For A Long Time Catholicism A "Religion Of Fear And Terror"

What hell is not

Nevertheless, we must talk about it.  For a long time the Church in its pastoral work has placed too much (sometimes, nearly exclusive) stress on this topic, 

thus generating a ‘religion of fear and terror’.  Basic responsibility and honesty require us to clear up misunderstandings that have done so much harm and to put things in their proper place. First of all, let us say that hell is not a ‘positive’ act, in the sense of something positively desired by God.  It is not a creation of God, a place established to punish the wicked.  

If hell were that, then it would call God’s justice seriously into question.  Hell would mean condemning non-eternal beings to eternal punishment for non-eternal actions.  Not only would God’s justice be called into question, so would his mercy.  All this is so clearly evident that we need not go into further arguments: the punishments of hell would not, shall we say, be a good ‘letter of introduction’ for divine mercy. 

In the ‘prayer for the conversion of the gentiles’ that Saint Francis Xavier composed, we read: ‘Eternal God, creator of all things, … Behold, Lord, how to thy dishonour hell is daily replenished with [the souls of the infidels]…’   

Hell is truly an insult to God.[1]  Like the ancient prophet of Israel, Xavier seems to be telling his God, in a final, supreme effort to convince him, ‘If you don’t do it for us, then at least do it for the honour of Your Name’ (cf. Ezekiel 36:22) – since he was convinced that, when all is said and done, the honour of God’s Name (his very reality) and the good of what has been created by God are one and the same thing.

Link (here) to the British Jesuit's online journal Thinking Faith. The piece is written by Fr. Josep Giménez Melià SJ

St. Ignatius of Loyola on Hell (here)
Doctor of the Universal Church St. Robert Bellarmine, S.J. on Hell (here) , from his classic work, "The Art of Dying Well"
The Catechism of the Catholic Church on Hell (here)

Jesuit Retreat Center In India

Gaurav Shroff

Gaurav Shroff. Gaurav, who was raised as a westernized upper caste Hindu in India, first encountered the Catholic faith through hearing Gregorian chant at his high school in Mumbai: “The sublime music of the Mass undoubtedly assured me of God's presence; the Gregorian chants elevated my spirits, creating in me a sense of awe for the Sacred. I was instinctively drawn by the aesthetic beauty of the Eucharist and this experience filled my heart with immense joy.” A year later, he attended a Good Friday service and participated in the veneration of the cross: “As I knelt down and kissed the Cross, I vividly remember the clear voice in my heart saying to me: ‘I died for you,’ and I began to weep unashamedly, and though I did not understand what it meant, I was certain, that the Crucified Christ loved me. Then it wasn’t about music anymore, I wanted to learn more about this Jesus. Either Jesus was completely crazy or he was God.” Remarkably, Gaurav sensed a call to the priesthood before he was baptized: He began reading everything about the Catholic faith, the Bible and regularly went for Sunday Mass. 

In 1993, Gaurav went to a Jesuit retreat praying alone at night before the Blessed Sacrament. “I strongly felt the presence of the Divine, the deep love of God for me, and in the darkness, I was illuminated: My life belonged to Jesus, to know him, to love him and to serve him. This was my mission and vocation. I felt called to be a priest.” On the feast of the Assumption, 1994, Gaurav was baptized (with the blessing of his father) and then moved to the US where he earned a Master’s Degree in Religious Studies and worked in campus ministry at the University of South Carolina. 

After exploring a possible call to religious priesthood with the Paulists in Washington DC (where I originally met him) Gaurav discerned a specific call to diocesan priesthood and was accepted as a seminarian for the Archdiocese of Atlanta in 2007. They keep Gaurav incredibly busy at Mount St. Mary’s in Emmitsburg these days but he still manages to squeeze in Called & Gifted workshops for us in English and Spanish from time to time. If all goes well, he’ll be ordained a priest for Atlanta in 2013.

Link (here) to Siena.org

Conversion Of The Heathen: Fr. Robert de Nobili, S.J.

The Jesuits and others communicated some rays of divine truth, though mixed with much error and superstition, to those parts of India which had been possessed by the Portuguese, previous to their expulsion by the Dutch.

The most celebrated of the missions which were established in that remote region was that of Madura, which was undertaken by Robert de Nobili, an Italian Jesuit.

The plan which he adopted for the conversion of the Indians is a singular specimen of that worldly and temporizing policy, which has so justly brought reproach on the missions of his society. He assumed the appearance of a Brahmin, who had come from a far distant country, and by his austerities, and other artifices,

persuaded many native Brahmins to receive him as a member of their order, and to submit to his instructions, By their influence and example, great numbers of the people were induced to become his disciples, and the mission continued in a flourishing condition till the year 1744;

when, with others in the kingdoms of Carnate and Marava, which the Jesuits had established, it was formally suppressed by Benedict the Fourteenth, who expressed his disapprobation of the methods which they had practiced for the conversion of the heathen.

Link (here)

More on Fr. Robert de Nobili, S.J. (here) , (here) , (here) , (here) and (here)

Robert de Nobili, S.J. (Italian: 1577-1656) was a brilliant member of the Roman nobility who was sent to work in Madurai in India. He quickly learned Tamil and adapted himself to the Indian culture. As a nobleman he was judged the equivalent of an Indian rajah, which enabled him to move about with much more freedom than other missionaries. He convinced the Roman authorities that his many converts should not be forced to abandon the signs of their caste. In 1613 a Portuguese provincial superior, unsympathetic to his methods ordered him to cease baptizing, but this edict was later countermanded by Superior General Aquaviva. The storm did not end there, however, and in 1618 a bishops' conference in Goa again condemned Robert. This decision was overturned by Pope Gregory XV who approved Robert's methods. After 39 years of work among the people of Madurai he witnessed the number of Christians grow from zero to more than 4,000. (Ban, Ham, JLx, Som, Tyl)

Link (here)

From Jesuits To Opus Dei: Roland Joffe

The British film-maker Roland Joffe, who made his mark

with his religious drama The Mission about crusading Jesuits in the Brazilian jungle, is to tackle an even more controversial chapter in the history of Catholicism: Opus Dei. Joffe is to recreate the life and miracles of Jose Maria Escriva de Balaguer, the Spanish priest who founded one of the most influential and secretive organizations within the Catholic church, and was canonized in 2002.

The film seems set to stir up more controversy, following in the wake of several screen hits tapping into public fascination with tales of Opus-inspired crimes and conspiracies, which have set Vatican chasubles aflap.

Link (here) to the full story.