Click here to download - Jamshedpur Jesuits

By Kinley Tshering, SJ 

Garden 

Out of my window 

I looked out of my window 

It was yesterday 

The simple innocence of it all 

Weeping willows shimmered in the sun 

Petals of promise everywhere 

Silent river flowed with deep reverence 

Children played the joy of nature 

Mothers suckled from their breasts 

Fathers kept their faith 

Dark nights embraced all in eternity. 

I looked out of my window 

It is today 

The tinsel confusion of it all 

Leaves have fallen on losses and regrets 

Shifting landscapes crush the cosmos 

Rivers jostle for the pecking order 

Video games have the children crippled 

Naked breasts stare everywhere 

Faith is no longer in the other 

Man longs for eternity again. 

I looked out my window 

It is tomorrow 

Rainbow arches over the Dzongs 

Verdant heavens of blue poppies 

The jaroq of hope soar once again 

Rivers gurgle ommanipadmehum 

Boys pull at the bows as girls dance 

Mothers are pillars of strength 

Gross National Happiness is the patrimony 

Isn’t this Eternity? 

NB: Dzong = fortress, jaroq = ravan bird on the crown of King of Bhutan, ommanipadmehum = the eternal mantra 

for Buddhists like Ave Maria, 

Fr Kinley Tshering, SJ is the Provincial of Darjeeling Province. 

JIVAN: News and Views of Jesuits in India OCTOBER 2012 2

What do you think? 

OCTOBER 2012 

Editor: 

M.A. Joe Antony, SJ 

Ed. office administration, 

typing & layout: 

Udaya Prabhu 

Visuvasam 

Correspondents: 

Benedict Santosh, John Rose, 

Shailendra Boora, Victor Edwin 

Advisory Board: 

Agapit Tirkey, Benny S., 

Jerry Rosario, John Joseph, 

V.T. Jose, Luke Rodrigues, 

Michael Amaladoss, Rex A. Pai 

Published by 

Jerry Sequeira, SJ 

for Gujarat Sahitya Prakash Society 

P.B. 70, Anand - 388 001 

and printed by him at Anand Press, 

Anand - 388 001. 

Matter for publication 

to be sent to: 

The Editor, Jivan 

C/o IDCR 

P.B. 3301, Loyola College, Chennai - 600 034 

Phone: 91-44-28175656 

email: jivaneditor@gmail.com 

Circulation & change of address: 

Circulation Manager, Jivan, 

Gujarat Sahitya Prakash, P.B. 70, 

Anand - 388 001, Gujarat. 

email: jivandoot@yahoo.co.in 

Annual Donation: Rs.250/- 

As a service of information for the 

South Asian Jesuit Assistancy, Jivan is 

sent to Jesuits and their colleagues, 

collaborators and friends. Articles 

appearing in Jivan express the views 

of the authors and not of the Jesuit 

Conference of South Asia. The Editor 

regrets he is unable to return articles and 

photographs. So please keep a copy of 

whatever you send for publication. All 

material sent for publication may be 

edited for reasons of space, clarity or 

policy. Readers are requested to donate 

generously towards Jesuit ministries. 

It is a big nuisance, no doubt. While 

I am very busy working, this fellow 

will peep in, ask his usual question and 

disappear, without waiting for a response. 

His question is always the same. ‘Writing.. 

or.. editing? What do you think you will 

achieve? What can one magazine article, 

one well-edited magazine, one book 

do, when the problems are so huge and 

complex? How many do you think will read 

what you write, how many will remember, 

how many will do something?’ 

We will call the intruder Mr (or Fr) 

Cynic. His question does disturb me for a 

while, but I shoo it away and find solace 

and strength in a statement that I recall 

habitually. ‘True. Not every Jesuit will 

read Jivan regularly or carefully. But those 

for whom it does not matter do not really 

matter. Do this for those who will read and 

remember. It is for God to see what will 

come out of it.’ 

This is the only way to find the 

energy in order to keep doing something 

with enthusiasm. And examples of people 

who do something, without asking, ‘What 

is the use? What will it change?’ abound. 

The cover story refers to short-sighted 

scientists who use the new ‘discovery’ of 

what they foolishly call the ‘God particle’ 

to question the need for a Creator. There 

is a Jesuit who has done something about 

it. Robert Spitzer, SJ has come up with a 

film that claims that God’s existence can be 

proved through scientific evidence. “We’re 

utterly convinced that the evidence from 

physics shows the existence of God,” he has 

said, according to a CNA report. 

His 49-minute documentary, titled, 

Cosmic Origins, features eight physicists 

who discuss the big bang theory, theories 

of modern physics, and eventually the 

need for a creator. It has Michael Heller of 

the Vatican Observatory, Nobel Laureate 

Arno Penzias, and a slew of professors from 

Harvard and Cambridge. Fr Spitzer made 

sure that every scientist was really world 

class - top in their field. 

What do these top scientists say 

in the Jesuit’s film? They affirm that it is 

impossible for the universe to be random 

and without purpose. After discussing 

the Big Bang theory and affirming it 

scientifically, the physicists say there 

still must be a beginning or cause of the 

universe, even with theories of modern 

physics. “When the universe was nothing, 

it could not have moved itself from nothing, 

something else had to do it, and that 

something else was a transcendent creator,” 

says Fr Spitzer. This creator would have to 

exist outside space and time, because before 

the Big Bang, nothing existed, including 

space and time, he says. 

Not everyone, of course, needs 

scientific proof for God’s existence. 

Countless artists, poets and saints see God 

in the beauty of nature. So Spitzer’s film 

aims to reach the other group who do not 

consider the possibility of God’s existence 

without scientific explanation. 

I came across recently of another 

interesting example for those who do 

something, without worrying about how 

many they will reach, how many they 

will change. A social action group called 

Network, founded by 46 nuns from 

different religious congregations in the 

United States, has started a bus tour. What 

do the nuns hope to do? They want to 

counter the budget proposals made by the 

Catholic Republican candidate for Vice 

President, Paul Ryan. His Budget Plan, 

which he claims is inspired by Catholic 

Church’s social teaching, would eliminate 

or curtail government support for the poor 

by 75 percent over the next 40 years. 

Like these nuns Georgetown Jesuits 

too have done something. In a public letter, 

90 faculty members of the Jesuit university 

have chastised Ryan for his “continuing 

misuse of Catholic teaching to defend a 

budget plan that decimates food programs 

for struggling families, radically weakens 

protections for the elderly and sick, and 

gives more tax breaks to the wealthiest 

few.” (Messenger of St Anthony, Sept ‘12, 

p. 41) 

Sometime or the other you too would 

surely encounter Mr (or Fr) Cynic. I don’t 

know how you tackle him. The way to 

counter him is to say, ‘The sower has to 

keep sowing. If some seeds fall on the rock 

or the path, it is not his problem. Like the 

lad in the crowd who had only five barley 

loaves, let’s give what we have, do what we 

can. It is for Him to do the rest.’ 

- M.A.J.A. 


New Frontiers 

By Job Kozhamthadam, SJ 

The ‘Discovery’ 

of the ‘God Particle’ 

and Christian Faith 


Cover Feature 

In recent times contemporary science has been 

making significant strides in its untiring effort 

“to read the mind of God,” by uncovering the 

innermost secrets of nature. The ‘discovery’ of 

the Higgs boson, popularly known as “the God particle,” 

is a historic milestone in this adventurous odyssey. Not 

only is the discovery itself highly significant, but also the 

method used and the complex instruments developed to 

carry out this challenging task are breaking new ground in 

the progressive march of science. Although at present it will 

of the “global scientific community’s most challenging and 

comprehensive quest” to delve deep into the secrets of nature. 

According to Rolf Heuer, Director General of CERN, “we 

have reached a milestone in our understanding of nature.” 

CMS spokesperson Joe Incanadela thinks that this discovery 

may turn out to be “one of the biggest observations of 

any new phenomena in our field in the last 30 or 40 years, 

going back to the discovery of quarks, for example.” Joseph 

Lykken, a theoretical physicist from Fermilab, near Chicago, 

believes that this discovery places us at the centre of “why the 

Higgs boson verified at 5 sigma signal 

at around 125 GeV 

have only limited immediate impact on ordinary people, its 

theoretical implications are enormous and the new areas of 

research and discovery it will open up in the near future are 

full of hopes. Undoubtedly, these developments augur well for 

science and the human effort to delve deep into the mysteries 

of material reality. 

The ‘Discovery’ 

On 4 July 2012 two research teams, CMS and ATLAS, 

of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) 

in Geneva, Switzerland, working independently, obtained 

clear signs of a new particle having properties very similar 

to those of the long-predicted Higgs boson, at the level of 

5 sigma, meaning an accuracy of 99.999%. This event has 

been acclaimed as the “biggest leap in physics,” the crowning 

universe is here in the first place.” Reasons for this euphoric 

optimism are not hard to find, since this finding, if fully 

established scientifically, can be “the key to the cosmic riddle” 

of explaining how material bodies exist, how they get size, 

shape and materiality. It can also serve as the springboard for 

further ideas and insights to solve many riddles challenging 

science today. 

Strictly speaking, the announcement of CERN on 

4 July 2012 cannot be termed ‘a discovery’, since further 

confirmations are needed. However, for all practical purposes 

it can be treated as a discovery, and this is why I am referring 

to it as a scientific discovery in this article. 

What is the ‘God Particle’? 

Simply put, the ‘God particle’ gives mass to material 

bodies. Mass is a technical concept in Classical or Newtonian 


New Frontiers 

Science. Non-technically it can be 

understood as the quantity of material 

stuff in a body. Mass is something 

fundamental for material reality since 

its absence leads to a chaotic situation. 

Elementary particles will simply fly 

around aimlessly with lightning speed, 

being unable to bind together to form 

atoms. In that case, the universe, as we 

have it now, will be impossible. 

To get a clearer understanding 

of the place and significance of the 

God particle we need to situate it in 

the context of the Standard Model 

of Particle Physics, a comprehensive 

theoretical framework which explains the 

structure and operations of the universe. 

Developed from 1960 onwards, this 

model describes the world of elementary 

particles in terms of 12 matter producing 

fermions (6 quarks and 6 leptons) and 

4 force-carrying bosons. Fermions and 

bosons are the two general categories 

into which elementary particles have 

been divided. The name ‘boson’ has been 

given in honour of the Indian scientist, 

Satyendra Nath Bose, who wrote a 

groundbreaking paper, “Planck’s Law 

and the Hypothesis of Light Quanta” 

in 1924 which laid the foundation for 

Bose-Einstein Statistics. Despite its great 

success, this Standard Model remained 

incomplete because the fundamental 

property of mass was left unaccounted 

for. Hence in 1964 Peter Higgs, R. 

Brout and F. Englert, G.S. Guralnik, 

C.R. Hagan and T.W. Kibble added one 

more boson to the list, known as Higgs 

boson, to remedy this serious lacuna. 

This Higgs boson eventually came to be 

popularly known as the God particle. 

The Large Hadron Collider of CERN 

Higgs bosons invest material 

bodies with mass by a process known 

as the Higgs mechanism, according to 

which somehow the Higgs energy field 

is created in the universe. When particles 

move around in this “sticky” field, they 

interact with and attract Higgs bosons 

in varying numbers, thereby having 

lower or higher mass. Particles like 

photons are unaffected by this field, 

and are, therefore, considered massless 

(zero rest mass). 

Although all other particles 

predicted by the Standard Model were 

already detected, Higgs boson remained 

elusive till recently. This can be explained 

in terms of the special nature of this 

boson. Particle masses are measured in 

terms of GeV (gigaelectronvolt, a unit 

of energy equal to one billion electron 

volts), and the mass of the Higgs 

boson is about 125 GeV. Such a highly 

massive particle cannot be produced and 

detected under normal conditions for a 

number of reasons. First, its production 

requires a very high energy situation. In 

fact, it is found that these bosons were 

produced a few nanoseconds after the 

Big Bang, the only natural source where 

such enormous energy was available. 

Secondly, they decayed very fast into 

lower particles making direct observation 

impossible. Their occurrence is inferred 

by carefully scrutinizing their decay 

products. With the discovery on 4 July 

2012, the last particle predicted by the 

Standard Model was detected. 

The God Particle of the Godless 

Scientist 

Despite its highly technical nature, 

with almost no immediate practical 

benefit for ordinary humans, the 

announcement of 4 July has captured 

the attention of people from all walks of 

people. Undoubtedly, the secret of this 

unusual popularity is the catchy name 

‘God particle.’ 

However, as many have pointed 

out, including Guy Consolmagno, the 

internationally reputed Jesuit astronomer 

of Vatican Observatory, Rome, this 

boson has no direct linkage to God, 

religion or theology. Leon Lederman, 

the Nobel laureate, introduced this 

name in his popular book of 1993, 

The God Particle: If the Universe Is the 

Answer, What Is the Question? He himself 

admitted in his television interview with 

science writer Joanna Rose in 2001, that 

he was not referring to a theological 

God, but a philosophical God. He 

clarified that he was using ‘God’ here 

as a metaphor for nature. 

However, a careful reading of his 

book, particularly chapter 2, reveals that 

he was not fully innocent of “taking 

God’s name in vain”! In his own 

words, “This boson is so central to the 

state of physics today, so crucial to our 

final understanding of the structure 

of matter, yet so elusive, that I have 

given it a nickname: the God Particle.” 

Initially he called it “the Goddamn 

particle” because that seemed “a more 

appropriate title, given its villainous 

nature and the expense it is causing.” 

However, his publisher talked him out 

this mischievous move, and persuaded 

him to call it ‘God particle,’ a title that 

guaranteed wide public attention and a 

welcome boost in the sale of the book. 


Cover Feature 

Lederman gives another reason for 

implicating God into this issue, one 

taken from the Bible itself. He draws a 

parallel between the Tower of Babel of 

the Babylonians in the Old Testament 

and the super powerful accelerator of 

contemporary science. In 1993 he was 

probably referring to the Tevatron of 

Fermilab, the second highest energy 

particle collider in the world with its 

6.28 km ring capable of producing 

particles of energies up to 1 TeV (trillion 

electron volts). According to Lederman, 

both the Tower and the accelerator stood 

as striking symbols of human ingenuity 

and power. God was displeased with 

both these daring adventures of humans, 

and wanted to stop them. God put an 

end to the ambition of the Babylonians 

by giving multiplicity of languages, 

thereby confusing them and disrupting 

their unity. In a similar way, he thinks 

that God has put this Higgs boson in the 

universe “to test and confuse scientists” 

and prevent them from knowing “the 

mind of God.” Interestingly, Higgs 

himself in whose honour this particle 

is known in the scientific world, has 

distanced himself from this name. 

Despite being a professed atheist, Higgs 

says: “I find it (the name ‘the God 

particle’) embarrassing. Although I am 

not a believer, it is the kind of misuse of 

terminology that may offend some.” 

