He Stole Nearly A Half Million Dollars From The Church, He Broke His Vows

Yet, America writer and Woodstock Fellow Dolores Leckey gives Archbishop Rembert Weakland a free pass!

An excerpt.

I believe there are no lies in Weakland’s pilgrimage account. He speaks the truth, a deeply personal truth. Are there suppressions? Probably. We all carry unconscious suppressions. Might his judgments be skewed? Perhaps. Who of us is free of bias? But I can find no deliberate deception in these pages.

Link (here) to the full piece entitled, The Bishop's Tale, in the Jesuit magazine America.

I Don't Think This What St. Ignatius Had In Mind On The Resurrection Of Lazarus

The raising of Lazarus was the subject of a homily at San Francisco’s Most Holy Redeemer by Fr. Donal Godfrey, S.J., the executive director of University Ministry at the University of San Francisco. He titled his homily “The Call to Come Out.”

Link (here) to the rest of the disturbing article in the California Catholic Daily.

St. Ignatius of Loyola in The Spiritual Exercises, On the Ressurection of Lazarus.

A New Catholic Hero: Professor Scott Fitzgibbon Of Boston College

On September 15, 2009, StandForMarriageMaine.com released a television ad which featured Scott Fitzgibbon, a professor at Boston College Law School, arguing in defense of marriage between one man and one woman. He encouraged Maine voters to vote "yes" on an upcoming ballot referendum which aims to overturn state legislation which legalized homosexual "marriage" last May.

Complaints from fellow faculty members at Boston College, a Jesuit-affiliated school, soon began piling up. Merely one day after the ad aired, Boston College Law Dean John Garvey issued a letter to the BC law community, writing, "Several of you have contacted my office to express your anger at Scott's actions, and it is hard for me to see any of our students, faculty, or staff offended or hurt by the words of others."

Rather than praising Fitzgibbon's public defense of a Catholic teaching, Dean Garvey wrote that Fitzgibbon's "public statements represent his own opinions ... and do not state any official position of Boston College Law School." Garvey defended Fitzgibbons' participation in the advertisement but also seemed to welcome faculty opposition to Catholic teaching.

"We also have faculty members who hold a contrary view, which they too are free to express publicly," he wrote. "Many have done so while referring to themselves as BC Law professors. One of them has publicly led the fight to oppose the Solomon Amendment on the grounds that it is an affront to gay and lesbian students and prospective members of the U.S. military. Others have taken controversial positions on such subjects as abortion, euthanasia, and the treatment of detainees."

Three days after Fitzgibbon's pro-traditional marriage ad aired, a group of 76 "Individual Faculty and Administrators at Boston College Law School," including Dean Garvey, issued the following statement : "The undersigned members of the faculty and administration at Boston College Law School feel that it is important to reaffirm our belief in the equality of all of our students. We are proud of the fact that Boston College Law School was one of the first law schools in the country to include sexual orientation in its non-discrimination pledge, and we reaffirm our commitment to making our institution a welcome and safe place for all students, including LGBT students."

Link (here)

Some more analysis (here)

A Book About A Former Jesuit Priest And His Wife The Ex-Nun, Written By Their Son

Not Your Typical Love Story

In his moving memoir “Vows,” Peter Manseau explores the lives of his parents—a former nun and a priest who married but refused to renounce his orders.

By David Nantais

I once was a Jesuit pursuing ordination, until I fell in love with a woman and had to make the agonizing choice between marriage and my vocation. Leaving the Jesuits was probably the most difficult thing I have ever done; I was treated like an outcast by some of the men who had called me their “brother.” Yet even as I experienced the pain of condemnation and rejection, I rejoiced in the exhilaration of love and the sacred gift of intimacy with another human being. In his personal memoir “Vows: The Story of a Priest, a Nun and Their Son,” Peter Manseau has managed to capture the odd emotional cocktail of heartache, fear, and relief that comes with leaving celibate religious life. This is not your typical love story: Manseau’s parents,

