Jesuit Bulletin - Fall 2012

JESUITFa l l 2012

B U L L E T I N

A Journey to the Jesuit Reductions

Called to the Frontiers • Vocation Promotion • Jubilarians

2 JESUIT | FALL 2012

Pope Benedict XVI told the General Congregation that Jesuits are to go to “frontiers” where others have dif-ficulty going, working to break through the barriers that have been built between faith and human knowledge, faith and modern science, faith and the fight for justice.

Fr. Walter Ciszek, a Polish-American Jesuit mission-ary who survived 23 years as a prisoner in the former Soviet Union, exemplifies this mission to the frontiers and is now a candidate for canonization. Last March, the Vatican Congregation for the Causes of Saints accepted the evidence about Ciszek’s holiness and began the formal process leading to declaring him a saint.

Born in 1904 in Shenandoah, Penn., to Polish immi-grants, Ciszek was assigned to Poland in 1938, but was forced to close his mission when the Soviet Army invaded eastern Poland in World War II. He entered Russia under

Fr. Walter A Jesuit at the Frontiers

an assumed identity, and for a year, worked as an unskilled laborer while discreetly providing ministry in the Russian rite he had been trained for.

He was arrested in 1941, accused of being a spy for the Vatican. His 23 years in prison included 15 in hard labor in Siberia and five in solitary confine-ment. Through it all, he served as a priest to his fellow prisoners, risking his life to offer counseling, hear confessions, and celebrate Mass in primitive conditions.

Ciszek was presumed dead until he was allowed to write his family in 1955. He returned to the U.S. in 1963 as part of a prisoner exchange.

His story is told in his memoir, With God in Russia, and in He Leadeth Me.

vocations

Ciszek

contents

feature stories

8 | Called to the Frontiers Breaking through barriers

12 | Growing the Society of Jesus New vocation approach

14 | Jesuit Reductions A journey to Paraguay

20 | The Examen A way to hear God’s call

22 | Jubilarians Milestones of service

24

4 | Jesuit News

24 | Formation Profiles Jason Brauninger Penn Dawson 26 | Benefactor Profile Dick Campbell

29 | In Memoriam

14

EditorThomas M. Rochford SJ

Associate EditorCheryl Wittenauer

DesignerTracy Gramm

Advancement DirectorThom Digman

8

26

12

22

Cover photo:Mission Jesús de Tavarangue

(By Jorge Taracido)


jesuit news

Fr. Daniel White began Oct. 1 as pastor of St. Francis Xavier College Church in St. Louis, after leaving his post as socius to the novice director at the Jesuit novitiate

Trans i t i on s

in Grand Coteau, La. White succeeds Fr. Rich Buhler, who will continue on as rector of the Jesuit Hall community at Saint Louis University.

Fr. Joe Laramie has begun duties as director of pastoral ministry at Rockhurst High School in Kansas City, Mo. The job entails organizing and lead-ing retreats, presiding at school Masses and helping with service opportunities.

New Orleans and Missouri Jesuits on the Move

Dan White

He also teaches a section of sophomore theology.

Fr. Thomas Cwik, paro-chial vicar at St. Ignatius Loyola Parish in Denver, will profess final vows Nov. 4 in Denver.

Tom Cwik

Seven Men Enter, Three Profess First Vows

Sometimes traveling alone, but more often arriving with family, new arrivals are welcomed by novice director, Fr. Mark Thibodeaux (left); his assistant, Fr. James Goeke (top left); and the second-year novices or “guardian angels” who show new men to their rooms.

New Orleans scholastics Raul Navarro and Jeremy Zipple recently were ordained deacons.

Fr. R. V. Baylon pronounced his final vows Sept. 8 at Spring Hill College in Mobile, Ala., before

New Orleans Provincial Mark Lewis. Born in Manila, Philippines, Baylon teaches bioethics in Spring Hill’s department of philosophy.

R.V. Baylon

The Jesuit Novitiate at St. Charles College was abuzz with great excitement on Aug. 10 as Jesuits welcomed seven men into the

new class of first-year novices. Welcome turned to celebration as the second-year novices

pronounced first vows of poverty, chastity and obedience that constitute formal acceptance to live their lives as Jesuits. James Page moved on to studies at Regis College in Toronto, Canada; Alex Placke left for Fordham University in the Bronx, N.Y.; and John-Paul Witt headed to St. Louis for studies at Saint Louis University.

FALL 2012 | JESUIT 5

Gregory Overbeek of Huntsville, Ala., attended Blessed John Paul II High

School where he was active in cam-pus ministry and senior retreats and was honored at graduation for exemplifying the ideals of the school. During his sophomore year at Spring Hill College, he partici-pated in campus ministry, the dis-cernment group “Holy Grounds,”

first year novices

Men who wish to discern a Jesuit vocation in the Missouri or New Orleans province should contact Fr. Andrew Kirschman, coordinator of vocation promotion, at [email protected] or 1-800-325-9924. To learn more, visit www.beajesuit.org

To support the Jesuit Formation Fund, donate online at www.jesuitsmissouri.org or contact Thom M. Digman at 1-800-325-9924.

Sean Ferguson of Englewood, Colo., recently gradu-ated from Regis Jesuit High School in Denver, where

he was captain of the rugby team, a Rowdy Spirit Leader at athletic games and a member of the freshmen and Kairos retreat staffs. His interests include eastern religions and all types of sports, especially snow skiing.

Michael Killeen of suburban St. Louis, was the art editor for his high school news-paper and led

retreats with his parish youth group. He completed sophomore year at the University of Missouri where he majored in Spanish and was active in the university’s Catholic Newman Center. He recently returned from a mission trip to Peru. He enjoys biking, camping, backpacking, painting and playing music.

Don Paul Landry of Luling, La., earned his under-graduate degree in history from Louisiana State

University and his law degree from Tulane University. He practiced law as a sole practitioner, as head of AIDSLaw of Louisiana and as an assistant Louisiana state attorney gen-eral. He has been an active parishio-ner at Immaculate Conception Jesuit Church in New Orleans and sings in the Cathedral choir. He enjoys reading history.

Brendan Love of Denver gradu-ated from Regis Jesuit High School, where he ran cross

country and track, played in the jazz band and led Kairos retreats. He earned a degree in aviation management from Metro State University in Denver, is a licensed pilot and worked for Jeppeson Aviation. He enjoys playing team sports and is an avid sports fan.

John Paul Miles of Germantown, Tenn., graduated from Christian Brothers High School in

Memphis where he was a wrestler and a member of the Lasallian Youth Group. While earning his bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Memphis, he was active in the Catholic Student Association and led diocesan Search Retreats. He enjoys physical fitness and lifting weights.

the Pro-Life Club and the Knights of Columbus. His hobbies include jog-ging and lifting weights.

Aric Serrano of Pecos, Texas, has studied euphonium, piano and guitar and performed live

with jazz and rock bands. He recently graduated from Eastern New Mexico University with a bachelor’s degree in music education. During his senior year, he sponsored one of his friends in RCIA. He relaxes by reading, camping and building model airplanes.


Jesuit John P. Fitzgibbons has been installed as Regis University’s 24th president and only the third in

nearly 40 years. Fitzgibbons was named president of the Denver institution on June 1 and succeeds Jesuit Michael Sheeran.

Fitzgibbons is the former associate provost for fac-ulty development at Marquette University in Milwaukee. He joined the Jesuits in1973 and was ordained 12 years later.

