NewsL_1215_ 4.indd - Jesuitenkolleg Innsbruck

Newsletter
NR 12 | 2015INNSBRUCK
© Clara Johanna Possert
Jesuitenkolleg Innsbruck | Sillgasse 6 | A-6020 Innsbruck
Tel.: +43-512-5346-0 | Fax: +43-512-5346-99
[email protected] | www.jesuitenkolleg-innsbruck.at
Fr. Markus Inama SJ | Rector
December 2015
Dear Friends!
In university towns, such as Innsbruck, the bicycle is one of the most popular means of transport. This
becomes clear as soon as you take a look at the railway station. Although the parking places for the
bicycles are widened year after year, the space is never sufficient.
With a bike, one can get to almost anywhere within Innsbruck in about 10 to 15 minutes. However, this kind
of getting around demands full concentration. There are many distractions on every road, and, of course,
the traffic rules are to be kept in mind. Pedestrians, skateboarders and inline skaters, trams (and their tracks),
racing taxis, buses, other cyclists and mopeds, car drivers familiar with the surroundings, as well as
tourist buses seeking their way, all offer many opportunities for any bicyclist to be on high alert! With such
a cacophony, there remains little time to dally and look around.
Some weeks ago I scooted past a poster with a wordplay on it. It read: “Innehalten, um inneren Halt zu
finden”, what could be roughly translated into English as, “pause to find what sustains you from the inside”.
Because things do move so quickly in our days, it was only in the evening that I remembered having seen
this saying, but I could not even remember exactly where.
There are innumerable things acting upon us every day, demanding our attention: tasks concerning work,
maintaining relationships, the concerns of everyday life. These days, there is also the added permanent flow
of information and communication. A healthy rhythm of life needs the balance between inside and outside.
The Season of Advent, especially, should be our time to de-stress. When I make time each day to
“intentionally pause”, I go from the outside to the inside. Such pausing provides recuperation and vitality.
It clarifies and arranges our thoughts and desires rightly. It creates space for the essential things in life,
opening for me a true foundation and purpose each day. Our former Fr. General, Pedro Arrupe, once gave
an answer to the question what sustains him from inside “Take Jesus Christ from my life and everything
would collapse like a human body from which someone removed the skeleton, heart and head.”
I would like to wish all of us, wherever we are, and however we are on the move, that we pause each day
in order to encounter the God who sustains us from the inside!
A Blessed Advent and Christmas Season,
Fr. Markus Inama SJ
Rector
www.jesuitenkolleg-innsbruck.at
Newsletter
> Community NEWS <
R. Micallef SJ
V. Chong Sánchez SJ,
I. Vázquez García SJ
During the summer months, Fr. Frank
Subba SJ (DAR), S. Ingmar Vázquez
García SJ (ANT), Fr. René M. Micallef SJ
(MAL), Fr. Vicente Chong Sánchez SJ
(ECU), and Fr. Bernadus Dirgaprimawan
SJ (IDO) attended a German language
course at the university. They stayed at the
Jesuit College and enjoyed some excursions with Jesuits from our community.
Beginning July 6, members of our community took part in an excursion to Israel.
You can find the report from S. Allan
Ggita SJ on page 4.
Again, we have a group of 6 students, who live in our
“Young-Ignatian-Community.” They will be supervised by Fr.
Peter Fritzer SJ along with Fr. Benjamin Furthner SJ, and
will receive weekly lessons regarding Ignatian spirituality.
K. Heidenreich, F. Simon, F. Dengg, M. Ströhle, D. Krauss, T. Görlich, P. Fritzer SJ,
B. Furthner SJ
Since this past August, we have had two new community
members move in. Fr. Gernot Wisser SJ is the new director
of the University Chaplaincy of Innsbruck. Fr. Benjamin
Furthner SJ is the vocation director of our province.
