top of page
  • Writer's pictureProfiles in Catholicism
    • Feb 29
    • 32 min read

The Jesuits



A Message from the Editor

I went to Loyola University in Chicago for my undergraduate work. The Jesuits and Jesuit staff tonight me to be concerned about human rights and  how to think.  I remember discussing human rights issues often. I was taught when I planned on discussing a topic with someone who didn’t agree with me to always understand their point of view. This was of immense help when I founded and served as Executive Director of the International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care and had discussions with the FDA, officials of many governments, and the Vatican.

 

In this issue of Profiles in Catholicism we interviewed Jesuits in Belgium, India. Ireland, Italy, Kenya, the Netherlands. Portugal, South Africa, Switzerland;, Zambia, and the United States.

 

I have worked with Jesuits in Italy and in the United States. I thank Father Hans Zollner, S.J. for the update on his interview discussing his resignation from the. Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

 

I hoe that many of our reader are praying for and end to the Israel/Hamas war. One of the saddest examples of protesting to end the war is the  U.S. airman dies after self-immolating outside Israeli embassy in protest of Israel-Hamas war.

 

I am asking our readers to pray for a resolution of conflicts in Africa. There was a recent bloodbath in Nigerian (8,000 Nigerian Christians murdered by Islamists) and serious problems in Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, and Mozambique.

 

Prayers

 

A prayer for murdered Jesuits

 

“Christ-Like Discernment”

 

Lord, we discover, if we listen to the movement of our spirit,

“short-termism” is a pleasure passing quickly, draining energy,

or there is what excites, encourages, and even enlarges our heart

for what is good in the Good News, your very presence indeed.

 

Teach us to meet you in the Gospels, where we can talk about

everything, imagining that we are beside you when, as the doctor, you are visiting the sick, and that sickness mine and your visit is

to me, opening my life to you, telling all, honestly and openly.

 

Lord, teach me to listen to you without overreacting, being gentle

with both myself and others, knowing that your cures are for all

and that there is a mission for me to discover through talking to you

and finding those to whom you have given the grace to help us.

 

Guide us, then, to one of the many families you have founded,

whose followers have promised to serve the Servant of the

Servants of God, and whose members have gone as missionaries

and ministers of word and learning, helping the needs of peoples.

 

Lord, your servants have stood-as-you in many different places,

losing their lives in many different ways, giving their blood as

you did, hoping in eternal life and that the fruit of their service will

outlive and overcome the opposition to the good they are doing.

 

You alone know, as you did yourself, the time to withdraw and to

walk away and the time to remain, letting our life stain the ground

on which we worked, among the people whom you loved and in

the company of your very presence, which is present to us all.

 

Lord, you yourself walked simply among the poorest of the poor, surrounded as they were by many dangers, driven by many needs, hoping for daily bread, work and love, to live a life worthy of the

Name when, as happens, shots rang out and took what is precious.

 

But let our hope in you not be disappointed, that the Body of Christ will run with the grace of life-giving love given at the last and just as your own gift of life was wholeheartedly given, thrice nailed to the cross for our salvation, so may those who give too, give in you.

 

Lord, your love is for the gun runner, the drug dealer, the gangster,

no less than for the victim, the addict, and the fearful, no less for the priest, the religious, and the parishioner seeking, as you do, to serve

not the possible, but the impossible change of heart and way to life.

 

Nevertheless, let all who are called to do good, do the good they can

do, whether in the family, the schools, the police or the army, or

whether in the home, on the streets, in the workspace or the place of government, that all who come together can turn the tide to love.

 

Lord, let not revenge rule our hearts, or fears trouble us unduly, that we may persevere in peace and tranquillity, even amidst the noise of unsettling events, that we may go on being faithful and so you will find us working for justice and longing for the Easter of your return.

 

And let daylight rein, let the splendour of creation dawn the morning brightness of our hearts, and let the opening of the day bring a new and renewed hope our mourning will cease and our happiness will

return and that God will remember His people and bless us, again. 

 

Francis Etheredge, Catholic married layman, father of 11, 3 of whom are in heaven, and an author: https://enroutebooksandmedia.com/francisetheredge/. Forthcoming: “The Word in Your Heart: Mary, Youth, and Mental Health”.