Nearly 60 Jesuits, aged 65 or older, convened in June at

Spring Hill College in Mobile, Ala., for a Wisdom Figures gathering of men from both the New Orleans

jesuit news

The celebration began with a Mass in the university’s Field House on Sept. 24. The outdoor inauguration ceremony the next day was followed by a reception and private dinner.

Guests at the festivities included Denver Archbishop Samuel Aquila, Colorado Lt. Gov. Joe Garcia, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, 12 university and college pres-idents and Regis faculty.

Highlights of the celebration included an invocation by Aquila; a keynote address by Fr. Stephen A. Privett, president of the University of San Francisco; missioning by Missouri Provincial Douglas Marcouiller; an inaugu-ral address by Fitzgibbons; and a benediction by Sr. Barbara Quinn, RSCJ, from Boston College.

Fitzgibbons has a doctorate in English from Loyola University Chicago, a master of sacred theology from the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley, a master of divinity from the Weston School of Theology, a master of arts in English from the University of Chicago, and a bachelor of arts in philosophy and English from Saint Louis University.

Wisdom Figures: Two Provinces Share Storiesand Missouri provinces. Participants got to know each other and learn about each other’s province. They also got to hear from four much younger men about their novitiate

experience and experiments as well as their hopes for the future of the merged provinces.

New Regis U. President

Left to right: Frs. Robert Weiss, Gene Martens and Douglas Hypolite


More than 600 students, alumni, parents, faculty and friends

participated in the largest service event in Regis Jesuit High School history.

Participants in the “RJ Day for Others” on Sept. 8 restored trails, offered horse therapy, and worked in nursing homes among other jobs at various sites throughout the Denver area.

Volunteers from throughout the school community signed up to serve in the event’s inaugural year, far exceeding organizers’ expectations.

Regis Jesuit Service Day

Largest Freshman Class Ever at Rockhurst University

Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Mo., welcomed its largest-ever freshmen class

this fall. This year’s 450 freshmen come from 17

states and one foreign country; nearly 19 percent are from minority groups. Last year’s freshman class was 326 students. The previous record was set in 2009 with 417 freshmen.

The university attributes the increase to a number of changes over the last year. They include spending more time communicating with students and their parents about what Rockhurst has to offer, said Lane Ramey, associate vice president for enrollment management.

The school also increased academic scholarship levels to make education more affordable.

NEWS BRIEFS

Gates Millennium ScholarArrupe Jesuit High School in Denver announced its first Gates Millennium Scholar, Patty Olivas, who has begun her freshman year at Regis University. The scholarship pays tuition, room and board through a student’s doctoral studies.

Olivas, valedictorian of her senior class, was a straight-A student through-out her four years at Arrupe as well as a student ambassador, leader and “great kid,” Joanne Augustine, director of college counseling, said. She wants to pursue a career in education.

Olivas is the oldest of three chil-dren and the first in her family to attend college. Her parents are from Mexico.

First Lay PrincipalCarissa Cantrell is the first lay prin-cipal of century-old St. Mary School in Albuquerque, N.M. Sr. Marianella Domenici, S.C., the sister of longtime, former U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, retired at age 82 after serving for 23 years. The Sisters of Charity administered and taught at St. Mary for decades

Ministry of ManagementIn June, Mary Baudouin, assistant for social ministries of the New Orleans Province, and Fr. Fred Kammer, director of the Jesuit Social Research Institute, led about 40 Jesuits and colleagues in the eighth session of the weeklong Ministry of Management workshop at Loyola University New Orleans. The seminar is designed for Jesuits and lay colleagues working in or considering jobs in management.

Kristen Kraus, the Girls Division service director, said the event would have been considered a success with 50 to 100 participants but that interest and energy for the project was much more widespread.

The day began at Regis Jesuit with a commissioning service for volunteers, who then spent most of the day at their service sites. The group reconvened at the school in the late afternoon for Mass and sharing of their service experiences and a community meal.


vocations

Called to the FrontiersWherever Jesuits Find Them

By Cheryl Wittenauer Fr. Joe Damhorst, at 25, was only a few years out of the novitiate when he was assigned to teach Native American high school students at St. Stephens

Indian Mission, an experience that would cast his future ministry.

Now 75, he looks back on two decades of working with Arrapaho, Shoshone and Lakota Indians as perhaps the sweetest and deepest of his Jesuit years.

Frs. Joe Damhorst (left) and Carl Starkloff celebrate liturgy adapted to the culture of Native Americans in the 1960s at St. Stephens.

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“That’s where my heart is,” he said, admitting a love for Native American history and culture and “the very poor and very misunderstood” native people.

His Jesuit work has been a mix of exotic and mun-dane that included pastoral ministry on the Wind River and Pine Ridge reservations in Wyoming and South Dakota, as well as in Belize, and dreaded, but necessary office jobs. In August, he became the first Jesuit assigned to Loyola Academy, a college-prep middle school for at-risk boys in St. Louis.

“I have a frontier personality,” he said. “I am willing to try new things.”

Four years ago, Pope Benedict XVI challenged Jesuits to go to the frontiers, “geographical and spiritual places where others do not reach or find it difficult to reach.”

In response, the Jesuits reasserted their mission to build bridges and break through barriers, and “be our-selves bridges in a fragmented world,” a General Congregation document says.

Since then, the “frontier” has become something of a buzzword in the Society of Jesus, and the prospect of working in it still attracts men to Jesuit life.

Robert Van Alstyne, a third-year philosophy student at Saint Louis University, said when he first considered Jesuit life as a Boston College under- graduate, he was most inspired by Jesuits who worked in foreign missions.

“Letting go of home for the sake of serving God, letting go of everything they loved to invest themselves, that was really inspiring,” he said.

The 26-year-old San Carlos, Calif., native spent six weeks this summer in Kohima, India — half of the time with orphaned children — at the invitation of the Wisconsin province, which sends scholastics there for a summer experience.

“Who knows if I’ll be a missionary in a geographical sense?” he said. But the Jesuits he met in Kohima, he added, “are a real inspiring witness to the love of God and the joy that came with the gift to the people they were serving.”

Despite Benedict’s recent call, working in the frontier isn’t new to Jesuits, said Fr. Louis McCabe, who, at 71,

left his post as Missouri vocation director in August for a parish assignment in Belize.

“Jesuits teach, they go to missions, work in parishes and retreat houses, they do science and technology,” he said. “It’s finding God in all things. It’s not a limited vision of how to serve or where we serve. The world is our apple. We can go anywhere.”

He knows from his time with men considering the Jesuit life that the prospect of going to foreign places “is attractive to young guys,” he said. “Some specifically want to serve in foreign countries.”

Foreign mission is a lure for second-year novice Brian Strassburger, 28, of Denver, who advocated for AIDS patients in South Africa and raised money for clean-water projects in Nicaragua as an Augustinian Volunteer before he entered the Jesuits.

“International ability and mobility was a big part of my attraction,” Strassburger said.

“My only discernment was with the Jesuits, who were calling me back after eight years of Jesuit education” at Regis High School and Saint Louis University, and where he said he learned about Ignatian spirituality and charism, and great Jesuit missionaries like Matteo Ricci and Roberto de Nobili.

Ricci, a founding figure of the Jesuits’ China Mission, mastered Chinese language, customs and traditions, and adapted the Catholic faith to Chinese thinking.

Robert Van Alstyne, a third-year philosophy student at Saint Louis University, with youth he met this sum-mer in Kohima, India. The 26-year-old Jesuit says he is inspired by Jesuits who work in foreign missions.


De Nobili learned the language and culture of India, and even became a Hindu holy man as a way to teach about Christianity.

