Radical Disobedience

Pope Francis has approved the decision taken by the Jesuit’s superior general, Fr. Adolfo Nicolás and five other members of the Jesuits’ international council to dismiss Fr. John Dear for being ‘obstinately disobedient to the lawful order of Superiors in a grave matter.’ 

Fr. Adolfo Nicolás states, Fr Dear “was duly informed … that his failure to obey the command that he return to the specified house of the Order by a specified date would be cause for his dismissal from the Society of Jesus.” 

 Fr John Dear is famous in the USA for his protesting  a wide range of issues, including U.S. policies on Latin America, nuclear weapons development, and the cooperation of Jesuit educational institutions with American military recruiting programs such as the ROTC. He is also a regular columnist in the dissenting US journal, The National Catholic Reporter. In an emailed statement to NCR Monday, the provincial of the Maryland province, Jesuit Fr. James Shea said Fr. Dear was dismissed from the order as of Dec. 20 “following an extended period of dialogue between the leadership of the Maryland Province and John regarding his ministerial assignment and time he requested to discern his vocation. The process was initiated in the fall of 2012 after John declined to return to his Province to live in a Jesuit community while continuing his ministry of peace and social justice, including lecturing and writing’.

Link (here) to Protect the Pope to read the full story

Peace Jesuit Can't Make Peace With Provincial, Quits

Dear being arrested

This week, with a heavy heart, I am officially leaving the Jesuits after 32 years. After three years of discernment, I’m leaving because the Society of Jesus in the U.S. has changed so much since I entered in 1982 and because my Jesuit superiors have tried so hard over the decades to stop my work for peace, most recently, when my provincial ordered me to Baltimore but gave me no assignment and, I felt, encouraged me to leave, as many other superiors have done in the past. According to my provincial, the Society of Jesus in the U.S. has renounced its commitment to “the faith that does justice.” It’s also deepened its financial involvement with the culture of war, and decreased its work with the poor in favor of serving through its universities and high schools. Given this change and the lack of support and at times censure which I have endured over the years, and its debilitating effect on my health, I realized I could no longer stay. This decision was sparked three years ago when Archbishop Michael Sheehan of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe in New Mexico removed my priestly faculties because he objected to the prayer vigils for peace and against nuclear weapons development that I was leading at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, the birthplace of nuclear weapons. He had received many complaints regarding my peace efforts over the years from the local pastor in Los Alamos and other Catholics who work in Los Alamos building nuclear weapons.

After this, Fr. James Shea, my Jesuit provincial, the head of the Maryland Province, ordered me to leave New Mexico and return to Baltimore, to be near province headquarters. Instead of supporting my work for peace, he was embarrassed by it. I moved to Baltimore where the Archbishop there gave me full priestly faculties as a priest in good standing, though I was not given an assignment by my provincial. 

Over the course of several meetings, I felt he was urging me to stop my work for justice and peace and leave the Society. He said, for example, that nothing I have done over the last ten years has had anything to do with the Society of Jesus.

He explained that the Society of Jesus has renounced Fr. Pedro Arrupe’s groundbreaking vision of justice and the documents of the 31st and 32nd General Congregations, which call for a radical commitment to justice. 

It no longer advocates for justice or works for justice, he said. The Maryland Province has closed all its projects that serve the poor. From now on, he said, because the number of Jesuits is in sharp decline, U.S. Jesuits will only serve in our 25 universities and 25 high schools. This direction, it seems to me, differs vastly from the Order I entered in 1982, with its visionary call to “accompany Jesus as he carries the cross in the struggle for justice.” If I stayed, he said, I would have to work in one of the Jesuit high schools. In recent years, I’ve been saddened to see many Jesuits involved in the U.S. military, our schools deepen their involvement in the U.S. military, and Jesuits permitted to work even in places such as the Los Alamos Labs, West Point, and Abu Graib prison in Iraq. As far as I can tell, Jesuits who work for the military can continue their work. I’ve been especially saddened that the Jesuits at Loyola University in Baltimore have been allowed to hold an annual Mass where after communion, they bring their nearly 100 ROTC cadets onto the altar to profess to the Blessed Sacrament the ROTC oath “to kill the enemies of the United States.” I told my provincial that I consider this blasphemy, a mockery of Jesus and the Eucharist, but he said he had no problem with it. So after five months in Baltimore, as a priest in good standing, I moved back to New Mexico, went on a leave of absence from the Jesuits, continued my discernment, asked to leave and this week have now left the Society. I’m still a Catholic priest, but have no priestly faculties. I doubt that any U.S. bishop will give me faculties, because most also object to my work against war and injustice, so I’m not sure if I will remain a priest.

Read the open letter (here) at John Dear's website

"Former Jesuits Now Outnumber Active Jesuits In The United States."

