The official blog of Rev. Francis X. Hezel, SJ

1
A Few Weeks in Palau
2
Hanging on to Cultural Knowledge…Korea-Style
3
A Band of Explorers
4
Folks Out West…In Brilliant Color
5
If We Don?t Take Care of Our Own…
6
Why Won?t They Go to School?
7
Two Fresh Faces
8
A Warm Welcome to Milan

A Few Weeks in Palau

Here we are in Palau, an island group with a per capita income four times higher than that of the rest of Micronesia. “The Land of Gold Chains and Fancy Watches” is what one of our Jesuit volunteer teachers used to call it some years ago. It?s a place that is on the map?-Darryl Hannah and JFK Jr. vacationed here 20 years ago, and the Survivor TV series was filmed here ten years ago. The country has been self-governing for only 35 years, but it has had two presidents who died violent deaths?-one who was assassinated and another who shot himself. It?s never exactly been Dullsville here in Palau. Where else, a friend once asked, could you strike up a serious conversation on current political affairs with a total stranger? Read More

Hanging on to Cultural Knowledge…Korea-Style

Korea may seem an unlikely spot for mounting a crusade aimed at cultural preservation in the Pacific, but the UNESCO Center for the Asia Pacific Region happens to be located there. So it was that a handful of us from the Pacific met there in the traditional southern town of Jeonju. Did I say town? Jeonju is really a city with beautifully designed glass and steel buildings and a population bigger than my hometown (Buffalo). But it also is the home of a traditional Korean village, the palace of the emperors of the Chosun dynasty (who first came to power in the 14th century), and the burial place of the first Christian martyr in Korea. Read More

A Band of Explorers

We just missed it, but I was in the mountains in upstate New York with my ?extended family? of 60+ relatives at the time. July 31 was the feast of St. Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits. So, even if this comes a bit late, let me exercise my bragging rights and share with you a reflection or two on the religious order that I have belonged to for the past 58 years. Read More

Folks Out West…In Brilliant Color

The first week in July was travel time for Nathan Fitch, former PCV on Kosrae, and me as we visited three cities to finish the interviews needed for a new video on Micronesian migrants. Nathan, always quick with the camera, recorded the shots in this short photo essay on our travels. That’s him in this reflection photo, with his traveling companion off to the upper left. Read More

If We Don?t Take Care of Our Own…

At first she wanted to be a police officer, although she had the natural talent to become a lawyer if she chose. But she really wanted to bust lawbreakers, not defend them in court?as she would have had to do as a lawyer.

As it turned out, she became a police officer on Saipan and served there for ten years. But when her father became seriously ill with kidney disease brought on by diabetes, she felt obliged to follow him to Hawaii. Read More

Why Won?t They Go to School?

When I was in Milan, Minnesota, visiting the Chuukese community there a couple of months ago, I heard one single complaint repeated again and again by the Americans looking out for their guests. Many of the young Chuukese would often skip school. Not just the older ones who might have had more interesting things to do, but the small kids as well.

Why won?t the children go to school?? When I asked the question of the parents, I would simply get a shrug or shake of the head. If I pursued the point, they might admit that the kids felt uncomfortable in class. Why is that?? Maybe because their kids couldn?t answer the questions the way other students could and they just felt stupid. Sometimes their kids couldn?t even understand the question. Read More