Jesuitica: For the Jesuit Parivar
INTRODUCTION TO VOLUME XI
This collection puts together articles that are of particular relevance for Jesuits, though they may be of interest to Jesuit collaborators, other like-minded persons in the Jesuit Parivar (family). They appeared in Jesuit magazines that reach out to such persons. However, non-Jesuits might also find some interest in them as well. Rudi Heredia’s own journey can be found in …
24. FULFILLING PROMISES: WHY DID I BECOME A JESUIT?
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Jesuitica: For the Jesuit Parivar
LIST OF ARTICLES WITH ABSTRACTS IN VOLUME xi
1. THE UNIQUENESS OF JESUS CHRIST
Abstract: Jesus confronts all those who come in contact with him: ‘Who do men say that I am? Here his utter uniqueness poses us with a dilemma. This paper examines the theology of Rudolf Bultmann, Oscar Cullman, Wolfhart Pannenberg and Karl Rahner.
2. JESUIT PROVINCE ADMINISTRATION: THE GOVERNMENT YOU DESERVE
Abstract: Here is the substance of a working paper presented by the writer during the ‘Province Days’ (Bombay: April 17-19, 1985). Most of the principles and statements might be applicable to other provinces. In presenting this paper on province administration, the focus will not be on the routine administration of the province curia, but rather on the governance of the province especially in terms of policy-decisions—how they are made, implemented and evaluated.
3. AN ECO-SENSITIVE SPIRITUALITY FOR TODAY
Abstract: Jesus confronts all those who come in contact with him: ‘Who do men say that I am? Here his utter uniqueness poses us with a dilemma. This paper examines the theology of Rudolf Bultmann, Oscar Cullman, Wolfhart Pannenberg and Karl Rahner.
4. CONVERSION AND CONFRONTATION: THE TALASARI MISSION EXPERIENCE
Abstract: This is a sociological study of the evolution of the Talasari mission in Maharashtra in the last seventy years. This is an analysis of the forces at work in the passage from a religious/proselytising concern to involvement in development projects and finally to the promotion of conscientization among the people in search of justice, and shows how the three are interconnected. The early section of the study, dealing with the situation of the Warlis and the history of the mission is omitted and presented in summarised form by the editors of VJTR.
5. OPENING THE DOOR: THE JESUIT MISSIONARY CONTRIBUTION TO DIALOGUE
Abstract: In their encounter with the cultures and peoples of the mission lands, the Jesuits made their best contribution to a deeper dialogue. This study will try to set the context in which this encounter took place, describe the vision which set the dialogue going, and outline the debate which led to its untimely suppression. The approach here will be sociological rather than historical, in that it will not focus on the ‘chronological inter-relationships between particular events with a view to determining their causality’, but rather on ‘the relationship between the fundamental elements of the social organism existing at the given time’.
6. SPIRITUAL EXERCISES AND NEED FOR A NEW HERMENEUTIC
Abstract: There is an urgent need for a reorientation and a renewed articulation of our spirituality. More than just a textual criticism, we need a hermeneutical understanding of the Spiritual Exercises that will make the Ignatian charism come alive for us today, by re-reading the exercises in the light of our commitment to faith-justice.
7. JESUIT HIGHER EDUCATION IN INDIA TODAY: INSTITUTIONALIZING OUR CHARISM IN THE AFFILIATING UNIVERSITY
Abstract: The dialectic tension between the ‘institutional’ and the ‘charismatic’ is inherent in any social system. Religious organizations illustrate this very convincingly. Educational institutions too, particularly when they derive from a religious, or otherwise charismatic inspiration, are also subject to this dialectic tension, and Jesuit education certainly falls into this category.
8. OPTION FOR THE POOR AND THE LOCAL CHURCH
Abstract: This article tries to deal with the questions─What does the option for the poor mean today in the wider context of the Christian tradition? How must his option be exercised in the social situation in which we and the local churches live? What sort of justice must this option promote?
Our attempt here is to initiate a search for an authentic faith-understanding and a genuine action-response to the Gospel in our situation.
9. COLONIALISM TO GLOBALISATION: REFOUNDING THE CHURCH OF THE INDIES
Abstract: We interrogate the legacy of St Francis Xavier. The challenge is to refound the churches in the post-colonial age, to inculturate, or rather incarnate the Good News in a globalising world.
10. DISCERNING TOGETHER: SOME PERSONAL REFLECTIONS ON IGNATIAN DISCERNMENT
Abstract: This article attempts to operationalise discernment into practical methodologies which were explored at a workshop at Santa Severa, Italy, in 2005.
11. PRE-EMPTIVE RESPONSE OR ONGOING DISCERNMENT: ISSUES AND CHALLENGES FOR GENERAL CONGREGATION 35
Abstract: The article is about the coming 35th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus in 2008. What leadership will GC 35 provide and whose stamp will it carry? Where will the turn in the crossroads take us and how will we respond?
12.DISCERNING THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES: A PERSONAL REFLECTION FOR GC 35
Abstract: How will the General Congregation 35 read and respond to the times? A General Congregation is essentially a process of discernment, whether it be the election of the superior general, the processing of the postulates or the decrees to be voted on. Here an attempt is made to delineate various levels in this process, the best would be a bottom-up continuous, participative process.
