Heythrop Library
for those who have died recently. May they rest in peace.
Editor: Maria Fernanda Lopez Assistant Editor: Frances Murphy
Editorial group: Denis Blackledge SJ, Eileen Cole, John Paul de Quay, John Green and Adam Shaw.
To protect our environment, papers used in this publication are produced by mills that promote sustainably managed forests and utilise an Elementary Chlorine-Free process to produce fully recyclable material in accordance with an Environmental Management System conforming with BS EN ISO 14001:2004.
Address for correspondence: 11 Edge Hill, London SW19 4LR T: 020 8946 0466 E: info@jesuitmissions.org.uk
From Fr Provincial
In his proclamation of the 2025 Jubilee, Pope Francis reminds us that an ‘interplay of patience and hope’ characterises following Jesus. As disciples, trusting in God, we confront the future with a confident hope. At the same time, we plan and organise our pilgrimage of faith with care, prudence and patience. Not every good thing for which we hope becomes ours immediately. Part of hoping is a peaceful waiting. Part of working hard is a focus which looks forward calmly. We strive to achieve what is asked of us but without impatience.
In April of the Jubilee year, the Jesuits in Britain are allowing the interplay of hope and patience to shape our life in a new way. Our work as a charity has until now been exercised by a group of historic trusts. This spring we will
become a charitable incorporated organisation, a CIO (read more on page 22). We go full of hope into the next phase of our activities in Christ’s service: we also practise patience as we make sure that our administrative structure meets the needs and expectations of our times.
Among the blessings, related to the change, for which we are hoping is a more collaborative leadership across the various parts of the family of Jesuits and those who share our vision. The Provincial is now hoping to share the exercising of various responsibilities with other Jesuits, at home and abroad, and with other partners in mission. Patience is needed to find the best ways of allowing the CIO arrangements to enable us to give of our best. We are waiting not for the most efficient committees, though
they will be very useful, but for a renewal of our ministry.
Our service of the gospel and of the poor will be better if we patiently allow our charitable set-up to be overhauled. The improvement will be above all spiritual, though we are also hoping for increased efficiency and procedural simplicity. Patiently, and sustained by Jubilee hope in the Lord, the Society of Jesus is, in the next few months, allowing itself to be reincorporated. As part of the body of Christ, we are rearranging the limbs of our charitable endeavours so as to obey the commandment of love, from now on, in a way organised around the needs of the present moment and of the time to come.
Fr Peter Gallagher SJ
What is life like for Fr Matthew Power SJ and the Jesuit novices living in Manresa House?
A new commission on Jesuit brotherhood is welcomed by Br Ken Vance SJ
Laura Angarita visited a Jesuit Missions partner project in China. 10 In this Jubilee year, JRS UK’s refugee friends who face immigration detention are among those most in need of hope –Eileen Cole explains why.
John Paul de Quay follows John Gerard SJ into and out of prison.
A special guest at Farm Street Church during Advent represented unity and hope, as Maria Fernanda Lopez heard.
16 Fr Philip Harrison SJ helps us to find the ‘God of surprises’ forty years after Gerard W. Hughes SJ wrote his seminal book.
18 If there is one word we need to focus on when we think of Syria, it is hope, says JRS country director Fr Vincent de Beaucoudrey SJ.
20 Marianna Beltrami shares the LSRI’s plans for the 10th anniversary of Laudato si’.
21 From Azerbaijan to Brazil –continue the COP journey with Adam Shaw.
22 Prayer and Province news.
23 Praying with the pope.
MANRESA HOUSE: A home for vocation
Fr Matthew Power SJ and five of the novices who are under his direction give us a taste of what life is like in the Jesuit novitiate. From the ecological foundations of the building itself to the prayerful and practical exercises that take place within it, Manresa House works for the greater glory of God.
Manresa House in Harborne, Birmingham has been the Jesuit novitiate (house of first formation) in Britain since 1977. Recently renovated, it is the home now not only for novices of the British Province but also for those of four other European provinces (France and French-speaking Belgium, Irish, Czech and Slovak) and one region (the Low Countries). There are currently eleven novices (six in the second year, five in the first). Five share here something of their experience of our distinctive house and life.
Arriving at the novitiate –Samuel Gercˇák (Slovakia)
My very first visit to Manresa House was in February 2023 for the enquiry
weekend. At that time, Manresa House was still in the process of being built. By the time of my second visit, in August 2023, when we officially started the novitiate, the building was more-or-less complete. However, there was always some work going on, so every time I left for an experiment, there was some change in the house when I returned after those six weeks away, either small or big. That has quite a symbolic meaning for me because it reflects my spiritual journey during that time. I can say that the condition of the house mirrored the condition of my soul and closeness to God during those times.
When I arrived, I was also undergoing a renovation process and a lot of work needed to be done on me. But with every pastoral placement, more and
more was built. I can compare the big difference between Manresa House when I first arrived and when I returned after the most recent experiment, to the difference in me between then and now. The building process of my soul and my movement towards God will never stop. It is a whole life story, but I believe that with each new phase, I will be able to see the change that will serve for the greater glory of God.
Living in the new Manresa House – Joseph Beakhouse (Britain)
Pope Francis describes the ‘ecology of daily life’ as a way of relating the integral development of human life to the settings in which people live their lives. ‘These settings influence the way we think, feel and act...when it is disorderly, chaotic or saturated with noise and ugliness, such overstimulation makes it difficult to find ourselves integrated and happy.’ (Laudato si’, §147)
Manresa House tries to compose us to live and work more beautifully together.
The setting for the Jesuit novitiate in the new Manresa House cultivates a kind of ecology of daily life. The things that make up the novitiate –the house, chapel, bedrooms, furniture, library, kitchen, living room, dining room and garden – are practical aids in the conversion of our thinking, feeling and acting towards the end for which Christ has called us. The ecological features of Manresa House (solar panels, an electric vehicle
Manresa House, August 2023
charger and heat pumps, for example) intimate something of the ethic of care that underpins our life together. Manresa House provides a scaffold for community life and tries to compose us, novices and Jesuits, to live and work more beautifully together.
Manresa House impressed me when I visited as an enquirer over a year ago. It struck me as a place crafted with care – care for those who dwell here, and with consideration for how it sits in relationship with our local community. The novitiate disposes us to pay special attention to the way we care for people in and through our spaces and places; life in Manresa House frames the way that God cares for us through created things and, through us, reaches out to care for others that we encounter in our neighbourhood and apostolates. This ecology of daily life gives us a taste for beauty, which calls us to conversion and draws us into deeper communion with one another in our common home.
An overview of novitiate formation – Tim van de Veen (Netherlands)
St Ignatius writes about the novitiate as a place of growing in spirit and virtue, which can be understood as growing in relationship with Christ and growing in freedom to translate this loving relationship into concrete action.
The foundation of this is laid at the beginning of the novitiate when we make the Spiritual Exercises. In the novitiate, this is developed further in three areas mainly: our personal prayer life, our community life and our apostolates.
The building process of my soul and my movement towards God will never stop.
Each of us starts the day with about an hour of personal prayer, and we pray the examen twice a day. During spiritual direction there is an opportunity to reflect on our interior lives, as well as our lives in community and in the apostolates, and to develop them further.
