Friday, September 30, 2011

What To Do With A Republican Businessmen's Donation?

Fr. Fred Kammer, S.J.
According to Fr. Fred Kammer, S.J., Catholic social teaching takes the position of a market framed by justice and not the free market the Austrian economists propose. There are also specific conflicts, he said, between Catholic social teaching and the Austrian view of government, unions, taxations, human life and the place of Christianity in the public sector. Kammer said he also found problems in the Austrian economics master's program's funding. He said he believes Loyola would make a mistake by letting the Koch Foundation, the charitable organization derived from Koch Industries, donate such a large sum of money for the master's program. Koch Industries is one of the largest private companies in the United States and owns operations such as pipelines and chemical refineries. It would be a mistake, Kammer said, because of the Koch brothers' controversial political values, which often conflict with the values of Catholic social teaching.
The Koch Foundation would donate a large portion of the $9 million endowment to fund the program, according to the program's proposal. D'Amico said that the College of Business already accepts money from the Koch Foundation to fund the Economics Club.
Link (here) to read the full article at The Maroon of Loyola New Orleans

German Agents Murdered Two Jesuits In September Of 1914

"'Two Jesuit professors at the University of Louvain were shot because they were in possession of papers relating to German atrocities".
Link (here) to The Age 

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Jesuit On The Burden Of Raising Children

Fr. Joaquin Bernas, S.J.
Influential Jesuit priest and constitutional lawyer Fr. Joaquin Bernas, SJ said that family planning as proposed in the controversial Reproductive Health (RH) bill is not necessarily "anti-life", putting him at odds with conservative Catholics who oppose the bill. In a column published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer on Monday, Bernas sought to clarify what being "anti-life" precisely means, for the term has been used "in the most pejorative way" in current RH bill debates. "It is used in the sense of being against existing life. Murder, in other words," he said. However, he said that in the currently toxic debate on contraceptives, "anti-life" could be construed to include people who do not want to add more human life to an already crowded population. He cited for example a married couple who decide to abstain from acts that bring about life, and a man who chooses a celibate life because he feels he can accomplish things without the burden of raising children. "I would not categorize such a person as being anti-life," Bernas said. "People like him love life so much that they take it upon themselves to contribute in some other ways to the improvement of the quality of life of those who are already born."
Link (here) to GMA

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Fordham's Forum On Sodomy Promotes Lying

Fr. John Dufell
Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on Fordham's recent Sexual Diversity conference:
Just a hundred or so curious souls bothered to show up, and though the event was mostly a bomb, it did have its moments. They heard from someone who confessed how he mutilated his genitals, and others so depressed they made the mutilator sound normal. Indeed, some of the tales would have made Rod Serling's head spin. Father John Dufell, ever the helpful priest, was there to give advice: when asked by a homosexual how he is supposed to deal with his inadmissibility to become a priest, Dufell told him to lie. He said it was okay to lie because it is the "system" in the Catholic Church that is broken.  One poor soul who attended sounded absolutely virginal: "I expected it to be a discussion of church teaching, but instead it kind of assumed that church teaching was wrong—and I wasn't expecting that." Didn't he know where he was? In any event, it was nice to learn that Erma Durkin, who traveled all the way from Maryland, found the sessions "very encouraging." Erma is 82.

To read a story written by someone who really liked the conference, click here.
Link (here) to the Catholic League press release.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

New Jesuit In Charge At America Magazine

America Press Inc. the Jesuit-sponsored magazine and web site, today announced the appointment of Father John P. Schlegel, S.J. as publisher and president. Father Schlegel, who recently completed 11 years as president of Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, will assume his office in November. The joining of the publisher’s role with that of the president of America Press is an early outcome of the press’s strategic planning process which will conclude in late February. As president, Father Schlegel succeeds Father Drew Christiansen, S.J., who will remain America’s editor in chief. The publisher’s position has been open since the resignation of Ms. Jan Attridge, the press’s first publisher, in April.
Link (here) to read the full blog post by Fr. James Martin, S.J.

Lingering Effects Of The Berlin Jesuit High School Abuse Case

The protests contrast with the welcome Benedict received from hundreds of thousands of worshippers six years ago when he sailed down the River Rhine to Cologne on his first visit to Germany as pope.

