Fr General Adolfo Nicolás delivered the opening address at a recent Pontifical Gregorian University event held to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Jesuit-run Sophia University in Tokyo. A former student of Sophia in the 1960s and a former provincial of the Japanese Province, Fr Nicolás spoke on Sophia’s contribution to the mission of the Catholic Church in Asia.

Fr Nicolás urged Japanese Catholics to promote religious sensitivity in their country and not to lose hope because they represent a small minority of the country’s population.

Comparing how many people have lost attentiveness to music because of the many other distractions of the modern technological age, Fr Nicolás said, “Just as this musical sense is being eroded and weakened by the noise, the pace, the self-images of the modern and postmodern world, so is religious sensitivity.”

“I suggest that mission today in Japan and Asia must first of all work toward people helping discover or rediscover this musical sense, this religious sensibility,” he said. “This awareness and appreciation of dimensions of reality that are deeper than instrumental reason or materialist conceptions of life allow us.”

Fr Nicolás also urged the staff and faculty at Sophia to not make the institution a place that is “primarily market driven.”

“Competition, the search for higher rankings for the sake of even more economic gain, has become the driving force for some institutions,” he said. “It would be a tragedy if our universities simply replicated the rationality and self-understandings of our secular, materialist world. Our reason for being in education is completely different.”

Sophia 100th Anniversary”We are not in education for proselytism, but for transformation. We want to form a new kind of humanity that is musical, that retains this sensitivity to beauty, to goodness, to the suffering of others, to compassion.”

“We offer a Christian education because we are convinced that Christ offers horizons beyond the limited interests of economy or material production, that Christ offers a vision of a fuller humanity that takes the person outside himself or herself in care and concern for others,” he said.

Fr Nicolás was one of about a dozen speakers at event, held on March 14 and 15, which focused on the wider role of Jesuits in Japan and the specific contributions of Sophia since its founding in 1913.

Among attendees were faculty and staff from both universities, Jesuits from various parts of the world, and Japan’s ambassador to Italy, Masaharu Kono.

The other speakers included Fr Shinzô Kawamura SJ, a professor of humanities at Sophia University, who spoke of Francis Xavier, comparing contemporary accounts of Xavier’s missionary work with modern understandings of his role, calling him a “classic exemplar” of a “balance between doctrine and practice” in missionary work.

Another speaker was Yoshiaki Ishizawa, Sophia’s president from 2005 to 2011, who spoke of efforts initiated by the university to send missions and personnel to help preserve and restore the 12th-Century Angkor monuments in Cambodia, which are in significant decay.

Along with others, Ishizawa founded in 1996 a branch of Sophia University in Siem Reap, called the Asia Centre of Research and Human Development, which has focused on preserving the country’s heritage sites. [National Catholic Reporter]

Dutch Jesuit Father Frans van der Lugt, 75, who refused to leave war-torn Syria, instead staying in Homs to help the poor and homeless, was beaten by armed men and killed with two bullets to the head today, according to an email sent by the Jesuits’ Middle East province to the Jesuit headquarters in Rome.

Fr. Van der Lugt, who had worked in Syria since 1966, declined suggestions to leave because he wanted to help Syria’s suffering civilians – “Christians and Muslims – anyone in need,” said Father Giuseppe Bellucci, head of the Jesuits’ press office.

Fr. Van der Lugt became known around the world after appealing for aid for the people of the besieged city of Homs in a video posted on YouTube in late January.

The United Nations supervised an evacuation of about 1,400 people from Homs in early February; arriving in Jordan, the refugees confirmed Fr. Van der Lugt’s accounts of people, especially young children, starving to death.

Speaking to Catholic News Service by telephone Feb. 6, the Jesuit priest had said: “There has been no food. People are hungry and waiting for help. No injured people have been allowed to leave. Families have been hoping to get out of the siege and out of the fighting between the two sides.

“The wounded have not received proper treatment, so healing has been difficult. Newborns die very quickly because of a lack of milk,” he said. “There have been cases of death due to hunger and starvation.”

Fr. Van der Lugt was born April 10, 1938, in the Netherlands and entered the Society of Jesus in 1959. During the almost 50 years he served in Syria, he worked in education and in a project for handicapped people. In the 1980s, he opened Al Ard (“the land”), a center of spirituality just outside of Homs. The center housed about 40 children with mental disabilities from nearby villages. He was also a psychotherapist and very involved in interreligious dialogue.

