Posted: July 7

Summertime in Rome

(Rome) Last night’s rain was a welcome respite from the bright sun that has baked this city week after week. The heat doesn’t bother me though, since my days find me sitting in front of the computer screen working on a complete redesign of the sjweb site from the ground up. One motive for redoing the site is the need to get ready for the general congregation which starts in 2008. We want to take advantage of the interactive elements of the site to make it easier to work on documents during the congregation and to share information about the congregation. For the last congregation in 1995 I helped distribute preparatory documents through what was then the very latest technology: desktop publishing. Now we have the internet and even greater possibilities. I also wanted to redo the site because of new ideas that came from the European Jesuit webmaster’s conference last spring. We talked about qualities of a good site, such as the simplicity that comes from using Cascading Style Sheets to organize a page rather than lots of arcane HTML coding. I have been itching to overhaul our site ever since then. Of course, scratching that itch is a lot of work, but it is also satisfying since it has made me aware of just how much I have learned in the past three years. Some of this new way of doing things is already in place in the Jescom pages, but soon it will be throughout the site.

Last week was quiet after the departure of all the editors of Jesuit publications from the United States who had come to Rome to meet with Jesuits here in the Curia and to see the Ignatian sites in the city. They were a big group, almost 40, and their presence made for a lively week. We visited the Jesuit churches in the heart of Rome and the rooms of St. Ignatius, and we met with the Jesuits who head various secretariats in the offices. Highlights of their visit included an hour-long session with Father General Kolvenbach and a tour of the archives. Father Kolvenbach is always charming and forthright with visitors. One of the editors told me her younger friends hold him in great admiration and carefully read his writing. “He is like a rock star to them,” she said. Well, he wowed the editors, as did Father Tom Reddy who opened up treasures from the archives which he directs. Among the most interesting items were the earliest copy we have of the Spiritual Exercises with corrections which St. Ignatius wrote in his own hand and the death mask made shortly after he died. The group had already seen the bronze copy of his head on display in the rooms of St. Ignatius; it was made from the death mask. The editors were impressed from seeing the real thing.

Of course, visitors means going out to eat a lot. After a week of that, however, I have been happy to stay home and enjoy the community’s table. Our cooks are very good so I like eating here, especially on the day after the Italian national soccer team won the semi-final game of the world cup. The following day for pranzo (the main meal of the day at mid-day) we had small Italian flags on each table, a special dessert and good wine. What will happen on Monday of the team wins the championship on Sunday? I am not really a soccer fan, but I must confess that I am rooting for the Italian team now.