July 29, 2016 — The
International Jungmann Society
for Jesuits and the Liturgy gathered from June 20-25 at St. Patrick’s
College in Dublin for its sixth congress. The theme for this
year’s biennial meeting was “Made Fully into a New Creation: Liturgy,
Reconciliation, Justice.” The congress was presided over by the Society’s
president, Jesuit Father Andrew Cameron-Mowat.
The Jungmann Society is an international association of
Jesuits with academic training and expertise in liturgy. The goal of the
Society is to promote the renewal of the church’s liturgical life as a central
dimension of the church’s mission to preach the Gospel effectively. The congress
aims to discuss the function and preservation of the liturgy in today’s world.
Forty-two
Jesuit delegates attended, including men from Latin America, Europe, Africa, Asia,
Canada and the United States. Jesuit Father Tom Layden, Irish
Provincial, opened the gathering with a welcome message about the importance of the attendees’
work and the need to remind Jesuit leaders of the importance of liturgy not
only in the lives of communities, but also in the lives of men in formation.
The conference featured several keynote talks on topics that
included the theology of reconciliation and liturgy and lament. Jesuit Father
Henry Longbottom, a British scholastic, challenged attendees to open their
thoughts to ecology, focusing particularly on Laudato Si’.
At the end of the meeting Jesuit Father Dennis Smolarski, a
professor at Santa Clara University and author of “How Not to Say Mass,” was
named as president of the Society. Jesuit Father Erik Oland, director of
novices in Canada, was elected vice president.
The congress came to a close with a liturgy at the major
seminary at Maynooth, with music performed by local singers and musicians. Participants
experienced Jesuit fellowship throughout the meeting, especially through the liturgies. [Source: Jungmann Society]
