Bert Thelen 80 Year Old Jesuit Leaves The Society Of Jesus, "It Is Time For The Church To Turn Her Attention From Saving Face To Saving The Earth, From Saving Souls To Saving The Planet."

May the Grace of Jesus Christ, the Love of God, and the Peace of the Holy Spirit be with you! I am writing to tell you about what may be the most important decision of my life since entering the Jesuits. With God's help, at the behest of my religious superiors and the patient support and wise encouragement of my CLC group and closest friends, I have decided to leave ordained Jesuit ministry and return to the lay state, the priesthood of the faithful bestowed on me by my Baptism nearly 80 years ago. I do this with confidence and humility, clarity and wonder, gratitude and hope, joy and sorrow. No bitterness, no recrimination, no guilt, no regrets.

Bert Thelen former Jesuit

It has been a wonderful journey, a surprising adventure, an exploration into the God Who dwells mysteriously in all of our hearts. I will always be deeply grateful to the Society of Jesus for the formation, education, companionship, and ministry it has provided, and to my family for their constant support. I can never thank God enough for the loving and loyal presence in my life of each and every one of you.

 Why am I doing this? How did I reach this decision? I will try to tell you now. That is the purpose of this letter.

For about 15 years now, as many of you have noticed, I have had a "Lover's Quarrel" with the Catholic Church. I am a cradle Catholic and grew up as Catholic as anyone can, with Priests and even Bishops in our household, and 17 years of Catholic education at St. Monica's Grade School, Milwaukee Messmer High School, and Marquette University.

I took First Vows at Oshkosh in the Society of Jesus at age 25 and was ordained at Gesu Church to the priesthood ten years later in 1968. I have served the Church as a Jesuit priest in Milwaukee, Omaha, and Pine Ridge for 45 years, including 18 years on the Province Staff culminating in my being the Wisconsin Provincial for six years and attending the 34th General Congregation in Rome. My last 14 years at Creighton and St. John's have been the best years of my life. I have truly enjoyed and flourished serving as pastor of St. John's. I cannot even put into words how graced and loved and supported I have been by the parishioners, parish staff, campus ministry, Ignatian Associates, and CLC members! It is you who have freed, inspired, and encouraged me to the New Life to which I am now saying a strong and joyful "Yes." You have done this by challenging me to be my best self as a disciple of Jesus, to proclaim boldly His Gospel of Love, and to widen the horizons of my heart to embrace the One New World we are called to serve in partnership with each other and our Triune God. It is the Risen Christ Who beckons me now toward a more universal connection with the Cosmos, the infinitely large eco-system we are all part of, the abundance and vastness of what Jesus called "the Reign of God."

Why does this "YES" to embrace the call of our cosmic inter-connectedness mean saying "NO" to ordained ministry? My answer is simple but true. All mystical traditions, as well as modern science, teach us that we humans cannot be fully ourselves without being in communion with all that exists. Lasting justice for Earth and all her inhabitants is only possible within this sacred communion of being. We need conversion – conversion from the prevailing consciousness that views reality in terms of separateness, dualism, and even hierarchy, to a new awareness of ourselves as inter-dependent partners , sharing in one Earth-Human community. In plainer words, we need to end the world view that structures reality into higher and lower, superior and inferior, dominant and subordinate, which puts God over Humanity, humans over the rest of the world, men over women, the ordained over the laity.

As Jesus commanded so succinctly, "Don't Lord it over anyone … serve one another in love." As an institution, the Church is not even close to that idea; its leadership works through domination, control, and punishment. So, following my call to serve this One World requires me to stop benefiting from the privilege, security, and prestige ordination has given me. I am doing this primarily out of the necessity and consequence of my new call, but, secondarily, as a protest against the social injustices and sinful exclusions perpetrated by a patriarchal church that refuses to consider ordination for women and marriage for same- sex couples.

