Author Archives: Jessamyn Anderson

I’m sure all you out there have heard of the no-hit game a few days ago, pitched  by the Los Angeles pitcher Ervin Santana.  Usually I associate a no hit game with a score where one teams ends with zero runs. In this game, the other side managed to score because of an error and a wild pitch.

Don’t get “shut out” of the class you really want to take.  Once classes are closed, we won’t be able to help you with a “wild pitch.”   Speaking of “wild pitches” – take a look at what we have to offer.  I’m sure one or more of our classes is the “pitch” you’re looking for.

On Tuesday July 26, 2011,
Loyola and Chicago Cares will partner together and take on a number of
painting and beautification projects at Cesar E. Chavez Multicultural
Center, located at 4747 S. Marshfield, in the Back of the Yards
neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago.

On Friday, July 29, 2011 the University will celebrate the feast day of Saint Ignatius of Loyola with a Mass
held in the Madonna della Strada Chapel at 11 a.m. and our annual
picnic on the Simpson parking lot on the Lake Shore Campus, at 12:15
p.m. As always, there will be food, games, and activities for all ages.

To see a video from last year’s mass and celebrations click here.

Three years ago, Postville, Iowa was the scene of one of the nation’s largest immigration raids.  

Plan on coming to a showing of Luis Argueta’s powerful documentary on what has happened from the Postville Raid to today.  A screening will take place on Thursday September 15th at 7:00 PM.  Join us in Beane Hall (13th Floor of Lewis Towers) for pizza and discussion.  All are welcome.  RSVP to Susann Ozuk at 312-915-7400 or by e-mail at sozuk@luc.edu.

Come celebrate the beginning of a new school year. Come celebrate with friends old and new.

Thursday, September 15, 2011, from 11:00 AM – 2:00 PM, the Water Tower Campus will celebrate the start of the school year with the annual Fall Block Party. Admission is free with your LUC ID.   Location (at this time) is the Terry Student Center on Pearson Street between Wabash and State.  Pray for good weather!

Yesterday evening I had the pleasure of attending a reception and photography exhibit at LUMA – the Loyola University Museum of Art.  The photographer Noah Addis captured positive images of individuals moving from homelessness to housing.  Sponsored by Loyola’s Center for Urban Research and Learning (CURL) and the Chicago Alliance to End Homelessness among others, the exhibit confronts the dominant stereotypes that homeless individuals are helpless street beggars or that organizations serving them are just providing handouts without addressing long-term solutions.  Many of the subjects were present at the lecture, and they were eager to tell their stories.  The exhibit will be at LUMA until January 15th.  It is free for Loyola students.  LUMA is located in Lewis Towers, entrance across the street from the Old Water Tower on the east side of the building.

On Wednesday morning, September 14th IPS hosted field education supervisors from all the degrees to talk about their experiences working with IPS students in sites all over Chicago.  To view pictures from the event, visit the IPS facebook page here.

by Kristen M.

I thought I had my life all figured out.  My husband and I were married in 2000, and two years later we were blessed with the birth of our daughter.  In 2004, God gave us our son.  We were filled with love, joy, and gratitude.  Since my husband and I are both the oldest of four children, we had always planned on having a six-person family.  At the beginning of 2006, we were ready to have another baby – right on our schedule.  Unfortunately, things didn’t turn out as we had planned.

That first year was an emotional rollercoaster.  Each month I prayed fervently that I would become pregnant, and each month I was disappointed.  I went to daily Mass, prayed the rosary, did novenas, and nothing happened.  Our regular doctors failed to find anything “wrong.”  I took my charts to a Natural Family Planning consultant, who determined that something was wrong, but could only refer me to the head of the Creighton Method who was out at the Pope Paul VI Institute in Omaha.  There was no way that we would be able to afford that, so we just kept counting on God.  The stress on our marriage had become difficult to handle.  While I was extremely happy with my two wonderful children, I still yearned to have more.  It didn’t make sense.  This secondary infertility was becoming a monster, and I really wanted to give it up.  But it wasn’t that easy.

In January 2007, we decided that we were going to see a fertility doctor, and if he wasn’t able to assist us, we would just give up the dream.  We didn’t want to do any artificial means because we already had two healthy children and we felt that if God wanted us to have more, we would.  He was neither able to help us nor provide a diagnosis.  Even though I was “supposed to” stop being obsessed with having another baby, I couldn’t.  When reading an article in St. Anthony’s Messenger one day, I discovered a shrine for infertile couples, Our Lady of La Leche/Mission Nombre de Dios in St. Augustine Florida.  I had been so close to God during this experience and found God in so many ways with the help of my spiritual director, that I was sure that God would hear my plea at our family pilgrimage.  In the midst of planning our trip, I came across a Natural Family Planning doctor in Hobart, Indiana.  After running a series of tests, he recommended some medication that I was to begin taking after the trip.

The shrine was amazing!  My husband and I both were overwhelmed with the presence of God as we prayed together, alone, and with the kids.  What I came away with was something to the effect of John 15:5.  “I am the vine, you are the branches.  Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing.”  When I was there, I first petitioned for a friend of mine who had been trying to conceive for almost seven years and a cousin of mine who has epilepsy and had lost two children.  Neither of them had any children, and their situations were far more significant than mine. (more…)

Water Tower