Two major congregations of the Society of Jesus—General Congregation 32 in 1975 and General Congregation 34 in 1995—formally addressed the mission of the Jesuit order. Complex changes in Church and society over the previous century made new formulations, initiatives, and reconfigurations necessary. Of paramount concern were justice-related issues. How should these be connected with the service of faith and traditional Jesuit apostolates? GC 32 was bold, but for many, it seemed all too bold. As GC 34 was looming, Martin Tripole, S.J., composed a detailed critical analysis of the GC 32’s take on the Jesuit mission, particularly as expressed in Decree 4, its famous “Faith and Justice” decree. His prophetic 1994 publication, Faith Beyond Justice: Widening the Perspective, made suggestions that would prove to be uncannily similar to those of GC 34. An updated and expanded 30th anniversary edition of Faith Beyond Justice has been published by IJS Studies – Research on Jesuits and the Society of Jesus, an imprint of Jesuit Sources. Expanding the earlier edition with a foreword, a new preface, a new chapter, three substantial appendices, an updated bibliography, and an index, this volume is for anyone interested in the recent history of the Society, its contemporary apostolic reflection, or the broader issues of faith and culture. The foreword is written by Claude Pavur, S.J., an associate editor at the Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies at Boston College. Founded in 1961, Jesuit Sources specializes in preserving, maintaining, and expanding important texts and studies in Jesuit history, spirituality, and pedagogy. Since 2014, Jesuit Sources has been part of BC’s Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies.
‘Faith Beyond Justice,’ 30th anniversary
Civil rights road trip
When 1970 Boston College graduate John (Jack) Hanrahan and his wife traveled through the South to visit sites that were connected to important events in the country’s civil rights era, they found the most recent book on civil rights travel to be outdated and lacking. So Hanrahan, who graduated from BC with a bachelor’s degree in English, decided to write one of his own. Traveling Freedom’s Road: A Guide to Exploring Our Civil Rights History combines essential travel information with a narrative about the people and events that made this era such a critical part of American history. The book covers a dozen major destinations like Montgomery, Selma, Little Rock, Birmingham, and Memphis, and their museums, historic homes, churches, and other places of interest. Fourteen Southern states from Florida to Virginia and Texas are the main focus, while historic places germane to civil rights and African American history in 24 other states are also highlighted. Traveling Freedom’s Road shines a spotlight on many less-well-known individuals involved in the fight for civil rights, especially women such as Edna Griffin, Modjeska Simkins, and Ella Baker. Book profits go to Montgomery’s Equal Justice Initiative and the Legal Aid Justice Center in Charlottesville, where Hanrahan volunteers.
Constructing communities in the ‘Aeneid’
A new book from Boston College graduate Tedd Wimperis presents a fresh take on the Aeneid, the ancient Roman epic poem written by Vergil that tells the mythical story of Aeneas, a Trojan hero who leads a community of refugees to a new home in Italy. Constructing Communities in Vergil’s Aeneid: Cultural Memory, Identity, and Ideology (University of Michigan Press, 2024) focuses on how cultural identities are formed, expressed, and used in politics, inside the fictionalized world of the Aeneid and in the real-world Roman Empire. From the publisher: “This book investigates how the Aeneid’s fictive ethnic communities—the Trojans, Carthaginians, Latins, and Arcadians who populate its poetic world—are shown to have identities, myths, and cultural memories of their own. And much like their real-life Roman counterparts, they engage in the politics of the past in such contexts as royal iconography, diplomacy, public displays, and incitements to war. Where previous studies of identity and memory in the Aeneid have focused on the poem’s constructions of Roman identity, Constructing Communities turns the spotlight onto the characters themselves to show how the world inside the poem is replicating, as if in miniature, real forms of contemporary political and cultural discourse, reflecting an historical milieu where appeals to Roman identity were vigorously asserted in political rhetoric.” Wimperis, who earned a bachelor’s degree from BC in 2011, is an assistant professor of classical languages at Elon University.
Posted in Alumni Authors
Tagged Ancient Rome, Classical Studies Department, literature
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Irish family ties
During the 19th and 20th centuries, millions of Irish immigrated to the United States. Among them was 20-year-old Bridget Meade of County Clare who arrived alone in Boston in 1909. Her grandson, Vincent J. Quealy, Jr., chronicles her story in the book, Reflections of an Irish Grandson. It is an authentic Irish story of sorrow and sacrifice, courage and resistance, and family and devotion. Quealy is a 1975 Boston College graduate and past president of BC Alumni Association. He writes, “I remember my grandmother’s Irish accent and Irish expressions and stories of Ireland and I came to learn later about the difficulties and hardships confronting my grandmother and her Meade family in Ireland at a time when Britain still ruled that country very harshly. I wanted, for many years, to discover all that I could about why she left a beloved homeland, along with so many others, and about the struggles of the family she left behind.” An excerpt from Quealy’s book about the Irish War of Independence and the violence visited upon his grandmother’s hometown of Miltown Malbay and the Meade family was published by RTE (Ireland’s national public service media).