 

Prayer for Fr Javier Campos and Fr Joaquín Mora


Whatever is our religious creed, we are united by the desire for justice, reconciliation and peace. A desire that comes from the depths of our hearts in the face of the blood that is shed violently day after day. From here we join the prayers of many in many countries following the murder of the Jesuit missionaries in the Tarahumara Sierra, Fr Javier Campos and Fr Joaquín Mora.


The blood of our brothers is sacred blood, so remembering them in community makes us feel connected to a memory of death and resurrection. In this desire for peace is the life that emerges from death. There is the presence of God giving us the word and the movement to build peace.


In these deaths God speaks to us to go out of ourselves and to undertake a journey, in these deaths he reminds us that we are one body and one family, that we cannot go forward alone, that we need each other.by Father Hans Zollner, S.J. Profiles in Catholicism

A Prayer for the Murdered Jesuits

Good and Glorious God.


The Jesuits of Mexico announced Tuesday that two of their priests were killed Monday inside a church in a mountainous region of Chihuahua state. Fathers Javier Campos Morales and Joaquín César Mora Salazar had served as Jesuit priests for nearly a century combined. The gunmen who carried out the June 20 attack on the church in Cerocahui, Chihuahua also took their bodies. Heavenly God, the Father, these men gave their lives to you and the people of Mexico. They lived with the love of the Lord in their hearts. They knew people who needed their help and they provided that help. Looking at their faces one could see the depth of their love and service to the Lord. May the Holy Spirit console the fellow men working as priests in their community and all the people of God touched by their lives. May the love that they brought to those they served bring a sense of joy as it continues in their community Please bless us all and put in our hearts the beauty of the peace that comes with death. We ask you this, through the Father, His Son and the Holy Spirit 

by Eileen Quinn Knight, Ph.D. Profiles in Catholicism



Good and Gracious God,

We are horrified by the testimony of a former Salvadoran army officer that the "high command" gave orders to eliminate Jesuits priests during the country's civil war in 1989. These men were the priests to the people, Lord, and ministering to their needs. As with Pontius Pilate, the Central American country's president knew of the crimes to be committed and did not intervene.


These men with their housekeeper were brutally treated, Lord, by a former colonel in the army of El Salvador, who is on trial in Spain, Inocente Orlando Montano, on the campus of the Catholic University. Lord, we beg you to help the people of El Salvador who bear the brunt of this loss, help them to continue to heal even 30 years later.

At the testimony July 8, Mendoza said his superior, Guillermo Benavides, a former colonel and then-director of the army academy, told troops the night before the crime that an order had come to move against Spanish Jesuit Father Ignacio Ellacuria, rector of Central American University in San Salvador. May Guillermo Benavides, realize how the horror and evil of this act affected the entire community.  Assist all in San Salvador to heal.  May the plentitude of vocations to the priesthood for the Jesuits in this region continue to flourish and make a difference.

by Eileen Quinn Knight, Ph.D. Profiles in Catholicism


Prayer in Memory of Father Stan Swamy SJ


India, India why have you killed your greatest son who served the poor and lifted up the wretched and oppressed. No greater champion, a saintly servant gave his life for them, and died suffering in distress. He served the poor, the powers banded him subversive, as Jesus was, and locked him in the dark cruel cell, He was denied his rights, medical help and lived in human hell.


At 84 this Jesuit Priest, Stan Swamy was falsely blamed and put on trial,| tagged terrorist in his elderly years weak and frail. He suffered Parkinson’s and other illness from his life of poverty and denial, A man who stood for justice and died a prisoner while the judiciary denied his bail. Who is more corrupt, the police or prosecutor, the judges or the system that steals the wealth? addIt leaves poverty and great hunger, pain and misery for the poor that is sorely felt.


Let the protests grow and may his memory never fade, until the greatest debt of gratitude with all respect and honor is duly paid. Father Stan is the man who fought for truth and justice, he lived among the poor, He organized them to speak their needs and from oppression rise, Until the iron fist of Modi fell fast and hard with sudden shock and surprise. Yet Stan lives on, his life and words are there to guide, lead us on and set us afire, So none of us will forget to follow his example and fight for justice and to his greatness we aspire. 