Our personal prayer is complemented by daily Mass and by praying together as a community at the end of the day. Our community life is further sustained by shared meals, and we are encouraged to show our care for one another by doing humble tasks such as cleaning, making small repairs in the house, or cooking. In the afternoon we work in the garden or do sports. We also follow different courses on various topics, such as spirituality, and the history of the Society and its mission today.
As Jesuits, we are called to lives of service: therefore, we have a weekly
placement out of the house and are sent to various missions (‘experiments’) five times during our noviceship. Last year, for example, we worked in a care home and went on pilgrimage. There, we learn to be available and to adapt ourselves to changing conditions in order to find Christ in all things.
Weekly ‘apostolates’ –Jovy Macholowe (Britain)
The apostolates, which are weekly placements outside the novitiate, are as various as serving food to the homeless, accompanying refugees and assisting in a Catholic middle school. These provide a valuable opportunity to put the lessons learnt in the Spiritual Exercises into practice. My co-novice and I spend Fridays in a school talking to the students, praying with them, and fielding tricky questions such as: ‘do you get paid?’; ‘why be single if the Bible says “be fruitful and multiply”?’; and, perhaps the most incisive, ‘do you own a PlayStation?’
We are sent out in a pair, fuelled only by coffee and the assurance that, as Fr Arrupe SJ said, ‘more than ever we are in the hands of God’. Often, we are the recipients of great kindness from students and staff. I have on occasion been hit in the face with a football, or (far more frequently) lost a game of badminton in a spectacular
St Nicholas Day celebration – friends in the Netherlands sent everyone a chocolate letter corresponding to their first name
Vilém from the Czech Republic volunteering at the Brushstrokes project for refugees and homeless people
fashion, providing me with a muchneeded lesson in humility. I am edified by the honesty and gentleness of the students, and their enthusiasm for video games and the things of God.
One Friday, we gave a talk on the discernment of spirits, and identifying the subtle ways in which we might be misled. Countless examples abounded of how ‘just one hour of video games’ descends into a whole day spent gaming. I was impressed by how students could discern the impulsive movements of the bad spirit and the signature of the good spirit – true joy, peace and encouragement –and provide examples of when they felt this.
I find myself learning much more than I teach. On our first day, we introduced ourselves to some students; at the end of the conversation, one student turned to us and spontaneously said, ‘I will pray for you’. It is a consoling thought and a reminder to pray for all those we encounter.
The European dimension – Zdeneˇk Drštka (Czech Republic)
Once you enter the Jesuit novitiate in Birmingham, as I did some sixteen months ago, having successfully dealt with travel difficulties through Vienna, Munich, Frankfurt and Brussels, you almost certainly meet someone who
comes from a slightly different part of the world than the one you were born in. Do not be surprised, then, if you realise you are being greeted by someone who has also been recently welcomed to the UK and who knows the comforting feeling of some kind words on the threshold of a new house, a new style of living – a new world.
Discovering our diversity in community is a great way to be always close to the God who is one in three and three in one.
Currently, there are eleven novices from five different European countries.
Each one of us comes from a specific environment, with our own family roots and cultural backgrounds. What looks natural for one of us could be peculiar for another. There is not a single day without any surprises.
Nine of those eleven young men (whose ages range from 19 to 45) are not native speakers of English –and every single one of us speaks his English in a different way, which is a very good school of patience for everyone, especially for the native speakers. Fr Peter Gallagher, Provincial of the Jesuits in Britain, has proposed that we call the novitiate in Birmingham ‘the Englishspeaking European novitiate’; well, at least we try!
But where we try the most is in mutual understanding. It is helpful to recognise that the world really is various and multifarious. With such a pied beauty to our novitiate life, we can more honestly confess: ‘Glory be to God for dappled things!’ With each new thing learnt we can focus even more on our God, whom Pope Francis likes to call a ‘God of surprises’ (as did Fr Gerry W. Hughes, as you can read on pp. 16-17!). Discovering our diversity in community is not only a perfect base for understanding that unity is not a uniformity; it is a great way to be always closer to the greater God who is one in three and three in one.
The novitiate community at prayer in the chapel
First and second year novices
Brothers IN CHRIST
Br Ken Vance SJ welcomes a new commission that will explore the vocation, formation and mission of the Jesuit brother.
In 2024, Jesuit brothers had extra cause to celebrate the feast of their patron saint, Alphonsus Rodriguez. On that day, 31 October, Fr General Arturo Sosa announced the formation of an International Commission on the Jesuit Brother, the first meeting of which took place in Rome in January of this year. It will concentrate on three areas: the identity and mission of the Jesuit brother in today’s world, the formation processes, and vocations promotion.
Of the 14,000 Jesuits in the world, over 10,000 are priests and almost 800 are brothers. (The rest are scholastics and novices – Jesuits in formation.) A combination of factors is responsible for this comparatively low percentage of brothers – an inadequate understanding of the Jesuit brother’s vocation, historical and contextual reasons, and a somewhat distorted understanding of the Jesuit vocation, which is predominately overshadowed by the priestly ministry.
Whilst a brother’s vocation is nonclerical and does not require them to administer the sacraments or say Mass, the last General Congregation of the
Jesuits clearly stated that: ‘All members of the Society, in a variety of social and cultural situations, have been graced with the same call to follow Jesus poor and humble.’ It’s the same mission, but on a different path, which is reflected in the fact that nowadays the formation of brothers is similar to that of priests, without the clerical dimension.
The annals of the Society of Jesus are shot through with examples of the contribution brothers have made to this rich historic tapestry. Visit San Ignazio Church in Rome, or the Jesuit churches in Vienna and Ljubljana, and you can marvel at the magnificent architecture and paintings of Andrea Pozzo. Guiseppe Castiglione’s influence on Chinese architecture and art, during the reign of three emperors, can be found in Beijing’s Forbidden City. Bento de Goes’s knowledge of Persian led his sixteenth-century superiors to send him through Central Asia in search of a rumoured hidden kingdom of Christians. Nearer home, in recusant times, Nicholas Owen spent his life building priests’ hiding holes, thereby ensuring the survival of Catholicism in Britain.
Today, the apostolic work that brothers do is as varied as the men themselves. Probably the most famous is Guy Consolmagno, Director of the Vatican Observatory. In Britain, the assistant to the Provincial and the Delegate for Pastoral Works – Stephen Power and myself, respectively – are both brothers. Geoff te Braake ensures that the accounts of each Jesuit community are kept in order. Meanwhile, the team at St Beuno’s benefits from the contribution of Alan Harrison, who was previously, for many years, deputy head of St Ignatius College in Enfield. And you will currently find Mikhael Ahmad in Paris, where he is in his final year of theological studies at the Facultés Loyola, and Francis Erzuah studying information technology at St Andrew’s University.
The work of the International Commission is particularly relevant at a time when the Church is seeking to renew its forms of presence and service in the world. The Jesuit brothers, with their rich tradition of service in fields as diverse as education, healthcare, administration and technical work, represent a vital witness to consecrated life in the contemporary world.
