Kevin O'Brien, SJ interview

Georgetown Alumni Online: Q&A Father Kevin O'Brien, SJ

Rev. Kevin O’Brien, S.J., joined the Campus Ministry staff at Georgetown University in August 2008 as its executive director. A graduate of Georgetown University (C’88), he joined the Society of Jesus in 1996. He was ordained as a priest in 2006. Father O’Brien spoke with Georgetown Alumni Online about the university’s interfaith tradition, how Georgetown holds to its Catholic, Jesuit identity in today’s world and more.

You spent several years as a lawyer before entering the priesthood. What made you decide to become a priest?

When I came to Georgetown, My zeal for service grew, and I thought I would serve in government, so I went to law school and began a law practice with the intention of giving back as a public servant or elected official. In my 20s, with God’s grace and the help of a lot of people, I came to understand my call to service differently. I was called to serve as a Jesuit priest. I left my practice and taught in a Catholic high school for three years before becoming a Jesuit. So the call to service remains, but how I’m going about it is different.

I’m very happy to be back at this place which has meant so much to me. Before coming here, I served as associate pastor at Holy Trinity Church, just a block away from campus. Many of the skills I learned in a parish – as a teacher, as a priest, as an administrator – translate to my work here. But this is also a very different type of work, because it is a university and that’s very exciting.

It’s been just over a year since you became executive director of Campus Ministry. What were some highlights for you in the last year?

The best thing about working here is the people: the students God sends our way; the staff and other ministers I work with within Campus Ministry and my colleagues elsewhere in the university. They are thoughtful, inspiring, talented people, and they make coming to work a real joy.

I’ve found the interfaith ministry here most invigorating. I’m a Catholic priest and came from a Catholic parish. But at Georgetown, in my role, I’m responsible not simply for the pastoral and spiritual care of Roman Catholics, but for Muslims, Jews, Protestants, Orthodox Christians, Buddhists and Hindus – for people of all faith traditions. So I’m learning to be a pastor in a different way than in other work I’ve done.

Thirdly, saying Mass at Dahlgren Chapel is immensely consoling. For a priest, saying Mass is the heart of our life. To say Mass at Dahlgren Chapel means so much to me because it was a sacred place for me as an undergraduate.

In what ways has the interfaith tradition at Georgetown become stronger since you were a student?

Our commitment is greater simply because we have more people serving in Campus Ministry on the main campus and at the Law Center and Medical Center. We have a larger staff because, thankfully, there is a demand for the spiritual care we offer. For example, we have a full-time imam. We did not have and did not need one in the 1980s when I was a student, but we do now, given our growing number of devout Muslim students. We have more Protestant and Catholic chaplains as well. That the main offices of Campus Ministry are in the first floor of the Healy building in the heart of the campus is a sign that faith continues to be integral to the university’s mission. We’re the largest Campus Ministry in the country because we are so dedicated to caring for students from all religious traditions in creative, committed ways.

How has being an alumnus helped or shaped your approach to your work?

As an alumnus, I know and love this university, and that helps me feel deeply invested in what I do here. It truly is a calling, a vocation, for me to be here, and it’s a privilege. Ironically, as a student, I went to Mass regularly, but I wasn’t actively involved in Campus Ministry. God has a sense of humor!

Now, on so many evenings, I walk out of my office and down the steps of Healy Hall, and I look upon the statue of John Carroll, and I have to marvel at how generous God is in giving me this privileged opportunity to come back to my alma mater. I have an innate desire to give back to people and places that have given me much. My family taught me that, my faith teaches me that, and Georgetown taught me that. So it’s a great opportunity to give back to this place that has been so good to me.

Are the questions of faith today’s students ask the same as those asked by students when you were attending classes?

Though the historical context changes, college students present similar questions: Is there a God? If there is, who is this God for me and what difference does faith make in my life? Where do I find lasting meaning in my life? How can I love and serve? How can I grow into the person God calls me to be? How can I find true, lasting happiness in my life? We do our best to help young people find answers to those questions by sharing with them the wisdom of our religious tradition and the depth of Ignatian or Jesuit spirituality.

You’re one of a number of Jesuits or chaplains in-residence at Georgetown. How do you think that arrangement benefits the students and the clergy?

There are 25 chaplains who live in the residence halls. Nine of them are Jesuit priests; the others are ministers and lay men and women of different faith traditions. I live in Copley, which was the residence hall where I spent two years as a student.

I think the students benefit from our living in the residence halls because we offer an experienced, adult presence particularly in times of personal need. We also provide a spiritual presence and offer programs for students to learn how to pray and learn about other religions. And we serve a lot of food, which engenders lots of good conversation!

Living with students helps me understand them better. So I’m a better minister, priest and teacher because I’m living with students. It’s life-giving, too, because so many of our students are so full of life, interesting, and funny, and they ask wonderful questions and have so much to say.

What are the most successful programs your office oversees?

We offer vibrant religious services in various faith traditions. We offer worship services that are appealing to young people – in terms of the preaching, sermons, the music, and the sacred spaces – and we have a talented, exceptionally gifted staff of people to prepare and preside over these services.

We also offer excellent retreat opportunities for students to leave campus and reflect on their lives and what they’re learning and experiencing at Georgetown. The ESCAPE retreat for first-year students and transfers is by far our most popular retreat because it engages those really important questions like ‘Who am I now and what do I stand for?” ESCAPE also helps new students find community here on campus. We have found that ESCAPE serves as a gateway into specifically religious retreats offered by the various chaplaincies. I am also excited about our growing program in Ignatian retreats, which are prayer experiences based on Jesuit ways of praying.

The third area of our ministry I would highlight is our religious formation or education programs. We offer a variety of programs that teach students about their own faith tradition and those of other students. We serve at a university, so everything we do here has to be about teaching and working with our colleagues in academic departments to help our students grow intellectually as well as spiritually. In Jesuit education, we like to say that we care for the whole person – mind, body, and spirit. So in all we do here, we strive to nourish the mind and the heart, the intellect and the spirit.

Are you developing any new programs in response to student demand?

Students want to learn more about discernment – making decisions from a perspective of faith. Basically, they want help addressing the question ‘What does God want me to do with my life?’ That is the question every student asks here, particularly as they move toward graduation. So we try to teach people both traditional and modern practices of discernment, particularly in the Ignatian tradition.

Often students deepen or renew their faith commitments by working for social justice and engaging in direct service with the poor. We are working to develop some faith-based national and international service projects where students work with the materially poor and then return to campus and integrate that work with their academic and spiritual life.

Has Georgetown had to make significant adaptations in order to better achieve its mission as a Catholic institution in today’s world?

