MISSION AND MINISTRY | Oliver Plunkett Rafferty, S.J., brings his Irish expertise to LMU this semester as part of the Visiting Jesuit Scholar Program. The program invites distinguished Jesuits from around the world to come to LMU for one year while they are on sabbatical. “It’s a way to try to enhance our Jesuit presence at the university, since there are fewer and fewer Jesuits to go around,” said Robert Caro, S.J., who oversees the program.
As part of the program, the Jesuit visiting faculty member teaches a course and provides a public lecture. Rafferty is teaching “Ireland at War in the 20th Century,” and it is cross-listed with Irish Studies, History and Catholic Studies. “Rafferty’s expertise is invaluable,” said Dermot Ryan, the director of the Irish Studies program. “His unique approach to Irish questions has already encouraged fresh thinking in our students and the Irish-American community who look to LMU’s Irish Studies program to help them tease out and understand the implications for Ireland of Brexit and a whole range of other topics.”
Rafferty’s public lecture will take place on Nov. 9 from 3-5 p.m. at the Marymount Institute and is titled “God in the Famine.” Rafferty is eager to meet with the LMU community to discuss the different interpretations of suffering. “I will examine how people viewed the famine from a religious point of view,” Rafferty said. “If you believe in God, how do you explain the activities of God in midst of enormous suffering.” According to Rafferty, in Irish history, Protestants tended to believe that God caused the famine because of sin, but many Catholics followed of John Mitchel, a 19th century Irish revolutionary philosopher and himself a Protestant, who said, “The Almighty, indeed, sent the potato blight, but the English created the famine.”
Rafferty welcomed the opportunity to spend a semester at LMU for many reasons. “LMU has an Irish Studies program, and there is a lot of materials in the library on Irish history and Irish literature,” Rafferty said. “I was also attracted to Los Angeles and California for the good weather,” Rafferty added with both a smile and his Irish accent.
He has enjoyed exploring Los Angeles, and has already visited the Getty Villa, Griffith Observatory, and the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. Rafferty has been very impressed with the welcome he has received at LMU by the Jesuit Community, the Irish Studies Department and faculty and staff across campus.
Rafferty, a native of Belfast and member of the British Province of the Society of Jesus, is tenured as professor of Modern Irish and Ecclesiastical History at Boston College.
His publications, include “Violence, Politics and Catholicism in Ireland” [Dublin, 2016] and “The Politics of Pope Francis,” a journal article, published earlier this year in Doctrine and Life [71:21].
Rafferty is the third Jesuit to come to LMU as part of the Jesuit Scholar Program. The first Michael Breault, S.J., a stage director, partnered with the Theatre Arts Program; the second, Wajira Nampet, S.J., an educational psychologist from the Sophia University in Tokyo, partnered with the School and Education. The Jesuit Community funds the Visiting Jesuit Scholar program in the hope of enhancing Jesuit scholarly and creative presence across campus.