FIND OUT MORE
Discover what it is to be a Jesuit brother or priest at jesuitvocations.uk
Jesuit brothers celebrate the feast of St Alphonsus Rodriguez in 1922
Br Ken Vance SJ (back row, 4th from right) at a meeting of European Jesuit brothers in 2024)
A MISSION OF COMPASSION AND SERVICE: Visiting Casa Ricci
Laura Angarita recently visited a project in China with whom Jesuit Missions has partnered for more than ten years. What did she take away from Casa Ricci?
Matteo Ricci, the first Jesuit missionary to arrive in China, dedicated his life to fostering cultural and academic exchange between China and the West.
His legacy of service and compassion lives on today through the work of Casa Ricci, an organisation set up in the late 1950s in Macau under the visionary leadership of Fr Luis Ruiz SJ.
Casa Ricci began its mission by caring for refugees and migrants coming to Macau from mainland China. Later, it extended its services to care for the elderly, support individuals with mental and physical disabilities, and provide education for social workers.
At the beginning of this century, its reach expanded to serve persons affected by leprosy or living with
HIV-AIDS in mainland China. Today, Casa Ricci remains steadfast in its commitment to serving those most in need with compassion and dedication.
Jesuit Missions has partnered with Casa Ricci for more than ten years, supporting initiatives such as their HIV hospital programmes.
It was impossible not to feel the intensity of the sisters’ commitment and the deep care they extend to every patient.
In November 2024, I had the privilege of visiting Casa Ricci and witnessing their extraordinary work firsthand. During my two-week stay, I was profoundly moved by the palpable
sense of hope and goodwill that infused every corner of their operations.
Casa Ricci closely collaborates with the local government and other religious volunteer organisations to deliver vital humanitarian care to individuals affected or infected by HIV and leprosy.
The sisters overseeing daily care are a cornerstone of this work. They provide exceptional, personalised attention, creating care plans tailored to the unique needs of each patient. These plans include medical and psychological support, food assistance, and community-building activities that nurture connections among patients and their families.
Casa Ricci is led by an inspiring Argentinian Jesuit, Fr Fernando Aspiroz, who, much like Matteo Ricci, has devoted his life to his mission. Drawing inspiration from Fr Ruiz, he serves those in greatest need and finds profound joy in bringing happiness to others.
Laura (right) and Fr Fernando (back) with some of the Casa Ricci sisters (Photos: Jesuit Missions)
On a visit to a project in mainland China
One of the most meaningful aspects of my visit was meeting the sisters who dedicate themselves fully to this mission.
Although we faced a language barrier – I don’t speak Mandarin, and they don’t speak English –their passion and dedication transcended words. It was impossible not to feel the intensity of their commitment and the deep care they extend to every patient.
What stood out to me most was the way the sisters build a sense of community that goes beyond the patients they care for each day.
They provide hope and strength to overcome illness, while also encouraging family support. Additionally, they work tirelessly to break the stigma associated with diseases such as HIV within families and the wider community.
Despite the many challenges they face – from being far from their own communities, to working in difficult conditions with patients whose hygiene practices are sometimes rudimentary – the sisters’ resolve never falters.
Their ability to provide compassionate care in such circumstances is both inspiring and a testament to their resilience and unwavering faith.
My visit reaffirmed the critical importance of Casa Ricci’s work and the profound impact it has on the individuals and families they serve. It was a reminder of the transformative power of compassion and the essential role partnerships like ours play in sustaining vital missions like theirs.
Another deeply moving aspect of my visit was the warmth and hospitality I experienced.
Everyone, from project staff to beneficiaries, welcomed me with open arms. It felt as though they had eagerly awaited this visit, and their joy in sharing their work and lives with me was
REFLECTION FROM FR FERNANDO
Mother Teresa of Calcutta used to say that the fruit of faith is love, the fruit of love is service, and the fruit of service is peace.
Although she did not mention it, hope is certainly the word that makes all these connections ‘fruitful’ or even possible.
Because a hopeless faith is incapable of engendering love, a hopeless love would never become service, and a hopeless service is sterile and would never give birth to real peace.
From the very beginnings of Casa Ricci, we have started projects or services in apparently hopeless situations, where deep despair, suffering, shame, lack of dignity and discrimination seem to be the rule, and not the exception.
But the somehow unexpected coming and presence of the sisters among these situations starts to connect human lives and set change into motion.
Their deep faith, gentle love and patient service bring forth a transforming power that brings light, warmth and meaning to these painful human situations.
This is none other than the transforming power of hope that Teresa of Calcutta suggested without mentioning it.
Without the presence and witness of these courageous sisters, none of these things would be possible. And without the support of Jesuit Missions, their presence wouldn’t be possible.
evident. Their openness and kindness left me feeling deeply connected to the mission and its people.
For me, as the International Programmes Officer of Jesuit Missions in Britain, partner visits go beyond monitoring projects.
They are opportunities to engage personally, reflect on the impact of our collaboration, and gain a deeper understanding of the challenges our partners face. These visits also strengthen the Ignatian relationship that grounds our shared mission and renew our commitment to the values we hold dear.
I began this piece by mentioning Matteo Ricci and Fr Ruiz because their legacy resonated deeply during my visit. Through organisations like Casa Ricci, their vision of compassion and service not only endures but transforms lives and fosters hope.
Casa Ricci’s work today is a faithful continuation of its beginnings and a living embodiment of the Jesuit mission.
MEET MATTEO RICCI
Visit thinkingfaith.org/tags/ matteo-ricci to read Ricci’s story.
DETAINED AND dehumanised
For JRS UK’s refugee friends, immigration detention is a terrifying prospect or even, for some, a reality. Eileen Cole conveys a sense of the pain caused by detention and describes just how the practice is contrary to a belief in innate human dignity.
Immigration detention is a hidden phenomenon. It is concealed from public view, either beyond reach in the countryside or surrounded by high fences on the edges of airports, where the sounds of the plane engines can be heard by those inside.
Though hidden from sight, the number of people entering immigration detention continues to grow, reaching over 19,000 last year. The decision to detain someone is an administrative one, meaning it does not go before a judge and lacks any independent oversight.
The UK is the only country in Europe without a statutory time limit on detention. The physical and mental repercussions of this indefinite incarceration for people who, in many cases, have already experienced war, persecution, torture or trafficking, are staggering.
In theory, immigration detention is to facilitate the removal of individuals who no longer have the right to reside in the UK, yet in our experience there is often little tangible progress made on someone’s case during the period of their detention. And ultimately most people in detention are released into the community, begging the question of what purpose detention really serves except to strike fear into the hearts of migrant and refugee communities.
The experience of the immigration process
Many people are required to sign in regularly at reporting centres, which are Home Office buildings, or sometimes at police stations, as part of the immigration process. People
are often detained when reporting, without warning, but may also be detained at home or in the streets.
This uncertainty means the fear of detention hangs over the entire immigration system. The women and men we serve describe their experience of the reporting process, and of being held in detention, as overwhelmingly traumatic and distressing. Anguish builds, with anxiety-filled sleepless nights, as the date for reporting comes around. When reporting, interviews by detention enforcers may be arranged without warning, without legal advisors, and people feel pressured, for example, to sign documents they don’t understand.