The Large Hadron Collider 

Higgs and others postulated the 

existence of the boson in 1964, but 

observational evidence for it came only 

in 2012 - after 48 years! It is well known 

that in the scientific world technology, 

and hence the practical dimension, 

always lags far behind theory. In the case 

of the God particle this was unavoidable 

since according to theory, these particles 

were produced a few nanoseconds 

after the Big Bang explosion, and they 

decayed into lighter particles almost 

instantaneously afterwards. Hence 

any detection of them is possible only 

if scientists can recreate the scenario 

immediately after the Big Bang, with its 

incredibly enormous energy – almost an 

impossible task! This marvellous feat was 

achieved by means of the Large Hadron 

Collider, the world’s largest and most 

powerful particle accelerator. This $10 

billion mammoth ultramodern research 

laboratory of CERN is housed some 

175 metres underground in a massive 27 

kilometre circular tunnel in the Franco- 

Swiss border near Geneva. This has 

been an outstanding display of scientific 

ingenuity and constructive confluence 

of many cutting edge branches of 

contemporary science like Relativity, 

Satyendra Nath Bose’s God particle 

Particle Physics and Computer Science. 

This is also an admirable instance of 

international collaboration and global 

support. More than 10,000 scientists 

from over 100 nations, including some 

150 from India, are actively engaged in 

this ambitious programme.The basic 

strategy of this device is to accelerate two 

beams of protons in opposite directions 

along the long tunnel until they attain 

near light-velocity. Then they are made 

to collide with each other producing a 

near Big-Bang energy scenario. This is 

possible since, according to Relativity at 

the speed of light any material particle 

is capable of attaining near infinite 

mass-energy. In this near Big Bang 

condition Higgs bosons are produced, 

and can be detected. Scientists working 

on the God particle project at CERN 

collected data from trillions of such 

collisions, analyzed them and found the 

presence of a particle having very similar 

properties attributed to Higgs particle 

at an accuracy level of 5-sigma. 

Some Scientific Implications 

a. Reconfirmation of Several 

Outstanding Scientific Theories 

Since this mega-project involved 

many scientific theories like Special 

Theory of Relativity, the Big Bang 

Theory of the origin of the universe, 

the Standard Model of Particle Physics, 

many theories of Computer Science, 

etc., a successful outcome of this project 

serves as a strong reconfirmation of all 

these theories. The Higgs boson was 

predicted by the Standard Model, but 

it had eluded experimental detection 

for decades. With its discovery, the 

last particle predicted by this model 

has been experimentally detected. This 

project also involved several aspects 

of the Theory of Relativity, like the 

relativistic increase of mass with velocity, 

the possibility of a material body 

attaining infinite mass-energy at the 

velocity of light, etc. This experiment 

has reconfirmed all these aspects of the 

Theory of Relativity. This project had 

recourse to some aspects of the Big Bang 

Theory of Abbe Georges Lemaitre. For 

instance, according to the theory, the Big 

Bang involved the near infinite energy 

situation and the Higgs bosons were 

formed a few nanoseconds after the 

explosion. The CERN announcement 


New Frontiers 

of 4 July, 2012, reaffirmed these points 

as well. 

b. Science and the Pursuit of Truth 

about the Universe 

It is clear from this discussion that 

the success of the search for the God 

particle has not only given us valuable 

new ideas, but also reconfirmed, in 

one shot, several important theories. 

This also shows that the new ideas 

are closely linked to the old ones. In 

Super-Symmetry. It has been found 

that our universe is mostly made up of 

dark matter and dark energy, the normal 

matter being but a tiny part. In fact, 

scientists point out that approximately 

70% of the universe is dark energy, while 

dark matter makes up about 25%. This 

means that all that we have observed so 

far with all our sophisticated instruments 

amount to a paltry 5%. Dark energy and 

dark matter today remain very much 

are appropriating capabilities which 

were traditionally reserved for God. 

For instance, the Big Bang scenario 

which involves almost infinite energy 

was considered beyond the capabilities 

of humans. With the breakthrough of 

the LHC experiment humans seem 

to be very close to reenacting the Big 

Bang type of creation. It won’t be too 

long before humans themselves begin 

bringing into existence new worlds 

fact, in some significant ways, they 

are building upon past theories and 

ideas, thereby contributing to science’s 

search for truth. The great success of 

the present project affirms that science 

is on the right track in its commitment 

to uncover the secrets of nature. These 

developments seem to be taking science 

closer to its ambition of “reading the 

mind of God.” 

c. Explaining Unexplained 

Phenomena 

A historic breakthrough of 

this kind may shed valuable light on 

many hitherto unexplained or partially 

explained phenomena like dark matter, 

dark energy as well as theories like 

shrouded in mystery. It is hoped that 

this discovery will help science to have 

better access to this mystery. 

Some Implications for our 

Christian Faith 

a. Scientific Discoveries and the 

Possible ‘Eviction’ of God 

Although the God particle is a 

misnomer, having very little to do with 

God directly, the whole development 

has very important implications for 

God and religion. Many may hail this 

as another important step in science’s 

alleged ongoing effort to evict God from 

the face of the earth. It looks as though 

one by one humans are gaining control 

over the secrets of the Creator. Humans 

of their choice and make, thereby 

empowering them to play the Creator. 

Or, at least, the role of God the Creator 

may be reduced to one of creating only 

the original universe. If this is done, 

humans can take over, since they will be 

capable of bringing about creation and 

managing it. In a way, God then can be 

dispensed with; God may be rendered 

superfluous, raising again, with renewed 

vigour, the famous rhetorical question of 

Stephen Hawking: “What place, then, 

for a Creator?” 

How do we respond to this 

speculation? While admitting that the 

success achieved by science is admirable, 

the achievement of science, how ever, 


Cover Feature 

does not undermine and, much less, 

eliminate the role and importance of 

God in creation. What science has 

done is to make known the ingenious 

way God has fashioned our fabulous 

universe, inviting us even more urgently 

to appreciate and admire the wisdom 

and power of God. Even if humans one 

day become capable of recreating fully 

the Big Bang event, the importance of 

the uniqueness of the original creation 

remains, because what science can 

do will only a duplication. Making 

a duplicate is a matter of imitation, 

whereas making the original involves 

originality and creativity. 

Creation, as understood 

traditionally, involves bringing 

something out of nothing, not 

transforming something out of what 

is already existing. The Creator needs 

no raw material to work with. On the 

other hand, what science does is to 

use matter which has been invested 

with incredible capabilities to carry out 

certain operations. In the case of the 

LHR experiment almost infinite energy 

could be produced, because matter has 

already been invested with the capability 

by the Creator to produce infinite energy 

if and when it is enabled to move with 

the velocity of light. If matter did not 

already possess this incredible capability, 

no effort made by science would have 

produced the near-Big Bang condition. 

Hence science is severely limited by 

the raw material available to it and the 

capabilities these raw materials possess. 

Science’s role is confined to identifying 

the capabilities locked up in matter 

and making creative and ingenious use 

of them. 

b. Nature Outsmarting Science 

There is another important 

consideration also, taken from the 

history of science, which cannot be 

overlooked. The history of modern 

science for the last four centuries 

shows that whenever science solves one 

mystery of nature with a groundbreaking 

discovery, several other puzzles seem 

to surface. For instance, When Lord 

Rutherford in1910 made his startling 

discoveries about the structure of the 

atom, many thought that humans had 

resolved the puzzling questions of the 

structure of the atom. But later history 

has shown that it was but a simple and 

humble beginning of a whole world of 

knowledge and ideas concerning the 

atom and material reality. A very similar 

situation arose in the world of biology 

when Watson and Crick discovered 

the structure of DNA in 1953, which 

also opened up a plethora of new 

puzzles challenging science. Many 

such cases can be cited from history. 

Indeed, it is no exaggeration to say 

that when science successfully resolves 

one puzzling mystery of nature, several 

other related ones prop up seeking 

resolution. Nature seems to be having 

an inexhaustible store of mysteries and 

puzzles. It seems that nature can never 

be outsmarted by human ingenuity. This 

is what keeps science going; this is what 

makes science an exciting and rewarding 

experience. This is what keeps God and 

religion alive despite all the breathtaking 

breakthroughs to science’s credit. 

c. Supporting God and Religion 

More specifically, in the case 

of the discovery of the God particle 

and the developments associated 

with it, there is an important positive 

development in support of God and 

religion. These developments are closely 

linked to the Big Bang Theory of Abbe 

Georges Lemaitre which was officially 

presented in 1931. Since, according to 

the Standard Model, the Higgs bosons 

could be produced only in the near 

Big Bang condition, the success of the 

God particle project is an important 

addition to the overwhelming support 

Lemaitre’s theory has been receiving 

from the mid-1960s onwards. It is well 

known that the Big Bang Theory of the 

origin of the universe can argue for the 

existence of a divine Creator, since the 

cause of the Primeval Atom of the Big 

Bang is left open. In fact, this was the 

main reason why Fred Hoyle and other 

atheistic cosmologists opposed the 

theory of Lemaitre, and proposed their 

rival theory of the Steady State Theory 

of the origin of the universe. This new 

source of evidence for the Big Bang 

theory is lending further support to 

the traditional view that the creation of 

the universe required an external divine 

agency (See edit on p.3). 

Conclusion 

The discovery of the God Particle 

is an outstanding achievement of 

contemporary science not only because 

of what it has already accomplished, but 

even more because of what it promises 

to do in the coming years. Far from 

being a source of unrest and alarm, this 

should be a source of joy for believers in 

the true God. As the Fathers of Vatican 

II reaffirmed in their “Closing Message 

to Scientists,” both true religion and 

genuine science share the common 

mission of the search for truth. Science 

is engaged in the search for truth assisted 

by the best of reason, true religion 

does the same with the special help of 

divine revelation. These two should 

not contradict, rather they should 

complement each other. Certainly 

recent developments in science have 

far-reaching consequences for religion, 

particularly in its understanding of the 

nature and role of God in the universe. 

In the light of the information and 

insights being revealed by contemporary 

science, some of the old ideas will 

have to be re-visioned; some others 

will have to be modified. This should 

come as no surprise. As the late Blessed 

Pope John Paul II wrote in 1988 to Fr. 

George Coyne, SJ, the then Director of 

Vatican Observatory, “Contemporary 

developments in science challenge 

theology far more deeply than did 

the introduction of Aristotle into 

Western Europe in the thirteenth 

century. Yet these developments also 

offer to theology a potentially important 

resource.” Instead of being alarmed 

by these developments, he held the 

hope that “the sciences of today... may 

invigorate and inform those parts of 

the theological enterprise that bear 

on the relation of nature, humanity 

and God.” 

• 

Fr Job Kozhamthadam, SJ, is the President 

of Jnana Deepa Vidyapeeth in Pune. He can be 

contacted at: jobksj@gmail.com. 


Jesuits - Assistancy 

Assam government seeks 

Church support 

for victims of violence 

The government of Assam state has sought Church support 

to help victims of the conflict between ethnic Bodos and Muslim 

migrants that has left at least 80 dead and more than 400,000 

homeless. “Government officials are now contacting us to speed 

up the rehabilitation of the people,” said Bishop Thomas Pulloppillil 

of Bongaigaon, the diocese that includes the troubled region. For 

more than a month, the Kokrajhar district has been the scene of 

ethnic clashes, with armed mobs of both communities plundering 

and burning the other’s properties. 

“I am looking for civil society support without community 

bias,” Vinod Seshan, one of the senior officials in Kokrajhar 

district, wrote to Church officials on 20 Aug. The officer sought 

Church support in key areas like education of the children in the 

relief camps, pediatric and specialist care, trauma and career 

counseling for the youth and adoption of the villages that had been 

completely burned. 

Tarun Gogoi, Assam Chief Minister, repeated the same plea 

to an ecumenical delegation that called on him on 21 Aug after 

a visit to relief camps, when he acknowledged the relief work of 

the churches in the ethnic conflict zone. Gogoi asked delegation 

members to help restore peace, said Allen Brooks, a Catholic and 

member of the Assam Minority Commission. 

Rekha Shetty, Catholic Relief Services’ director of disaster 

management in India, told CNS the agency already had “opened 

child-friendly spaces in 10 relief camps.” Shetty said CRS has 

already distributed nearly 6,000 medicated mosquito nets to people 

in the relief camps and was procuring more nets for distribution, 

since a medicated net is “effective way to reduce risk of malaria in 

the crowded camps in pathetic conditions.” 

Meanwhile, religious groups worked to reassure Christians 

in northeastern India after thousands fled Indian cities following 

rumors of retaliatory attacks on people who look like ethnic Bodos. 

More than 30,000 people from the northeast fled to Bangalore in 

less than a week, while thousands more rushed home in panic in 

jam-packed trains from several parts of India. 

This exodus followed widespread rumors in the social media 

against the people of the northeast with Mongoloid features in 

retaliation for the violence in Kokrajhar. The panic was set off 

by sporadic attacks on people of the northeast region by Muslim 

extremists in cities like Mumbai, Pune and Mysore. 

Jesuit Fr Walter Fernandes, director of the North Eastern 

Social Research Centre based in Guwahati, said it was impossible 

to distinguish Mongoloid ethnic groups. “Some of those who 

have been assaulted and threatened include even Nepalis and 

Tibetans,” he said. 

A student of Jesuit-run St Joseph’s College, Bangalore who 

hails from Manipur, told CNS: “My parents have been repeatedly 

asking me to rush home ... but I told them I am safe here in the 

college. Had I been staying outside I, too, would have left. Sadly, 

it is the vulnerable poor who had fled.” 

The college arranged temporary accommodation for students 

fleeing the violence (see the other story on this page).Senior Muslim 

leaders in Bangalore hosted an Eid al-Fitr dinner in Banglaore on 21 

Aug. “You are safe here,” said Jaffar Sharieff, a prominent Muslim 

leader, holding the hands of an anguished youth. - CNS 

St Joseph’s College, Bangalore 

shelters the North-East students 

On the eve of 15 Aug, Independence Day, a mobile SMS 

read, “Four North-East people were killed in Neelansandra 

because of the communal violence in Assam.....Be careful!” This 

SMS spread like a wild-fire among the the NE people living in 

Bangalore. Within a few minutes, every one updated this news on 

social networking sites like Facebook. This caused tremendous 

fear and panic among the NE people residing in college hostels 

or other work-places. On the next few days, Bangalore witnessed 

the exodus of about 9000 NE people from the city. 

On 16 Aug, there was an emergency meeting held at St 

Joseph’s College, Bangalore which has a large number of students 

from the North-East. The hall was filled with the tension and fear of 

more than 400 NE and Tibetan students from St Joseph’s college 

and others. Ten Muslim leaders and two police officials addressed 

the gathering. They promised to do their best to safeguard the panic 

-stricken people from the North-East. What gave greater peace 

and hope to the students were the words of the college principal, 

Fr Daniel Fernandes SJ, who promised to provide accommodation 

for the NE people in the college and promised to consider the 

attendance of those students those who would be going home. 

Soon after the meeting, some of the classrooms were 

transformed into makeshift dormitories. The college sheltered 45 

students. The Jesuits in the college accompanied them in this time 

of difficulty and crisis. The Jesuit Scholastics in Arrupe Nivas took 

initiative to conduct get-together for the students in the evenings. 

The get-together included party games, singing, dancing and 

prayer for peace. It was always accompanied by sumptuous meals 

donated by the benefactors. The students went to bed with peace 

of mind and joy. 