Were Ignatius of Loyola alive today, the Jesuit order he founded wouldn't ordain him. His once-formidable order is in the throes of a collapse as historically significant as its suppression in 1773. This disintegration, known to traditional Catholics for years (and to bishops too cowardly to stifle its corruption), is now even admitted by liberal pundits. Garry Wills' article about the book "Passionate Uncertainty: Inside the American Jesuits" appears in the New York Review of Books under the title, "Jesuits in Disarray." Jonathan Kirsch, a Los Angeles Times reviewer of the same book, notes that the order is in demographic free fall: "former Jesuits now outnumber active Jesuits in the United States."

society is now a corrupt club for

Meanwhile, traditional Jesuits who stay and seek to recover the order's original spark find themselves in exile. The office for the Jesuit Province in California confirmed to TAP that Joseph Fessio, the prolific San Francisco Jesuit publisher of orthodox books and publications, has been ordered to leave San Francisco for a new assignment, effective in May, at an obscure Catholic hospital in Duarte, California. Fessio's banishment coincides with his recent announcement to start a traditional Catholic school called Campion College next door to the openly dissenting Jesuit University of San Francisco, a school which in recent years has advertised such pagan oddities as a "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Student Alliance."

Duarte, California, is becoming the Devil's Island for Jesuits who don't conform to the order's liberal regime. Father Cornelius Buckley, a longtime Jesuit history professor at the University of San Francisco deemed insufficiently liberal for the school, was reassigned to Duarte, California, in the late 1990s. The order called him "divisive."  The crack-up of the liberals in the order will likely accelerate in the wake of their panicky persecution of traditional Jesuits like Fessio. Such desperate actions are in proportion to their fear of exposure and accountability. In a typical liberal irony, the dissenters in the order who rose to power through disobedience to papal authority now use their power to repress "disobedient" traditional Jesuits, lest their revolution inside the Catholic Church grind to a halt.

The Vatican cannot ignore their outrages forever, especially as costly sex abuse lawsuits (the Jesuits settled in 2000 with a seminarian who accused over a dozen Jesuit superiors of sending him pornographic cards and asking him to perform sex acts on them)and lay backlash reveal the modern Jesuits as a chief source of degeneracy and dissent in the Church.

Perhaps it is time for a Second Suppression, not to kill the order, but to save it. Unless the Father Robert Drinans are soon suppressed and replaced with Father Fessios at the head of the order, its days are numbered. The cancer of corruption is rapidly devouring it. If the bishops won't take this fact seriously from the traditional Catholics they take for granted, perhaps they will listen to the liberal cultural commentators who acknowledge it as well. "Entering the Jesuits used to take one into a stable world; but that is far from the experience of recent times," writes Garry Wills. "A thirty-five-year-old still studying theology says: 'My novice master left to marry, my formation director left for a relationship with another man, et cetera. One cannot help but get the sense that we of this generation of Jesuits may be the last of the Shakers.'"

Link (here) to the full article at The American Spectator

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)

Defrocked Jesuit Priest Jesus Aguirre y Ortiz de Zarate,

In 1978 the Duchess of Alba, Spain’s richest and most titled woman, her full name is Maria del Rosario Cayetana Alfonsa Victoria Eugenia Francisca Fitz-James Stuart y de Silva and she is a duchess seven times over. scandalized the nation by marrying defrocked Jesuit priest Jesus Aguirre y Ortiz de Zarate, her former confessor. Aguirre administered the Alba estate until his death in 2001. 

Link (here) to The Telegraph

Ex Jesuit Says He Is Married To Another Man

Former Jesuit James Nickoloff

A Barry University professor who told students he was “married” to another man was one of two theologians from Catholic colleges who spoke at a dissident homosexual conference last week. DignityUSA rejects Catholic teaching that homosexuality is “disordered” and actively affirms and promotes the homosexual lifestyle. The theme of its conference this year was "Let Justice Roll Like a River." Among the speakers was James Nickoloff, a former Jesuit who teaches theology at Barry University in Florida, a Catholic institution founded by the Adrian Dominican Sisters. According to his faculty profile, Nickoloff has taught at Boston College, the College of the Holy Cross, the Weston Jesuit School of Theology and Santa Clara University. It was at Santa Clara where Nickoloff taught a course called “The Church and Homosexuality.” According to the syllabus, required readings included Catholic teaching and a book by Richard Cleaver, Know My Name: A Gay Liberation Theology. Nickoloff shared his marital status with students in an introductory letter for a 2009 online class at Santa Clara University titled “The Church in the World.” 

Link (here) to Creative Minority Report

Fr. Malachi Martin On Perfect Possesion

According to the late Father Malachi Martin, perfect possession is the state in which a human being has lost complete control to a spiritual being. As a Jesuit diplomat and scholar, Father Martin served three popes and taught at prestigious universities. As a veteran of thousands of exorcisms, Father Martin’s observations from his direct experiences are worth noting:

• There is a difference between oppression and possession.
• In his lifetime, he saw an 800 percent increase in possessions.
• Fifty percent of people diagnosed as insane are actually possessed.
• Exorcisms were only performed on request and after medical and psychiatric evaluation.
• The possessed have all been found to have created an opening for evil to enter.
• Playing with a Ouija board was one of the most common conduits for demonic entry.
• Channelling was another activity that opened the practitioner to demonic influences.
• Cases of perfect possession are hopeless, there is no deliverance for them.
• The purpose of the demonic is to destroy the possessed.
• The overriding energy of the demonic is hatred that defies language.
• More than one psychiatrist left his profession after witnessing an exorcism.
• Many atheists converted to Christianity after witnessing an exorcism.
• Many participants in exorcism die in the months following the ritual.
• Exorcisms can last a few hours to a few months.
• The exorcised spirits are not destroyed, they are simply evicted from the possessed.
• Demonic spirits are all around us at all times.