Fr. Bill Manseau and Sr. Mary Doherty, met when they were ministers in Boston, during the heady days immediately following Vatican II. Both were swept up in the fervor of the late 60s,

a time of unparalleled political, social and religious institutional change, and their mutual passion for justice eventually led to a blossoming passion for each other. Their decision to wed caused a major scandal in the Archdiocese of Boston. The backlash that Manseau recounts in his book is startling—lay Catholics and priests joined in their condemnation of his parents’ union, particularly when, in a protest of the celibacy laws,

Fr. Bill refused to resign as a priest. Getting married and retaining his priesthood, he imagined, would certainly be the catalyst for change the Church needed to clear the cobwebs of outmoded tradition from its stale sanctuaries.

Somewhat naïve, perhaps, but Bill Manseau, as the book describes, lived and ministered from his heart—a heart that was drawn toward both ordained ministry and an exclusive relationship with a woman. “Vows” works well on a number of levels. It is a poignant love story with fascinating plot twists, highlighting the complexities of the human condition. Sometimes euphoric, sometimes heart-wrenching, the Manseaus’ love affair is one that has lasted, despite the daunting obstacles that were put in its path from the very beginning. “Vows” also serves as a case study of the beginning of the demise of urban ethnic Catholicism. As more Catholics moved out of cities across the urban north, church attendance decreased and inner-city Catholic ministers found themselves working with a mostly African American non-Catholic population.

Fr. Bill and Sr. Mary embraced these changes with gusto, both desiring to minister to the black community, to which they felt God was calling the church.

A key thread running through “Vows” is Manseau’s account of the Boston priest sex scandal. Without giving too much away, the author illustrates how the explosive chapter painfully affected the lives of the entire Manseau family, leaving him questioning his faith. Manseau is an exquisite writer. He immersed himself in his parents’ past lives so completely that his descriptions of their childhoods and early life together read like an eye-witness account. As the subtitle indicates, the book is also about his own life, noting that the Church that refused to recognize his parents’ marriage also denied the legitimacy of their offspring. “More precisely,” Manseau writes,

“among the many classes of bastardi referred to in canon law (the children of prostitutes, the children of incestuous relations, etc.) I was ‘ex damnato coitu.’ Born ‘from a damned union.’”

It’s hardly surprising, then, that such an unpleasant beginning turned Manseau off to the church at an early age, though his interests in spiritual matters only grew. In college, he studied Hebrew and comparative religion, and he even seriously contemplated monastic life. Though he’s often irreverent, Manseau just can’t seem to shake the “religion thing.” Today he edits his popular website Killing the Buddha—“a religion magazine for people made nervous by churches.”

Link (here) to the full article.

Photo is of Fr. Bill Manseau and Sr. Mary Doherty as Mr. and Mrs. William Manseau with their children. (here)

"Catholicism Was Invented" Says Fordham Resident Writer

This from the ultra-lefty Commonweal, the writer is Fordham's Margret O'Brien-Stienfels

I was a history major at Loyola, class of 1963. At first, the facts of history classes and history books more or less reinforced the seamless story I had heard from childhood: Bible stories and the progress of the Jewish people; Jesus and

the invention of Catholicism

.....At the beginning of the new school year in 1961 (I was a sophomore), my first Jesuit professor ever stood at the front of the classroom in his single-breasted, drab black serge suit topped by a white collar that seemed to hold him upright and taut.

His face was deeply etched with a monoform expression from mouth to eyes. He looked a bit like Charlie McCarthy, the puppet. His body was straight, almost rigid. He bent at the waist as he raised his arms from the elbows and brought his fingers together, bowing slightly. Idiosyncratic he was! John L. McKenzie, SJ, greeted an ignorant lot of undergraduates.

He had never taught the likes of us. But he launched the course: The Old Testament and Early Israel (Hist. 308). Such a course is perhaps more commonplace now than it was then. JEPD, the key codes to the literary strands of the Old Testament that he punched like a safecracker, revealed to us the multiauthored, contradictory, overlapping, many-versioned biblical stories of the people of ancient Israel. Stories we thought we knew.