The Principal arranged further meetings between the NE 

people and the Muslim leaders to bring better understanding 

between the two groups and allay the fears that Muslims might 

attack the NE people. Many media agencies and persons came to 

the college and listened to the struggle and pain that the NE people 

underwent. Thanks to the media, the voice of the suffering people 

was heard by millions. By 25 Aug, the students left their temporary 

homes in the college and returned to their respective hostels or 

rented houses. “After 50 years, I may forget the names of the Jesuit 

Fathers who run this college, but I will always cherish the love and 

care that they gave us at St Joseph’s during my refugee days,” said 

Ms. Penmila Vashum, a 19 year old student from Manipur. 

- Sch P. V. Joseph Mang Pu, SJ 


Between Us 

By Abraham Puthumana, SJ 

Where do I find joy as a priest? As a newly 

ordained priest I used to help out on weekends 

in an urban parish in the U.S. The main task was hearing 

confessions the whole of Saturday and helping out with 

the Sunday Mass. One evening a woman, while leaving the 

confessional, thanked me for hearing her confession. There 

was such radiance on her face as she spoke. It was as if life was 

beginning afresh for her. Since then in many parish retreats and 

charismatic conventions I have had the privilege of helping 

with the sacrament of reconciliation and have had similar 

experiences. To be a minister of reconciliation has 

a source of great joy for me. 

Another such experience was a 

psycho-spiritual workshop and retreat 

in a mission parish. The participants 

were villagers, some educated, some 

illiterate. During one of the healing 

sessions a young married woman, 

27 years old, with three small 

children, deserted by husband 

was looking very depressed and 

dejected. At the end of the session 

she said that she has decided to 

take hold of her life and bring up 

the children well. There was a glow 

on her face that no one could miss the 

positive shift that had happened. Events 

been 

like these make priestly ministry a life-enhancing experience. 

What gives immense joy is seeing others come alive, through 

what God enables me to do in spiritual direction, counselling, 

psychotherapy, sacramental ministry or ministry of leadership. 

There is something I really miss in priesthood. When 

I visit my married brothers and sisters or others happily 

married there is a touch of pain - of missing the intimacy that 

they seem to enjoy. I also miss what could be called mutual 

sharing and supervision in ministry. I have seen Jesuits in 

other ministries come together periodically to share their 

successes, challenges and insights and thus grow in the 

process. As for me this has happened occasionally but not as 

regularly and as frequently as I would like to. Such mutual 

exchange would help us to grow in depth, knowledge and 

commitment. Underneath this sense of loss is the desire to 

be part of a sharing, vibrant, transparent and apostolically 

alive and committed brotherhood. The absence of such an 

atmosphere makes me feel less alive and less enthusiastic. 

Personally I feel I am a long way off from being like the 

compassionate Jesus. I feel I lack inner freedom to a large 

degree. This results in nursing grudges, harboring 

resentment and anger. The challenge for me is 

to be reconciled within and be an agent of 

reconciliation to others. 

Another area I feel challenged 

is consumerism. There is so much 

pressure to buy things advertised 

in TV or newspapers. The result is 

a craving for possession. To stand 

up to this pull is a great challenge 

to me. 

When I look around, I see a 

lot of challenges facing us at various 

levels. I feel challenged to be a voice against the trend 

within the Church, and even among the religious, to 

seek power, prestige and possessions. I am still searching 

for ways to be authentic, sympathetic and understanding 

towards those whom I minister to. I am aware that my own 

unintegrated shadows at work within me may make me a 

prophet of doom. I should rather become a healer of broken 

humanity who witnesses to Jesus’ self-giving love. 

To see 

people 

come alive 

Abraham Puthumana, SJ is the Rector of Xavier Institute of Social 

Research (XISR), Patna. 

• 

CARTOON CORNER 

“Most dinosaurs were vegetarian 

and they never smoked tobacco 

or drank alcohol - and where are 

they now?” 

Courtesy: www.glasbergen.com 


Jesuits - Assistancy 

Students of theology discuss 

‘New Media and Pastoral 

Ministry’ 

The Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) 

Commission for Social Communication and JDV (Jnana-Deepa 

Vidyapeeth) hosted a four-day seminar for students of theology 

from the major seminaries in India on ‘New Media and Pastoral 

Ministry’. It was organized by the JDV Media Association, headed 

by Sch. Balaswamy, SJ and was ably guided by Dr Kuruvilla, SJ. 

Bishop Thomas Dabre of Pune inaugurated the seminar held at 

Jnana Deepa Vidyapeeth (JDV), Pune, on 29 Aug - 1 Sept. 

Bishop Dabre said, “We are men and women of God, 

followers and witnesses of Jesus, we should be positive in our 

thoughts, words and actions in using the new media. We have 

our own specific identity, and we have to keep up that identity 

by being authentic in our service to our nation, and brethren.” 

He also said that we should not forget that we are living in a 

multi-religious country where there is lot of inequality of sexes, 

divorces, homosexuality and negative portrayal of women. In such 

a situation we have to use media critically. We must not limit the 

use of media to English language but also to all our vernacular 

languages”. 

Fr George Plathottam, SDB, the Secretary of the CBCI 

Commission for Social Communications, said that a proper media 

course should be part of the seminary curriculum and urged that 

communications be integrated into all formation. There were 

other Resource persons like Bishop Felix Toppo, SJ, Chairman, 

CBCI Commission for Clergy and Religious, Mr Soman, Dean 

of Cinematography at Film and Television Institute of India, 

Harry David, senior journalist, Pune and Mr Micheal Gonsalves, 

Journalist. 

The seminar provided opportunities for the students to 

make their own presentations on the theme in the form of papers, 

short films, PowerPoint presentations and posters. Some 68 

students who participated in the seminar came from New Delhi, 

Bangalore, Allahabad, Mangalore, Mumbai, Goa and Pune 

seminaries. They formulated Action Plans to present and discuss 

in their respective seminaries. 

On the concluding day of the seminar the participants 

had an educational exposure trip to FTII (Film and Television 

Institute of India) where they were not only exposed to the various 

dynamics of film making and television productions, but also 

received some practical input on the need for value based media 

productions for today’s world. 

- Sch Balaswamy, SJ 

Eco-friendly roof 

for Bom Jesus Basilica 

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is planning to 

provide an eco-friendly roof to Bom Jesus Basilica, a world 

heritage site, which houses the remains of St Francis Xavier. 

The massive asbestos roof on the imposing laterite stone 

building of Goa’s oldest Basilica will be replaced by eco-friendly 

galvanized sheet. 

The decision was taken on the recommendations of the 

ASI to ensure that tourists were not exposed to the risk of cancer 

due to exposure to asbestos, said Jesuit Fr Savio Barretto of 

the Basilica. 

He said that the ASI had last year done the roof work and 

replaced a lot of older Mangalore clay tiles with new asbestos 

sheets. 

But in a recent meeting, officials informed us that people 

were protesting against the move and demanding that modern 

galvanised sheets be put up on the roof, he added. 

“We agreed to the idea of galvanised sheets because all 

such heritage buildings in the world have discarded asbestos 

as a building material. I believe that the modern material would 

be of great help as it is eco-friendly too,” he said. 

Barretto pointed out that the church authorities were also 

informed that asbestos is not eco-friendly and according to 

studies it could cause diseases like cancer. 

Built in 1604, the church attracts thousands of tourists 

and pilgrims every year. 

A few decades ago, heavy maintenance costs forced the 

authorities to switch from tiles and rafters to asbestos to cover 

the 300 sq mt wide roof of the church. 

The Basilica houses mortal remains of the Spanish saint 

Francis Xavier who brought Christianity to the region. 

The Navarra-born saint is now Goa’s patron saint. 

The Basilica is also recognised as a UNESCO (United 

Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organisation) world 

heritage site. 

- http://www.ucanews.com 


Interview 

Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini 

died in Varese, northern Italy, on 31 

Aug ‘12 at the age of 85 (See Tribute 

on p. 27). Two weeks earlier, on 8 Aug, 

Martini gave a final interview to his 

fellow Jesuit, Fr George Sporschill, with 

whom Martini had collaborated on a 

book titled, Nocturnal Conversations in 

Jerusalem, and an Italian friend named 

Federica Radice Fossati Confalonieri. 

Radice has told Italian media outlets that 

Martini read and approved the text of the 

interview, intending it as a sort of “spiritual 

testament” to be published after his death. 

The following is an NCR translation of 

the interview published in Italian by the 

newspaper, Corriere della Sera. 

How do you see the situation 

of the Church? 

The Church is tired, in Europe and 

in America. Our culture has become old, 

our churches and our religious houses 

are big and empty, the bureaucratic 

apparatus of the Church grows, our 

rites and our dress are pompous. Do 

these things, however, express what we 

are today? Well-being weighs on us. 

We are like the rich young man who 

went away sad when Jesus called him 

to be his disciple. I know that we can’t 

give up everything easily. But we can 

seek people who are free and closest to 

their neighbor, like Archbishop Romero 

and the Jesuit martyrs of El Salvador. 

Where are the heroes among us who 

can inspire us? By no means do we have 

to limit them by the boundaries of the 

institution. 

Who can help the Church 

today? 

Fr Karl Rahner often used the 

image of the embers hidden under the 

ash. I see in the Church today so much 

ash under the embers that often I’m hit 

with a sense of helplessness. How can 

we liberate the embers from the ash, to 

reinvigorate the fires of love? First, we 

have to seek out these embers. Where 

“Church is exhausted, 

it is 200 years behind” 


Interview 

Only love defeats 

exhaustion. 

God is love. 

Now I have 

a question 

for you: 

What can 

you do for the 

Church? 

are the individuals full of generosity, 

like the Good Samaritan? Who have 

faith like the Roman centurion? Who 

are enthusiastic like John the Baptist? 

Who dare the new, like Paul? Who are 

faithful like Mary Magdalene? I advise 

the Pope and the bishops to seek out 

twelve people outside the lines for 

administrative positions, people who are 

close to the poorest, who are surrounded 

by young people, and who are ready 

to try new things. We need to be with 

people who burn in such a way that the 

Spirit can spread itself everywhere. 

What do you recommend 

to help the Church recover from 

exhaustion? 

I recommend three very strong 

steps. The first is conversion: the Church 

must recognize its errors and follow a 

radical path of change, beginning with 

the pope and the bishops. The pedophilia 

scandals compel us to take up a path of 

conversion. Questions about sexuality, 

and all the themes involving the body, 

are an example. These are important 

to everyone, sometimes perhaps too 

important. We have to ask ourselves 

if people still listen to the advice of 

the Church on sexual matters. Is the 

Church still an authoritative reference 

in this field, or simply a caricature in 

the media? 

The second is the Word of God. 

Vatican II gave the Bible back to 

Catholics. Only those who perceive 

this Word in their heart can be part of 

those who will help achieve renewal of 

the Church, and who will know how 

to respond to personal questions with 

the right choice. The Word of God is 

simple, and seeks out as its companion 

a heart that listens. ... Neither the clergy 

nor ecclesiastical law can substitute for 

the inner life of the human person. All 

the external rules, the laws, the dogmas, 

are there to clarify this internal voice and 

for the discernment of spirits. 

Who are the sacraments for? These 

are the third means for healing. The 

sacraments are not an instrument of 

discipline, but a help for people in their 

journey and in the weaknesses of their 

life. Are we carrying the sacraments to 

the people who need new strength? I 

think of all the divorced and remarried 

couples, to extended families. They 

need special protection. The Church 

upholds the indissolubility of marriage. 

It’s a grace when a marriage and a family 

succeed ... 

The attitude we hold towards 

extended families determines the ability 

of the Church to be close to their 

children. A woman, for instance, is 

abandoned by her husband and finds a 

new companion, who takes care of her 

and her three children. This second love 

succeeds. If this family is discriminated 

against, not only is the mother cut out 

from the Church, but also her children. 

If the parents feel like they’re outside the 

Church, and don’t feel its support, the 

Church will lose the future generation. 

Before communion, we pray: 

“Lord, I am not worthy ...” We know 

we’re not worthy ... Love is a grace. 

Love is a gift. The question whether 

the divorced can receive communion 

ought to be turned around. How can 

the Church reach out to people who 

have complicated family situations, 

bringing them help with the power of 

the sacraments? 

What do you do personally? 

The Church is 200 years behind 

the times. Why doesn’t it stir? Are we 

afraid? Is it fear rather than courage? In 

any event, the faith is the foundation of 

the Church. Faith, trust, courage. I’m 

old and sick, and I depend on the help 

of others. Good people around me make 

me feel their love. This love is stronger 

than the distrust that I feel every now 

and then with regard to the Church in 

Europe. Only love defeats exhaustion. 

God is love. Now I have a question for 

you: What can you do for the Church? 

Courtesy: National Catholic Reporter 


Spirit Matters 

By Hedwig Lewis, SJ 

St Pedro Calungsod: 

The new Filipino saint was a Jesuit associate 

The new Saint from the 

Philippines was a 17th 

century teenage catechist 

at a Jesuit mission. Blessed Pedro 

Calungsod was martyred on 2 April 1672 

for his faith together with Bl Diego San 

Luis Vitores, SJ in Guam, Philippines. 

On 19 Dec 2011 a miracle through his 

intercession was approved, and he will 

be canonized on 21 Oct ’12. 

When news of Fr Vitores’s 

martyrdom reached Manila there was 

great celebration, with the ringing of 

church bells and general rejoicing. The 

Jesuit College gathered in the Manila 

Cathedral to sing the Te Deum. In 

Spain, from where Fr Vitores hailed, 

there were fireworks, the ringing of bells, 

and the celebration of Solemn High 

Masses. Meanwhile, in the Visayas, the 

Phillipines, the birthplace of Pedro, there 

was no excitement and one wondered 

whether the Calungsod family were even 

aware of the death of their dear one. 

In 1981, when Agaña - a diocese in 

Guam created out of the diocese of Cebu 

- was preparing for its 20th anniversary 

as a diocese, the old manuscripts of 

1673 relating to the beatification cause 

of Fr Vitores were rediscovered, his 

case was reopened, and he was finally 

beatified on 6 Oct 1985. Pedro’s name 

was mentioned in various documents of 

Fr Vitores, so it was thought proper to 

introduce the cause for his beatification, 

too. The papers were submitted to the 

Vatican in 1994 and approved in 1997. 

In January 2000 Pope John Paul II 

approved the decree on Calungsod’s 

martyrdom and set his beatification for 

5 March 2000. On 19 Dec 2011, the 

Holy See officially approved the miracle 

qualifying Calungsod for sainthood and 

Pope Benedict XVI set the date for 21 

Oct 2012 (World Mission Sunday). 

Scarcely anything is known about 

Pedro Calungsod. There are no historical 

records about his place of origin or his 

parents. In the documents related to the 

martyrdom of Fr Diego Vitores, Pedro is 

referred to an indio bisaya or a pure native 

from the Visayas region of the central 

Philippines. Calungsod means “fellowcitizen 

of Visaya”. The annual letter of 

the Philippine Jesuit Province sent to 

Rome in 1672 uses the diminutive terms 

mocito and mancebito to describe Pedro. 