People often feel tricked or trapped during these interviews. They frequently endure long waits without food or water, from early morning until late at night, exacerbating their distress. The use of unnecessary force, including handcuffing and restraints, is common and deeply humiliating for people, who are often given little or no explanation about why they are being detained, where they are being taken, or what will happen next,
leading to confusion and fear. In this way, detention abruptly disrupts lives, separating people from their communities and loved ones, and leaving them feeling isolated and vulnerable.
Overall, the experience is marked by a sense of powerlessness, fear and uncertainty, with detainees feeling like their lives have been upended without warning or justification.
How JRS UK accompanies people in detention
For over forty years JRS UK has accompanied people in detention. We undertake weekly welfare visits to the Heathrow detention centres (Colnbrook and Harmondsworth) to provide advice, support and accompaniment to people held there. On a typical visit, we will see between twenty and thirty people, providing advice on different needs that they might have, including speaking to a solicitor, helping them access critical healthcare services, or securing practical items such as clothes and phone credit.
Through accompaniment and befriending, we stand alongside people held in detention, listening attentively, even when we know there may be nothing we can do to secure their immediate release.
READ MORE:
JRS UK’s report, ‘Detained & Dehumanized: The impact of immigration detention’ is available at jrsuk.net/publications
How can Catholic Social Teaching help us think about immigration detention?
Catholic Social Teaching emphasises human dignity, the call to hospitality, solidarity, advocacy for justice, and the importance of pastoral care and integration. These principles collectively shape a compassionate and just approach to the complex realities faced by migrants and refugees today.
Inherent human dignity of all Refugees and asylum seekers possess the same inherent dignity as anyone else, which must be respected and protected. ‘In the foreigner a Christian sees not simply a neighbour, but the face of Christ Himself.’ (Erga migrantes caritas Christi, §15) The Catholic Bishops of England and Wales have underscored that immigration detention violates this inherent human dignity and urged the government to cease detaining people.
Due process and legal protections
The Holy See has called for legal frameworks to ensure that the rights of migrants and refugees are upheld, including the right to a fair hearing, access to legal representation and the ability to present their case without delay. By contrast, research from JRS demonstrates that immigration detention systematically obstructs access to justice, in the UK and across Europe.
A refugee friend shares his experience of receiving a visit from a JRS UK social volunteer:
‘I’m not getting out much but I saw Richard yesterday, t’was really nice. Invigorating, really, and we prayed together. Me and him click. Like a house on fire. And he is a dad of three boys. So, he’s like a dad figure … a bit of a hippy one if I must say. He’s a really nice guy.’
Advocacy against arbitrary detention
There must be clear criteria governing any detention that does occur, to ensure that it is not arbitrary, nor punitive, and is fully respectful of human rights. The Holy See has highlighted the need for judicial oversight of detention to prevent abuses and ensure accountability, for as long as immigration detention continues to be used.
Special considerations for vulnerable groups
Particular attention must be given to groups within the refugee population including women, children and those with special needs. The Church highlights that some people require additional protections and support during the asylum process, and their detention should be avoided whenever possible.
The role of the Church and communities
The Church encourages local communities and parishes to engage in pastoral care for refugees and asylum seekers, providing support and assistance during the asylum process. The Church's mission is to ensure that refugees are treated with compassion and respect, reflecting the love of Christ for all people.
In the year ending September 2024, the majority of people leaving UK immigration detention centres were released back into the community, having suffered weeks, months or even years of indefinite incarceration. For what purpose?
Detention denies people basic goods: freedom , community, the ability to contribute to society or participate in family life and legal processes.
by John Paul de Quay
Not you, John Gerard. It appears you have friends in high places. Maybe they think you can be turned.
You will be in the custody of your protestant uncle. Go to protestant Church if you know what is good for you
At the Queen’s privy council some months later
I would like to negotiate the release of my nephew. I am prepared to pay bail. Not likely.
Have you succeeded in persuading him to go to ‘our Church’?
By Warrant of the Queen’s privy council* you are to be imprisoned for the crime of being Catholic.
Then we will refer matters to the bishop of London. Send JOHN to him along with this letter.
I have to admit that my efforts in the matter were unsuccessful.
Listen, John. This letter indicates there are people looking out for you. Come. Let us discuss your religion.
I have no doubts about my Catholic faith.
In that case you will have to stay as my prisoner.
YOU WILL SHARE YOUR QUARTERS WITH MY CHAPLAIN.
I have no choice in the matter. I am at the mercy of the magistrates.
SO
Goodnight, John
Goodnight, ChaRLES Are you ready to discuss religion? How about your idolAtry of mary?
about papal infallibility?
It is hopeless, he has argued two days solid. I cannot go on.
John, I have done all I can for you. Take this letter of recommendation for your release to the privy council.
At the Privy Council
I have a letter of recommendation from the Bishop of London.
“I understand my faith, and do not want to discuss it, still less to learn from you what I should believe.”
Do you really think your good works can save you?
“As you don’t stop blaspheming and cursing the saints and the Church, I shall defend my religion!”
Hmm I see. This letter recommends you be locked up till you become a law-abiding citizen.
You will be sent to Marshalsea prison. ‘Hell on earth’ may help you come to your senses. Time for plan B. Operation hand-wash.
Apart from debtors, we specialise in pirates…
There is an age old proverb; if you want to learn a trade, get into
is
If
idea of a
The accommodation offers varying degrees of comfort. The worst is for the poorest debtors.
With their lives, as quickly as possible thanks to the the hellish conditions. But don’t worry you will have one of the better cells. You are a more lucrative customer. More profitable alive* How then do they pay?
You what? Most of these Catholics await execution!
“Three or four times those sureties had to be renewed before I could go ahead with my plans to leave England and join the Jesuits. At last, however, The chance I had been awaiting for occurred.” My friends were persistent in their attempts to free
I will not flee for his sake.
“There were four seminary priests in one chamber, and yet notwithstanding the jailers often searching, they have some privy places to hide their massing trumpetry.”
I am involved in a plot such that if it fails I am already a dead man. Go. But
A royalVISIT
Fr Dominic Robinson SJ spoke with Maria Fernanda Lopez about the themes of unity and hope that emerged from the King’s recent visit to Farm Street Church, a remarkable occasion that resonated beyond its walls.
On the morning of 17 December 2024, the interior of Farm Street Church was filled with expectation. The 175-year-old Jesuit parish was hosting a service that felt profoundly significant, not just because of the historic visit of King Charles III, though his presence certainly added a momentous air. Nor was it only the gathering of Christians from across denominations, people of all faiths and none, to reflect on the ten years since the invasion of Mosul and the Nineveh Plains by Daesh (ISIS). It was the way these elements came together – history, unity and hope – to create an Advent service unlike any other.
In the heart of central London, a diverse congregation had gathered, their voices rising in prayer and song, both in English and Aramaic.
For parish priest Fr Dominic Robinson SJ, this was a moment that spoke directly to what churches can do today. ‘We live in an age when Christians need to come together to build the kingdom in the midst of a secular society in a way which includes everyone.’ That unity was palpable in the service, co-hosted by the Catholic charity, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), and inspired by the resilience of Iraqi Christians.