A hallmark of Jesuit education and Ignatian spirituality is adaptation because God works with each person so differently and labors in all times and in every part of our lives and our world. The challenge is for us to find God in all things and all people, and then respond in a way that makes this world a more just and gentle place. A twentieth-century Polish Jesuit wrote that a Jesuit university lives “on the borderline where the Church meets the world and the world meets the Church.” This is a very exciting, but also very complicated place to be – but it is where we need to be as a Jesuit university and this is where the Church sends us. Thus, a Jesuit university is a place where there is an animated dialogue between faith and reason, religion and culture. At Georgetown in particular, we assist the Church in engaging in thoughtful, meaningful interreligious dialog, which in the 21st Century is ever more important.

What remains the same on the Hilltop across generations is our commitment to the integration of learning, faith, and service.

What goals do you have for your office in the years ahead?

We want to strengthen our relationships with different academic departments in order to contribute to the teaching mission of the university. We want to expand our faith-based service programs and retreats, particularly Ignatian retreats.

But before we create or expand a program, we ask a very “Jesuit” question. One of the principles of the founding of the Society of Jesus was to meet the needs of the Church and the world that were not being met. In the same way, we are asking today – what needs are not being met for today’s young people? And we want to listen very carefully to their responses so that we can help them grow into the people God calls them to be.

Tastykake and the bishops...

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops The US Bishops head to Charm City for their annual November meeting. On the agenda are the last of the Roman Missal items, along with documents on marriage, reproductive technology and medically assisted nutrition and hydration.

I'm glad the Archbishop decided to share the Tastykakes. I would be in incredible shape today if not for those damn Butterscotch Krimpets, Kremies, Chocolate Juniors and especially the Koffee Kakes. A bad day as a kid was when Mom would confuse the desserts in the lunches and I would get Lucinda's Kandy Kakes... the only ones I wouldn't eat ;-(

About a decade ago I'm in a Wawa in Northeast Philly, dying for a cream filled chocolate cupcake, when the guy tells me that a former Philadelphia, now living in Hawaii, just bought every last TastyKake -- around 400 of them ;-(

So for all you Philly people living outside the Delaware Valley, and all you who've always wanted one... click Tastykake.com! I hear they have sugar free and low cal products now.

Because "Nobody bakes a cake as tasty as a Tastykake". (come on, you're singing it already ;-)

And Archbishop Tim Dolan of New York and Cardinal Rigali

meet to settle a wager on the outcome of the World Series.

So Cardinal Rigali graciously presented -- and Archbishop Dolan gleefully

received -- the Tastykakes, which he made available to everyone.

The Road From Aguilares

Increasingly, Rutilio Grande, SJ began to exemplify a new church in El Salvador , committed to awakening in the poor a sense of their dignity and rights as children of God. This was s time when the social contradictions in El Salvador were building to a violent crisis. In this atmosphere, Grande acquired a reputation as a “radical” priest, an enemy of the system. With the bishops facing pressure to “do something” about this troublesome influence, Grande resigned from his position in the seminary and took up an assignment as pastor of Aguilares, a small town near his birthplace. There he established a vigorous pastoral ministry, training lay catechists to insert the gospel message throughout the community. In base communities, peasants studied the word of God and in that light raised critical questions about the sources of their oppression. Grande’s sermons on social justice were infamous among the town’s elite, and once again the pressure mounted on him to have him silenced.

William J. O’Malley, SJ, The Voice of Blood: Five Christian Martyrs of Our Time

America Magazine - The Road From Aguilares
Twenty Years Later: Remembering the Martyrs of El Salvador
William Reiser

A group of highly trained Salvadoran soldiers entered the campus of the University of Central America in San Salvador shortly past midnight on Nov. 16, 1989. While their primary target was the president of the university, Ignacio Ellacuría, S.J., they murdered and mutilated nearly the entire Jesuit community—Ignacio and five others. A seventh member of the community, Jon Sobrino, S.J., was in Thailand teaching a course on Christology. The soldiers also murdered Elba and Celina Ramos, the Jesuits’ housekeeper and her daughter, who slept on campus that night to escape the anxiety caused by the bullets and artillery around the neighborhood where they lived.

What happened that night brought home grimly yet powerfully the prophetic dimension of teaching and research, when these activities are informed by an option for the poor. The 32nd General Congregation of the Society of Jesus, which met in 1974-75, put the entire order on record: “The mission of the Society of Jesus today is the service of faith, of which the promotion of justice is an absolute requirement.” The 33rd General Congregation (1983) reaffirmed that direction and insisted that “we wish to make our own the church’s preferential option for the poor.”

A Weak-Willed Congress
The civil war in El Salvador lasted 12 years, from 1980 to 1992, and claimed 75,000 lives. The incompetence of American foreign policy with respect to the conditions that led to the conflict and in understanding who benefitted from the U.S. support of the Salvadoran military was appalling. As a result of the assassinations at the university, a weak-willed U.S. Congress finally began to face the problem of U.S. complicity in the Salvadoran situation. Representative Joe Moakley, Democrat of Massachusetts, was appointed to lead an investigation that turned out to be as courageous as it was eye-opening. El Salvador was not the only place in Latin America where the poor were being abased. Nine years earlier, four North American women who were returning to El Salvador—two Maryknoll sisters, an Ursuline nun and a co-worker—were raped and murdered on their way from the airport. And two days before Archbishop Oscar Romero was gunned down at the altar on March 24, 1980, another Jesuit, Luis Espinal, was ambushed in La Paz, Bolivia, and silenced for his defense of the rights and dignity of the poor.

The stories of such “martyrs for justice,” as Father Jon Sobrino calls the slain Jesuits and many others, do not begin with the martyrs themselves but with the people on the bottom—the victims of poverty, miscarriages of justice and class prejudice; the throwaways and the “disappeared.” The story of the Salvadoran Jesuits, for example, takes us to the political, social and economic oppression endured by peasants so poor that they needed to be catechized before they could imagine that the world could be different. What would El Salvador look like if God’s will were done on earth, just as it is in heaven?

Father Ellacuría and his companions understood that the mission of a Christian university as an apostolic instrument is not disconnected from the economic and political conditions of the society in which it is located. On the contrary, the university’s mission derives directly from its awareness of the everyday reality that poor people endure. But as Father Sobrino explains in his essay “The University’s Christian Inspiration,” because a university needs resources it is almost by necessity implicated in a world of economic and political power, and “this incarnation amid power tends to distance the university from social reality as lived by the poorest and most marginalized.” Indeed, even the church has to be careful never to lose sight of the world of the poor, and contact with it. Preachers and teachers whose hearts and intelligence are immersed in that world are more attuned to the deeper rhythms of Scripture. Distance from the poor leads to distance from God.

