| |
 |
| |
|
|
SEARCH |
| |
About
Ignatius Insight |
| |
Who We Are |
 |
Article Archives |
| |
Most Recent |
| |
July-Dec 2005 |
| |
Apr-Jun 2005 |
| |
Jan-Mar 2005 |
| |
Nov-Dec 2004 |
| |
June-Oct 2004 |
|
Interviews |
| |
Insight Scoop Weblog |
| |
Author Pages |
| |
Pope John Paul II/ Karol Wojtyla |
| |
Pope Benedict XVI/Cardinal Ratzinger |
| |
Rev. Louis Bouyer |
| |
G.K. Chesterton |
| |
Fr. Thomas Dubay |
| |
Mother Mary Francis |
| |
Fr. Benedict Groeschel |
| |
Thomas Howard |
| |
Karl Keating |
| |
Msgr Ronald Knox |
| |
Peter Kreeft |
| |
Fr. Henri de Lubac, SJ |
| |
Michael O'Brien |
| |
Joseph Pearce |
| |
Josef Pieper |
| |
Richard Purtill |
| |
Steve Ray |
| |
Christoph Cardinal Schönborn, OP |
| |
Fr. James V. Schall, SJ |
| |
Frank Sheed |
| |
Fr. Hans Urs von Balthasar |
| |
Adrienne von Speyr |
| |
Books |
| |
Press Info |
| |
Music |
| |
Videos |
| |
CD-ROMs |
| |
Sacred
Art |
| |
Catechetical
Resources |
| |
Loome/Ignatius
Project |
| |
Magazines |
| |
Catholic
World Report |
| |
H&P
Review |
| |
Request
Catalog |
| |
Web Specials |
| |
|
| |
Ignatius
Press |
| |
History |
| |
Staff |
| |
Specials |
| |
Contact |
| |
|
| |
Noteworthy News |
| |
Catholic World News |
| |
EWTN News |
| |
Vatican News |
| |
Catholic News Agency |
| |
ZENIT |
| |
Catholic News |
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
 |
| |
|
| |
 |
| |
|
| |
Pied Piper of Atheism: Philip Pullman and Children's Fantasy
| Pete Vere and Sandra Miesel
God Is No Delusion: A Refutation of Richard Dawkins
| Thomas Crean, O.P.
Socrates Meets Descartes
| Peter Kreeft
Sermon in a Sentence: Saint Thomas Aquinas
| John McClernon
New Outpourings of the Spirit
| Joseph Ratzinger
Meet Henri De Lubac
| Rudolf Voderholzer
Marian Devotion in the Domestic Church
| Catherine & Peter Fournier
Joseph Ratzinger: Life in the Church and Living Theology
| Maximilian Heinrich Heim
The Greek Fathers: Their Lives and Adventures
| Adrian Fortescue
Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: The Letter to the Hebrews
| Scott Hahn and Curtis Mitch
Chastity, Poverty and Obedience
| Mother Mary Francis, P.C.C.
The Blessing of Christmas
| Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
Chance or Purpose?: Creation, Evolution, and a Rational Faith
| Chrisoph Cardinal Schšnborn
Island of the World: A Novel
| Michael O'Brien
The Order of Things
| James V. Schall, S.J.
The Judge: William P. Clark, Ronald Reagan's Top Hand
| Paul Kengor & Patricia Clark Doerner
Seek that Which is Above
| Pope Benedict XVI
Jesus, the Apostles and the Early Church
| Pope Benedict XVI
God and His Image: An Outline of Biblical Theology
| Dominique Barthelemey
An Invitation to Faith: An A to Z Primer on the Thought of Pope Benedict XVI
| Pope Benedict XVI
Mother Benedict: Foundress of the Abbey of Regina Laudis
| Antoinette Bosco
Pope Benedict XVI: The Conscience of Our Age
| Vincent Twomey
Ronald Knox as Apologist: Wit, Laughter and the Popish Creed
| Fr. Milton Walsh
Christians in China: A.D. 600-2000
| Jean Charbonnier
|
|
|
Every week or so IgnatiusInsight.com will ask a question
or two of Fr. Joseph Fessio, S.J., founder of Ignatius Press and Chancellor
of Ave
Maria University in Naples, Florida since 2002. If you have a question
about the Catholic Church, Ignatius Press, or current events you would like
to ask Fr. Fessio, please send it to IgnatiusInsight.com
editor Carl Olson and he will consider asking Fr. Fessio to respond
to it.