“The frontier could be nuclear physics, or inter-religious dialogue or a rigorous intellectual analysis of Taoism, Hinduism and Islam,” McCabe said.

“The Jesuits try to understand from the inside. Jesuits are good at inculturation.”

When Damhorst arrived in 1962 to teach high school at St. Stephens, the Second Vatican Council had not yet assembled for its now-famous sweeping changes in church practices and thinking.

Like his predecessors, Paul VI and John Paul II, Pope

Benedict XVI marked World Mission Sunday in October by

announcing new saints. On Oct. 21, Benedict canonized

Blessed Jacques Berthieu, a Jesuit martyr, and Blessed Kateri

Tekakwitha, the first Native American saint.

Tekakwitha, daughter of a Christian Algonquin mother and

a Mohawk father in present-day upstate New York, was baptized

by a Jesuit missionary in 1676 when she was 20. She died in

what is now Kahnawake, Quebec four years later.

Berthieu, a native of France, was killed in Madagascar in

1896 after refusing to renounce his faith following his capture

with refugees he was accompanying as they fled civil upheaval.

A former diocesan priest who entered the Jesuits at age 35,

Berthieu was sent to the Madagascar mission before he finished

novitiate. He enjoyed five peaceful years of missionary work

before independence movements and tribal rebellions forced

him to move from place to place.

Tekakwitha, the “Lily of the Mohawks,” survived a smallpox

epidemic that killed both of her parents and left her with scars

and poor eyesight. After her baptism, she worked with the sick

for four years until her death in 1680 at the age of 24.

Her spiritual director, Jesuit Fr. Pierre Cholonec,

documented her life in annual reports to the order’s superior

general in Rome. After her death, other Jesuits who had known

her wrote of her faith and intercession.

The correspondence was used by Italian Jesuit Fr. Paolo

Molinari in his promotion of her cause for beatification in 1980,

and eventual sainthood.

Jesuit Martyr and Native American Canonized

“Then, Vatican II happened and it opened up an opportunity for Jesuits and any missionaries to get involved in Native American culture and to translate the Mass into the native language,” he said.

Damhorst began to see that used textbooks from Jesuit high schools in St. Louis and Denver weren’t relevant to native people.

When he returned 15 years later as pastor, he and other Jesuits were permitted to participate in native practices and spiritual rituals such as the sweat lodge, sun dance, and vision quest, a type of desert experience of getting in touch with the Spirit, while spending three days and nights in the hills without food or water.

The experience shaped him, he said.“Our church has not done a good service” to people

of other cultures, he said. “Our tendency is to impose our evangelical truth and wisdom on them rather than to sit with them to see where their own truths lead them.”

Three seasoned Jesuits of the New Orleans Province haven’t tired of the frontier they crossed into long ago.

“I’d like to help people encounter Jesus, but one frontier is the culture in which they were raised, a numbness to the Gospel. Those are challenges for Jesuits.”

~Robert Van Alstyne


Donald Bahlinger, 84, resumed ministry this sum-mer in El Salvador, after years of service dating from the 1970s in Guatemala, Paraguay, El Salvador, Arizona and Texas.

In El Paso, 87-year-old Jack Vessels regularly enters neighboring Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, to perform sacra-ments, unfazed by the city’s violence. His Jesuit commu-nity at Sacred Heart Church said he is perhaps its most resilient and courageous member.

Gerard Fineran, 92, currently under a doctor’s care in New Orleans, spent half a century in Brazil helping the people he loves “deepen and enrich their faith.

“Though I occasionally like to come back to the States for a brief visit and change,” he said, “I am now at home and happiest there.”

Meanwhile, a younger generation of Jesuits will find its own frontiers.

Van Alstyne thinks he may have found one: a U.S. culture that blocks the spiritual journey.

He was struck by how happy, peaceful, disciplined and close to each other his orphan charges in Kohima were, and said the experience got him excited to work in the schools someday.

“There wasn’t much cynicism about the faith,” he said. “You could see in the children a real desire to learn, a gratitude to their teachers.”

But in the U.S., even at Catholic educational institu-tions he’s attended, American culture can get in the way of young people knowing the Gospel, finding it relevant, or catching their hearts, he said.

“I’d like to help people encounter Jesus,” he said, “but one frontier is the culture in which they were raised, a numbness to the Gospel. Those are challenges for Jesuits.”

Brian Strassburger and “Gogo” Cynthia enjoy a beach day in 2008 on the North Beach Pier on the Indian Ocean in Durban, South Africa, about 20 miles from an AIDS center where she lived. Strassburger advocated for “Gogo,” the Zulu term for an elder woman, and other HIV-positive individuals.Strassburger, a second-year novice, was an Augustinian Volunteer before entering the Jesuits.


vocations

By Cheryl Wittenauer

Until fairly recently, the job of attracting and recruit-ing good candidates to the

Society of Jesus fell to the vocation director, or men entered the order after being inspired by a Jesuit they encountered in academia.

But fewer Jesuits in the high schools and universities have meant less exposure to Jesuit life. Ninety percent of inquiries about a Jesuit vocation now come through Internet searches, said Fr. Paul Deutsch, vocation director for the New Orleans and Missouri provinces.

“The advantage for us is that we are larger and easier to find,” Deutsch said. “We have an active presence on the Internet. Once they get to us, they can begin to read what they can do.”

Fifteen years ago, Superior General Peter-Hans Kolvenbach called for prioritizing vocation pro-motion (in tandem with vocation direction). He also made it clear that promoting vocations is not the responsibility of one man in a prov-ince office, but rather, the task of every Jesuit.

His successor, Superior General Adolfo Nicolás would ask in 2008, on the eve of General Congregation 35, a meeting of Jesuit representa-tives from around the world, “How come we elicit so much admiration and so little following?”

The way in which Jesuit voca-tions are promoted has begun to shift in New Orleans and Missouri provinces as they start to collabo-rate in an approach recommended four years ago for all provinces. It’s part of a greater worldwide push to increase vocations.

On Aug. 1, Deutsch’s vocation direction job was expanded from New Orleans province alone to also include the Missouri province.

Deutsch, who moved his office from Texas to St. Louis, was relieved of the responsibility of promoting vocations, which now falls to Fr. Andrew Kirschman in Denver for both provinces. Deutsch’s former

Vocation Promotion Takes a Bigger Role

Fr. Andrew Kirschman at his first Mass


counterpart in Missouri, Fr. Louis McCabe, left the vocation director job on July 31 for a parish assign-ment in Belize.

“We’re thinking about voca-tions differently since (General Congregation) 35,” said Kirschman, who also works part-time at Arrupe Jesuit High School in Denver. “There’s an acute awareness that our numbers are dropping, our average age is high and how do we attract young people?

“It’s not simply because we want Jesuits at high schools. There’s a bigger issue at hand. . . . We need people to continue who we are.”

Vocation promotion is becoming more intentional, and invitations to consider the Jesuits are more explicit. Where the vocation director was the face of the Jesuits at all promotion events, Kirschman said it’s now his job to animate local Jesuit communi-ties to be aware of prospective candi-dates, be intentional about spending time with them and ask them to consider becoming a Jesuit.

Once a man indicates a desire to learn more about the Jesuits, Kirschman accompanies him, to a point. Once he appears to be serious

Fr. Paul Deutsch Fr. Andrew Kirschman

“It’s not simply because

we want Jesuits

at high schools.

There’s a bigger issue

at hand. . . .

We need people to

continue who we are.”

