are “victims of injustice” forced to languish in jail for years.
She and Sister Alexia are also in charge of the “Back Home Project” that the state’s Prison Directorate started in three correctional homes.
Sister Alexia says the project links prisoners and their families through non-governmental organizations.
The nuns also educate about 120 children through a primary school for the children of prisoners in the Presidency Central Correctional Home. They offer a one-year diploma in tailoring and knitting for residents of the Alipore Women Correctional Home.
Over the past two years, Sister Alexia has visited more than 250 families in Kolkata city as well as villages in 24 Parganas (South) district.
One of the families she regularly visits is Ranajit Mondal’s. The 35-year-old Hindu man is serving a life sentence in the Presidency jail for murder. His two daughters, Megha and Payel, now benefit from the “Back Home Project.” The girls live with their mother, Mohua, near Kolkata.
The girls call Sister Alexia “mashi” (aunt).
The nun says what satisfies her most in her ministry is the reconciliation between the prisoners and their families.
Mohua says she is grateful to the nuns for making it possible for her daughters to continue their education. Otherwise, they would have become school dropouts soon after their father was sent to jail five years ago.
The nuns provide the girls with money for school fees, notebooks, text books, and uniforms. Sister Alexia also regularly visits them to monitor their studies.
Apart from the Apostolic Carmel nuns, Jesuit and Salesian Religious are also involved in the “Back Home Project,” serving prisoners and their children.
Jesuitica
The first musical textbook in the English language, A brief introduction to the true art of musicke (1584), was the work of William Bathe, born in County Dublin, who became a Jesuit in 1596.
A genuine polymath, he had by that stage already taught mnemonics to Queen Elizabeth I, presented her with a harp designed by himself, and studied at Oxford, Gray’s Inn and Louvain. He invented a simple form of musical notation (presently being researched in Trinity by Sean Doherty), and as a Jesuit wrote a seminal book on linguistics, and was an important pioneer in popularising the Spiritual Exercises.
The Road to Daybreak – A Spiritual Journey
Index of Shalom September 2009 22nd Week in Ordinary Time
23rd Week in Ordinary Time
24th Week in Ordinary Time
25th Week in Ordinary Time
26th Week in Ordinary Time
Shalom：Praying with the church
Index of Shalom October 2009 26th Week in Ordinary Time
27th Week in Ordinary Time
28th Week in Ordinary Time
29th Week in Ordinary Time
30th Week in Ordinary Time
Caravaggio Brought to Light; Renaissance Reborn
“The Taking of Christ” Is Rescued
ROME, OCT. 1, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Tuesday, Sept. 29, was Caravaggio’s birthday. As his name, Michelangelo Merisi, suggests, the Milanese artist was born in 1571 on the feast of the archangels.
While no one would accuse Caravaggio of being of angelic disposition, the body of art he left humanity certainly transmits some of the most powerful messages of our faith.
I celebrated Caravaggio’s birthday in Dublin, in front of one his works that I had never seen in person before, “The Taking of Christ.” Of all of Caravaggio’s works, this canvas not only tells a dramatic incident from years past, but was also subject of a modern detective story.
The work was painted by Caravaggio around 1601-3, the years when he lived in the home of his powerful patron Ciriaco Mattei. He had just completed his major religious commissions at Santa Maria del Popolo and San Luigi dei Francesi, unveiling his revolutionary technique of using light and shadow to enhance the drama of his sacred stories.
The Mattei collection was gradually sold off as the family resources dwindled, and even the archive or accounts and inventories had been moved away from Rome. Even Caravaggio’s name had been forgotten in the annals of art history, relegated, in the words of Italian art historian Roberto Longhi, to the position of “the least known painter of Italian art.”
Thanks to the tireless research of Longhi and later Sir Denis Mahon, the works of Caravaggio were gathered from dusty storerooms, cleansed of centuries of grime and painstakingly catalogued and authenticated.
Despite lifetimes of work, a few remained tantalizingly hidden, extolled in the yellowed pages of old biographies and guide books, but no longer in their original homes.
“The Taking of Christ” was one such prize; mentioned in several contemporary sources, even lovingly described, art historians marveled at how such a celebrated work could go astray. Depressing fears about the fate of the painting loomed as one had been destroyed in the bombing of Dresden, and others, so darkened with age as to be unrecognizable, were simply reattributed and disappeared.
