Inter-religious Dialogue Survey

A classmate and fellow-scholastic of mine from DNC is doing a survey on inter-religious dialogue and needs responses from non-Christians:

World Cup Fever

In the first semi-final, Brazil and Spain were deadlocked until the last minute of normal time, when Spain struck what seemed to be the winner, only for their fans to watch in horror as one of the Spanish defenders turned the ball pass his own keeper two minutes later. And so, on to extra time. In the last minute (again!) of extra time Spain scored a controversial goal with the Brazilian keeper claiming he was kicked in the ear while he scrambled to get a hold of the ball in a goal-mouth scrimmage. In the second semi-final, Germany scored two goals in the first half and, although Argentina fought back to reduce the deficit to one goal, held on for the win.

Sarvodaya is now a Plus Two School

Flash News: Sarvodaya, the Jesuit school in Wayanad, Kerala, has been approved to offer Plus Two courses (the equivalent of a Sixth Form College) by the State Education Department. This means that Sarvodaya students can now continue to study here and reap the benefits of Jesuit pedagogy instead of having to scour around for pre-university seats.

Coming on the heels of approval of its 'minority school' status last week by the central Minorities Commission, this is a big development in the 20-year history of Jesuit involvement with the school. Having minority status means the school is protected by the Constitutional rights of minorities to preserve, propagate and develop their own culture and values. In practice, one of the most significant consequences is that the management of the institution in question has greater control over staff appointments. Thus, the Jesuit identity of the school can be further strengthened and the Ignatian outlook of our staff better developed.

A Week at Eachome

As I come to the end of a physically tiring yet psychologically enervating week where I found myself as an adhoc substitute teacher (English, IT, Maths, Music!), I just wanted to share a few highlights of the week that was at Sarvodaya, Eachome:

Characteristics of Jesuit Education

(Below is an abridged/edited version of a speech I gave at the awards function last Tuesday at Sarvodaya High School.)

Respected Chairman, distinguished guests, parents, teachers and my dear friends.

We are gathered here today for two reasons. One, to inaugurate the school club activities for this year. Two, to felicitate the students who obtained high grades at last year's SSLC (Kerala-equivalent of the O-Levels) examinations. The Chairman has already spoken to you about the first, so I would like to focus my speech today on the second.

First, let me once again congratulate the students who received 9 or 10 A+ grades in this year's examinations. Your parents are proud of you; your teachers are proud of you and your juniors gathered here today are proud of you. We wish you all the best for your future studies and careers.

All of the students here today – past and present – are part of a large community of nearly 30 lakh (3 million) students who study at Jesuit educational institutions around the world. Wherever you go, you can always say with pride that you studied at Sarvodaya High School, a Jesuit educational institution. Last year, I worked at our Jesuit school in South London (Sacred Heart College, Wimbledon aka Wimbledon College) where the students look different from you, speak a different language, come from a different culture, do different things with their spare time etc. Nevertheless, you are joined with them by the common bond of your Jesuit education. Studying at a Jesuit school means that people will have certain expectations of you. I would like to focus today on three characteristics you are expected to acquire by the end of your studies in a Jesuit school – excellence in learning, excellence in life and becoming boys and girls (or men and women) for others.

Excellence in learning is not about bookish knowledge or remembering facts. It means that people expect you to have depth of understanding, of insight in all that you have learnt here. It also means that you are expected to have breadth of knowledge – about the world, about society, about yourselves. This can only happen if you are constantly keeping yourself aware of what is happening around us; by reading the daily newspapers, for instance. Excellence in learning can only be achieved if you apply yourselves with discipline to your studies.

Discipline is also part of the second point I want to raise – excellence in life. People will expect from Jesuit students excellence in all aspects of life – work, extra-curricular activities, arts, music, drama etc. In that respect, the other purpose of today's function – inaugurating the club activities – plays a crucial role. In your time here, I hope you will participate in these wholeheartedly. But excellence in life is not just about excellence in achievement. It also means excellence in virtue. As students of a Jesuit school, people will expect you to be men and women of kindness, of courage, of wisdom, of gratitude.