I have become convinced that the Catholic Church will never give up its clerical privilege until and unless we priests (and bishops) willingly step down from our pedestals. Doing this would also put me in solidarity with my friend, Roy Bourgeois, my fellow Jesuit, Fr. Bill Brennan, the late Bernard Cooke, and many other men who have been "de-frocked" by the reigning hierarchy. It will also support the religious and lay women, former Catholics, and gay and lesbian couples marginalized by our church. I want to stand with and for them. I am, if you will, choosing to de-frock myself in order to serve God more faithfully, truly, and universally.

But why leave the Jesuits? Make no mistake about it: the Society of Jesus shares in and benefits from this patriarchal and clerical way of proceeding. We still regard ourselves as the shepherds and those to whom and with whom we minister as sheep. I discovered this painfully when the Society of Jesus decided against having Associate members. We are not prepared for co-membership or even, it seems at times, for collaboration, though we pay lip service to it. "Father knows best" remains the hallmark of our way of proceeding. I can no longer, in conscience, do that. But I still honor and love my fellow Jesuits who work from that model of power over. It is still where we all are as a company, a Society, a community of vowed religious in the Roman Catholic church. Leaving behind that companionship is not easy for me, but it is the right thing for me to do at this time in my life. When I went through a formal discernment process with my CLC group, one member whose brilliance and integrity I have always admired and whose love and loyalty to the Jesuits is beyond question, said of my decision, "You cannot NOT do this!" He had recognized God's call in me.

 A few other considerations may help clarify my path. The Church is in transition – actually in exile. In the Biblical tradition, the Egyptian, Assyrian and Babylonian captivities led to great religious reforms and the creation of renewed covenants. Think of Moses, Jeremiah, and Isaiah. I think a similar reform is happening in our Catholic faith (as well as other traditions).

We have come through far-reaching, earth-shaking evolutionary changes, and a new (Universal) Church as well as a new (One) World is emerging. My decision is a baby step in that Great Emergence, a step God is asking me to take.

Consider this. Being a Lay Catholic has sometimes been caricatured as "Pray, pay, and obey." Of course, that is a caricature, an exaggeration, a jibe. But it does point to a real problem. Recently, the hierarchical church mandated the so-called revision of the Roman Missal without consulting the People of God. It was both a foolish and a self-serving effort to increase the authority of Ordained men, damaging and even in some ways taking away the "Pray" part of "Pray, pay, and obey." No wonder more and more Catholics are worshipping elsewhere, and some enlightened priests feel compromised in their roles. I, for one, feel that this so-called renewal , though licit, is not valid. It is not pleasing to God, and I feel compromised in trying to do it.

Now, consider this. All of this liturgical, ecclesial, and religious change is located in and strongly influenced by what both science and spirituality have revealed as happening to our world, our planet, our universe.

The very earth we are rooted and grounded in, as well as the air we breathe and the water we drink, are being damaged and destroyed even beyond (some say) our capacity to survive. And, as Fr. John Surette, S.J., has so wisely observed, "Injustice for the human and destruction of Earth's ecosystem are not two separate injustices. They are one." Biocide is even more devastating than genocide, because it also kills future inhabitants of our precious Earth.

It is time. It is time to abandon our refusal to see that our very environment is central to the survival and well being of ALL earthlings. It is time for the Church to turn her attention from saving face to saving the earth, from saving souls to saving the planet. It is time to focus on the sacred bond that exists between us and the earth. It is time to join the Cosmic Christ in the Great Work of mending, repairing, nurturing, and protecting our evolving creation. It is time for a new vision of a universal Church whose all-inclusive justice and unconditional love, an expression of Christ consciousness and the work of the Holy Spirit, empowers ALL and can lead to a future that preserves the true right to life of all of God's creatures. This includes future generations who will bless us for allowing them to live, evolve, and flourish. Can't you hear them crying out, "I want to live, I want to grow, I want to be, I want to know?"

In light of all this, how can I not respond to the call both Isaiah and Jesus heard, the call of our Baptism? "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me and sent me to bring Good News to the oppressed." All creation will be freed, and all people will know the freedom and glory of the Children of God. Yes, Lord, I will go. Please send me.