~Fr. Andrew Kirschman

about applying, Kirschman refers him to Deutsch.

Deutsch then accompanies the candidate through a two-month application process that includes a 10-page autobiography, interviews with four Jesuits, letters of reference,

a desire to teach, yet they pursue the path to diocesan priesthood in order to be ordained more quickly; it takes seven years of preparation in the diocese and 11 years with the Jesuits. Others see the ministry of being a pastor as too limiting.

“To me, (the length of forma-tion is) the gnawing difference,” he said. “They think, ‘if I stay in the diocesan seminary, I’ll become a parish pastor. Do I think that’s going to satisfy me for 50 years?’ They have a nagging sense that there are a limited set of options.”

Of course, vocation promoters and directors are weighing the can-didates as well.

Deutsch said he wants to know about the candidate’s prayer life, his relationship with God, and dreams for his future as a Jesuit. He says he also wants to see an openness to travel and assignments that may not fit the canidate’s own vision of what he’d like to do.

For Kirschman, a Jesuit candi-date must know himself, or at least be open to learning.

“A guy out of high school has limited self-knowledge,” he said. “But if there isn’t an openness to discovering himself, he’s not going to make it.”

A candidate also must be willing to have his ideological views challenged, and adapt to his sur-roundings, he said.

“Ignatian charism is big on adaptation.”

background checks, transcripts and a psychological assessment. Deutsch presents the candidate’s application to an admissions committee for consideration.

Deutsch said he has found that initial inquirers have a lim-ited understanding of religious life beyond what they know of their parish priest or have seen in movies or television. Many express

For more information go to:beajesuit.org

M O R E we bON THE


Paraguay

Rockhurst High School honors-teacher Rick Staihr was making plans last year to visit Paraguay when he told a colleague he’d like to learn more

about the South American country’s culture and history.A world traveler, Staihr nonetheless knew little

about the Jesuit “reductions,” a significant but not widely known undertaking by 17th- and 18th-century Jesuit mis-sionaries in present-day Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil. Staihr knew only what he’d seen in “The Mission,” a 1986 film about the period.

“My ears perked up immediately,” said Jorge Taracido, his friend and fellow Rockhurst teacher. “I adore history. The reductions were one of the most amazing things that took place in the history of the world. It was all an experiment. No one had done anything like this in the Spanish empire.”

Taracido’s enthusiasm intrigued Staihr, who invited his colleague to travel with him to Paraguay last November to visit what remains of some of the former mission settlements near Encarnación, a city founded by Paraguayan Jesuit and saint Roque Gonzalez de Santa Cruz, about whose life the “The Mission” is loosely based. He also founded several of the reductions.

Story by Cheryl Wittenauer Photographs by Jorge Taracido

A Journey to the Jesuit Reductions

A religious artifact that survived the ravages of time


A Journey to the Jesuit ReductionsStaihr said it takes a lot to impress him, but that

the adventure, including a side trip to the magnificent Iguazú Falls on the border of Argentina and Brazil, had plenty of “wow moments.” Taracido’s passion for the place made the journey “immensely enriching,” he said.

Rockhurst Principal Greg Harkness found grant money to cover most of their travel expenses. In turn, Staihr, 58, and Taracido, 60, who together have taught at Rockhurst for 63 years, shared their trip in a presenta-tion to other faculty, and incorporate what they learned in their Spanish and world history classes. There’s also talk of Rockhurst forming a partnership with an indig-enous Guarani community in Paraguay.

“I believe, once I told Rick about the missions, it became a partnership with the Jesuits,” Taracido said. “I told the principal, when we return, I want to provide something for the school. People needed to know. Not much is known. It’s a fantastic opportunity to learn more, show more of what the Jesuits have been through-out history, from the beginning, education and helping, giving to the community.”

Taracido, the trip chronicler, took 3,000 digital pho-tographs, reserving some of the best for a DVD set to

music that shows images of haunting silhouettes of brick structures and stone-sculpted and wood-carved angels, saints and other religious icons.

He also created a compact disc of a composition for oboe, cello and strings by Domenico Zipoli, an Italian

Iguazú Falls

Mission San Ignacio Guazú


composer who joined the Jesuits out of a desire to be sent to the reductions in Spanish Colonial America. But Zipoli died in 1726 in Argentina before he could be ordained or missioned to that work.

Today, traces of farm fields, churches, dwellings, architecture and statuary are all that remain of a period and place Voltaire described as “the triumph of humanity” and “a new spectacle to the world.”

Voltaire wrote in 1733 that in the vast country of Paraguay, the Spaniards were having a tough time con-quering the “swarms of natives that dwelt in the midst of the forests” and whom they needed to subject in order to open a passage from Buenos Aires to Peru.

“In this conquest, the Jesuits assisted them much more effectually than their soldiers could have done,” Voltaire wrote. “These missionaries penetrated by

degrees into the heart of the country in the 17th century. Some of the natives, who had been taken when young, and bred up in Buenos Aires, served them as guides and interpreters.”

Jesuit missioners, working for the Spanish crown and under the direction of their provincial, gathered up the semi-nomadic indigenous Guarani Indians into fixed mission settlements where they were civilized by European standards of the day and converted to Christianity over time.

From the first modest villages of San Ignacio and Nuestra Senora de Loreto in 1610 would grow a net-work of more than 30 mission settlements in what was then the vast Jesuit province of Paraquaria.

The mission settlements were known as the “reductions,” taken from the Latin verb “reducere,”


to lead back, as in drawing the native people from the vast forests into smaller communities.

Under Jesuit tutelage, the Guarani farmed and raised animals on communal land; learned trades; made goods; became artisans, painters and sculptors; attended school; and learned to create and play musical instruments in what was seen as an experimental utopian society. The Jesuits, for the most part, kept Spaniards out of the missions for fear they would corrupt the Guarani.

Each Indian family had its own simple dwelling, and the infirm, widowed and orphaned were provided for separately. The entire community attended the required daily Mass and received religious instruction. Local leaders approved by the Jesuits governed the communities.

Rockhurst High School teachers Jorge Taracido (left) and Rick Staihr visit Jesuit missions in Paraguay including Mission Jesús de Tavarangue, La Santísima Trinidad del Paraná and San Ignacio Guazú, and Iguazú Falls.


The Jesuit reductions to some extent protected the Guarani from Portugese slave traders although raids in the early years forced the Jesuits to relocate them to safer places. By mid-century, the Jesuits persuaded the Spanish crown to allow Guarani to arm themselves and form militias.

The Jesuits also arranged for Guarani to be exempt from Spain’s servicio personal, a forced labor system that required native people in the Rio de la Plata region to perform four months of free labor for Spanish settlers.

“Living in the mis-sions was the best pos-sible option for Guarani at the time,” said histo-rian and colonial Latin America expert Kristin Huffine of Northern Illinois University, whose forthcoming book examines the Jesuits’ Guarani experiment.

“…The Jesuits very definitely fought hard to keep (the Guarani) from servicio personal, but they had their own project, to transform the indigenous population into thinking, acting Christians…The Jesuits were rigorously transforming the way Guarani envisioned themselves.”

The Guarani initially resisted Jesuit efforts, and some were persuaded by shamans to return to the forests or build shrines outside the reductions and pay homage to their gods, she said. Those who did were forced to dismantle the shrines and were brought into the mission plaza for a public display of shame and corporal punish-ment, according to Jesuit letters to Rome that Huffine researched.

“It’s complicated, taking a population and trans–forming them into something different,” she said. “It’s the colonial period of Latin America and that’s what’s going

on. After a few generations, Guarani identified as Christians.”

