With such an auspicious preface, I think a word on what I am looking to do with this would be good. I've been brainstorming recently on how best to chronicle my time at the Ignatian Solidarity Network here in San Francisco. I am a Beatitudes Society fellow in the Bay Area from June until the end of July and ISN is my placement. One of my tasks at ISN is to begin developing a network of Jesuit parishes, particularly between their various social ministries. Basically, I am trying to help create something that facilitates conversation, dialogue and mutual sharing of practices among the Jesuit parishes. The task of how to go about doing this is not difficult, but it does require a lot of 'grunt work' - figuring out who (if anyone) is in charge of social ministries at each parish, what sorts of programs they currently run, and also trying to figure out a way not to burden these folks with yet another thing that they have to do. And even before these tasks can be addressed, gathering information on what we desire for this network is important.
At the 2010 Ignatian Family Teach-In, a group of people (some from parishes, some from the ISN board of directors and others who were interested in the topic) gathered in a breakout session to discuss what a Jesuit Parish Social Justice Network would look like. Since beginning my time here at ISN, I have had the opportunity and privilege of talking further with some of these group members about their ideas for the network. The initial group discussion and now the ongoing communication between people provides a good initial effort to collaborate on this project. If the network is to survive at all, it must arise out of collaboration and continue collaborative work.
So far, I have given a very brief summary of the nuts and bolts of the project which is important, but also a bit dry. As I was thinking about how this blog would best help flesh out this project, I figured some theological reflection would help. And I turned to one of my favorite theologians, Ignacio Ellacuría, SJ.*
For those who aren't familiar with Ellacuría's life, he was the Rector (i.e. president) of the UCA (University of Central America - a Jesuit university in San Salvador) during the turbulent years of the Salvadoran Civil War (throughout the 1980s). Ellacuría often spoke out boldly against the social, political and economic injustice that was occurring throughout the country and even left the country twice for his own safety. However, he was eventually killed along with 5 of his Jesuit brothers, their housekeeper and her daughter on November 16th, 1989. The spirit of Ellacuría and the other UCA martyrs of '89 has been a large part of my life and studies since I first encountered them in college as a freshman. And in one of those quirky grace-filled moments, I discovered this opportunity to work for ISN as an opportunity to work for an organization that also breathes from the same spirit of the '89 UCA martyrs in its work. It is out of this confluence of interests that I am here at ISN working on this project.
One piece of writing by Ellacuría immediately came to mind as an accessible entry way into his thought and its connection to the Jesuit Parish Network. This is not easy to do given the difficulty of his writing and the unavailability of much of his writing in English (see his essay: "The Church as Historical Sacrament of Liberation" and you will know what I mean!). The piece of writing is Ellacuría's commencement address that he gave in 1982 at Santa Clara University while accepting an honorary degree. The key question he posed to the students and the university itself that day was: what should a genuine Catholic, Jesuit university be doing in and for the world?
In many ways, his speech raised again the difficult question that Pedro Arrupe, SJ asked Jesuit university and high school alumni in his famous speech in 1973:
"First, let me ask this question: Have we Jesuits educated you for justice? You and I know what many of your Jesuit teachers will answer to that question. They will answer, in all sincerity and humility: No, we have not. If the terms 'justice' and 'education for justice' carry all the depth of meaning which the Church gives them today, we have not educated you for justice."
Arrupe's answer is quite negative, but in a way that opens out into a discussion of how the Jesuits could improve their educational method for seeking justice in the world. In a similar vein, Ellacuría asked Arrupe's initial question, but left the answer open as an invitation to Santa Clara University and all Jesuit universities to consider the two functions of a Catholic, Jesuit university:
"The first and most evident is that it deals with culture, with knowledge, the use of the intellect. The second, and not so evident, is that it must be concerned with the social reality--precisely because a university is inescapably a social force: it must transform and enlighten the society in which it lives. But how does it do that? How does a university transform the social reality of which it is so much a part?"
Ellacuría admits that each university's response will be different because the reality in which each university finds itself will always differ to some extent. What is inspiring is that El Salvador's reality of oppression and violence against the poor majority is the precise reality that Ellacuría and the UCA attempt to address and transform - amid bombings on campus, the death of a student and what will eventually be Ellacuría's own death. At the end of his speech, Ellacuría asks, and 'how can you help us?' His question speaks primarily for the people of El Salvador and the work of the UCA, but I think it can be extended to the masses of poor and oppressed throughout the world. His answer speaks to our vocation as Christians:
"And how do you help us? That is not for me to say. Only open your human heart, your Christian heart, and ask yourselves the three questions Ignatius of Loyola put to himself as he stood in front of the crucified world: What have I done for Christ in this world? What am I doing now? And above all, what should I do? The answers lie both in your academic responsibility and in your personal responsibility."
Certainly, Ellacuría's words offer a difficult challenge to Jesuit (as well as Catholic and Christian) universities and colleges, but I think I link can be drawn to the work of Jesuit parishes. Certainly, the Jesuit parishes of the United States serve different communities that vary in their socio-economic, cultural, and political elements, yet the boldfaced portion of the quote (which is one of Ellacuría's favorite passages of St. Ignatius's Spiritual Exercises - §53) is applicable across each context. And it is clear that for Ellacuría, it is not enough to simply feed the intellect in order to provide graduates with opportunities for jobs. Similarly, Jesuit parishes cannot simply center themselves on prayer and liturgy to the exclusion of social ministry. Discerning how best to respond to one's situation - which is always in need of some transformation - requires discerning before Christ who remains crucified in the oppressed of history with an eye toward the hope of resurrection.
So the question I hold before me looking forward at the scope of this network and its possibilities is: how will this Jesuit Parish Network allow each Jesuit parish and its congregation to 'open their human hearts' to the crucified Christ present in their reality? It is obvious that each Jesuit parish is already doing this work - I certainly don't mean to imply otherwise! Yet the possibilities for ever greater dedication to social justice (for the magis) present this network with an opportunity. This question forms the ground of this project; I hope to till this ground further in the coming weeks.
*For more information on Ignacio Ellacuría's life and thought, see these two books: Ground Beneath the Cross: The Theology of Ignacio Ellacuría by Kevin Burke, SJ and Love that Produces Hope: The Thought of Ignacio Ellacuría ed. by Kevin Burke, SJ and Robert Lassalle-Klein.
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