And that is why I am leaving Jesuit priesthood. Since first vows I have always thought and hoped and prayed that I would live and die in this least Society of Jesus. But now, something unexpected! A real surprise! I HAVE lived and died in the Society of Jesus, but, now, nearly 80, I have been raised to new life. I am born again – into a much larger world, a much newer creation. I have greatly benefited from the spiritual freedom given in and by the Society of Jesus. I feel no longer chained, limited, bound, by the shackles of a judicial, institutional, clerical, hierarchical system. As St. Paul once reminded the early Christians, "It is for freedom that you have been set free." And as St. Peter, the first Pope, learned when he said to Jesus, "You know that I love you," love is all about surrender and servanthood.

Thank you for your attention to this self presentation. I am grateful that you have followed me in the journey described here, and I am sorry for whatever sadness, disappointment, or hurt this may have caused you. But what I have written here is my truth, and I can't not do it! If you want to discuss this with me, ask questions, or give me feedback, I welcome your response, either by letter, e-mail or phone. Please pray for me, as I do for all of you, the beloved of my heart and soul.

Yours in the Risen Christ, Bert Thelen

Link (here)

Confusion In Omaha

Creighton University Medical Center

Creighton University, located in Omaha, Nebraska, recently embarked on a partnership with the Phoenix hospital to establish a regional campus of Creighton’s School of Medicine. This was disturbing to many because in 2010, Bishop Olmsted stripped St. Joseph’s of its status as a “Catholic” hospital after Mercy Sister Margaret McBride, who served on the hospital’s ethics panel, approved of an abortion because the mother was suffering from severe hypertension. That abortion led to the excommunication of Sr. McBride and the hospital’s loss of its status as a “Catholic” hospital. Because Creighton University is a Catholic institution, the recently announced partnership, Olmsted said, “led to some confusion” which he sought to clarify with this statement:

It has been recently announced that Creighton University has established a medical school in conjunction with St. Joseph’s Hospital. This has led to some confusion since Creighton University is a Catholic institution. Thus, to ensure clarity on the issue, I wish to affirm to all of the faithful that St. Joseph’s Hospital is not a Catholic institution. Secondly, St. Joseph’s Hospital does not faithfully adhere to the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services. Catholics, and all people of good will, are advised that they cannot be guaranteed authentic Catholic health care at St. Joseph’s Hospital.

Bishop Olmsted prohibited the celebration of Mass on the hospital’s campus and had the Blessed Sacrament removed from the hospital’s chapel in 2010. As the bishop of Phoenix, Bishop Olmsted does not have jurisdiction over the university.  Calls to the Archdiocese of Omaha were not returned at the time of publication.

Link (here) to read the full Cardinal Newman Society Report

Insouciant About Orthodoxy

R. R. Reno is the editor of "First Things" magazine, teaches theology at Creighton University and is the author of In the Ruins of the Church: Sustaining Faith in an Age of Diminished Christianity (Brazos). Rusty converted to the Catholic Church from the Episcopal tradition in the fall of 2004. This reflection was written in the winter of 2005.

Read a portion of his story below

I put myself up for reception into the Catholic Church as one might put oneself up for adoption. A man can no more guide his spiritual life by his own ideas than a child can raise himself on the strength of his native potential. Stories of conversion to the Catholic Church can be rather tediously joyous. One might wish for some variety in such stories, perhaps something along the lines of Winston Churchill's observation that "democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time." But such variety as there is in conversion stories would seem to rest on the different ways in which converts describe a newly found bounty. For me, the gain was fairly simple. 

The Catholic Church did not deliver me from apostasy and false teaching. I teach at a Jesuit University, so I am not naïve about just how insouciant about orthodoxy priests can be. Nor did Catholicism provide me with a neat, efficient, and trouble-free church. I do read newspapers. 

What my reception into the Catholic Church provided was deliverance from the temptation to navigate by the compass of a theory. The Catholic Church has countless failures, but of this I am certain: Catholic Christianity does not need to be underwritten by an idea. A Pentecostal friend came to the Mass of reception at the Jesuit Martyrs' Chapel. He is a close friend and a man whose faith I admire. After the Mass we talked for a while. He asked me, "So, what did it feel like to become a Catholic?" I told him, "It felt like being submerged into the ocean." He reacted with a look of thinly disguised horror. That look reminded me that, while I sometimes suffer from an attraction to Emersonian fantasies of self-reliance and disdain for hierarchy, I have never wanted to be alone with God. It has always seemed to me that such a desire too easily turns into a longing to be alone with one's idea of God, and that is the same as being alone with oneself.