On my way to Dublin I read Jonathan Harr’s riveting book “The Lost Painting,” which recounts the extraordinary story of several converging paths that would return this painting to the world in 1993. Two enterprising archivists, one sharp-eyed restorer, an English nobleman in love with Italian art and a Jesuit priest with a profound devotion to tradition and beauty all participated in the discovery on this work, now hanging in the National Gallery in Dublin on indefinite loan from the Jesuits.
Providence even granted me the privilege of running into the priest, Father Noel Barber, who brought the “Taking of Christ” for cleaning, thereby restoring a Caravaggio work to the world. I couldn’t help but think that ironically, the Jesuits were one of the few new 17th century orders to never have commissioned a work from Caravaggio, yet are the only order to own his work today.
The painting, proudly displayed in the National Gallery, is unique in Caravaggio’s oeuvre as the only work to have a visible light source. The powerful light in Caravaggio’s art usually comes from a mysterious font, hinting at the role of the Holy Spirit in illuminating conversion, martyrdom and evangelization.
Caravaggio was still flaunting his extraordinary skill at still life painting, apparent in the metal armor of the soldiers, the rich blue wool of Christ’s robe and the opaque paper of the lantern. But the dazzling virtuosity of his brush pales before his narrative power.
From the right, three soldiers crowd roughly toward Christ, with a figure at the end holding aloft a lamp to illuminate the scene. The absolute center of the painting however, remains empty, heads and arms leaving a large gap at the very focal point of the work.
This brief caesura heightens the tension of the left-hand part of the work. Judas, his face distorted, leans toward Christ to bestow his kiss of betrayal. The contrast between Christ and Judas could not be greater. Cheek to cheek with Jesus, Judas thrusts himself forward, actively perpetrating this ultimate treachery. Christ on the other hand, with downcast eyes and hands still clasped in prayer, expresses both the profound sadness at Judas’ act as well as the acceptance of his passion. On the far left, St. John runs away, and his red robe, grasped by the soldier forms a scarlet curtain around Jesus and Judas.
More than just a boon to the art world, this missing Caravaggio is a gift to the faithful. In this crowded violent scene, the figure holding up the lantern peering into the chaos represents Caravaggio himself, witness and recorder of this dark happening. We too, standing before this canvas, become witnesses to how Christ was betrayed, persecuted and abandoned, and as Caravaggio retells the story for us to see, we too must render this event visible in our lives.
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Giving back
Truth be told, I wasn’t in Dublin only to celebrate Caravaggio’s birth. I had been lured to the Emerald Isle by an invitation to speak to the Legatus association, an organization bearing many similarities to a Renaissance initiative.
Over the past couple of years, I have had the opportunity to meet many members of this alliance of Catholic businessmen whose mission is to “to study, live and spread the faith in our business, professional and personal lives,” and many of their stories of faith and success recall the histories of the Medici and other great Florentine families.
Renaissance Florence boasted unprecedented commercial success. In what appeared to be a town of boundless opportunity, businesses flourished and luxury goods proliferated as more and more of her citizens became successful bankers, merchants and even artists.
Many of what would become Florence’s greatest families immigrated to the city during the Middle Ages, living in slum quarters and doing menial jobs as they dreamed of a better life. By the 15th century many had achieved wealth, status and success beyond their wildest dreams.
In a world where faith was part of the very air they breathed, and the churches around every corner reminded people of the spiritual and practical sustenance the Church had offered people during their struggling years, the business elite of Florence looked for ways to give back what they had received.
Just as they were leaders in the business community, they also wanted to be good models for the community of the faithful.
So the Company of the Magi was born, an organization of Florence’s most successful citizens, who met regularly to pray together, share ideas and plan charitable projects.
They took the name of the Magi, the three kings of old, who used their wealth, whether monetary or intellectual, to honor the Christ Child. The Company of the Magi sponsored orphanages, helped dower poor girls and once a year regaled the Florentine with a spectacular procession of its most illustrious citizens parading through the streets dressed as the Three Kings.
In many ways, Legatus resembles a modern-day Company of the Magi.
Derived from the Latin verb meaning “to dispatch,” Legatus also describes an ambassador, and the members of this group strive to represent Christ not just in their private moments, but in the workplace, among friends and at home.
Founded in 1987 by Domino’s Pizza Chairman Thomas Monaghan, Legatus brings together CEOs, company presidents and business owners for spiritual and intellectual enrichment; once a month they meet for Mass, dinner and a speaker, and there are annual pilgrimages and conferences.