Amen 

by Father Shay Cullen Profiles in Catholicism


A Prayer Father Stan Swamy, S.J.


Good and gracious God.

Father Stan Swamy, S.J. died in the hospital after being put on a ventilator. He had COVID and other diseases that added to his underlying issues. He was among 16 accused in a sedition case. They were charged under the stringent provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) by the federal National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is tasked to combat terrorist activities. Charges under UAPA are considered non-bailable. Please welcome Father Swamy into your loving arms as he has served you tirelessly for over 50 years. Help the others captured with him. We ask you this through Jesus Christ, His Son, Our Lord. Please help all those in India to receive the vaccine necessary for their health.

by Eileen Quinn Knight, Ph.D. Profiles in Catholicism


A Prayer for Father Ray Schroth, SJ


Good and gracious God,

We bring to you the life of your Jesuit son Father Ray Schroth, SJ. He was a priest, a journalist, and a teacher of students. He was rigorous in his class preparations. He demanded much of his students and was popular among them. He cared for their well-being. He befriended many; encouraged all. He presided at the weddings of more than a few. His teaching inspired generations of learners, men, and women, now well into their professional lives. Among them, notable attorneys and journalists, including Pulitzer Prize winners. As much as he loved to teach, he also loved to report. He viewed journalism as a noble calling. In an NCR review of a 2018 Seymour Hersh memoir, Schroth wrote: "Journalism embodies the basic virtues of society. We need the press to condemn what is wrong and embrace what is best for the community." His keen moral outlook spilled beyond his classes. While teaching at Fordham, for example, he initiated the "Great Walk," an annual student trek from Manhattan's Battery Park to the Bronx campus, showing them parts of New York City that they might not otherwise see, according to one Fordham News account. We see Lord, a man who balances his relationship with you and his dedication to the students he teaches as well as the words he writes. Schroth used his literature classes to excite minds, to explore the human condition, and to cast light and hope. He was passionate and frequently made waves; his style did not always endear him to his peers. During his career, he left his marks at Rockhurst College, Loyola University New Orleans, Georgetown University, Fordham, College of the Holy Cross, and St. Peter's College in Jersey City, New Jersey, where he ended up a professor of humanities.


Dear Lord, during his short but prolific life on earth he wrote eight books. Two were biographies, choices that revealed his heroes, and some of his character. He focused his biographical research on Eric Sevareid, the CBS newscaster, and Jesuit Fr. Robert Drinan, who served six terms in Congress. Of Schroth's The American Journey of Eric Sevareid, a Los Angeles Daily News reviewer wrote that it was "as much a primer on good journalism as it is a biography." Schroth admired Drinan, 13 years his senior, and another Jesuit of passion and global reach. Schroth's admiration showed in his treatise Bob Drinan: The Controversial Life of the First Catholic Priest Elected to Congress). Publisher’s Weekly seemed to get it right when it called the book a "loving tribute." As a book enthusiast, Schroth enjoyed compiling book lists. He was attracted to the classics but also sought out books that he felt shed extra light or hope. His life, Lord was filled with joy in doing the work for the kingdom. Bless him now and forever.

by Eileen Quinn Knight, Ph.D. Profiles in Catholicism


A Prayer for Those who Died and were Harmed in the Creeslough Gas Station Explosion


We stand in solidarity with the people of Creeslough whose hearts are broken with the recent tragedy and terrible loss of life. We pray for all those who lost loved ones and for the whole community that is grieving at this time. We pray for all those involved in responding and ministering to the survivors, we hold everyone in our hearts, devastated at this terrible tragedy.

by Brendan McManus SJ Profiles in Catholicism


A Prayer for Alexei Novalny

 

A voice has gone silent, a voice for freedom, a voice for justice.

A voice has gone silent under suspicious circumstances.

 

Lord Jesus, you want everyone to have a voice. You loosened the tongue of a man who had been deaf and unable to speak. Your Father God freed the tongue of Zachary, so that he could praise the tender compassion of God.


