Fundamentals of the Jesuits

In "Landmarking", Lucas chronicles the history of the Jesuits as they strive to exemplify Ignatius Loyola's "creative and practical attunement to his changing world" by erecting their headquarters in the hearts of urban communities. The point of this location was, make no mistake, most deliberate on Loyola's part, "they placed the emerging Society of Jesus intentionally in the psychological center of Catholic Christendom, within the sacred circle at the heart of the human city"(23). This strategy enabled the Jesuits to face the problems that plague cities head-on, and with an understanding that only experiencing them on a daily basis can bring, an idea that we have discussed in class illuminated by Calvino's "Invisible Cities" and Achebe's "No Longer At Ease".
The mission of the Jesuits is nothing short of noble and revolutionary. In the face of various advesaries, Ignatius Loyola dared to push the envelope and stress involvement in the community as an integral part to, as Kalvenbach states in “The Service of Faith and the Promotion of Justice in American Jesuit Higher Education", "the service of faith and the promotion of justice"(25), the motto of the Jesuits. The "daring" part about this mission is the social norm that such an act went against at that time. Several church leaders opposed such hands-on action as they perceived it to be degrading to the sanctity of the church when leaders for God directly associate with the people of the city.
One particularly striking depicition of the degredation that often befalls a city also happens to be the location of The Bowery, a Jesuit headquarters in New York City's Lower East Side. Lucas notes the changes over time in this archetypal immigrant neighborhood, as well as the characteristics that have constantly remained, like "the immensely high risks that immigrant children must navigate just growing up there"(18). Loyola and his Jesuits encounter the same difficulties in attempting to assimilate to a community as an outsider as these children do. As this year marks "the Year of the City" here at Loyola, I think that the fact that Loyola students, and as an institution as a whole, has seemed to isolate itself from the surrounding urban community of Baltimore, strayed away from the very mission of its founder. It is certainly true that as outsiders rather than natives to the city, approaching the community can seem daunting at first, but to avoid that contact all together seems to me a rejection of the very fundamentals of the teachings of the Jesuits.

Is Language helpful or harmful

The city is a human habitat that allows people to form relations with others at various levels of intimacy while remaining entirely anonymous." (This definition was the subject of an exhibition at the Israeli pavilion at the 2000 Venice Biennale of architecture)( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City). These relationships form a unification that can only be attributed to a city. One of the main unifiers of a city is language. Language functions not only as a form of communication but also a common bond among its individuals. Language preserves the history of a city, the culture and of the individuals in the form of stories. Its slogans inspire and functions as a unifier in itself. Edwidge Danticat in Krik? Krak! Uses story telling as a means to preserve and expose her culture and Haitian heritage. Chinua Achebe describes in No longer at Ease, the connection the character Obi feels when he hears his native language. These connections formed in language are both symbolic and literal representations of the culture and people a city encompasses. Language allows it inhabitants to become apart on not only the people of the city, but also the city itself. Loyola’s new slogan “ Year of the City” must have had an impact on the city that could have achieved inspiration and unification. The impact of the literary instances and workings both Achebe and Danticat are beyond the focused theme of Loyola.
Danticat uses language to preserve her history and the history of the Haitain people. Also, her stories evoke emotion and inspiration from the reader. Danticat is able to represent her country and uses her literary talent to form a connection between the people and their city. These stories not only form a bond or through the characters in the novel, but also with the Haitian people. These stories told in Krik? Krak! establish a perpetual historic record that was once passed from mouth to mouth. Danticat states, “When you write, it’s like braiding your hair. Taking a handful of coarse unruly strands and attempting to bring them unity”(220). The form of Danticat’s novel reveals an insight into storytelling. Danticat allows the reader to experience nine different stories all referring back to the Haitian culture and world. The connection is not only in the Haitian tradition, but also in the interconnectedness of the characters through their stories and experiences.
Obi, in no longer at Ease, feels at comfortable when his native tongue is used in a foreign city. When he meets a stranger who speaks ebou he feels at home and closer to that person. Ebou allows for a bond between two people who share the same language which connects back to their originating city. The language not only spawns connection but it also evokes emotion and memories in Obi. Language has the power to not only convey a connection but also rekindle his native city.
Language has such an impact on the unity of the people within the city. It not only defines that city, but also character. Loyola is using language to associate itself with Baltimore this year. Their theme, “ Year of the City” is suppose to evoke a passion to the students of Loyola to reach out to the city, but the slogan also sends a message to the city. By literally stating Loyola’s mission to the city, the hope is that Baltimore will assimilate Baltimore into its community and no longer see it as a separate entity of an educational institution.
Does this theme evoke any true passion among facility and students on Loyola campus? Does the city truly accept Loyola as part of the city? Instead of evoking or inspiring or even preserving, is Loyola putting a time limit on its association with Baltimore by instituting this slogan “ Year” ?