Read her ideas about Adam and Eve in the same article (here)

The Jesuit Fr. S.M. Brandi and former publisher Civilta Cattolica on Jesus' foundation of the Catholic Church (here)

The truth about "The Fall" (here)

Rebel Nun Taught At Jesuit University

Cincinnati Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk has banned a nun from teaching at archdiocesan parishes and institutions because she supports the ordination of women priests. Church officials said Wednesday that Pilarczyk made the decision after Sister of Charity Louise Akers, who has taught in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati for 40 years, refused to publicly renounce her support for a position the Vatican considers a violation of church teachings.

"The principle here is that someone who is teaching in the name of the church should be in accord with the teachings of the church,"

said archdiocese spokesman Dan Andriacco.

Read the full story (here)

Read more (here) at the counter productive and dissident National Catholic Reporter.

Sr. Akers at Voice of the Faithful meeting at the Bellermine Chapel of Xavier University in Cincinnati (here) in 2005

Louise Akers, S.C. is a visiting professor in the theology department at Xavier. During the Council, she was a college student and a new member of the Sisters of Charity. Since the time of her religious formation, Akers has been active in justice education and advocacy. She holds a Doctor of Ministry degree from the Episcopal Divinity School. Link (here)

Why?

Catholics lamenting the likely appointment of yet another pro-abortion Catholic Kennedy to the senate may be dismayed by a report that the presidential family's alliance to abortion "rights"

was actively nurtured by dissident Catholic priests and theologians.

In some cases...Catholic leaders

"actually started providing 'cover' for Catholic pro-choice politicians"

who wished to support abortion. One meeting at the Kennedy family compound in Hyannisport, Mass., drew leading Catholic theologians and college professors to coach the Kennedys and advisers how a politician could support abortion while keeping a "clear conscience."

The coaches were former Jesuit priest Albert Jonsen, emeritus professor of ethics at the University of Washington, Fr. Joseph Fuchs, a Catholic moral theologian; Fr. Robert Drinan, then dean of Boston College Law School; and three academic theologians, Frs. Giles Milhaven, Richard McCormick and Charles Curran.

"Though the theologians disagreed on many a point, they all concurred on certain basics ... and that was that a Catholic politician could in good conscience vote in favor of abortion,"

recalled Father Giles Milhaven, one of the academic theologians present at the meeting, as quoted by the article.

Link (here)

Photo of the Jesuit Fr. Drinan and Ted Kennedy in the center

Professor At Jesuit Institution Leading An Ugly Movement Against The Church

Sandra M. Schneiders, a member of Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary of Monroe, Mich., is a professor of New Testament Studies and Christian Spirituality at the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, California.

This is a short portion of an op-ed piece by the disgruntled nun who teaches the brightest young Jesuits.

The exciting theologies of liberation and lay ministerial empowerment in the church were being repressed in favor of a renewed clericalism and centralization of power. From a strictly human standpoint it was a bleak time for those who had come of age in the joyous, Spirit-filled enthusiasm of the Council when community, equality of discipleship in the church, commitment to the building of a better world, deepening spirituality, inter-religious dialogue, feminist empowerment were the very air they breathed. From every angle hope was being crushed and old world narrowness, neo-orthodoxy, and Vatican re-centralization were replacing the Spirit-filled, world-affirming, humane spirit of John XXIII and the Council.

Link (here) to the full opinion piece in the counter productive National Catholic Reporter.

Gonzooks!

"Planned Parenthood is a great organization which does a great job of helping many women..."