The Eucharist is at the heart of the organization. The idea came to Mr. Monaghan after receiving Communion from the late John Paul II and the meeting always starts with Mass. Afterward, the members recite the prayer of St. Thomas Aquinas imploring the Eucharist to, “be a helmet of faith and a shield of good will.
“May it purify me from evil ways and put an end to my evil passions.
“May it bring me charity and patience, humility and obedience,
and growth in the power to do good.”
David Fisher, a young CEO from the Fort Worth chapter, says Legatus has been “a real blessing for me.” He was particularly struck by “the importance that the organization places on the sacraments with our monthly meetings, and with the summits and with the pilgrimages, which help me live my life in a much more faith-filled way.”
Legatus also emphasizes education and greater knowledge of one’s faith. John Hale, owner of Corporate Travel Service and member of the Detroit chapter of Legatus, explained, “We are better ambassadors when we are knowledgeable about our faith. What better way to know our faith than to learn at the feet of the best Catholic scholars, theologians, writers and professors who speak regularly at the meetings and conferences?”
Over the years Legatus members have heard speeches from Roman cardinals, entertainment celebrities and political powerhouses; their interests are as diverse as their businesses, which gives them a very “catholic” perspective on the world around them.
Another important theme in Legatus is fellowship and family. Spouses are granted full membership and Legatus plans events for families to participate together. As John Hale recalls, “When my wife was pregnant with our fifth child, most of the world thinly veiled their distaste with yet another child. When we would attend the monthly Legatus meetings and visit with member friends who were blessed with 12 plus children, we were certainly affirmed by their witness to the faith through an openness to children and family. It has made all the difference in our business and in our family.”
Legatus has over 60 chapters in the United States and has expanded into Canada, Poland and Ireland. Visiting with the Ireland chapter this week, I was struck again by both the centrality of the liturgy in Legatus events and the commitment to live one’s faith in every aspect of life, common to all the members I have encountered.
In Legatus, the finest spirit of the Renaissance has found its own rebirth.
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Elizabeth Lev teaches Christian art and architecture at Duquesne University’s Italian campus and University of St. Thomas’ Catholic studies program. She can be reached at [email protected]
News From the Curia
– The Meeting of the Presidents of Provincials’ Conferences will be held from the 21st to the 24th of September at the Jesuit Curia in Rome. The aim of the gathering is threefold, as described in decree 21 n. 25 of General Congregation 34: “to heighten the Presidents sense of the universal character of the Society; to gain a better understanding of the global priorities of the Society; to work with Father General in overseeing and encouraging the further development of regional and global cooperation.” This year’s meeting will focus on: the role of the Presidents of Provincials’ Conferences (theory and practice vis à vis the Provinces, the Conferences, the Assistants, Father General and the universal Society) and the changing face of the Church, in particular how we can consciously anticipate and form, in all regions of the Society, an international body that looks and acts differently than it did thirty years ago.
– The new website of Promotio Iustitiae, the journal of the Social Justice Secretariat, was launched on 15 July 2009: http://www.sjweb.info/sjs/pjnew/index.cfm?LangTop=1. It includes a search engine, RSS feed, and archive of past issues. You can read the full version as well as the single articles online (“Read online”) or offline (“Download pdf”). Subscribe to the newsletter to receive all future issues by email.
News From the Provinces
CASTELGANDOLFO: The Pope visit to the new offices of the Vatican Observatory
Pope Benedict XVI visited the new headquarters of the Vatican Observatory at Castelgandolfo on September 16th. Fr. General and the Observatory staff were there to welcome the Pope, who was accompanied by Cardinal Lajolo and other Vatican officials. His Holiness blessed the new offices and Jesuit residence which the Vatican recently renovated for the Observatory in the papal gardens of Castelgandolfo, replacing its offices which were previously located in the papal palace.
