Erik Oland, SJ

Erik Oland, SJ, is the Provincial Superior of the Jesuits in French Canada.

0 posts

16 Feb

In Response to “Surviving Catastrophe” (1)

At the end of his blog entry - "Surviving Catastrophe" - Kevin Burns wrote: "What Philip Shano's article on the Restoration of the Jesuits provoked in me, and why I waded through these details, was that in addition to wanting the get the history clear in my mind, I wanted answers to another question. After 41 years of invisibility, how was it that the Society of Jesus managed so quickly to re-establish itself around the world?" . . how did the Ignatian vision live on? Erik Oland, SJ writes in response to those questions....

27 Jan

A Poem for Eastern Point (Written in Memory of Jim Profit,SJ)

Father James Profit, S.J. died on January 11th, 2014 in Summerside, Prince Edward Island after a struggle with cancer. He was in his 58th year of life and 34th year of religious life. In 1999, Jim was missioned to Guelph, Ontario and the farmland there where he would spend the rest of his life. There he was very creative in the context of the Jesuit Centre for Social Faith and Justice, always with a focus on ecological issues. He travelled to many parts of Canada and the world to lead Ignatian retreats with an Ecological focus, doing ground breaking work in the greening of the Spiritual Exercises. With others, he became a leader in a new consciousness that would articulate a fundamental responsibility of all persons and nations to respect and protect the earth. (http://jamesprofit.wordpress.com/2014/01/)...

26 Jan

Care of The Soul

I recently reread Thomas Moore's Care of the Soul (1992) a popular 'self-help' book that was significant for me over 20 years ago when it was first published. It deserves a re-reading. Moore takes his inspiration from the Renaissance writers Paracelsus and Ficino, as well as from his experience as a psychotherapist and aficionado of the analyst James Hillman. Moore's "care of the soul" understands the soul in a fairly conventional religious way as the seat of God's indwelling spirit. At the same time, he invokes the Greek notion of the soul as the animating principle of our entire existence. He is happy to source these early modern writers whose approach did not separate psychology from religion and spirituality. For Paracelsus and Ficino the soul represented both the voice of the unconscious and the pathway into the mystery of God....

17 Sep

The Camino – A Few Months On

When I finished walking the Camino de Santiago de Compostella in late May 2013 I soon resumed the regular busy routine and rhythm of a Jesuit priest - my work at the Jesuit Novitiate, attending an important meeting of the social apostolate of the Jesuits in English and French Canada, getting reconnected with people who come for spiritual direction, working with a committee that plans courses for novices from various religious orders based in Montreal, spending a month in Denver, Colorado on a program for Jesuit novices, celebrating the first vows of a newly vowed Jesuit and at the moment getting to know new group of six novices that joined us in the late summer....

21 Aug

Pope Francis and Jesuit Novices

Pope Francis recently spoke to a large gathering of seminarians and novices in Rome. As with many of his public appearances since his election last March, Francis displayed an energy and youthfulness that belied his age. For the novices to whom he spoke, the Pope was quite adamant in suggesting that a person of the church must see him or herself as a joyful sharer of the Gospel; a beacon of light for the world....

29 May

Walking the Camino (6)

I arrived in Santiago de Compostella yesterday, May 21, around 11am, on day 29 of my 750km journey. I made short work of the final 20km because I wanted to make sure I arrived in plenty of time for the daily Pilgrim's Mass at noon. In spite if the quickened pace, gone was the sense of physical fatigue that often accompanied the moments of arrival. First, I was elated to be done and second the body and spirit were definitely tuned differently than they had been a short month ago. The sense of elation of the moment was augmented by an atmosphere of solidarity with the many, many familiar faces of fellow pilgrims with whom I had shared the journey. Some had walked a shorter distance, for a week or less. Others had begun the walk long before I had and from much farther away than my 750km. No matter, the common sentiment was that this was not a group of tourists come to visit a beautiful old city....

21 May

Walking the Camino (5)

The past number of days have been the most picturesque of the entire Camino. The walk from the medieval city of Léon towards Galicia takes one through fields of wheat and barley, vineyards and orchards, all with a backdrop of snow capped mountains. Eventually, the route climbs up to about 1500 metres, to the famous Cruz de Ferro, where thousands of pilgrims have placed a stone which symbolizes their personal journey, a desire or a petition....

13 May

Walking the Camino (4)

It seems strange to think that there are just over ten days left, or about 250km, on this journey that was little more than a dream a few short months ago. These are my thoughts as I lie in my dorm bed musing on the fairly lackluster day - soft rain, a few conversations with walking companions, a relaxing afternoon of resting and rinsing clothes, a nice meal prepared with a few fellow pilgrims, and an early night....

07 May

Walking the Camino (3)

Honzanas is about 250km into the Camino. It is May 2 and I'm sitting in a tiny albergo ,the name given to the pilgrim dorms that charge 5 euros a night. They are rustic to be sure and one needs to get used to sharing a room with 20 or more people; men and women of all ages....

30 Apr

Walking the Camino (2)

After three full days of walking, I'm beginning to say that I've found my stride. I know my body a little better; when to slow down, when to take a breather, and when to say 'enough for today Erik'. Day one was a big endurance test: 27 km of mostly a steep climb through foggy and rough terrain and a painful long descent to the first stop at Roncesvalles. This tiny hamlet boasts a lovely early Gothic church, the pilgrims 'albergo' and a few other ancient buildings....