Presumably, he was about 17 years old 

when he died, and only 12 when he left 

for the Mariana Mission in 1667. 

Few details of his early life prior to 

missionary work and death have come 

through historical research. Pedro must 

have received his elementary education 

at a Jesuit boarding school – perhaps 

at Tanay in eastern Negros. The Jesuits 

in the Philippines used to train and 

employ young boys as competent 

catechists and versatile assistants for the 

Marianas Mission. Pedro would have 

had to master the Catechism and learn to 

communicate in Spanish and Chamorro. 

He would have been trained in the skills 

of drawing, painting, singing, acting, 

and carpentry that were necessary in 

missionary work. He would also have 

been an altar-server at Mass. 

The Jesuit mission in the Mariana 

Islands was the first in Oceania and 

also one of the bloodiest. On 15 June 

1668, Fr Vitores and a band of five 

other Jesuits arrived on Guam, the 

southernmost and largest of 15 volcanic 

islands. With the missionaries came 

a garrison of 30 soldiers from the 

Philippines, whose responsibility was 

to protect the missionaries. Pedro was 

among the young exemplary catechists 

chosen to accompany them. Pedro 

became Fr Vitores’ faithful assistant in 

the mission, and served generally as 

sacristan, catechist and translator. The 

first mission residence and church were 

built in 1669 in Hagatna, Guam. 

Life in the Marianas was hard. The 

provisions for the Mission did not arrive 

regularly; the jungles were too thick to 

cross; the cliffs were very stiff to climb, 

and the islands were frequently visited 

by devastating typhoons. Despite the 

hardships, the missionaries persevered, 

and religious work with the Chamorro 

people was enthusiastic and reassuring. 

The Mission was blessed with many 

conversions. 

In course of time, the Chamorros 

grew resentful of the way their language 

and other customs were being replaced. 

Chamorro deaths had also increased due 

to foreign-borne illnesses. A Chinese 

quack, named Choco, envious of the 

prestige that the missionaries were 

gaining among the Chamorros, started 

to spread the rumour that the baptismal 

water of the missionaries was poisonous. 

And since some sickly Chamorro 

infants who were baptized died, many 

believed the calumniator and eventually 

apostatized. Choco’s campaign was 

readily supported by the Macanjas – 

“medicine men”, and by the Urritaos, 

young natives who were given to some 

immoral practices. They together began 

to persecute the missionaries, many of 

whom were martyred. Fr Vitores and 

Pedro were brutally killed with spears 

and a cutlass in the village of Tumhon, 

in Guam, on 2 April 1672. Their bodies 

were dumped into the sea, never to be 

recovered. 

Pedro Calungsod is the second 

Filipino saint. The first, St Lorenzo 

Ruiz, who worked as a calligrapher 

for the Dominican parish of Binondo, 

Manila, was martyred in Nagasaki, Japan 

in 1637. 

The motto on Pedro’s canonization 

logo reads: “Life that is Offered, Faith 

that is Proclaimed.” 

• 


Perception 

By William J. O’Malley 

Quantum Spirituality 

Something vital was lost on the 

pilgrimage from the Second Vatican 

Council. Amid all the attempts - 

laudable or lamentabl - to reform a 

feudal Church, what got lost on the trek 

was the transcendent God. Catholics 

miss the mysterium tremendum of the 

theologian Rudolf Otto, the power 

thundering at Job from the whirlwind: 

“Where were you when I laid the 

foundations of the earth?” Moses 

described that force as a blazing bush 

that did not consume itself; Isaiah 

cringed before it; Daniel and Revelation 

tried to capture this stupefying act of 

love as an enthroned personage ablaze 

with light, around whom a hurricane 

of voices swirled, shouting, “Holy! 

Holy! Holy!” 

Such immensity tempts one 

to humble one’s intelligence, like 

Eastern mystics before the ultimate - 

before whom all words fail. Western 

theologians effectively stifled the awe 

of the theophanies that had been the 

core of all religions before the Greeks 

came along. 

If bishops wonder why Catholics 

are not coming to church, this is the 

reason: They don’t find there a personal 

connection to that enthralling God, 

which is what the word “religion” 

means: to connect. 

Learning from Scientists 

Oddly, the physical sciences, once 

believed to be more antithetical to 

God than Freemasonry, can exorcize 

our exhausting attempts to box in 

this awesome energy. Physics can 

help us return to a hazier, whirling, 

exhilarating awareness and friendship 

with God, a childlike Christmasmorning 

expectancy. Instead of trying 

to wrestle God into rigid formulas, we 

can learn to dance with God. Today all 

but rigidly atheist scientists are humbler 

than we may think. They speak not of 

inflexible certitudes, as religions do, 

but of hypotheses yearning for 

improvement. Their insights 

into the way God made the 

universe may 

enrich our belief 

and connection 

more profoundly 

than do the stories 

that intrigued the 

first readers of 

Genesis. In the past secular 

science’s “dangerous” insights 

into symbols, languages and 

other cultures revitalized our 

knowledge of Scripture, albeit 

at the price of complacent 

literalism and unquestioning 

dogmatism. 

The quantum view 

is bewildering, but no 

more daunting than Trinity, 

transubstantiation and Trent. 

Simply substitute “Energy” for 

“Spirit” in Scripture and feel the 

difference. 

Perhaps scientists and 

religious believers could invite one 

another to look at what is a common 

reality from the other’s privileged 

perspective. What if, against scientists’ 

near-certain conviction, there were 

a Light faster than light? So fast it 

is everywhere at once. Like God. So 

hyperenergized that it is always at 

rest. (At that speed, motion becomes 

meaningless.) Like God. Now scientists 

believe that when they crack the ultimate 

kernel, they will find nonextended 

energy. Like God. Couple that with 

God’s response in Ex 3:14, when 

Moses asked God’s name, or role in 

reality: Ehyeh asher ehyeh or “I am who 

am,” the pool of existence out of which 

everything draws its “is.” God is “the 

love that binds everything together in 

perfect harmony” (Col 3:14). 

What if, rather than remaining 

“outside” his creation like a deistic 

watchmaker, the Creator 

embedded himself into that 

singularity within which the 

entire expanse of 

the universe was 

compacted before 

the Big Bang? Just 

as the inescapable 

laws of gravity, 

electromagnetism 

and the strong and weak nuclear 

forces are encoded right into 

“the way things are” from the 

outset, why not also feeling, 

intelligence and the longing 

for life? God not merely as 

observer but as participant. 

What if divinity fused itself 

into creation before the start, 

just as many of us believe He/ 

She/They later fused into Jesus 

of Nazareth? If ordinary people 

are temples of the Spirit, why 

not the entire universe? Such 

insight could render moot 

creationist and intelligentdesign 

explanations of how God had 

to step in occasionally to inject powers 

he had mistakenly overlooked, like 

self-replication (growth), feeling and 

movement without outside impetus or 

consciousness. 

Unlike the anthropomorphic 

creator (of all beliefs), this God felt 

no need for immediacy or efficiency. 

He dallied serenely for periods 

inconceivably long to us, perhaps 

because he took such delight in just 

being, in watching stories emerge 

once he had invented time. Mary 

dared to say, “My soul magnifies the 

Lord” (Lk 1:46). Similarly, Jesus says 

his whole purpose was not that we 

survive, but that we “have life more 

abundantly” (Jn 10:10). St Irenaeus 

said the glory of God is humankind, 

fully alive. Could such privileged souls 

be wrong in implying that the God 


Perception 

so clearly infatuated with evolution is 

also involved in it? It seems heretical. 

Would a God who grows necessarily 

imply prior imperfection (to anyone 

but a rationalist)? What if it were true 

that like a child out of time who has 

never aged, God delights in tantalizing 

discovery more than static certitude? 

Singing “We are one in the Spirit” is 

not just a bromide metaphor! 

“In the beginning was the Word, 

and the Word was with God, and the 

Word was God” (Jn 1:1). The Greek 

term for that eternal entity is logos. 

Its connotations are abstract, cool, 

depersonalized, clinical, erudite and 

Our lives are either speckles of light 

against infinite darkness or smudges 

of gray within infinite Light. 

We are here to discover our shining. 

In 1932 Werner Heisenberg 

won the Nobel Prize for “the principle 

of uncertainty,” maintaining that in 

the subatomic world the consoling 

predictability of Newtonian physics 

only sort of applies. The best goal one 

can achieve in predicting activity in the 

subatomic world is to aim for “high 

probability,” like people do when they 

settle on a career, choose a mate or 

have children. Every act of faith is a 

calculated risk. Even the Thomists of 

the First Vatican Council, who declared 

under anathema that we can know God 

with certainty, accepted three degrees of 

certainty: absolute, physical and moral 

(that is, high probability). 

For a century, quantum physics has 

enabled those unafraid of open minds 

to juggle all sorts of incompatibles. 

The atom looks nothing like the old 

consoling image of a tiny, predictable 

Newtonian solar system. An electron 

“is” sometimes a pellet and sometimes 

a wave, depending on your viewpoint. 

Thus, if you fired an electron at a 

hypothetical barrier with two holes, it 

could go through both holes at once 

or reappear on the other side without 

penetrating the barrier. Nature is made 

up not of isolated, discrete building 

blocks but rather patterns of energy 

(quanta) interrelating. We are made 

of stardust. Every paltry pebble is a 

pulsating multi-universe. Is the “realest 

real” what we can see or what “is”? 

mechanized - in short, scientific. In 

contrast, the Aramaic for that same entity 

is dabhar, which the Irish theologian 

Diarmuid O’Murchu insists is best 

translated as “an irresistible creative 

energy exploding into prodigious 

creativity.” That understanding is 

closer to fecund primeval swamps than 

to the cultivated groves of academe. 

Such an insight does not deny rational 

theology, but it suggests that the idea 

of the Almighty and our religious 

connections are severely impoverished 

without the corrective of its (seemingly 

incompatible) opposite. 

The Inexhaustible Energy 

Genuine science - physical, 

psychological, theological - must 

humbly accept that any of our formulaic 

traps cripple the mercurial truth they 

try to encompass. All sciences must 

submit to the Truth rather than try to 

dominate Him/Her/Them. 

The quantum principle of 

complementarity tolerates ambiguity, 

approximation, probability and 

paradox. Bipolar magnets and brains, 

the sexes, Trinity, symbiosis, Yin/ 

Yang, transubstantiation - these are not 

antagonisms but fertile togetherness, 

not indifferent potentiality but 

eagerness to be fruitful and multiply. 

Why pretend that we understand what 

defies comprehension? Despite our 

certitudes, matter is not basically solid. 

E = mc2 means energy (E) is the same 

as mass (m) times (c) the speed of light, 

squared. “If I go up to the heavens, 

you are there; if I make my bed in the 

depths, you are there” (Ps 139:8). 

This is not pantheism, which 

postulates that God has no identity 

apart from the universe. St Gregory 

of Nyssa wrote, “When one considers 

the universe, can anyone be so simpleminded 

as not to believe that the 

Divine is present in everything, 

pervading, embracing and penetrating 

it?” Hildegard of Bingen: “Mine is the 

mysterious force of all that lives - I, 

the fiery power.” William Blake: “To 

see a World in a Grain of Sand/ And a 

Heaven in a Wild Flower/ Hold Infinity 

in the palm of your hand/ And Eternity 

in an hour.” And Hopkins, “The world 

is charged with the grandeur of God.” 

Imagine feeling that at Mass. 

We are made of 

stardust. Every paltry 

pebble is a pulsating 

multi-universe. 

Spirituality is, as Viktor Frankl 

put it, “man’s search for meaning.” 

We are the only species whose choices 

are not branded into the fibers of our 

natures. We must choose to be who 

we are. But first we must discern what 

human beings are for. And we have 

only two backgrounds against which 

to measure our worth. Our lives are 

either speckles of light against infinite 

darkness or smudges of gray within 

infinite Light. We are here to discover 

our shining (see Mt 5:14). 

Liturgies that make the 

community as important as its Host 

miss a crucial truth; so we ought not 

limit ourselves to a companionable 

fellowship with the Good Shepherd. 

Rather, we are connected into an 

Inexhaustible Energy whose infusion 

ought to make us recognizably more 

alive the rest of our week than those 

who ignore Him/Her/Them. • 

Courtesy: America 


Mosaic 

At least 3,000 people sought an endorsement from Archbishop Jose Palma of Cebu, president of 

the Catholic Bishops’ Conference in the Philippians, to get a visa to Italy and attend the canonization 

of Blessed Pedro Calungsod in October 2012. Many claim they are relations of the saint. The Italian 

embassy in Manila complained to Palma that he was signing too many endorsements. The Archbishop 

told them: “It’s my duty to sign, it’s your duty to screen.” Conflicting research theories state that 

Calungsod’s exact place of origin is uncertain. He is identified only as Bisaya, which refers to a native 

of Borneo. “Over in Cebu,” commented the Archbishop, “we usually say sainthood is ‘relative.’ If 

you become a saint, you discover that you have many relatives.” 

- Contributed by Hedwig Lewis, SJ 

Stories to tell 

Source: UCAN 

Words to ponder 

“Desolation can truly be seen as 

a message of support from God to the 

person. ‘I am here; don’t think you 

are alone. I haven’t forgotten you or 

abandoned you. Quite the contrary.’ 

It is like parents playing hide-and-seek 

with their children. Desolation should 

now be thought of as an experience 

beyond God’s control. The worst 

desolation in history - that of Good 

Friday - was anything but out of God’s 

control. We Christians live today from 

the discovery that on that terrible day 

the love of the Lord was stronger than 

suffering, and from the consequent 

realisation that the ‘silence of God’ was 

pregnant with words of hope.” 

- Antonio Guillén 

Dates to remember 

3 Nov 1614: The vessel which was bringing the right arm of Xavier 

to Rome miraculously escaped capture by Dutch pirates. 

2 Nov 1639: Charles IV, Duke of Lorraine, destroyed the Jesuit 

colleges and houses because the Fathers had disapproved of his second 

marriage as his first wife was still alive. 

13 Nov 1607: Paul Kostka, brother of St Stanislaus, dies in Poland. He 

had sought admission to the Society. Fr General Acquaviva had given 

him leave to enter, but he died while making his preparations. 

29 Nov 1773: The Jesuits of White Russia requested the Empress 

Catherine to allow the Letter of Suppression to be published, as it 

had been all over Europe. She bade them lay aside their scruples, 

promising to obtain the Papal sanction for continuing their work. 

30 Nov 1642: The birth of Br Andrea Pozzo at Trent, who was called 

to Rome in 1681 to paint the flat ceiling of the church of San Ignazio 

so that it would look as though there were a dome above. There had 

been a plan for a dome but there was no money to build it. 

Courtesy: www.glasbergen.com 

Cartoon to giggle at 

“Your mother and I found out 

you’ve been blogging. We 

don’t know what that means, 

but we’d like you to stop.” 


Roots 

By Hedwig Lewis, SJ 

“Confraternities” have been in 

existence in the Church since the Middle 

Ages in all parts of Europe. Their 

main purpose was mutual aid to their 

own members, within some religious 

framework. By the early 16th century, 

new confraternities, especially in Venice 

and Rome, shifted their emphasis from 

mutual aid toward charity to needy nonmembers. 

