Finding Meaning in the Missions: Summer Reflections from Steve Katsouros, S.J.
Fr. Steve Katsouros, SJ, President & CEO of CTB, in the snake gaiters he wears around Manhattan.
“Tis the season for vacations,” wrote New York Times columnist Nick Kristof on August 10th, “so let me make my pitch that the best travel is not lounging at a beach resort but rather journeying into a different world. We all need relaxation at times, but nothing beats the thrill of a trip of discovery and the education that comes with it.”
Nick Kristof describes the trip my friend and brother Jesuit Steve Mitten and I undertook this summer, when the two of us traveled to Paraguay. Steve is a faculty member at Loyola University Chicago’s School of Environmental Studies, where he teaches, among several classes, ornithology. He is a most enthusiastic birder, and he was drawn to Paraguay because of the opportunity there to see species he had previously not encountered. I’ve gone birding with Steve before, and I enjoyed reading Amy Tan’s THE BACKYARD BIRD CHRONICLES, so I was game for this expedition.
Come to Believe Board Member, Fr. Steve Mitten, SJ, pictured with a burrowing owl.
Our extraordinary guide, Oscar Rodriguez, led us across his beautiful country and introduced us to the great black hawk, the black-collared hawk, the savanna hawk, the zone-tailed hawk, and the Harris hawk. Oscar was soon praying to St. Francis of Assisi, which at first offended Steve and me since Francis was not a Jesuit, but who of course was known for preaching to the birds. Oscar’s prayer to Francis was more of an intercession to help us locate more exotic birds. Soon, I was adept at differentiating the calls of a picazuro pigeon from a great kiskadee from a yellow chevron parakeet. At the beautiful Bella Vista Reserve, I learned the difference between a large-tailed antshrike and a variable antshrike. We spotted tyrannulets and tyrants and tinnamous and tanagers. By the end of our two-and-a-half-week tour, we had seen 345 different species of birds. Steve was in heaven, and I was enjoying my new-found proficiency with E-bird and the Merlin bird ID. St. Francis of Assisi delivered!
But there was more to what Kristof describes as “journeying into a different world” for Steve Mitten and me. As Jesuits, we knew of our order’s history in Paraguay. Before I became a Jesuit, I saw the film THE MISSION, starring Robert DeNiro and Jeremy Irons with a memorable musical score from Ennio Morricone. THE MISSION chronicles the experiences of Jesuits from Europe in the 18th century and the indigenous people they encountered in Paraguay. I had always wanted to see some of the missions inhabited long ago by the Jesuits and the indigenous people called the Guarani.
Our faithful guide Oscar arranged for us to visit the ruins of two of the Paraguayan missions, one called Trinidad and the other named Jesus. We found these sites moving. I was moved by the colegios, the schools that were always a part of any mission. I was also moved because—both within and outside of the colegios—the Guarani and the Jesuits seemingly collaborated and built community, because the Guarani influenced the Jesuits, because leadership and responsibility seemed to be shared. Those colegios were forerunners to the Jesuit educational institutions I’ve taught at or served as an administrator at. The link between the colegios of the 1700s and the schools and universities where I have worked was powerful for me.
Pictured: a Paraguayan colegio—part of the Jesuit mission and still used for classes today.
Oscar accompanied us to a third mission, named to honor two saints, Cosmas and Damian. Here our guide was a gentleman named Jorge. As opposed to Trinidad and Jesus, the mission of Cosmas and Damian was still functioning. Mass is celebrated there regularly. Jorge was married there, and his two children were baptized in a font designed and crafted by both Jesuits and Guarani. Jorge teaches catechism in classrooms that had been built in the 18th century. He showed us religious art that combined western, Christian symbols with images that were meaningful to the Guarani. He also told us about a Jesuit astronomer Buenaventura Sanchez, who built telescopes and a still-functional sundial at the mission.
Fr. Steve Mitten, SJ (left) and Fr. Steve Katsouros, SJ (right) next to a statue of Jesuit Astronomer Buenaventura Sanchez
The Jesuit missions we visited in Paraguay are outstanding representations of a distinct social situation in which two very different cultures valued each other and worked together. In a book that Steve gave to me called BLACK ROBES IN PARAGUAY, author William F. Jaenike observed, “the average Guarani felt he was part of an egalitarian collective.” My Jesuit roots reinforce the emphasis of this experience of the collective, of different cultures valuing one another and collaborating. This dynamic remains central to my work now. My Come to Believe colleague Gier Bowen recently asked two other CTB colleagues, Arrupe grads Carlos Martinez and Asya Meadows what words sum up their experiences at Arrupe. “Community,” Carlos and Asya both agreed. “Transformative,” continued Asya. “Success, and belonging,” Carlos contributed. All words that could be used to describe the missions that Steve and I visited.
Nick Kristof is right. It is indeed thrilling to embark on discovery during vacation. Whether it’s discovering new species of birds or discovering a long-ago culture that continues to influence who you are today, my travels to Paraguay, shared with a wonderful friend, made for a most memorable vacation. I hope your own summer included a vacation that was a journey into a different world. And I hope your vacation was a collaboration with your traveling companion and a discovery of something new that now somehow influences you.