Fiona McPhee
Child and adolescent psychotherapist and author Katie Hurley, from the BC Class of 1997, has teamed up with her daughter Riley Hurley on the new children’s book, Fiona McPhee, Please Listen to Me! (PESI Publishing, Inc., 2024). Fiona is a confident, creative, and outspoken girl. She likes to take charge—and she’s good at it! One day she and her friends begin a group project at school, but with Fiona taking the lead every step of the way, her friends don’t feel heard or included. To continue working together, Fiona must learn that everyone has unique talents and something to contribute. Ultimately, the friends learn the best way to succeed is by using their strengths together. Katie Hurley is passionate about empowering girls and young women to lift each other up and work together for a better future together. Her previous publications include No More Mean Girls, The Stress-Buster Workbook for Kids, and The Happy Kid Handbook, among others.
Irish Studies scholarship
Two Boston College Irish Studies Program faculty members contributed chapters to The Oxford Handbook of Religion in Modern Ireland (Oxford University Press, 2024). Sullivan Chair in Irish Studies Guy Beiner’s essay is on “Religion and Memory in Modern Ireland.” Professor of the Practice Robert Savage wrote the chapter on “Religion and Broadcasting in the Two Irelands.” The new handbook, which employs a comprehensive all-island approach to the relationships between religion, society, politics, and everyday life on the island of Ireland, is a collection of essays from 36 experts on topics such as identity, secularization, everyday religion, and gender. Beiner also co-wrote a chapter titled “Racializing Irish Historical Consciousness” in Race in Irish Literature and Culture (Cambridge University Press, 2024). He also contributed an article titled “Remembering to Forget: Heaney and 1798 Revisited” to a special issue of the interdisciplinary scholarly journal Éire Ireland. The special issue, edited by Irish Studies’ Vera Kreilkamp, marked the 10th anniversary of the death of Seamus Heaney.
The Heirloom
The Heirloom (G.P. Putnam’s Sons/Penguin Random House, 2024) is a new novel written by 2005 Boston College graduate Jessie Rosen. A marriage proposal with an heirloom engagement ring sets the novel’s action in motion. While Shea Anderson says yes to the proposal, she believes in her grandmother’s warning about heirloom rings—the karma from whoever wore the ring in the past will come back to haunt you. So Shea is compelled to find the ring’s previous owners to ensure it contains forever energy. Along with her sister and a journalist, Shea barks on a journey that takes her from Los Angeles and New York to Italy and Portugal. Booklist writes of The Heirloom: “Rosen’s captivating debut features strong family ties, tons of superstition, and romance.” Rosen, who is based in Los Angeles, is a writer, producer, educator, and speaker. The 20-Nothings blog that she produced from 2007 to 2017 was named a TIME Top 25 Blog and Forbes Top 100 Website for Women & Top 10 Website for Millennials. She has followed that with film and television writing, showrunning, and live storytelling.
Plymouth, MA and Columbia, MO
Stephen Paul Sayers, a 1988 Boston College graduate, pays homage to two of his favorite locations in the United States in the travel books, 100 Things to Do in Columbia, MO Before You Die and 100 Things to Do in Plymouth, Massachusetts Before You Die. Both titles are part of the best-selling 100 Things travel series from Reedy Press. His most recent book, 100 Things to Do in Plymouth, is about the New England coastal town where English pilgrims came ashore 400 years ago. Sayers first encountered Plymouth as a child in the 1970s and has been a seasonal resident since 2003. The book highlights Plymouth’s rich history, beaches, art community, and one-of-a-kind places. In his earlier work, 100 Things to Do in Columbia, Sayers reflects on what he calls “one of the coolest places on any map”—a city midway between St. Louis and Kansas City known for education, culture, history, natural beauty, and its small-town vibe. Sayers is an associate professor at the University of Missouri and has lived in Columbia for 20 years.
The Constitutional Bind
The United States Constitution occupies a quasi-mythical status in American political culture, according to Boston College Law Professor Aziz Rana, whose new book argues that this reverence is a 20th-century phenomenon and has led Americans to idolize a flawed document. The Constitutional Bind: How Americans Came to Idolize a Document That Fails Them (University of Chicago Press, 2024) explores how the Constitution came to be so glorified and how this has impacted American life. Rana connects this widespread idolization to the rise of U.S. global dominance. According to the author, such veneration has had far-reaching consequences: despite offering a unifying language of reform, it has also unleashed an interventionist national security state abroad while undermining the possibility of deeper change at home. Rana’s research and teaching center on American constitutional law and political development. In particular, his work focuses on how shifting notions of race, citizenship, and empire have shaped legal and political identity since the founding of the country. Rana is also author of the book The Two Faces of American Freedom. He talks about his new book, the Constitution, and comparative constitutions in this Q&A from BC Law magazine.
Posted in Boston College Authors
Tagged Boston College Law School, constitution, law
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Latinx Leadership Initiative highlighted
The Boston College School of Social Work’s Latinx Leadership Initiative, which marked its 10th anniversary this spring, is featured in a new publication, Advancing What Works to Intentionally Serve Latino Students: Opportunities for Action – 2024. For 20 years, Excelencia in Education has been dedicated to accelerating Latino student success in higher education. Its Examples of Excelencia is a data-driven initiative that identifies and promotes best practices. LLI was recognized as an Example of Excelencia in 2020 and is one of 35 programs highlighted in Advancing What Works to Intentionally Serve Latino Students. The featured programs emphasize cultural responsiveness and take asset-based approaches to intentionally serving Latinos, as well as other post-traditional students, in five key areas. LLI appears in the section on Bilingualism Enhancing Academic and Career Connections. Founded in 2013, LLI has prepared almost 240 bilingual and bicultural social workers to accompany Latinx communities in developing sustainable solutions to complex problems in health, education, housing, and other areas.
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