William J. Byron, S.J.
Privatization--A Contemporary Challenge to lgnalian Spirituality. Privatization fragments communities into isolated individuals, withdraws them from action to private cocoons. lgnatian spirituality offers a bridge between the deeply personal and the social needs of . the human person. Along with the evident economic growth and prosperity that have characterized America in the years since World War II, a social process called "privatization" has been underway. Under the impact of privatization, communities disintegrate into isolated individuals who tend to find their satisfaction in fantasy and sensation rather than action. Anyone concerned with the care and maintenence of the social order, anyone committed to the struggle for social justice, and anyone who is even halfconvinced that none will survive if all become isolated islands, will want to assess the danger of society posed by our present cultural tendency to withdraw from public action into the cocoon of privacy. Indicators of the privatization process are numerous: the private car, the private home, the private room and bath, the private telephone, radio, television, stereo and library. As theSe increase, public transportation, neighborhood community, communal recreation and celebration decline. Private schools and private property support this privatizing tendency. Private clubs, beaches, pools and planes are among the status symbols of this emerging condition. That these private objectives are not unconnected with wealth is evidenced by the fact that 241