This brings me to the last point – being boys and girls for others. If you have come out of a Jesuit school with a selfish mindset, then our education has not done its work. Concern for others is an absolute must. You can begin in small ways: if you notice a classmate is lagging behind on school work, take the time to help her/him catch up. These three aspects – excellence in learning, excellence in life and concern for others must be part of your everyday life in this school.

Congratulating our former students once again for their achievements in the examinations, I conclude my speech.

The Land of Paddy Fields

Oddly enough, the weather's just like England. It started off as a bright sunny day; suddenly a few clouds gather together conspiratorially as though to ruin the pleasure of all those (like me) who'd finally hung some washing outside.

This is Wayanad, the land of paddy fields (Malayalam vayal, “paddy” and naad, “land”). But that title's a tad misleading because Wayanad is actually the southern tip of the Deccan plateau and is at least 2000 feet above sea level. Nevertheless, the fertile soil has long made it an attractive destination for agricultural entrepreneurs from various parts of Kerala. The long history of settlement has not been without its social cost, however. The indigenous tribal peoples (adivasi-s) of Wayanad were often exploited, tricked or coerced and, consequently, find themselves on the margins of progress in Kerala.

I arrived on Thursday at the Jesuit-run school in Eachome (a medium-sized village outside the Wayanad capital, Kalpetta) and the small Jesuit community (4 priests) attached to it after a wonderful bus journey through some very pretty countryside. The school, Sarvodaya, serves classes I to X (Years 2 through 11 in the English system). The medium of instruction is Malayalam. The school has nearly 800 students, mostly from agrarian and/or underprivileged backgrounds. About a third of the students are from the adivasi community. I'll be here for a couple of weeks, mainly meeting the students (and, hopefully, inspiring them to ambitious life-goals) and teaching them a spot of English. On Friday, I went around a few of the classes, doing a bit of 'meet n' greet' and letting the kids interview me (the most common question was about my family). Yesterday, I assisted Fr. Salvin Augustine SJ (recently ordained and a new arrival to the school staff) in conducting a day's leadership work for the student coordinators team.

Working with kids can be very very tiring – and still leave you with a buzz and a hunger for more. I think it has to do with the fact that their lives are full of promise, their outlook always optimistic. Somewhere into adulthood, most of us lower our hope thresholds significantly; kids remind us just how high it can (and perhaps, should) be. And, perhaps, how little our many cares actually matter in the grand scheme of things:

How void of care yon merry thrush,
That tunes melodious on the bush,
That has no stores of wealth to keep,
No lands to plough, no corn to reap !
(C.K. Williams, The Thrush)

The Lord of the Dance

(Photos of the retreat can be viewed online at http://picasaweb.google.com/kensyj/201005AnnualRetreat )

Sing a new song to the Lord,
his praise in the assembly of the faithful.
Let Israel rejoice in its Maker,
let Sion’s sons exult in their king.
Let them praise his name with dancing
and make music with timbrel and harp. (Ps. 149)

Between the 23^rd and 31^st of May this year, I joined the scholastics of the Kerala Province on their annual retreat at the Ignatian Retreat Centre, Pariyaram in north Kerala. The retreat was directed by Prashant Olalekar SJ (BOM), Director of the Jesuit retreat house in Bandra and Hazel Fernandes (Pune), a lay collaborator. Most of us were surprised to learn that this wasn’t going to be another vanilla Ignatian retreat.

InterPlay^®

Prashant and Hazel are founding members of InterPlay India, an Indian group inspired by Body Wisdom Inc.’s InterPlay^® programme (www.interplay.org). InterPlay is a set of tools and techniques that help a person be attentive to, deepen, enjoy and ultimately integrate her/his physical experience with her/his emotional and spiritual experiences.