Jesuit involvement 

When Ignatius and his companions 

first arrived in Rome, confraternities were 

numerous and established entities. In 

1541 Ignatius joined two Confraternities 

– of the Blessed Sacrament and of 

the Holy Spirit, for spiritual benefits, 

like indulgences granted to members. 

But there is no evidence of his active 

participation in these. The early Jesuits 

joined confraternities, but in keeping 

with Ignatius’ policy they did not take 

up administrative positions for fear that 

their availability for ministry would 

be compromised (Const 651). They 

collaborated with existing confraternities, 

helping “reform” them, and founding new 

ones. They promoted a deeply interiorized 

ethical and religious life, and infused the 

spirit of the Spiritual Exercises. 

The first Jesuit confraternity was 

founded in 1539-1540 by Peter Faber 

in Parma. Members, both priests and 

laymen, bound themselves to spiritual 

duties and to works of charity, instructions 

in Christian doctrine, and assistance 

to criminals condemned to death. The 

confraternity took the name Compagnia di 

Gesu. Within a short time some members 

joined this ‘Society of Jesus’. 

St Ignatius himself founded a 

confraternity in Rome in the 1540s of 

twelve pious men, to collect alms at the 

sermons of the Fathers in the Chapel of 

Our Lady of the Wayside and distribute 

these among the poor. He also founded 

three specific confraternities, which apart 

from spiritual practices, respectively 

attended to the houses of S. Marta for 

reformed prostitutes; of S. Caterina della 

Rosa for the daughters of prostitutes; and 

of catechumens, mainly Jews and Muslims 

who wished to convert to Catholicism. 

First Marian Sodality 

The Roman College founded 

by St Ignatius in 1551, enrolled Jesuit 

Ignatian Initiatives 

for the Laity: 

Confraternities 

& Sodalities 

scholastics and externs from all of Europe. 

A 27-year-old Belgian Jesuit, Jan Leunis 

(1535-1584), recently ordained, was 

appointed in 1662 to teach grammar 

there to the junior classes. He had about 

250 students. In 1563 Fr Leunis, wanting 

to inculcate “habits of conduct worthy 

of a Christian” in extern students (see 

Const 395), formed a group of about 70 

interested students which met after school 

hours for spiritual reading and prayer. 

At first the group resembled existing 

confraternities. 

Within a year, however, it took 

on a Marian character and the name of 

‘Sodaility of Our Lady.’ The boys placed 

themselves under the patronage of the 

Virgin Mary, and promised to make it to 

daily Mass, weekly confession, monthly 

Communion, as well as to a half-hour 

meditation every day, and to also “serve 

the poor”. It was the forerunner and 

distinct model of all Sodalities of Our 

Lady that it would give rise to. Unlike 

confraternities, the sodality did not have a 

particular dress, functioned privately, with 

less stringent bonds among members, 

and by greater freedom of action and 

expansion 

A circular letter of 14 July 1564 

from Rome to the Whole Society 

described the nature and composition 

of the new institution, adding that “one 

of the Fathers directs” it, even though 

from among “the older and wiser” boys 

a prefect was elected. This signalled a 

shift in the earlier Jesuit policy regarding 

such bodies. 

Expansion 

The Sodality became so popular 

that students from other classes sought 

membership. In 1569 it split into two, 

according to age-groups. Soon there was 

a third division. The original group was 

referred to as the Prima Primaria Sodality, 

(the very first of the three primaries). 

The Jesuits were glad to support the 

initiative and soon Sodalities were started 

in their schools across Europe, especially 

motivated by those who had studied at the 

Roman College. They eventually became 

an integral part of the newly started 

education system. 

In 1578 Fr General Claudio 

Aquaviva issued “Common Rules” for 

the Sodalities, which were operative for 

nearly three centuries, and proved to be 

an important cornerstone for the dynamic 

developments of Marian Congregations 

worldwide. 

In 1584, Pope Gregory XIII 

confirmed the Prima Primaria Sodality 

as the Head of all Marian Congregations, 

in his Bull Omnipotentis Dei. As the 

first lay association in the Church, it was 

granted the right of self-government, 

though juridically, sodalities came under 

the General Superior of the Society of 

Jesus. In 1587 Pope Sixtus V, in his Bull 

Superna Dispositione, provided rights 

to the Jesuit General to create sodalities 

among Christian laity universally, which 

could be affiliated to the Prima Primaria, 

and enjoy the privileges and indulgences 

granted to it. Soon, Marian Sodalities 

aggregated to the “Prima Primaria” were 

mushrooming by the thousands. Several 

Popes and numberless canonized saints 

have belonged to sodalities over the 

centuries. 

In 1954 the World Federation 

of the Sodalities of Our Lady (Marian 

Congregations) was born. In October 

1967, during the 4th Assembly of the 

Federation, the final draft of the new 

General Principles, developed through a 

worldwide consultation, was approved by 

the 140 delegates from 38 countries. This 

marked a re-founding of the Sodalities: 

they were given a new name, Christian 

Life Communities. 

• 


Jesuits - World 

Efforts to re-create 

Apostleship of Prayer 

The Apostleship of Prayer, the 

Jesuit-run outreach that has brought 

Catholics the Pope’s monthly prayer 

intentions since 1890, is in the midst 

of a serious effort to re-create itself 

and broaden its outreach. 

The revamping is focused on 

three areas: making the apostleship 

a digital prayer network; working with 

dioceses and parishes to introduce 

the apostleship to more people; and 

developing the Eucharistic Youth 

Movement, which is the branch for 

children and teens. 

A working document outlining 

the history of the Apostleship of 

Prayer, its current status and specific 

goals and methods for re-creating the 

movement was posted online in the 

summer and publicized by the Jesuit’s 

press office in early September. 

Too many people, including 

Jesuits, view the apostleship as “an 

obsolete ministry that belongs to the 

past” or one that is “just ‘a devotion 

for old ladies’ that doesn’t speak 

to younger generations,” says the 

document. At the same time, it says 

that millions of people around the 

world see the Pope’s monthly prayer 

intentions, share them online and 

make them part of their prayer lives. 

Through the apostleship, it said, 

the Church can “reach the masses 

with a simple and profound spiritual 

message,” which encourages them 

to open their hearts to the needs of 

the Church and the world. Reflecting 

the Apostleship of Prayer’s early 

connection with devotions to the 

Sacred Heart of Jesus, the document 

says it should be “a path that has its 

origins in the human heart, which 

becomes united to the heart of Christ 

and is sent out to the heart of the 

world.” 

Membership in the Apostleship 

of Prayer involves a commitment to 

beginning each day with a prayer 

offering one’s life to God and praying 

for the needs of the universal Church 

and the intentions of the Pope. 

Members promise to end each day 

prayerfully reviewing their blessings 

and failings. 

The morning 

offering and prayers are 

the basic membership 

requirements, and in many 

countries the apostleship has no 

registration, no groups, no fees, and 

no special meetings. The Jesuits 

estimate that about 50 million people 

fulfill the membership requirements in 

the apostleship and its youth wing, the 

Eucharistic Youth Movement. 

The plan for re-configuring the 

Apostleship of Prayer encourages 

adaptation to local cultures and needs; 

emphasizes the connection between 

praying and working for justice; 

promotes spiritual formation based 

on Scripture and the sacraments; 

suggests developing prayer intentions 

that can be shared by other Christians 

and members of other religions; 

offering the new apostleship as a 

means for the new evangelization. 

The proposals for the apostleship 

include some modifications in the 

papal prayer intentions “to address 

matters of interest to everyone, not 

just Catholics. The general intentions 

would challenge humanity, aimed at 

themes of universal justice,” it said. 

The “missionary prayer intentions,” 

prepared by the Congregation for 

the Evangelization of Peoples, would 

keep their general focus on special 

concerns of the Catholic Church. 

In current practice, national 

Apostleship of Prayer directors send 

ideas to the international office in 

Rome. The international director and 

the Superior General of the Jesuits 

choose 12 themes and send them 

to the Vatican Secretariat of State 

where they may be modified in light of 

suggestions from Vatican offices. The 

final list - along with the missionary 

intentions - is returned to the Jesuits 

for distribution. 

The plan to re-launch the 

Apostleship of Prayer emphasizes the 

use of websites and social networks 

to share the Pope’s prayer intentions, 

notify people about emergency prayer 

intentions and create connections 

among people around the world, who 

are trying to follow Christ and serve the 

Church. 

- CNS 

Xavier relic in Australia 

A significant relic of St Francis Xavier - the 

arm with which he baptized so many thousands 

of people and which has long been enshrined in 

the Gesù, the Jesuit church in Rome - is visiting 

Australia. This pilgrimage is one important part of 

the Year of Grace Australia is celebrating this year. 

Jesuits have been invited to be actively involved, 

and the Provincial, Fr Steve Curtin, has strongly 

encouraged this, saying, “The pilgrimage provides 

a timely opportunity for presenting our Jesuit 

story and spirituality and for fostering vocations.” 

Fr Robin Koning, SJ has been busy preparing 

liturgical, catechetical and prayer material for the 

pilgrimage. Mgr Peter Andrew Comensoli, one 

of the auxiliary bishops of Sydney, is the main 

organizer of the visit. In his letter to his fellow 

bishops, he noted his hopes for the visit of the relic: 

“Given the missionary significance of St Francis 

Xavier for the Church in Australia, as well as his 

importance for the Jesuits, and the obvious spiritual 

link to the Year of Grace, my hope is that the relic 

will be generously received.” The relic arrived 

in Sydney on 16 Sept, and has begun a journey 

through almost all the dioceses in the country, 

spending about three days in each. It will return to 

Sydney in time for the Feast Day Mass in St Mary’s 

Cathedral on Monday, 3 Dec, before being brought 

back to Rome. 

- SJ Web 

Jesuit university to buy 

Philadelphia Archbishop’s 

residence 

Jesuit-run St Joseph’s University, 

Philadelphia, U.S. has signed a letter of intent to 

buy the Archbishop of Philadelphia’s residence 

from the financially troubled archdiocese at an 

expected cost of $10 million. The residence and 

its 8.9-acre property are adjacent to the Jesuit 

university’s 48-acre Philadelphia campus. The 

property’s main building is three stories tall and 

hosts 23,250 square feet of space. It includes a 

gardener’s cottage and a six-car garage. Both the 

university and the archdiocese are expected to sign 

a purchase agreement in the next several weeks. 

Funding for the purchase is coming from both the 

university’s internal resources and from donors. 

Cardinal Dennis Dougherty bought the residence 

in the 1930s for $115,000 and Philadelphia’s 

archbishops have lived at the residence since 1935. 

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia faces an operating 

debt of $6 million for the 2012 fiscal year and over 

$11 million in estimated legal costs for sex abuse 

cases. It is seeking to sell other properties such as 

a summer vacation home for retired priests and the 

Holy Family Center in Philadelphia. - CNA 


Interview 

In response to the needs of today, Fr 

General has restructured the Secretariats 

at the Curia in Rome. An important step 

has been the creation of the ‘Secretariat 

for Collaboration with Others’. Fr Anthony 

da Silva of the Goa Province is the first 

Secretary to take on this new mission. In 

a conversation with Luke Rodrigues, he 

shares his vision and dreams with Jivan: 

Tony, please share with the readers 

of JIVAN about your life and work before 

taking up this new assignment in Rome 

in 2012. 

As many of the readers in South Asia 

probably know, I spent more than 20 years 

of my Jesuit life teaching at JDV Pune. My 

specialization is in Psychology and I taught 

generations of Indian Jesuits in the Faculties 

“No future 

without 

collaboration” 

Interview with Anthony da Silva SJ, 

Secretary for Collaboration with Jesuits and Others 

You have been travelling widely 

since starting your work in March 2012. 

What are your observations about 

collaboration in the Society? 

In my travels I am delighted to find that 

collaboration is already taking place widely 

in the Society, though I must hasten to add, 

rather unevenly. At the risk of sounding 

too simplistic, I feel that in areas where the 

Society is growing, in Africa and Asia, there 

seems to be less appreciation for the need 

to invite others to collaborate in our mission. 

May be there is a smug feeling that since 

Jesuit numbers are large and adequate 

for the mission at hand, we do not see 

at present the need for lay collaborators. 

Some Jesuits in the “growth prone areas” 

may even see collaboration as a strategy 

for Jesuit collaboration, since the concept 

could mean many things to many people. 

A second priority is to do a “mapping” of 

collaboration projects and practices in the 

various Assistancies of the Society. Thus, 

it would then be possible to support and 

encourage a culture of collaboration in 

places where this may be weak; likewise 

the prevalent “best practices” in collaboration 

of some Provinces could be offered as 

possible models for others. A third priority 

is to encourage Provinces to develop shortterm 

“formation modules” for collaborators 

based on Ignatian spirituality but in keeping 

with their cultures and religious traditions. 

A fourth priority is to explore ways of 

possibly increasing the participation of our 

collaborators in decision-making bodies 

of theology and philosophy. In 2005 I was 

appointed the Provincial of Goa Province 

and on completion of my term in 2011, 

Father General asked me to take up this 

new mission at the Curia in Rome. 

The Secretariat for Collaboration 

has been newly set up by Fr General. 

You are the first Secretary. How do you 

see your role? 

I see my role principally as one of 

animating and inspiring Jesuit Provinces 

and Conferences to facilitate as well as 

strengthen this important dimension of 

collaboration in their various apostolic works. 

In the globalized world of today there is no 

future without collaboration. The pay back 

on “stand alone” style of functioning is 

sorely limited itoday. Instead, a new culture 

of collaboration, networking, and team work 

can be a more effective way of the realization 

of the kingdom of God among the people of 

the 21st century. Working in partnership with 

fellow Jesuits, with lay people, with Religious 

women and men inspired by Ignatian 

spirituality, as well as with others of different 

faiths and cultures can be a challenging new 

way of being Jesuit. 

evolved to suit the needs of the diminishing 

Society in the West. While diminishment 

may have initially driven some Provinces 

to greater collaboration with lay partners, 

General Congregations 34 (1995) and 35 

(2008), have urged all Jesuits to embrace 

collaboration as part of the vision of Vatican 

II which emphasizes strongly the role of the 

people of God in the mission of the Church. 

Collaboration is, therefore, not to be seen as 

a strategic response to diminishment, nor a 

way of maintaining existing works, but an 

invitation to all to share in what Fr General 

Nicolàs calls, the missio Dei (the mission of 

God). The missio Dei is simply too large for 

individual Jesuits! 

What are some of the immediate 

priorities of your Secretariat? 

After many meetings and discussions 

here at the Curia and also during visits in 

some parts of the Society, many thought it 

would be most helpful to first have a clear and 

well-articulated concept of collaboration; this 

means, focusing on the theological, spiritual, 

cultural and social science underpinnings of 

collaboration. In this context there is also a 

felt need for a well-worked out “taxonomy” 

at various levels of the government of the 

Society. 

Do you have any special message 

for the Jesuits of South Asia? 

