There is a pervasive suspicion of Jesuits in many corners of the Church. Sometimes I and my brothers (ones who FULLY support Church teaching) have been prematurely judged and treated coldly as if we may not. This is sad, and points to the scandal of division in the Body of Christ. Are we a perfect religious order? No. Is there such a thing as a perfect religious order? Absolutely not. From the beginning, God has chosen fallible people to do His work, and that hasn't changed. Have some Jesuits made mistakes and errors? Yes, and that is unfortunate. We have also apologized to the Holy Father in our general congregations, and Pope Benedict XVI has recently made it clear how much he supports and trusts us to continue to do what we can to help bring people to God. If you would like to read this AWESOME address by our Holy Father, here is a link in its entirety:
http://www.zenit.org/article-21968?l=english
Link (here) to read the full post by second year Jesuit, John Roselle, n.S.J. his blog is entitled, Going Forth.
20 comments:
John Roselle is a great man. I am so glad he is in the Society.
Here in Germany the provincial of the Jesuit Province, Fr Kiechle, is still trying to abolish "forced" celibacy among diocesan priests and Fr Mertes, who uncovered the abuse at Canisius Jesuit College is fighting against homophobia in the Church.
Not all jesuits are bad? Yes, but there are other orders where the part of "good" ones is the inverted percentage than that of the Jesuits'.
Jesuit university endows human rights chair in name of pro-abortion priest
Washington D.C., Oct 24, 2006 / 12:00 am (CNA).- Georgetown University Law Center has named a human rights chair for a controversial priest who has been actively supportive of abortion during and after his time as a U.S. Congressman.
Dean T. Alexander Aleinikoff announced the establishment of the Robert F. Drinan, SJ, Chair in Human Rights at a formal ceremony Oct. 23; Yale Law School Dean Harold Hongju Koh gave the keynote address.
"Few have accomplished as much as Fr. Drinan, and fewer still have done so much to make the world a better place," Aleinikoff reportedly said. "This new Chair honors Fr. Drinan's lifelong commitment to public service and will allow us to bring distinguished human rights scholars and advocates to Georgetown Law.”
Fr. Thomas Euteneuer, president of Human Life International, has called the naming of the new Chair “deeply disturbing” and “hypocritical.” The university has established a human rights chair “in the name of a heretical priest who has spent much of his lifetime advocating for the most heinous of human rights violations: abortion,” he said in a statement.
Militant pro-abortionist speaks to bioethics class at Catholic Loyola University
LifeSiteNews.com reported on October 16, 2006:
Dr. Judith Arcana is a proud member of the Chicago pre-Roe v. Wade underground abortion service known as ‘Jane’. She was invited and spoke to students of the bioethics class entitled ‘Ethics of Human Reproduction’ at Loyola University Chicago, a Jesuit institution, on October 5 of this year. Arcana is a vehement supporter of abortion on demand and believes that the abortion movement will only gain ‘lost ground’ by admitting that abortion is the killing of a living child but that that is a choice for the mother.
Arcana was invited by the Women’s Studies Department of Loyola, as part of their ‘Feminism and Faiths’ theme for this academic year, to recite some of her prose and poetry on the subjects of motherhood, adoption, miscarriage, abortion and pregnancy. Bioethics teachers were offered the opportunity to have Arcana guest lecture their classes.
LIKE CORNELIUS CONNELLY SAID: ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS...
I don't know John Roselle nSJ, but he seems like a good guy.
I am one of those Jesuits that FULLY supports Church teaching. I can say with a doubt that people who lump Jesuits together as corrupt or disobedient or what have you have not done me any favors by doing so. The opposite is true. Name calling and painting with a broad brush has only reinforced the evil spirit's attempt to get me to despair and leave my service in the Church through the Society.
No Jesuit should be immune to criticism. But no one should imagine that they do no harm to good Jesuits when they call the whole Jesuit order bad.
Maria doesn't explain why people who disagree with the church's teaching should not be allowed to present their views at Catholic universities.
As best I recall, Jesus and St. Paul debated with people of other opinions. But then Maria brings to my mind the definition of a bishop as someone who has risen higher in the church's hierarchy than even Jesus Christ.
If one has the courgage of one's convictions, ought not one be willing to sign his or her name to statements proffered?