In a statement, the Holy See’s press spokesman, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, said Fr. Van der Lugt “died as a man of peace, who with great courage in an extremely dangerous and difficult situation, wanted to remain faithful to the Syrian people to whom he had dedicated so many years of his life and spiritual service. Where people die, their faithful shepherds also die with them. In this time of great sorrow, we express our participation in prayer, but also great pride and gratitude for having had a brother so close to the most suffering in the testimony of the love of Jesus to the end.” [Sources: Catholic News Service, Vatican Radio]

The Commissio Interprovinciale Permanens (CIP) started their 3 days meeting with Fr. General in Rome. Issues being discussed include: collaboration among Roman academic institutions, young Jesuits studying in Rome, and evaluation of the CIP and of the DIR since GC 35. Attending the meeting as an observer will be Fr. Arturo Sosa (VEN), recently named to become DIR Delegate next Fall.

“The Master made it his task to destroy systematically every doctrine, every belief, every concept of the divine, for these things, which were originally intended as pointers, were now being taken as descriptions.

He loved to quote the Eastern saying “When the sage points to the moon, all that the idiot sees is the finger.”

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Today, March 11, 2014, marks the centenary of the birth of Alvaro del Portillo (1914-1994), bishop and first successor of St. Josemaría Escriva, founder of Opus Dei. Later this year, on September 27, he will be beatified in Madrid, the city where he was born, the third of eight children born to Ramon del Portillo and his wife Clementina Diez de Sollano, devout Catholic parents.

The early years and ordination

Alvaro, as a young boy, was studious and pious; to his classmates he was cheerful and kind. It seemed natural for him as a university student to join the St. Vincent de Paul Society in order to help the poor. It was during this time, while teaching catechism in a poor neighborhood, that he and his companions were attacked by a mob of men. Alvaro, although receiving a deep gash on his forehead, managed to escape. He tried unsuccessfully to hide the incident from his family, but nevertheless returned to visit the same poor neighborhoods.

When Alvaro was 19 a friend introduced him to Father Josemaría Escriva. That introduction made a very positive and deep impression on him. After a second meeting with Father Josemaría, Alvaro agreed to postpone a family vacation in order to attend a monthly retreat day. On that very same day, Alvaro asked to join Opus Dei, which, in 1935, was a very small group of men and women seeking to live holiness in everyday life. Subsequently, Alvaro obtained a degree in construction management, followed by a degree in civil engineering.

From the moment he discovered his vocation as a celibate layman, Alvaro began to work with Father Josemaría to spread the message of Opus Dei throughout Spain. This often meant traveling to other cities on the weekends, returning on rickety old trains at daybreak on Monday just in time for work. Soon afterwards, the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)-a dangerous time of persecution for many priests and practicing Catholics-caused Alvaro to spend a few months in hiding with Father Josemaría in Madrid. Later, Alvaro was able to rejoin Father Josemaría, who had earlier escaped over the Pyrenees Mountains into France and traveled to Burgos on the National Side of Spain.

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Bishop Aloysius Jin Luxian of Shanghai

Dear Brothers in Christ,

We have been informed that Bishop Jin Luxian Aloysius went peacefully to the Lord on Apr. 27, 2013 in Shanghai, at 2:45pm.

Bishop Jin was born on June 16, 1916 in Shanghai. He entered the Society on Aug. 30, 1938, at Zikawei, Shanghai, was ordained priest on May 19,1945, professed the last vows on Dec. 8, 1953, and was consecrated bishop on Jan. 27, 1985.

All priests of the Chinese Province will celebrate one Mass first intention for Bishop Jin’s 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
April 27, 2013

I very much admire the poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke and the following is one of which I’m particularly fond:

God speaks to each of us as he makes us,
then walks with us silently out of the night.
These are the words we dimly hear:
You, sent out beyond your recall,
go to the limits of your longing.
Embody me.
Flare up like flame
and make big shadows I can move in.

You can read the entire poem here.

Pope Francis met on February 27 with the members of the Congregation for Bishops, and spoke at some length about the characteristics of the leaders the Church needs.

In the process of appointing bishops, the Pope said: “This Congregation exists to ensure that the name chosen has first of all been pronounced by the Lord.” He asked the members of the Congregation to look for priests who have dedicated themselves to the Lord and will draw others to Him.

“There does not exist a standard pastor for all churches,” the Pope said; the particular needs of each diocese will call for different sorts of bishops. But all bishops must possess some common characteristics: “Professionalism, service, and holiness of life: if we turn away from these three virtues we fall from the greatness to which we are called.”