When asked why moments of unity like this are so important for the Christian community today, Fr Dominic’s response was heartfelt. ‘I think they’re vital for two reasons. Firstly, Christian churches are diminishing almost across the board –not quite the case with some of the independent or Pentecostal churches
– but that diminishment means we must work together.’ He paused, then added: ‘But the main reason is that we really do share a desire to sow seeds of hope, to make a difference in the world, to promote the kingdom through proclaiming justice, peace, reconciliation and love.’ For him, collaboration cannot be optional: ‘It is absolutely vital that the churches work together. There is no future in our remaining in silos. The only future is in building Christian unity.’
The service was a celebration of hope, as rebuilding and reconciliation happens. ‘In 2014, thousands of Christians had to flee and made their way to the Kurdish capital, Erbil, where they were welcomed in by three churches, but principally the Chaldean Catholic Church.’
ACN has been instrumental in the reconstruction phase, supporting the rebuilding of churches and homes in the Christian town of Qaraqosh and other settlements in the Nineveh Plains, enabling thousands of families
Fr Dominic Robinson SJ and the King walk through the historic Farm Street Church. All photos: Marcin Mazur / ACN
to return. They also helped establish the Catholic University in Erbil, where most Christian families sought refuge after the invasion.
‘We were marking a message of hope that, ten years on, through the work of ACN, those people are able to go back; their schools, churches and hospitals are reopening, and reconciliation centres are springing up.’ The Iraqi community’s participation in the service highlighted this message, and was a reminder of what faith and unity can achieve even in the face of devastation.
The presence of King Charles III added another layer of meaning. It was a historic moment for Farm Street Church at the end of its 175-year jubilee, but also for the Catholic community in Britain. As Fr Dominic ponders: ‘Who would have thought that this was possible even fifty years ago?’ While the times of Jesuits being held in the Tower of London are very distant now, the sight of a monarch in a Jesuit church, standing alongside a diverse congregation, was a powerful symbol of unity and mutual respect.
‘I was thinking of the last time that a monarch could have visited a Jesuit church and I’m not sure that has ever happened in England. The Jesuits were under suspicion for so much of the seventeenth century, after the Gunpowder Plot. So, these resonances are very real for me, and it says to us that we’ve come a long way and that we have very similar visions of what the Christian Church can be about.
I think that has to be good for the parish and for the whole Church.’
Fr Dominic walked alongside the King after the service as he met with some of the most vulnerable members of society: those persecuted and forcibly displaced in Iraq, and homeless parishioners. I asked him what was going through his mind during those encounters. ‘I couldn’t help but be moved by the desire of so many to meet the King and I was grateful for his support. It highlighted for me that those at the bottom of society need to be brought into the centre.’
A monarch in a Jesuit church, in a diverse congregation, was a powerful symbol of unity and mutual respect.
This service was an occasion for the parish to come together in its diversity, Fr Dominic tells me, and to embrace ‘what a Jesuit church in the centre of the city is all about’. And what is that, exactly? ‘The focus on going to the margins, to bring in and really help those most in need, who are abjectly poor in the middle of a city of such great contradictions, and where there’s such a gap between rich and poor. And doing it in collaboration with others, as part of the Church and part of the Christian community, at the heart of the secular city’, he explains. ‘It struck me, throughout all the planning, that this is what the Jesuits have always done
in our city centre missions and what we’re called to do more and more.’
Iraq’s journey of recovery, with schools and churches reopening, is seen by Fr Dominic as an example of what can be achieved elsewhere, a testament to the enduring strength of communities when supported by faith and solidarity. For him, this service was a message of real hope. ‘Of course, the situation still isn’t perfect in northern Iraq, but as when Pope Francis recently visited Mosul and Qaraqosh, we were marking hope in the midst of what was a really dark tragedy ten years ago. And if this can be done, then for Christians who are persecuted for their faith where there is conflict in the name of religion, extremism and terrorism, there’s hope as well. And of course, as it was Christmas, we were thinking especially of the land of Jesus’s birth.’
As the congregation filed out into the crisp Advent air, their hearts and minds were full. This was not just a service; it was a call to action, a moment to reflect on how unity and hope can transform lives. ‘An occasion like this invites a discernment of what’s most important in a life of Christian discipleship’, Fr Dominic shares. ‘Reaching out to those most in need who are part of that one family of the Church is something that I think will continue to resonate’.
In a world often marked by division and despair, this service was a reminder of the light that can shine when faith, history and hope come together.
The King meets with attendees after the special Advent service
Fr Dominic Robinson SJ with Cardinal Vincent Nichols to his right, followed by Archbishop Miguel Maury Buendía and Archbishop Athanasius Toma
IN GOD At home
If you were inspired by Gerry W. Hughes’s God of Surprises, which was published forty years ago, a collection of his other writings can help you to find your home in God, says Fr Philip Harrison SJ
This year marks the fortieth anniversary of the publication of God of Surprises by Gerard W. Hughes SJ (1924 - 2014). Many readers are quick to recall the passage in which he describes being put to bed by one of his elder sisters at the age of three. He explains how he sat on the edge of the bed and uttered out loud the word ‘God’. He wrote: ‘I can still
remember why I did it. I wanted to see what would happen.’ That early curiosity was the start of a life-long trajectory that would lead him to find his home in God, and help many other people to do the same.
He was born in Skelmorlie in Ayrshire in 1924 and joined the Jesuits in 1942. After a number of years working at
Stonyhurst College, and as a university chaplain, he moved into the field of Ignatian spirituality to which he would devote the rest of his life. His ministry as a writer, speaker and spiritual director brought him into contact with people all across the globe. God of Surprises was published in 1985 and would go on to sell over 250,000 copies. Since 1962 he had been writing essays for The Way, the Ignatian Journal of Christian Spirituality published by the Jesuits in Britain. They were published posthumously in a littleknown volume called At Home in God The book gives an insight into the thinking that generated some of his best known insights.
‘The grace of God will lead us to know Him in our own images and concepts.’
Brendan Callaghan SJ writes in the foreword that ‘it was his willingness to share his struggles that made Gerry such a welcome guide to those of us aware of our own’. Those struggles consisted not least in a bewilderment at a Church still beset by division, a society where injustice still reigned and a world still threatened by violence. He chose to respond by thinking critically about the challenges he perceived and deftly moving his faith onto firmer ground, from where he could invite others to join him.
One of the recurrent themes in the essays is Christian maturity. He understood many of his contemporary struggles to be the result of a faith unchanged since infancy. He wrote: ‘The process of growing up is a learning not to cling, a gradual letting go of those securities which, if I continue to cling to them stifle my life.’ He had learned the necessity of educating hearts as well as minds as a schoolmaster: ‘Our heads are over-educated, our hearts and our feelings neglected, and so we cannot relate humanly to each other.’ Rather than telling people to grow up, he
Gerry W. Hughes SJ (Photo: Edinburgh Peace and Justice Centre)
recognised the need for a gradual process of becoming ‘ready and strong enough to move into a wider circle of life and experience’.