On October 5 refugees came to live in one of our flats at
University Street. They come from different countries in
Africa and Asia. Every Friday evening a group of about
25 refugees from Syria celebrate an ecumenical service in
the nearby church of the Capuchins and afterwards they
gather in the new dining room at the Canisianum. The
meeting is organized by different Catholic groups. The refugees who are living in a huge shelter are very happy to sit
together in a familiar atmosphere. Jesuits and members of
the CLC youth center are hosting them for this evening.
NR 12 | 2015INNSBRUCK
> Rafał Strugiński SJ <
The German-speaking countries,
with their long and rich tradition of biblical research, were in
the forefront of scriptural studies
during the last century. In more
recent times, however, biblical
research has been dominated by
R. Strugiński SJ
the scholars originating from the
Anglo-Saxon world, as English has become the primary
language of scholarly debates in the field. Having already
experienced two years of biblical studies in the United
States, I desired to become more familiar with the style and
methods of biblical research on the Continent, especially in
the German-speaking world. This eventually led me to the
Jesuit community in Innsbruck, which eagerly welcomes
Jesuits from around the world pursuing further studies.
Here, with the help of Professor Boris Repschinski SJ, I am
working on my doctorate focusing on the vision of the
Kingdom of God in Matthean parables.
I am Polish and, as such, I come from a cultural background
which is deeply rooted in the Catholic tradition. Although
my home country and Austria share many similarities
in terms of how the Catholic beliefs permeate different
spheres of life, there are also many differences due to divergent historical paths of the two countries. Personally, I find
it intriguing to compare the Church and religious life in both
Austria and Poland, as the contemporary Church in Poland
is currently experiencing many of the challenges Austrian
Church has already gone through.
Geographically, most of Poland is covered by lowlands, and
only a small portion of the south is occupied by mountains.
Hence, the Alpine city of Innsbruck, being surrounded by
the majestic mountains with a dreamy and fairytale-like
aura, is very different to any place I have ever lived. The natural beauty of the Tirol is breathtaking; the care the Tiroleans
have put into its preservation is praiseworthy. The region’s
peacefulness has helped me to delve more deeply into my
research, while the rhythm of life of the Jesuit community
allows all of us Jesuits to devote entirely to study. Moreover,
the small but very international group of Jesuit students
coming from Europe, Africa, Asia and South America makes
one aware of the broad scope of modern theology.
> New Books <
In his “Preface” to the New Youth Bible, Pope Francis entrusts
the Bible to every young person´s heart, calling it “A book
like fire.” This new edition is the result of the collected efforts
of two of our own Old Testament scholars, Fr. Georg Fischer,
SJ (The University of Innsbruck) and Fr. Dominik Markl, SJ
(The Pontifical Biblical Institute). Originally, this new approach to scripture came from Thomas Söding (Professor of
New Testament in Bochum), who had the idea of selecting
biblical texts and introducing them with great commentary,
and using cartoons, photos and reports from young people
to bring the Bible to life. The Youth Bible will be translated
into several languages.
Georg Fischer, Dominik Markl, Thomas Söding (Hg.)
Bibel. Jugendbibel der Katholischen Kirche mit
einem Vorwort von Papst Franziskus.
(1) Katholisches Bibelwerk Stuttgart 2015.
ISBN 978-3-460-32587-6
(2) YOUCAT Augsburg 2015. ISBN 978-3-945148-12-9
Georg Fischer
Teologie dell’Antico Testamento
Edizione italiana a cura di Simone Paganini e Benedetta
Rossi (Lectio 8). Rom: GB Press; Cinisello Balsamo:
San Paolo 2015. ISBN 978-88-21-59630-8
www.jesuitenkolleg-innsbruck.at
Newsletter
NR 12 | 2015INNSBRUCK
> Impressions From Our Trip to Russia <
In July 2015, Fr. Provincial Bernhard Bürgler and Fr. Hans
Brandl SJ were invited by Fr. Anthony J. Corcoran SJ, the
regional superior from Russia, to travel to the biggest
country of the world for one week.
