September 3, 2019
Carissimi:
My Italian—American parents were skeptical of priests in general and of my decision to enter the Jesuits in particular.

Nevertheless, on 6 September 1969, they brought me to the novitiate at Wernersville, PA. along with two suitcases and a portable Olivetti typewriter.

When my father looked around and saw how friendly, normal, and happy the Jesuits seemed to be, he noted: “They can’t all be lyin’.”

All the parents left and the next thing I knew, I was sitting on a narrow iron bed still clutching the handles of the suitcases and asking myself, “What have I done?”

This, as I soon discovered, was normal. One of the great maxims of the Maryland Province is, “Try to persevere to the next meal.” I did. Thousands of times.

Fifty years later, here I am, and you have me as your pastor. I look back with so much gratitude for the thousands of people, one-by-one, who loved me and allowed me to love them—baptisms, raviolis, 1 st communions, operas, marriages, martinis, annulments, administrative work, Easter Vigils, walks along the ocean, hospital rooms, funerals—and many, many Jesuits who have gone before me.

I realize too, what a young fool I was, passionately sure about this or that when I was actually unsure of myself. Some of you may have detected no change.

Certainly older, and I hope wiser, you are the joy of my life. Thank you for being with me on the journey.
PREP Notice
PREP Registration is now!
Parish Religious Education Program, Grades K-8:
Registration for returning children was held in April. New children entering PREP should ideally be registered and paid for. Please preview our program and register online by visiting our PREP website here . 9:30 Sunday PREP classes begin September 15th, 2019. Email questions to Sherri at  sherricurrie@st-ignatius.net , or phon e 410-719-7559 or 410-220-9141. Thank you. 

PREP Confirmation Ages and Groupings:
Our PREP program prepares children for the sacrament of Confirmation in a 2-year program, combining two grades. This September will be year 1 of the preparation. For more information, please pick up the green flyer in the Narthex. Thank you.  
Serving Opportunity
Saints James and John Catholic School is seeking tutors to assist 6 th , 7 th , and 8 th  grade students with reading and math. The goal is to provide remedial skills, increase standardized test scores, and mentor students in the transition to high school. Tutoring will take place at the school [1012 Somerset St. Baltimore, MD 21202] Monday-Friday from 3:15-4:15 or from 4:15-5:15. For further information, please contact Dr. Karmen Collins, principal, at  kcollins@ssjjschool.org
Worship with Offerings, Liturgy and Prayers for Others
POOR BOX 
This weekend's Poor Box support goes to the
ILoaves & Fishes Ministry.

MASS MUSIC   
Attached is the listing for the music selections at next Sunday's 10:30 Mass.
 
THE DAILY EXAMEN
Spiritual and Faith opportunities to deepen
your relationship in Christ.

Upcoming Events

Saturday, September 7 - 1 PM
LQBTQ Writing Group
See box below for complete information.
Tuesday, September 10 - 6:30 PM
St. Ignatius Reading & Discussion Group
Click here for complete information.
Thursday September 12 - 6:30 PM
Justice & Peace Committee
Click here for complete information.




Saturday, September 14 - 6:30 PM
Tim Murphy Trio & Paul Teie at Germano's
See box below for complete information.


Sunday, September 15 - 2:30 PM
An Afternoon of Chamber Music
See box below for complete information.



Tuesday, September 17 - 6:45 PM
Women of the New Testament
Click here for complete information.
Sunday, September 22 - 9:45 AM
Respect for Life
Click here for complete information.
Events - This Week and Next
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 Ignatian spirituality – and how YOU might experience them, please join us!

For more information, contact :   LUMspiritualexercises@gmail.com
A chance for parishioners to hang out together and enjoy the talents of our St. Ignatius musicians in a different venue.
The Vento Archi Trio Presents
An Afternoon of Chamber Music
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 15th, 2019  -   2:30 PM
St. Ignatius Catholic Church
740 N. Calvert Street, Baltimore, MD 21202
Free admission, donations appreciated
Maria Scott, piano - Miloš Toši ć , clarinet - Lena Seeger, strings
Featuring masterpieces by Mozart, Milhaud, Bruch
In the Area
CROSSROADS IN MUSLIM-CHRISTIAN DIALOGUE - SEPTEMBER 2019
CROSSROADS IN JEWISH-CHRISTIAN-MUSLIM DIALOGUE: A THREE-PART MINI-COURSE SERIES

The ICJS mini-courses for our 2019-2020 program year include a three-part series focused on the particularities and histories of each of the sides of the Abrahamic dialogue triangle -- Muslim-Christian, Jewish-Christian, and Jewish-Muslim. In each course we will study and discuss case studies and encounters between different Jewish, Christian, and Muslim thinkers and actors in history and the present and the ways those meetings and encounters impacted (or didn’t) their religious communities and traditions. We hope to see how the Muslim, Jewish, and Christian traditions have intersected, interacted, and interdepended for centuries.  Location of series is the Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies, 956 Dulaney Valley Road, Baltimore, MD 21204.

Each course will be offered in separate morning (10am to noon) and evening (7pm to 9pm) sessions and will cost $30 for three sessions. Click here for complete information.
Divorce, Annulment & Communion 
An Orthodox Theologian Weighs In

By  David Bentley Hart

As I am not a Roman Catholic, I cannot pretend to have any stake in—or, for that matter, any particular right to an opinion regarding—the controversy surrounding Amoris laetitia. From the vantage of Eastern Orthodoxy, there is nothing particularly scandalous in the document—certainly nothing repugnant to the Eastern Christian tradition’s understanding of Scripture, ecclesial law, or pastoral practice—but that is an observation of only the most boringly incidental kind. I do, however, know enough about the development of Christian tradition, both East and West, to note that many of the claims made by Catholic traditionalists have been wildly inaccurate. Not that this is surprising. It is always the “traditionalists” (Orthodox no less than Catholic) who tend to have the most tenuous and idealized concept of the actual traditions of their churches, and necessarily so. The one thing they cannot tolerate is ambiguity. But, alas, history is nothing but ambiguity, and the actual historical record is very rarely the traditionalist’s friend. READ MORE