28 Jul

From time to time, over the next few months, as part of the "Our Culture" section, igNation will post poetry written by Jesuits. Poems from Gerard Manley Hopkins and St. Robert Southwell will appear as well as poems by contemporary Jesuits. An English Jesuit priest, Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844 – 1889) was not widely known as a poet until after he died; his collected poems were first published in 1918 at the instigation of his friend Robert Bridges, who was at the time the Poet Laureate of England. Hopkins was both an observant lover of natural beauty and a deeply faithful man who suffered from depression, themes that reoccur in many of his poems. As a poet, he was also an experimenter, relying on alliteration, innovative meter, and created words, as well as on traditional forms such as the sonnet....

23 Jul

If the only Jesuit you ever met was the subject of biography in a library collection, what would this individual tell you about Jesuit life?In this series, IgNation blogger Kevin Burns, who is not a Jesuit, takes a look at some of the works that come up in a large urban public library he entered the search term "Jesuit" and filtered it through the genre of "Biography". The books that popped up include some familiar names and some not so familiar but still very real Jesuits. Today's Jesuit lived from 1888 to 1955, and although little talked about today, his influence on Catholic life in North America was astounding.If the only Jesuit you ever met was the subject of biography in a library collection, what would this individual tell you about Jesuit life?In this series, IgNation blogger Kevin Burns, who is not a Jesuit, takes a look at some of the works that come up in a large urban public library he entered the search term "Jesuit" and filtered it through the genre of "Biography". The books that popped up include some familiar names and some not so familiar but still very real Jesuits. Today's Jesuit lived from 1888 to 1955, and although little talked about today, his influence on Catholic life in North America was astounding....

22 Jul

I write this reflection on November 8 after our St. Paul's community gathered to remember the valiant sacrifice of Canadian soldiers--particularly 25 of our own boys --- and to affirm our purpose to work for peace. Most of the kids were quite moved by the ceremonies and the speeches. I was too, but now my heart is drawn to another question: what ever happened to honour among people and especially among those who would lead us?...

21 Jul

From time to time, as part of the "Our Culture" section, igNation will post poetry written by Jesuits. Poems from Gerard Manley Hopkins and St. Robert Southwell will appear as well as poems by contemporary Jesuits. Today's poem is by Monty Williams, SJ who teaches at Regis College, Toronto....

20 Jul

The contemporary refrain of protest against the loss of global forests speaks something more fundamental, more central than that encompassed by standard environmental impact statements. I sense that we are reacting on a more visceral level to a sense of loss that is difficult to grasp, probably impossible to measure, but nonetheless real at a most basic level....

17 Jul

There are times when even the thought of praying seems overwhelming. One does not have to be in a hospital recovering from a serious operation to fel that praying just now seems too difficult. One is too weary for anything. Perhaps it was such a situation that the master of praying, St. Ignatius of Loyola, had in mind when he proposed a method of praying he called "A Measured Rhythmical Recitation."...

16 Jul

If the only Jesuit you ever met was the subject of a biography in a library collection, what would this individual tell you about Jesuit life?In this series, IgNation blogger Kevin Burns, who is not a Jesuit, takes a look at some of the works that come up in a large urban public library he entered the search term "Jesuit" and filtered it through the genre of "Biography". The books that popped up include some familiar names and some not so familiar but still very real Jesuits.The first article in the series looks at Matteo Ricci, SJ who arrived in China in 1583....

15 Jul

xTouring in 1970 by car in France, or "going to the Continent" as the English said, was venturesome, no question, especially in a car with right-hand steering. Yet that was what I intended to do for three weeks during May with a fellow Jesuit. We headed off through south London towards Kent and Dover to the ferry on our first tour of France....

14 Jul

From time to time, as part of the "Our Culture" section, , igNation will post poetry written by Jesuits. Poems from Gerard Manley Hopkins and St. Robert Southwell will appear as well as poems by contemporary Jesuits. Today's poem is by Greg Kennedy, SJ, who is studying theology at Regis College in Toronto....

13 Jul

Pope Francis' election has sent me scurrying to atlases and history books to learn a little more Argentine and Jesuit history. I've learned that Latin America includes all of Central and South America, Mexico, and most of the Caribbean, home to about 590 million people in nineteen countries. About 70% are Catholic and another 20% of other Christian denominations. Spain and Portugal colonized the area, starting in the sixteenth century. Catholic Christianity came with the colonists. The Church was quick to evangelize the indigenous peoples of the continent, with marked success. Missionaries provided education, protection from greedy colonists, and financial security, along with the Catholic faith. The Jesuit reductions flourished until 1767, when the Spanish government expelled the Jesuits. The Jesuits had failed to teach the people to manage these missions on their own, so the reductions collapsed, but the Catholic faith remained!...

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