Moscow was the first destination of their journey. There the
Jesuits operate the “Thomas Aquinas Institute“, a mixture of
education house and Catholic-theological research center.
The Institute offers multiannual training courses on the
subject of Catholic theology. It also offers seminars covering
various subjects. The Institutes’ cultural magazine is entitled
“Symbol”, and has proven to be one of the strongest (and
most recognized) voices in orthodoxy today. With the series
Bibliotheca Ignatiana, the “Thomas Aquinas Institute” has
presented a translation of very important theological and
philosophical works from western authors into Russian.
Fr. Thomas García-Huidobro from Chile is the Institutes’
director, and he is supported by the brothers Alwin (India)
and Vladimir (Russia, Islam scientist).
Of course we could never pass up a visit to the Kremlin,
as well as to the most important churches in the country.
Today, the center of Moscow is greatly renovated, a very
different look and feel when compared to the sad gray-ongray look from 30 years ago. A sightseeing tour provided us
with a unique look at the city with its impressive dimensions, colossal buildings, and the sophisticated Metro. We
visited the new Jewish Museum, along with the “Center for
Tolerance.” Such an elaborate and professionally managed
museum was a very welcomed treat for all.
Tomsk, located in Siberia (approximately 3,500 km east of
Moscow), was our second destination. The city has about
600,000 inhabitants: among them 85,000 students, and
10,000 German-Russians. The area is rural and economically
poorly developed. The “Catholic center” at Uliza Bakunina
is a composition of three buildings: the parish church, the
rectory (with three Jesuits in residence), and the school
with a house full of Mother Teresa’s Sisters. Fr. Stephan Lipke
is working there as pastor and school counselor of the
“Katolitschkaya Gymnasia Tomska”. The other brothers who
live there are Fr. Michael Desjardins (USA) and Mikail
Tkalitsch, a Russian scholastic who teaches informatics.
H. Brandl SJ, Prov. B. Bürgler SJ, A. Corcoran SJ, T. García-Huidobro SJ
The school was founded approximately 25 years ago, at
the beginning consisting only of a few pupils. Today it is
the only Catholic grammar school in Russia. In 2012, a new
school building with 11 classrooms for about 130 pupils was
built. The small classes enable the “cura personalis”, a very
important aspect of Ignatian pedagogy. This is the “personal
care” which fosters the care and support each individual
needs for true human flourishing. As such, this is the main
aspect that distinguishes the Jesuit school from other places
of learning. The enormous success of this educational work
is reflected in the well above average number of pupils who
are admitted at university level, as well as in the Russian
government’s recognition of the school’s excellence back
in 2014.
From here we travelled by bus to Novosibirsk, our last
destination. This is the third largest city of Russia, the bishop
see, and is home to a small Jesuit community and Ignatian
retreat house. Bishop Joseph Werth is a Jesuit and descendant of Volga Germans in Kazakhstan.
The visit in a home for handicapped people and in the
“Taiga” gave us an impression of the difficult life in this
region. One home for mentally and physically handicapped
people had been constructed about 120 km away from
the city. After, what seemed like, a never ending road trip
through the woods, we arrived at the former prison camp,
Kharsk. Here we visited the grave of two Ukrainian nuns,
who had died in exile there in 1952. The daily life on such a
countryside can be very difficult and quite monotonous.
For in the summer mosquitoes take over and in the winter
one can easily find snow more than a meter deep, as well
as unbelievably freezing temperatures.