Not everyone agrees with Catholic teaching on lifestyle issues and “in a free society this dissent must be allowed to express itself,” Robert Zollitsch, the head of the German Bishops’ Conference, said in Berlin yesterday. Yet some of the protests are “excessive.”

The first German pope since the 16th century was greeted by a front-page image adorning the headquarters of Axel Springer AG’s mass circulation Bild Zeitung published on April 20, 2005, the day after he was elected pontiff, saying: “We are Pope!”
‘Heinous Crime’

The Catholic Church in Germany has encountered a wave of allegations of sexual abuse by priests that emerged last year, beginning at an elite Jesuit high school in Berlin. Archbishop Zollitsch apologized to more than 100 pedophilia victims in February 2010 after Benedict called abuse a “heinous crime.”
Link (here) to Bloomberg.com

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Fordham During The Twenties

The Playshop at Fordham University 
By Fr. Robert I. Gannon, S. J.
WHEN CELLINI wrote about himself, pride led him on; in the "Confessions" deep humility was St. Augustine's motive; sheer love of chatter gave Samuel Pepys; while old Ben Franklin seems to say in Poor Richard's Almanac, "Take heart! If a man like this can succeed, anybody can."
In jotting down these few words, at the editor's request, "The Playshop of Fordham University," our motive is ry like Benjamin Franklin's. Not that our success is a parable to his. We have, in fact, accomplished very ;le. Professor Baker, in his Harvard Workshop, need t look to us for rivalry. What has been done, however, s been so helpful, so pleasant and so easy that, like boys a new swimmin' hole, we are impelled by the most elentary good-fellowship to chant in a chorus to all pass-by, "Come on in; the water's fine!" ^mong the passers-by, I am sure, will be many men and men interested in Catholic colleges and academies where ire talent and opportunity for development can be found in in Fordham. If they will only reflect for the short K they are reading these words on the value of the work the student, to his college and to the Catholic Little eater of the future, they will lose no time in starting ocal Playshop of their own.
[f they do so, and then link practice with their theory, :y will be experimenting with nothing new in pedagogy, 'en Dickens' "Do-the-boys School" in that, at least, was reast of the times. "Spell horse!" said Squeers. "H-O-R-S-E." "Correct! Now go out and feed him." e Ratio Studiorhim, anticipating this Yorkshire master two or three centuries, said in effect, "What is a speech? bat is a poem? Now go home and write one!" It is ar, then, that when the freshmen took up the technique the one-act play in class, their Jesuit professor mur
mured almost unconsciously: "Now go home and write one!" He said it, however, only to a few.
He formed, in other words, what is known to the Ratio as an "Academy." Out of one hundred and sixty-five men, about fifteen were invited to organize themselves as a playwriting group, which in time out of class might meet for mutual suggestions and encouragement. The meetings were most informal. No lectures were given, smokes were passed about. Everyone had his say on every one else's work, and then the director always outlined the next step in the operations.
These steps were simple and obvious enough. After the analysis of standard one-act plays came a special study of Dialogue. It is amazing what difficulty some people find in reproducing perfectly normal, natural conversation, no dialect, no passion—just what he said and what she said. All this, however, was preliminary. Soon we were writing dialogues and monologues, dramatizing short stories, rewriting standard one-act plays after making essential changes—sketching scenarios and finally plunging into original one-act plays. .
In conjunction with all this we were fortunate in having an enthusiastic band of players, "The Mumes and Mummies," on whom we might experiment. They wer.e free— after producing "She Stoops to Conquer" in December, 1921—and, with time out for repetitions and examinations, worked with the Playshop until the end of the year. This means that every two weeks, behind closed doors, a monologue, a dialogue and a dramatized short story, coached by the students themselves, were offered for criticism. A sort of debate always followed, some confining their remarks to the writing, some to the acting; some encouraging those concerned, some expressing themselves quite frankly. The directors then endeavored to make a few suggestions and
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the play was repeated with the necessary changes and modifications. There was nothing marvelous about the whole program, but it was interesting and helpful.
Now, those of a practical turn of mind may be interested in the mechanical and financial aspect of our meetings. They are held in the College Theater with its modern, roomy and well-equipped stage. This is quite accidental, however, as a barn or a garret would be quite sufficient for experimental work of this type. For scenery we have the usual stock sets with a variety of drops, but our joy and our comfort is the good old "cyk" or cyclorama of drapes which can be made to suggest everything because it doesn't look like anything. For costumes we "fake" what we can and rent the rest. The "make up" is smeared on by the ambitious director, with results that, if not always appropriate, are sure to be colorful. With these economies, the expenses for one night's work, including "hard" cakes and pop for the faithful stage crew, never come to as much as eight dollars, and are sometimes no higher than three.
The first green fruits of all this planting were seen on March 21, 1922. That evening, more to encourage ourselves than to astonish them, we came before the friends of the college in a Prize Play Contest. Six plays were offered-— all of them dramatized, short stories limited to twenty minutes each. The program was as follows:
"His Father" Godfrey Schmidt, '25
"The Masterpiece" Frank Walsh, "25
"Heat" James Cancagh, "25
"The Proposal" Gordon LasMude,'25
"Yellow" Paul Collins, 25
"The Ace of Spades" Edward Lyman, "25
Three invited judges passed on the merits of the plan and awarded the prize to James Cancagh, '25, for "Hea: This little tragedy, at the invitation of the managemeii was afterwards produced at one of the Keith theaters New York.
This year, 1922-23, we have welcomed upper-classnr, into the Playshop and, greatly encouraged, have set to work on original plays. Except for the time when all our energies were given to a production of Henry VIII we hare continued our regular private sessions, with more or Jess success. Ten plays of varying merit have been produced this season in the bosom of the family. None of the work can approach the best output of the Harvard workshopsome of it is very ordinary indeed—but the progress is unmistakable and the benefit to those who write and dire* the plays, as well as those who act in them, is as great as the pleasure they derive from their task.
Link (here)