Since the South Asian Assistancy is 

now the largest in the Society with a total 

of 4036 Jesuits, the Society looks to these 

Jesuits to vigorously encourage and support 

collaboration in its apostolic Works. The 

challenge in South Asia is to package the 

Ignatian vision and mission of the Society 

in terms of its multi-cultural and multireligious 

environment, so that collaborators 

find these meaningful and inspiring. Also, a 

second challenge for South Asian Jesuits is 

to foster greater collaboration between the 

various ministries both within a Province and 

between Provinces of South Asia as well as 

East Asia. 

After reading this interview, if our 

readers want to get in touch with you, 

how could they contact you? 

My email address is: collab@sjcuria. 

org I would be happy to respond to your 

readers. Thank you for this opportunity to 

share my vision with Jivan. 

• 


Jesuits - Asia Pacific 

Cardinal Shan of Taiwan 

dies at 88 

Cardinal Paul Shan Kuohsi, 

the retired Jesuit bishop 

of Kaohsiung, Taiwan, died 

on 22 Aug ‘12 at the age of 

88. He had been diagnosed 

with lung cancer in 2006, 

about eight months after 

retiring. 

In a telegram offering 

his condolences to the 

people of Taiwan and to the 

Cardinal’s Jesuit confreres, 

Pope Benedict XVI praised 

Cardinal Shan’s “dedicated 

service” to the Church and 

commended “his priestly 

soul to the infinite mercy of 

God our loving father.” 

A native of Puyang 

on the Chinese mainland, 

he joined the Jesuits in Beijing in 1946, then left the mainland 

to study for the priesthood. He was ordained a priest in the 

Philippines in 1955. After working at a school and at a Jesuit 

novitiate in the Philippines, he was sent to Taiwan as novice 

master, a position he held from 1963 to 1970. Pope John Paul 

II appointed him bishop of Hualien in 1979, transferred him to 

Kaohsiung in 1991 and made him a Cardinal in 1998. 

He was actively involved in the interreligious dialogue 

commissions of both the Taiwan bishops and the Federation of 

Asian Bishops’ Conferences. 

He also served as a member of the Vatican Congregation 

for the Evangelization of Peoples and the Pontifical Council for 

Interreligious Dialogue and advised the Vatican on its China 

policy. Education, building a strong laity and presenting Christ 

to the Asian people were key focuses of his ministry. The Pope 

appointed him the recording secretary for the special Synod of 

Bishops for Asia in 1998. 

Cardinal Shan said the Catholic faith will not be intelligible 

or attractive to the peoples of Asia if it continues to be a carbon 

copy of the Catholic Church in the West. The Church’s mission 

of love and service must begin with “a genuine regard and 

respect for all the peoples of Asia, their religions and cultures.” 

He also said the Catholic Church’s belief that the Spirit of God is 

at work in the world must translate into recognition of the “truth 

and grace” present in other religions while it witnesses to “the 

fullness of revelation in Jesus Christ.” 

Cardinal Shan participated in the funeral for Pope John 

Paul in April 2005 but did not vote in the conclave that elected 

Pope Benedict XVI, because he was past the age of 80, when 

Cardinals no longer have the right to vote for a new Pope. 

The Cardinal’s death left the College of Cardinals with 207 

members, 119 of whom are under the age of 80. The number 

of Cardinal-electors was set to drop to 118 on 24 Aug, the 

80th birthday of English Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor of 

Westminster. 

- CNS 

JCAP Report for 2012 

The Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific (JCAP) has produced 

a 16-page annual report, simply entitled ‘Jesuits in Asia Pacific 

2012’. The document begins with a report by the President, Fr 

Mark Raper, SJ, on the Conference in 2011. It contains articles 

on the four common priority areas across the Conference - Jesuit 

Formation, the education project in Timor Leste, the Environment, 

and Migration - and it concludes with a brief description of the 

Conference. The “Forming Jesuits for Asia Pacific” section 

discusses the detailed JCAP document on formation, in turn entitled 

“A Profile of a Formed Jesuit for Asia Pacific”. It details how the 

Loyola School of Theology is implementing the Asian mandate 

in theological education. The second priority, “The vision of an 

educational institute”, paints a picture of Instituto de Educação 

Jesuíta, the education project in Timor Leste. This will comprise 

a teacher education academy and a secondary school. The “A 

sacred sense of ecology” section analyses an environmental way 

of proceeding: this was developed by the JCAP Ecology Task Force 

as an introduction to a practical reconciliation with creation. “Living 

with our neighbours” introduces the migration priority: it turns the 

spotlight on Yiutsari, the Jesuit centre for migrant workers in South 

Korea, as just one example of how many local Jesuit ministries 

serve migrants in the Asia Pacific Assistancy. - SJ Web 

Filipino Catholics prepare 

to welcome new teen saint 

Catholics in the Philippines and the U.S. are preparing to 

celebrate the 21Oct canonization of Blessed Pedro Calungsod, 

a teen catechist killed in Guam, Philippines in the 17th century. 

(See article on p. 15) Witness accounts in the records of Jesuit 

missionaries show Bl Pedro died trying to protect his mentor, 

Jesuit Fr Diego Jose Luis San Vitores, a missionary who was also 

killed in the attack. Two Chamorro chiefs pursued the missionaries 

when they learned Fr San Vitores had baptized a chief’s daughter 

without his consent. Bl Pedro, a native of Cebu province in the 

Philippines, “was the first to be attacked in the assault,” explained 

Msgr Ildebrando Leyson of the Cebu Archdiocese. “And they 

marveled how he was so skillful in evading the darts of the spears 

... until finally he was hit in the chest. He fell and the other assassin 

split his skull.” 

Msgr Leyson, rector of the Shrine of Bl Pedro Calungsod, 

spent about 15 years looking into Bl Pedro’s history. He was part of 

a team that had to verify miraculous works attributed to the martyr, 

who was beatified in 2000. He said there were many claims of sick 

people being healed after praying for Bl Pedro’s intercession. In 

2003, an unnamed patient recovered from a type of deep coma that 

is rarely survived. When such patients do survive, they normally 

remain in a vegetative state. One afternoon a doctor in Cebu, who 

worried he might lose his patient, implored Bl Pedro to intercede, 

and four hours later the patient started showing vital signs, 

according to Msgr. Leyson. Over several weeks, the patient - who 

had never heard of Bl Pedro - was up and about. Scientists could 

not explain the situation, and the Vatican’s team of expert doctors 

studied the phenomenon for six years before deeming it a miracle 

in 2011. Msgr Leyson said the archdiocese is careful not to focus on 

the identity person who was healed to respect their privacy and to 

help keep a spiritual perspective. 

- CNS 


Experience 

After a visit to Turkey 

an Indian Jesuit calls an Islamic movement 

A modern miracle! 

Thomas V Kunnunkal SJ, the 

President of Islamic Studies Association, 

was recently invited to go to Turkey 

to meet the members of the Hizmat 

(Gülen) Movement. Here he shares his 

experiences during this visit: 

I 

must say that I was very happily 

surprised by all that is connected 

to the Hizmat or Gülen Movement. 

Turkey, whose population is 99% Muslim, 

presents a unique picture of Islam. It is a 

very strongly secular State, so secular 

that it will not allow any teaching of Islam 

in the school during school hours. Nor has 

it any Madarsa. Yet they are very devout 

Muslims and keenly follow the Muslim 

faith practices and prayers. In the famous 

Blue Mosque, it was inspiring to see the 

young, the old, the ordinary and well off 

people all flocking to join in the namaz. 

Sayyid Nursi had the vision of 

using the power and strength of the 

Islamic faith to find practical solutions to 

deal with the harsh realities affecting the 

wellness of society. He identified three 

major issues affecting the world society: 

poverty, ignorance and disunity. Fetullah 

Gulen followed it up and propagated the 

vision, by talking to persons and through 

his writings. He invited his listeners to 

open schools and boarding houses to 

educate students in Turkey as well as 

in other places. He motivated them to 

add a personal sacrificial dimension to 

their work. Many internalized the vision 

and new paradigm and then acted on it. 

It felt so good to meet several Muslims 

in Turkey who had been evangelized by 

this vision and were ready to act on it. 

To cite one of several such experiences: 

we had one Mustafa, who is a well-todo 

businessman, who found it possible 

to accompany us for a week. Normally 

business people may make a car available 

for our use. But Mustafa personally drove 

his BMW, whether to take us to the airport 

at 5 a.m. or to reach us back near midnight 

to the hotel. All that was done with a smile 

all the time! It was such a joy to meet 

several such beautiful Muslims. 

We visited a couple of Gülen Schools 

and two universities. I asked why there 

was no mention of Gülen or of his vision 

in the school bulletin boards. The secular 

character of the Government forbids 

this. Yet what I saw was a remarkable 

application of faith getting converted to 

works. There is no central organization 

nor is there any central fund raising, even 

though Gülen has now service institutions, 

like schools. colleges and clinics in 142 

countries. The schools and universities 

that we saw were of high standard, and 

had national standing and recognition. 

Without any centralized structure it works 

through persons motivated and powered 

by the vision of Gülen to serve humanity. 

Individual Muslims make contributions to 

buy land, donate money for construction 

and persons so energized by this vision 

run these institutions. 

Gülen movement sounded like a 

fairy tale until we saw them walk the talk 

and do so much It is indeed a modern 

miracle! I asked myself: how does this 

happen? The only answer I could find is 

the spiritual power firing the motivational 

cylinders of these persons. 

Their approach to dialogue has a lot 

to teach all those involved in interreligious 

dialogue.The major or almost exclusive 

emphasis in the Gülen movement is on 

dialogue of life, dialogue in action. We 

were told that several students at the 

school or university stage do imbibe the 

vision of Gülen and carry it into their adult 

years. 

What can we learn from the followers 

of Gülen movement? Any movement 

is powered by an ideal, an ideology, a 

value frame. In other words, the inner is 

driving the outer action. The gift of Jesus 

to us was an invitation for an attitude 

revolution, and not another religion, 

with a new set of rituals, prescriptions 

and practices. We have hundreds and 

thousands of transformations brought 

about by Christians over the centuries. 

What I increasingly find is that there 

are so many, from other faith-traditions 

and ideologies - Muslims, Buddhists or 

others - who are also actively engaged 

in ushering love, peace and unity into 

our battered world. For us Christians, 

gradually the outer seems to have taken 

over from the inner and what we see 

now is the over dominance of the outer. 

When that takes place, necessarily much 

deterioration results, Values inspired by 

faith die. Efforts to re-kindle the dying 

embers and to start the fire again is the 

challenge. 

Having a personal sense of mission 

and responding to that call is a constituent 

part of the Christian mystery. Mere 

efficiency, though necessary for our 

institutions, is lethal, if it is not combined 

with values and principles. A life devoid 

of values is destroying nations, religions 

and our humanity. 

If we get even a few people in 

various walks of life energized and 

motivated - whether priests, religious 

or lay persons who then pass it on to 

others, - then we will have started a 

multiplication process. They must become 

Kingdom builders, who will contribute to 

build human communities across physical 

and pshychological borders that presently 

divide us and make us less and less 

human. 

• 



Why healthy people laugh & why 

religious fundamentalists don’t 

While faith is not a laughing 

matter, a healthy Christian is able 

to laugh, according to an article 

in the influential Jesuit magazine, 

Civilta Cattolica. 

“If a Christian lacks a sense 

of humor, it is a sign, among other 

things, of a religious education 

too focused on conformity,” said 

the article by Jesuit Fr Luciano 

Larivera. 

The mid-July article, “The 

Nature and Necessity of Humor,” 

offered a dry survey of modern 

neurological, psychological and 

philosophical studies on humor, 

laughter and smiles, as well as 

a brief discussion of humor and 

spirituality. 

The studies show “adults 

laugh on average 18 times a day, 

while children laugh 10 times as 

much,” Fr Larivera wrote. He also 

referred to recent laughter-is-thebest-medicine 

studies showing 

that when someone laughs “there 

is an increase of endorphins and 

a reduction of substances which 

weaken the immune system.” 

On the spiritual side, he said 

a healthy and mature sense of 

humor consists in a person’s ability 

to see the absurdity present in his 

or her own life and to be somewhat 

detached from it. 

The ability to laugh at 

oneself, he said, coincides with 

the Christian virtue of humility. 

With humility as the basis of one’s 

sense of humor, he said, one can 

avoid the pitfall of being trivial, 

silly or ignorant of the real pain 

existing in the world and the real 

sacrifice made by Christ to bring 

salvation. 

Fr Larivera cited a study 

by a Belgian psychologist 

demonstrating that people who 

have a tendency toward religious 

fundamentalism “tend to avoid 

humor” because it “undermines 

their sense of security” and their 

impression that being always 

faithful means being always 

serious. 

On the other hand, he said, 

St. Thomas Aquinas made it clear 

that, while it was not appropriate 

for Christians to act like buffoons, 

“virtue consists in knowing how to 

distance oneself, how to play and 

to laugh.” 

- CNS 

Film on Jesuit Bishop is a big hit 

People in Indonesia have 

been flocking to cinemas across 

the country to see Soegija, a film 

based on the life of Monsignor 

Albertus Magnus Soegijapranata 

SJ. He was the first local 

Catholic bishop in Indonesia. 

The film was produced 

by the Jogyakarta-based Jesuit 

Studio Audio Visual Puskat (SAV). 

As a child from 1909 to 1919, 

Msgr Soegijapranata came under 

the influence of the Dutch Jesuit 

missionaries in Muntilan, Central 

Java. He embraced Catholicism in 

1910, and became a Jesuit in 1920. 

Twenty years later, he became 

the first native Indonesian to be 

appointed bishop. A Presidential 

Decree declared him a national 

hero three days after his death. 

Msgr Soegijapranata was 

well-remembered among the 

faithful for his saying: “100% 

Catholic, 100% Indonesian”. 

Reviews for the 115-minute motion 

picture have been very good. 

The director, Garin Nugroho, 

a Muslim, explained: “Soegija 

tries to explore problems which 

have not yet been acknowledged 

and addressed by our leaders 

today. The multiplicity of 

cultures is an important issue in 

Indonesia. Msgr Soegijapranata 

addressed this issue which is 

still so relevant to us even now.” 

Frs Y Iswarahadi SJ, Murti Hadi 

Wijayanto SJ, and Budi Subanar 

SJ were the three Jesuit members 

on the film’s creative team. 

Fr Iswarahadi SJ, was 

the film’s executive director. 

- SJ Web 

Conference Presidents Meet 

According to General Congregation 34’s decree 

21 on Interprovincial and Supraprovincial Cooperation, 

the Presidents of the Conferences meet annually 

with Fr General to to heighten their own sense of 

the universal character of the Society and to gain 

a better understanding of the global priorities of the 

Society, and to work with Fr General in overseeing and 

encouraging the further development of regional and 

global cooperation. The topics for the meeting that will 

be held this year on 17-20 Sept include the Intellectual 

Apostolate; implementation of the Fr General’s letter, 

the Renewal of Province structures in the service 

of universal mission; community life in the Society 

today; and planning for the financial sustainability of 

the Society’s formation programs. The Presidents 

will also have a number of opportunities to promote 

communication and cooperation among themselves 

and their respective Conferences during their time in 

Rome. 