Susie Prusch – Manager of University Events at Gonzaga University, a Jesuit institution in Spokane, Wash., – praised the work of Planned Parenthood from her Gonzaga e-mail account, according to Jill Stanek. When a reader of Stanek’s blog forwarded Prusch a LifeNews story about a Spokane Planned Parenthood which made “significant” errors in Medicaid billing, Prusch replied with an e-mail that included the following statement: “Planned Parenthood is a great organization which does a great job of helping many women who need the medical treatment and help, advice, and support throughout their pregnancy.” Read the rest of the story and see the screenshot of Prusch’s e-mail over at Jill Stanek’s blog.

Link (here) to the original Cardinal Newman Society post.

More (here) at Values Voters

More (here) at Ignatius Insight

A New Definition For "Ruined For Life"

I found this (here) in a comments section at a science blog name Evolution Blog. The commentator's handle is Steve WH. He says he is a teacher (grad student) at a Jesuit institution, he seems to be describing the University of San Francisco and Santa Clara. It is not necessary for me to comment, because it is really self explanatory.

Here is Steve's comment.

While I generally rather like A.C. Grayling, I have to object to his characterization of the Jesuits. Whatever their history and the reasons for their origin may be, today, the Jesuits are not, in my experience, the ideologues that the paragraph you quote makes them out to be.

Some of my own history: I was raised Catholic, and attended Catholic schools from K-12, after which I attended a Jesuit university for my undergrad. It was there, in my Religious Studies 101 class (the department had made a conscious choice some years back to change their name from Theology to Religious Studies) that

I was first introduced to the idea of atheism in any kind of rigorous way - we read Nietzsche's 'The Anti-Christ'.

In the same class, we read work by John Shelby Spong, and

were taught to read the Bible as a historical document.

The second major exposure I had to atheism was in a philosophy of religion class that I took with a Jesuit priest - we studied work by John Mackie, among others.

An atheist by the time I graduated, I was supported in my decision to write my senior thesis attacking the natural law foundation of the Catholic ethics of sex, and their manifestations in the Church's Catechism - my thesis was passed with high marks.

Throughout my undergraduate education, I was taught to critically examine the Catholic Church and its teachings, often by the Jesuit priests themselves.

Today, I am a graduate student in philosophy, and teach adjunct at a (different) Jesuit college. My experiences there are much the same.

We are encouraged to look critically at Church teachings, even to criticize and challenge such fundamental doctrines as transubstantiation and the pro-life position on abortion and euthanasia.

I have spoken with may other professors from Jesuit schools around the country, and our stories are pretty much the same.

We are more comfortable teaching controversial subjects and being open about our beliefs - which are often in strong contrast to the official positions of the Catholic Church

- than we have been at public institutions where we have taught, because the Jesuit community is supportive of scholarship of all stripes.

One more example:

the rector of the Jesuit community is openly gay, and also vocal in speaking out against the Church's teachings on homosexual and transgender people

; he is publicly supported in this by both Campus Ministry and the President of the college.

I am an openly gay atheist teaching on campus, and the school does not care (actually, one of the Jesuits I work with once tried to set me up with a gay friend of his).

I teach students to be critical of fundamental church teachings, and the Jesuits encourage me to continue doing so.

In my experience, the Jesuits are the opposite of what they are portrayed as in Grayling's piece.

Read the original piece (here).

How does this make you feel? Who is responsible? What can be done about this situation?

Jesuit Volunteer Used To Organize Political Protest?

The last week has allowed me to prove to myself countless times how utterly unqualified I am for the myriad of projects that I have decided to undertake. I poked and prodded at compost, researched endlessly Maritime Northwest gardening practices, and contemplated harnessing the 37 inches of rain a year to flush our downstairs toilet.

At work I am redesigning the Real Change Organizing Project website, developing a new logo, and creating a new organizing strategy for the Greater Seattle Area. It should be noted that I don’t even remember the last time I organized a birthday party let alone a thousand person protest.

Regardless I have taken to diving headfirst into every project. After a week the compost is a pile of garbage, the garden has yet to be built, and there was 60 day stretch this summer without rain. The logo is little more than a couple of rough sketches, I am reviewing website tutorials because I don’t speak HTML, and the executive director of Real Change shot down most of our organizing ideas. So where does this leave me exactly?