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Evils Of Trusteeism

EVILS OF TRUSTEEISM
By Fr. Gerald C. Treacy, S.J.
Archbishop John Carroll of Maryland
On opening the very first pages of the history of any of the older parishes in this country, we find mention made of the Board of Trustees. They were a body of laymen (in later times one or two clergymen might be found to enjoy membership), elected by the congregation to administer Church property and to look after the temporalities of the parish. They formed a corporation with a legal existence, created and acknowledged by the laws of the several States. Their duties were manifold, their rights extensive. The upkeep of the property of the Church devolved upon them. They hired the sexton, the organist, and choir-master, and what strikes us as strange nowadays, even the pastor. The bishop would give his priests faculties and they would go before the Board of Trustees and arrange with this body all the details of parish duties as well as other important incidentals, namely, salary, lodging, variety of Church services, and ministrations. If the pastor proved distasteful to the congregation or unsatisfactory to their elected representatives, the Board of Trustees, the bishop was notified that the services of a new priest were in requisition.
It may not be amiss to mention here parenthetically that in the Maryland mission all Church possessions were in the hands of the Society of Jesus, and when the Suppression came, the Fathers very wisely incorporated under the title of "The Gentlemen of Maryland," and handed down the property by will, till the Restoration, when, with the approval of Bishop Carroll, they came into their own again. Hence Jesuit parishes were free from the vexations and troubles of trusteeism, that afflicted the American Church in the first fifty years of our country's history.
The beginning of the system is traceable to two causes. The Catholics, a negligible minority in the different States, were influenced by the vestry system of the various Protestant sects, controlling Church affairs, administering Church property, appointing clergymen by the votes of a lay committee. Again, the civil law acknowledged the right of a congregation to hold property, insisting, however, that the trustees should be elected by all the members of the said congregation.
So Bishop Carroll tolerated the system, and his successors and fellow-members of the episcopate did likewise. Again it must be remembered that the great majority of American Catholics came from Europe, where the Committee of Control, or Fabriques, administered Church property. But while the European governments of the day recognized the peculiar constitution of the Catholic Church, in America it was by no means certain how the different States would deal with the legal conflicts that might arise between the bishop and the lay trustees. 
That the system was dangerous and liable to grave abuses, is patent to the most casual observer of the Church's development in the United States. Scandals and schisms were the outgrowth of the system, that darkened the early days of the American Church, and forced its first bishop to go before the civil power, and prove his right to govern American Catholics, and to appoint the priests whom he chose to labor in the field. Fortunately in these early times, by a decision of the Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, the bishops' supreme control over clergy and laity alike was acknowledged by the State. However, the trouble was not settled by this decision. Bishop Carroll suffered the humiliation of having his appointment of priests vetoed by the trustees of different churches, who insisted on keeping the pastors of their own choice, stubbornly maintaining that the right of appointing the clergy belonged to those who supplied the revenue.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Jesuit On The Abortion Plague