Many of the essays in At Home in God draw upon his ministry as a university chaplain in Glasgow from 1967-1975, a post from which he was expelled and reinstated twice. Confronted by the unending curiosity of his students he wrote: ‘I used to be interested in dogma: I am even more interested in it now, but in a different way, having spent some years listening to people talk of their understanding of doctrinal and moral teaching, and observing the huge gulf between the theologian’s world and the people of God.’ He discovered he was called to be an intermediary between the authority of the Church and a younger generation so as to create ‘a welcoming place, an area of freedom within the university where students are encouraged to think through their faith and express their own opinions without fear of condemnation, are allowed to exercise initiative, to enjoy the liturgy and contribute to it’.
Although Gerry encouraged the critical thinking of his students, his own staunchly critical mind was always tempered by love. He could question the relevance of the Spiritual Exercises while deftly turning aside to their ‘forgotten truths’ that would speak to the confusion of his own times. He has left today’s spiritual directors with the conviction that it is by grace that the Exercises will bear fruit for subsequent generations: ‘St Ignatius was a man of his time, and thought in the images and within the parameters of sixteenth-century culture. We do not have the same images or the same worldview, and we do not need to force ourselves back into the sixteenth century. The grace of God will lead us to know Him in our own images and concepts.’ It was always clear to him that his beloved Spiritual Exercises were ‘the most powerful instrument for renewal in the Church’.
He saw that the renewal of the Church could only take place through the
Characteristics of Gerard W. Hughes’s spirituality Fr Brendan Callaghan SJ
• His insistence on a spirituality rooted in the human and in the humanity of Christ;
• His concern for those who found themselves marginalised by the Church;
• His engagement with people struggling with belief and unbelief;
• His alignment with and his support for those working for peace and justice in the world;
• His reluctance to be confined by divisions and boundaries within and among Christian Churches.
‘It was his willingness to share his struggles that made Gerry a welcome guide to those of us aware of our own.’
reconciliation of its divisions, within and without. One essay incorporates his retreat notes from the meditation on the ‘Two Standards’. He ponders the speech that Lucifer would make to his demons: ‘You will find your religious listeners are divided into two camps, called “progressive” and “conservative”. The more you can encourage the division, the easier it is to infiltrate both sides.’ That insight rings just as true today as it did then, as does his advice to look within the depths of our own spirituality to heal those fractures: ‘The most radical ecumenism is ecumenism
within our own psyche. It is only insofar as we are able to accept ourselves that we are able to accept others.’ Perhaps it was his own self-acceptance that enabled him to share his struggles with others and by doing so help them in theirs. His curiosity about God still inspires us today. If we are faithful to that curiosity we will surely discover the renewal for which we still yearn in the Church, in society and in the world: ‘In trying to be still and let the truth of His resurrection break in, it seems to be a truth too good and too great to be fleeting, to end in death and be no more.’
BUY THE BOOK
At Home in God by Gerard W. Hughes is available by emailing Ms Elizabeth Lock at Way Books (the.way@campion.ox.ac.uk).
FROM SYRIA hope with
Describing what life in Syria has been like in the past weeks and months is all but impossible, says Fr Vincent de Beaucoudrey SJ, but one word must define the future: hope.
Writing about Syria a few weeks in advance of the publication of this magazine, I feel a bit like Francis Xavier writing to Ignatius, unsure of when his friend will read the letter. These days, a few weeks can feel like a few years. Just two months ago, we would never have imagined being here, out of Assad’s era. So, while I cannot share any ‘news’ on Syria with you, I will try to tell you about our spirit in these changing days.
Uncertainty is perhaps the best word to describe our recent experience: in such a rapid transition, events moved faster than we could process.
On Thursday 28 November, I thought it was impossible for Aleppo to fall. Yet, the next day, it did. For the following week, we prepared for the war to start again, near Aleppo, then in Hama … and thank God it did not happen. We spent the entire week making plans that we were ultimately unable to implement. And when the regime fell, it was almost difficult to believe it was over.
But uncertainty is not only in the past; today is still unclear. We do not know for sure who is leading what, and even less what Syria will look like in a few months or years –politically, economically, socially…
We desire to play our part in building a society founded on reconciliation.
In the face of such uncertainty, hope is possible! And we have some signs of hope: the prisons have been opened, freedom of speech has been restored, and the obvious corruption that permeated every aspect of our lives has been addressed. It feels like a jubilee from the biblical tradition.
But to be hopeful, you need some energy, and Syrian people are tired. Tired from thirteen years of war and conflict (and that is still ongoing in the north-east of the country, and new
tensions are emerging these days in the south and in the Alawite Mountains). Tired from the unending collapse of the economy (now people are often paid less than $50 a month when the minimum cost of living is more than $200). Tired of living amid ruins and seeing nearly all the energetic people leave the country (for example, more than 6,000 Syrian doctors are working in Germany).
And if you are too tired to be optimistic and celebrate the changes in the country, you might also feel fear, as there are good reasons to be afraid: the transition has led to instances of looting, retaliation and violence. This is particularly true for minorities, and for the Christians among them. Certainly, the new authorities are sending positive signs to the different confessions, but it is also true that some groups or individuals would like a more overtly Islamic country.
As Jesuits, we must help people prevent fear from dictating their lives. Refusing to take part in the building of the new Syria would be a self-fulfilling prophecy, so there is a certain duty to embrace hope. How can we invite such optimism while acknowledging tiredness and fears? This is our
A child receiving a food parcel in Aleppo as part of the earthquake response
challenge, in the three main apostolic fields of the Jesuits in Syria.
1. The challenge of fostering hope lies first of all with us Christians and those who work with us. Our joy will come from, for example, the young people volunteering in our pastoral activities in Homs or Aleppo, and we will try to make this joy communicative. Through such care of one another, as much as through catechesis or the celebration of Mass, we witness to the hope of the gospel – not a naïve optimism but a hope grounded in reality, which Ignatian spirituality helps us to cultivate.
2. The entire country needs to learn how to speak. When I arrived in 2019, I had to learn how not to speak about politics. To do this without losing my mind, I had to learn not to think about it. We made a few exceptions, such as my first visit to Hama, when the Jesuits told me sotto voce how the town was martyrised in the eighties by Assad’s regime. But mainly, to live in Syria, one had to accept the rule of not speaking or thinking about anything vaguely related to politics. After fifty years of dictatorship, people have to learn how to use their new freedom, to learn a new vocabulary. As Jesuits, we would
like to take part in that, especially through the medium of the arts and through facilitating sharing, expanding what we have been doing in our community centres over the last years.
In the face of uncertainty, hope is possible! But to be hopeful, you need energy, and Syrian people are tired.
3. It is not our place, nor that of any church, to take a political side. But could we be agents of reconciliation in the places where we have decided to carry out our activities in recent years with the Jesuit Refugee Service? We have chosen to be present in Bab Sbaa – an area of Homs where the war was fought between neighbours; in Sakhour – an outskirt of Aleppo that was under control of the Islamic State; in Jaramana – a suburb of Damascus where internally displaced persons from all over Syria have crowded together; and in Kafroun, serving remote and poor Alawite villages. In all these places, we are in contact with vulnerable people, offering educational activities and various forms of support, including literacy classes, parenting
support, youth groups, psychosocial services and even medical care. However, none of these activities is enough for us; we desire to play our part in building a society founded on reconciliation, where people can share in the experience of a positive interdependence. The wounds of the war, the divisions within the country, and the global idea that autonomy is always better are challenging us. Yet, if we can, if we find the support we need, if God wills it, we will continue.