Aguilares and Rutilio Grande
Aguilares was the village where Rutilio Grande, S.J., had been working and the place to which his close friend, Oscar Romero, rushed when he heard the news of Grande’s assassination on March 12, 1977. It was also where Romero later, as archbishop, experienced a profound spiritual awakening. The bishop’s “place,” he came to understand, is with his people; he is never more bishop than when walking alongside the poorest and most vulnerable of his diocese. Aguilares was also where the Jesuits, so suspect in the eyes of El Salvador’s elite and of Archbishop Romero himself earlier, came to be of one heart and mind. The poor were powerless. Christ became poor, which means that he also became powerless. And the reason for the impoverishment both of Jesus and the people? Because, in El Salvador, others had become rich and privileged at their expense. Poverty is visible, but the oppressive forces that create structural violence are usually hidden. One needs the lens of solidarity to perceive those forces, and Aguilares gave the archbishop the lens that enabled him to identify what he saw as crucifixion.

Father Ellacuría and the other Jesuits in his community had already undergone their “Aguilares moment,” the flash that shatters the familiarity hiding the underside of everyday life. What immediately grabs attention is that they were murdered, not the conversion process that led to the radicalization of their vision. In the case of the archbishop, however, it is less his murder that fascinates us than the story of how a conservative churchman became prophetic.

By contrast, Ignacio Ellacuría’s conversion, his embrace of the central categories that came to be associated with the theology of liberation, unfolded gradually, largely through reading, study and discussion. His theological orientation was rooted in the Second Vatican Council. He had fully digested Paul VI’s encyclical Populorum Progressio (1967) and the documents from the Second Conference of the Latin American bishops in Medellín, Colombia, in 1968. His doctoral work in philosophy sharpened his ability to decipher the historical reality that was El Salvador. Apostolic activity without a vision of the kingdom of God tends to validate itself in terms of helping people into the next life but at the risk of meekly acquiescing to the way things are now. Apostolic activity with a vision of the horizon wants to transform the world. It is a faith that does justice, which means that the church—especially its pastors and teachers—tries to make its voice heard in the political arena. As a result, Romero encountered severe opposition among the Salvadoran elites and their military, and in some corridors of the Vatican.



Because the demands of social justice often require stepping into a country’s political life, Father Ellacuría found himself immersed in negotiations between the government and the revolutionary resistance during the course of the country’s civil war. What is intriguing is how he came to his view of justice and liberation by reading and studying and through the clarification of thought and expression that results from conversation and argument. As they fulfill their mission, Christian universities facilitate such a shift in perspective. Some people actually do read their way into conversion. St. Ignatius did so while recuperating after the battle in Pamplona, although even in his case some spiritual lessons were learned only from experience and not from books.

Ellacuría’s Aguilares Moment
I suspect, then, that Ellacuría’s Aguilares moment was in fact extended over some time. While he read, studied and talked, the world in front of him never lost its political and social immediacy. His ability to imagine was not insensitive to “the joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the people of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted,” as the opening line of Gaudium et Spes put it, by class loyalties or ecclesiastical privilege or doctrinal mindset. Since fear keeps truth at bay, it closes our eyes to hard realities we need to face. The Jesuits’ Central American Province newsletter noted: “When people would ask Ellacu if he were not afraid he would say no, but, he added, he no more took credit for that than for lacking a sense of smell. He just didn’t have one.” The world of the poor and of victims was not outside, awaiting full access to his mind and heart. It was already within him.

Jesuit colleges and universities become effective instruments insofar as they have a critical mass of faculty members and staff who share the same Christian inspiration that Ellacuría and his companions brought to the Catholic university in San Salvador and by which they transformed it. The hard part is not assembling the critical mass, however; it is discovering that inspiration and keeping it alive. Here I draw on personal experience. By 1988 I had been teaching theology for 10 years. The theology was in line with Vatican II. I drew widely and appreciatively on liberation theology and Catholic social teaching; the forceful words of the Society’s 32nd General Congregation about justice and faith struck a deep chord. To this point, I could follow Ellacuría. But then, over the course of a weekend, I came face to face with poverty among families no more than a mile from the campus in Massachusetts where I was living and working.

A Late Personal Discovery
Within weeks I was looking at the underside of life in rundown apartments, where shadows and shouts awakened long-buried fears about violence, about different lifestyles, about brokenness and isolation. The memory of Romero—not his martyrdom but his enlightenment—enabled me to make sense of what was happening. I myself was passing through an Aguilares moment, and the people I met were Latino. It was a moment of feeling terribly disoriented and unmoored, yet at the same time untied and excited. Even now, more than 20 years later, I cannot figure out why the discovery took so long in coming. Its delay was not for lack of better training or critical reflection, nor was it for want of forceful church documents and living models. More likely it had to do with fear and insecurity: not a fear of death so much as a fear of hostility, violence and failure, of not knowing how to respond to circumstances and backgrounds so different from my own and so greatly beyond my control.

The next step is obvious. We develop friendships with the very ones who have made us unsettled and afraid. While we might not be as free as Jesus when it comes to seeking the company of those at the margins, at least as a start these friendships enable us to move beyond fear and insecurity, defensiveness and hostility. These relationships reshape how we observe, interpret and respond to the world. The lesson of the martyrs is that whether we think of the world in local or global terms, there is no way to escape the route toward the mortal conflict that tears society in two, except by what Paul called “this ministry of reconciliation.” Working for justice is absolutely essential. But if suspicion and estrangement are not overcome, the kingdom of God remains only partially realized. We may be able to read ourselves into the horizon of justice, but we cannot read ourselves into freedom from fear. The way to that liberation passes through the villages and homes of the poor—the road that leads from Aguilares.

William Reiser, S.J., is a professor of religious studies at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass.

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The next month in El Salvador, Fr. Rutilio Grande, SJ, and two lay companions were ambushed and machine-gunned as they were driving to evening mass at their church. These deaths profoundly affected the new archbishop of San Salvador, Oscar Romero, a friend of Fr. Grande; Archbishop Romero was martyred while celebrating mass three years later. And nine years after that, in 1989, six Jesuits were killed in El Salvador, along with two women.

In all, 44 Jesuits were killed in nineteen countries of South and Central America, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East between 1973 and 1999.

What happened to the Jesuits happened also in massive numbers to others. Some of them shared the Jesuits' ministry; most were simply killed for being who they were, for believing in and worshipping their God as they would, for doing what their faith or simply the circumstances of their lives asked of them.

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In Great Esteem
Pedro Arrupe, the Jesuit Superior General, wrote to Jesuits worldwide about the five Jesuits martyred from October 1976 to March 1977:

Who are the victims that God has chosen? The five were men of average human gifts, leading obscure lives, more or less unrecognized, dwelling in small villages, and totally dedicated to the daily service of the poor and suffering. These were sons of the Society who never took part in broad national controversies and who never made headlines in the news media. Their style of life was simple, austere, evangelical; it was the life that used them up slowly, day-by-day in the service of "the little ones."


Fr. Rutilio Grande, SJ
1927—1977

The Lord seems once more to be showing us his preferences and to be pointing out the values and the kind of witness that he holds in great esteem. He has lifted out of obscurity for the whole world to see and crowned with martyrdom these "faithful servants" of his, men who were faithful to him in little and humdrum affairs, men who served him in the hungry, the thirsty, the homeless, men who loved him in the poor by their works and sincerity.