The tools explored during the retreat varied from simple walking to free-form dancing. We were constantly reminded to pay attention to our “bodies” (including our instincts and intuitions) and to trust our bodies. We were encouraged to play freely, even as little children. Through simple exercises like ‘walk, stop, run’, we discovered that spirituality doesn’t always have to be “serious business”; sometimes it can just be fun.

We also had the opportunity for some personal direction and counselling (Ms. Fernandes is a professional therapist) to integrate the various movements raised from the subconscious through the InterPlay activity.

Justice

All was not simply fun and games, however. Throughout the retreat we were reminded of the pervasive presence of structural injustices, particularly towards women, and of the need to be committed to ecological preservation. We had at least one session each day outside the house, close to Nature, consisting of exercises that combined elements of Yoga and Thich Nhat Hahn’s meditation techniques.

Ignatian

This was the first time an InterPlay retreat was being offered to Jesuits in India, so an attempt was made to integrate some elements of the traditional 8-day spiritual exercises. Each day had a theme, most of which should not suprise anyone who's done a traditional Ignatian retreat (“Great to be Grateful”, “Come Dance with Me”, “In the Brokenness is the Wholeness”, “The Passion”, “Breath of the Spirit”) along with a few that might (“Embracing the Feminine”). Although the sessions (we had three each day, along with a very active Mass) were conducted in a light and free-flowing vein, we were still expected to maintain silence and spend some time in personal contemplation/meditation outside the sessions.

I was often reminded of St. Ignatius’s fourth Additional Directive [SpEx 76] about the importance of posture and the body in prayer. One of the highlights of the retreat was a video of an Imaginative Contemplation in Dance (called ‘StoryDance’) by Betsey Beckman (www.thedancingword.com).

Personally, I found this style of retreat quite liberating and also helpful in integrating my “left brain” (the centre of our logical and rational thought) with my “right brain” (creativity and spirituality). But above all, I found it useful to be reminded that “I am my body” and that we are not called to a disembodied union with the Transcendent (the focus of many spiritual traditions).

After all, we do profess a faith in the “resurrection of the body”!

Dance then, wherever you may be
I am the Lord of the Dance, said He!
And I'll lead you all, wherever you may be
And I'll lead you all in the Dance, said He! (Sydney Carter)

Jesuit Summers

As most of the northern hemisphere moves into its summer break, Jesuits (and particularly Jesuits in formation) take up various summer programmes and apostolates. Some of my noviceship class (almost entirely based out of London) will be going to (or organising!) language schools; some are going on pilgrimage; most will do a little travelling; one is going to Malta to work with Jesuit Refugee Service.

Here in India, the summer programme is over (summer months here are April-May) and most of the scholastics are back to school/regency/studies etc. Between home visits (my parents were down for the summer), I joined the scholastics of the Kerala Province for part of their well-organised summer programme. Along with two Kerala scholastics, I gave a spoken English course to postgraduate students of the Jesuit-run Loyola College in Trivandrum. Most of these students came from very underprivileged backgrounds and went as far as they did in their education only through sheer determination and hard work. I was very impressed by their work ethic and willingness to learn even when some of the exercises (like tense-syntax drills) must've been quite tedious. They also cooperated magnificently with our instruction that they were not to speak in any language but English throughout the course (even in their own rooms or on calls home). I also attended a week's course on Social and Cultural Analysis with the other scholastics. Speakers included M.K. George SJ (Director, Indian Sociological Institute, Bangalore), Prof. Skaria Zechariah (retd. Professor, Kalady Sanskrit University and faculty member at the Jesuit Regional Theologate in Kalady), Baby Chalil SJ (Director, Tribal Development Institute, Wayanad) and Ms Vijitha (a Calicut-based women's rights activist). There was a lot of serious food for thought in those sessions and highlighted the need for Jesuits today to be truly 'men of depth' (in sociology, economics, cultural studies, media studies etc.) for our mission, particularly among and for the poor, to be successful. Following the course, I attended the inaugural ceremonies of the Golden Jubilee of the Kerala Province (although the history of Jesuit activity in the Kerala region goes back to St Francis Xavier himself). The highlight of the ceremonies was the 12-hour Adoration the day before the inaugural function and the inauguration Mass itself - concelebrated by five bishops from two rites! Immediately after the celebrations, I joined the Kerala scholastics for a specially-organised annual retreat - which was a retreat of Movement and Dance (report on that later).

