Fairfield University’s Center for Faith and Public Life has been awarded a two-year, $200,000 grant from the Ford Foundation to study the education of undocumented students at Jesuit universities. Fairfield University will lead the project, collaborating with Santa Clara University in California and Loyola University Chicago.

Under the grant, a research study will seek to survey and understand the social context and current practices and attitudes in American Jesuit schools of higher education regarding undocumented students. The study will consider, among other things, structures that support or challenge the higher education of undocumented students; best practices and strategies for ensuring their eventual success; a potential collaborative model for helping students as they move through their university years; and issues facing students after graduation.

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I’ve received a few dozen emails today from fans of ‘gadget’ who wanted to know if they were supposed to abstain from meat all through Holy Week. (Strangely enough, several of them weren’t even Catholic.) — Well I could write this and that, but I think it’s better just to post what’s on the books in Catholic Canon Law.

Canon 1250 All Fridays through the year and the time of Lent are penitential days and times throughout the entire Church.

Canon 1251 Abstinence from eating meat or another food according to the prescriptions of the conference of bishops is to be observed on Fridays throughout the year unless (nisi) they are solemnities; abstinence and fast are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and on the Friday of the Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Canon 1252 All persons who have completed their fourteenth year are bound by the law of abstinence; all adults are bound by the law of fast up to the beginning of their sixtieth year. Nevertheless, pastors and parents are to see to it that minors who are not bound by the law of fast and abstinence are educated in an authentic sense of penance.

Can. 1253 It is for the conference of bishops to determine more precisely the observance of fast and abstinence and to substitute in whole or in part for fast and abstinence other forms of penance, especially works of charity and exercises of piety.

Bottom line… go ahead and have that cheeseburger today.

Here’s a little news item that will be of interest for fans of director Martin Scorsese, the author Shusako Endo, or the Society of Jesus.

From the MTV Blog: “Based on Shusako Endo’s historical novel of 17th century Japan, it’s the story of two Portuguese Jesuit priests who travel to Japan to investigate the fate of their mentor, and to continue the spread of Catholicism in Japan. But they find the Christian population driven underground, their mentor in prison, and a political and religious climate that is fraught with danger, torture, and personal anguish. It has been a dream project for Scorsese for more than a decade, although he only just announced his intention to film it this past summer. He plans to start production in New Zealand later this year, though he has no distibutor yet (finding one shouldn’t be a problem), and will be financed by his collaborator Graham King.”

I know a lot of people, many of my brother Jesuits among them, who drew strength and inspiration from this book. If you’ve never heard of Endo, or read “Silence” you owe it to yourself to crack it open and see a side of religious life that isn’t often portrayed in religious or anti-religious media. — In other words… it’s worth a read.

I’ve hesitated posting anything about the work the Society of Jesus was doing in the wake of the earthquake in Haiti because I was afraid that our loyal fans would see it as an attention grab. However, now that the media attention and celebrity blitz over the human tragedy on this small island nation is fading, I think it’s appropriate to bring to the public eye what some very dedicated individuals, Jesuits and laypersons alike, are doing under the banner of the Society of Jesus.

From NJN: “The Jesuit presence in Haiti is a valuable one, often exceeding the ability of better-financed agencies to reach the people. Dr. Nockels praised in particular the work of Brother Jim Boynton, a Detroit Province Jesuit who helped coordinate the response from the novitiate, as well as the volunteers from Team Rubicon and the Haitian Jesuit novices.

Medical personnel fear that the next crisis to hit Haiti will be an epidemiological one, in which contagious disease will spread like wildfire. People are huddled together in highly-cramped conditions, said Dr. Nockels, and already diarrhea caused by drinking dirty water is becoming a concern.

	“I don’t want those suffering to be exploited,” said Dr. Nockels. But it is good that the word is getting out. “They need help, and the Jesuit community is providing the best help they can possibly get,” he said.”

This is but the tip of the iceberg. In Washington, DC – just two floors above me, Jesuit Refugee Service has been working tirelessly since the quake to get resources, manpower and logistical support into the area. Jesuit institutions around the country, and in fact around the world, have dug deep to find ways to help the relief services. — It’s times like these, when being a good person who wants to make the world a better place simply isn’t enough, when the traditions and charisms of the Jesuits and our worldwide network really makes sense.