With due respect owed you, Father, shouldn't concern for the souls of the faithful supercede whatever discomfort a faithful, obedient Jesuit might feel as the result of his association with his less faithful confreres? I truly mean no disresect, Padre ; however, should the focus be the souls you seek to save? Reparation for the sins of your confreres? Wouldn't this better serve Him?
"The priest's strong faith in what he teaches will, in large measure, determine how persuasively and effectively his teaching will affect the Faithful. Nothing convinces like conviction. Nothing is more persuasive than certitude. Speaking for my fellow priests and myself, if we are convinced of what we teach others to believe and carry it into practice, then the people will be able to follow, not just our words but our example. But if we fail them, God help them. That is a prayer...Like priests, like people. Faith reproduces faith. Or, as we also sadly know, unbelief reproduces unbelief".
John Harddon SJ
Father: whoever you are, I ardently pray for the conversion of the Society. All priests need our constant prayer and love...
FOR JESUITS and THE FAITHFUL--
Reparation. The next stage in the holy hour, which may actually pervade the whole sixty minutes, is the practice of reparation.
Preoccupied as he was with the moral failures of priests, Father Gerald specially urged priests (and all the faithful) to offer their prayers and trials for priests.
What reparation (is needed) for the sins of priests. O how precious to Christ is a priest who comes to Him and offers with his bare soul to wipe the terrible spittle and filth that unworthy priests cast each day upon Our Lord. It is true that the physical sufferings of Our Lord are at an end: but the source of those physical and mental anguishes that He bore in the Passion are today and tomorrow and all the tomorrows till the end of time. And it is effectively true that if I make reparation today, Jesus will see that reparation together with Veronica's reparation as He went the Way of the Cross. I went with the angel of consolation to Gethsemane – I went with Simon of Cyrene and lifted the cross from His aching shoulder – I was in the consolation that His Mother spoke to Him as He passed by – I was in the eyes of John when John lifted his lily face as a chalice to meet the eyes of Divine Love.
Learn the art of reparation and then the very little things that bother you, the little trivia of human limitations around us, the little contradictions and disappointments, can all be gathered up and offered in reparation – they become the myrrh of life. (D-158)
This art of reparation is mainly the practice of resignation. We resign ourselves to the trials and difficulties God sends us, and thereby expiate for the offenses committed against Him. Prayer before the Blessed Sacrament serves the purpose of motivating our wills and prayerfully uniting ourselves with Christ in the Eucharist, whose very presence on earth is a form of reparation.
Fr. Gerald Murphy
First of all, I'm neither a Jesuit nor a priest.
Secondly, attaching one need not attach one's name to an opinion for readers to conclude that it is either valid or invalid.
I notice that you don't disclose your last name either; why should I disclose either of my names? There are enough nuts reading such forums.
am one of those Jesuits that FULLY supports Church teaching--
This was the Jesuit I was addressing.
I think that people are more inclined to be more civil, reasonable and responsible when they sign their name. Also, it is very difficult to communicate with and differentiate one anonymous from another. Just creates confusion...
Please, fellow Anonymous, don't provide your full name--I did once and a right wing whack jobs wrote me.
Jesuits have nothing for which to apologize. There are many, many Catholics who treasure their dedication and serious approach to the Faith.
Mr. Anonymous
How very Jesuitical of you, Maria. ;)
This is what you wrote:
"If one has the courgage of one's convictions, ought not one be willing to sign his or her name to statements proffered?
With due respect owed you, Father, shouldn't "
You didn't make it clear at all that you were responding to two different people.
If I am polemical in my comments to you, Maria, it's because I perceive you as a right-wing harridan who isn't too intellectually curious, but nevertheless knows everything. The sweetness of a girly boy is wasted on such people.
Anon 1:55 & 6:41
Sorry for not signing my name earlier. My only comment was the "I don't know John Roselle nSJ, but he seems like a good guy."
Only reason I neglected to sign was that I wasn't signed in and didn't notice. I had no intention of hiding my name.
I see now that other's anonymous comments appear to be mine. That is unfortunate.
Jesuit John
Jesuit John,
I used to be one of those people who constantly worried if others were Catholic enough, and bemoaned "deviations" in the Church.
I was young, had grown up in a very sheltered environment, and more than a bit naive about the Church. I have since become more mature, and found that I no longer have any respect for all but one of those ultra-Catholics with whom I used to run as human beings, because I don't see what I can respect. (One of them is a priest.)