Everyone is consumed by all the good and bad news, by hopes and fears… and social media is increasing tensions, especially since we have no means of verification. The inner compass we received from the gospel calls us to hope – a balance between doing everything we can and knowing that the world is already saved; between our faith in a God who is counting on us and accepting that the results are not solely in our hands. In a country ravaged by despair, may our Lord help us offer hope.
Fr Vincent, a French Jesuit, has been serving in Syria since 2019 and now leads JRS Syria. He is grateful to the British Province for his year at Heythrop College and Wimbledon in 2011–2012.
Clockwise from top left: a doctor explaining referrals to a beneficiary with a disability in Aleppo; children colouring at a psychosocial support workshop in Homs; women making sweets during Ramadan as part of the Community Building Project in Homs (all photos: JRS Syria)
TEN YEARS ON FROM Laudato si’ – what next?
In 2015, Pope Francis’ encyclical ‘on care for our common home’ changed the way we saw the world. Marianna Beltrami tells us how a decade of scholarship and practice inspired by Laudato si’ is reaching a crescendo.
Ten years ago, in his encyclical Laudato si’, Pope Francis advised us to look at the world through a new lens. From climate change to inequality, from forced migration to poverty – will we see how these challenges are interconnected? At first, this may seem to make things more complicated. If our various crises are linked, there will be no ‘quick fix’ or ‘easy solution’. But by recognising this interconnectedness, Laudato si’ argues we might find ourselves in a position to address our challenges in the best way – not piecemeal, but holistically.
Pope Francis even provided a new term to encapsulate this vision: integral ecology. Via integral ecology, we realise that environmental challenges are connected to culture, economics, politics – and, yes, to religion. As we face a complex world with a complex set of challenges, integral ecology reminds us to hold these domains together as we seek to address the problems and generate solutions.
An integral ecology perspective also shapes the tools we may wish to take up and the partnerships we may want to pursue. Laudato si’ called for creativity, education and dialogue, and for the inclusion of all forms of wisdom – not only those that originate from ‘western’ scientific and technocratic assumptions.
‘If we are truly concerned to develop an ecology capable of remedying the damage we have done, no branch of the sciences and no form of wisdom
can be left out, and that includes religion and the language particular to it.’ (Laudato si’, §63)
Pope Francis addressed his message to ‘all people of good will’, and this certainly includes the higher education sector! Academic research has much to contribute to an integral ecology approach, but also much to learn. In contemporary university settings, ecological questions are often compartmentalised, with different departments working in isolation. This fails to address the interconnectedness of our global situation and risks missing crucial points of convergence and enrichment. The crises we face today urgently require walking together for the common good.
At the University of Oxford, the Laudato Si’ Research Institute (LSRI), based at Campion Hall, is promoting this vision of integral ecology. The LSRI, founded by the Jesuits, carries out research that embraces the interconnectedness of all life, both the social and the ecological.
This April, the LSRI will further explore this vision at a major international conference, ‘Theology & Integral Ecology: New Approaches to our Planetary Crisis’. Scholars and interested parties working in theology, philosophy and ethics will consider the relevance of Pope Francis’ vision, ten years after it was first presented in Laudato si’.
But true to this vision, the conference will provide a space for Catholic theology to engage with other disciplines and approaches via the integral ecology framework. Creation theology will encounter earth system science, Christian anthropology will dialogue with indigenous knowledges and geographies, and eschatological hope will be applied to politics. Over two days, we will explore how theology can be enriched by this encounter and provide a platform for interdisciplinary engagement. What synergies can be found? What new and original understandings of today’s socioecological issues can we craft? How will theology and the Catholic Social Teaching tradition be enriched through productive encounter with one another?
Join the conversation ‘Theology & Integral Ecology: New Approaches to our Planetary Crisis’ will take place in Oxford from 24-25 April 2025. For more information and to register, visit: www.lsri.campion. ox.ac.uk/conference2025
Photo by Lawrence Aritao on Unsplash
Via integral ecology, we realise that environmental challenges are connected to culture, economics, politics and religion.
COP? A FAIR
Adam Shaw insists that the momentum that Jesuit Missions and their partners took into COP29 will carry forward to this year’s conference in Brazil.
As the curtain came down on COP29 in Azerbaijan last year, many of those who took part weren’t sure how to feel.
Some promises had been made, but they didn’t go far enough. There was plenty of talk, but would that translate into meaningful action? Marginalised groups tried to make their voices heard, but they were left with a clear reminder of the gap between richer and poorer nations.
A joint venture between organisations from Europe and Africa – Jesuits for Climate Justice – published a global statement that called for an effective Loss and Damage Fund, debt cancellation for climate efforts, and a just energy transition.
This statement informed a campaign organised by Jesuit Missions that encouraged UK residents to sign postcards detailing the demands, which would be delivered to the Prime Minister.
A month before the start of COP29, British Jesuit Provincial Fr Peter Gallagher SJ joined pupils from four London Catholic schools to hand over more than 600 signatures to 10 Downing Street (see photo right: Jesuit Missions).
Jesuits for Climate Justice – made up of Jesuit Missions, the Jesuit European Social Centre in Brussels, the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice in Ireland, the Centre Arrupe Madagascar, and the Jesuit Centre for Ecology and Development Malawi – also produced a series of resources for COP29.
These included daily reports outlining the key events and decisions of the previous day of the conference, daily prayers, regular reflections and a special podcast episode.
Staff from the Centre Arrupe, who attended the conference with support from Jesuit Missions, gave valuable insight into the challenges faced by a developing nation when it comes to tackling climate change.
‘Attending COP as citizens of the Global South is both empowering
and challenging’, said Henintsoa Nary Mihamina from the centre. ‘It’s motivating to share our experiences and advocate for our communities. However, it’s also discouraging to see how some discussions are influenced by fossil fuel interests or the Global North, which can overshadow the needs of the most vulnerable.’
Madagascar is one of the most biodiverse nations in the world. It is also among the poorest and most vulnerable to climate hazards. It can – and should – play a key role in climate action going forward.
Reflecting on his time in Baku, Henintsoa’s colleague, Efa Ravelonantoandro, said it is important for all parties to work together to confront the precarious state of the planet’s environment. But he, too, is under no illusions that developed countries need to pull their weight when it comes to this worldwide issue.
‘Although rich countries committed to meeting the Paris Agreement goals, their promise to provide $300 billion each year to developing nations was much less than the more than $1 trillion that was requested’, Efa said.
‘This gap shows the ongoing challenge of turning promises into real financial support, which is essential for tackling climate change in vulnerable regions.’
Jesuits for Climate Justice are well into planning for COP30 in Brazil later this year. Home to more than half of the Amazon rainforest and with the potential to become a world leader on climate solutions, the significance of the location cannot be understated.
The group will continue to hold those in power to account, demand meaningful, quick and decisive action, and repeat calls for climate justice.
And it is hoped that the Centre Arrupe will again be fully involved in the process, so that the voices of those who are most vulnerable to climate change are heard.