From the Daily Mail: “My advice, as a Christian priest, is to shoplift,’ he told his stunned congregation at St Lawrence and St Hilda in York.

‘I would ask that they do not steal from small family businesses, but from large national businesses, knowing that the costs are ultimately passed on to the rest of us in the form of higher prices.

I somewhat understand what this priest was trying to say. He’s not really saying, “if you’re poor, you have a license to steal.” Rather, he’s making a social commentary about a society that has much wealth, and yet in which people go without the most basic necessities. — In that respect I can admire his moxy and rhetorical style: sometimes it takes some shock value to get across a message that has been heard time and time again. I can’t fault him for using such a style as I am prone to doing the same in my homilies.

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From Catholic News Service: The Catholic Church needs healthy debates between theologians to increase the understanding of faith, but the debate must always uphold official church teaching and must be conducted in a way that does not confuse the faithful, Pope Benedict XVI said.

The 12th-century theological debates between St. Bernard of Clairvaux and Abelard, a French theologian, demonstrate “the usefulness and necessity of a healthy theological discussion in the church, especially when the questions debated have not been defined by the magisterium, which always must remain an essential point of reference,” the pope said.

To an outsider, this address might be of little consequence: just another “papal thing” being handed down from the Vatican that may or may not have any real consequences for the billion+ members of the Catholic Church. After all, Pope Benedict is essentially saying, “we should debate the things that are important… but never forget your responsibility to the well-being of the Church.” If you’re a Catholic just trying to live your life as best you can, this might mean an occasional story about a hot topic, or a theological issue being brought up in a homily… perhaps a mainstream media article or two… but not much else.

However, for those of us who have dedicated our lives to serving the Church and her people, and for whom following the “sign of the times” have often put us at odds with the magisterium, this is welcome, if somewhat guardedly so, news.

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This item was brought to my attention by one of our brighter Jesuits – Fr. Lan Ngo, SJ – currently in doctoral studies at Georgetown University. He’s been closely following Rome’s creation of the “Anglican Option” which will allow members of the Anglican Church, both laity and clergy, to smoothly transition into the Catholic Church while retaining their Anglican traditions and identity.

Fr. Tom Reese, SJ — A California Province Jesuit and the former Editor of America Magazine — has written an insightful piece that looks a little more deeply at Rome’s movement to reconcile the Anglican faithful.

From the Washington Post: “The Catholic Church has always been willing to accept individual Anglicans who want to join the church. For more than a decade, it has allowed married Anglican priests to act as priests after they were ordained by a Catholic bishop. What is new in these procedures is the possibility of admitting not just individuals but groups and even whole dioceses. Cardinal Levada, prefect of the Congregation for Doctrine of the Faith, said that 20 to 30 Anglican bishops have enquired about union with the Vatican.

Also new are provisions for personal ordinariates, headed by a former Anglican bishop or priest, where the new Catholics would be allowed to preserve their Anglican spiritual and liturgical heritage. These ordinariates are similar to ones that minister to the military in various countries and could even have houses of formation to train future priests. “

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From Catholic News: “Pope Benedict XVI has established a special structure for Anglicans who want to be in full communion with the Roman Catholic Church while preserving aspects of their Anglican spiritual and liturgical heritage, said U.S. Cardinal William J. Levada.

Anglican priests who are married may be ordained Catholic priests, but married Anglican bishops will not be able to function as Catholic bishops in keeping with the long-standing Catholic and Orthodox tradition of ordaining only unmarried clergy as bishops, Cardinal Levada said.”

First, let me preface any discussion by saying that this is nothing new. Anglicans have long had the choice to be in full communion with the Catholic Church and there are many former Anglican priests (some of whom are married) who have become Catholic Clergy. What this DOES do is to create a framework within the Catholic Church for members of the Anglican Church to be welcomed back into communion with the Catholic Church without abandoning their Anglican origins. In other words, the Pope just made it possible for an Anglican to take on a Catholic identity without disavowing the faith in which he/she was raised.