August 28, 2018
Fr. General on Healing and Reform


Carissimi:
Fr. General Arturo Sosa has written a letter to “The Whole Society and Companions in Mission” —that means all of us, the laity and their Jesuit partners. [For the full text, click here ] His letter will guide our prayer and actions going forward. We as a parish will:

  • Deepen our faith in Christ and in one another as the People of God.

  • Share the suffering of many minors and vulnerable persons who are victims of sexual abuse and the abuse of power and conscience by a significant number of clerics and consecrated persons, among whom there are—we recognize with sorrow and shame—members of the Society.

  • Educate ourselves about what has already been learned in the past years about policies of zero tolerance, protocols for responding to cases, efforts for reparation, and programs of prevention.

  • Look to the future and deepen our understanding of the causes of these wounds, recognize our participation by action or omission in causing them, and find ways to bring about changes in the social structures that provoke them.

  • Orient our apostolic action toward bringing about a culture, within and outside the Church, capable of ensuring that situations of abuse are not repeated and that a healthy life is guaranteed to all human beings.

  • Share initiatives and actions within the apostolic body of the Society, with other groups of the People of God, and with other persons of good will committed to the eradication of this evil.

As ever,
A Continuation of the Series...
Reclaiming Jesus Part III:
"Good News to the Poor"

Carissimi, 

Last Spring, a group of 23 senior pastors published a document entitled “Reclaiming Jesus” to address the crisis of moral and political leadership that continues to polarize our nation. They began with two questions: “ Who is Jesus Christ for us today? What does our loyalty to Christ, as disciples, require at this moment in our history?”

Then they present six affirmations of faith and, after each one, what they reject “in the practices and policies by political leaders which dangerously corrode the soul of the nation and deeply threaten the public integrity of our faith.” Here is the 3 rd one:

III. WE BELIEVE  how we treat the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the stranger, the sick, and the prisoner is how we treat Christ himself. “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” God calls us to protect and seek justice for those who are poor and vulnerable, and our treatment of people who are “oppressed,” “strangers,” “outsiders,” or otherwise considered “marginal” is a test of our relationship to God, who made us all equal in divine dignity and love. Our proclamation of the lordship of Jesus Christ is at stake in our solidarity with the most vulnerable. If our gospel is not “good news to the poor,” it is not the gospel of Jesus Christ.

THEREFORE, WE REJECT  the language and policies of political leaders who would debase and abandon the most vulnerable children of God. We strongly deplore the growing attacks on immigrants and refugees, who are being made into cultural and political targets, and we need to remind our churches that God makes the treatment of the “strangers” among us a test of faith. We won’t accept the neglect of the well-being of low-income families and children, and we will resist repeated attempts to deny health care to those who most need it. We confess our growing national sin of putting the rich over the poor. We reject the immoral logic of cutting services and programs for the poor while cutting taxes for the rich. Budgets are moral documents. We commit ourselves to opposing and reversing those policies and finding solutions that reflect the wisdom of people from different political parties and philosophies to seek the common good…  READ MORE.
Wisdom from Above...
RCIA Class to Begin
RCIA Class Begins Mid-September 
 
Interested in Catholicism? Do you know a person who might like to become a Catholic? Or do you know someone who would like to find out more about the Catholic Church? Or perhaps you yourself are a Catholic who has never been confirmed? The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) will be starting in September with an 'interest' meeting on Sunday September 9 at 9:45 AM in the Parish Offices - 110 E. Madison Street. For more information or to register, contact Ted Wiese at tedwardwiese@gmail.com or Mary Jo at   maryjowiese@gmail.com . Visit the St. Ignatius RCIA webpage here .
Save the Dates for these Main Events!
Curious About the Spiritual Exercises & Ignatian Prayer?

Loyola University's Office of Mission Integration is happy to offer the Baltimore community the opportunity to pray the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola beginning this Fall. 

Our approach will be one that Ignatius himself proposed for busy people - a way to make a prayerful and potentially transformative retreat in everyday life. 

Over the course of nine months of daily prayer with Scripture, journaling and regular conversation with a guide, one can experience the same graced movements and discoveries that a privileged few get to make in 30 days of secluded silence. 

