The Australian Jesuits

SPECIAL VISITORS

It is often said affectionately that the Australian Jesuits are a very diverse group of men. As the national director of the Sesquicentenary I can testify to the many and varied ways my brothers have suggested we should mark our 150th Jubilee. In all the deliberations over the past 18 months three things have emerged for us as essential elements in these celebrations:

prayer;

the Eucharist;

exploring ways in which lay people and Jesuits can continue to promote a faith that seeks justice for all.

These are the cornerstones on which the 49 events on the national calendar rest.

At least nine guests from overseas will join us in the coming year to help us pray, to be with us at the Eucharist or to encourage us to reflect on the demands of faith that impels us to live justly:

Fr Alois Riedlsperger SJ is presently the Provincial of the Jesuits in Austria and will be with us in for the opening of the Sesquicentenary year and the Mass in Adelaide. Alois is Austria's pre-eminent social theologian and is the Director of a Catholic Social Research Institute in Vienna.

Frs Hans Hendriks, Michael Eather, John Minj from the Hazaribag Province in India and, hopefully, Frs Renato Zecchin and Herman Roborgh from Pakistan, will join us at the Australian Province Assembly in Sydney to enable us to learn from their extraordinary experiences of inculturating the faith.

Fr James Keenan, an outstanding moral theologian from Boston, will tour the country in May and June. He is being sponsored by the Order of Malta which is celebrating its 900th anniversary next year. James will be the keynote speaker at the Catholic Health Care Association Conference and the Australian Catholic Moral Theologians Conference in Melbourne.

Fr Keenan will lecture on the following topics in the mainland state capitals:
Talk 1. Catholic moral theology in the new millennium.
Talk 2. Catholic ethics and spirituality
Talk 3. Voluntary euthanasia: comparisons and contrasts in the ethical, political and legal developments in the USA and Australia.
Talk 4. Co-operation and health care.
Talk 5. Catholic moral theology and HIV prevention.
More details and contact information ...

Fr Mark Raper, the International Director of Jesuit Refugee Service in Rome and Fr Frank Ivern, the Provincial of Brazil and previously Fr Arrupe's Assistant for Faith and Justice will join Fr Frank Brennan in a national lecture tour in August. Fr Brennan is the Director of 'Uniya', Jesuit Social Justice Centre at Kings Cross.

Fr Gerry O'Hanlon, the Provincial of the Jesuits in Ireland, will join us on 19 September to be the Occasional preacher at the Mass in St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne. This day marks the 134th anniversary of the arrival of the Irish Jesuits in Australia. Gerry is a highly respected theologian in Ireland, formerly the Dean of Theology at Milltown Park and he chaired the Commission on the vocation and status of women at our 34th General Congregation.

Fr Fernando Salas SJ from Chile is the newly appointed international secretary of Christian Life Communities (CLC).

The Superior General of the Society of Jesus since 1983, Fr Peter Hans Kolvenbach, will also be joining us from 2 - 7 July, 1999.

It will be our honour to welcome you to the occasions at which we will remember the heroic faith and hard work of every Jesuit and lay colleague, in every generation, who has toiled in the mission of our province. By doing so, we pray that we may prepare for the work of the province into the next century.

Every best wish and blessing,
Richard Leonard SJ
Director, Australian Jesuit Sesquicentenary Celebrations

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Last modified: 21 Apr 1999.