The more I learn about the psychopath, the more similarities I see with the possessed. Before man came up with the psychological disciplines, abusive and violent people, were considered possessed and treated accordingly. As many people on the planet have been guided into ever more secular societies, evil has, unsurprisingly prevailed with unprecedented success.

Link (here) to  Every Day Red Flags

Link (here) to listen to Art Bell's interview of Fr. Malachi Martin for one hour

I Was In St. Louis To Explore Becoming A Priest

Former Jesuit Tino Paz

Lynn Casmier-Paz and Augustine (who goes by Tino) Paz met in 1981 at St. Louis University, where he was

studying philosophy with the intention of becoming a Jesuit priest. They have been married 30 years and live in central Florida, where she is an associate professor of English and he has worked with various social service organizations. The couple has three adult children. A condensed and edited version of our conversation follows:

How did you meet?

Tino: Through her brother Stephen, who was a dorm mate of mine. Stephen invited me to spend time with his family at Thanksgiving. We’re both from large families, so I fit in quite well. And he had three beautiful sisters, so that was a bonus.

Lynn: The first time I met Tino was when I’d come home to St. Louis for Christmas from Loyola University in Chicago and went to visit my brother in the dorm. I walked in and there was this guy with a scruffy beard, having this intense debate with Stephen and holding his own. I immediately respected his courage.

Was the attraction immediate?

Lynn: There is no doubt I was attracted. He was a strange character. He came from Florida and he would wear a heavy jacket and flip-flops. His face and feet were really tan even in the middle of winter. He was also the only Cuban-American I had met.

Tino: I found her very interesting and good looking, but I was in St. Louis to explore becoming a priest. We had great conversations, but it really gradually developed into a romantic relationship. Stephen and Lynn and I really just hung out a lot until he left to study abroad in France.

Had you always wanted to be a priest?

Tino: No, I was studying to become a chemical engineer in Florida when my grandmother, who was a very spiritual person and a great influence on me, died. I decided that if I didn’t do something to make her proud I would be throwing my life away. I told my dad I was changing my major and he didn’t speak to me for weeks. But I needed a change of scenery and a good friend’s father had graduated from St. Louis University. Philosophy was my declared major.

How did the relationship evolve?

Lynn: Tino had come to become a priest. I respected that. But when my brother left for France, we were still in St. Louis together; we were able to share things with each other and speak more intimately. We were always together on campus.

When did it feel like more than a friendship?

Tino: We had all our meals together on campus and we hung out all the time, but I think the first date was the first time I decided to kiss Lynn. We spent a lot of time just talking; all very platonic, but at one point we were talking outside the dorm and I just kissed her; that was a big turning point for me.

Lynn: We went to the St. Louis arch because he had never been. We were together all day and night; had dinner and went to our separate dorms at 2 a.m. and that was the first date, the turning point. I had so much fun.

How did that affect your path to the priesthood?

Tino: When I had my introduction with the seminary director, one of the things he asked me was if I was dating and had I dated. I told him I had, but was not currently, and he encouraged me not to withdraw from romantic relationships at this point. That created room for possibility for me; kissing her wasn’t going to decide things one way or the other and I could explore my relationship with her. Toward the end of college it became clear that my options were to go into the priesthood or marry Lynn — and I wanted to marry Lynn. I wanted to make a life commitment.

The proposal?

Lynn: We were walking back to the dorms, laughing about something, and he said, “I want to marry you.” He looked me right in the face and I said, “Hell, no.” I didn’t take it seriously. This was early in the fall of ’82 and we just kept going, but that’s when things got more intensely romantic.

Tino: It was awkward. I realized that I wanted to do it, but I presented it in a way like she almost didn’t have a choice; she didn’t take me seriously and I didn’t argue. We continued our relationship and I wasn’t going anywhere. Eventually she would come around. It was probably a couple of months at most.

How did your families feel?

Lynn: He told my mother, who was very religious. Tino had a special, pious relationship with her. I think she knew better than to question his leaving the path to priesthood. She’d seen him with me all the time, but I think also didn’t feel it was her position to ask.

Tino: The biggest issue was that Lynn is African-American. I knew that wouldn’t go over well with my family. My father felt that I was subjecting myself to racism. That was the one thing that made me think about whether or not they would welcome and embrace Lynn. Father John Kavanagh at the university was the one who helped me to understand that they may not, but that if this was the person I loved and I was not with her I would have bigger regrets. They were resistant until we set a date; then they knew this was serious and they all came to my wedding. Stephen was surprised; he didn’t know until we were engaged that our relationship had evolved.