The Lord seems to be showing us, then, what kind of martyr is found in today's world. And the Church seems to believe that too, for in a spontaneous reaction it has not hesitated to label their deaths a "martyrdom." Pope Paul VI used that word about the victims of Rhodesia; the bishops of Brazil applied it in reference to Fr. Burnier; and finally, the bishops, the clergy and the people of El Salvador interpreted Fr. Grande's death that way when they thanked God "for having given us the first Salvadoran Martyr."

from A Century of Jesuit Martyrs, which includes the list of Jesuit Martyrs of the 20th Century.

Future looks bright on Hawk Hill

From the Phanatic Magazine.... click title for full story. Aiken, Galloway and Quarles were all ranked as Rivals Top 150 players.

Hawks get 3 recruits

Saint Joseph's men's basketball coach Phil Martelli announced that three scholastic standouts - C.J. Aiken, Langston Galloway and Daryus Quarles - have signed National Letters of Intent during the early signing period.The three student-athletes will attend the University beginning in the Fall 2010.

In omnibus querant Deum...

St. Ignatius was very clear that for those who can’t do 30 days away in silence like Jesuit novices do, the nineteenth annotation retreat is designed to be done in daily life.

The nineteenth annotation retreat is designed for busy people, and they pray for an hour a day with enough flexibility when they have to travel, when they have to be on vacation, when there’s a family emergency that you stop and take it up again,” says Jim Conroy, SJ. “So it is exactly what is says it is: it’s a retreat in daily life.

Finding God in All Things - Busted Halo

After 500 years, St. Ignatius' Spiritual Exercises continue to transform lives
by Bill McGarvey

If you were able to conduct a free association exercise among Catholics, the term “Jesuit” would most likely evoke responses like “educators,” “intelligent,” “worldly” and perhaps even “liberal.” But as the largest male religious order in the Catholic church, the Society of Jesus—as the Jesuits are officially known—has nearly 20,000 members spread out across 112 nations around the globe who are involved in an endless variety of work ranging from education and pastoral ministry to medicine, the law, social justice etc. The one common bond that ties this diverse international group together however is their experience of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius.

Formulated in the early 16th century after Ignatius of Loyola’s conversion, the Spiritual Exercises represent Ignatius’ gradual understanding—through prayer—of how God worked in his daily life. It is a powerful tradition that enables people to understand their relationship with the divine through their own unique experiences in the world. While all Jesuits are required to do the Exercises in a 30-day silent retreat at the beginning of their formation, countless others—religious and lay alike—feel drawn to Ignatius’ spiritual insights and do the Exercises as well. The Jesuit Collaborative is a an East coast organization, headed by Jim Conroy SJ, whose mission is to promote the Spiritual Exercises outside the Society of Jesus. In the following interview, Fr. Conroy discusses the origins of Ignatius’ approach to prayer and why young seekers looking to make sense of their world are often drawn to it.

Busted Halo: Can you tell me what exactly the Spiritual Exercises are?

Jim Conroy: Sure. The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius is a 500-year-old tradition of prayer based on the experiences of Ignatius of Loyola, who was a 16th century solider, courtier of the Spanish court. He was wounded in a battle in Pamplona as this massive conversion experience, and then begins to go more deeply into his relationship with God. And it’s really out of those experiences — a reflection on life and how God was present within his own life — that he began to understand the basic movement of God’s spirit in his life.

Busted Halo: He was a courtier; he was a soldier, a warrior on some level. This is a man who was well acquainted with wealth and privilege?

JC: He was, really. Spain in the 16th century was the emerging dominant political and military force in the world. It was from Spain that Columbus set sail from America. It was Spain that began the exploitation of peoples of Central and South America. It was Spain that really encouraged slave trade. There was an enormous amount of wealth and culture that was really centered in Spain. And Ignatius, more than being a soldier, was a courtier; that is to say, he was one trained in the professional diplomatic life of that court, and so had the ability to network/connect with people not only in Spain but throughout Europe at that time and even in England. So he was on a track of what we today would probably call an ambassador’s kind of life. He came from an important enough family that he was recognized as somebody with talent and somebody who would be loyal to the Spanish crown.

BH: So this conversion story after he was wounded in battle, what exactly happened?

JC: He was recuperating in a lonely castle with nothing to do, and there were only four books in the house. One was the Lives of the Saints; the other was The Imitation of Christ. Those were kind of religious books. And then there were two contemporary romance novels. So Ignatius had the experience of reading those romance novels and remembering all those romantic fantasies of his earlier life, and that would get him really excited. But when he finished that reading, that dissipated quickly and he began to contrast that with reading the Lives of the Saints and The Imitation of Christ. And when he reflected more deeply on that experience, the consolation, the joy, the peace, the excitement, the contentment remained with him. And so, once he began to understand the different dynamics that were being evoked within him by the stimulation coming in, he knew that there was a basis there for some kind of choice in his life. And as he refined what he was learning, Ignatius discovered that the closer he allowed God, the more clearly he understood himself and with that, the freedom to make choices that were not based on pride or lust or greed but really based on something even deeper. And that is the essential thing of loving and caring for others.

It seems to me that the 21st century is really the century of the laity. And if the Spiritual Exercises can enhance the ministry of lay men and women, it’s all to the greater glory of God. … It gives to men and women who have that experience of God the ability to speak out of that truth of their experience. It’s not what Father said or what Sister said; it’s what I know from my own relationship with God. Now that’s all informed by our theology and by our faith, but to have legitimate experience with prayer and relationship with God — it gives you a confidence and even the words to speak the truth that you know.

BH: So that happened over how long of a period?

JC: It was really a two year conversion process. This is no experience of a bolt of lightning. This is a long experience. If one comes to understand their religious experience, it’s not an “aha” moment. It takes time. Levels of insights are built one upon the other. We come to truth gradually. It’s not something that we can suddenly, massively comprehend. As human beings, we learn truth and sometimes we learn it the hard way.

BH: A lot of people have the notion that saints have these revelatory, visionary moments, but Ignatius didn’t have that at all?

JC: No, it was over a period of time. And you have to understand that Ignatius had a bit of a rowdy reputation. He was known to be vain. He was certainly a ladies man. He was quick with the sword by his own admission. And he was worldly ambitious. So with this gradual conversion process he comes to look on all that was part of his past life — you know, those things that are self-centered, that are ambitious, that are about vainglory — he saw them as empty compared to that developing relationship that he was having with God. And in that, he was beginning — and God was very good to him this way — to re-imagine his life: “What would it look like, what would it be like, if rather than serve in the royal court, I became one who was open to serve God?” He had no idea what that meant, and for Ignatius in the beginning it meant “I go to the Holy Land; I want to go where Jesus was,” and be a part of providing culture and opportunity for people who had come to the Holy Land. But that’s not what God wanted for him.

BH: Why?

