Thursday, April 11, 2013

St. Ignatius Of Loyola Could Not Start The Society Of Jesus At Gonzaga Under The Current Rules

The chief reason for my confusion is that as an organization, the Knights of Columbus is, by these criteria, identical to the Society of Jesus. 
How strange it is to think that if Ignatius of Loyola and his companions, who were students at the University of Paris when they established the Society, had tried to apply for club status at Gonzaga, they would have been denied. I can’t help but wonder if it is the intention of the Office of Student Life to dissociate itself from Gonzaga University because of the Jesuits’ long-standing practice of such “discrimination,” or will Student Life instead choose to initiate action to remove the Society of Jesus from its affiliation with the Gonzaga community?

This may strike you as an absurd inquiry, but it is actually a logical response to the rationale in your decision. As you noted, the revival of the Catholic Daughters on campus would solve the “gender-exclusivity” problem, but alas, the Catholic Daughters are Catholic too, and that seems to be central problem.

It would appear that the Knights of Columbus have been denied recognition as a club on this Catholic campus specifically because it is a Catholic group. Is that not the only conclusion one might draw? 
Link (here) to read Carl Olson's full article at The Catholic World Report

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Who better than a Pope from the Jesuit order to cleanse the Jesuits, especially those Jesuit institutions of higher learning that have for all intents and purposes become secular colleges/universities. They could start with those that removed crucifixes from classrooms, sponsor "cultural" events inimical to Catholic moral teachings etc.

Anonymous said...

Absolutely false. Saint Ignatius managed to start the Society of Jesus without receiving any financial support from the University of Paris, without requesting to use the emblem of the university on any correspondence, etc. Your anachronistic example rather supports GU's stated position. They did not disallow the K of C; rather the K of C was not granted a certain standing as a student group. The group, in fact, already exists. Oh, Lord, if only interest in the truth rather than mischief were the motivation in such affairs!