13. FUNDAMENTALISM AND COMMUNALISM: THE CHALLENGE FOR ASIAN JESUITS
Abstract: Religious fundamentalism and religious communalism feed on each other as they rampage across all major religious traditions today and especially South Asia: Muslim Salafis, Christian evangelicals, Hindu extremists and religious radicals of all kinds.
14. INCARNATING CHRIST IN INDIA: PEDRO ARRUPE AND INCULTURATION
Abstract: Fr. Pedro Arrupe, 28th Superior General of the Society of Jesus was a paradigm for the inculturation he so earnestly promoted and advocated in the Church and the Society. The paradox of Fr. Arrupe was that in being the more inculturated, emerged, into the local situation wherever he was, he becomes the more universally relevant to the world beyond it.
15. DEVELOPMENT AS LIBERATION: AN INDIAN CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE
Abstract: An open mind and an unsealed heart are the minimum we can require of a Jesuit apostolate. This article explores the Jesuit intellectual apostolate, as described in GC 34 Dec. 16, No. 1 on ‘The Intellectual Dimension of Jesuit Ministries’
16. MY INTER-FAITH JOURNEY : MULTIPLE IDENTITIES, MULTIPLE BELONGINGS: COMMON GROUND FOR EQUAL DIALOGUE
Abstract: More than ever we need inter-cultural and inter-religious engagements in an equal dialogue: with the poor for justice, between cultures for harmony and among religions for peace. This essay honours Father Paul Jackson, S.J., who was the founder of Islamic Scholars Association for Christian-Muslim Dialogue, and one of the earlier pioneers in this field.
17. REDISCOVERING OUR CHARISM: PRAYERFUL REFLECTIONS ON THE DOCUMENTS OF GC 35
Abstract: The most effective way to internalise the inspiration of the General Congregation Thirty-Five (GC 35) is prayerful reflection and group sharing. These are meant to facilitate an imaginative and intuitive internalising of the spirit and inspiration that a General Congregation brings, as it calls us to renew our charism and missions us to ‘new frontiers’.
18. IDENTITY, COMMUNITY, MISSION: JUBILEE REFLECTIONS FOR MY FRIENDS AND COMPANIONS
Abstract: This article looks back at Heredia’s 50 years of journey as a Jesuit.
19. COMMUNITY AS MISSION: COMMUNITY AS PROPHETIC
Abstract: General Congregation 35 has affirmed ‘community as mission’. To be a prophetic community implies that our mission too will be prophetic. Community as mission calls us to prophetic witness in both, our living and our working together.
20. INTELLECTUAL APOSTOLATE: PASSIONS OF THE MIND, COMPASSION OF THE HEART
Abstract: Unreflected activism without a solid grounding in theory degenerates into sloganeering. A concerned and thoughtful intervention in society requires both an open mind and an unsealed heart. This is the minimum we can require of a Jesuit intellectual apostolate, as described in GC 34 Dec. 16, No. 1 on ‘The Intellectual Dimension of Jesuit Ministries’
21. GC 36 & THE JESUIT RESPONSE TO THE FRANCIS EFFECT
Abstract: The ‘Jesuit imagination’ creatively expresses the inspiration of the Jesuits’ spiritual vision and mission. When they renege on our Jesuit imagination, they lose the unifying thread; and they lose the plot.
22. THEORISING A SOCIAL MOVEMENT: A NOTE ON LOK MANCH
Abstract: Lok Manch, a major initiative of Jesuits in Social Action (JESA) in the South Asian Assistancy, was begun a little over a year ago with the two Indian Social Institutes of Delhi and Bangalore as founding members with JESA. This is an attempt to conceptualise the initiative as a faith-inspired inclusive movement so that it can be up-scaled and replicated, motivated by a relevant ideology and an inspired by an appropriate liberation theology and driven by an effective spirituality of action.
23. JESUIT CONTRIBUTION TO NATION-BUILDING IN INDIA: CHALLENGING THE JESUIT IMAGINATION
Abstract: The celebration of the bicentennial anniversary of our restoration, calls for an open-ended encounter with our Jesuit past. In this sense, history as remembrance is also prophecy. Here I have focused on India and the Indian Assistancy.
24. FULFILLING PROMISES: WHY DID I BECOME A JESUIT?
Abstract: Rudi Heredia relates what his vows, taken long ago mean to him in the present.
25.ORGANIC INTELLECTUALS FOR A COUNTER-CULTURE: JESUIT MISSION IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES
Abstract: The mission of the Jesuit social scientist is to be an authentic organic intellectual not merely interrogating the terms of the discourse that frames people’s lives, but further renegotiating them to empower the powerless and to produce a counter-cultural discourse to build legitimate counter-cultural communities of solidarity for the common good.
26. THE MYSTICISM OF ST. IGNATIUS
Abstract: ‘The Christian of the future will be a mystic or not a Christian at all’ – (Karl Rahner). That future has already arrived but not fully yet. Ignatian spirituality properly comprehended has a critical place in bringing about this kairos.
27. ST IGNATIUS: SOLDIER-SAINT OR PILGRIM-MYSTIC
Abstract: The life, spirituality and mysticism of St Ignatius, founder of the Society of Jesus.
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