JC: Well he was kicked out. [Laughs.]

BH: He went off to the Holy Land filled with the Spirit and then, what? He hit a dead end?

JC: Well he was so intent on being devotional that he got in the way of the Christian agreements with the Arabs at the time who were there — the Muslims who were there — and was affecting a basic truce that had been worked out for years and years between Christians and Muslims, so much so that the Franciscan prior of the Holy Land of Jerusalem had to say to Ignatius, “If you do anything out of the ordinary, I have the power to excommunicate you. And of course Ignatius listened very carefully to that and went on and did whatever he wanted to do anyhow. So the Franciscan superior went and got Ignatius, who was — one more time — going out to the rock from which Jesus ascended into Heaven, and said to him, “You’re doing it again; you’re out of here,” and he put him on the next ship out of the Holy Land. He was a troublemaker.

BH: And he was very affected by St. Francis, right?

JC: Ignatius, as he starts the Society of Jesus [the Jesuits], calls it the Least Society. And when he does that, he’s looking at St. Dominic, he’s looking at St. Francis, and he’s saying, “What they have done is so far superior to anything this poor soul could do?” Ignatius knew himself as very weak, as very sinful, and not even of the same degree or kind of holiness that was embodied in the lives of Dominic and Francis.

BH: Ignatius was this kind of restless soul who’s trying to find something. Where, along the line, do the Spiritual Exercises become codified?

JC: The experiences of the Spiritual Exercises are essentially from 1521 to 1523. That’s when Ignatius undergoes that transformation process. It starts in Loyola — where he is carried by the French who have wounded him at Pamplona — and then as he begins to recover he goes more to the eastern part of Spain and into Manresa, and Montserrat. And really that’s where the majority of the Exercises go. But the Exercises have been developed and shaped by not only Ignatius reflecting on what he did, but listening to what others’ experience of the Exercises was. So he took this experience, two years of this intense prayer with God, and condensed it into what we call the Spiritual Exercises.

St. Ignatius was very clear that for those who can’t do 30 days away in silence like Jesuit novices do, the nineteenth annotation retreat is designed to be done in daily life. The nineteenth annotation retreat is designed for busy people, and they pray for an hour a day with enough flexibility when they have to travel, when they have to be on vacation, when there’s a family emergency that you stop and take it up again,” says Jim Conroy, SJ. “So it is exactly what is says it is: it’s a retreat in daily life. Frankly, I’ve directed the Exercises probably an equal number of times, 30-day retreat versus nineteenth annotation retreat, and I probably would say now I’m more of a fan of the nineteenth annotation retreat because it washes every human experience through prayer. Thirty days away in a retreat house, you can’t speak to anyone but your retreat director; it becomes kind of like a march. But, if you do a nineteenth annotative retreat, everything about your work, every relationship, everything you think about your family, everything you’ve ever experienced, your hopes, your fears — you can’t avoid that. Your prayer is going to be in context, in which you meet God in conversations that are intimately connected to your daily life.”

BH: The Jesuits I’ve met are a really diverse bunch who do all different types of work around the world but the Spiritual Exercises seems to be the uniting experience for them.

JC: It is the formative process for Jesuits. Every Jesuit in the world has to make the Spiritual Exercises. Everything that’s done prior to the Spiritual Exercises and everything that’s done afterwards is working on the gifts of that core experience in which one comes to know God in a way that is different than anything they would have previously experienced. So once a Jesuit has that experience in the Spiritual Exercises and lives out of it, well, his life is transformed. But it’s important to note that as Ignatius was forming the Society of Jesus and giving the Exercises to people who would come to him, he was also working with lay men and women who would not become Jesuits and never were intended to become Jesuits, but people of holy desire who wanted to grow closer to God. Ignatius knew that this gift of the Exercises would enable them to do those holy things, those good things that were of God and deep within them.

Please click title for the entire interview.

Martelli in Scranton for Coaches vs Cancer

St. Joe's coach helps launch local Coaches vs. Cancer campaign


Phil Martelli could have been sitting in his suburban Philly home reading the Sunday paper, or perhaps mapping out a game play for Tuesday's matchup with Holy Cross.

Instead, the Saint Joseph's University men's basketball coach knew he had something better to do. That's why the four-time Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year was in the cafe at Scranton High School, telling a crowd of about 200 basketball coaches, officials and administrators that it was part of their obligation, too, to support the 2009 Coaches vs. Cancer campaign.

"It's part of the responsibility to the community," said Martelli, explaining his involvement in Coaches vs. Cancer. "You just can't coach the team. You can't just recruit the future teams.

"I don't see coaches out here, I don't see volunteers, I don't see a committee. What I see are heroes, and heroes are ordinary people who take extraordinary steps. This is absolutely extraordinary for a Sunday morning to have this whole area filled.
"What you are doing today to pursue a cure for cancer is equal to your pursuit of championships on the floor."

What started as a grass-roots effort two years ago by Lackawanna Trail coach Andrew Kettel grew to an event that raised awareness, and more importantly, $38,000. This year, the Lackawanna League and Wyoming Valley Conferences have joined forces with expectations to raise much more than just attention.

"This year we're continuing to grow. We've added the Wyoming Valley Conference, and now we have 88 boys and girls teams to do even better than we've done in the past," Kettel said. "We've doubled our schools, $38,000 is going to grow, and the more people, the better. The energy drives us to do whatever we can do."

That energy included student representatives from Elk Lake, Lackawanna Trail, Riverside, Wallenpaupack and West Scranton high schools, who will be using Coaches vs. Cancer for their senior project.

Involvement of students was a point of emphasis from Martelli.

"The schools finally get it that the bulk of the education for our young people doesn't take place in front of a blackboard," Martelli said. "It doesn't take place with people lecturing them. It doesn't really take place in group projects or powerpoint presentations. The bulk of their education takes place in hallways and buses and cafeterias.

"And what they've been taught is that it's an obligation to give back. The schools are doing a remarkable job now with encouraging all students to get involved with community service. You've made them better as people."

Martelli's real goal is to pick up the paper some morning and read a headline that cancer has been defeated. In the meantime, he's asking coaches to do their bit, and for people to support that effort.

"Everybody in this room has been touched, and it doesn't discriminate," Martelli said. "It's horrific for the families. It's not about the coaches. It's about the heroes, who take their time like your doing, who go in their pocket and take their one dollar.

"I'm a guy who believes the glass is always half full, and I do believe there is that one dollar that's going to find this, that's going to make the quality of life better for a family that's struggled with this dreadful disease."
Coaches took lanyards, T-shirts, backpacks and other fundraising items back to their schools. The fundraising effort will continue, with Coaches vs. Cancer games scheduled for the boys and girls of both leagues the weekend of Jan. 29-30.

Contact the writer: mmyers@timesshamrock.com

Hawks win opener at Hagan...