And leaving the path to priesthood?

Tino: I realized that I could still work in service and continue to be spiritually grounded without becoming a formal cleric. We are all called to serve on different levels.

The wedding?

Lynn: Tino graduated in the spring and we got married July 23, 1983. It was so low budget and it was so hot, like 103 degrees. We had the reception at my mother’s house with a boom box in the backyard. It was catered by our postman. 

Link (here) to the full interview at the NYT

Not An Ex-Democrat But An Ex-Jesuit And Pro-Abortion Jaun Vargas

After squaring off with biblical scriptures on whether or not Jesus would approve, politicians in the House a recent report, under the revised Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Americans would now have to pass an income and assets test to become eligible for the benefits. Republicans argue that fewer Americans should qualify for the program because they receive benefits from other programs. Approximately 2 million people would qualify for food stamp benefits under the new rules. But before the changes were approved with heavy Republican support, ex-Jesuit and Democrat from California Rep. Juan Vargas turned the debate of the cuts into a theological discussion by invoking biblical treatment of the poor in his argument against the cuts. "Jesus kinda fools around and gives you parables. He doesn't oftentimes say exactly what he means," said Vargas. "But in Matthew 25 he's very, very clear. And he delineates what it takes to get into the kingdom of heaven very, very clearly. And he says how you treat the least among us, the least of our brothers, that's how you treat him."

Agricultural Committee approved a farm bill on Wednesday that cuts the federal food stamp program, which supported 47 million people last year, by $2.5 billion annually. According to

Link (here) to the Christian Post

Juan Vargas has a 100% pro-abortion voting record (here)

One time Jesuit John McLaughlin, And President Richard Nixon's Watergate Scandal (here)

Martin J Schade Former Jesuit, "Being A Jesuit Meant Being A Roman Catholic, And The Limitations Of A Doctrinal, Dogmatic Church Reached Its Threshold In My Personal Life."

Fr. Roger Haight, S.J.

I'm grateful for the vision I have in that it brought me to an entire new understanding of reality. I have recentlyPierre Teilhard de Chardin and Karl Rahner as my most supporting philosophers/theologians. Besides this vision, the second imperative of Jesuit life, "Do Everything for the Greater Glory of God," instilled in me the desire to be a "man for others", which is, itself, another Jesuit motto.With my vision and motive of life rooted, the Jesuits then gave me the world of spiritual direction. The very first thing a Jesuit novice receives in Jesuit life is a spiritual director, the person to whom one shares "where God is in your life". Spiritual direction and daily prayer are to become basics in a Jesuit's life. Each year a Jesuit is to do eight day retreats, where one engages with God the elements of Ignatius of Loyola's well-known spiritual exercises.
finished a PhD thesis entitled, Incarnation: A Harmony of One Love, One Heart in the Totality of Reality. I use two Jesuits,

In Jesuit spirituality one learns the movements of life where there is consolation and desolation. With these movements, one is frequently called to the necessity of discernment; reflecting and praying with the continual question of, "Where is God in this?" Jesuits are well known for their spirituality of discernment. (For more information on the Jesuits one can read "The Jesuits! Who are they?" which I published in the Jamaica Gleaner, Tuesday, October 7, 2003).

Besides all these significant reasons behind my gratitude for the 21 years of life as a Jesuit, I thank God for the philosophy of education the Jesuits gave me. As stated, Jesuits find God in all things. Thus their understanding of education sees the entire person, body, soul and mind, in the one student. The Ratio Studiorum of the Jesuits has proved itself historically and globally with the existence of many Jesuit high schools and universities around the world. St George's College and Campion College here in Jamaica are two examples. Jesuit education is based on critical, philosophical thinking, always asking the "why?" question. Another reason for my gratitude is the strong sense of mission that the Jesuits gave me. Jesuits are known as "men on a mission". Interestingly, I continue to live my Jesuit mission by having brought philosophy and ethics to the University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech). 

I originally came to Jamaica in 1982 to teach philosophy at St Michael's Seminary. I still bring that same Jesuit mission to Jamaica, but now it is in Jamaica's only national university. 

Philosophical, critical thinking must be instilled in our curricula. It is my mission to live this out. Another mission in which the Jesuits instilled in me is to break down the division of religions. We humans fight and kill in the name of God and religion. A first major movement of Pope Francis is his urging all religions to unite for peace and justice. This mission is lived out at UTech with our nine years of the Interfaith Awareness Day sponsored by the Faculty of Education and Liberal Studies and the Jamaican Council for Interfaith Fellowship.

Still, another reason for my gratitude is the living a cultural life of communal living. With a world that is mostly capitalistic, all out for their own profit, as a religious order, in comparison to diocesan priesthood, Jesuits live in community. It is a true 'communistic' existence, where the community lives "from each according to their ability, to each according to their need".