The Jesuits oversaw the villages for 160 years until the Society of Jesus was expelled from the Americas in 1767 by Spain’s Charles III as part of a larger suppression

in much of the world. The Paraquaria reductions ultimately disintegrated, and Guarani dispersed throughout the region.

“Everything they worked for, the scientific instruments, the great libraries, there’s nothing left,” Taracido said. “Some statuary was left by the grace of God. But other things have been looted and (Paraguay’s) govern-ment has made an appeal to return them.”

Besides lootings, the reductions suffered from fire, revolutions and wars. Two of the best preserved reductions, Santísima Trinidad del Paraná and Jesús de Tavarangue, are World Heritage sites.

Legend has it that a German Jesuit was allowed to remain for a time for health reasons after others had been expelled, and that he was

the last to leave. German Jesuits today are helping to restore the reductions with German backing, Taracido said.

Staihr said the trip had a spiritual component that he hadn’t expected, and that he can reimagine the place by listening to indigenous music or seeing a wood-carved Holy Spirit image he keeps as a souvenir.

“We saw so much,” he said. “I’m still processing it. You have to experience it to get the full wow factor.”

www.jesuitsmissouri.orgM O R E we bON THE

Mission Jesús de Tavarangue


Fr. Charles Thibodeaux knows well the history of the Jesuit reductions of Paraguay, a region he has called home for more than 30 years, 25 of them in the Santa Rosa Mission and the last seven in the San Ignacio Mission.

“San Ignacio Parish has 50,000 people and covers a large area,” he said. He works in town and in the countryside with farmers or campesinos.

Thibodeaux said he celebrates Mass once a month in the 30 villages that make up the parish. He described a “very varied” work week consisting of visiting the sick, serving as chaplain of St. Vincent de Paul, hearing confessions, celebrating Mass and counseling people. At 83, he admits to benefitting from an afternoon nap to help him re-energize from daily travels on dusty trails and dirt roads to the different villages, some as far as 20 miles.

“My big challenge in my work,” he said, “is to help the poor and the well grow in faith, hope and love of God and for each other, to form basic Christian communities with the Word of God and Jesus Christ as the center of the Christian community.”

He is particularly touched by the poor, who he says minister to him in the way they live their faith and trust in God.

He cited the example of a family of 16 children in the village of St. Joseph that prays the rosary every day. “During a prolonged drought, that family had nothing to eat one day,” he said. “So that night at prayer, they asked for food. The next day, somebody brought food for them, and the children exclaimed, ‘God has heard our prayers!’ How true that was! How beautiful their faith and trust in God.”

He said he is inspired by the closeness and goodness of the people in the missions, just as he was of parishioners in the tiny Cajun town of Grand Coteau, La., very near his hometown of Carencro, where he ministered for nearly 20 years.

“My desire to serve in the missions originated from a desire to bring the Word of God, Jesus Christ, wherever God wanted me to go, to do the will of God the Father of us all,” he said. “The help of God through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, Our Blessed Mother, made it possible.”

Thibodeaux also expressed gratitude for the prayers and generous support of friends and benefactors who help sustain his ministry in Paraguay.

“How can I ever thank you enough?” he asked. “Only the Lord will be able to reward you sufficiently.”

Jesuit Presence in Paraguay EnduresBy Brooke Iglesias

A New Orleans Jesuit who won an award for his documentary on the Jesuits’ 17th- and 18th-century Paraguay missions has died. Robert McCown, 86, died on June 29, 2012 in New Orleans after nearly 58 years in the Society of Jesus. He received an award for his documentary film, “The Jesuit Republic of Paraguay.” McCown, a native of Mobile, Ala., was an artist, writer and film-maker, producing documentaries for PBS in the 1970s and teaching filmmaking in Rio de Janeiro and Los Angeles.


spirituality

The Examen:Reflecting on the Movements of Our Hearts

By Fr. Mark Thibodeaux One of St. Ignatius of Loyola’s most radical insights is this: God often communicates his will through the movements and desires of our hearts.

Why is that so radical? Because desires get us into all kinds of trouble, right? Aren’t our desires responsible for the second piece of cake? Don’t our desires lead us into sin? To these questions, Ignatius would respond that it is our inordinate desires that get us into trouble.

The problem is not that we have desires, but that some of them are inordinate, or out of order. We haven’t sorted out our superficial desires, the ones that merely bring us pleasure, from our deepest desires, the ones that lead us to greater faith, hope and love and to greater praise, reverence and service of God. Most of the time, we are far more aware of our superficial desires than of our deepest desires. It is within our deepest desires that God communicates his will to us.

Illustration by Thomas Rochford SJ

But how do we sort out the deepest desires from the superficial ones? We ponder them; that’s how. Many people mistakenly think that Ignatius would love the advice we hear so often in our society today: Follow your heart. Ignatius would think that this is a terrible idea! Ignatius knew all too well from his own experience that our hearts are often (always?) fickle, fragile, vulnerable and unstable. Unreflectively following our hearts would indeed get us into all kinds of trouble. We need to use our heads when reflecting on the movements of our hearts. Prayerfully, we must think about how we feel. We need to ponder the movements of our hearts. We must discern them.

But how in the heck do we do that? How do we prayerfully examine the deeper stirrings of our hearts? That was the ques-tion St. Ignatius grappled with as he began to develop a unique prayer that he wisely called the “Examen.” He believed so strongly in this type of prayer that he exhorted everyone to pray it twice a day and felt that it may well be the most impor-tant moment of one’s day.

The Examen is Ignatius’ way of prayerfully examining the feelings we have about our day, ourselves, our loved ones and coworkers, and our very lives. One of the prayer’s greatest characteristics is its refreshing simplicity.

Calling on the Holy Spirit to guide me, I simply pause right smack in the middle of my busy day and spend 10 minutes pondering the movements of my heart. What are the things in my life about which my heart is filled with joy? What are the things about which my heart is troubled?

As the relevant moments of my morning prayerfully pop into my imagination, I give thanks, beg for forgive-ness and ask for healing. Was there a moment that God, unbeknownst to me, was tugging at my heartstrings?

What was God trying to tell me? What was God calling me to? How did I respond? Again, I pause and give thanks, beg for mercy, ask for healing.

And then the most important question of all in my Examen: Given what I’ve discovered about God moving my heart this morning, how might I respond to God’s call this afternoon? What are my deepest desires for responding to God’s call?

I do not let myself be satisfied with a vague and lofty answer such as “I desire to be more loving this

afternoon.” No, I’ll ask the Holy Spirit to push me to come up with a concrete response to my heart’s stirrings. Given God’s heart-nudgings this morning, what concretely will I do this afternoon? Once I name the way I desire to act in the afternoon, I ask myself what grace from God might I need in order to pull this off: Courage? Fortitude? Joy? Patience? Trust? I close this brief con-versation with God by asking for the grace to make a generous response to His call. That’s it! That’s the entire prayer.

This little silver bullet of a prayer time engages my whole self. It ponders the move-ments of my heart. It allows me to take the

feelings — especially the desires — that I find there and prayerfully think through the proper order of them so that I might discover the divinely inspired ones. It then begs the Spirit to charge my will to respond with great generosity and love in some concrete, nitty-gritty way. In the Examen, my heart, mind, and will come together to do God’s bidding.


How I Pray the Mid-day Examen• Isettleintomyfavoriteplacetopray.Iquietmyself and begin to sense God’s presence all around and inside me, too. I ask God to give me the grace to look at my morning through God’s eyes.