A wonderful night at the Hagan Arena on Friday! It was so good to be home again and see all my old friends, and make a few new ones ;-)

A special shout out to Mike Hagan for making it happen. While the price tag was high if we are to compete, and succeed, in division I hoops we have keep up with the arms race.

The new student section is VERY IMPOSING. As rowdy as the old student section at the Fieldhouse x2. Nothing short of amazing. While I would have preferred a more wrap-around effect to the arena -- basically the school was able to steal the the part of the Palestra behind the basket and put it on 54th Street. And the kids filled it up, and were pumped, all night. That's what they call a home court advantage. Good rollouts as well ;-) The one about Bruiser and the coaching box made one ref laugh.

The sound -- ouch. I can actually hear what they are saying now, loud and clear. For the past 20 years I used to guess, or just didn't bother to listen to the announcer as he was too far from my seats to read lips.

The dance team is in mid-season form but I'm not a big fan of the white cheerleader unis.

You can actually walk around the entire facility quite easily... food, bathrooms, t-shirt concessions. Only old FH fanatics would understand why this excites me.

I think we're going to be OK this year. This Drexel team was the one who beat us last year and I see great things coming from Idris, Todd, and my new favorite player Carl 'Tay' Jones. Like his game, like his haircut, like his swagger. Tay was kind enough to talk after the game and pose for a picture with Teron. Crosgile will be back in two weeks so I am optimistic.

I only saw two negatives during the evening. The first was the main scoreboard. I hope that it was a glitch that they couldn't put up statistics like players numbers/fouls/points et al. If they put it up to blind us with TD Bank advertisements that would be unfortunate. I may have to wear sunglasses or check into WillEye after each game.

Secondly -- the CSC Event Staff. It would be difficult to find a conglomeration of ruder people out there, and it's not just me who feels this way. Since we're not in the Swat Valley and none of the season ticket holders seem to be terrorists -- I don't know why we're treated as such. Mr. D must be in Heaven shaking his head.

Upon arriving, early, I walked up to the student section to snap a pic and take it all in -- the new home of my alma mater's basketball team! Two seconds later I was being shouted at that I couldn't stand there because the game was on. I told the young lady I was just checking things out and that the game wasn't on as there was 16 minutes left in warm-ups. Didn't matter. I tried visiting a friend at half-time to convey my condolences on the recent passing of his mother but was told I couldn't do that either.

I don't expect Four Seasons-like courtesy but I was treated with more respect by security at the Papa Roach concert. Since I've worked serving the public since I was 14 years old I can tell you this won't be solved with a memo or an hour long customer service seminar. But those who voice similar concerns shouldn't feel so bad as Mike Hagan was denied entrance to the Hall of Fame Room as well, until Pops Martelli grabbed him and walked by shouting "it's his arena".

The school's athletic department won't allow me to post pictures from my buddy at Sideline Photos, LLC any longer but feel free to continue to check his website. To give those far away from 54th & City Line a feel for the opening night at the Hagan here are few pics that I took, as well as others from Joe Cabrey and Chad Adelheart. Check out Chad's site at CwicksPhotos.com for some good ones as well.

Hey -- we're undefeated! Hawk Hoops are back. Enjoy. 44 & Katie/IHM are 1-0 when in attendance at the Hagan. Holy Cross just lost to Harvard so will we be 2-0?

Don't forget to check out Hawk Hill Hardwood (talking Hawk Hoops and more).

THWND!

44

PS -- Martelli looked great! For his press conference click CBS College Sports All-Access.

Hawks reopen arena with overtime victory Philadelphia Inquirer

Aesthetically, the newly expanded and renovated Michael J. Hagan '85 Arena was much more pleasing to the eye than what took place on the court.

Yet, despite the choppy season opener between St. Joseph's and Drexel last night, the packed-in crowd was highly entertained as the Hawks overcame the Dragons, 77-67, in overtime.

Twice in the final moments of the first half, St. Joe's came back to tie the game. Garrett Williamson sent it into overtime on a pull-up jumper with 3.7 seconds remaining, and Todd O'Brien scored the go-ahead basket with 44.8 seconds to go as St. Joe's celebrated the reopening of arena with a win over a city rival.

The teams were never separated by more than five points before the Dragons caught fire from long distance in the second half. Guards Derrick Thomas, a freshman, and Jamie Harris combined for five three-point jumpers in little more than five minutes to give Drexel a 48-38 lead with 10 minutes, 35 seconds remaining.

Until Thomas and Harris zeroed in with their jump shots, Drexel had made only one three-pointer. A three-point play by Idris Hilliard in the waning seconds of the half assured the Hawks of a 31-29 lead at the break. The junior had 13 points at the half, shooting 9 for 9 from the free-throw line.

The first 20 minutes had all the markings of opening night. Partly because of jitters, both teams struggled to find the basket and looked out of sync on offense, so it became a defensive tangle. Drexel, which missed its first 10 shots, connected on 35.3 percent in the first half while St. Joe's made 41.7 percent of its attempts.

Drexel didn't get its first field goal until Derrick Thomas drove the lane for a basket 5 minutes, 5 seconds after tip-off. But St. Joe's was having its own problems, especially with turnovers, so the Dragons found themselves down by only by one point after their initial basket. The game was the first for St. Joe's on Hawk Hill since the end of the 2007-08 season. The Hawks played all but one of their home games at the Palestra last season.

"I love that building," coach Phil Martelli said of the Palestra, "but I do believe the back and forth took somewhat of a toll on us." Carl Jones, a freshman guard who was originally in the starting lineup, didn't start because he missed an academic assignment on Thursday, according to a university spokeswoman. Jones entered the game with 16:40 remaining in the half.

The opening of Hagan Arena attracted the capacity 4,200 fans as Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse was expanded by 1,000 seats. Five hundred of the new seats went to students. All 1,100 seats available to students were sold, according to St. Joseph's athletic director Don DiJulia.

Michael Hagan, whose $10 million donation made the expansion of the arena possible, drew a rousing ovation as he tossed up the ceremonial jump ball. Gov. Rendell, a frequent visitor to the Palestra to watch his alma mater, Penn, play, also was there.

The Hawks went into the game leading their series against Drexel, 43-8. But the Dragons had won two of the three previous meetings, including last year's New Year's Eve matchup.

Papa Roach live...

Awesome show at the Factory. Papa Roach, in particular lead singer Jacoby Shaddix, has more live energy then ten bands combined, and unlike 'working class' heroes like Bruce and Bono... don't bleed you for $150 a ticket. I thought about following them on tour but I think my boss might mind. Mrs. 44 might enjoy the break though :-)

Because I’ve seen your live show and always marvel at your level of energy, I have to know what it is you do to prepare yourself before hitting the stage?

I drink a couple red bulls, but I could go up there without red bull and still snap off the hinges, that’s just an added bonus – I’ve got a lot of energy regardless. For me, it comes from within. Some nights I’m more insane than others but I’m always snappin’ and going off, the band is too. That’s the thing about watching us live, that I’ve heard from fans is that they could watch any one of us all set and be entertained. We each lay it down and fire on all cylinders. We want to wear people out when they come to see us live.