BRAZIL: Book on Father Gabriel Malagrida
At the end of August, Father Ilario Covoni, who has spent many years studying the life and work of Father Gabriel Malagrida (1689-1761), launched his new book on this larger-than-life and sometimes controversial Italian missionary to Brazil. Fr. Malagrida joined the Society of Jesus in 1711 and was sent to the Marañón missions. Apart from his work as a theology teacher he endured numerous hardships in the evangelization of the natives peoples. He opened orphanages for boys and girls and promoted the spiritual renewal through the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius. His reputation for apostolic fervor spread throughout Brazil and Portugal. However, when he returned to Portugal in 1754 he was accused of participating in a plot to assassinate the king, but the accusation that was never proven. In 1759 the Jesuits were expelled from Portugal. Father Malagrida was condemned, as “false prophet and heretic”; on 20 September 1761, he was executed by strangulation and his body burned in the Lisbon public square. The public reacted to the news of the execution with a loud protest and even Voltaire condemned it. The Historical Dictionary of the Society of Jesus notes, “the excess of ridiculous and absurd joined the excess of horror.”
CHILE: Fr. Hurtado, an example of holiness for priests
The Archbishop of Santiago, Chile, Cardinal Francisco Javier Errázuriz, told the priests of his diocese at the end of August: “God calls us to be the first on the path to holiness”, an attitude that was ‘essential’ to Father Alberto Hurtado, the 20th century Chilean Jesuit who was canonized by Pope John Paul II. The occasion was Eucharistic Adoration before the tomb of the saint, organized for the “Year for Priest”. The cardinal invited priests to seek “a deep encounter with Jesus Christ, who is the source of our vocation, of the mystery of the love of God for us. May the people notice that the one who is preaching, is a disciple of Christ.”
COLOMBIA: Meeting of Jesuit communicators of Latin America
The Fourth Assembly of the provincial coordinators for communication of Latin America and Caribbean was held in Bogotá, Colombia, 3 – 8 August. Father José Martínez de Toda, coordinator for the Jesuit communication section of Latin America, wrote: “We were 33 participants from various provinces, including a group of lay men and women. The participation of young Jesuits has brought new insights and has given an impulse for renewal.” The organization of the meeting was in the hands of the communication section of Colombian province, under the direction of Father Gabriel Jaime Perez, vice-rector of Javeriana University in Cali. The principal aim of the Assembly was the analysis of the instructions given in 2007 at the third Assembly, in light the 35th General Congregation’s affirmation of the importance of communication and in the light of the document of the Episcopal Conference of Latin America (CELAM) Assembly in Aparecida in 2007. Three major points of emphasis with concrete lines of future action were developed. They are: 1) the communication formation of Jesuits and our collaborators; 2) communication for the service of faith and the promotion of justice, as required by recent General Congregations, especially the last one which “urges Jesuit institutions to put these new technologies at the service of those at the margins” (Dec. 3, n. 29); 3) to increase, renew and improve our internal and external communication. The meeting concluded with a message to the Society of Jesus of Latin America and Caribbean on the theme “A fire that kindles other fires”, and with a message of solidarity to Radio Progreso of Honduras, given its difficulties with the army. “All this has been possible”, Father Martínez de Toda notes, “thanks to the economic, academic and logistical help of the Province of Colombia, the Pontifical Javeriana University of Bogotà and Cali and the Esclavas de Cristo Rey, the Spirituality Center ‘Father Pedro Legaria'” that hosted the participants to the meeting. For further information see: www.cpalsj.org/comunicacion.
GREAT BRITAIN: Glasgow College celebrates 150th anniversary
St. Aloysius’ College in Glasgow began a year of celebrations with a Mass in honour of its 150th anniversary. Main celebrant was Right Reverend Peter Moran, Bishop of Aberdeen and former pupils of St. Aloysius’ College. He was joined by the British Jesuit Provincial, Father Michael Holman. Many past and present students and parents attended the liturgy, during which the college choir gave the first performance of Serenity, the anthem written especially for the anniversary by the world renowned composer James MacMillan. In his homily Bishop Moran spoke about the history of the college and mentioned its motto “I am born for greater things,” remarking that a Jesuit education focuses on the whole human person, and instills values for life, developing talents to be used for the common good. For education challenge still remains to form men and women of faith, “especially nowadays that the present pupils have to face challenges and risks we never had to face.” In his address to the congregation Father Holman thanked Bishop Moran and underlined the particular attention given by the college to the formation of men and women of faith who are men and women for others. During the year a prayer book for use in school and by families and individuals will be published. It will consist of a selection of scripture readings, prayers, reflections and poetry/prose passages.