Link (here) to R. R. Reno's conversion story at Why I am a Catholic

Radical Ex-Jesuit

Dr. Paul Lakeland

The Diocese of Antigonish, Nova Scotia, has organized a conference this month to be delivered by dissident theologian and former Jesuit priest Dr. Paul Lakeland of Fairfield University in Connecticut, who openly holds views on abortion, h@mosexuality, contraception and women priests that go against Catholic teaching. The conference, entitled ‘Catholicism at the Crossroads: How We Can Save the Church’ and scheduled for October 22-24, has a strong emphasis on the role of lay people in the Church.  The brochure includes a quote from Pope Benedict XVI, calling for lay people to be “co-responsible” for the Church rather than mere “’collaborators’ of the clergy” (Rome Conference on the Laity, June 2009). 

There is strong evidence, however, that Lakeland’s vision of a “co-responsible” laity radically diverges from that of the pope and the bishops. In his books, Lakeland suggests that Catholics can disagree with the Church’s condemnation of contraception and h@mosexual acts, for example.  

He has even suggested that the Church should not seek a ban on abortion, based on the notion that Catholics should not impose their view on the entire population.

Link (here) to read the full Lifesite article.

Black Studies Professor At Creighton University Passes

Ashton W. Welch

Ashton W. Welch, an associate professor of history and longtime director of Creighton University's black-studies program, died unexpectedly in his sleep on August 14. He was 68; the cause of death was not specified.

Among the things left in his office were syllabus notes for the three courses he was going to teach this fall. "We all felt Ashton was the heart and soul of the department," 

said Elizabeth R. Elliot-Meisel, chair of history. Mr. Welch began teaching at the Jesuit university in 1971 and led its black-studies program, an interdepartmental effort that he helped found in 1975, until his death.

Link (here) to read the full article.

Hazing By Feminists

Creighton University will sponsor a week-long series of student-focused activities, presentations and events on campus to raise awareness of domestic and intimate partner violence. The observance is called “Respect Me, Respect You” and will begin Sept. 26. New to the schedule this year is a panel discussion led by Alan Heisterkamp, Ph.D., of the Waitt Institute for Violence Prevention, who will be joined by several Creighton faculty members in a panel discussion about violence in the media. 

Also new is a “Walk a Mile in Her Shoes” activity, with fraternity members donning high heels to symbolically show understanding and empathy with women 

who experience domestic and intimate partner violence. 

Link (here) to Creighton University

Flawed Theology At Jesuit University US Bishops Issue Warning

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) on Wednesday issued a sharply worded rebuke of a book co-authored by two Creighton University theologians. "The Sexual Person: Toward a Renewed Catholic Anthropology" was published in 2008 and written by Todd A. Salzman, chairman of the Creighton University Department of Theology, and Michael G. Lawler, the department’s professor emeritus. The book attempts to provide moral justification for contemporary sexual behaviors that consistently have been held to be immoral by the Catholic Church. The 23-page statement is titled "Inadequacies in the Theological Methodology and Conclusions of The Sexual Person: Toward a Renewed Catholic Anthropology." Drafted by the USCCB’s Committee on Doctrine,

it calls the authors’ conclusions “a radical departure from the Catholic theological tradition,” erroneous, and “harmful to one’s moral and spiritual life.” Moreover, the statement said, “the book proposes ways of living a Christian life that do not accord with the teaching of the Church and Christian tradition.”

Archbishop George J. Lucas of the Archdiocese of Omaha said it is unfortunate that two theologians associated with Creighton University have taken theological positions in clear conflict with Catholic tradition. “The Catholic community is rightly proud of the good work of Creighton University over so many years,” Lucas said. “However, it is disappointing that Professors Salzman and Lawler have persisted in publishing material that is not consistent with the teaching of the Catholic Church.”