So with this strong prayer of gratitude for my life as a Jesuit, why did I leave?

The irony of my vocation is that with the very vision the Jesuits gave me and the motivation behind it, I could no longer limit my God, nor my 'self'. The Jesuits made me the fullest being I could have been, until my point of departure. I was approved by Father General Peter Hans Kolvenback in 1998 to profess solemn vows, but it was time to move on. 

Being a Jesuit meant being a Roman Catholic, and the limitations of a doctrinal, dogmatic church reached its threshold in my personal life.

My discovery of reality brought me to the fact that all aspects of the universe is dialectical, and therefore is masculine and feminine, having animus and anima. Living with merely a masculine understanding of priesthood and having "authority" only from a male perspective limited my God, my Self and, for me, my church. As a Roman Catholic priest, John Paul II forbade priests to even discuss women priesthood. In my vision and in my theology, 

God cannot be selective in the call to priesthood. We are all called to this vocation. I find it a travesty of justice that in my church women cannot be priests. As much as Catholic philosophy and theology speak of the equality of all humans, women are still second-class citizens. 

I could no longer actively minister in an institution which expected blind obedience to such a travesty. The world has seen what happens when those in authority passively sit back and do nothing. Historically, Jesuits have regularly had their hands slapped by Rome for their theological and social positions. What happens when one speaks out with a new vision? 

The Jesuit, Roger Haight, SJ, who was my primary mentor in writing my new philosophy and theology has been silenced by Rome; he is not to teach at a Roman Catholic institution and has also been forbidden to teach at any protestant school of theology. It has been deemed that his Christology does not conform with formal Roman Catholic theology in light of the divinity of Jesus the Christ. Oh, how we limit God! 

So my gratitude for my life as a Jesuit passes over to my love for the church. If a Jesuit vision could awaken me from my dogmatic slumber, my hope and prayer is that this same Jesuit vision of Pope Francis can awaken the Roman Catholic Church from its dogmatic slumber.

Link (here) to the Jamaica Observe to read the full article by ex-Jesuit priest  Martin J Schade

Georgetown University, The Society Of John McNeill And Redefining Catholicism

Georgetown University's first openly gay student president was sworn in with his hand not on the Bible but "opens the door to a new ethical understanding and acceptance of homosexual relationships as morally good, and gay love as a deeper sharing in divine love." 

The Hoya reports GUSA President Nate Tisa (SFS ’14) was sworn into office as the university’s first openly gay student body president with his hand on the book “Taking a Chance on God” by former Jesuit John McNeill. Tisa told The Hoya he chose the book because it redefines Catholicism in a way that affirms LGBTQ Catholics and other groups.  

“I thought it had special significance at Georgetown, where our Catholic and Jesuit identity is a strong and crucial part of our heritage that can promote, rather than conflict with, our values of diversity, inclusion and the dignity of all members of our community,” Tisa reportedly said. Tisa said one of his main goals is gender-neutral housing on the Jesuit campus.

on a copy of a book written by an openly gay radical former Jesuit's book which, according to the author's website,

Link (here) to Creative Minority Report

Former Jesuit Priest, Former Catholic William H. O’Brien

I am a former priest and now one of the “nones” Michael Gerson cited in his March 29 op-ed column, Polarized by religion,” as having no formal religious affiliation.

“

After 20 good years among the Jesuits, I departed long ago in the embrace of a new, yet very old, awareness that love is at the heart of all religion and religious experience. At the same time, I am not one of the “militant skeptics” that Mr. Gerson described. If we abide in love, then we do not adopt a judgmental stance toward others, including those who still embrace what we ourselves may have left behind. We take a more humble approach, recognizing that our former communities made us who we are today.

My long, silent retreats in the Jesuit Order produced consciousness-expanding experiences that continue to shape and define who I am. These, in turn, were part of the great gift of Roman Catholicism to the West, the preservation of the writings of the great mystics. 

Just as wisdom advises respect for what has shaped us, it also opens us to the great wealth contained in spiritual paths previously unexplored and in our own inner authority.
William H. O’Brien, Shepherdstown, W.Va.
The writer is director of the Nathaniel Center for Spiritual Growth .

Abortion Advocates In Congress And Educated In Jesuit Universities And Colleges

Mike Quigley (IL-5) earned a law degree from the Loyola University School of Law. He also served as an adjunct professor of political science at Loyola University Chicago lecturing on politics, the environment and local government. Quigley referred to a bill that would have limited abortion to the first 20 weeks of pregnancy in Washington, D.C., as “especially cruel.”

Zoe Lofgren (CA-19) graduated from the University of Santa Clara School of Law in 1975. Ranked 100 percent by NARAL, Rep. Lofgren reportedly voted against the ban on partial-birth abortion.

Sam Farr (CA-20) graduated from Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, and attended the Monterey Institute of International Studies and the University of Santa Clara. Rep. Farr voted against the ban on partial-birth abortion.

