A bunch of young Jesuits launched a new website yesterday called The Jesuit Post.  Content will range very widely indeed.  The first batch of articles  include pieces on David Foster Wallace, parish masses, Tim Tebow, yoga, Paula Deen, the folk-rock band Hem, and health care reform.  Editor Paddy Gilger, SJ says “this site is about Jesus, politics, and pop-culture, it’s about the Catholic Church, sports, and Socrates.  It’s about making the case for God (better: letting God make the case for Himself) in our secular age.”

Go take a look.

The Ignatian Pro-Life Network was among the many groups that took part in the annual March for Life in Washington yesterday, the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v Wade decision.  It’s an occasion to remember the fine document Standing for the Unborn issued by the Jesuit Conference.

It says, “Jesuits ought to find their place among those who demonstrate the obvious confluence of women’s rights and respect for life in all its forms.”

To be pro-life is to be pro-woman. Because we support women, we oppose abortion. We realize that the prevalence of abortion on demand is a clear indication that women are not receiving the types of societal and personal support necessary to bring their pregnancies to term.

Loyola Productions in Los Angeles has launched a YouTube channel called Ignatian News Network that will feature videos about Jesuit work and mission.  Some of the early videos look at a lobbying in Los Angeles, retreats for homeless people, and sustainable gardening.  You can subscribe to INN here.

One INN video is about Loyola Press’s award-winning Voyages in English curriculum.  (Click here to watch it on YouTube.)

Looking for an unconventional Ignatian Christmas gift idea?  Through the Ignatian Spirituality Project you can give the gift of a retreat to a homeless person.

Next year the ISP will offer retreats to about 1000 men and women who are transitioning out of homelessness and recovering from addictions.  You can sponsor one person on a retreat for $375.  Other sponsorships are available for $25, $50, and $100.  Details here.

The ISP offers retreats in many cities in the U.S.  It welcomes inquiries from people interested in supporting this work.

Larry Gillick, SJ is a special Jesuit.  Blind since childhood, he has been a Jesuit for 50 years and has had a varied and fruitful career.  Among other accomplishments, he is one of the authors of Retreat in the Real World, a popular adaptation of the Spiritual Exercises.  He does retreat work all over the US, and lives in the Jesuit community at Creighton University.

In this video, he talks about how God called him to be a priest.  (Click here to watch it on YouTube.)

The Jesuit colleges and universities in the U.S. play each other dozens of times on the basketball court this season. Full schedule here. The Jesuit Basketball Spotlight program takes these games as a opportunity for a soft promotion of Jesuit education and mission.  Some version of this announcement will be read at most if not all of these games:

Tonight’s matchup between X and X is just one of more than 90 games this season  between teams from the 28 Jesuit colleges and universities across the United States. Each  of the 28 is dedicated to strong academics and teaching women and men to serve others  and live a faith that does justice.

Grounded in a 500-year tradition, Jesuit, Catholic higher education creates bright futures  for its more than 200,000 students in the United States.

Alumni at the game tonight are just some of the more than 1.7 million Jesuit graduates  in America who are leaders locally, nationally and internationally. [Name of institution]  and its fellow Jesuit institutions thank you for your attendance tonight, and for believing  in the Jesuit mission.

Rick Malloy, SJ, VP at the University of Scranton, prods students to ask some questions:

Will a man or woman who had multiple sexual partners make a good husband or wife? Is hooking up good training for life?

There’s an old saying in Jesuit circles: We form our habits and our habits form us. Those whose sexual practices militate against fidelity, monogamy and meaning during their late teen and young adult years will not easily settle down once they marry in their late 20s or early 30s.

Read the whole thing.

Our sister blog Picturing God: Faces and Traces of the Divine celebrates its first anniversary tomorrow. The blog has featured images of nature, people, objects, and places, all evoking God’s presence. I love it. Many of the pictures are extraordinary. It’s a daily way to experience finding God in all things.

To celebrate, Loyola Press is giving away Ignatian Inspiration calendars to five lucky people who comment on the Picturing God page. Details here. Check out the site if you haven’t already, and considering subscribing to receive the daily picture by e-mail.

Here’s a terrific segment from a recent 60 Minutes program about Fr. Rick Curry, SJ, and his unique theater program for the physically disabled.  I love Curry’s answer  to Steve Kroft’s question, “Is it better to be abled or disabled?” (If you can’t see the video, click here.)

I greatly admire the work of the Jesuit Refugee Service, an organization established by Pedro Arrupe, SJ in 1980 to serve and defend the cause of forcibly displaced persons.  If you’re looking for a book that will move you deeply, read They Come Back Singing: Finding God with the Refugees by Gary Smith, SJ.

Also read a booklet that the JRS has just published about their work.  You can download it here.