Pope Francis reminded the congregation that when the original apostles set out to replace Judas, they agreed that the new apostle must be “a witness to the Resurrection.” This requirement remains today, he said; the bishop must be a witness to the resurrected Christ. He continued:

Men who are guardians of doctrine, not so as to measure how far the world is from doctrinal truth, but in order to fascinate the world … with the beauty of love, with the freedom offered by the Gospel. The Church does not need apologists for her causes or crusaders for her battles, but humble and trusting sowers of the truth, who know that it is always given to them anew and trust in its power.
A bishop should also be a man of prayer, the Pope said. He should pray constantly for the welfare of his diocese. “A man who does not have the courage to argue with God on behalf of his people cannot be a bishop,” he argued.

The Pontiff offered some cautions to the congregation in the selection of bishops. “We must rise above and overcome any eventual preferences, sympathies, provenances, or tendencies,” he said. And regarding the candidates, he added: “Be careful that they are not ambitious, that they are not in quest of the episcopate.” He went on to say that a bishop who is chosen to serve one particular Church should not look for another assignment. The Pope said bluntly: “This is called adultery.”

While acknowledging that it is difficult to find the priests who have all of the characteristics necessary for a good bishop, the Pope told the congregation that he had no doubt such men could be found, because Jesus would not abandon his Church.

Pope Francis asked leaders of the American Jewish Committee to pray for his May trip to Jerusalem, “so that this pilgrimage may bring forth the fruits of communion, hope and peace”.

The modern relationship between Jews and Catholics, he said on Thursday, has a “theological foundation” and is “not simply an expression of our desire for reciprocal respect and esteem”.

Pope Francis noted that in 2015, the Catholic Church will mark the 50th anniversary of “Nostra Aetate,” the Second Vatican Council’s declaration on relations with other religions. The document, the pope said, is “the sure point of reference for relations with our ‘elder brothers'”.

The declaration said Christians and Jews share a common heritage and a profound spiritual bond and denounced any form of contempt of the Jews. It also explicitly taught that responsibility for Jesus’ death “cannot be charged against all the Jews, without distinction, then alive, nor against the Jews of today”.

Pope Francis told the American Jewish Committee delegation that while the Catholic-Jewish exploration of theological themes must continue, the two communities also must find ways to work together to construct “a more just and fraternal world”, especially through service to the poor, the marginalized and the suffering.

In addition, he said, “it is important that we dedicate ourselves to transmitting to new generations the heritage of our mutual knowledge, esteem and friendship”, especially in seminaries and education programs for lay Catholics. “I am similarly hopeful that a desire for an understanding of Christianity may grow among young rabbis and the Jewish community.”

Stanley Bergman, president of the committee, thanked the pope for his commitment to improving Jewish-Catholic relations and told him, “We come here feeling deeply that you are our true friend, and we feel that we are yours.”

The best way to get to understand a person is to walk a mile in their shoes — or perhaps to exchange their religious beliefs for a whole month. That’s the premise behind the Faith Swap experiment organized by Premier Christian Radio, which follows the journey of committed Christian Bentley Browning and his atheist friend Simon Capes who are exchanged their religious daily commitments for one month.

Browning stopped praying and going to church, while Capes attended church and participated in the “rituals of Christianity,” reports Christianity Today Australia.

“I’ve got nothing to lose,” said Capes. “Bentley’s taking a bigger leap than me because he’s negating something in which he believes, but we both have a lot to gain from this.”

Browning found it a serious challenge to let go of his daily Christian practices, which ground him and provide comfort.

Cape seemed to enjoy the process of learning about Christianity, writing on January 29, “This evening he started with a little reflective time, then gave a short sermon on prayer and how God is with us nearer than hands and feet, a phrase I loved. Bob the led us through some prayers, then read us a passage from Corinthians 1:13. I found that I could really relate to Bob’s service as it was all about love, an unselfish caring love.”

Browning finished the experiment on Thursday, while Cape will call it quits on Sunday.

Cape wrote on January 28, “I’ve been exploring Christianity now for nearly a month. I’ve met some lovely people and witnessed some very supportive communities, I’ve even had some of my preconceptions and predjudices blown away. But, and yes there is a but, I haven’t found Jesus or God, yet.”

They didn’t expect to dramatically change their views, but simply hoped that the exercise would allow them to better understand the other’s viewpoint.

And that sense, it’s certainly been a great success.