Pete Visclosky (IN-1) earned a Juris Doctoris from the University of Notre Dame Law School, and a Master of Laws in International and Comparative Law from Georgetown University Law Center. He also earned a 100 percent NARAL rating in 2011. He also, according to VoteSmart, voted against a bill that would have prohibited abortions based on the race or gender of the fetus and voted twice against the proposal to block Planned Parenthood from receiving any federal funds.

Steny Hoyer (MD-5) earned his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C., in 1966. NARAL endorsed Rep. Hoyer in its 2012 Election Guide.

Chris Van Hollen (MD-8) is a graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center. On the House floor, VanHollen said, “A woman’s right to choose her own healthcare is a fundamental one, and the Congress should not tell women how to manage their health or reproductive care.”

Ed Markey (MA-5) attended Boston College (B.A., 1968) and Boston College Law School (J.D., 1972). He reportedly voted against the partial-birth abortion ban.

Mike Capuano (MA-7) received a Bachelor of Arts from Dartmouth College in 1973, and a law degree from Boston College Law School in 1977. He was endorsed in the NARAL Pro-Choice Voter Guide.

Stephen Lynch (MA-8) graduated from Boston College Law School in 1991. While Lynch states that he’s pro-life, he voted against banning federal health coverage that includes abortion, he voted for expanding embryonic stem cell research,and according to the National Right to Life Committee, Lynch voted against the District of Columbia Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act (H.R. 3803) that would have restricted abortions after 22 weeks of pregnancy in Washington, D.C. He received a 55 percent rating on a National Right to Life scorecard, according to On the Issues.

Bill Keating (MA-9) attended Boston College where he received his B.A. and Masters in Business Administration.  Rep. Keating earned a 100-percent score in NARAL Pro-Choice America's 2011 Congressional Record on Choice and earned the pro-abortion rights group’s endorsement in 2012.

Gary Peters (MI-14) earned an M.B.A. in Finance from the University of Detroit Mercy. Rep. Peters earned a 100-percent score in NARAL Pro-Choice America's 2011 Congressional Record on Choice and was endorsed by the abortion advocacy group in 2012.

Hansen Clarke (MI-13) earned his law degree from Georgetown Law School. Rep. Clarke earned a 100-percent score in NARAL Pro-Choice America's 2011 Congressional Record on Choice.

John Dingell (MI-12) finished his military service in the fall of 1946 to attend Georgetown University where he studied chemistry. He continued his studies at Georgetown Law School, graduating in 1952. Rep. Dingell earned a 100-percentscore in NARAL Pro-Choice America's 2011 Congressional Record on Choice.

Dingell was quoted saying, “I have voted to protect a woman's right to choose under Roe v. Wade and will continue to fight to uphold this constitutionally protected right.”

Bill Pascrell Jr. (NJ-9) earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a master’s degree in philosophy from Fordham University in the Bronx, N.Y.  Rep. Pascrell has reportedly received 100 percent ratings from NARAL Pro-Choice America since 2006.

Albio Sires (NJ-8) received a four-year basketball scholarship from St. Peter’s College.  Rep. Sires earned a 100-percent score in NARAL Pro-Choice America's 2011 Congressional Record on Choice.

Tim Bishop (NY-1) holds a BA in History from Holy Cross College in Worcester.  Rep. Bishop earned a 100-percent score in NARAL Pro-Choice America's 2011 Congressional Record on Choice.

Jerrold Nadler (NY-10) is a graduate of Columbia University and Fordham Law School.  Rep. Nadler earned a 100-percent score in NARAL Pro-Choice America's 2011 Congressional Record on Choice.

Bill Owens (NY-21) is a 1974 graduate of Fordham University School of Law. Rep.Owens earned a 100-percent score in NARAL Pro-Choice America's 2011 Congressional Record on Choice. He reportedly voted against the Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act which would ban aborting children based on their sex.

David Cicilline (RI-1) earned a law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center. Rep. Cicilline earned a 100-percent score in NARAL Pro-Choice America's 2011 Congressional Record on Choice.

Peter Welch (VT) graduated magna cum laude from the College of the Holy Cross in 1969. Rep.Welch earned a 100-percent score in NARAL Pro-Choice America's 2011 Congressional Record on Choice. He voted against banning sex-selective abortions.

Bobby Scott (VA-3) is a graduate of Boston College Law School. Rep. Scott earned a 100-percent score in NARAL Pro-Choice America's 2011 Congressional Record on Choice.

Jim Moran (VA-8) attended the College of the Holy Cross and was awarded a B.A.in economics in1967. Rep. Moran earned a 100-percent score in NARAL Pro-Choice America's 2011 Congressional Record on Choice. Jim Moran wrote just last year on the ProChoice Virginia website, “I will continue to strongly advocate for abortion rights for women. This is an issue of great personal conscience that should be free of government interference. The Supreme Court has proclaimed its legality; the rest should be left to a woman, her family and her physician.”