MEXICO: Congress on Liberation Theology
The first International Congress on Liberation Theology was held from the 24th to 26th of August in Mexico City. It was devoted to the writings of Father Ignacio Ellacuría, the Jesuit killed exactly 20 years ago in El Salvador in 1989. Participants to the meeting were major Latin American experts of this theological stream and of the themes connected to it. Father Ellacuría joined the Society of Jesus in his home country of Spain in 1947. He was sent to El Salvador in 1948, and lived there until his death. The primary goal of Liberation theology is the liberation of the oppressed so they may “reach human wholeness”. The political implications of his thinking found strong opposition in some religious circles and in Salvadorian political forces leading to his slaying in 1989. The murder was perpetrated at the Jesuit Residence of the Central American University (UCA) in San Salvador, by military forces who also killed, in addition to Father Ellacuría, five other Jesuits and two lay employees. That assassination was the turning point of the civil war in El Salvador: from one side it increased the pressure of the international community on the local government to sign peace agreement with the guerrillas; from the other side it helped to spread across the world the thoughts of Father Ellacuría, until then known only in Latin America, Spain and some other limited circles.
NEPAL: Homage to a Great Educator
“He has been my teacher and my icon”, said Ranjeet Baral, one of the first students to speak about Father James Donnelly. Father Donnelly recently died in Nepal at age 80, 40 of which spent at the foot of Himalayan mountains. Another student added: “Now that he left us I hope to be able to transmit to my children what I have learned from him.” The funeral was held at the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption in Kathmandu on August 17th; the church was filled with alumni, friends and brother Jesuits. Father Augustine Thomas, himself a Jesuit and a teacher, said: “I have lost a great friend who made Nepal his home and took the Nepalese people as his folk. He contributed greatly to education in the country and his students will always remember him as an astounding teacher and a devoted friend”. According to AsiaNews, Father Donnelly is remembered by his students with gratitude and devotion. He was born in Cincinnati in 1929 and went to Nepal as a young priest shortly after ordination. In addition to teaching English to young Nepalese students in the Jesuit run schools in Godavari and Jawalakhel, he also contributed to the country’s 1970 National Education System Plan.
PARAGUAY: A Mission of the ancient “Reductions” brought to life again
Thanks to Ettore Piras, a Genovese architect, the Mission of Trinidad has returned to life. The mission was built by the Jesuits of the “Reductions” and made famous thanks to the Roland Joffé’s film Mission. The inauguration took place on August 20th in the presence of the President of Paraguay and government representatives, representatives of other Latin American countries, Jesuits and, of course, Ettore Piras. This is how he described his work, “What we have done in the Mission of Trinidad in Parana, is a special architectural recovery which took three years of work. We wanted to bring to life again a place full of history and piety, that is also a symbol of the long battle for emancipation of South America. The Mission was abandoned ages ago, and there were only overgrown ruins. Our intention was to bring again to life the spirit of the Jesuit Fathers without any radical surgery and we managed to do it by creating something really unique.” “Without the use of cement, without building walls or creating historical facades, wrote Genoese daily Il Secolo XIX, the Mission that was burnt three centuries ago by the Spaniards has today become a unique monument and legacy for Paraguay.” The project was called Luz y Sonido (“Sounds and Lights”), because these are two essential elements of the new Mission of Trinidad: “What has been inaugurated on August 20th” – Ettore Piras added – “is a cultural trail that tells the life of the Guaraní, the local inhabitants, of the Jesuits who worked here and the encounter of two civilizations both bearers of great truths. The Mission will be open with a multimedia guided tour: not a spectacle, but a cultural method for the understanding of the time of the Guaraní and for absorbing the magic energy of the missions.”
TANZANIA: Experience with disabled children
A group of 13 students from St. Ignatius College in Enfield, England, traveled this summer to Africa in order to visit some schools the college is supporting. Among them there were St. Ignatius Prep and Primary School and Cheshire Home in Dodoma, Tanzania, a boarding school for disabled children. The visit, according to the report written by one of the Enfield students, was the occasion for seeing at first hand how much the support received by St. Ignatius College is important for the students in Dodoma. A moving experience was the visit to the disabled children of Cheshire Home, where the English students could see the difficulties that have to be faced every day to make all the work possible. Lack of funding and lack of fully trained staff are the main snag. The students noticed especially the differences between England and Tanzania in the way how it works in this field: while in England there is abundance of staff, fully trained and experienced in dealing with disabilities, and numerous teachers take care of little groups of children, in Tanzania this job is not well paid and there is little incentive. So a very limited number of few specialized persons take care of large groups of children. However, says the report, Cheshire Home is a nice place to be, with playgrounds, all the staff are very friendly and the sister who runs the place is great with the children. In all, a very positive experience, to keep in minds and hearts for the years to come.
