Posted: June 13

Irish excitement

(Dublin) Umbrella? Ok, got that. Raincoat? Yep, ready for Ireland. Or so I thought, not realizing how beautiful that this island can be during one of its rare summer stretches of perfect weather. The fact that I was meeting with very interesting people made my visit to the Jesuit Communication Centre all the better. This was my fourth visit over the course of more than 20 years, and the differences are striking. Alan McGuckian first invited me take a look at what the Irish Jesuits were doing when he took over the center from John Dardis. The fact that John is now the provincial of the Irish Jesuits certainly helps the center stay lively. During my first trip I remember being struck by the fact that the government paid half the salary of some of the staff because unemployment was such a problem and they decided it was better to pay salaries than welfare. Now the city is full of Polish people who have come to fill the shortfall of jobs. Fortunately, the work at the center is interesting enough that they have been able to gather a very professional staff that is now concentrating on web pages. Of course, the enormously successful “Sacred Space” began in these same offices. At first, they thought of it as an Lenten experiment that might not last beyond Easter. All of that was millions and millions of visitors ago. Now the team is developing a Content Management System to make it easier to handle the translations in 20 languages for the daily prayer site.

After a few days with the communication folk, my focus shifted to the retreat house on the sea shore where the Jesuit editors of the European cultural journals gathered for their annual meeting. The group ranges from the large journals like Ètudes and Civiltá Cattolica (from France and Italy, respectively) to Synchrona Bimata, which the Jesuits of Greece publish. The editors are very literate and move easily between talking about politics, movies, church life, history. They move just as easily between languages. English and French predominate, but everyone speaks at least two languages besides his mother tongue, so we always find some way to communicate. Plus God graced us with hands and eyebrows, which take over when words fail. The group spends plenty of time focused on the business of publishing the influential journals, but they also have the custom of inviting in local journalists and church people to talk about the situation in the country where they meet. A different journal hosts the meeting each year, so we visit a new country each year. And no, the point of the meeting is not actually tourism. But camaraderie and support are very much to the point. And there are always new initiatives. Last year we talked about Mirada Global, the online-only magazine that the Latin American Jesuits created. This year the British representative unveiled a plan they are preparing for an internet-only magazine. Whether the analysis arrives on paper or by computer, readers profit from the opinions and knowledge of Jesuits on a wide range of contemporary issues.