- SJ Web 

International Jesuit Mission 

celebrates 30 years 

International Jesuit Mission celebrates its 30th 

birthday this year. Its first meeting was held in the 

city of Resistencia, in Chaco-Argentina. After that, 

celebrations were organized in a variety of countries 

every two years: in Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and 

Uruguay. The fourteenth meeting in the series took 

place on 7 -10 Aug ‘12 in Bolivia, at San Ignazio de 

Velasco, the former St Ignatius Loyola mission. The 

event has never abandoned its original focus, which 

was the Jesuit mission of the Paraguay Province. But 

with the passing of time, the meeting has embraced 

wider horizons, dealing with the more extensive 

missionary experience of other times and places. 

This meeting in August had a three-fold theme: 

Memory, Heritage, and a Living Culture. It aimed to 

explore and study the very important traditions of the 

Latin American peoples, and its relationship with the 

mission of the Church. This is the first time that the 

festival was held in the mission areas of Bolivia. The 

Chiquitania Region makes a positive effort to maintain 

the vibrant culture of the Jesuit missions, by restoring, 

enhancing and appreciating its Jesuit patrimony. Today, 

the memory of the former Jesuit missions and their 

legacy are still alive among the Chiquitanos. Theirs 

is one of the few, perhaps even unique examples still 

preserved on the continent. 

These international days help to keep alive 

the memory of the impressive work in education, 

evangelization, and development done in the Jesuit 

missions among the various indigenous peoples of 

Latin America. The destruction of these missions was 

a catastrophe which retarded the full development of 

the Latin American peoples, and which impoverished 

the indigenous expression of Christianity. - SJ Web 


First Person 

By Vally de Souza, SJ 

Pakistan’s gift 

to Gujarat Province 

- 14 Jesuits from one town, one school 

To while away the hours on a 

sleepless night, I began to total 

up the contribution of 14 Jesuits 

from Karachi to the growth of the then nascent 

Gujarat Jesuit Region beginning in the early 

1930s. It would have been an impossible task 

to try to evaluate it. 

All fourteen of them of Goan heritage, 

born and brought up in British India Karachi, 

were ex-students of St. Patrick’s High School. 

Ten of them studied under Spanish Jesuits of the 

Bombay-Aragon Province, the remaining three 

under the Dutch Franciscans. Unsurprisingly 

in pre-partitioned India, all followed their 

former Jesuit teachers or parish priests to the 

new region of Gujarat. At the time of writing, 

they have all gone to their eternal reward except 

the writer who at 85 seems in no hurry to join 

them. The roll call: 

Edwin Pinto – First Bishop of 

Ahmedabad, Principal 

Charles Gomes – Bishop of Ahmedabad, 

Provincial, Missionary, Principal 

Anthony Lobo – School Principal/ 

Founder, Jamnagar, Missionary 

Aloysius Fonseca – Writer, ISI staff, 

Social Activist, Delhi, Rome 

Joseph Lobo – College Professor, School 

Principal, Pioneer Missionary South Gujarat 

Gerald Lobo – School Principal, Anand 

Lionel Mascarenhas – Lifelong Professor, 

Dogmatic Theology, Pune 

Herbert de Souza – College Principal/ 

Founder, Secretary of Education, Rome 

Frank Lobo – Parish Priest, Bhavnagar, 

Sabarmati, Maninagar 

Carl Fonseca – Principal, Rosary, Registrar 

Jnana Deepa, Pune 

Augustine Lobo - Secretary, St. Xavier’s 

College. 

Ignatius Pinto - School Principal, Rosary, 

Gandhinagar 

Freddy de Souza – School Principal, 

Rosary, Gandhinagar 

Bishop Edwin Pinto 

Vally de Souza – Pioneer Missionary 

South Gujarat, School Principal/Founder 

Add that up: 2 Bishops, 1 Provincial, 

1 College Principal/Founder, 9 High School 

Principals, 2 Founders of Schools, 2 Professors, 

2 Assistancy Delegates, 3 Missionaries. 

The figures indicate but hardly reflect 

the full value of their contribution to the 

development of the Gujarat Province. These 

men lived their lives and carried out their tasks 

with distinction. Their memory is fast fading 

from our collective consciousness. So, for the 

record, I write this before the embers of a fire 

Bishop Charles Gomes 

they kindled finally die out. 

Interesting facts: among the 14 Karachi 

Jesuits were four sets of brothers: Carl/ 

Aloysius, Joe/Gussy, Herbert/ Freddy, Frank/ 

Gerry. In 1945 two sets of all the brothers in the 

family were members of the Society of Jesus in 

Gujarat: the Fonseca brothers (5) and the Lobo 

brothers, Joe, Gussy and Edwin (3) 

This chapter in the history of the Gujarat 

Jesuit Province will soon come to an end. 

I closed the door on would be Jesuits from 

Karachi. I did not choose to do it. A British 

lawyer, Cyril John Radcliffe, 65 years ago traced 

Lionel Mascarenhas 

on a map of India a line running up the western 

borders of Kutch and Rajasthan to Kashmir. 

He gifted the land on the shores of the Indus, 

and the charm of the town of Karachi with 

its potential for Jesuits to droves of refugees 

that flooded the country we now call Pakistan. 

Adios Karachi. We love you and remember 

your gift to us. 

Ronald Rolheiser wrote “Like Jesus, 

we too are meant to give our lives away in 

generosity and selflessness, but we are also 

meant to leave this planet in such a way that 

our diminishment and death is our final, and 

perhaps greatest, gift to the world. “ • 

Herbert de Souza 



Exiled Jesuit priest still hopeful 

for Syria’s future 

The Italian Jesuit who was 

exiled from Syria after criticizing 

President Bashar al-Assad says he 

is still hopeful for the country’s future 

despite its descent into war. 

“I see hope in the fact that the 

Syrian people are very attached to 

their country, very attached to the 

fact that they are a mosaic country. 

People want to keep that. They 

are committed to pluralism,” said 

Jesuit Father Paolo Dall’Oglio in an 

interview with CNA. 

Fr. Dall’Oglio spent over 30 

years in Syria as part of the Deir 

Mar Musa Monastic Community. 

Throughout that time he was a 

champion for interfaith dialogue in 

the majority-Muslim country, where 

Christians make up around 10 

percent of the population. 

Since being exiled, he has 

watched in horror as fighting has 

spread throughout Syria. 

“We have so much blood on 

our streets, so many people lost, so 

many people standing for freedom 

and democracy have been lost. So 

many good, youthful people … It’s 

such a tragedy.” 

The armed revolt against 

Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad 

began in March 2011. 

On Sept. 4, the new UN-Arab 

League envoy to Syria, Lakhdar 

Brahimi, told the United Nations 

General Assembly that the death 

toll from the internal conflict is 

“staggering” and the destruction 

“catastrophic.” 

“Syria is suffering enormously, 

but nevertheless people are hopeful,” 

said Fr. Dall’Oglio. “They want to 

have a democratic Syria where the 

will to be together does not come 

from above or outside, but it is 

really a spring from the inside, from 

the souls of the people.” 

To that end, Fr. Dall’Oglio 

is currently in Rome to participate 

in a Week of Solidarity for Syria. 

The event is organized by the 

Italian section of the Religions 

for Peace movement. They hope 

to encourage “fasting, prayer, 

reflection and awareness in support 

of the Syrian people who are 

suffering from the effects of civil 

war and repression.” 

“We cannot be living with 

others without a religious and 

theological consideration of the 

weight and the role of these people 

in the history of salvation,” Fr. 

Dall’Oglio said. 

The Week of Solidarity is 

also aimed at helping people 

prepare for the Sept. 14-16 visit by 

Pope Benedict XVI to Lebanon. 

“More than ever before, 

if we are not inclusive, although 

faithful to our convictions, we will 

not be constructive and positive 

in the coming equilibrium of our 

societies,” Fr. Dall’Oglio stated. 

- CNA 

Brazilian Jesuits launch new website 

In recent months the Brazilian Jesuits have launched a new 

website with a new logo. With this initiative the Society of Jesus 

wants to give more visibility to social, educational and cultural 

projects which have been undertaken recently in the country. “The 

Society of Jesus - explains Fr Gerard Lacerdine, coordinator of Jesuit 

communication in Brazil - is known as something of the past, not as 

it is today, and that is why we want to publicize our current works 

and what we plan to do in the near future.” At the moment there are 

about 650 Jesuits in Brazil, who run 20 educational institutions with 

about 150,000 students and more than 70 social projects. - SJ Web 

Jungmann Society meet 

The sixth biennial meeting of Jungmann Society 

was held in the Major Seminary of Nitra, Slovakia. 

Jungmann Society is a network of Jesuits who are 

involved in the liturgical formation of young people, 

including scholastics. Jungmann Society is particularly 

interested in studying and promoting liturgical life in 

the Society and in her apostolates. The Society was 

formed in Rome in 2002, and has held meeting every 

two years: in Bangkok, Fortaleza (Brazil), Montserrat, 

Tampa (Florida) and now in Nitra. At this sixth meeting, 

there were 48 Jesuit participants from 23 Provinces: 

they came from all five continents. There were also 8 

guests from different countries. Six keynote addresses 

on the theme of the meeting: “Preaching the Word”, 

which was then taken up in different linguistic study 

groups. Also studied was the liturgical formation 

during the scholasticate years, as well as ongoing 

liturgical formation. 

- SJ Web 

Permanent Exhibition 

of Paraguay Reductions 

On 28 June a permanent exhibition on the Jesuit 

Reductions of Paraguay was opened at the Sanctuary 

of Xavier in Navarra, Spain. The exhibition is rich in 

photographic material, explanatory panels, and three 

beautiful models of the Reductions of San Ignacio 

Miní (1610, Argentina), Santos Mártires del Japón 

(1639, Argentina), and Jesús de Tavarengué (1685, 

Paraguay). There are also large-scale reproductions 

of some entrance doors found in the Reductions. 

The exhibition, set up by Enrique Climent, SJ, was 

organized for youth who participated last August in 

World Youth Day with the Pope in Madrid. It will now 

remain permanently in the Sanctuary of Xavier, and 

will be viewed by the thousands of pilgrims who visit 

the place. 

- SJ Web 

Historic meet in Johannesburg 

A historic meeting took place at Holy Trinity 

Church in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, South Africa in 

August. Jesuits and their collaborators in their various 

works in Johannesburg met to share what they are 

doing and to seek make a more coordinated response 

to their work in the Social Apostolate. The four major 

works of the Jesuits in the Johannesburg area were 

involved: St Martin’s Parish in Soweto, Jesuit Refugee 

Service (JRS), Holy Trinity Parish in Braamfontein, and 

the Jesuit Institute South Africa. They hope that this 

meeting will help them to respond better to the ever 

increasing social issues which confront them in South 

Africa, but more specifically in their immediate works in 

Johannesburg. “In Johannesburg, we have capacity for 

much direct social action for and with the poor through 

our work,” said Fr Russell Pollitt SJ, chaplain at the 

University of Witwatersrand. 

- SJ Web 


Tribute 

Italian Cardinal Carlo Maria 

Martini, a renowned biblical 

scholar and former Archbishop 

of Milan, died on 31 Aug ‘12 

at the age of 85 after a long battle with 

Parkinson’s disease. 

Pope Benedict XVI who met him 

privately in June during a visit to Milan in 

June, was informed of his failing health on 

30 Aug. In a telegram to Cardinal Angelo 

Scola of Milan, Pope Benedict praised 

Cardinal Martini’s generous service to the 

Gospel and the Church and his “intense 

apostolic work” as a Jesuit, a professor 

and “authoritative biblicist.” The Pope 

said Cardinal Martini helped open for the 

Church community “the treasures of the 

sacred Scriptures.” He prayed that God 

would welcome the Cardinal into “the 

heavenly Jerusalem.” 

The Cardinal was a prolific author 

whose books were best-sellers in Italy and 

included everything from scholarly biblical 

exegesis to poetry and prayer guides. He 

retired as Archbishop of Milan in 2002, 

where he was known as a strong pastor 

and administrator, and as a very careful, 

thoughtful advocate of wider discussion 

and dialogue on some delicate and 

controversial Church positions. 

At various times, he expressed 

openness to the possibility of allowing 

married Latin-rite priests under certain 

circumstances, ordaining women as 

deacons and allowing Communion for 

some divorced Catholics in subsequent 

marriages not approved by the Church. 

During a special Synod of Bishops 

for Europe in 1999, he made waves when 

he proposed a new Churchwide council 

or assembly to unravel “doctrinal and 

disciplinary knots” such as the shortage of 

priests, the role of women, the role of laity 

and the discipline of marriage. His carefully 

worded remarks reflected his belief that the 

Church would benefit from a wider exercise 

of collegiality, or the shared responsibility 

of bishops for the governance of the 

Church. But the synod did not take up 

formally his idea of a new council. 

In a September 2004 message 

to a symposium on the Holy Land and 

interreligious dialogue, the Cardinal wrote 

that Christians who visit Jerusalem should 

suspend judgment on the political situation 

there and simply pray for both sides. The 

Israeli-Palestinian conflict had become 

so complicated and painful that even an 

expert would have trouble sorting it out, 

The Bible 

Scholar who 

thought afresh 

Cardinal 

Carlo Maria Martini 

1927 - 2012 

he said. 

Even in retirement, the Cardinal 

kept up with issues of importance in the 

life of the Church. He was sought after 

for interviews and frequently published 

opinion pieces in Italian newspapers. 

After Pope Benedict eased 

restrictions on the celebration of the pre- 

Vatican II liturgy in 2007, Cardinal Martini 

wrote a newspaper column explaining why, 

even though he loved the Latin language 

and could even preach in Latin, he would 

not celebrate the old Mass. He said he 

admired Pope Benedict’s “benevolence” 

in allowing Catholics “to praise God with 

ancient and new forms” by permitting wider 

use of the 1962 form of the Mass, but his 

experience as a bishop had convinced him 

of the importance of a common liturgical 

prayer to express Catholics’ unity of belief. 

He also said the reformed liturgy that 

came out of the Second Vatican Council 

marked “a real step forward” in nourishing 

Catholics “with the word of God, offered in 

a much more abundant way than before,” 

with a much larger selection of Scripture 

readings. 

In a 2008 book-length interview titled 

“Nighttime Conversations in Jerusalem,” 

Cardinal Martini said Pope Paul VI’s 1968 

encyclical, Humanae Vitae (Of Human 

Life), which taught that artificial birth control 

was morally wrong, led many Catholics to 

distance themselves from the Church and 

from listening to and being challenged by 

the Catholic vision of human sexuality. 

While not specifically addressing the 

morality of contraception, the Cardinal said 

the Church needed to take a more pastoral 

approach to questions of sexuality. “The 

Church should always treat questions of 

sexuality and the family in such a way that 

a leading and decisive role is up to the 

responsibility of the person who loves,” 

he said. 

Born in Orbassano, near Turin, 

Italy, on 15 Feb 1927, Carlo Maria Martini 

entered the Society of Jesus in 1944, was 

ordained a priest on 13 July 1952, and took 

his final vows as a Jesuit in 1962. 