The Mind That Is Catholic
Father Schall on Embracing the Whole of Reality
By Annamarie Adkins
WASHINGTON, D.C., SEPT. 28, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI has made the recovery of the mutual interdependence of faith and reason one of the signature themes of his pontificate.
And no one has been as prolific a commentator on this important question raised by the Holy Father than Jesuit Father James Schall.
Father Schall, a professor of political philosophy at Georgetown University, has penned, among many other writings, a book-length commentary on Benedict XVI’s Regensburg lecture. The lecture caused an international sensation for its mention of the presence of violence in the Islamic tradition, but the lecture’s key themes related to the relationship between faith and reason were left to be unpacked by writers such as Father Schall.
Now Father Schall has written a new book, “The Mind That Is Catholic: Philosophical and Political Essays” (CUA Press). The book explores the habits of being that allow one to use the tools of faith and reason to explore all things seen and unseen.
Father Schall shared with ZENIT why all people, not just professional philosophers and theologians, can have a mind that is truly Catholic.
ZENIT: What does it mean to have a mind that is Catholic? What are its key elements?
Father Schall: The mind that is Catholic is open to all sources of information, including what comes from Revelation.
Revelation is not opposed to reason as if it were some blind source. Revelation has its own intelligibility that can be grasped and compared or addressed to what we know in reason.
Catholicism does not define reason as if it only meant a reason that follows some methodology where the terms of the method decide what we are allowed to see or consider.
The very definition of mind is that power that is open to all that is. We human beings are not gods. But we do know and the object of our knowledge is all that is.
It is characteristic of the Catholic mind to insist that all that is knowable is available and considered by us in our reflections on reality.
ZENIT: Are there clear points of distinction between the Catholic mind and a “Protestant mind” or a “secular mind”?
Father Schall: Monsignor Robert Sokolowski says that the method of philosophy is precisely to make distinctions. Obviously, the Protestant mind and the secular mind strive to distinguish themselves on many things from the Catholic mind.
If no one thought there was any difference between them, Catholicism, Protestantism and secularism would already be one. This does not deny that it is quite possible that they agree on some things.
It is the method of Aquinas to find out what these points of agreement and difference are. I always like the way Aquinas recalls Aristotle’s comment that “a small error in the beginning leads to a large error in the end.”
The ecumenical movement has tried valiantly to find points of agreement. It has found many. But errors do appear and grow.
I once wrote an essay entitled “Protestantism and Atheism.” (“Thought,” XXXIX (Dec. 1964) pp. 531-558.) The burden of that essay had to do with the importance of reason to Catholicism. This stress on reason is found in Benedict XVI’s Regensburg lecture, among other places.
The reason, I thought at the time, that Protestantism led to atheism was because it evaporated the world of meaning and insisted on revelation alone. Once the world is there absent reason, it is easy, following Aristotle’s dictum, to conclude that God is not in the world in any sense.
It was the mind of Aquinas, following the line of the origin of “existence,” to insist that we really did find reality in existing things, but they did not cause their own existence.
It was from here we could argue to God’s existence so that, if revelation happened, it would be intelligible to us as a response to our own lack of knowledge of ultimate things.
ZENIT: What are the necessary habits or practices for forming and maintaining a “mind that is Catholic?” Likewise, where are the primary sources from which the Catholic mind draws its inspiration?
Father Schall: Of course, one of the good practices will be to know Aristotle, a great mind who, if I might with some irony put it that way, was “Catholic” before there was Catholicism.
This is but another way of saying that Catholicism is more than eager to know what the human mind can know by itself. The mind that is Catholic in this sense is more than Catholic. Or, to put it another way, we cannot be Catholic if we are only Catholic.
We think, in the end, that what is peculiar in Catholicism is not opposed to reason but rather constitutes a completion of it.
It was Aristotle who warned us that the reason we do not accept the truth even when it is presented to us is because we do not really want to know it. Knowing it would force us to change our ways. If we do not want to change our ways, we will invent a “theory” whereby we can live without the truth.
The “primary” source of the Catholic mind is reality itself, including the reality of revelation.
We are not primarily students of what other people thought, but of what is. This is why ordinary and unlearned people are not excluded from the Catholic mind.