Adam Smith (WA-9) graduated from Fordham University in 1987 with a degree in Political Science. Rep. Smith earned a 100-percent score in NARAL Pro-Choice America's 2011 Congressional Record on Choice and won Planned Parenthood’s endorsement in 2012.

Gwen Moore (WI-4) earned a B.A. in Political Science from Marquette University. Rep. Moore earned a 100-percent score in NARAL Pro-Choice America's 2011 Congressional Record on Choice. Planned Parenthood endorsed Gwen Moore in the 2010 general election.

The incoming freshman in the 113^th session of Congress:

Jared Huffman (CA-2) graduated cum laude from Boston College Law School in 1990.As a state representative, Huffman earned a 100-percent rating from NARAL Pro-Choice California in 2009. According to his campaign website, “Jared is firmly pro-choice and has a long track record of fighting for women’s rights.”

Juan Vargas (CA-51) graduated magna cum laude with a BA from the University of San Diego and earned an MA in Humanities from Fordham University in New York.After college, Vargas, according to his website, joined the Jesuit Novitiate (introduction) in Santa Barbara. After leaving the Jesuits, he decided on law school and graduated in 1991 with a JD from Harvard Law School, making him a classmate of President Barack Obama. As a state senator, Vargas earned a 100-percent score from NARAL Pro-Choice California from 2003 to 2006.        

 

Lois Frankel (Fl-22) earned a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 1973. NARAL Pro-Choice America PAC endorsed Frankel. Frankel also touted the endorsement of Planned Parenthood on her own campaign website.

John Delaney (MD-6) is a graduate of Georgetown University Law School. NARAL described Delaney as “pro-choice” on their website. According to OntheIssues.com, Delaney voted for public funding of abortion.

Ann Mclane Kuster (NH-2) graduated from Georgetown University Law Center in 1984. She was endorsed by EMILY's List in 2012. Kuster, according to a New Hampshire local news outlet, “strongly supports a woman's right to choose.  She has been endorsed over her opponents in this campaign by every major pro-choice organization.”

Hakeem Jeffries (NY-8) Jeffries holds a Master's Degree in Public Policy from Georgetown University.  NARAL describes him as “pro-choice.”

Link (here) to The Cardinal Newman Society

                   

University Of San Francisco Promotes Anti-Catholic To Theology Chair

Vincent Pizzuto of the University of San Francisco was still using the term “we” to describe same-sex attracted Catholics. While the “we” indicates Pizzuto considered himself a Catholic at that time, it is questionable how deeply that identification was felt: four months later, in July of 2006, Pizzuto was ordained a priest in the Celtic Christian Church, a church not in communion with the Rome.  At the time the “Alienated Catholics” presentation was given, the pastor of St. Agnes parish was Father Cameron Ayers, SJ.  Ayers, like Pizzuto, has since left the Church, and is now an assisting priest at San Francisco’s Holy Innocents Episcopal Church. At the time of his ordination, Father Pizzuto was serving as an assistant professor in the department of theology and religious studies  at the (Jesuit) University of San Francisco, a nominally Catholic university. Sometime between February 2011 and October 2012 (according to the department webpage), despite his public alienation from the Catholic Church, 

Pizzuto has been promoted and he now serves as the chair of the theology department. Pizzuto’s faculty webpage at USF links directly to the webpage of the New Skellig Community  Church, where he is the presider. New Skellig is a member community of the Celtic Christian Church, the body into which Pizzuto was ordained. 

The Church Statements listed on the Celtic Christian Church’s webpage are only three: Homosexuality and Same-Sex Relationship; Supporting Document on the Question of Homosexuality and Same-Sex Relationships; and Church Statement Concerning Abortion. From the Homosexuality and Same-Sex Relationships  page: “If a homosexual couple wishes to make a public commitment to each other, the Church blesses such a desire and celebrates it by means of a marriage ceremony presided over by one of its clergypersons.” Pizzuto himself writes on the New Skellig Community Weddings page: “Because the Celtic Christian Church is a canonically independent catholic church whose governing principles prioritize the ‘Law of Love’ above rules and regulations, we are especially sensitive to couples who have been alienated from their church of origin, or who find that their marriage is unjustly prohibited in some Christian institutions. This is often the case, for example, among couples who are: Previously divorced; Same-gendered;  Inter-religious… In all cases, Father Vincent works personally with each couple to guide them in creating a dignified ceremony that genuinely expresses the couple’s relationship, commitment and spirituality.”

Link (here) to Cal-Cath

Celebrity Former Jesuit Calls Deacons, "Monster's"

Paul Lakeland

Earlier this year, former Jesuit priest Paul Lakeland, a Fairfield University Catholic Studies professor, was invited to give an address to students and faculty at the University of San Diego. He received this honor despite the fact that in 2007 he was the media spokesman in favor of Connecticut Bill 1098, a bill that would have forced Catholic churches to reorganize along state-mandated lines—giving lay control over parishes and effectively removing the authority of priests and bishops.

