05 Sep

I checked the author's name on the title page, Frederick Crowe SJ, and I began flipping through my mental contacts lists to try and recall how I knew that name. I knew I knew it, but at the time I couldn't remember how or why I remembered it. The subtitle on the title page helped as it referenced the name Bernard Lonergan SJ. Suddenly I realised that I had something quite extraordinary in my hands. The pages in this blue box comprised what was to be Frederick Crowe's final published book: Christ and History: The Christology of Bernard Lonergan from 1935 to 1982....

04 Sep

As I write this, I am sitting in the President's Office of St. Paul's High School in Winnipeg, MB, at the very imposing presidential desk. I've been in the office for about a week, trying to get a handle on the dimensions of my new job, attending to the practicalities of establishing myself in a new setting, and meeting as many of my new co-workers (faculty, staff, board members, etc.) as I can before school officially starts after Labour Day....

04 Sep

I came across Taxacerum offinciale for the first time the other day. You may know it as "piss-the-bed." At least that's what we called them in Newfoundland. Our Francophone neighbours on the islands of St. Pierre et Miquelon used the French colloquial "pissenlit." The term "dandelion" is probably most familiar. Dandelion is a corruption of the French "dent de lion," referring to the angular, tooth-shaped leaves growing as a basal whorl at the base of the flowering stem....

04 Sep

What led to the suppression of 1773? The Jesuit "Schoolmasters of Europe" confronted the new learning of the age of the Enlightenment. Scientific thinking challenged Aristotle's philosophy. No longer could teachers depend merely on arguments from authority. New political ideas arose, democracy challenging aristocracy. Explorers continued to discover new contents, cultures and religions. Christian Europe was no longer at the world's "center." At home, Christian reformers questioned traditional ways of thinking and acting in the Church. The temptations to riches and honors, led to pride and arrogance. Political leaders found the Society of Jesus too powerful, and seemingly too rich, to have around. When opportunities arose, the more powerful leaders chased the Jesuits out, and finally forced Pope Clement XIV to suppress the order....

03 Sep

I like beginnings. Maybe it's my inability to follow through on things! I hope not. I remember with delight some of the first days of elementary school. The fall goldenrods and thistles of home always elicited the time to think ahead to the school year. Change was imminent and I had better get ready. Even the air, with the warmth of summer on the wane, spoke of a new season about to set in....

02 Sep

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....

01 Sep

I suspect that most of us associate Labour Day with endings and beginnings. We see this as the unofficial end of summer, the last long weekend before there is a lasting chill in the air. Summer is winding down, so this weekend provides us with the chance for that last barefoot beach walk. It's also about beginnings. So many calendars and program schedules start after Labour Day. This is even true of most television shows and symphony orchestra seasons. This cycle is deeply imbedded in us from our childhood days of heading back to school....

29 Aug

My first experience of Asian hospitality was in December, 1971. I had just arrived in Darjeeling, and was enjoying a walk through a village. A family immediately called me into their house, and quickly prepared a traditional snack of tea and a fried egg. Although I could hardly communicate with them, they recognized me as a "Father" from St. Joseph's College. They had benefitted from Jesuit education and so happily welcomed me....

28 Aug

Our band of 80 pilgrims had walked 189 kilometres together on country roads, railway allowances and hiking paths from Guelph up to Midland. When we arrived at the Shrine, we were not surprised by the greeting our volunteers provided for us. We had heard the Hallé, Hallé, Hallé, lu-u-yas upon completing each lap of the journey. We heard them on the very first night after completing 27 kilometres to our first camping spot. With muscles unaccustomed to so much exertion tired and sore, this chant invited us to a circle of white plastic foot basins filled with cool refreshing water and Epsom salts. It felt so very comforting....

27 Aug

Take your umbrella, just in case, was the wise advice given me by the young hotel clerk. Indeed! As we headed into the street in central Dublin, a light rain--more a mist--was falling. Of course it is never as bad as we imagine or remember. During my three-day visit, rain always seemed to be falling, yet the long stretches of warm sunshine surpassed the periods of rain....

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