News
Fr. Paul Shelton, SJ
Father Paul Shelton Preaches as part of Eucharist Revival
The Covid pandemic took a heavy toll on our nation and our world. We were shaken, spiritually as well as physically and emotionally. Pastors have seen diminishing numbers in their congregations since 2019, with some experiencing decreases up to 25 percent.
In response, the National Eucharistic Revival is a two-year mission in the USA Catholic Church to renew and deepen our devotion to Christ, who gathers us at Mass and feeds us in the Eucharist.
Fifty Eucharistic preachers have been missioned to travel, preach, and lead prayer in service of the Revival. These preachers include several Jesuits, including Fr. Joseph Laramie, SJ, national director of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, and Fr. Paul Shelton, Midwest provincial assistant for vocations. Thus far, Fr. Shelton has preached in the Diocese of Richmond, Va., and in August he will preach for the Diocese of Grand Rapids. Mich.
“I hope this preaching mission will help people become that which they consume in the liturgy—Christ,” Fr. Shelton says.
The two-year mission concludes in July 2024 with a Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis, where 80,000 youth are expected to gather.
“Through parish missions, retreats, diocesan conferences and more, the Revival can help us to grow in our knowledge and love of Christ present in the Eucharist,” Fr. Laramie says.
For more information, visit www.eucharisticrevival.org.
Gianni Quintero (center, holding trophy)
Marquette University High School Wheelchair Racer Wins State Championship
When Marquette University High School rising sophomore Gianni Quintero was 6 years old, he contracted a virus that led to permanent paralysis in his left leg. But even as a young boy, he knew he didn’t want to give up sports.
He started with wheelchair basketball and moved into wheelchair track and field last year, at age 14. Already he has broken school records in 100-, 400- and 800-meter races, and in the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association State Track and Field Championships this June, he captured two first-place finishes.
In the 400-meter race at Veterans Memorial Stadium in LaCrosse, he bested 11 other top Wisconsin high school wheelchair racers, finishing with a time of 1:00.48. His winning time in the 800-meter race, among a field of six racers, was 2:00.32.
Keep in mind he did this all as a 15-year-old freshman.
“I get to participate in a sport for high school, and I don’t just get to sit around and really do nothing,” he said in a segment on ABC World News Tonight shortly after his state tournament success.
We look forward to his future victories.
The Jesuit Retreat Center in Parma, Ohio
Jesuit Retreat Center in Parma, Ohio Marks 125 Years
The Jesuit Retreat Center in Parma, Ohio, has been a destination for priests, religious and laypersons longer than any other retreat center in the country. Founded in 1898, the center celebrates its 125th anniversary this year.
Nestled in 57 acres of forest, wetlands and meadows in northeast Ohio about 10 miles south of downtown Cleveland, the facility serves more than 5,000 people a year, including more than 2,000 high school students and young adults. Directed retreats are available, as are seasonal retreats (Lent, Advent), and ongoing formation for spiritual directors. For those preparing for the sacrament of marriage, the center offers PreCana programs.
The center began as the Saint Stanislaus Novitiate, but superior and novice master Fr. Theodore Von Rossum, SJ, soon invited laymen to make retreats there. This grew into the Lay Retreat League, which brought thousands of men to retreats in the first half of the 20th century. In the late 1930s, Sr. Ignatia Gavin, a Sister of Charity of Saint Augustine, working at Saint Thomas Hospital in Akron, Ohio, helped usher in recovery retreats for men, and later women—work that continues today. Also, in 1937, Fr. Pedro Arrupe, SJ, arrived to make his tertianship at Parma before being missioned to Japan and later elected Father General.
For more information, visit www.jesuitretreatcenter.org.
New Life for Redesigned Jesuit Prayer App and Emails
In 2012, the Midwest Jesuits launched Jesuit Prayer, and recently the site received a makeover, updating both the user experience and back-end technology.
While the daily content remains unchanged—daily Scripture, a reflection written by a Jesuit or lay colleague, and a prayer—the site now has a fresh look, faster loading times, and the ability to create a more personalized experience, including improved translation options for more than 100 languages.
Since Jesuit Prayer’s inception, more than 550 authors from Jesuit parishes, universities, high schools, retreat houses, and other institutions around the world have shared their reflections on the Scriptures.
To date, 125,000 people have downloaded the app. Approximately 15,000 people receive the daily email, and thousands more access the content via the website, www.jesuitprayer.org. In 11 years, Jesuit Prayer’s community of readers has expanded to 156 countries. From the start, the goal has been to put the gifts of Ignatian spirituality directly into people’s hands no matter where they are, physically or spiritually.
