The Australian Jesuits

150 YEARS
1848 - 1998

In 1848, Jesuits from the Austro-Hungarian Empire were sent into exile, and two young priests, ordained only six weeks, emigrated to the 12-year-old colony of South Australia. This web site celebrates what has happened in the 150 years since.

The Australian Jesuit Sesquicentennial web site is largely based on the 1998 Summer edition of Jesuit Bulletin, edited by Michael McGirr SJ, available from the Australian Jesuits.

HOMILIES

Homilies given on various occasions during the year are available in full, as advertised in the Spring/Summer 1999 Jesuit Bulletin.

Rev. Bill Lawton - Sydney 24/4/99
Fr. Kevin Long - Perth 22/6/99
Bishop Michael Putney - Brisbane 1/8/99

LETTER OF WELCOME

Dear colleagues and supporters,

In the letters of St Ignatius and in his Spiritual Exercises, gratitude, memory and imagination are among the most valued gifts the Lord can bestow. Ignatius constantly encouraged his friends in the Lord to remember in detail the goodness of God and to be consoled by those memories.

With the Sesquicentenary of the arrival of the Society of Jesus in Australia the Jesuits, and those with whom we minister, are given an opportunity to seek and demonstrate these gifts.

It would be easy to do nothing during 1998/99 to mark our Sesquicentenary, but that cannot be our way of proceeding. Formed as we are in the Spiritual Exercises, we all seek opportunities to be imaginative, to remember and to express gratitude.

The motto of the Sesquicentenary is, 'We have no other boast than the cross' (Gal. 6:14), very familiar to most of us from the stirring anthem written by Fr Christopher Willcock SJ. The third verse of this same anthem, a masterful rendering of 2 Cor 6:8-9, places the celebrations in their proper context:

See now the time of grace is here.
We are understood as impostors,
where indeed we speak the truth.
We are understood to be dying,
but you see we are alive.
We are people threatened by death,
but you see we are not killed.

The celebrations over the coming year are not an opportunity for us Jesuits to exaggerate our importance or to overstate our contribution to the Church within which we minister. They give us pause, however, to take up Fr Kolvenbach's challenge to work with all our friends and lay colleagues to prepare for the future with hope and vigour.

I would like to thank Fr Richard Leonard SJ, many other Jesuits and lay colleagues across the country who have worked so hard to see these celebrations come this far. I am sure the fruit of their labours will have long lasting benefits for all of us. I warmly invite each of you to join us is in these celebrations and commend the Province to your prayers.

'We have no other boast,
We have no other name than the name of Jesus the Lord
We have no other boast than the Cross.'

Yours sincerely in Christ,
Daven Day SJ
Provincial

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Last modified: 29 Sept 1999.

The Australian Jesuits

150 YEARS1848 - 1998

HOMILIES

LETTER OF WELCOME

150 YEARS
1848 - 1998