• IprayerfullylookthroughthehourssinceIawoke this morning, and take note of the important moments: the moments when my heart was filled with joy and peace, but also the moments when my heart was troubled about something.

• Ponderingthesemoreimportantmoments,Igive thanks, beg for forgiveness and ask for healing.

• Iaskmyself:Wasthereamomentinmydaythat God was tugging at my heartstrings? What was God trying to say and call me to? I try and remember as I’m praying my Examen that God is most present in my deepest desires, the desires that lead me to greater faith, hope and love and to greater praise, reverence and service of God.

• Iaskmyself:How,concretely,doIwanttorespond to God’s calling? What grace do I need from God in order to respond according to my great desires? I beg God for that particular grace. I ask for whatever I need to respond generously to God’s heart-nudgings.

Fr. Mark Thibodeaux is novice director at the Jesuit novitiate in Grand Coteau, La.


Fr. Curtis Van Del

Fr. Tim McMahon

Fr. Josef Venker

Frs. Jeff Harrison, Chris Pinné, Tim McMahon and Josef Venker, ordained in 1987

Frs. Tim McMahon, Steve Schoenig and Ron Mercier


jubiliarians

Milestones of ServiceJesuits of the Missouri Province celebrated milestones of service in Jubilee Masses on Sept. 9 in Kansas City, Sept. 16 in St. Louis and Oct. 21 in Denver. Family and friends rec-ognized the contributions that these priests and brothers have made over the years. Eleven men celebrated 60 years in the Society of Jesus while others marked 70, 50 and 25 years as Jesuits. Others celebrated priesthood anniversaries of 50 and 25 years.

Fr. Don Reck

Fr. Dick Hadel

Fr. John Foley

Fr. Dirk DunfeeProvincial Douglas Marcouiller


profile

Jason Brauninger was on track to become a firefighter, but wound up as an emergency room nurse. Both

offered adrenalin rush, high-intensity team work and fast-on-your-feet decision-making, things that appealed to the 30-year-old Louisiana native.

Along the way, he also joined the Jesuits after promising to try religious life if God would only quit the nagging and leave him alone. “Now I’m saying, ‘please come back, I can’t do it without you,’” he said.

Brauninger said that in his last year of college, he felt a renewed call to the priesthood that had been on the back burner. He began researching religious orders on the Internet when he stumbled upon the Jesuits.

“I was struck by the Jesuits saying ‘we use our gifts and talents in the world,’” he said. “Being in the world appealed to me. I didn’t want to be in a monastery or diocesan parish.”

Brauninger had studied fire science and trained as an investigator at Eastern Kentucky University after spending his early teens hanging out in a firehouse and fighting his first fire at 18.

After graduation in December 2004, he traveled and soul-searched in Europe for two months, worked with a U.S. group that repairs homes for people in need, and entered the Jesuit novitiate in August 2005. After first vows, he studied philosophy and theology at Saint Louis University, then did SLU’s one-year accelerated nursing program.

Typically, that’s the point at which young Jesuits return to their province to begin working in a ministry and join a community. But Brauninger accepted a regency assignment in the Missouri province, becoming the first New Orleans Jesuit to cross the province line, a move that anticipates the New Orleans-Missouri merger in a few years.

And while most Jesuit regents teach high school, Brauninger is spending his regency as an ER nurse at

a Level I urban trauma center in Denver. He’s also an affiliate faculty member in the nursing school at Regis University, and chaplain to students in the health care professions.

“I love the ER, the knowledge, the pace, the autono-my,” he said. “You have to think on your feet.”

Brauninger said he doesn’t advertise that he’s a Jesuit so that no one mistakes him for a hospital chaplain.

“Mostly I’m a Jesuit with co-workers … and I’m a Jesuit in my care for my patients,” he said.

He occasionally shares his hospital experiences as a contributor to The Jesuit Post blog, writing about finding God in the death of a 2-year-old girl, or his struggles with what he calls his “judgmental heart” about uninsured American poor versus people he’s encountered during medical mission trips to Haiti and Nepal.

He said he finds Christ more easily in the foreign poor than in America’s disadvantaged people, but

that “sick is sick” regardless of nationality.In Nepal last November, Brauninger was part of a

medical team that assessed and treated 2,000 patients in five days, a breakneck speed enabled by the lack of requirement for documenting medical care.

He went to Haiti in February as part of a team trying to establish a partnership with a hospital four hours north of the capital, Port-au-Prince. He’ll return in November to learn more about what type of care works best in Haiti.

Both medical mission trips were organized by a global health initiative of Centura Health of Colorado.

Eventually, Brauninger would like to earn master’s and doctoral degrees and teach nursing, but he said he’d miss the special time to be with people in crisis that bed-side nursing affords.

Being able to “fix things” provides instant gratification, he said, but he also knows he can’t fix everything. “If God wants people dead, I can’t fix what God wants,” he said.

Jason Brauninger: Drawn to Being in the WorldBy Cheryl Wittenauer


Penn Dawson is living proof that life, and God, are full of surprises. The former practicing attorney entered

the Jesuits in 2009 at the age of 48. Now a Jesuit scholastic in his second year of

philosophy studies at Loyola University Chicago, he serves as a hospital chaplain at John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital, whose predecessor, the Beaux-Arts-styled Cook County Hospital, was the model for the television series, ER. The 140-plus-year institution is Chicago’s only public hospital for the poor and uninsured, which Jesuits served as chaplains for 109 years before ending their formal affiliation in July.

As a Jesuit novice, he worked as a chaplain at University Medical Center in Lafayette, La., the closest city to the novitiate.

“Hospital work on the patient’s behalf was new to me,” he said. “As an attorney for many years in Tampa before entering the Society, I had represented health-care providers and medical facilities and provided legal counseling in medical malpractice claims and risk-man-agement matters. It seldom required patient interaction, and when I did interact with patients, my role was almost always adversarial.”

Dawson and another novice assigned to the hospital ran through an exercise of how they would respond to a variety of “worst-case scenarios” they might encounter.

Only a few minutes into the job, they encountered a young man who had been diagnosed with terminal cancer, an elderly man who felt lonely, isolated and a burden to his family, and a young girl who had tried to commit suicide.

Their introduction to hospital chaplaincy felt over-whelming, but it taught Dawson that ministers are just as dependent on God as the patients.

A few months later, during a novice experiment in McAllen, Texas, Dawson again worked at a local hospital, where his supervising chaplain dispatched him to a woman who almost immediately began revealing her pained life story.

During their more than hour-long visit, Dawson said he asked God to help him respond to the woman’s

Penn Dawson: Chaplaincy’s Comforting Gift

suffering. As he left, he promised her his prayers, but felt like he had let her down.

The next day, he again visited the woman, who sur-prised him by saying he had comforted her.

“Comfort?” he remembered thinking. “I hadn’t said or done anything.”

He said he learned from that encounter that a simple visit to the sick tells the patient that he or she is not alone.

“By expressing concern for another person, we are imitating Christ,” he said.

In the summer of his first year in the novitiate, Dawson was diagnosed with cancer, and was told after surgery that the cancer probably had not spread.

He said the chaplains visited him often during his hospital stay, and while they couldn’t ease his anxiety, their presence assured him of Christ’s promise to always be with us, he said.

“My experiences that summer not only made me appreciate the health I had taken for granted, but invigo-rated my call to this ministry,” he said. “I appreciate on a deeper level Henri Nouwen’s view that our own wounds can serve as a starting point for our service to others.”

