Former Jesuit Jerry Brown On "Ignatian Indiffernce"

Dan Balz did a nice job after he scored a sit-down interview with Jerry Brown, in advance of Crusty’s formal annunciation that he’s running for governor. We were especially intrigued when we read this:

If she wins the GOP nomination, Whitman will have a sizable financial advantage over Brown. She has already put $39 million of her money into the race and could spend $150 million or more by the election in November. Brown can’t compete with that kind of money, but he said of Whitman, “Her money is not kryptonite.”

Asked how he will prepare for that, he offered a lesson from St. Ignatius. He would summon all the “Ignatian indifference” that he could. That is, he added, the idea of eschewing attachments to wealth or glory and preparing “to do the will of God, however it manifests.”

“Here we have the will of the people,” Brown said, “and how it turns out will be fine for me.”

Huh? Wussup with that ?

Was Jerry really saying he’s preparing “to do the will of God?” And if so, how come Balz didn’t make that the lead of his piece? Because if that’s what Jerry is saying – that he is bracing for Meg’s onslaught by preparing “to do the will of God” — then by golly, he’s right in there with Pat Robertson and Rick Warren, isn’t he?

So we called Jerry’s office for some clarification. Brown wouldn’t come to the phone for a quick theological discussion, but spokesman, Sterling Clifford (who sat in on the Balz interview but who was raised Mormon, not Catholic and certainly not Jesuit) said Jerry was trying to explain “Ignatian indifference” as an acceptance of God’s will, which he distinguished from the election, which is a matter of the peoples’ will.

Link (here) to the blog entitled Calbuzz.

"Gov. Moonbeam" Could Have Been "Fr. Moonbeam"

Jerry Brown, onetime (He graduated from St. Ignatius High School and studied at Santa Clara University. In 1958, he entered Sacred Heart Novitiate, a Jesuit seminary, intending to become a Catholic priest.) Jesuit seminarian, believes that sin is original and selfish instincts natural, and he also suspects that America is experiencing a "counterreformation" — against the expansive governmental policies of past years.

What makes these views especially striking, of course, is that Brown, 37, is the Democratic Governor of California. In his first year in office, he has curbed growth in his state's burgeoning governmental employment and spending.

He has admonished Californians to lower their sights, prepare to make needed sacrifices instead of slaking the urge to consume, and accept unaccustomed notions of inherent limits instead of boundless growth. That dialectic has made Brown, for the moment at least, the most popular Governor in California history. By a margin of more than 7 to 1, voters polled recently by Mervin Field approved his performance — a level of support well above Ronald Reagan's at his peak.

Link (here) to the Decemeber 08, 1975 Time Magazine article entitled, Jerry Brown: Learning to Live with Our Limits

Cover of Newsweek of Jerry Brown and Linda Ronstadt

A video of Linda Ronstadt with Johnny Cash singing the song, Never Will I Marry

Govenor Jerry Brown, "Initially A Jesuit Seminarian, Then A Buddhist,"

Linda Ronstadt and Gov. Jerry Brown

As a two-term governor from 1975 to 1983, Brown became a national figure and used this platform to run for the presidency three times, most recently in 1992 when his campaign netted an impressive 596 committed delegates on the first ballot, second only to Bill Clinton. Jerry Brown came up short nationally, in part because of a lingering reputation for flakiness. His long-time girlfriend, pop queen Linda Ronstadt had affectionately likened him to a moonbeam and the name, Governor Moonbeam, stuck. But the fact is that Brown was always a very different professional politician from anyone else.I first met him in 1983 at what was to be a quick breakfast to discuss Pierre Trudeau's invitation for the governor to join an advisory council on nuclear disarmament. The L.A. restaurant threw us out hours later when they needed the table for lunch. Initially a Jesuit seminarian, then a Buddhist, he was and is a deep thinker, ahead of the curve. What's more, in opposition to his sunny dad, he has been a dark teller of "the way it is."

Link (here) to the full article by Jeremy Kinsman

Moonbeam Brown Was A Former Jesuit

Jerry Brown

Jerry Brown told the crowd at the San Francisco Christian Center about his parents' protests when he decided to enter a Jesuit seminary after his freshman year in college. He also spoke about his experience working with the poor alongside Mother Teresa in Calcutta. 

"When I would pick up someone and help them shower or shave, I absolutely sensed that this is Jesus in my hands," he said.  

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown talked about his experience with faith at a forum in San Francisco on Saturday while also managing to get some laughs at the expense of his absent opponent. 

Link (here) to the full article.

When God Wants You

A young Jerry Brown in boxing gloves

Reams have been written about Jerry Brown's relationship with his father. When Jerry was in his final year at St. Ignatius High School, he decided at age 17 to become a priest. He needed parental permission to enter the Sacred Heart Novitiate in Los Gatos. It wasn't forthcoming. 'Wait until next year,' his father suggested, hoping, so the story goes, that young Jerry would change his mind and eventually follow in his footsteps: university, law school and politics. 'When God wants you,' young Brown protested, 'He doesn't want you next year.' (Springfield Union, June 6, 1976)

Link (here) to the full article at Mercury News

Former Jesuit On His Personal Prayer Life

Jerry Brown

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown has some unique credentials as a former Jesuit seminarian -- and takes some unusual questions from the press as a result. In Newark Thursday, talking alternative energy at PetersenDean Roofing and Solar Systems, he was queried about how he reconciles his political ambitions -- as a former two-term governor, who's run for president three times -- with his past in religious life. He said he believes "civic engagement, at its best" can reflect "the Christian commitment to do justice, seek mercy and to be compassionate -- and to create a more just society." Good question from the LA Times, and our very own SFGate.com Shaky Hand Productions was there to bring you right to the campaign trail to hear his complete answer. But Brown, the State Attorney General, wasn't inclined to open up completely to reporters on this theme of religion and spirituality. Asked -- twice -- if he still meditates, Brown said firmly "that's not something I care to discuss."

Link (here) to the San Francisco Chronicle to watch the video

Abortion Advocate To Speak At The University Of San Francisco

California Catholic Daily is also reporting that USF’s School of Law’s commencement speaker Goodwin Liu, an associate justice of the Supreme Court of California, has supported abortion rights and same-sex “marriage.” 

Liu was infamously nominated to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in 2011 by President Obama, but Senate Republicans rejected the nomination because of the extreme nature of Liu’s views. 

But those same views didn’t stop California’s Governor Jerry Brown from nominating Liu to the state’s Supreme Court. LifeNews.com reported that Liu is a “liberal abortion supporter” and has served on the boards of directors of the American Constitution Society, the ACLU of Northern California, and the National Women’s Law Center. The NWLC states on its website that it’s “working to ensure that women have access to abortion care by protecting and advancing this fundamental right.” Liu was also said by the Los Angeles Times to be “a supporter of gay rights,” including support for same-sex “marriage.”

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

Delayed Hominization: Fr. Joseph F. Donceel, S.J.

This theory of "delayed hominization," as the psychology and theology scholar Joseph F. Donceel, Society of Jesus, once noted, is the most consistent thread throughout church history.

So Pelosi was not off the mark when she noted publicly that the church had held varied positions on abortion and that her role as a legislator did not require her to put church doctrine into law. My reason for speaking at that Sunday mass was partly to defend the speaker since Father Ralph was using the "bully pulpit" to espouse his view without Pelosi being there to defend her position.

Link (here) to the full pro-abortion op/ed piece by Ray Gonzales, he is retired from the CSU system. He was elected to the Assembly from Kern County in 1972, served in the (former Jesuit) Jerry Brown administration, and was a diplomat in the U.S. Foreign Service..