Lord Jesus, we are grieved by the death of Alexei Novalny, a political prisoner and an unwavering foe of oppression in Russia. He embraced Christianity in recent years because he wanted to be part of a bigger story. Lord, let that bigger story, the Reign of God, grow and flourish.   Let it grow in places big in small, in prisons and palaces, in suburbs and commercial centers, among the poorest of the poor and among the very rich. May Alexi Novalny’s strong witness never be forgotten. And, Lord, watch over his supporters and loved ones, who grieve his death most intensely.

Amen

by Father Joseph Chamblain, O.S.M. Profiles in Catholicism


Prayer for the four murdered members of the same Irish family including a 15-month-old baby


Lord, in the face of this great tragedy help us to see that their suffering is yours

You suffer in those who suffer. Lead those who suffered into your peace and grant those who remain strength in this lonely hour

Amen

by Father John O'Brien, OFM  Profiles in Catholicism


Prayer for the more than 8000 Christians murdered in Nigeria last year


Good and Gracious Lord,

Nigeria last year witnessed the bloodiest year of Islamist attacks against Christians according to a new report.


More than 8,000 Christians were killed in 2023, the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) has said. Lord have mercy on the Nigerians. The report published on Ash Wednesday gives harrowing details of killings, kidnappings, and forced disappearances of largely Christian populations in several parts of Nigeria. Lord have mercy on the Nigerians.


The combined forces of the government-protected Islamic Jihadists and the country’s Security Forces (NSFc) are directly and vicariously accountable for hacking to death in 2023 of no fewer than 8,222 defenseless Christians – covering a period of 13 months or Jan (2023) – Jan (2024),” said the report, signed among others by the Director of Intersociety, Emeka Umeaglalasi. Lord have mercy on the Nigerians. The killings were carried out by a range of factions, including Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen who were responsible for at least 5,100 Christian deaths, Boko Haram and their allies with 500 deaths, Jihadist Fulani Bandits with 1,600 deaths and “Islamic-inspired” security forces with 1000 Christian deaths. Lord these deplorable deaths need to be dealt with mercy and peace. We pray that the violence in this area will subside, and the people will turn to God and ask Him for peace. It is said the January 2023 to January 2024 killings marked “the deadliest in recent years,” and blamed the woeful failure of the Nigerian government and the security forces for failing to “rise to the occasion”.

by Eileen Quinn Knight, Ph.D. Profiles in Catholicism


Jesuit Interviews



General Interviews

 


Please make a donation of $5.00 or $10.00 (tax-deductible in the United States) to Profiles in Catholicism to help pay our hardworking staff and help us support people with cancer, HIV/AIDS, orphans, those living in extreme poverty, and the organizations that help them.  Some of those people whom we support may die without our help.

 Jesuit Articles/Commentaries


 

Please make a donation to Profiles in Catholicism


General Articles and Commentaries


Featured Reports



Please make a donation to Profiles in Catholicism


Medical Journal Articles



Please make a donation to Profiles in Catholicism


Books, Book Reviews, Commentaries, and Excerpts



Film Reviews and Commentaries

 

  • Tell Me Who I Am”  Commentary by Timothy Bishop, SJ The Jesuit Post

  • Emigré Commentary by Julia Gergely Jewish Telegraphic Agency

  • Golda Commentary by Toby Axelrod Jewish Telegraphic Agency

 

Theater Reviews/Commentaries

 

  • The Ally Reviewed by Lisa Keys The Jewish Telegraphic Agency


Videos 


Colloquium on Ethics in Environmental Policymaking: Environment, Poverty, and Development Panel  co-sponsored by the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs and the Global Futures Initiative.


 Jesuit Father R.J. Fichtinger - Ordinands 2017 


 Fr. James Martin: What Does the Bible Say? Refugees, migrants and foreigners? 


 Introduction to the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyolaby Sylvester Tan, S.J.


 The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything with Fr. James Martin 


 Latino Catholicism: A Discussion  


 Being a Jesuit  


 Stages of Jesuit Formation 


 Jesuit Volunteer Corps 


 The Jesuit Volunteer Corps Experience  


 My JVC Moment - Jesuit Volunteer Corps


bottom of page