The source of our knowledge is not a book but experience of being and living, an experience that will often include those whose lives are already touched by grace.
So I read with great profit everyone from Justin Martyr to Aquinas and Benedict. But they take me not to themselves but to the truth.
The great “habit,” as it were, is that of acknowledging the truth when we see it. This implies both reason and grace which are not the same, but neither are they contradictory to each other.
ZENIT: Do you believe that Catholic schools do a good job of fostering a Catholic mind in young Catholics?
Father Schall: Briefly, no.
No one could think that the curriculum and spirit of Catholic schools today are based in the tradition of specifically Catholic intelligence. That requires discipline, study, and virtue.
In the modern world, we find no group more deprived of the glories of their own mind than young Catholics. This is why those small enclaves that do address themselves to it are in many ways remarkable.
Catholic institutions of higher learning, as they are called, simply gave up what was unique about themselves and the reasons for having Catholic universities in the first place. This lost source was the active vigor of the Catholic mind read not as an historical phenomenon or as a social activism, but as a search for and testimony of the truth, that towards which all mind is directed.
ZENIT: What modern persons, in your opinion, best embody ‘a mind that is Catholic?’ Why?
Father Schall: In most of my books, beginning with “Another Sort of Learning,” I have provided lists of books or reminders of them — books that I think tell the truth.
I always list Chesterton and E. F. Schumacher. I think the present pope, as well as the previous one, were marvels of the Catholic mind, a mind that comes to grips with all things, yet with the light of grace and revelation.
The philosophy department at the Catholic University of America, to which I dedicated my book “The Mind That Is Catholic,” is a perennial source of wisdom and rigorous intelligence. There is no place quite like it. I am a great admirer of the work of Monsignor Sokolowski, whose latest book, “The Phenomenology of the Human Person,” is itself the Catholic mind at work; it is a mind that knows of reason and its limits as well as of its reaches.
Why do these and many other thinkers “embody a mind that is Catholic?” I think it is because they take everything into account.
What is peculiar to Catholicism, I have always thought, is its refusal to leave anything out. In my short book, “The Regensburg Lecture,” I was constantly astonished at the enormous range of the mind of the present Holy Father. There is simply no mind in any university or public office that can match his. He is a humble man, in fact.
It is embarrassing to the world, and often to Catholic “intellectuals,” to find that its most intelligent mind is on the Chair of Peter. I have always considered this papal intellectual profundity to be God’s little joke to the modern mind.
The modern mind has built up for itself theories and ideologies whereby it prevents itself from seeing the truth that a man like Benedict XVI spells out for it in lucid and rigorously argued terms – terms fully aware and familiar with all of modern philosophy itself.
But Benedict XVI is a messenger of the Logos.
We do not get around his mind. We only shy away from considering it.
ZENIT: Is having a “mind that is Catholic” limited solely to philosophers, theologians, and intellectuals, or is it something that all Catholics should pursue?
Father Schall: What is unique about Christian revelation is that it was intended for everyone, including the philosophers.
Aristotle himself recognized that every mind is open to reality and hence could know — perhaps not in some sophisticated fashion — what is the truth. But the record of philosophers and theologians is not particularly impressive on this score.
From the admonitions of Paul to the present day, we have been concerned about the damage that philosophers could do to ordinary people. This was Socrates’ polemic with the Sophists.
Christianity has never canonized the learned in great numbers. I am fond of citing Cardinal von Schönborn’s remark that Thomas Aquinas was the only man ever canonized simply for thinking.
Great damage can and has come to the little ones through the aberrations of the philosophers. We do well to take note of it.
But Catholicism, as I have tried to spell out, needs and wants and delights in its thinkers.
I have always thought it was the function of a teacher to take students to other minds in which they can find the truth. But the truth is not in a book. It is in conversation, it is in actively thinking about what is.
Catholicism knows that all sorts and sources of knowledge flow into its mind, one of which — the primary one that makes it unique — is revelation. But it is a revelation, in its own terms, addressed to active reason. That too is the mind that is Catholic.
ZENIT: One notable writer has claimed that philosophy is consummated in the liturgy. What does this mean? How do the sacraments and spiritual life contribute to the “mind that is Catholic”?
Father Schall: You are referring to Catherine Pickstock’s book, “After Writing: The Liturgical Consummation of Philosophy.” I have a chapter in my book, “Roman Catholic Political Philosophy,” entitled “Worship and Political Philosophy,” which is on this same issue.