"..the abortion plague is far more devastating than most of us realize...contraception is not only a selfish practice that leads to abortion. Contraceptives themselves are homicidal drugs and devices. They are more widely lethal than commonly known surgical forms of killing unborn children."
                                                  Servant of God, Fr. John Hardon, S.J.

From Father Hardon's introduction to the lengthy pamphlet, Infant Homicides through Contraceptives, by Bogomir M. Kuhar BS Pharm, FASCP

Monday, September 19, 2011

"S.J." Solid and Catholic

by Fr. JAMES GroenIngs, S. J
Devotional in character; of value for purposes of meditation and preaching. The author follows the biblical account, and approved commentators. 
He "has thought it wise not to draw from private revelations no matter how venerable the names connected with them may be. Since it is difficult to distinguish between what is in reality revealed in these revelations and what is the result of pious meditation, the author judged it more in accordance with his very calling as teacher and interpreter of the Gospel to rely solely on the Gospel narratives and the interpretation by the Fathers and by men scientifically trained for that purpose." 
In this Father Groenings reflects the spirit of the Society to which he belongs. And it is precisely this fact which makes one feel secure, in picking up a devotional work with "S. J." on the title page, that it is going to be solid and Catholic. It is to be hoped that this book will drive out of the market a fearful example of how these matters should not be handled which was inflicted on the American Catholic public a year or two ago.
Link (here)

Sunday, September 18, 2011

A Jesuit Wikileak

In a wikileak cable released by the whistle-blower website, Father Fidelis Mukonori, S.J. allegedly met and told the Ambassador on 10 January 2006 that the ZANU-PF leadership around President Robert Mugabe lacked the political clout, intelligence, experience or vision to lift Zimbabwe out of the hole they had dug.
Father Mukonori is also alleged to have told the US envoy that he would be open to discussing with government leaders the post-Mugabe reforms needed for re-engagement -- in confidence if they so desired.
He added that the presence of some of the current leadership in a post-Mugabe government would make re-engagement far more difficult.
Says Dell, “Mukonori agreed the transition was underway, said the most objectionable ZANU-PF leaders would not survive politically, and promised to consider arranging private meetings. He also recounted his successful efforts against the education bill and his efforts to broker a GOZ-UN compromise over temporary shelter for the victims of Operation Murambatsvina.” Mukonori asked whether the US government and the UK could not develop a "joint approach" to Zimbabwe, arguing that President ‘Mugabe was serious last August when he said he would rather talk to Tony Blair than Morgan Tsvangirai.’ Dell also says, ‘Mukonori agreed with the Ambassador that Zimbabwe already had a foot in the post-Mugabe era, rendering the octogenarian leader increasingly irrelevant to the country's future. He added that the people would never acquiesce to Mugabe's replacement by any of the worst ZANU-PF aspirants and he promised to give the matter further thought and get back to the Ambassador on arranging confidential meetings with elements of the leadership that might be pen to discussing the future.” However, Dell comments that the United States government was skeptical that a more engaging posture on their part would prompt President ‘Mugabe to confront the country's deep political and economic problems more sensibly.’
Link (here)

