A Little Battalion

"A good Jesuit is a great teacher. Always."

About thirty years or so I first heard this line and, as circumstances have worked themselves out in my life, I've been given ample opportunity to marvel at its accuracy.

So, it is with a glad heart I bring you Abp. Terrence T. Prendergast, SJ doing what a Jesuit does best: Bring people to Christ by teaching them. Much like Jesus did on the road to Emmaus or St. Philip did with the eunuch H.E. shepherd his flock closer to the Lord by opening up the Scriptures to them.

It seems that Abp. Prendergast makes it a habit to teach adult faith development at the Archiocesan Center in Ottawa, and -- surprise, surprise -- these are "packed."

One of the things I like about H.E. is that he makes it a point to not deny the historicity of Scripture, but of having people not get hung up on the tiny details, i.e. not to miss the forest for the trees.

You'll note that his notes (his penmanship which is actually pretty good for a Jesuit) on the chalkboard are riddled with Latin and Greek. (The list of documents on the right side make for excellent reading, huh?) he also highlighted that, "with Tradition and the teaching authority of the Magisterium, Sacred Scripture is central to Catholic Christian life."

Anyway, go check out the rest of the story at the Archdiocese of Ottawa's site.

AMDG,

-J.

Lobbing canon balls.

The extremely estimable and scary-brilliant Fr. Edward T. Oakes, SJ has just posted an extremely illuminating entry over at the First Things site.

The point of this entry is (to me) fascinating as it talks about the development of Canon, but not of the Biblican canon exclusively; rather all canons, and especially the canon of philosophical thought.

Check this brilliance out:

Most textbooks in the history of philosophy follow what might be called the Sleeping Beauty narrative: Philosophy thrived on its own from the pre-Socratics to Plotinus, at which point the Christian Church intervened with a faith-based philosophy (a contradiction in terms in this telling), at which point philosophy went to sleep until awakened by the Frog Prince Descartes, who kissed the slumbering Lady Philosophy awake with his method of radical doubt, hauling the entire scholastic past before the bar of reason, leaving it in tatters and philosophy finally liberated.

Read the rest here.

AMDG,

-J.

Something must be done about Fordham.

I dunno about you guys, but I'm starting to save up for the tuition for my sons.

Over at First Things, Nicholas Frankovich (managing editor of Fordham University Press) has posted an interesting article on the basic reactions to Summorum Pontificum. If I were to look for THE money quote, I'd spend all day and still not be able to narrow it down to one. So, here's just one, taken at random (emphasis mine):

"But the issue is not Latin per se. It’s antiquity. Those who hold to the 1962 missal tend to think of it as the 1570 missal, the missal of Pius V and the Council of Trent. Revisions to it in the intervening years are usually described as having been gradual and organic. Moreover, the 1570 missal itself is not a sixteenth-century invention but rather the standardization of the Latin-rite liturgy as it had been said, though with much variation, for much longer. The origins of the Tridentine Mass, as it is informally called, disappear into the mists of time past. Some speculate that its form and content reflect not only certain features of synagogue worship in the first century but even memories of Temple sacrifice in Jerusalem."

This is not only well worth your time, it's practically required reading if you want to be fully up to speed.

Go.

AMDG,

-J.

Could Fordham-itis be catching?

An interesting piece from Prof. Russell R. Reno of Creighton ("Omaha's Jesuit") University on what he seems to imply are the attitudes of Catholic theologians whose views were fossilized in the age of doubleknit.

Entitled "That Seventies Show" it uses quotes to illustrate his position that the more liberal side has basically devolved into continually charging the straw men persons of 30+ years ago.

Here ya go.

-J.

Avery Cardinal Dulles, SJ also knows a thing or two.

Avery Cardinal Dulles, SJ has weighed in on the ecclesiology of the Holy Father. There seems to be much goodness going on at Fordham, and I think His Eminence is partly responsible therefor.

Check it out.

AMDG,

-J.

Jesuit alumni...

Anyone who's been sentient and meandering around the Religion corner of the blogosphere has heard of Francis Beckwith's (with an MA & PhD from --gasp!--Fordham University) return to full communion with the Catholic Church.

Over at the Ignatius Press blog, they've posted an excellent interview with Beckwith. Here, AFAIAC, is the money quote (all emphases mine):

Q: Especially striking, I think, were your comments (in a June 3^rd interview with National Catholic Register) about the "innovations" you experienced as a boy in the Catholic Church, including " 'folk Mass' with cute nuns and hip priests playing 'Kumbaya' with guitars, tambourines and harmonicas." Isn't it ironic that the very things meant to be "hip" and "contemporary" were part of what paved the way for you to leave the Catholic Church? What does it say about the dangers of trying to be relevant without being grounded solidly in theological and historical truth?