What the “liturgical consummation of philosophy” means is that philosophy does not end in ideas or systems but in a reality that explains everything.
This notion is right out of Plato’s “Laws” in which he said — in a phrase that I always delight in citing — we should spend our lives “singing, sacrificing, and dancing.” This is precisely “liturgy.”
But what is unique about Catholicism is that within it is contained the one thing that the human race has searched for in vain, namely, what is the proper way to worship God.
Mankind has come up with many ways; some, like Plato’s, are fairly close. Others, like the Aztec sacrificing of human youth, are far away.
The bottom line is that the only way we could do this worship properly is if God would teach us. This is what the Mass, with its reality of the sacrifice of the Cross present, is about — the way to worship God.
Only God, in the end, could tell us this, give us an example of how to perform the worship of the Father.
So yes, the mind that is Catholic leads naturally to worship and to the awe of the Triune Godhead into which we are invited to enter if we accept the divine invitation and live our lives in a way that we do not reject it.
The mind that is Catholic seeks the source of what is and to delight in it. This is its glory.
Catholic community radio aims to fight sectarianism
MANGALORE, India (UCAN) – A Jesuit college in Mangalore has started community radio broadcasts to promote sectarian harmony in the southern Indian town that in the past year had been hit with communal violence.
The FM station Sarang (harmony of colors) will address various issues affecting local people, said its director Jesuit Father Richard Rego.
State Governor H.R. Bharadwaj, who launched the radio at a function on Sept. 23, said the radio station could play a powerful role in bringing about harmony and justice in society.
He urged the Catholic institution, St. Aloysius College Mangalore, to ensure the radio station maintain truthfulness in its broadcasts.
Bishop Aloysius Paul D’Souza of Mangalore, who blessed the project, said he hoped the radio station would become a channel of peace, harmony and justice. “The common people, specially the youth, needed a platform to raise their issues,” the prelate added.
Father Rego told UCA News Sarang was the second community radio in India managed by an educational institution. The college started test transmissions in June and received positive responses from the local people.
The radio station broadcasts twice a day, three hours in the morning from 6.30 a.m. and for four hours in the evening from 5.30 p.m. Its signals can be received within a 25-kilometer radius, and programs cover topics such as religion, communal harmony, health and hygiene and issues related to farmers, fishermen, daily-wage earners and youths.
Father Rego said most listeners are young people. Thus, radio would also carry messages against drugs and warnings against contracting HIV/AIDS, as well as offering leadership training and career guidance.
College principal Father Swebert D’Silva told UCA News the college’s Department of Journalism and Mass Media took the initiative to start the radio station. Students produce most of its programs, he added.
The college has nearly 14,000 students.
Ursuline Sister Mini Sheethal, a student, said the radio is doing a good job discussing various problems affecting students such as physical abuse, alcoholism, depression and study stress.
Santhosh D’Souza, another student, who listens to Sarang, said the station “gives many tips” for successful living.
Father D’Silva said the radio station has not received any assistance from the government except subsidies for air time.
Jesuits are looking for a Development Officer
The Treasurer’s Office of the Chinese Province of the Society of Jesus is looking for one full-time “development officer,” someone whose main responsibility will be fundraising for apostolic projects connected with the Society of Jesus. Candidates should be Catholic, men or women, having already a basic knowledge of the Society of Jesus and knowing some Jesuits. The development officer should have a strong sense of mission and a deep desire to promote evangelization and apostolic projects of the Society of Jesus.
The development officer should be fluent in Chinese (Mandarin) and English, able to write reports in both languages, have a good capacity to establish relationships and be known as a person of excellent moral reputation.
The development officer will have to work with foundations, enterprises, companies, government agencies and individual benefactors.
Applicants should be under 55 years of age, have at least a college degree and seven years of working experience, and be willing to travel frequently, including international travel. Good health is required.
Applicants with documented experience in fundraising will be given priority of consideration. Employment will begin in January 2010. Specific training in the art of fundraising will be provided.
Applicants should send in their resume and a copy of academic degrees to the following address before Nov. 1, 2009. A decision about employment will be made on December 1, 2009.
Rev. Luciano Morra, S.J.
Society of Jesus
Largo de Sto. Agostinho, 4
Macau
Or
Rev. Luciano Morra, S.J.
Taipei Provincial Office
P.O. Box 7-471
10650 Taipei, Taiwan