Dawson said he hopes to continue his “privileged journey with patients and their families.”

He said the work of a chaplain “lends deeper meaning and purpose to his academic studies and serves as a reminder that a call to the priesthood is a call to labor with Christ on behalf of those whom society sees as the least.

“I pray for the grace to grow more open to others who are suffering, and in so doing, to serve Christ in them.”

By Brooke Iglesias


Dick Campbell: Paying a Good Deed Forward

By Cheryl Wittenauer

profile

Dick Campbell has done things the hard way, which might

explain why the Missouri Province founder has tried to make things easier for others.

He did four years of night law school so he could work by day to support his family. What the night-school law degree lacked in prestige gave him the legal chops to launch his own successful firm in Denver. He’d already had an FBI career in intelligence and espionage tracking Russians and Chinese during the Cold War as well as New Left activ-ists, educators and agitators in the 1960s and ‘70s.

It was an unlikely destination for a poor kid in Denver whose father, he said, had abandoned his mother, “never gave her a dime and showed up in seven- to 11-year intervals.” His mother wanted Dick and his older brother Dan to attend Regis Jesuit High School, but her income from a job with the phone company barely covered household expenses.

“I still remember sitting in his office,” he said of his and Dan’s meeting with their mother and the then-president of Regis High School and College, Fr. Raphael McCarthy. “Tuition was probably $45 or $90 a year then. My mom said, ‘I don’t have it.’ Fr. McCarthy said, ‘Merial, pay what you can.’

“There were no forms to fill out, no financial aid. She probably paid the Jesuits $10 a year in tuition. The Jesuits have been very good to us.”

The brothers tried to quit school every year, but their mother, Campbell said, kept encouraging them to “do it one more year.”

“As I grew older, I appreciated what impact (the Jesuits) were

having on my life,” Campbell said.He’s been making it up to them

ever since.In the late 1980s, Richard

Campbell was the managing part-ner of a development company that owned vacant land in the fast-growing Denver suburb of Aurora that now is Colorado’s third most-populous city.

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At the time, Regis Jesuit High School shared a campus and identity with Regis College (now university) in Denver. But some, including then-President Fr. Ralph Houlihan, felt the high school needed to break from its big brother and establish itself as an independent entity, just as 25 other Jesuit high schools in the U.S. had done before Regis.

“We were on 90 acres with the college and the college’s plans were encroaching on the high school,” Houlihan said. “We needed to estab-lish our own identity . . . It just wasn’t a healthy situation.”

The idea for a new high school campus became more possible when Regis College offered to buy the Regis high school building on their joint campus.

Metropolitan Denver was grow-ing east and south of the city, and Campbell and his partners just hap-pened to have 30 acres that he knew would blossom with commercial development and housing. Campbell, chairman of the Regis Board of Trustees at the time, talked to his partners who agreed the partnership would donate the land to Regis for a new high school in Aurora.

The new Regis Jesuit High School opened in September 1990, and seven years later, Regis bought an adjoining 35-acre parcel. By 2004, Regis Jesuit had a boys and girls division, side-by-side on what became the Campbell Campus.

For his generosity in donating land, and for his business advice, Campbell was named a “founder” of the Missouri Province in 1991, a rare designation Houlihan had pushed for, and that Father General Peter Hans Kolvenbach approved. Campbell is the province’s only living founder. Five preceded him.

The Jesuits’ Missouri Province archives in St. Louis are bereft of anything about Campbell except for a letter Houlihan wrote to then-Pro-vincial Robert Costello on Dec. 19, 1988. It says in part that Campbell “. . . has steadfastly refused any rec-ognition for himself or his family for his gift of the land, but I know

he would be touched and deeply appreciative of our prayers should Father General decide to make him a founder of the province.”

Campbell is grateful for the prayers to this day and said it’s been “a great grace” and a gift to collabo-rate in ministries with the Jesuits.

Regis Jesuit’s move to the suburbs was controversial and very upsetting to alumni and others loyal to the cen-tury-old fixture in north Denver. But enrollment was declining, and many believed the area couldn’t support the school as alumni families migrated out of the city. Today, Regis Jesuit is thriving, and that “never would have happened if it had stayed in its former location,” Campbell said.

Still, Regis Jesuit’s move from the city, and the Archdiocese of Denver’s closure and relocation of its urban schools, left a hole that Campbell felt obligated to fill.

He believed the church owed Catholic educational opportunities to

“I don’t take credit. You do what you do.

Christ was there before you got there.

You wouldn’t have done it otherwise.

It’s really the hand of God.”

~Richard Campbell

Dick Campbell meets with Richard Garcia, an Arrupe student who works in his law firm.

continued on next page


P R O F I L E : D I C K C A M P B E L L

the urban poor, as he and his brother once had been, and said that lay people have an obligation “to keep programs for the poor running.”

In the late 1980s, Campbell approached Houlihan about whether it was feasible to establish a Catholic high school of some kind in Denver’s inner city. Over the next several months, Houlihan, who was then teaching at St. Louis University High School, traveled to Denver on his non-teaching days to work with Campbell on a feasibility study. When complete, the study was inconclusive, and the effort stalled.

Campbell called then-Jesuit Provincial Frank Reale to thank him for making Houlihan available and to say he had tabled the idea of an inner-city Catholic high school. But Reale surprised him by say-ing the Jesuits remained interested. Campbell arranged for Reale to meet with then-Archbishop Charles Chaput, and the seed for a Catholic high school was planted.

Two archbishops, a mountain of hurdles, and a second feasibility study later, Campbell had amassed enough momentum that a “breakfast club” of Jesuits and committed lay people met at 7:30 a.m. in his office at frequent intervals for three to four years to launch what would become Arrupe Jesuit, a college-preparatory high school for Denver’s economi-cally disadvantaged kids. The school takes its name from the Jesuits’ late superior general, Pedro Arrupe, who led them to more deeply commit to justice and the poor.

The Jesuits of the Missouri Province sponsor Arrupe, which

turns 10 next year, but Campbell founded it, put together its board and got the Jesuits to run it, Houlihan said.

Arrupe, part of a network of similarly structured Cristo Rey schools across the country, allows students to help meet the cost of their tuition by working at local businesses that partner with the school.

“He was absolutely passionate about getting the school opened, his faith and commitment, and being a man for others,” Arrupe president Fr. Timothy McMahon said.

Fr. Philip Steele, president of Regis Jesuit High School, said Campbell is an unassuming man of deep faith who has felt a genuine partnership with the Jesuits.

“He’s very comfortable in Jesuit circles and in synch” with Jesuit ideals of promoting justice and working with the poor, he said.

Today, Campbell sits on the board of many charitable organiza-tions in Denver

and has helped raise money for programs that benefit the inner city and the poorest areas of the world.

A school like Arrupe might never have opened in Denver if it wasn’t for Campbell’s persistence. But try to convince him of that.

“I don’t take credit,” he said. “You do what you do. Christ was there before you got there. You

wouldn’t have done it otherwise. It’s really the hand of God.”

Statue of the Jesuits’ late superior general Pedro Arrupe in front of the school bearing his name


in memoriam

Fr. Edward K. BurgerEdward K. Burger died Sept. 17, 2012, in St. Louis after nearly 55 years in the Society of Jesus. He was 73. He was born on Feb. 1, 1939, in Carlinville, Ill. He taught history and provided a pastoral presence to students at Saint Louis University and Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Mo. His dis-sertation, “Erasmus and the Anabaptists,” was published in 1977. In the mid-1980s, he completed a critical edition of “Enchiridion super Apocalypsim” by Joachim of Fiore, a Cistercian theologian of the 12th century. After retiring, he provided pastoral care at nursing facilities in St. Louis. Burger entered the Society at St. Stanislaus Seminary in Florissant, Mo., on Aug.17, 1957. He was ordained on June 4, 1970, at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis.