The Madagascan delegation at COP29 (Photo: Centre Arrupe Madagascar)
An important update for our supporters
Dear supporters,
We are excited to share an important update with you. On 1 April 2025, we will officially change the legal status of our charity to a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO), registered with the Charity Commission under the name Jesuits in Britain CIO. This transition marks a significant step forward in our history, helping us operate more efficiently and serve our communities even better.
Until 31 March 2025, we will continue to use our current legal name, Trustees for Roman Catholic Purposes Registered (also known as TRCP or TRCPR) and our existing charity numbers. From 1 April, we will operate as Jesuits in Britain CIO, with our new charity registration numbers: 1207742 in England and Wales and SC053495 in Scotland.
Your generous donations have been vital in helping us fulfil our mission, and we want to assure you that all past and future contributions will continue to support the same important causes and projects, in line with our mission and values.
Our focus remains the same, guided by these Jesuit priorities:
• Walking with those facing poverty, discrimination, or injustice.
• Accompanying young people as they find their path in life.
• Showing the way to God through the Spiritual Exercises.
• Caring for our common home, the planet.
We are deeply grateful for your ongoing support and generosity. You don’t need to take any action – your past Gift Aid declarations are still valid. However, if you’re
The act of the presence of God
In his letter announcing the Jubilee year that we are now celebrating, Pope Francis reminds us that ‘the Apostle Paul encourages us to “rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, and persevere in prayer”’. The Jesuit Institute has several resources to nourish your prayer life, including the exercise below. Find more at jesuitinstitute.org
This exercise helps us to begin prayer in the presence of God. In your imagination, become aware of God’s presence and attention to you in this very moment. It may be that you can imagine God’s face looking down upon you right now and smiling, or that you simply have the sense of God’s presence. Do whatever works best for you, whatever allows you to recognise your creator present with you, here and now.
• Take a moment to acknowledge God’s specific and loving attention to you in the here and now.
• Feel the warmth of God’s love as God looks upon you, God’s purposeful creation.
• God loved you into existence. God continues to breathe life into you now and sustains you in being. God is inviting you at this moment into an ever-deeper relationship of love.
• Just bask in that experience for a few minutes. Just as you bathe
updating your will and have kindly left us a gift, it’s worth updating our charity details.
As we enter this new chapter, we invite you to stay connected with our work. If you have any questions, please contact us at enquiries@jesuit.org.uk .
If you wish to support the work of the Jesuits in Britain financially, please visit jesuit.org.uk/donate
Thank you for being part of the wide Jesuit community. Your ongoing involvement with the Society of Jesus is a blessing to us and those we serve.
Together, we walk forward in hope and in service to others.
in the warmth of the sun on a summer’s day, so now bathe in God’s love for you.
• And as you bask in the warmth of God’s love for you, listen to what God might be communicating to you.
• As you listen, you may feel drawn to make a response, to say a few words to God in the silence of your heart. In responding to God, you may also want to ask God for something, or you may want to pray for someone.
Maybe you want to thank God for your experience of God’s unique loving attention to you, perhaps in words such as these:
‘Dear God, I acknowledge that you are looking at me in love and attending to me always and most especially in this moment. I thank you for this time we have had together. I ask you now for the grace to be able to look upon you and attend to you this day. May I also receive the grace to see myself as you see me and to see others in this world as you see them.’
RELATIONSHIP
advice
As we join Pope Francis in prayer this spring, we will find ourselves focusing on the relationships that shape our lives, writes Fr Paul Nicholson SJ.
When challenged to identify the most important commandment of all the many in the Jewish Law, Jesus singled out ‘love God’. He then, for good measure, added another, which, he said, is ‘like it’: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’ (Matthew 22:36-40). In this way, he identified our relationships, and the quality of those relationships, as central to anyone wanting to be his disciple. Looking at the prayer intentions he has chosen for this spring, it would seem, unsurprisingly, that Pope Francis agrees with Jesus.
The June intention highlights the need for compassion, a quality very suitable to be seeking in a month traditionally dedicated to the Sacred Heart. But it is a compassion rooted in a ‘personal relationship with Jesus’, and the consolation that comes from experiencing such a relationship. The pope believes that anyone who cultivates a relationship of this kind will inevitably be drawn into a deeper compassionate care for the world and its peoples. He goes further, suggesting that such compassion is contagious, so that if I do what I can, with God’s help, to learn how I myself can be more caring, others will in turn be influenced to be more compassionate in their own lives.
The other intentions in these months point to different areas of life where relationships may need to be strengthened or repaired. In March, the
pope looks at families, acknowledging that Christian family life is not always easy, and may at times even move into crisis. Far from regarding such situations as hopeless, however, the pope holds that family relationships can be given new life, with God’s assistance, and points to a couple of ways in which this might happen. Forgiveness stands in first place. That may make it possible for all those involved to rediscover, and so appreciate once again, the gifts that each brings to the family relationship, for the common good.
The intention offered as a focus for prayer in May points to a different set of relationships to be developed with God’s help, those of the workplace. Rather than encouraging a merely
superficial acceptance of those I work alongside, the pope invites prayer for fulfilment though work, noting the beneficial results this will have on both the family and on wider society. Dignity and humanisation are viewed as worthy goals to be hoped for from bringing this particular area of life before God’s loving gaze.
The ‘new technologies’ – email, the internet, artificial intelligence and the like – clearly have an impact on human relationships. This can be for good (letting people speak to and see their loved ones across continents and timezones) and for bad (the temptation to escape into an isolated world, cut off from even those closest to us). In April, Pope Francis proposes that, far from rejecting or ignoring such technological developments, we ask for the grace to use them for good, working alongside and serving the human relationships that Jesus placed at the centre of our faith.
INTENTIONS FOR THIS PERIOD
MARCH: For families in crisis. Let us pray that broken families might discover the cure for their wounds through forgiveness, rediscovering each other’s gifts, even in their differences.
APRIL: For the use of the new technologies. Let us pray that the use of the new technologies will not replace human relationships, will respect the dignity of the person, and will help us face the crises of our times.
MAY: For working conditions. Let us pray that through work, each person might find fulfilment, families might be sustained in dignity, and that society might be humanized.
JUNE: That the world might grow in compassion. Let us pray that each one of us might find consolation in a personal relationship with Jesus, and from his Heart, learn to have compassion on the world.
‘I thought I would be safe here – but detention tells a different story.’
Those are the words of Jonah, one of the thousands of people locked up in immigration detention centres in the UK, facing mistreatment, abuse and isolation.
With your support, the Jesuit Refugee Service UK is accompanying, serving and advocating for people detained in these inhumane conditions. This Jubilee Year, will you help us bring them hope?
£25 could provide phone credit so people can stay in touch with their families.
£50 could help people to access legal advice and healthcare.
£100 could support JRS UK’s work to end immigration detention
YES, this Jubilee Year I will help bring hope to people in immigration detention
Please return this form with the pre-paid envelope included with this issue, donate online at jrsuk.net/detention or call us on 020 7488 7310
£150
I enclose a cheque/postal order made payable to Jesuit Refugee Service UK
I’d like to set up a regular gift to JRS UK someone from JRS UK will contact you
I’d like to learn more about leaving a gift to JRS UK in my will someone from JRS UK will contact you
We’d love to stay in touch with you! Please let us know if you would like to hear from us: by e-mail by post no further contact please
A faith that does justice