This long retreat is undeniably a commitment of time and resolve -one that may or may not be right for everyone or perhaps not right at this time. Fortunately Ignatius offers many other practical tools for spiritual growth that we can all enjoy. Loyola University will offer these as well -including weekend Ignatian retreats, 4-week Advent and Lenten retreats, evenings of prayer, spiritual reading groups and lectures. 

If you'd like to learn more about the Spiritual Exercises and lgnatian spirituality­ and how YOU might experience them, please join us: 

Wednesday September 5 (7 - 8:30 PM)
Loyola University 
Alumni Memorial Chapel   

For more information, contact:   LUMspiritualexercises@gmail.com
St. Ignatius Community Joins 75,000 Meal Challenge
Sunday, September 9 - 10 AM - 2 PM
St. Ignatius is participating in Catholic Relief Services’ 2018 75,000 Meal Challenge, hosted by the Orioles, and we need you to join our Fundraising Effort! Our goal is to raise $1,500, which would be used by CRS to send 75,000 meals to vulnerable people in Burkina Faso, West Africa. It will also support long-term projects that empower individuals to be self-sufficient. You can support our efforts by donating directly on our page or by joining our team of fund raisers ( click here ).

If you join our team, you may also be eligible to participate in the meal-packaging event at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on Sunday, September 9, from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM, which will feature appearances by The Oriole Bird and Orioles Alumni! There is also a Mass scheduled from 9 -10 AM at the park. But you must hurry and register, because only the first 400 people can participate in this fun opportunity to make a difference! Every day, thousands of people are afflicted by hunger forcing many to risk dangerous journeys hoping to survive in foreign lands. This is an easy opportunity to contribute towards the creation of a hunger-free world.
Sunday, September 23 - 1:30 PM
About the Film

Christianity was born in Palestine two thousand years ago. From there it spread throughout the Middle East and to the rest of the world.

In 1948, tens of thousands of Palestinian villagers were driven from their homes in what was officially dubbed “Operation Broom”, intended to literally sweep tens of thousands of Palestinians from their homes in the fertile hills and valleys of the Galilee, and make way for settlers in the newly created state of Israel.

For more than 60 years the Palestinians, Christians and Muslims, have suffered displacement, expulsion, wars, occupation and oppression. This is their story, in their voices, from the Nakba of 1948 until today.

There is no charge for this event

To learn more about Voices from the Holy Land, visit their website by  clicking here .
To download the flyer for Voices From the Holy Land 2018 series,  click here .
Sunday, September 30 - 7:30 PM

One of the more recent challenges for Catholic parishes is how to welcome L.G.B.T. parishioners, as well as families with L.G.B.T. members. But that challenge is also where grace abounds because L.G.B.T. Catholics have felt excluded from the church for so long that any experience of welcome can be life-changing—a healing moment that can inspire them to go to Mass again, return them to the faith and even help them to believe in God again.

On Sunday, September 30, St. Ignatius Catholic Church in Baltimore will present a lecture by Fr. James Martin, S.J., entitled  Building a Bridge: Reaching Out to LGBT Catholic,  based on his book by the same title.

How can the institutional Catholic church reach out to its LGBT members? How can LGBT Catholics reach out to the institutional church? Father Martin uses the virtues of ‘respect, compassion and sensitivity’ to build a bridge between these two important groups in our church. 

Fr. James Martin, S.J., is a Jesuit priest, editor at large of  America  and consultor to the Vatican’s Secretariat for Communication. He is the author of many books including the  New York Times bestsellers  Jesus: A Pilgrimage  and  The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything.

  • There is no charge for this event. 
  • An opportunity to purchase and have Fr. Martin sign his book Building A Bridge will be available following the lecture.

Thursday, October 4 - 7:30 PM

Angry disputes between anti-evolutionary creationists and neo-Darwinian atheists persist, but this year’s Hesburgh Lecture will show how Catholicism avoids the pitfalls of both by exploring Catholic teaching about God and creation in relationship to the natural sciences’ investigation of the natural world.
This year’s lecture will be given by Dr. Brad S. Gregory who is Professor of History and Director, Institute for Advanced Study, University of Notre Dame.

Dr. Gregory joined the University of Notre Dame Department of History in 2003 after seven years at Stanford University, where he received early tenure in 2001. He has received teaching awards at both Stanford and Notre Dame, and both of his books,  Salvation at Stake: Christian Martyrdom in Early Modern Europe  and  The Unintended Reformation: How a Religious Revolution Secularized Society , received book prizes. A former junior fellow in the Harvard Society of Fellows, Gregory teaches courses on early modern Europe. In 2013 he was named the director of the Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study. He is also a Fellow of the Nanovic Institute for European Studies at Notre Dame.