Jesuit Prayer continues to be a collaborative online ministry of the Midwest, Central and Southern, East, West and Canada provinces. To sign up for daily emails, or to download the app, visit www.jesuitprayer.org.
Saints Peter and Paul Jesuit Church
Saints Peter and Paul Celebrates 175 Years in Detroit
Construction began on Detroit’s Catholic Cathedral in 1844, and four years later, the same year our nation’s sixth president died, the building was complete. In 1877 the diocese entrusted the church to the Society of Jesus, which used it as a base for pastoral ministries, social services and educational institutions that continue to thrive today. This year, Ss. Peter and Paul Jesuit Church celebrates its 175th anniversary.
The church, Detroit’s oldest, is home not only to the parish but also the acclaimed Pope Francis Center, which provides free meals, clothing and services to hundreds of Detroit’s homeless population daily.
“Sharing the story of Ss. Peter and Paul’s past has made me more in awe than ever of the great people on whose shoulders we stand, and the great legacy we’ve inherited,” says Fr. Gary Wright, SJ, the parish’s pastor.
In its 175 years, Ss. Peter and Paul Jesuit Church has celebrated 7,000 weddings, 15,000 baptisms and countless funerals. Today it is meeting contemporary needs with programs in the spirituality of St. Ignatius of Loyola, including “Spiritual Exercises for the City,” an Ignatian leadership development program for young adult professionals, and new children’s programming for the next generation now filling the pews.
To commemorate the anniversary, the parish plans to publish a pictorial history book and host several events this year. For more information, or to register for events, visit www.ssppjesuit.org.
Sogang University Honors its First Faculty Members
More than sixty years after the founding members of Sogang University’s faculty taught their first classes on its Seoul, South Korea campus, they returned in a way. They’ll remain there indefinitely in the form of a painting unveiled this spring in the school’s Administration Building.
The mural, which measures more than 6 feet wide by 4 feet high, was inspired by a 1960 black-and-white photograph of the school’s original 14 professors—Jesuits and lay people from South Korea, the United States and West Germany. John L. Mitchell was among them (seated, far left in the photo and mural).
A former Jesuit in the Wisconsin Province, Mitchell was a scholastic sent to Sogang to learn Korean and teach English. “In recent years I dreamed of having the photograph made into an historic mural and positioned in a place for all to see,” says Mitchell, who now lives in Salt Lake City. “So, this is a dream come true.”
Commissioned and funded by the Mitchell family, the painting was created by artist Park Hee-jung.
For more information on Sogang University, wwwe.sogang.ac.kr.
Xavier University Establishing Medical School
Xavier University President Colleen Hanycz
A new medical school is coming to Ohio, and it will be the nation’s first Jesuit college of osteopathic medicine.
Xavier University’s board of trustees unanimously approved plans to establish the school, and to construct a new complex on its main campus in Cincinnati. Construction of the College of Osteopathic Medicine’s facilities will generate approximately $125.5 million in economic impact, support more than 740 jobs, and produce $3.2 million in state and local taxes.
Perhaps more importantly, the doctors of osteopathy that Xavier produces will make an immediate impact in Ohio, which must add nearly 700 primary-care physicians to its workforce by 2030 to catch up with demand, according to forecasts from the Robert Graham Center, a Washington-based organization that conducts policy research in family medicine and primary care.
By 2033, the college could directly and indirectly support 351 jobs in the region while generating $48.5 million in total economic impact per year, and $1.7 million in state and local taxes, according to the feasibility study. Based on the proposed class size of 150 students annually, the study estimates that an additional $198 million could be added to the state economy every year, if at least 60 percent of students complete residencies and practice in Ohio.
The medical college’s focus on osteopathy — a holistic, patient-centered approach to medicine that focuses, primarily, on preventive health care — aligns well with Xavier’s identity and its Jesuit Catholic mission, says Xavier University President Colleen Hanycz. One of the core commitments of a Jesuit education is cura personalis, an emphasis on care for the entire person with an all-encompassing focus on mind, body and spirit.
Xavier is known for its strength in health sciences, as seen in the growth and success of programs such as biology, biomedical sciences, pre-professional health and health services administration. Statistically, a Xavier pre-med student is more than twice as likely to be accepted into medical school than the average student. Across the past several years, more than 85 percent of Xavier graduates who applied to medical school were accepted, compared to the national average of 40 percent.
When the new college opens, Xavier will become only the second osteopathic medicine school in Ohio and the 40th in the country.
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Photo: Steve Donisch