I am now back at the Jesuit HQ in Calicut gathering all my visa documentation together to return to London in autumn.

The Passion Narratives

A message from a fellow-scholastic of mine at De Nobili College:

Dear Friends,

From the 22nd to the 28th of March 2010, I am giving a course of the "Passion Narratives" as found in the four Gospels to a group of lay people at St. Britto's High School, Mapusa. It is given in the hope that we can bridge the gap between Catholic ignorance of the Bible and the lastest scholarly research being done in this field. But more than that, it’s purpose is pastoral, in offering fresh insights into the life of Jesus of Nazareth so as to increase our faith and help us share in the eternal life which he promised. The timing is scheduled that this course may be an appropriate preparation for the Holy Week and the sacred Tridum.

I am aware that much of this material will also be interesting to people who have asked such difficult questions about the bible, and have never got any answers. It is for this reason, that to make it available to a much wider audience, I am putting the lectures up on the net, as we go on during this course in this week, so that people from all parts of the world who can't be physically present - can also benefit from the lectures on the "passion narratives" of Jesus.

The lectures are available at http://passionnarratives.wordpress.com

Feel free to pass this message around to all your contact, whoever may be interested!

Thanks,

Richard D'Souza SJ

Transcendence

I've finally finished my B.Ph. Hooray!

This is a journey I started over five years ago - before I'd entered the Society, before I'd even considered entering the Society - when I started my Ph.B. at the Maryvale Institute, Birmingham. But now it's over. At this morning's oral comprehensive examination, I was asked to speak for four minutes on 'Transcendence', followed by a five-minute viva voce by each of the two examining professors. This, more or less, is what I said:

Arguing from a phenomenological perspective, Jewish philosopher Hans Jonas showed that all living beings demonstrate the propensity to transcend themselves. In plants and animals, this is manifested in the search for food, water, shelter, mates etc. In human beings, this is manifested in the search for an Ultimate Sacred Reality or God.

The notion of the Ultimate or God is a universal human concept, manifested in all cultures in all times. It can be seen as an archetype of the collective unconscious in the Jungian sense. To borrow a term from hermeneutics, this can be called the phase of our pre-understanding of God. Atheistic materialism is easily the exception in human society and history.

Continuing the hermeneutics analogy, pre-understanding becomes understanding in our reflection on God's existence and essence; i.e. natural theology. Normally called 'proofs' of God's existence, they nevertheless serve to consolidate existing belief in God's existence and serve to further our understanding of the nature of God. So, for instance, we have Thomas Aquinas's Third Way (Argument from Contingent Beings) which helps us understand God as the Necessary Being; the Nyayayika-s' Causal Proof helps us understand God as Creator (in the Indian sense). Reflection on the essence and existence of the Ultimate Being (which Aquinas considered identical) usually requires preliminary reflection on Being itself; hence metaphysics develops.

A quantum leap in understanding God occurs in the third phase of revelation: here I include both revelation in the traditional sense in the Abrahamic religions as well as special revelation in the form of mystical or yogic experiences. Natural theology becomes positive theology.

Since humans are social animals, this search for the Transcendent assumes a social dimension – religion. Religion is a complex of code, cult and creed. According to Max Weber, religion usually starts with a charismatic individual who is able to gather a following before evolving into a traditional patriarchal and finally a legal-rational institution. Religion unifies our deepest yearning for God with our desire to be with each other while simultaneously providing the community an identity and sense of purpose or mission.

Religious communities enable individuals to perform great acts of charity, produce great works of art and even philosophical treatises. Nevertheless, it is also true that religious communities also enable some individuals to commit acts of violence and terrorism. Institutional religious leadership can become corrupt and self-serving. Much opposition to God and religion have their direct or indirect roots in such corruption. Karl Marx, for instance, sees religion as a mechanism used by the bourgeoisie to perpetuate the oppression of the working classes (the working classes themselves use religion as an escape route from suffering).