I really wished someone had bluntly to told me grow up those years ago, and so what I say to those who follow in my footsteps is to go live an exemplary lives themselves rather than spending their time criticizing people who hardly care what they think. And to get psychological help if they need it.
Spare the vituperations and spoil the blogger.
Anon 1:55 & 6:41 & 4:16
CHANGING THE WORLD BEGINS WITH ME
by Fr. Emile Briere
Christianity remains sterile until it is practiced. To be effective, the tremendous truths Christ taught must guide, direct, and impregnate the daily actions of his followers. His words are not only to be learned, but to be lived.
“Whoever does the will of my heavenly Father, is brother and sister and mother to me,” Christ says in the Gospel of Matthew (ch 12, vs 50). To do the will of God right now—that’s what matters, that’s what makes Christianity a living thing, that’s what makes all the difference in the world.
But it isn’t always easy. It requires vigilance, self-control, openness of mind and heart. It requires trust in God and dependence upon his grace, his strength, his love.
The loyal Christian is daily engaged in a struggle, as well as a love affair. For daily demands are made upon his love by events and circumstances. How he responds to these calls from day to day, from moment to moment, means success or failure for Christ and his Church. It determines his own spiritual growth or decay. In the little tests of daily life Christ’s redemptive work triumphs or fails, the Church, the Body of Christ grows stronger or weakens; peace and love spread throughout the world or are limited; a lover of God or a lover of self is fashioned.
We may or may not have to face tough decisions, searing temptations, or overwhelming pressures every day. But each one of us daily faces the decision of opening heart and mind, or closing them off, to the people and responsibilities close at hand. How we respond at that moment matters immensely to ourselves, to Christ and his Church, and to all people. To keep my heart open right now to the Holy Spirit—that’s the most important thing in the world for me at this moment.
For it is right now that I am asked to love, to forget myself, to serve. Not tomorrow, not next week or next month—but right now. Right now the Holy Spirit is ready to assist my weakness, to melt my heart of stone, to shake off my lethargy. Right now the powerful forces of faith and hope and love can be unleashed in me.
I can walk another mile with whoever forces me to go for one mile. I can refrain from judging. I can concentrate on the moment’s duty. I can turn the other cheek. I can be patient in an unpleasant situation. I can trust in God. I can ask forgiveness for my sins. I can express my sorrow to a person whom I have offended.
But all this requires a certain self-control. If my first reaction to a person or a task is one of resentment or fear or rejection, I must see clearly that this is my moment of struggle, my opportunity, my challenge. This is the price all must pay for growth in maturity, in responsibility and in love. I must appreciate that my response matters to Christ and to all men. I must quickly cry to the Holy Spirit abiding within me; thus will love grow among humankind and evil decrease.
Christ has told us that “the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force” (Gospel of Matthew, ch 11, vs 12). Who are these ‘violent’? Those who do violence to themselves, who struggle with their unhealthy emotions, who pray for a warm and merciful heart. Those who live dependently upon the Lord and who rely solely upon the power of his Love. Those who desire to become passionate lovers of the God who is love.
Each time they allow Christ to triumph in them, all people feel the effects of his redemption, and the terrible ordeal of Calvary is made worthwhile once again. And the parousia draws nearer, that is, Christ’s kingdom of peace and love.
As previous generations, we too carry the burden of many problems, but with this immense difference, that the problems facing us are urgent and of mammoth proportions. Daily we read or hear of wars and danger of greater wars. We read
of the poor and of immense injustice and greed. The experts propose plans to solve these problems. But all of their plans depend for success on one condition: that people love one another. In the measure in which we care for one another, cooperate with one another, sacrifice for one another, in that measure will we resolve the seemingly impossible difficulties of our age.
If we love one another! If there is love among all men, then will warfare be averted. Then will the hungry be fed and the naked clothed and the ignorant instructed. Then, and only then. With this truth in mind, how can we refuse the little struggles of daily life? How can we not exercise our own God-given power to love so that the world may be healed?
I don't think Maria or "right-wing Catholics" are suggesting they have all the answers; rather, they are suggesting the Church that Christ Himself instituted does.
Yes, and I used to spend my time telling priests ordained in Christ's name just how they got things all wrong.
I suppose I should take my own advice, and go do something charitable rather than gaze at and squabble over storms in navels.
This can't truly have success, I suppose so.
Post a Comment