In 2007, Archbishop Elden F. Curtiss, then archbishop of Omaha, publicly reprimanded Salzman and Lawler for co-writing articles that argued for the moral legitimacy of h@mosexual acts. A year later, in The Se@ual Person, the theologians opposed the Church’s traditional teaching that prohibits premarital s@x, homos@xual acts, contraception, and artificial insemination and called the Church’s teaching on these matters “flawed theology.”

Link (here) to Lifesite

Hat Tip to Tancred (here)

The Paper Is Entitled

Violence Prevention in United States Society of Jesus Secondary Schools
Author: Thomas Andrew Simondsa of Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska, USA
Yes, some actually wrote this article for 30.00 dollars you can buy it (here)

One Smart Jesuit

Father Jerome Sixtus Ricard, S.J., of the University of Santa Clara in California, had been supplying Pacific coast farmers with daily weather reports for more than 25 years. What is even more remarkable is that his weather reports were 99.07 per cent accurate.

Father Ricard Develops a Passion for Sunspots

The only one of his family ever to settle in America, Jerome Sixtus Ricard spent his early years in France. Born in Plaisians, France, on January 21, 1850, he attended public schools in Plaisians and the Jesuit Colleges at Avignon, France and Turin, Italy. In 1871, he joined the Society of Jesus in Monaco, and later became a member of the Turin Province of the Society of Jesus. In 1873, Jerome came to America and studied philosophy at Santa Clara College in California for several years. He was ordained in 1886, and completed his Jesuit training at Florissant, Missouri, in 1891. Then he returned to Santa Clara to teach ethics, mathematics, political economy, and history. About 1890, Father Ricard enrolled in a summer astronomy course at Creighton University and discovered that he had a passion for sunspots. In 1900, he began a systematic study of sunspots with an 8-inch telescope mounted in the Mission Gardens. The American Association for the Advancement of Science elected him a member in 1907. By then he had perfected his controversial theory, the ideal that sunspot activity affects the weather on earth.

Link (here)

Contraversial Protestant Baptist Group To Picket The Jesuit Creighton Prep And University Feb 10th, 2010

A Kansas church says it will be picketing a Catholic high school and college in Omaha. Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., says it will set up pickets Wednesday at Creighton Preparatory School and at Creighton University, a Jesuit college.

The church is known for protesting at military funerals to express the belief that U.S. troop deaths are punishment for the nation's tolerance of homosexuality. Speaking for the church, Shirley Phelps-Roper said Monday that the protests will mark cases against Catholic priests who sexually abused children.

She also cited her pending flag-desecration case in nearby Bellevue. Phelps-Roper was cited in 2007 for letting her son stand on an American flag during a protest outside a soldier's funeral.

Link (here)

Read Westboro Baptist Church's Press Release on the protest at Creighton (here)

Fred Phelps the founder of Westboro Baptist Church has run in various Kansas Democratic Party primaries five times, but has never won. These included races for governor in 1990, 1994, and 1998, receiving about 15 percent of the vote in 1998.^[56] In the 1992 Democratic Party primary for U.S. Senate, Phelps received 31 percent of the vote.^[57] Phelps ran for mayor of Topeka in 1993^[58] and 1997.^[59].

Link (here)

Blogger Note: Westboro Baptist Church is not affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.

Sweat Lodge Jesuit

The two people who died and the 19 others who fell ill there were attending a program by self-help expert James Arthur Ray, authorities said Saturday.

Authorities said between 50 and 60 people were in the sweat lodge structure for nearly two hours -- far exceeding the number who ordinarily would participate in a traditional sweat, according to Bruchac.

In a typical ritual, the leader of the sweat gathers four to 12 friends, family members or guests inside the structure, usually made of willow and covered with blankets or canvas, he said.

"The person running the sweat has to be very aware of the people in the lodge because he takes control of them mentally, physically and spiritually," said Bruchac. "The leader is responsible for them, so he has to be aware of their physical conditions and their motivations, their reasons for being there."

After everyone is inside, a firekeeper heats stones, usually lava rocks, and brings them into the lodge, placing them in a hole in the ground and carefully pouring water over the stones to release steam.