In Russia, life in the Catholic Church is always in tension with
the State, as well as with the Orthodox Church. The mood of
the population, on the one hand, seemed to be nationalistic
but, on the other hand, quite pessimistic. The sanctions of
the EU and the US are noticeable almost everywhere. As
we were taken to the airport, our taxi driver asked for payment in Euros, explaining that, “in no time, the ruble won’t
have value at all.” Still, this country with its rich culture and
beautiful people, who are not living as profit- and successoriented like we do, has a particular charm, attracting even
confreres from as far away as Chile and the United States.
www.jesuitenkolleg-innsbruck.at
Newsletter
NR 12 | 2015INNSBRUCK
> Trip to Israel <
There is a famous adage, “Chance knocks once at every
man’s door.” This maxim was more than appropriate for
our Israel-Jordan Study-Tour, from the 1st to the 14th of
July 2015. Organised by the Theological Faculty of the
University of Innsbruck every other two years, the trip occurs
in the context of an academic undertaking to help students
appreciate both biblical and extra-biblical sights surrounding salvation history. On the 1st of July the 39 participants
including six Jesuits started their trip to Israel.
After arriving at Tel Aviv airport, we drove to Tiberius district.
Places of interest in this area are Hamat Jewish mosaic temple, a baptistery in Zipporis, a theatre, the Nile house and 2
Orthodox and Catholic basilicas both dedicated to the annunciation. On the morning of July 3rd, we trekked through
the Golan Heights, arriving in the afternoon in Capernaum,
known for its famous ruins.
The following day, we left Israel through the Jordan River
Valley, and visited the ancient ruins of Gadara and Jerash. We
then headed farther south to Amman, the capital of Jordan,
where we visited the most important sights. We concluded
the day with a Eucharistic celebration at the Jesuit residence
followed by a memorable convivial gathering (Jesuits only)
at the same residence accompanied by so many stories and
laughter! The next stop was Mount Nebo, the spot where
Moses stood to catch a glimpse of the Promised Land,
which he was never allowed to enter. After a one-day hiking
tour through the Petra Desert City and a jeep safari through
the largest Wadi in Jordan, we reached the Jordanian border
and re-entered Israel.
great religious, linguistic and historical significance because
they contain some of the oldest known surviving manuscripts of documents later included in the Hebrew Bible
canon.
After a stop in Jericho, the oldest city in the world, it was
finally time to go to Jerusalem. On the way we visited the
Herodium, a corn-shaped hill about 12 km from Jerusalem,
built by Herod the Great, and the Nativity Church in Bethlehem together with the adjoining Gothic styled Catherine
Church.
We got up early the next day to visit the old city entering
through the Damascus gate. Wandering through Mount
Zion, we reached the Dormition Abbey. We then headed to
the Wailing Wall composed of the western retaining wall
of the second Jewish temple. It is atop the Temple Mount,
the holiest site in Judaism.
On our last day in the Holy Land, we walked along the Via
Dolorosa, held to be the path that Jesus walked as he headed to Golgotha. The imposing Church of the Holy Sepulchre
where Jesus was crucified and buried fittingly marked the
end of this wonderful visit.
Our deepest gratitude goes to the Jesuitenkolleg Innsbruck
that sponsored our entire trip and to our two travelling
companions, Prof. Vonach and Prof. Repschinski, who
enriched our journey with so many helpful stories and rich
explanations of where we stood and what we were seeing.
S. Allan Ggita SJ
We had one day off in Elat, after which our caravan headed
to En Gedi, a small village whose history goes back to the
Iron Age, and where the David’s waterfalls can be found.
We then circumnavigated the entire stretch of the Dead
Sea in our bus before “landing” at its banks.
The morning of July 11th was spent in Qumran, where
some 981 various texts were discovered initially by Bedouin
shepherds, and later by a team of archaeologists between
1946-56. Mainly written in Hebrew, the texts have been of
> DOCTORAL STUDIES IN INNSBRUCK <
Jesuits, who wish to earn a doctoral degree or a licentiate in
the fields of either Philosophy or Theology at the University
of Innsbruck starting in 2016, should contact the Rector
soon, as the procedure to obtain a visa and to enroll at the
University takes some time. It is strongly recommended
to acquire some language proficiency in German in one’s
home province prior to arriving in Innsbruck.
www.jesuitenkolleg-innsbruck.at