Link (here) to the full post by the Jesuit Volunteer Niko Simonson, his blog is entitled $80.00 a Month.

What Is Happening At The University Of San Francisco

In the interview with Catholic San Francisco prior to the USF commencement, Father Privett reportedly defended the use of condoms to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS, despite the consistent teaching of the Catholic Church that condom use is always immoral.

“HIV/AIDS is an epidemic in his [Dowling’s] diocese and in whole areas of Africa,” Privett says in the article. “I think people need to understand the difference between a condom as a contraceptive and a condom preventing the spread of a deadly virus that is literally killing thousands of people in Africa."

The Cardinal Newman Society has vigorously opposed USF performances of The Vagina Monologues and dissident commencement speakers such as Nancy Pelosi in 2007. Fr. Privett reportedly defends these as well.

"When we bring these speakers onto campus, we don't bring them as spokespersons for a position with which we disagree," Fr. Privett is quoted as saying, blaming critics for failing to consider the totality of student experiences when they accuse USF of not supporting Church teaching.

"They only see the commencement speaker or The Vagina Monologues. They don't see the other 240 days. They're not at Sunday liturgies. They're not at student retreats. It's the tip and not the whole iceberg."

Yet there have been multiple concerns about the University of San Francisco’s Catholic identity, including the following in recent years:

- USF’s two health insurance plans for employees both provide for abortion, sterilization and contraception. Complaints led USF to drop similar coverage in a student insurance plan, and officials say they are in favor of improving the employee plans, according to reports by Our Sunday Visitor.

- USF’s student health clinic stopped referring students to Planned Parenthood for abortions after the practice was revealed in December 2008.

- USF recently dropped its graduate theology program.

- USF hosted the performance of a play that contradicts Church teaching on homosexuality after San Francisco Archbishop George Niederauer refused to allow it to be performed at a diocesan parish.

- USF bestowed an honorary degree upon Irish President Mary McAleese, despite her public dissent from Church teaching on the all-male priesthood.

- USF hosted a film festival co-sponsored by the USF Gender and Sexuality Department and a homosexual student club, which featured at least two films which promote abortion and same-sex marriage.

- USF touted on its website a “birth spacing” study produced by students which promoted the use of artificial contraceptives.

Catholic San Francisco reported that USF philosophy professor Raymond Dennehy is among those who believes the Jesuit institution’s Catholic identity has eroded under Fr. Privett’s leadership. Dennehy said that the dialogue Fr. Privett hopes to encourage is presented in a one-sided manner on campus, with most guest speakers dissenting against Church teaching.

Referring to Bishop Dowling’s honorary degree, Dennehy said, "Dialogue is having speakers both pro and con. This is giving an award, and you can bet your bottom dollar that (USF) would not do that if (the speaker) were anti-gay marriage."

Link (here) to the piece at The Cardinal Newman Society website

Some Internships Opportunities At Jesuit Institutions

Catholic Colleges Support Internships with Advocates of Abortion, Gay Marriage

---

A national Catholic higher education organization has identified 10 Catholic colleges and universities that are promoting student internships with organizations whose missions or activities are directly opposed to the moral teachings of the Catholic Church, including on fundamental issues such as abortion and marriage.

“This discovery validates the concerns of so many thousands of faithful Catholic parents and students, that public scandals at Catholic colleges are just the tip of the iceberg,” said Patrick J. Reilly, President of The Cardinal Newman Society. “Under what definition of ‘Catholic education’ do students receive academic credit to work for leading pro-abortion organizations?”

Last week, CNS wrote to the presidents of these colleges and universities to inform them of the problems with their internship programs. None have yet indicated that they will take steps to remedy the problems.