With doctorates in theology and 

biblical studies, he was professor and later 

rector of the Pontifical Biblical Institute 

in Rome, 1969-1978; and rector of the 

Pontifical Gregorian University from July 

1978 until his December 1979 appointment 

to Milan. 

When he was named archbishop 

of Milan, Cardinal Martini was the first 

Jesuit in 35 years to head an Italian 

archdiocese. Pope John Paul II ordained 

him an archbishop Jan. 6, 1980, in St. 

Peter’s Basilica and named him a cardinal 

in 1983. 

A well-known speaker and retreat 

director, he served as spiritual director 

of the U.S. bishops’ spring meeting in 

Collegeville, Minn., in 1986. In that role, he 

conducted a day of recollection on the first 

day and presented a series of reflections 

during morning prayers throughout the 

meeting. 

After his retirement in 2002, he 

moved to Jerusalem and purchased a 

burial plot there but returned to Milan after 

his health worsened in 2008. He died in 

a Jesuit retirement home near Milan, 

surrounded by his Jesuit confreres and 

members of his family. 

- CNS 


Obituaries 

G.V. Doorssealaer, SJ (MAP) 1910 - 2012 

Ghisleen Van Doorsselaer was born 

at St Pauwels in the diocese of Gent, East 

Flanders, Belgium, on 4 May 1910. He joined 

the Society of Jesus on 23 Sept 1930 at 

Drongen. After his first vows he opted to be a 

missionary in Ranchi Jesuit Province. Later 

he opted for Madhya Pradesh Province, which 

became his home for the rest of his life. His 

Jesuit formation continued in India and he was 

ordained at Kurseong on 21 Nov 1943. He was teacher and 

headmaster at St Mary’s High School, Samtoli, Simdega, in 

Jharkhand for several years. Then moving to Madhya Pradesh, 

he was a teacher at St Xavier’s School, Ambikapur in 70s. He 

taught students with intelligence, wit and more with smiles. He 

also was the warden of Loyola College hostel there and later at 

Sneh Sadan Hostel, Jabalpur. His direct pastoral ministry was 

just for 4 years, but his spiritual ministry continued. He loved 

to preach retreats to school children. Later he served as the 

spiritual father of the Daughters of Saint Anne (DSA). He lived 

his last 7 years at Khrist Milan Ashram (KMA), Ambikapur, a 

Jesuit house for the aged, comforting everyone through his 

cheerfulness and smile. After he crossed a century, he spent 

most of his time resting. He slept in the Lord in the early hours 

on 8 July 2012. His life, 102 years long, can be summed up 

as a model of goodness, simplicity, and kindness and simple 

faith in a loving God. 

- Alphonse Tirkey, SJ 

J. Murray Abraham, SJ (DAR) 1925 - 2012 

Fr “Abe”, as he was familiarly known, died 

at Flame of Hope residence, Matigara on 27 

Aug ‘12, just one month shy of his 87th birthday. 

Abe joined the Society on 14 Aug 1941 when 

he was still 15 years old. He came to India in 

1948 and after a year of Nepali study and one 

year regency at St Joseph’s College, four years 

of theology at St Mary’ College, Kurseong, and 

was ordained on 21 Nov 1954. He too his final 

vows in the Society on 15 Aug 1959. He spent several years at 

St Alphonsus High School, Kurseong, before going to Canada 

for his M. Ed. During his years in Canada he set up a network 

of supporters for the work that would be the centre of of his life, 

education at St Alphonsus High School, Kurseong. His was 

a pen of very persuasive power, and through it he connected 

with his numerous benefactors in Canada. He write equally well 

on spirituality. His educational ministry was outstanding for the 

innovative projects and techniques he perfected over the years, 

mainly in the teaching of English as a spoken language and in the 

linking of education to work programs especially with chickens! In 

the mid-1970’s he moved out of St Alphonsus and set up SASAC 

(St Alphonsus Agricultural and Social Centre) at Woodcot, the 

old villa of generations of Jesuits.That work is now carried on by 

others who were inspired by his concern for good education for 

the poor. The media declared him the Father of the Gorkhas, and 

thousands attended his funeral. It was the largest funeral this town 

had ever seen. 

- Gabriel Tirkey, SJ 

James Tirkey, SJ (MAP) 1934 - 2012 

“The sign of a happy heart is a cheerful 

face” (Sir 13, 26). Fr James, always cheerful 

and jovial, was born on 7 Dec 1934 in Silphari 

village of Chainpur parish of Gumla diocese 

in Jharkhand. He entered the Society on 30 

July 1957 at St Stanislaus College, Sitagarha 

and after his formation at Sitagarha, Mount St 

Joseph, Bangalore, JDV, Pune, was ordained 

a priest on 24 March 1968 by Archbishop Pius 

Kerketta, SJ at the Cathedral in Ranchi. That James had a 

special call to be a pastor can be seen in his 30 years of parish 

ministry. He visited the villages to reach out to the people, even 

non-Christians, who were deeply touched by his generous love 

and service. 

His way of the cross began from 1997 when his diabetes 

led to a heart attack. He underwent angioplasty at Apollo 

Hospital, Delhi. But he was ready to serve as minister in Loyola 

House, Kunkuri and 7 years as co-pastor in Jahpurnagar. His 

cross became heavier in May 2009 when he was admitted to Holy 

Cross Hospital, Ambikapur. He developed gangrene in one foot 

and was rushed to Bhopal where the doctors had to amputate 

his leg. But he retained his humour and smile. He was shifted to 

Loyola Niketan, Bilaspur in 2010. On 24 June 2012 he invited his 

family and relatives to come and see him. When they arrived on 

the following day, 25 June, Fr James had already gone to meet 

His Lord. 

- Alphonse Tirkey, SJ 

Pascal Kujur, SJ (MAP) 1930 - 2012 

Brother Pascal Kujur was born on 18 March 

1930 at the village Karidhar of Tumdegi parish in 

Simdega, Jharkhand. At school he met Jesuits 

who attracted him to their way of life. He joined 

the Jesuits on 13 Sept 1952. In 1956 he was 

sent to Sacred Heart College, Shembaganur, 

Tamilnadu, for his Tertianship after completing 

which he returned to Sitagarha. During his long 

stay at Sitagarha from 1952 to 1977 he worked 

in the large farm to provide food for a big community of about 

hundred Jesuits. He pronounced his final vows on 2 Feb 1963. 

His was a hidden life of prayer and commitment, dedicated to the 

humble service of the Lord in providing for the material needs of 

the community, wherever he was sent - Bishop’s House, Kunkuri 

1977 to 1982, to Bishop’s House, Ambikapur from 1985 to 1988, 

to Loyola House, Kunkuri from 1988 to 90 and from 1990 to 95, to 

Prakash School, Pathalgaon from 1995 to 2003. For a few years he 

worked at Catholic Ashram, Pathrai. A stroke he suffered slowed 

his movements and work, but that did not stop him from his desire 

to work. He remained active, walking around a kilometre every 

day with a walking stick in one hand and a rosary in the other. 

When every Jesuit was eagerly waiting to celebrate the feast of 

St Ignatius, which actually is the saint’s death anniversary, Brother 

Pascal received the final call from God to celebrate it with St 

Ignatius himself in heaven. He passed away at 7 A.M. on 31 July 

2012. - Alphonse Tirkey, SJ 


Letters 

He helped me 

Fr Tony de Mello was a great counsellor and retreat 

preacher and a Guru later on.He helped a lot of religious and 

priests all over the world. I made a second Long Retreat in 

1972 in Belgaum which was very helpful. Fr Tony helped me 

in my personal problems.Then in 1975, he learnt and then 

taught Vipasana Meditation. This technique was 

very helpful to me in quietening the mind. Quite 

a lot of Jesuits, young and old, participated 

the course of Vipasana meditation under 

the directon of Goenkarji in Khandala. 

I feel that it can be a good preparation 

for Christian prayer. 

Not all Tony’s discples agreed 

with his Western method of counselling. 

His ideas were misunderstood by some. 

Just before his death his favourite author 

was Jiddu Krishnamurthy.He encouraged 

his disciples to read his books. The Eastern 

Method of Prayer can very well be integrated 

into Christian Prayer.Franz Jalic’s book, A Call to 

Share in His Life is an example of this. 

- Francis Cruz, SJ 

Bharuch, Gujarat - 392 001 

Why silence? 

Fr Subhash Anand’s article on the Year of Faith (Jivan, Sep 

’12) is timely and very useful. He does not mince words when he 

describes the present situation. The example he gives of Kerala 

is thought-provoking and I hope Jivan readers from Kerala will 

respond to what Fr Subhash has said about ‘God’s own country’. 

But I doubt if any will. Sometime ago when you devoted an 

entire editorial to saffronization of Karnataka, I expected a lot 

of responses from Jesuits in Karnataka. But while a few from 

other States commented, not a single Jesuit from Karnataka had 

anything to say. 

As for faith, the materialism and consumerism that dominate 

our ethos today have pushed God and Gospel values out of our 

daily lives. To suit our life devoid of values we invent devotions, 

pilgrimages, shrines and empty rituals that Fr Subash calls cult. 

He has identified correctly the need of the hour - prayer. But the 

starting point is not prayer. It is solitude and silence which makes 

genuine prayer possible. The well-known quotation, attributed to 

Mother Teresa, could explain why silence and prayer may finally 

make us what real faith demands from us. “The fruit of silence 

is prayer. The fruit of prayer is faith. The fruit of faith is love. The 

fruit of love is service. The fruit of service is peace.” 

- Felix Joseph, SJ 

Madurai - 625 001 

Please note! 

The next issue will be a combined 

Christmas Special Issue, dated Nov -Dec ‘12. 

It will be despatched 

in the second week of November. 

JIVAN AWARDS 

for creative writing – 2012 

This is the last reminder about the Jivan 

Creative Writing Contest for this year. So 

please hurry up and send your short 

stories immediately. 

Apart from the attractive 

cash prizes, you will have 

the joy of seeing your stories 

published in Jivan. If you are not 

a writer but have a friend who is, 

tell them about the Jivan contest 

and encourage them to participate. If 

you are a Principal or Rector of a seminary or 

formation house, please encourage your wards to use 

their creative talent and see what they are capable of. 

The contest is open to all - Jesuits and non-Jesuits, men 

and women, young and not-so-young. 

There are three prizes: 

The first prize: Rs 5,000 

The second prize: Rs 2,000 

The third prize: Rs 1,000 

1. Send neatly typed, original (unpublished) entries, 

with a forwarding letter with your full name and address 

and a brief description of your background to: Jivan 

Awards/ IDCR / Loyola College / P.B. 3301 / Chennai – 

600 034 / India. 

2. The entries should reach us before 25 Oct ‘12. The 

results will be announced in the Feb ’13 issue of Jivan. 

3. Jivan is not responsible for any loss or damage 

in transit. So to ensure safety, apart from keeping a copy, 

you can send the entry by e-mail to jivaneditor@gmail. 

com after you send it by registered post or speed post 

or courier. Entries will be acknowledged on receipt by 

e-mail or mail. 

4. Entries cannot be returned and all entries 

become the property of Jivan. 

5. A person can send only one short story. 

6. The decision of a two-member Jury will be 

final. 

- Editor 


By Joseph Cardozo, SJ 

Lessons 

10 Lessons for Life 

I’ve learned 

from the Philippines 

Fr. Joseph Cardozo SJ of Goa Province 

is doing his M.A in Pastoral Studies at 

the East Asian Pastoral Institute in the 

Ateneo de Manila University, Manila, 

Philippines. 

Be resilient 

Even in the midst of storms, cyclones and typhoons, the 

Filipinos can smile and carry on. They take things in a stride. 

Despite many struggles and challenges, I have learned to be 

resilient and accommodative with everyone.The resiliency of 

the Filipinos seem to have given me the much-required impetus 

to be resilient and persevering in all things. 

Live one day at a time 

An ordinary Filipino tries to live one day at a time by 

deepening one’s faith in God and devotion to Mother Mary. 

There have been moments, when I have seen people who are 

poor but who celebrate, even if they need to borrow money 

for the celebration.They do not hoard 

things or money for the future but live 

each day as it comes. I am learning to 

live this way. 

Find purpose in life 

The Jesuits of the Philippine 

Province have been a source of 

inspiration for me. While working with 

them in some ministries, I have noticed 

that they seem to be driven by a purpose 

and sense of direction which enables 

them to attain more pinnacles for the 

greater glory of God. I am impressed by the enormous work 

done in the fields of liturgical music, education, spirituality 

and so on. I have learned that a sense of purpose focusses all 

your energies. 

Collaborate with the Laity 

During the holidays, I had worked with other lay Retreat 

Directors, who too give individually- guided retreats to the CLC 

members. So also in the parishes one can see them as active 

members of the Church. I have learned how collaboration 

between laity and Jesuits can yield more fruit for the Kingdom 

of God and for God’s greater glory. 

Learn from Differences 

At the Arrupe House I live with people from different 

countries, cultures, languages, backgrounds…I have learned to 

live with them, accept them with their strengths and weaknesses. 

Moreover, it has been a great learning experience to live with 

scholastics and priests from almost 18 countries. We have a 

promising future for the Society of Jesus for the scholastics 

manifest genuine love: for the Society, in their studies and 

prayer. Many of them are an inspiration for me. I continue to 

learn from them. 

Let go and Trust 

‘Things happen when you least expect…,’ was one of 

the constant remarks of my Master in the Novitiate. I have 

learned to rely on God’s providence and on His saving mercy 

and compassion. It is in and through the providence of God 

that our expectations receive an eschatological dimension. In 

Isaiah 40:31, we have the assurance, “Those who trust in the 

Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings 

like eagles…” 

Be patient 

In moments of misunderstanding, 

doubts, uncertainties…I have learned 

to be patient. Through their lives the 

Filipinos have taught me to be patient 

with myself and others, for I am not 

a finished product yet. I am being 

moulded by God “in his time and 

space.” As Leo Tolstoy says, “The 

strongest of all warriors are these two 

– Time and Patience.” 

Relax, have fun 

‘It’s more fun in the Philippines’ 

runs the ad issued by the Government to promote tourism. But 

it is not an exaggeration. You can see it is true, where ever you go 

in the Philiipines and closely observe the people. The Filipinos 

are very loving, easy going, cheerful and understanding people. 

I agree it’s more fun to be in the Philippines. I have learned to 

put aside needless worries and anxieties and to be joyful. 

Accept and Respect 

Philippines is a multi-cultural country. There is a lot of 

American influence, as they were once an American colony. but 

they are truly Asian. They think like Asians. I have learned to 

accept the different cultures, truly respect them and learn all 

that is good in them. 

Learn from Mistakes 

Once a Filipino friend told me, “Mistakes are the best way 

to learn in the Philippines.” At the same time he cautioned me 

not to repeat the same ones too often. If we are afraid to make 

mistakes, then we will never try anything. Mistakes are part of 

being human. I have learnt not to be crippled by the memories 

of past mistakes but learn from them and move on. • 


JIVAN: News and Views of Jesutis in India 

Reg. No. AND/320/2012-14 ● Licensed to Post Without Prepayment Up to 30.06.2014 

Date of Posting: 10th of the Month ● Posted at Anand H.O. ● R.N.I. No. GUJENG/2001/5676

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