Petition To Keep Fr. Hezel In Micronesia Has 1,256 Supporters Micronesia (Marianas Variety, Oct. 04, 2013) — The petition to request the Society of Jesus to allow Fr. Francis X. Hezel, S.J. to remain in Micronesia has so far gathered 1,256 supporters. The petition, which was initiated by Chuukese educator Vid Raatior, director of the Pacific Islander Student Center at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, is addressed to New York Jesuit Provincial Rev. David S. Ciancimino S.J. and Jesuit leader of Micronesia Rev. John Hagileiram, S.J. Raatior said that the Jesuit Provincial had responded to the petition to keep Fr. Francis X. Hezel in Micronesia and he provided his comments to this response on change.org. In Fr. Ciancimino’s response to the petition, he said, “In the past few years, a number of Jesuits have returned to the New York Province for various reasons. Some of them have come home so that they might receive proper care in their waning years.” He said some of these changes have been years in the planning. Fr. Ciancimino said, “I have prayed over my decisions and those of our Regional Superior again and again. And I stand by the decisions that have been made as the result of good and careful discernment. While these Jesuits have come home, I have missioned other Jesuits to work in Micronesia, and in a short time they have done tremendous work.” In his comment, Raatior said, “The Provincial knows that no one will argue with a medical solution to an aging Jesuit. It’s true that as the Jesuit priests get older to the point where they need regular medical and nursing care, they get sent to the best nursing home for Jesuits located at Murray-Weigal Infirmary in the Bronx, New York. There is absolutely no disagreement when it comes to the men who have been rightly sent back to New York to live out the rest of their priesthood in the company of the aged and infirm Jesuits; they deserve the best care and no one can argue that.” For Raatior, it is unfair for Fr. Ciancimino to suggest that Fr. Hezel is being recalled due to medical reasons. “For the record, Fr. Hezel who is arguably the healthiest of ALL the Jesuits in Micronesia, is NOT being sent back to New York for any medical reason at all. The man regularly plays basketball and runs to stay fit. He is still a prolific author so all his mental faculties are intact too so there is no problem there,” said Raatior. He said it has never been a health issue. “The Provincial knows that,” he said. In the Provincial’s letter, he said, “In the past few years, the assistance of Jesuits from other provinces has been sought to assist with our commitment to Micronesia. The Jesuit Volunteer Corps remains an essential component of our ministry in Micronesia. We would be able to do little in Micronesia if not for the support of the local church and the women and men of Micronesia with whom we share our ministry. I encourage you to familiarize yourself with our ministries to see that it is not, and never has been, the intention of the Society of Jesus to compromise our commitment to Micronesia.” To this, Raatior said, “The assistance of other Jesuit provinces in the work in Micronesia dates back to the ’70s with Indonesian scholastics teaching at Xavier High School. The Jesuit Volunteers have been teaching in Micronesia, Palau, Guam, and the Marshall Islands since the early ’80s. All of these efforts pre-dated the Provincial so it’s nothing that he has done since taking on the role as head of the New York Province of the Society of Jesus (which includes the region of Micronesia) from the relative comfort of his office in New York.” He said it is unfair to suggest that the decision to summon Fr. Hezel back to New York was due to the Micronesians asking to take over the work that he has done “so effectively.” Raatior said, “The only people who want Fr. Hezel out of Micronesia are the two local superiors because his personal effectiveness is somehow not reflecting well on the Jesuit work — that he was taking too much credit and not the Jesuits.” Moreover, Raatior commented on the Provincial citing the declining Jesuit population in New York province. Raatior said, “As if having Fr. Hezel in New York will solve the universal problem of lack of vocations to the priesthood.” The Provincial talked about sending Jesuits where there is a greater need. To this Raatior said, “The mobility of Jesuits to be sent where the greatest need is dates back to the close relationship between the Pope and the founding fathers of the Jesuits. Ultimately, they were ready to go anywhere in the world the Pope asked their Father General to send men. The greatest need is where Jesuits will go. If this is true, then what is the need in New York that is so much greater than the need in Micronesia that warrants Fr. Hezel’s return to New York? Is the need so great that none of the 309 other New York Jesuits can possibly solve it? Of all the competent Jesuits in the entire Province of New York, they have to take one of the handful of effective Jesuits in Micronesia?” According to Raatior, “the real sad part of all this is that the Provincial has no work lined up for Fr. Hezel in New York and he is irreplaceable in Micronesia. Why prematurely remove a Jesuit from a needy mission like Micronesia to put him in New York where he is not going to be effectively doing what God has obviously gifted him with? Simply mind boggling.” For Raatior’s full comments and Provincial Ciancimino’s letter, go to change.org/petitions/keep-rev-francis-x-hezel-s-j-in-micronesia-where-he-is-needed?share_id=jvgvERXavT&utm_campaign=friend_inviter_chat&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition&utm_term=permissions_dialog_true
Posted on: Mon, 07 Oct 2013 08:04:51 +0000
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