 As a spokesman in favor of the bill, Lakeland, like Cooke, has long lobbied for an end to what  he calls the “structural oppression of the laity” by the clergy. In his books (published by Continuum) and speeches, Lakeland promises to help all Catholics “exercise their baptismal priesthood” and dismisses the role of the Catholic deacon as a “monster” which belongs to a “lay-ecclesial species.” Claiming that his newest book identifies the task of the laity as working “to build a non-clerical Church,”  

Lakeland joins others in organizations like CORPUS and similar fringe Catholic groups to radically change the Church and marginalize the bishops’ teaching authority on issues like abortion, same-sex marriage, and women’s ordination. Earlier this week, Lakeland wrote a letter to President Lyons decrying her decision to rescind the invitation to Beattie (published on the “support Tina Beattie” website).

Link (here) to the Catholic World Report.

Former Jesuit, Now Anti-Catholic

Having abandoned established Christianity, the former Jesuit priest and prominent historian, Dr Ian Guthridge, knows what religion 'looks and feels like' from the inside and from the outside. Dr Guthridge was a Jesuit priest for 20 years. In the late 1960s, after much deliberation and reflection, he abandoned the constraints of traditional religion, the priesthood and ultimately the church. He is now a historical and religious writer of note and joined Sonya Feldhoff in the studio to discuss the cases for and against religious belief, referring to his latest book "Religion - Faith, Fact or Fantasy?" 

Link (here) to the Australian Broadcast Company

Former Jesuit Seminarian On The Presidential Election

Former Jesuit John M. Snyder

"Obama's reelection as president would spell disaster for American Catholics," warns lay activist John M. Snyder in this video, "whereas the election of Romney would offer political hope." A former Jesuit seminarian, Snyder, married, is an active layman. "In the United States," says Snyder, "the structural Catholic Church this summer initiated a Fortnight of Freedom preceding American Independence  Day.  This called attention to the Obama administration's threat against the civil right of religious liberty.  This threat comes with Obama's attempt to force Catholics and other religionists to pay through religious institutions for abortion and other practices against their conscience." 

Link (here) to watch the video.

Georgetown 90 Verses Bishop Morlino

The Holy Father and former Jesuit Bishop Robert Morlino of Madison, Wisconsin

Earlier this year, when Georgetown University announced that Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., the chairman of the House Budget Committee, would defend his budget in a public address, almost 90 faculty members at the Jesuit institution publicly denounced his interpretation of Church doctrine. While the media generally presented the harsh judgment as a sign that Ryan’s budget proposals violated core beliefs of his Church, most news stories failed to examine why the subsequent appearance of Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, at a Georgetown graduation event did not provoke a comparable furor. Sebelius is widely viewed as the architect of a federal contraception mandate denounced by the U.S. bishops as an “unprecedented” threat to the free exercise of Catholic institutions, but the same group of Georgetown faculty apparently saw no eed to register their disapproval. During the final bruising months of a presidential election that could hinge on the shifting views of Catholic “swing” voters, Americans can expect to witness further disputes that showcase legitimate questions about the practical impact of Ryan's  policies and partisan hit jobs that fail to provide a holistic treatment of Catholic teaching. Now, Bishop Robert Morlino of Madison, Ryan’s bishop, has waded into this election-year minefield, clearly concerned that a valued member of his flock is being unfairly attacked by partisan forces. In a column that will be posted on his diocesan website tomorrow, Aug. 16, Bishop Morlino vouches for Ryan’s Catholic bona fides, but stresses that his remarks should not be viewed as an endorsement of Ryan or any candidate. “I know him very well. He is in regular communication with his bishop. I am defending his reputation because I am the one who, as his diocesan bishop, should have something to say about this, if anyone does,” Bishop Morlino told the Register during an Aug. 15 telephone interview. “Since others have, I believe, unfairly attacked his reputation, I have to look out for his good name. That is Church law. If someone disagrees with Paul, he is free to do that. But not on the basis of reputation destruction, really calumny,” he added. “They say things about him that aren’t true. I am not a defender of Paul Ryan; I am a defender of reputations of Catholics in the public sphere whose reputations are unjustly attacked.”

Link (here) to The NCR

Former Jesuit Priest Mark F. Bozzuti-Jones On The President

Former Jesuit Mark Bozzuti-Jones

“The Gospel of Barack Hussein Obama According to Mark” is designed to initiate the reader into a meditation on what it means to be human, what it means to be a manifestation of God, and how 

Barack Obama is a unique and important manifestation of God’s desire for human flourishing. 

In a blend of words from his public speeches, imagined conversation, and fictional situations, the book highlights Obama’s real stance on social justice and, in particular, economic and political empowerment. It juxtaposes ancient Biblical form and contemporary reality, challenging the reader to see and seek God in all persons. “Our life-defining texts must be porous and we must be imaginative in our engagement with them. Let this book be a reminder not to so credit sacred texts or cultural icons that they lead us to hatred and violence in the name of God. When we see the Divine in another, we must name it. We must respect it. The practice demands nothing less than Love.” Mark F. Bozzuti-Jones, Author

Link (here) to Catholic Vote