A: I think it says that form itself cannot substitute for substance, that at the end of the day, theology is either a knowledge-tradition or it isn't. If it is, then our forms of worship must conform to that knowledge and properly express it and convey it to the church and to the wider world.

Read the rest here: http://www.ignatiusinsight.com/features2007/fbeckwith_intervw1_jun07.asp.

-J.

Remember, I went to a Jesuit Prep School.

On Memorial Day, I was persuaded to loiter about Miami International Airport (Trivia! The REAL name is "Wilcox Field.") with Karen & MJ.

For some inadequately explained reason, they had a 4 hour layover in Miami from Orlando. This meant they could have driven from Orlando to Miami and had plenty of time to make the flight. But that would have meant they'd've had to park their car at MIA, at MIA's parking rates which, given the number of days, is equivalent to paying for a space shuttle.

Anyway.

We hung out and loitered.

Miami, for all its manifold charms, is something of an acquired taste. The best way I can think of describing it to someone is as a cross between a Tommy Bahama ad and the cantina scene from Star Wars. The airport, being the societal petri dish that it is, would be a highly concentrated version of this. During an email exchange whereby we coordinated and strategized meeting and location points and all that, I advised Karen that I might wear my Nantucket Reds. This, I believe, horrified her. I took her reaction with equanimity, looking charitably upon the matter because the poor girl spent most of her adult life in Los Angeles. Therefore the prep ethos is something of a jarring note to her system, already frazzled by anxiety over spending penniless weeks in Spain with unintelligible taxi drivers who go the opposite direction from that which she requires, while napping as the country shuts down and eats its meals at times inimical to her digestion.

So I desisted from paying due homage to Memorial Day (which kicks off the sartorial summer season) and instead, wore Those Pants. I was readily recognizable, which was the intent.

Anyway, we hung out and loitered and had mojitos (me and Karen) and lunch (Karen & MJ). MJ had never been subjected to the full dosage of me, and I must say she took it like a champ. Here's the tidbit Karen didn't know and I didn't tell. Karen will remember my bemoaning Midnight Mass last Christmas. Well. The priest who celebrated that Mass was -- clad in the traditional short sleeved plaid shirt -- sitting right behind Karen. (Veritas knows who it is.)

So that was fun, yes?

In the meantime, I had to explain myself to MJ pretty much from DNA until about noon that day, which she took well. The fact she didn't look wildly puzzled when I told her what I do for a living was a very great testament to her intellect. Or maybe she was tired and too polite to tell me I wasn't making any bloody sense at all.

We chatted a too-short while, we discussed our Favorite Jesuits and those Jesuits who have, er, the greatest opportunity for growth. (Charitable enough?) And, for frisson, I threw in a few tales of run-ins with Liberation Theology, which got me a D and which kept me out of Georgetown. (It involves me "stealing" a desk.)

Lastly, MJ was charged with a sacred duty to discharge: Taking a picture of Karen and me, to prove to the world I am not an orthodoxy bot. Alas, so rattled were they by my pants (which Karen demanded be cropped out of the picture) that the opportunity passed and I remained unphotographed. Which strikes me as an extreme way to keep my trouserings away from the public eye, but there ya go.

-J.

(This is bi-locatin' ovah at AMDG.)

Practical Jesuitry

OK, these are the advantages of a Jesuit education that people never tell you about:

On Monday night we were having our end-of-year CCD pizza party blowout for all the little darlings. Many of them (or, more likely, their parents) had expressed a strong interest in a sorta "continuing education" CCD program for after Confirmation. Not the usual "Youth Group" thing, but something solid and catechetical. These kids want to KNOW stuff. They don't want rah-rah and macramé banners.

The catch is our pastor (who'd have to approve any new group working within the parish) is kinda "meh" on the whole thing and the Carmelites are only given permission from Carmelite HQ to work up to Confirmation. So, even if a gazillion parents want their kids getting solid Catechesis after Confirmation, it's been a no-go so far. The good Sisters were bemoaning this.

So I piped up.

"Sister, is there a limit to the number of volunteers we may have helping us at CCD? Not in practical terms, mind you, but is it written anywhere that we are not to have more than X number of student-volunteers?"

"No."

"So, then, we could -- in theory -- have eleventy zillion of these student-volunteers helping out during the CCD retreat, right?"

"Right."

"But...wouldn't these student-volunteers need, y'know, special training?"

She caught on. Huge, HUGE grin.

"Jesuit education Sister, Jesuit education."

AMDG,

-J.

Look on, ye Fordhamites, and feel acceptably smug.

...for there is much goodness coming out of Fordham these days.

Stuff like this.

AMDG,

-J.

Jesuit-derived brilliance.

Just to show that Jesuit academia still shows glimmers from its golden age I bring you this gem from R.R. Reno, Associate Professor of Theology at Creighton University.

AMDG,

-J.