Interview with Jacoby Shaddix of Papa Roach

When I was a boy, I didn't care about a thing,

it was me and this world and a broken dream.
I was blaming myself for all that was goin' wrong.
I was way out there, on the wrong side of town,
and the ones that I loved I started pushing 'em out.
Then I realised that it was all my fault

I've been looking for a lifeline
For what seems like a lifetime
I'm drowning in the pain
Breaking down again
Looking for a lifeline

So I put out my hand and I asked for some help.
We tore down the walls I built around myself.
I was struck by the light and I fell to the ground.
Is there anybody out there?
Can you pull me from this ocean of despair?
I'm drowning in the pain breaking down again.
Looking for a lifeline -- you know a heart of gold won't take you all the way,

and in a world so cold...

it's hard to keep the faith.
I'm never gonna fade away!

Papa Roach: Lifeline live @ Crue Fest

What a brave girl ;-)

44 buddy Lou was in to the show ;-0

Almost time!

I turned down a lot of scholarship opportunities to be here at St. Joe's," he said. "I knew that I wanted to be at Saint Joseph's, and I've known that my whole life. I love everything that St. Joe's is about and what it stands for, and I knew that it was where I wanted to play."

Mike Auriemma's, SJU '12

Dear Thomas,

The countdown to the home opener and the inaugural game in Hagan Arena is fast approaching. The season tickets have been mailed, but if you have not received them by Wednesday, November 11, please let us know by calling the Ticket Office at 610-660-1712.

Doors open at 5:30 p.m. for the 7:00 p.m. tipoff on Friday.
Go Hawks!

CHARLES FOX / Staff Photographer
The Hawks' Garrett Williamson (right) practices with Mike Auriemma.

Williamson is being counted on to score more.

St. Joe's to start with new digs, faces Philadelphia Inquirer

By Ray Parrillo
Inquirer Staff Writer

So much is new and refurbished on Hawk Hill as St. Joseph's prepares to open its 15th season under coach Phil Martelli on Friday against Drexel.

The old Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse, with all its quirky charm, has been expanded, renovated and spit-shined and is now the Michael J. Hagan '85 Arena, housed within the Ramsay Basketball Center.

Martelli's players no longer have to duck to enter what had to be the smallest and most cluttered office of any Division I basketball coach. They have a new locker room in which they can dress without the steam from the showers turning their clothes into wet dishrags. They have a video room, a lounge, and an academic study room.

"I felt like Toto," Martelli said yesterday, describing his thoughts when he first looked down on the court while standing on the new concourse. "We're not in Kansas anymore. It used to be: Where can we fit 12 chairs? I hope at the end of the day, the memories that are created are as great as the surroundings in which they're going to be created."

Garrett Williamson, a senior and team captain, offered an ear-to-ear smile when asked if he missed the cramped old locker room.

"No way. Not at all," he said, looking around at the new digs. "This is nice. Real nice. Now we have a responsibility. A lot of people put a lot of money and effort into this, and we have to respect that and perform."

The new look at 54th Street and City Avenue includes a roster with plenty of new faces and inexperience. This is where the hard part begins for the Hawks. In the last nine seasons, St. Joe's has been to four NCAA tournaments and three NITs and averaged 22 wins. In three of the last six seasons, the Hawks advanced to the Atlantic Ten Conference tournament title game. They had become used to contending in the league.

This season, they have been picked by A-10 coaches to finish 10th in the conference.
"We have no player on a [preseason] all-league team," Martelli said. "There's no player on an all-rookie team. So you can't be higher than 10th. . . . But that's all right. It is what it should be for right now."

The Hawks have no replacement for Ahmad Nivins, the A-10 player of the year last season. They also lost their second-leading scorer, Tasheed Carr. They have one returning player who averaged double figures in scoring - senior guard Darrin Govens at 12.5 points a game. They have two seniors - Williamson and Govens - and a third returning starter, 6-foot-7 junior Idris Hilliard, remaining from a team that finished 17-15. Last season's Hawks started quickly, then faded as a lack of depth, as well as a lack of a home floor on campus, took their toll.

A "terrific basketball schedule" awaits Hawks - Basketball Preview

The Saint Joseph's men's basketball team's non-conference schedule offers games with varying degrees of difficulty. On paper, St. Joe's head coach Phil Martelli believes it's not that easy to determine what the toughest matchup will prove to be."If I was to identify one thing that would give us a chance in each of our non-conference games," he said. "It would be how well we manage emotions."The non-conference schedule begins with the opening of the new Michael J. Hagan, '85, Arena against Drexel on Nov. 13. On New Year's Eve 2008, the Hawks dropped a tough 64-52 game against the Dragons, giving Martelli an early idea of what Drexel will bring to the table." With Drexel, since [head coach and St. Joe's alum] Bruiser Flint has been there so long, we know what to expect: a great, gritty defensive effort, and we have to match that," Martelli said. Following Drexel is another opponent on Nov. 17 in Holy Cross has given the Hawks fits the last few seasons. The Hawks have lost the last two meetings, but with new coach Sean Kearney, Martelli knows he cannot rely on game footage from the last two meetings alone.

Hilliard primed for big year - Basketball Preview

Coming off a season in which he started all but one game, Idris Hilliard, '11, is poised to have a breakout year. The only returning big man to see significant playing time on last year's squad, Hilliard is ready to hit the ground running heading into the 2009-2010 season.The team's Most Improved Player of last year has his eyes set on one main goal. "Win more games. Ultimately that's the goal," he said. "I want to get better every time out to give us a chance to win. That will make us more entertaining to watch but ultimately we want to win more games." Averaging 9.2 points per game last year was no easy task, but the presence of Atlantic 10 Player of the Year Ahmad Nivins, '09, to attract double-teams in the frontcourt gave Hilliard openings to exploit. He knows he has to build upon last year heading into the upcoming season. "I have to improve more because of the loss of Ahmad and Tasheed [Carr, '09]," he said. "I'm just trying to build upon last year by putting work in. I've worked hard this year and I'm hoping it shows."With the loss of Nivins, Hilliard knows that he is partially responsible for filling the sizable void left.


Hawks enter season with questions to answer, holes to fill - Basketball Preview

Questions abound as the 2009-'10 college basketball season approaches for Saint Joseph's. Entering this season, the Hawks have a number of uncertainties they must address, but the coaches believe they have a highly-skilled team that is capable of being competitive in the Atlantic 10. In the preseason poll of coaches and media, the Hawks were chosen to finish 10th in the 14-team conference. St. Joe's head coach Phil Martelli has never put much stock into preseason polls before, but is using it as a motivating factor for this year's team. "I will use it as a reminder to the players if we get off track," said Martelli, who is entering his 14th season in charge on Hawk Hill. While the prediction is by no means flattering, it is fair based on what the Hawks lost from last year's team. The big question many are asking is how St. Joe's will replace the output of 6-foot-9 center Ahmad Nivins, '09, who was chosen 56th overall in the NBA draft by the Dallas Mavericks. Martelli's answer is simple and succinct."You don't replace him," he said. "We do not have a single player that can get us what Ahmad did. We need to find each individual to do all those things."

