Jesuits telling it like it is

August 9, 2012 in News
vimeo 01

vimeo 01

During a short stint with the Jesuit Communication Centre this summer, Irish Jesuit scholastic Niall Leahy produced a series of interviews with Irish Jesuits on faith, vocation, and various aspects of life as a Jesuit.

The interviews were conducted by Pat Coyle, JCC Director. What Niall was looking for he got – concise, honest opinions from experienced Jesuits concerning what their life in the Society means to them. All of the videos can be seen on the JCC’s Vimeo channel, Heart of a Jesuit.

 

In her one-to-one interviews, Pat asked probing and sometimes difficult questions about being committed to the Jesuit way of life at a time when there is much less respect, much less understanding, than in past decades. The answers she got were frank and mostly very positive.

“This is a wonderful way of life,” Tom Layden said; “There is a depth and a quality of life; there is a peace and a joy. It comes from being willing to give the first place in my heart to God and to other people and their needs. It calls for a certain self-forgetfulness, a letting-go, but when I let that happen, when I let God’s grace work in me and through me, then it’s just wonderful.”

Apart from the one-to-one interviews Pat also compered a round-table discussion involving five Jesuits, drawing out thoughtful responses from them to questions about vocation, community life, and commitment to marginalised people.

All the interviews were videoed and edited by Liam Ó Cathasaigh (a Crescent College alumnus) and Colm Quinn. Liam and Colm are building up their video company, Faction, and have worked often with the JCC.