The technique of releasing the heat is done with great care so that no one is injured by the steam, which can burn skin or lungs if someone inhales it, said Father Raymond Bucko, Director of Native Studies at Creighton University.

"Nobody will make it so hot that no one can stand it," said Bucko. "Religious leaders are very careful about people's health in thesweat. If they're not healthy, people can sit outside the sweat and pray and others can go in for them."

A ritual of speaking or prayer may follow, depending on the group's intention for gathering.

"People talk and often there's lot of humor, but at any time if it's too hot, some one can say so and they will immediately open the door and people are encouraged to go out," he said.

The Jesuit priest and cultural anthropologist participated in sweats with the Crow and Lakota people for nearly 30 years, until he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis two years ago.

"It's not about toughing it out or proving anything. It really is a beautiful experience of people coming together, of intense prayerfulness."

Link (here) to the full article

Larry Gillick, S. J., of Creighton University's Deglman Center for Ignatian Spirituality, writes reflections for the Daily Reflections page on the Online Ministries web site at Creighton.
http://www.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/online.html

MP3 Ignatian Exercises

For centuries, Catholics around the world have deepened their faith by partaking in the “Spiritual Exercises” of St. Ignatius of Loyola – a month-long series of prayerful meditations focused heavily on the life of Christ.

But in a fast-paced era when people are busy with jobs, family life and other activities, it can be difficult to set aside time for the retreat.

Creighton University, a Jesuit institution in Nebraska, is making the Spiritual Exercises more accessible to the modern world through an online version of the retreat on its Web site. Visitors can follow links that guide them through the program at their own pace. The site offers spiritual reflections, Bible readings and prayers that can be read online or printed for later use. Photos are posted for spiritual reflection and may be downloaded to be used as wallpaper on a personal computer. Users can even download “audio retreats” led by Jesuits that can be saved on MP3 players or burned to a CD. Participants also have the option to share their own spiritual observations with others going through the program.

The Creighton staff recommends that online retreat participants stick with the program and share their experiences with family and friends. The retreats may be made individually, in families or small groups.

“Just like with physical exercise, we don’t want to overdo it at first and then slough off after a brief attempt,” an online guide notes. “Good physical exercise is cumulative – we don’t feel stronger or have great endurance immediately. But if we persist at regular exercise, we soon find that there are real changes in our physical health and strength.”

St. Ignatius wrote the Spiritual Exercises in the 16th century, saying his purpose was to help each person who undertakes them to “conquer one’s self and regulate one’s life so that decisions will not be influenced by any inordinate attachment.”

The free online service is a ministry of Creighton’s Collaborative Ministry Office.

Visit http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/cmo-retreat.html for more information.

Link (here)

"Christianity in Context" "A Jesuit Education In Context?"

"My daughter just finished her first year at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska," wrote Pam Percival of Nevada.

"When her father and I visited the college before her enrollment, we were impressed by the positive, upbeat attitudes of the students and many signs of faith around the campus. The address to the parents given by Father John P. Schlegel, S. J., was no less impressive -- assuring the parents that he would not let us down. "

It wasn't long, however, that we realized that we had a serious problem to deal with: our daughter was losing her faith.

"We were hearing about all the drinking parties, alcohol and boyfriends overnight in the dorms. My daughter began to miss attending some Sunday Masses at first -- and then it became the norm. She told me that not many people went, 'The church is almost empty.'

Never mind going to Confession! While she was living at home, she had never missed a Sunday Mass unless she was sick. "In addition to having her attend CCD classes, I had taught her all that I could about her Catholic Faith from good traditional Catholic resources.

Now her Theology Professor, a Protestant gentleman, teaching 'Christianity in Context,' was refuting things that I had taught her. She said he made her feel like a fool. One such argument was about the contents of the Ark of the Covenant (the staff of Aaron, the manna, and the Ten Commandments) -- and how these items prefigured Jesus, His priesthood, and the Holy Eucharist.

He was teaching the students that no one ever knew what was in the Ark of the Covenant and that it didn't matter anyway!"

Link (here) to the Spritdaily article

Photo is of Fr. John Schlegel, S.J.