Hawks undeterred in spite of low expectations - Basketball Preview

If you ask the experts about this year's Saint Joseph's men's basketball team, they'll cast a fairly bleak picture of what play in the Atlantic 10 will look like. The conference's annual preseason poll of coaches and media members has the Hawks picked to finish 10th in the 14-team league, a prediction that head basketball coach Phil Martelli believes to be accurate at this juncture."I think it's certainly fair based on just zeroing in on us," said Martelli. "We lose a Player of the Year [Ahmad Nivins, '09], and certainly a guy who was in the top half in his position in Tasheed [Carr, '09]. I think you base it on scoring and say 'where are the points going to come?'"As for the rest of the conference, Martelli and the pundits are expecting a changing of the guard this year, with some of the traditional powers making way for a handful of teams like Richmond and La Salle that have languished in the middle of the pack for the last several years.

Men and women for others - Basketball Preview

At Saint Joseph's men's basketball games, there's no question that head coach Phil Martelli is the man in charge. Attend a practice, however, and you may not be so sure sometimes. The four assistant coaches for the men's basketball team-Mark Bass, David Duda, Geoff Arnold, and Rob Sullivan-play a huge role in almost every aspect of the team, from the logistics of getting them where they need to go, to polishing the product that will hit the floor on gameday.Bass is Martelli's senior staffer, entering his 11th season on the Hawks' bench after a distinguished playing career on the hardwood. A 1996 graduate, Bass left school as the all-time single-season leader in three-pointers made (91) and attempted (293) for the 1995-96 season. His 225 makes from deep rank him third in school history, and he's the school's all-time leader in single-season free throw percentage (86.9). He was a two-time team captain, and helped lead St. Joe's to the NIT Finals as a senior. His efforts earned him a spot in the Saint Joseph's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2001.

Auriemma ready to contribute - Basketball Preview

Mike Auriemma's, '12, sneakers haven't hit the hardwood much during games in his Hawk Hill career, but it's done nothing to diminish his passion for the game. As a walk-on, Auriemma's first year as a Hawk was a learning experience that involved little in the way of playing time. He logged only eight minutes on the court last season in five games without attempting a shot, but did manage two assists."Last year was a little different for me coming from high school," he said. "I was always used to playing a lot in high school. It was definitely a culture change, but I knew I wasn't going to play a lot when I came to St. Joe's. I wanted to get a feel for the college game, and I learned a lot from the other guys on the team."Auriemma arrived on Hawk Hill last year eager to play for a team that was coached by a long-time family friend: St. Joe's head coach Phil Martelli. Auriemma's father, UConn's Hall of Fame women's basketball head coach Geno, spent two seasons as an assistant coach at St. Joe's in the late 1970s, and also coached with Martelli at Bishop Kenrick High School in Norristown, Pa. Auriemma had offers for more prominent roles at lower division schools, but was attracted by the chance to be a part of the history and pageantry of the St. Joe's program." I turned down a lot of scholarship opportunities to be here at St. Joe's," he said. "I knew that I wanted to be at Saint Joseph's, and I've known that my whole life. I love everything that St. Joe's is about and what it stands for, and I knew that it was where I wanted to play."

O'Brien tired of sitting on sidelines - Basketball Preview

If St. Joe's opponents were looking for a break in the paint after the graduation of Ahmad Nivins, '09, they should reconsider. At 6-foot-11, 248 pounds, new center Todd O'Brien, '12, presents an equally imposing roadblock for guards driving to the basket. A transfer student from Bucknell University where he averaged 4.6 points and 4.3 rebounds in 16.4 minutes per game, O'Brien sat out last season per NCAA rules. The experience proved annoying but educational for the starting center."It was frustrating, especially when we were struggling," he said. "I would be watching and I would see Ahmad get up to like 40 minutes a game. But honestly, I'm glad I got to do it. It was a good experience." In an effort to prepare O'Brien for the experience of redshirting last year, head coach Phil Martelli had him talk with former guard Tasheed Carr, '09, who was subject to the same process upon transferring from Iowa State. Carr gave the advice O'Brien had already been expecting, and helped him stay motivated to cope with the inability to win games. But O'Brien wasn't asleep on the sidelines. He was able to learn from studying Nivins' game, and developed as a player by squaring off against the former center in scrimmages and pick-up games that O'Brien treated as the real deal.

Bentley, Prescott vying for playing time in backcourt - Basketball Preview

Chris Prescott, '12, and Charoy Bentley, '11, are expected to make significant contributions to the Saint Joseph's men's basketball backcourt this season. Both regularly came off the bench last year, but will be counted on for more minutes and points this season. These backcourt back-ups are poised to take a big step up this season.Prescott averaged 12.6 minutes per game and appeared in all 32 games during his first year with the Hawks. He scored a season-high nine points on two occasions-both in Atlantic 10 play against Charlotte and Duquesne-and averaged 2.8 points per game on the season. He came to St. Joe's as a highly-touted prospect, averaging 22 points, five rebounds, and five assists per game as a senior at Northwest Catholic in Connecticut.

Great job on the season ticket stock!

Overtime with Brienne Ryan
Brienne Ryan, '10, holds arguably the most special position on Hawk Hill, and possibly in all of college basketball: she is the woman in the Hawk costume. The marketing major from Blue Bell, Pa., Ryan has served as a team manager and student worker for the basketball team for three years before becoming the 32nd student-and only the second woman-to don the beak and feathers. Full Story

A "terrific basketball schedule" awaits Hawks
Another year means strides from Temi
Auriemma ready to contribute
Baptiste newest big man on campus
Bentley, Prescott vying for playing time in backcourt
Editor's Note
Freshmen forwards take different paths to Hawk Hill
Gillespie ready to make final season best one yet
Hawk Hill welcomes highly-touted pair of Jones, Crosgile
Hawks undeterred in spite of low expectations
Hilliard primed for big year
Increased role just fine with Baker
Injured Bryant eager to recover, live up to captaincy
Leadership and athleticism temper Hawks' lack of size
Logue poised to lead by example
Major conference foes lined up for St. Joe's
Men and women for others
Men and women for others
New season, new roles for Kuester and Cavallo
Newest scholarship player ready to lead
No worries for Gov in role of senior leader
O'Brien tired of sitting on sidelines
Prim and Smith fighting for right to start
Road warrior hawks face tough slate away from home
Senior hoping to Ford river of health
Sophs to star in frontcourt
Speedster Djouara back to build on debut season
The man behind the Arena
Williamson must get offensive this season
Men's team enters season with questions to answer, holes to fill