Jesuits in the News.

There was a note on the community bulletin board a couple days ago reporting the appointment of Father Francis X. Clooney, S.J. as Parkman Professor of Divinity at Harvard. Clooney, who currently holds academic appointments at Boston College and Oxford University, is (in the words of the Harvard press release) "one of the world's leading comparative theology scholars" and a noted authority on Hinduism. I've never read any of Clooney's books, but I heard him speak a couple years ago at an event in Chicagoland and was impressed. I also had dinner with him on that occasion and found his company most enjoyable. It must be admitted that Clooney's departure from BC is a great loss for a school that is in the midst of an effort to build itself up to being the preeminent Catholic and Jesuit university in the country. However, having a Jesuit on the Harvard faculty gives the Society of Jesus added visibility in the highest echelons of American academia and bears witness to the intellectual apostolate that has been a key part of the Order's ministry since its earliest days. So I'd say that Clooney's move to Harvard is very good news for this least Society. AMDG.