Friday, September 16, 2011

New Jesuit To Lead La Civilta Cattolica

A writer and expert on literature, Jesuit Antonio Spadaro, 45, has been appointed the new director of La Civiltà Cattolica, the magazine of the Rome Jesuits, said an article on chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it. Fr Spadaro takes the place of Fr GianPaolo Salvini, 75, who had directed La Civiltà Cattolica since 1985. Fr Spadaro was chosen over Father Michele Simone, who was the deputy director and political commentator for the magazine - nevertheless considered by the Vatican authorities as closer, perhaps too close, to the center-left coalition of the Italian political system.
Link (here)

Fordham's Forum On Sodomy

This Friday, the first of four conferences kicks off at Fordham University’s Lincoln Center campus.  The Fordham gathering will center on the theme Learning to Listen: Voices of Sexual Diversity and the Catholic Church. It will feature a full day of panel discussions from a diverse group of writers, scholars, ministers, and lay Catholic leaders. 
Link (here) to The National Catholic Fish-wrapper

Half A Million Dollar Jesuit

The Oregon Province includes 40 men, who are at various stages of their formation. These days, most already have college degrees when they join the order, but still must study philosophy and theology. The process of becoming a Jesuit takes 10 to 11 years, Duffy says, and costs an average of about $42,721 per year per person. The province pays the men's tuition (even at Jesuit universities), travel and living expenses and health care. During their formation process,
Link (here) to The Oregonian

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

The Bread Of Life

The propagators of certain dangerous opinions, who called themselves the Illuminati, had been lately discovered and condemned in Spain. Besides, a great and terrible movement was beginning to distract all Europe. Luther, with his piercing and passionate voice, was stirring up the minds of men, and disseminating his pestilent doctrines. His works, read, commented on, and reproduced under a thousand forms, animated all Germany against the Papacy. In Spain the Inquisition watched with extreme care over the preservation of the Catholic faith. Meanwhile, it was a strange spectacle to see these men and women, belonging to every rank, assembling in an hospital round this Ignatius, who hardly knew the rules of grammar ! Things went so far, that Doctor Alonzo Sanchez, canon of St. Just, on one occasion publicly refused the Communion to Ignatius and his companions, reproaching them with making too familiar a use of holy things. But shortly after, no doubt enlightened from on high, he distributed the bread of life to them, and experienced at that moment so sweet a feeling of devotion, that he could hardly restrain his tears. The same day, he begged Ignatius to dine with him, and after hearing him speak upon spiritual subjects, respected him as a saint.

Link (here) to the History of the life and institute of St. Ignatius de Loyola ..., Volume 1 By Fr. Daniello Bartoli, S.J.

Friday, September 9, 2011

"Get Outta Here, Father."

FR. STEVE KATSOUROS, SJ, was on the subway commuting to his job at St. Peter's Prep in Jersey City from his Jesuit community on 83rd Street in New York when the first plane hit. His train halted abruptly at Fulton Street, just two blocks from the World Trade Center. He emerged from below into a catastrophic situation unlike any New York has ever experienced. Although a bit disoriented, he pulled aside a police officer and immediately offered his assistance. She and Steve were standing at the concourse entrance of the WTC as a sea of people evacuated the building. The pandemonium grew. The officer told him, "Get outta here, Father."
Link (here) to read the rest of the story at The Company magazine.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Ignatius And The Mohammedans

After recognizing the impossibility of becoming an active warrior in the cause of the Catholic Church against the Mohammedans, Ignatius devoted all his energies to the furtherance of his spiritual mission in the Holy Land and the cause of the early hostility to the Society which he afterwards founded, was the settlement of its members in countries other than Palestine. Father Christopher Genelli, S.J. in his Life of St. Ignatius of Loyola, says that:
"Everything tends to show that Ignatius, in making the journey to Jerusalem, had no other object than to take up his abode near the sepulchre of our Lord, and there labour to extend the Kingdom of Christ and to make war upon His enemies. It was not then a simple pilgrimage that he was making, for the East had been his first thought after his conversion. 
He had the idea of at once establishing, on the spot sanctified by the presence of our Lord in the flesh, a Society of Jesus, composed of apostolic evangelical labourers, whose spiritual welfare in the midst of the children of Mohammed should pave the way to new triumphs of the Catholic Church. 
This was, without doubt, a noble conception, which the swords of the Christian chivalry of Europe had not been able to realize by the efforts of Catholicism of centuries. That this was the real design of St. Ignatius is proved by the pains he took to gain a footing in Palestine. ... To the last years of his life he thought seriously of securing at last an entrance for the Society in Jerusalem."
Link (here)