It's not exactly Plato, but I think it did the trick.

Comprehensive Examinations

The first stage (written, worth 60% of the Comprehensives grade and 20% of the aggregate) went off without too many hitches this morning. It's a three-hour paper covering all the basic courses B.Ph. students have done here over the last two years. Some sample questions from this year's paper:

Western Philosophy

• Analyse categories (Scholastic) with sufficient examples and show how they are relevant in your personal and communitarian life.
• Explain how the different theories of values and norms lead to the debate between consequentialism and non-consequentialism.

Indian Studies

• Clarify the notion of padartha ('category' in classical Indian philosophy). How many categories are there in Indian philosophy. Critically evaluate dravya (substance) and abhava (non-existence) as categories.
• Explain the role of Guru Gobind Singh in founding the Khalsa (Sikh) community, and the importance of the five K's for its members.

Social Sciences

• Explain the social functions of religion according to Emile Durkheim and Karl Marx. Compare the two theories and highlight similarities and differences.

The oral examinations start in six days' time. We have been given seven broad inter-disciplinary (i.e. spanning Western Philosophy, Indian Philosophy and the Social Sciences) themes:

1. Soul and Self
2. Society and Ethics
3. God and Transcendence
4. Reality and the Universe
5. Meaning-making and Epistemology
6. Feedom and Destiny
7. Philosophy as Praxis

Worship

In Reason and Religious Belief (Oxford: OUP, 2003) Peterson et. al. argue that God is, above all, a being who is the object of, and worthy of, worship. What does 'worship' mean? It means total devotion, placing ourselves at God's disposal completely and without reservation, with no attempt at “bargaining” with God, no mental reservation to “keep our options open”. In other words, absolute commitment and deference.

The Jesuit constitutions summarise the particular Jesuit mode of worship in it's self description: “The end of this Society is to devote itself with God's grace not only to the salvation and perfection of the members' own souls, but also with that same grace to labour strenuously in giving aid toward the salvation and perfection of the souls of their neighbours” (General Examen [3]).

Here at De Nobili College, the second-year philosophers have slowly been receiving news of their regency placements once the academic year ends in a few weeks. Most are heading to Jesuits schools across India; many are going to parishes (particularly mission stations in remote areas). Two (possibly three) are headed to Afghanistan to lecture at one of the universities there while one is headed to China. What takes Jesuits to the far-flung reaches of the globe in frontier, potentially dangerous, situations? A sense of adventure? Undoubtedly. A desire to serve the Church? Of course. Because that's where they've been asked to go by their superiors? Naturally.

But, deeper than all that, a sense that this is how they are called to worship God.

I've often wondered what the word 'worship' denotes today in parts of the world that are largely secularised. The RE Online website (an online resource site for Religious Education in the UK) for instance, appears to use 'worship' synonymously with the specific rites and rituals used to enact it. But what about the internal attitude signified by 'worship'? What of the recognition of God as a being that is infinitely and absolutely greater than ourselves?

And yet, perhaps it is not that nothing is actually worshipped. If complete deference and unconditional commitment are the constituents of worship, then is there something else that people do, in fact, worship in their lives (even if they may not recognise it as 'worship')?

The Beginning of the End

That's it for me in terms of lectures for this academic year. Now all I have to do is revise, revise, revise and sit three exams (all oral) plus the big comprehensive examination at the end.

15 of our brothers are getting ordained deacons later this afternoon. Normally, Jesuits are ordained deacon at their place of study and priest (presbyter) in their home province or home town. Please keep our brothers in your prayers. The ordaining bishop is Rev. Thomas Dabre, Bishop of Pune. Please keep them in your prayers.

