Justice

Joe Sheehan, my novice master, told us early on that we would not remain in the Society for the same reasons we entered. This was certainly true for me. My Jesuit life has been characterized by a gradual shedding of fear and a turning toward the world as the place where Jesus wants me to be.

An important moment of conversion for me was the March 1977 murder of Fr. Rutilio Grande, SJ, in El Salvador. At that point, the 32nd General Congregation’s call to a faith that does justice became real for me, and I began an intellectual and affective journey toward a realization that everyone in the world, especially those who suffer injustice, are fundamentally just like me and loved by God just as I am.

This led me to change the focus of my academic life and, eventually, to experience solidarity with the marginalized in Peru and El Salvador. Those experiences remain the touchstones of my life, for it is in these places and in all the marginalized that I most vividly find Jesus.

The Mystical Body is real. All of us are Jesus to each other.

In the Jesuit poet Gerard Manley Hopkins’ words:

I say more: the just man justices;
Keeps grace: that keeps all his goings graces;
Acts in God’s eye what in God’s eye he is—
Christ—for Christ plays in ten thousand places,
Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his
To the Father through the features of men’s faces. 

Whether in teaching or in advocacy, the compassion of Jesus remains the beacon, the “lamp unto my feet,” guiding me onward.

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ALSO CELEBRATING 50 YEARS IN THE SOCIETY Jerzy Karpinski, SJ   Born: April 4, 1950   Entered: July 30, 1965   Ordained: July 31, 1976   Resides: Chicago, IL Robert E. Smith, SJ   Born: August 20, 1928   Entered: July 30, 1965   Resides: Omaha, NE

CELEBRATING 75 YEARS IN THE SOCIETY Joseph F. Eagan, SJ Eugene F. Hattie, SJ W. Charles Heiser, SJ

CELEBRATING 70 YEARS IN THE SOCIETY Robert W. Leiweke, SJ   George E. Von Kaenel, SJ

CELEBRATING 60 YEARS IN THE SOCIETY Hubert G. Boschert, SJ Donald A. Doll, SJ William J. Ellos, SJ Paul J. Faulstich, SJ Edward C. Gill, SJ Richard J. Hauser, SJ Henry C. Kuhn, SJ John D. Mace, SJ D. Edward Mathie, SJ Donald R. Matthys, SJ Michael G. Morrison, SJ Lewis C. Murtaugh, SJ Edward L. Pigott, SJ   Thomas N. Schloemer, SJ

CELEBRATING 25 YEARS IN THE SOCIETY Mark R. Bandsuch, SJ Mark G. Bosco, SJ Gregory J. Hyde, SJ Nicholas Santos, SJ

CELEBRATING 60 YEARS IN THE PRIESTHOOD James E. Chambers, SJ Kenneth J. Herian, SJ Frank M. Oppenheim, SJ

CELEBRATING 50 YEARS IN THE PRIESTHOOD Thomas E. Bannantine, SJ Robert J. Braunreuther, SJ Anthony L. Dagelen, SJ John P. Donnelly, SJ James L. Empereur, SJ James P. Gschwend, SJ John P. Heim, SJ John J. Kilgallen, SJ Edward J. Mattimoe, SJ Edward M. Nemeth, SJ James J. O’Leary, SJ Gene D. Phillips, SJ Luis Rodríguez, SJ John A. Saliba, SJ Richard H. Twohig, SJ   John V. White, SJ

CELEBRATING 25 YEARS IN THE PRIESTHOOD Michael D. Class, SJ