Fr. James Reuters SJ in DZIQ: Pro-Reproductive Health teachers are free to go

From the Philippine Daily Inquirer INQUIRER.net
First Posted 15:17:00 05/17/2011:

MANILA, Philippines—Faculty members who support the Reproductive Health (RH) bill have no right to teach in Ateneo de Manila University, Jesuit priest James Reuter said, according to a Radyo Inquirer report aired Tuesday.

Reuter was quoted as saying that the RH bill violates what a Catholic institution like the Ateneo stands for, because he claimed the bill promotes abortion. He said the basic law in a Catholic school is simple: follow the rule of God.

He added that freedom of speech was not absolute.

The report said that Reuter had advised the Ateneo administration to investigate teachers supporting the bill.

In 2008, a group of professors from Ateneo de Manila University threw their support for the RH bill.

For the full radio report, listen to the DZIQ 990AM voice clip.—Danica Hermogenes, INQUIRER.net

A feisty Jesuit priest: Howie Severino’s biographical essay on Fr. James Reuter, S.J.

Born on May 21, 1916 to a young German-Irish couple, Reuter had spent most of his life in New Jersey when he volunteered to be a Jesuit missionary in America’s only colony in Asia in 1938.

The eldest of five children, Reuter’s choice of vocation came early, inspired by his own Jesuit mentor, Ernest Hartnett, at his Catholic High School in New Jersey, Saint Peter’s Prep. A few months after graduating valedictorian while playing varsity athletics, he entered the Society of Jesus and started his novitiate training in Pennsylvania. By age 20, Reuter had taken his first holy vows, and arrived in Manila at age 22 as a Jesuit scholastic, or a priest-in-training. He had known about the archipelago since high school, when he had argued in favor of independence in the intense debates going on then in the United States over the fate of the Philippine islands.

After several years of study, including two years in the Philippine summer capital of Baguio up north, he was assigned to teach at the Ateneo de Manila in mid-1941. At the same time, he began his radio career when he was also tasked to help produce the Catholic Church’s popular Sunday-night radio drama show, “The Commonweal Hour.”

This was the start of Reuter’s long career in Philippine media. But it may have also marked the dawn of his extraordinary impact on the would-be republic’s public life. The radio program reached many listeners, and featured actors from the Ateneo who would later distinguish themselves in the public sphere: Leon Ma. Guerrero, Raul Manglapus, Ricardo Puno, and Francisco ‘Soc’ Rodrigo, to name a few. The show’s chief writer was a precocious young Jesuit named Horacio de la Costa, later the superior of the Jesuit province and one of the country’s pre-eminent historians. (Back then, de la Costa wrote witty radio plays for the masses, including the series “Kuwentong Kutsero,” which became so popular it eventually crossed over into television and also became a hit.)

The reverie of Reuter’s early years in the Philippines was interrupted by the Japanese invasion and the start of World War II. As an American, the priest was interned in Los Baños, south of Manila, where he was assigned the duty of burying dead inmates. In early 1945, while the Japanese guards were doing their daily calisthenics, U.S. paratroops sprung a surprise assault and quickly took over the Los Baños camp. As he was liberated, Reuter was overcome by patriotic emotion and vowed then that he would never give up his U.S. citizenship. He would recall four decades later, “Coming into Manila in a military jeep, in the bright morning sunlight, with my hair blowing in the wind, I was in real ecstasy. We were free! We were really free!”

Reuter returned to the United States for more studies after the war and was ordained in 1946. In addition to theology, he enrolled for a summer at Fordham University to study a new course in radio and television, which was then a new medium that many radio professionals were skeptical about. Located in New York, Fordham exposed the Jesuit communicator to the media industry’s cutting edge.

In 1948, he returned to the Philippines where he was assigned to teach at the Ateneo de Naga, in the Bicol region, where he began to blossom as the prototypical Jesuit Renaissance man. He taught English and religion, but after class he was in charge of five extracurricular activities: the school’s monthly magazine and yearbook, the glee club, the debate team, dramatics, and the varsity basketball team.