The first question in The Father Fessio Files: What have you been doing
the last couple of years?
Fr. Fessio: In early spring of 2002 I was assigned by my superiors
to become assistant chaplain (to the notorious Fr. C.M. Buckley, S.J.!)
at Santa Teresita Hospital in Duarte, CA.
Although I believe we could have put up with each other for more than two
months, I was at the end of that period reassigned to be chancellor of a
then not yet existent institution now called Ave
Maria University in Naples, Florida.
The task was to work with the senior administration of Ave Maria College
of Ypsilanti, Michigan to transfer that mission and operation to Florida
over a period of a few years. At the same time I was asked to continue in
my role as editor of Ignatius Press. And a good thing, too, for reasons
I will mention momentarily.
The work at Ave Maria has been daunting, challenging, exciting, and encouraging.
What had begun in Michigan and had grown into an excellent Catholic liberal
arts college with a dedicated faculty and very eager students would now
be expanded to become the first new Catholic university in more than a generation.
It would be located in a place which to me as a Californian seems to be
the extreme end of the continent, if not the planet, but in fact is quite
near the geographical center of North, Central and South America. Clearly
a location which is strategically positioned for the demographic future
of this country.
Much as I love the mission and think the decision to move to Florida was
an inspired one, it is, after all, Florida. The highest point in Collier
County where we are is thirty-seven feet. And the waves on the Gulf of Mexico
are measured in millimeters if they are measured at all.
So, once a month I dutifully fly back to San Francisco to spend some time
at Ignatius Press. I can also see the breakers from my office window and
we normally spend part of the weekend up at our retreat house in northern
California where we can hike in redwood and fir forests and breath cool
dry air.
One particularly encouraging note. The most important task I’ve had
in this past year has been interviewing candidates for faculty positions.
We’re growing rapidly. We’re going from 100 to 300 students this
year and our faculty is increasing from nine to thirty-five.
Many fine scholars and teachers want to join us. We want people who are
competent, on fire with love for the Church, and willing to take part in
a pioneering effort. What’s particularly encouraging is that almost
every faculty member we have interviewed has been an avid reader of Ignatius
Press books.
I believe that one of the reasons why we have a chance for Ave Maria to
be successful as a great Catholic institution is the formation that Ignatius
Press books have helped to provide in such a period of desolation, intellectual,
moral, and liturgical, for the Church.
|
|
|
|
|
|
G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936) was one of the finest Christian authors and apologists
of the past two hundred years. Raised as an agnostic, he embraced Christianity as a young man, ultimately entering the Catholic Church
in 1922. He wrote hundreds of essays, as well as novels, short stories, poetry, apologetics, literary
criticism, and nearly everything else imaginable. Dale Ahlquist, president and co-founder of the American
Chesterton Society and author of
G.K Chesterton: Apostle of Common Sense, writes, "Chesterton was equally at ease with literary and social criticism,
history, politics, economics, philosophy, and theology. His style is unmistakable, always marked
by humility, consistency, paradox, wit, and wonder. His writing remains as timely and as timeless
today as when it first appeared, even though much of it was published in throw away paper." Read more
about the life and work of this remarkable thinker, author, and apologist.
|
Confessions of an Ex-Feminist
by Lorraine V. Murray
Confessions is the honest and heart-rending account of a woman who was born into a Catholic family, attended parochial schools and
fully embraced the beliefs of her faith, but ran into major roadblocks in college. Amidst the radical feminist college environment of
the 1960's, she lost her faith, and her morality, jumping aboard the bandwagon of "free love." She indulged in a series of love relationships
in college, all of which crashed and burned. Despite the obvious contradiction between feminist teachings and her own experience,
Murray still believed she had to free herself from the yoke of tradition. Attaining a doctorate in philosophy, with an emphasis on the
feminist writings of Simone de Beauvoir, Murray taught philosophy in college. For many years, she launched a personal vendetta against
God and the Catholic Church in the classroom, trying to persuade students that God did not exist, mocking values Catholics hold dear,
and touted feminism as the cure for many social ills. When she discovered she was pregnant, Murray followed the route that feminists
offer as a solution for unmarried women. Much to her surprise, her abortion was a shattering emotional experience, which she grieved
over for years. It was the first tragic chink in her feminist armor.
Read more about Confessions of an Ex-Feminist, or
read an excerpt from the book.
|
|
|
|