Fr. William W. WilliamsWilliam W. Williams died of cancer on July 12, 2012, in Denver after 57 years in the Society of Jesus. He was 74. He was born on Sept. 24, 1937, in Kansas City, Mo. His many ministries includ-ed serving as an Army chaplain in Heidelberg, West Germany, a campus minister at Regis College in Denver and Saint Louis University, socius to the director of novices in Denver, and assistant to the president of Rockhurst University. He later did retreat work and served as minister of the Xavier Jesuit Community in Denver where he was also engaged in pastoral and ecumenical work. Williams entered the Society at St. Stanislaus Seminary in Florissant, Mo., on Aug. 17, 1955. He was ordained on July 2, 1968, at the Church of the Most Holy Trinity in Innsbruck, Austria.

Fr. John R. DalyJohn R. Daly died of cancer on July 31, 2012, in Denver after nearly 62 years in the Society of Jesus. He was 82. He was born on March 15, 1930, in Seattle. Daly was a U.S. Navy chaplain for 27 years, serving on naval bases and the USS Kitty Hawk off the coast of North Vietnam during its deployment in Southeast Asia. There, he was charged with notifying families of sailors who had been killed in combat. Daly professed his final vows in Saigon, South Vietnam, in January 1968, at the height of the Vietnam War. He did pastoral work in La Jolla, Calif., and at Xavier Jesuit Center in Denver. Daly entered the Society at St. Stanislaus Seminary in Florissant, Mo., on Aug. 8, 1950, and was ordained on June 12, 1963, at Blessed Sacrament Church in Hollywood, Calif.

Fr. Gerald M. FaginGerald “Jerry” Matthew Fagin died of cancer June 14, 2012, in New Orleans after 56 years in the Society of Jesus. He was 74. Fagin, a native of Dallas, began teaching theology in 1973 at Loyola University of New Orleans, where he was a longtime faculty member and wrote extensively about spirituality. He also was associate professor of theology and spirituality at the Loyola Institute for Ministry, New Orleans provincial, socius to the master of novices, director of studies and superior of collegians. Fagin entered the Society in 1956 at St. Charles College in Grand Coteau, La. He wrote “The Holy Spirit” and “Putting on the Heart of Christ,” and was in great demand as a spiri-tual director, devoting many years to developing spiritual formation programs at Loyola and at the Archdiocesan Spirituality Center in New Orleans.

The following people have been permanently enrolled in the Jesuit Association and are remembered in the prayers and works of the Jesuits of the Missouri Province.

LivingJayne and F. Benhard Catanzaro George & Mary Riehle DeceasedLouie BaderGlenda BentzKathryn BollingerGreg BoothRichard BreitensteinMadeline BrunsEdward K. Burger SJLuke J. Byrne SJFr. Francis X. Cleary SJWilliam W. CodyJoseph M. ColemanNaoma CullenMichael H. CzerwinskiAndrew DeckerDianne DeutschMal DomenicoMargaret DomianRobert D. DonahueJames Edward Doolan“Tommie” DurkinFrancis J. EngbertAgnes M “Bonnie” FaberVito FavazzaFrank E. FrenchAnne M. GittoKathy Goeke BachmannMike GregoireJanet GuzmanJoan HansonJim Harvey Sr.Joanne HawkinsCathleen HeitmannCande HickleMatt HigginsJames Hullverson, Sr.Frank S. & Elizabeth G. JansenDoug JohnsonMargaret JonesHelen KassingMrs. Mary R. KellyKathleen LaneRichard LindemannMarion LippiMildred A. Lutz E.G. ManningJeanne E.M. MarlmanCharles Calvin MartinJanet MattVivian McAdams

Tom McCallinDonald MehanGeoff MelchiorConnie MuellerRita MugnoloJohn T. Murphy, Jr.Robert D. O’ByrneMary Louise PfefferTim O’HallorhanMr. Paul A.OberbeckRene O’ReillyVirginia R. OttenBella Grace O’TooleEugene ParkerFrank Pedrotti SJDaniel PhillipsDonald PlankWalter Francis PodgorskiEmily QuinnAnthony QuirarteJulius H. ReLouis W Riethmann, Jr.Marian RobertsTerry M RoseNina Lee RussoDaniel SchmittgensFr. Frederick Schuller SJJohn F. Schweiss MDSalvatore SerraBro.William Sigman SJRegina SleaterOlive L SniderCasimir J. StemporaJoann TeahanJ. Maurice ThroFr. William Ulrich SJCharles Vatterott Harris, Sr.Katie VoglerLula WilsonPatricia WolffCarol G. Wollan

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Jesuit Bulletin XCI • Number 3 • Fall 2012

The Jesuit Bulletin is published and distributed by the Jesuits of the Missouri Province. All communications about editorial matter should be addressed to the editor at: 4511 West Pine Boulevard, St. Louis, Missouri 63108-2191. All communications about change of address, memberships, burses, and requests should be addressed to Thom M. Digman, Advancement Office of the Jesuits of the Missouri Province, 4511 West Pine Boulevard, St. Louis, Missouri 63108-2191. Email: [email protected]

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We all desire to lead happy and fulfilled lives surrounded by family and friends. Many of us feel compelled to make a difference and leave a lasting impact

on the people we love and the world we will leave behind. The search for significance and the desire to plan

for the future lead many to ponder their legacy.

www.jesuitsmissouri.org/support

what

kind of LEGACY will you leave?

An Easy Gift to Make A Charitable Bequest is a donation written in a Will or Trust that directs a gift to be made to a qualifiedexempt charity when you pass away. One benefit of a Charitable Bequest is that it enables you to further the good work of an organization you support long after you are gone. Better yet, a Charitable Bequest can help you save estate taxes by providing your estate with a charitable deduction for the value of the gift. With careful planning, your family can also avoid paying income taxes on the assets they receive from your estate.

Learn more about a charitable bequest and other gift planning ideas. Send us a note in the envelope in this magazine or contact us online at:

Would you consider

including the Jesuits

of the Missouri Province

in your estate plan

through a

Charitable Bequest?

Jesuit Bulletin

4511 West Pine Boulevard

St. Louis, Missouri 63108-2191

NON PROFIT ORGU.S. POSTAGE

P A I DSt. Louis, MO

Permit No. 495

The stained glass windows of St. Francis Xavier (College) Church narrate an extraordinary story of community created by the 12 Jesuit saints whose lives the windows celebrate. These Jesuit professors, pastors, missionaries, writers and administrators lived in different eras but pursued a single mission that the College Church and Saint Louis University continue.

By reminding us of our ancestors, the windows provide the context for what happens inside the church, a context of Jesuit activity reaching out from Belgium in the Old World to a growing New World on the banks of the Mississippi River. The windows connect the 12 saints to the Society of Jesus worldwide and make that connection even more explicit for worship and work in St. Louis.

The renovation of the church in the 1990s and the subsequent cleaning of the windows revealed details in the intricate stained glass that had been obscured for decades and are still difficult to interpret without the insight into the windows that this book provides.

To order a copy of this beautiful full-color, hard-cover art book,

go to the College Church website at www.slu.edu/college-church/merchandise

SAINTS IN GLASS

NEW BOOK

Documents

Jesuit Bulletin - Fall 2012