Kansas City pastor Fr. Matt Ruhl swapped the pulpit for a bike seat as he joins a group of 15 riders going coast to coast in support of Catholic Charity USA’s Campaign to Reduce Poverty. “So far, so good,” he said in an interview. Ruhl is one of 15 riders doing the whole 5,052 mile ride in 100 days; other people are participating for part of the ride. MORE »

Eight thousand people joined Pope Benedict XVI on May 29 to celebrate the four-hundredth anniversary of the death of a pioneering Jesuit missionary who opened a way into China through his great learning and respect for Chinese culture. Father Matteo Ricci remains one of the great and innovative missionaries of the Church. His memory is celebrated both by the Jesuits and by the Diocese of Macerata, Italy, where he grew up. MORE »

Father Jim Swetnam is finishing 50 years of service at Rome’s Pontifical Biblical Institute where he currently serves as directory of the school’s alumni association. Fr. Swetnam and the institute’s rector, Fr. José Abrego, had the privilege of speaking personally with Pope Benedict XVI during a Wednesday audience in Piazza San Pietro on May 5. Their sponteaneous laughter sprang from a remark that Fr. Abrego made to the Holy Father. MORE »

Fr. Bernardo Francisco de Hoyos, the Jesuit who is known for promoting devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus was Beatified in Valladolid, Spain, on April 19. The new Blessed entered the Jesuits at a very early age and died within the first year of his ordination, but is famous for his intense faith and devotion to the Sacred Heart. MORE »

In the first year after his June 2009 ordination, Fr. Brian Christopher has begun pastoral work in a Belize City parish with a focus on youth gangs and prison ministry. He has also started planning a range of programs to address violence and open alternative paths to young people in a desperately poor setting. MORE »

Missouri Province’s provincial, Father Douglas Marcouiller is one of the 14 provincials, all in their first year in office, who have gathered at the Curia Generalizia in Rome for the Colloquium for New Provincials, which goes from May 3-15. The colloquium is a regular part of the training and preparation of a Jesuit to provide good leadership for the men in his province and aims to present a deeper understanding of the issues facing the universal Society and, at the same time, offer the opportunity to study more intensely the commitments and duties of a provincial. MORE »

Jesuit Father General Adolfo Nicolás visited Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on April 29 to see firsthand the work Jesuits have been doing to as they accompany and serve the people of Haiti in the aftermath of the devastating January 12 earthquake. MORE »

Jesuits and colleagues in Catholic, Jesuit higher education from around the world met with Father Adolfo Nicolás, Superior General of the Society of Jesus, at the Universidad Iberoamericana, the Jesuit University in Mexico City from April 22-24. Higher education presidents have met twice before, first in 1985 and then in 2001. Initially these colleagues gathered to meet with Father General to improve the content and quality of Jesuit higher education; the goal of this third meeting was to build better networking capacity. MORE »

Almost all 194 Regis Jesuit High School faculty and staff members spent a day in service to over a dozen organizations in the metro Denver area. Although many RJ employees already spend time outside of work hours volunteering, the Staff Day in Service was the first time in known history where the administration intentionally set aside time in the school calendar for the staff to go out and serve the community. MORE »

Father General will move from Spain to Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean during a trip that will include a beatification ceremony for a Spanish Jesuit and a world-wide meeting of presidents of Jesuit universities. Haiti is another important destination as the Jesuit leader will see first hand the effects of the January 12 earthquake and the Jesuit efforts to respond to peoples’ needs. MORE »