The internship programs—along with concerns about theological dissent, weakening academic standards and declining campus culture at many Catholic colleges and universities—help explain why most students and recent graduates of Catholic institutions believe that abortion and gay marriage should be legal, despite the Church’s clear teachings to the contrary. That was one of the disturbing findings of a November 2008 study published by the CNS Center for the Study of Catholic Higher Education and titled “Behaviors and Beliefs of Current and Recent Students at U.S. Catholic Colleges.”

Inappropriate internships were discovered at the following institutions:

Boston College

A page on the Boston College website recommends “Non-Profit Internship Sources” including two pro-abortion advocacy groups, the Feminist Majority Foundation and the National Organization for Women. A Boston College Law School website also recommends to students opportunities for “pro bono” legal work, including the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts which “depends on the work of volunteers and interns to make it possible to achieve its mission of providing low-cost, high-quality medical, educational, counseling, and advocacy services to men and women across the state.” Also listed are the ACLU-Massachusetts and the Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD), both of which advocate homosexual “marriage.”

Georgetown University

A 2007 change in policy by the Georgetown Law School permitted students to receive university funding through the Equal Justice Foundation for interning at abortion advocacy organizations. The change came after a student was refused funding for an internship at Planned Parenthood. After lobbying from pro-abortion Georgetown students and faculty ensued, the law school altered its policy and no longer considered the mission of organizations in determining grants for internships. A recent review of Georgetown Law School and the Equal Justice Foundation gives no indications that this policy has been altered from the 2007 decision.

Loyola University of Chicago

The Loyola University of Chicago Women’s Studies and Gender Studies website lists opportunities for internships and volunteer opportunities at the following pro-abortion organizations: Chicago National Organization for Women, the Feminist Majority Foundation, Planned Parenthood, and the Chicago Abortion Fund.

University of San Francisco

USF’s Media Studies program promotes internships at Girlfriends Magazine (which requires applicants to be “conversant in lesbian culture and politics”) and the California Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League.

Link (here) to the full list at The Cardinal Newman Society

Not The Poll That Counts

A poll done in March by LeMoyne College, a Jesuit school in Syracuse, found that only 36 percent of Catholics say it is important for the priesthood to remain all-male. That finding was consistent with other polls. And the anecdotal evidence - what I hear Catholics say on the subject - indicates a pretty common confusion about why Catholic women can't wear clerical collars.

Link (here) to the full piece.

VOTF, Fairfield University, University Of San Francisco And The Ex-Jesuit

In a move to unite U.S. Catholics, the newly formed American Catholic Council called today for an historic assembly of the Catholic Church in the United States. Voice of the Faithful joins this call, spurred by evidence of serious deterioration in the life of the U.S. Church today......

Another endorser is former priest Dr. Paul Lakeland, professor of Catholic Thought and Interreligious Dialogue at the (Jesuit) Fairfield University.

Dr. Lakeland was recently in the news for his public support of Connecticut bill 1098, introduced by homosexual activist state Senators Mike Lawlor and Andrew J. McDonald. Bill 1098 sought to use legislative means to restructure the governance of the Catholic Church in Connecticut. The bill was tabled after intense opposition. On March 10, 2009, the Catholic News Agency reported: “The bill, which bears resemblance to Voice of the Faithful’s Strategic Plan, is being supported by Dr. Paul Lakeland, who believes that in this case it’s appropriate to use state legislation to force the Church’s hand…Concluding his support for the bill he said,

'I see absolutely no chance whatsoever of the Institutional Church making a change in this direction without pressure from somewhere outside the Church. There’s not even the most remote likelihood that the Church would adjust in this direction itself. I think this is a way of putting pressure on them to make changes and bringing the issue into a more prominent setting.'

" On June 15, 2008, Dr, Lakeland was a guest at the (Jesuit) University of San Francisco. He spoke on the topic: “How the Laity can Save the Church.” Lakeland’s speech was co-sponsored by Voice of the Faithful Northern California and USF’s Lane Center for Catholic Studies and Social Thought.

