Jesuit Journeys
Winter 2001

Fr. Jones said he wants to remain on the Rosebud for the rest of his days and be buried on the reservation among the people he loves and serves. "[The Lakota people] have a culture different from other cultures, but it is a beautiful one. We can learn a lot from them and their beautiful spirituality."

Province, northeast India region plan pact

Milwaukee - At the urging of Fr. General Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, the Wisconsin Province of the Society of Jesus is entering into a twinning agreement with the Kohima Region in northeastern India, part of the Jesuits' Karnataka Province in southwest India.

"This is a concrete opportunity to put into practice some of the things we talked about regarding inter-provincial cooperation at our meeting of major superiors with Father General at Loyola (Spain) last fall," said Wisconsin Provincial Fr. D. Edward Mathie, SJ.

Typically, the twinning process pairs two provinces or regions (one usually in a developing nation) to establish an agreement of mutually beneficial support. While details of the arrangement are not final, it is expected that financial assistance from the Wisconsin Province will help the Kohima Region train its young Jesuits and develop its evangelical, educational, social, and health ministries.

The Wisconsin Province hopes to benefit from the Kohima Region's expertise in working with tribal peoples. It is anticipated that some Jesuits from that region will come to the U.S. and assist Wisconsin Province Jesuits working among the Lakota Sioux in South Dakota.

"This is not a region of 'Indian' ethnic origin," said Fr. Hector d'Souza, SJ, Kohima regional superior, during a fall visit to the Wisconsin Province. "The region is inhabited by [indigenous] Himalayan [hill tribes]. They come from 241 different ethnic groups and speak as many dialects."

Fr. D'Souza said the tribespeople of Kohima are in need of medical, educational, and other developmental assistance. He described them as brave, yet gentle and kind, open to the Good News, and wise in ways inherent to their culture. "They have taught me things of the heart," he said.

The first Christians in northeast India were two Jesuits en route to Tibet in 1626. During the World War I years, Jesuits from Calcutta temporarily replaced the interned members of another order who were working in the region.

In 1970 the Karnataka Province sent three Jesuits to start a school in Kohima, Nagaland, at the request of that state's education minister. Fr. General Kolvenbach established the Kohima Region, a dependent region of the Karnataka Province, in 1995 and appointed Fr. D'Souza the first regional superior.

There are seven states in the region, six of which do not allow entry to foreigners. As of fall 2000, there were 84 Jesuits in the region, including 34 priests, 3 brothers, and 47 scholastics.

Ministries include managing a teachers training college, 5 high schools, 2 middle schools, 6 primary schools, and an agro-industrial training center; administering 6 parishes and serving as spiritual directors in 2 diocesan seminaries; running a Social Research Center and a Spiritual Animation Center that caters to the ongoing formation of priests, nuns, and their formators; and managing an orphanage/poor children's home.

Marquette High boosts local home ownership

Milwaukee - With a big helping hand from Marquette University High School students, another fully renovated house near the school is ready for local home ownership.

A joint effort of the school and the Merrill Park Neighborhood Association, the Partners Project rehabilitates existing homes to promote home ownership as a means to maintain a strong sense of community around the school. Two homes have been renovated since 1998. The Marquette High chool Neighborhood Committee, comprised of residents and Marquette High staff, alumni, and parents, coordinated both rehabilitation projects and guided them to completion.

"Crime in the area dropped 53 percent from 1993-98, a reduction experts say is closely linked to home ownership which increased 40 percent in the past 6 years and is now up to almost 60 percent," said Sue Smith, Marquette High vice president. "Our hope is to do our part to help the neighborhood association reach its goal of 75 percent owner-occupied housing in the area."

Over 150 students, 80 parents, and hundreds of alumni worked on the project. Besides raising considerable cash donations, Marquette High also secured donated and discounted labor and materials from alumni, parents, corporations, and foundations.

"While helping to put affordable housing on the market, we're also inspiring other home- owners to improve their properties and the neighborhood as a whole, and involving students in the process," said Smith.

"One house is across the street from the school. The other is down the street," she added. "They stand as reminders to the students why it is important to get involved in our world and how involvement is essential to touching hearts and inspiring others to join in the work of building up the Kingdom of God."

Creighton talk focus is on love, justice

Omaha - The formula for a peaceful world calls not only for us to love God, but also to love our neighbors, Santa Clara University President Fr. Paul Locatelli, SJ told a near-capacity audience gathered in the Student Center Ballroom for Creighton Univer- sity's annual Markoe-DePorres Social Justice Lecture.

"Without justice and love of our neighbors, love of God is a farce. You cannot separate faith from justice," Fr. Locatelli advised students, faculty, and staff attending the fall event.

Candid and at times even blunt, Fr. Locatelli said, "Our Judeo-Christian faith requires that justice be done." He said reconciliation with God means reconciliation with others, and called the world "a scandal of injustice" in which "half the nations are worse off today than they were 10 years ago." In order to stop this trend, Fr. Locatelli said people with "talent and magnanimity" must take their place and be heard alongside those seeking only self-advancement.

Echoing the words of Fr. General Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, SJ, Fr. Locatelli said, "Tomorrow's whole person must have a well-founded solidarity with the real world." He said our world as envisioned by St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus, features "God 'in the thick of things,'" in a world "not only of suffering, but of wonder."

Fr. Locatelli believes a justice oriented education, as advanced by universities like Creighton, does more than supply the student with a factual understanding of social problems; it broadens awareness by learning directly from the underserved community, producing what he termed a "reflective experience."

An essential question our Jesuit universities must ask, Fr. Locatelli said, is "How should all of us live together in this world?"

Since 1975, when the Society of Jesus first articulated the need to practice a faith that does justice, that vision has been expanded to include justice for the environment, women, and others marginalized by a lack of human rights. "We need to make it clear that all voices are welcome, all views respected, that all parties recognize the limits of their own perceptions," in order to keep that vision vibrant, Fr. Locatelli said.

Justice education is more than just community service, he added. Done right, educating for justice "opens us to the problems of the world ... and teaches us to live in solidarity with that world."

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