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Ignatius Converting Souls Most Deeply Sunk In Vice

The Cathedral of Alcala the Santos Niños
A fact is recounted of Ignatius of Loyola which shows how gifted he was in converting souls most deeply sunk in vice. It was then the custom, and continued so a long time afterwards, that young ecclesiastics, who, though not Priests, yet held preferments in the cathedral churches, should go to the Universities to complete their studies. There was at Alcala at that time one of these young Clergy, a Canon of one of the principal churches in Spain. Having made acquaintance with some disorderly students he led a life little in conformity with his vocation and very scandalous to others. Ignatius undertook his conversion. After having implored light and assistance from Heaven, he went to the Canon's house, and, arming himself with courage and patience, sent in a message that he desired to have an interview with him. The Canon received him with a look that plainly showed such people as Ignatius were not welcome at his house. However, he observed the ordinary forms of politeness, so much so that, 
when the Saint expressed a wish to speak with him alone he dismissed his attendants. Ignatius addressed himself to his conscience, speaking respectfully but forcibly, and telling him plainly the opinion entertained of him commonly in the town, but which his flatterers had concealed from him. Wounded in his pride and transported with anger, the Canon interrupted him by a torrent of abuse, and ended by threatening to have him thrown out of the window. The servants, hearing loud words, hastened to the room, but before they entered Ignatius had time to address some words to him which calmed his anger, though what he said or how it took such effect upon him is a mystery. 
The servants, on entering, saw only that their master was advancing towards Ignatius with signs of singular respect, and received orders to prepare a repast for himself and the visitor. To complete the good work begun, the Saint consented to remain, with such happy result that the Canon not only changed his whole life and continued always a friend and protector of Ignatius, but used his great influence with others, and so was able to render him a double service.
Link (here) to the Jesuit Fr. Genelli in his book, The Life of St. Ignatius of Loyola.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

St. Ignatius Of Loyola Preached On The Ten Commandments

Ignatius of Loyola addressed those who indulged in the luxuries of life, and a vain display in jewels and dress; above all, he tried to repress a style of feminine adornment which he thought unsuitable to Christian decorum. The women listened with delight and remorse; they wept, they mended their ways; the over-obtrusive charms were hidden, the vain decorations cast away.
On each of the ten days that come between Ascension Day and Pentecost, Ignatius spoke in the evening on one of the ten commandments; and on the Pentecost, it was said, the Holy Spirit descended into many hearts. 
When he had preached on the taking of God's name in vain, all oaths and impieties of speech became odious, and were heard no more. Women who had led bad lives now devoted themselves to penance and works of piety; some of these made long pilgrimages on foot, some practised a more safe devotion by attending to the sick poor in the hospitals. All strove to convert their companions in sin.
Link (here) to Ignatius Loyola and the Early Jesuits.

Monday, September 5, 2011

Ignatius Loyola An Exorcisor Of Demons And A Healer Of The Sick

Everything that Ignatius attempted he succeeded in; and it pleased God often to bestow upon His servant a miraculous power. A woman said to be possessed for four years was brought to him. 
He said that, not being a priest, he could not exorcise her; but he prayed for her, placed his hands on her head, made over her the sign of the cross, and she was cured. 
A girl horribly convulsed was brought to him as a demoniac. But the Saint perceived that the convulsions were physical; he dispelled them by the sign of the cross.
 
Link (here) to Stewart Rose's biography, Ignatius Loyola and the Early Jesuits

Saturday, September 3, 2011

The Extraordinary Effects Of Ignatian Spirituality

Ignatius of Loyola was accessible to every one, but would speak on none but spiritual subjects. He preached for two or three hours together on three days in the week, besides Sundays and holidays; nor did he desist even when his strength was much reduced by continual low-fever. The crowds at length became so great, that he was forced to leave Azpeytia for the open country, men climbing up into the trees to hear him; 
and so marvellously was he assisted by the power of God, that he was distinctly heard at a distance of three hundred yards, although his voice was not naturally strong. 
He spoke entirely from the impulse of the moment, preparing nothing beforehand, but throwing his whole soul into his discourses, which, therefore, in spite of their extreme simplicity, produced extraordinary effects.
 