  • A reception will follow the lecture
  • There is no cost for this event 

Upcoming Events and Meetings

Embracing God's Gifts
Tuesday, August 28 - 7 PM
Click here for complete information
Birds-Eye-View 75,000 Meal Challenge
Sunday, September 9
See box above, or Click here for complete information
Iñigo Book Group
Tuesday, September 11 - 6:30 PM
Click here for complete information

Justice & Peace Committee
Thursday, September 13 - 6:30 PM
Click here for complete information

Women of the New Testament
Tuesday, September 18 - 6:45 PM
Click here for complete information
Our Annual School Supply Drive  
For a number of years, our parish has generously supported SS. James & John, the Queen of Peace Cluster School on Somerset Street which educates approximately 230 students from pre-K to eighth grade. The children who attend this school are from families of limited means, and after they pay tuition and purchase uniforms, there is little left to buy the necessary school supplies. We can help. Listed below are the items each student needs. If you are able to assist, please fill a bag (or, better still, a child’s backpack) with the items on the attached list and return it to the church by Sunday, September 2. Your generosity will be greatly appreciated.

To download this year's school supply shopping list, click here .
Worship with Offerings, Liturgy and Prayers for Others
POOR BOX 
Each weekend St. Ignatius specifies a Poor Box collection for a needful cause. This week's support goes to support the
Vulnerable Families in Crisis.

MASS MUSIC   
Attached is the listing for the music selections at next Sunday's 10:30 Mass. 
 
PERSECUTED CHRISTIAN REPORT
Weekly updates on Christian persecution around the globe. Keep a prayerful watch on what is
happening with your
brothers and sisters! 


In the Reeves Gallery
Judith Kornett's Exhibition of Ceramic Tablets based on Scripture opens this Sunday after the 10:30 Mass

Judith Kornett, sculptor and printmaker will exhibit a most beautiful series of ceramic tablets based on scripture narrative in the Reeves Gallery beginning this Sunday after the 10:30 Mass.

Judith Kornett graduated from the University of Maryland with a BFA and an MFA in printmaking. She spent the next 40 years teaching art in Annapolis, Maryland. While teaching Judith continued to be a productive artist, producing limited edition prints, fine art photography, and colored pencil and graphite drawings. Since 2008, Kornett has concentrated on ceramic sculpture, using both hand- built and thrown forms to create her work. Through this work she explores form, imagery and surface, with an emphasis on pattern, texture, and color.  READ MORE
In the Media
Protesters, including survivors of clergy sex abuse, stand outside the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, D.C., Aug. 26. (Julie Bourbon)

Protesters Outside Churches call for Wuerl's Resignation, Church Reform

W ASHINGTON — A group of about 30 protesters, including survivors of clergy sex abuse, stood outside the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, D.C., Sunday morning, calling for the resignation of Cardinal Donald Wuerl, end to cover-ups, and greater inclusion of the laity in church leadership.

Wuerl, who was bishop of Pittsburgh for 18 years before coming to Washington in 2008, has come under fire following this month's  Pennsylvania grand jury report  documenting 70 years of abuse in six dioceses in that state. He has lost credibility in the eyes of many calling for reform.

Wuerl, who canceled a trip to Ireland in which he would have participated in Pope Francis' visit to the  World Meeting of Families  this weekend, presided at the 8:30 a.m. Mass at the cathedral in Washington. READ MORE
Where Do We Go From Here?

As I began reading reports of the Pennsylvania grand jury, two memories stuck out in my head. In the sixth grade (2002), a classmate insultingly called another a “priest.” The other promptly replied, “I ain’t no rapist!” The second memory came as a Jesuit novice. I was using the computer at another community and saw someone had previously searched things like “nubile” and “boys touching".

When I read the flow of news articles, tweets, Facebook posts, and commentaries on the Pennsylvania grand jury report, I couldn’t help but throw my hands in the air and marvel at the lack of progress we’ve made. Throughout my life, I turned to my Catholic faith for healing and consolation. I cannot imagine the pain of those who sought similar comfort, but found destruction. And now we’re reliving that pain, driving the spike deeper. READ MORE