Link (here) to the full article

Contraversal Nun At The Jesuit School Of Theology At Berkley Is Interviewed On NPR

Laurie Goodstien at the New York Time recently penned an article on the Apostolic Visitation on the Catholic women religious in America. She is interviewed by Tom Ashbrook on the NPR radio show "Talking Point" and does a descent, but hesitant job of explaining the Apostolic Visitation. Sister Sandra Schneiders a professor at The Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley is also interviewed. Sister Schnieders has taken a step back from the controversial quote that has propelled her to the forefront of the American Catholic left. Her basic stance is that the Vatican has not consulted womens religious orders and she is offended by that fact.

Listen to the 45 minute interview (here)

Our Lady's Warriors on Sister Schneiders controversial positions (here).

A post (here) on the same subject by the Jesuit Fr. James Martin at America's, In All Things.

Photo is of Laurie Goodstein

Rebel Nun At Jesuit School Of Theology At Berkeley

Some sisters surmise that the Vatican and even some American bishops are trying to shift them back into living in convents, wearing habits or at least identifiable religious garb, ordering their schedules around daily prayers and working primarily in Roman Catholic institutions, like schools and hospitals.

“They think of us as an ecclesiastical work force,”

said Sister Sandra M. Schneiders,

Link (here)

Father Donal Godfrey, S.J., a prominent Jesuit University Official is to speak at a gay-rights Dignity USA conference. Link (here)

Tilley's 3 Piece Dilley

The One and Only Theological Impasse

by Dr. Jeff Mirus, June 26, 2009

An excerpt from Catholic Culture.

In his presidential address to the annual meeting of the Catholic Theological Society of America on June 7th, Terrence Tilley discussed “Three Impasses in Christology”. Tilley is Chair of the Theology Department at Jesuit-run Fordham University in New York. For Tilley, a theological “impasse” is a theological problem which admits of no easy solution, in which two or more sides harden their positions against one another to the point of stalemate, thereby preventing theological progress. The catch in Tilley’s argument is that he identifies one of these “sides” as the Magisterium of the Church!

The Problem of Fidelity

The exclamation point at the end of that last sentence may not be justified for such a predictable statement. Tilley’s address exemplifies exactly the kind of thorough-going rejection of the Magisterium which we have come to expect in the Western Catholic theological mainstream. The tactic is always the same: Identify the Vatican as simply one of many voices to be heard and then, if it chooses to act decisively, dismiss it as authoritarian and obscurantist. The mind boggles that this attitude can still be found at the core of a presidential address to the CTSA after so many years of utter failure on the CTSA’s part to contribute to any sort of authentically Catholic theological renewal.

That Tilley is still occupied with the going out of business sale at the same old theological store is immediately obvious from the examples he uses in his introduction to illustrate what he means by an impasse hardening into a stalemate. To set the stage for understanding the seriousness of it all, he identifies three larger ecclesial impasses before moving on to his specific Christological concerns. These are:

• ”a shrinking and in some places demoralized presbyterate that cannot be enlarged significantly under present rules”
• ”a laity that loves the church but has stopped listening to the bishops”
• ”a hard-working and loyal body of religious women who are disgusted and discouraged by repeated investigations of religious life and attempted reversals of self-governance”

Read the rest of Dr. Jeff Mirus's article (here)
Photo is of Terrence Tilley

The Bad Wing

From The Nixon Tapes (Tape 43: Conversation 161)

Listen to a lengthy in context phone conversation between President Richard Nixon and Rev. Billy Graham, they discuss the Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 shot down by Isreal, the World Council of Churches and Nixon staffer the former Jesuit John McLaughlin of the famous TV news show The McLaughlin Group

They’re split right down the middle. They sure are. You’ve got the good guys like Krol and Cooke in New York. And then there’s this bad wing, the Jesuits, who used to be the conservatives and have become now become the all-out, barn-burning radicals.

Listen (here)

America magazine on the subject (here)

Link (here) to a real Jesuit radical Fr. Daniel Barrigan, S.J. that actually did participate in a soft terrorist action of arson against the government.