Tag Archives: AMDG

Celebrating the Life of Padre Guadalupe

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Source: America Magazine
By: Nicholas Napolitano

guadalupe_carney

Hundreds marched through the streets of El Progreso, Honduras, on Sept. 14 to honor the life of Jim (Guadalupe) Carney, S.J., of St. Louis, Mo. (Credit: Radio Progreso)

Last month the Jesuits of Honduras and some of their collaborators in ministry—staff members of Radio Progreso and ERIC, a social research and advocacy organization—organized a march and liturgy to celebrate the life and work of Jim “Guadalupe” Carney, S.J. The gathering marked the 30th anniversary of the disappearance of Padre Guadalupe, a Jesuit from the Missouri Province who stood with poor farmers of Honduras against the powerful and wealthy—a struggle that remains relevant for campesinos even today.

I was fortunate to attend the celebration as a member of a delegation sponsored by the Jesuits’ national office in Washington, D.C. We traveled throughout Honduras from Sept. 8-15 to learn more about Jesuit ministries in the country and how local communities are responding to the many challenges facing the country at this time. Luke Hansen, S.J., an associate editor of America, also participated in the delegation and wrote two reflections from Honduras: “Report from Honduras” (9/12) and “A Dark Night in Honduras” (9/13). (Photos are available here.) Continue reading →

New England Jesuit Father Named First Provincial of the New Central and Southern Province

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Source: JESUITS

Mercier_Ronald_NENSeptember 23, 2013 —  Jesuit Father General Adolfo Nicolás has set the feast of St. Ignatius, July 31, 2014, as the starting date for the new U.S. Central and Southern Province — a unification of the New Orleans and Missouri Provinces — and has chosen Jesuit Father Ronald A. Mercier as the first provincial. Fr. Mercier will succeed Jesuit Fathers Douglas W. Marcouiller (Missouri) and Mark A. Lewis (New Orleans).

Fr. Mercier currently serves as rector of Bellarmine House of Studies in St. Louis. He is a theology professor at Saint Louis University specializing in theological ethics, bioethics and social ethics. He also does sacramental ministry at the College Church and at St. Mary’s Assumption Ukrainian Byzantine Catholic Church.

Born in Holyoke, Mass., in 1953, Fr. Mercier is currently a member of the New England Province. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1975 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1987.

From 2006 to 2009 Fr. Mercier was executive director of the Jesuit Collaborative, a network linking ministries in Ignatian spirituality from North Carolina to Maine. Earlier he had served as dean and professor of ethics at Regis College, the Jesuit school of theology at the University of Toronto. He holds degrees in theology from Regis College and the University of Toronto as well as degrees in Slavic Studies and Russian history from Yale, Columbia and Harvard.

The Missouri and New Orleans Provinces conducted a lengthy and thorough discernment process that led to Fr. Mercier’s appointment, which included input from individual Jesuits, Jesuit communities and province staffs. [Missouri Province]