Pune Blasts

We're all fine here at De Nobili College and, as far as I know, no one in the JDV family was involved. Some of our exchange students from Germany had been in the German bakery earlier in the day (one had a narrow escape - she only left the bakery less than an hour before the blast), but they're unhurt otherwise.

Please keep the victims and their families in your prayers. Pray also for God's mercy and repentance for the perpetrators.

The Account of Conscience

A long time ago (!) I wrote that my Provincial (Rev. Fr. Michael Holman SJ) was visiting me in early January for my annual 'account of conscience' (also called the 'manifestation of conscience' or simply 'manifestation' in older documents). But what is an account of conscience and what does it mean in the life of a Jesuit?

Later [1], in conformity with our profession [2] and manner of proceeding, we must always be ready to travel about in various parts of the world, on all occasions when the supreme pontiff or our immediate superior [3] orders us. Therefore, to proceed without error in such missions, or in sending some persons and not others, or some for one task and others for different ones, it is not only highly but even supremely important that the superior have complete knowledge of the inclinations and motions [4] of those who are in his charge, and to what defects or sins they have been or are more moved and inclined; so that thus he may direct them better, without placing them beyond the measure of their capacity in dangers or labors greater than they could in our Lord endure with a spirit of love; and also so that the superior, while keeping to himself what he learns in secret, may be better able to organize and arrange what is expedient for the whole body of the Society. (Constitutions of The Society of Jesus, [93])

Notes:

[1] i.e. after formation

[2] of vows

[3] usually referring to the Provincial

[4] Spiritual “motions” or movements. In Ignatian literature, it refers to the interior desires, feelings etc. that each person experiences as a result of the action of the Holy Spirit (or its opposite). Discernment of spirits is the keystone of Ignatian and Jesuit spirituality.

As a missionary order, Jesuits are called to be ready to accept any mission asked of them. But how does the missioning superior (usually the Provincial) know which of his charges is up to the particular task? Of course, a vital input into any such decision is the feedback the superior receives from the peers, community members, colleagues, previous superiors etc. of his charges. Just as important, however, is the direct knowledge the superior has of his charges in the annual heart-to-heart conversation called the 'account of conscience'.

Every Jesuit makes an annual account of conscience to his Provincial or Regional/Mission superior. In addition, Jesuits in formation make an account of conscience to their local (i.e. community) superiors once every six months. The mode of giving/receiving the account of conscience can vary from place to person and person to person. Most commonly, the account of conscience takes the form of an interview/conversation that lasts about an hour. However, I do know of an instance where a superior received the account of conscience spread out over a whole morning whilst the two of them visited museums, coffee shops etc.! Often superiors take great pains to to help Jesuits (especially less experienced ones) relax into the process (Many superiors of Jesuits in formation refer to it simply as the annual or six-monthly “check in”). I should point out that the annual account of conscience is not an obligation under pain of sin as per Canon 630. Great care, especially in recent decades, has been taken to foster an environment of openness between superiors and charges that allows spiritual conversations like this to take place.

Why is the account of conscience so important in Jesuit mission and life? After all, the vast majority of religious orders (or non-religious organisations like the armed forces or even corporations, for that matter) get along perfectly well without it.

I think the answer has to do with our particular charism and spirituality. As I mentioned above, the keystone of Ignatian spirituality is the conviction that the Holy Spirit can and does interact directly with the created person. God's will for each Jesuit is mediated through a number of channels – personal movements of spirit, mission given by superiors, decisions of the hierarchical Church etc. By engaging in a personal, spiritual conversation (which is what the account of conscience is, at its heart) with each Jesuit, the superior participates in the discernment process of, for and with that individual.

Busy!

I realise it's been a while since I posted last. It's a busy period at DNC with all the second-year philosophers preparing hard for the comprehensive examination (to see the draft study guide we've prepared, visit the Praxis blog - which is run by a fellow scholastic in my class). The Comprehensive Examination is a combined written-oral exam that evaluates one's synthesis of two years of studying philosophy. We have a 3-hour written paper in mid-March followed by a 15-minute viva-voce at the end of that month.