He was reassigned to the Ateneo de Manila in 1952, where his versatility was put to full use. His theatrical talents were already well-known. But soon after his return to Manila, he revived the Ateneo glee club, which “quickly became something of a national phenomenon,” according to one account of those years.

Read more: A Feisty Jesuit Priest

Fr. James Reuter, S.J.: Pray for Philippine economic recovery and moral reformation

THE ONLY HOPE FOR THE PHILIPPINES

by Father James Reuter, S.J.

Our republic has become one of the weakest nations, steadily left behind by its more progressive neighbors. Forty years ago, we were only second to Japan in economic stature, and way ahead of Singapore , Hong Kong , Malaysia , and Thailand . Today, at our present growth rate, it will take us 30 years to get to where Thailand is. Our national debt is estimated to be at US$200B (compared to US$28B when Marcos fled).
We will be competing, not against Thailand or even Vietnam , but against Bangladesh.
We will be the most corrupt nation in Asia , if not in the world (we’re already ranked 11th most corrupt nation by Transparency International) …

The signs are clear. Our nation is headed towards an irreversible path of economic decline and moral decadence. It is not for lack of effort. We’ve seen many men and women of integrity in and out of government, NGOs, church groups & people’s organization devote themselves to the task of nation-building, often times against insurmountable odds. Not even people’s revolutions, bloodless as they may be, have made a dent in reversing this trend. At best, we have moved one step forward, but three steps backward.

We need a force far greater than our collective efforts, as a people, can ever hope to muster. It is time to move the battle to the spiritual realm… It’s time to gather GOD’s people to pray for the economic recovery and moral reformation of our nation.

Is prayer really the answer?

Before you dismiss this as just another rambling, I’d like you to consider some lessons we can glean from history.

England ‘s ascendancy to world power was preceded by the Reformation, a spiritual revival fueled by intense prayers.

The early American settlers built the foundation that would make it the most powerful nation today — a strong faith in GOD and a disciplined prayer life. Throughout its history, and especially at its major turning points, waves of revival and prayer movement swept across the land.

In recent times, we see Korea as a nation experiencing revival and in the process producing the largest Christian church in the world today, led by Rev. Paul Yongi Cho. No wonder it has emerged as a strong nation when other economies around it are faltering.

Even from a purely secular viewpoint, it makes a lot of sense. For here, there is genuine humbling & seeking of GOD through prayer, moral reformation necessarily follows. And this, in turn, will lead to general prosperity. YES, we believe prayer can make a difference. It’s our only hope.

Today, we launch this email brigade, to inform Filipinos from all over the world to pray, as a people, for the economic recovery and moral reformation of our nation. We do not ask for much. We only ask of you to fwd this email to your close friends and relatives.

This is the kind of resolve and unity which can make a big difference. Of course, if you feel strongly, as I do, about the power of prayer, you can be more involved by starting a prayer group or prayer center.

We have tried people power twice before; in both cases, it fell short. Maybe it’s time to try prayer power. GOD never fails. Is there hope? YES! We can rely on God’s promise, but we have to do our part. If we humble ourselves and pray as a people, GOD will hear and heal our land. By GOD’s grace, we may still see a chance of a better future for our country.

‘If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from Heaven, and will forgive their sins, and will heal their land… (2 Chronicles 7:14).

If you care for your children and grandchildren, let’s not abandon the Philippines.
PLEASE, pass this on.

Fr. James Reuter S.J.’s prayer

Lord God,

Look down upon us, this day, this hour.

Regardless of what has gone before,

or what will come after,

give us the grace to consecrate this time entirely to You —

all the actions of our body and soul.

May all the thoughts that come to us

be true.

May all the things to which our hearts go out

be beautiful, with the beauty of God.

May all the things we want be good.

Give us the light to see Your Will,

the grace to love it

and the courage and strength

to do it.

We ask you this through Christ Our Lord.

Amen.

Source: Defensores Fidei blog