 
Link (here) to Stewart Rose. his book is entitled Ignatius of Loyola and the early Jesuits.

Friday, September 2, 2011

St. Ignatius Of Loyola On Fear, Snares And Deceits Of The Tormetor

Bear well in mind how the martyrs, when placed before their idol-worshipping judges, proclaimed themselves the Servants of Christ. In like manner do you, when placed before the enemy of the whole human race, and tempted in this way by him, 
when he wishes to deprive you of the courage that the Lord bestows upon you, and when he tries to render you weak and timorous by means of his snares and deceits, do not merely venture to say that you are desirous of serving Our Lord, when you ought to proclaim and profess without fear that you are His servant, and that you would rather die than desert His service. 
If he puts before me the justice of God, I reply with His mercy; if he hints at mercy, I answer with His justice. So we must act if we would avoid trouble, that the deceiver may himself be deceived, applying to ourselves the teaching of Holy Scripture which says: "Beware that thou be not so humble that in excessive humility thou be led into folly." "Coming to the second matter, as the enemy has placed in us a certain fear under the appearance of humility, which is false, and so suggests that we ought not to speak even of good, holy, and profitable things, so he brings forward another and worse fear, which is, whether we are separated from Our Lord, cut off from Him and outcast, and this in great measure by reason of our past lives. For just as the first fear prepares the way for the enemy's victory, so he finds it easier to tempt us when we are subject to the second. To illustrate this in some way I will mention another of the enemy's devices. If he finds a person with an elastic conscience, who passes over sin without consideration, he does all in his power to make venial sin seem nothing, and mortal sin, even very serious mortal sin, of no account; so that he turns to his purpose the defect he finds in us, that of a too elastic conscience. 
If in another he discovers a conscience over tender— a tender conscience, be it noticed, is no fault,—and if he sees that such a one will have nothing to do with mortal sin, nor even with venial sin so far as is possible—for it is not in our power to avoid all—,
, and that he even tries to cast off every slight semblance of sin in the shape of imperfection or defect, then the enemy makes an effort to confuse so good a conscience, suggesting sin where there is none, and defect where there is even perfection, anything to be able to disturb and afflict us; and in many instances, where he cannot induce a soul to sin, and has no hope of ever bringing it about, at least he endeavours to torment.
Link (here) to Letters and Instruction of St. Ignatius Loyola

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Without Vices Or Frivolity

The outline of the once far-famed Institute of Ignatius of Loyola, than which nothing can be conceived better calculated 
to organize a powerful and effective body of men, with cultivated minds and subdued passions, possessing the gravity and decorum of the cloister without its sullenness and reserve, and the suavity and accomplishments of the world, without its vices or frivolity. 
That there were exceptions to this character is not to be doubted, but such exceptions were rare; and even in cases where vice had set her seal on the heart of the priest, she veiled herself under an exterior of decency and modesty : and where ambition had fired the imagination, its flames were shrouded within the temple of his own breast. But, if his example was less likely to offend, his designs were more difficult to penetrate, and his misconduct more difficult to detect; consequently dismission from the society was less likely to occur. 
The founder, however, as far as possible, provided against such an evil, by the scrupulousness and care with which the candidates for admission were examined ; and cautious indeed must have been the youth who could have so far veiled his natural disposition, as to suppress any indications of his illicit tendencies, if they really existed, during the whole period of his novitiate, in a place where there were numerous eyes upon him, sharpened by observation and experience in the knowledge of character, to watch and report them. 
These regulations display profound policy; but the wisdom of Ignatius is no where more conspicuous than in those provisions which he made for the education, not only of the novices, to which the attention of the society was for four or five years after its establishment chiefly confined, but of all such youths as chose to enter themselves in their colleges.
Link (here) to the portion of the book entitled The Retrospective Review