Reaching Out to Our City

In Landmarking: City, Church, and Jesuit Urban Strategy, Father Lucas's description of the Jesuit's mission calls for direct interaction with the city. It requires a connection with the city that involves service above all else. The city is of utmost importance for the Jesuits, which can be seen in the opening pages of Landmarking. Father Lucas notes that just as Romulus was claiming the city of Rome as a sacred space, the Society of Jesus also marched around the heart of Rome. He says, "Leaving the church where the newly-sainted bones of Father Ignatius rested under a splendidly decorated altar, their {The Jesuits'} procession staked their claim to the power base that they had been creating for more than seventy- five years in Rome" (Lucas 2).
He then goes on to say that, " The history of the Christian tradition is inextricably tied to the history of urban society" (Lucas 2). This illustrates the clearly dilenated purpose of the Jesuits, which is interaction with society, namely, the city.

The history of the Jesuits is filled with determination and expansion, which includes more than just the city itself. Father Francisco Javier's voyage, which resulted in an unexpected four month stop in Mozambique, " marked the beginning of Jesuit outreach to the non-European world, a movement that would eventually develop into an international network of churches, schools, and pastoral centers on every continent..." (Lucas 4). The Jesuits boldly seek to expand their horizons and shed light on the darker parts of the world. Even as land for building churches was constantly denied, the Jesuits found ways to erect ornate houses of worship, which exemplifies their dedication to their mission.

The Jesuit mission, among all of its other worldly goals, includes the promotion of education. Schools such as Our Lady of Loreto and Nativity Middle School are prime examples of the Jesuits' intimate connections with the city. At the Nativity Middle School, " Lay faculty, other religious, and Jesuits live in the dangerous neighborhoods where they work, excercising a ministry of presence as well as education" (Lucas 21). Schools such as these give kids a chance to avoid a life full of drugs and violence. This kind of interaction with the city was what Saint Ignatius advocated so strongly. Lucas says, "In Ignatius Loyola, the Church in the city found a champion and a conceptual genius, a man who was fully attuned to his urban culture, a man able to adapt and even abandon parts of the Catholic tradition in order to shape an instrument uniquely suited for the existential needs of his time and place" (Lucas 22). Thus, Loyola was a bold role model for his time in his call to participate in the workings of the community, which should be admired greatly. The Jesuit community never fails to be a beacon for the City of God, which can be seen in the opening of the Loreto school. The people attending the opening mass, " made their solemn entrance into the new basilica, which a month before had been a drinking saloon' (Lucas 19). The city makes the Jesuit community what it is, while the Jesuit community also shapes the city in which it is located. It is truly an reciprocated relationship full of enrichment.

In my opinion, we are similar to the Jesuits in what we called to do here in Baltimore. We are not inner- city citizens who are deprived of the necessities of life, rather, we are mostly priviledged middle to upper class citizens of a rich moral background. Loyola is the result of a successful method of education as insituted by Saint Ignatius, which leaves us with the duty to promote his ideas and better our surroundings in the city through service and promotion of justice. It is our duty, then, to aid the Jesuits here in alleviating the problems of the city, by reaching out to the city and serving it as well. Our place in the city should be very similar to that of Saint Ignatius, who saw the city as a place of opportunity.

Reflection and Action

In Landmarking, author Lucas devotes a few very descriptive passages to The Bowery in New York City's Lower East Side and the ways in which the Jesuits helped the impoverished immigrants escape their unfortunate situation. A Jesuit-established barroom church at The Bowery drew hundreds of Italian immigrants. When it became outgrown, the Jesuits expanded their efforts and created the Loreto School for five-hundred students from low-income families. In addition, "Jesuits live in the dangerous neighborhood where they work, exercising a ministry of presence as well as education." (21). These passsages, from page 18 to 21 inspired me to strongly examine the role of the Jesuits at Loyola; unlike the children at The Bowery, most Loyola students come from families of oppotunity and means.

If the Jesuits were so directly involved with improving the education of these poor immigrants, why aren't they more actively helping less fortunate students within the city of Baltimore? For me, what seems to be missing is the hands-on approach employed by the Jesuits of the late 19th/early 20th century. The Baltimore Jesuits that I know live in beautiful homes on an attractive tree-lined street, not in a dilapidated rowhouse in a run-down East-side neighborhood. Could it be possible that the Jesuits' focus has shifted from the active creation of justice, as described by the many examples in Lucas' piece, to a more hands-off mission like that of teaching justice to students of means who may or may not seek and promote justice themselves (Kolvenbach)?

In The Service of Faith and the Promotion of Justice in American Jesuit Higher Education, Kolvenbach writes that "The overriding purpose of the Society of Jesus, namely 'the service of faith,' must also include 'the promotion of justice.'" I think it's interesting that Kolvenbach uses the word "promotion", which suggests more of a word-of-mouth rather than hand-on approach to justice. Jesuits at Loyola are devoted to teaching students about justice and encouraging to perform service, and their focus has shifted from providing education to the poor to providing education to the privileged who may, in turn, do something about economic and social injustice in the future.

The Year of the City is another extension of Kolvenbach's beliefs and principles, which are slightly unlike those exhibited by the Jesuits described in Lucas' piece. On Loyola's Year of the City website, the mission includes three bold-face statements: 1. A Reflection of our Mission as a Jesuit Catholic University 2. A time for reflecting critically about the social realities of urban life in our time and in our city 3. A time to reflect upon the role of a Jesuit Catholic academic community in an urban environment. The Year of the City is meant as a time of reflection, not necessarily as a time for action, though Kolvenbach assumes that action will be a result of reflection. These differences make me wonder what kind of balance we should try to achieve between reflection and action.