A Question on Orders

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Vaclav

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I have not been a Catholic for very long as I am a recent convert. I love to read books on the Church and I am a bit of a history buff.

Yet, I’m not well versed on the different orders of the Church, other than just being familiar with their names and what I know from history classes back in my university days.

One thing I’ve found peculiar is that some Catholics have a…shall I say, “less than charitable” view of certain orders. I even witnessed a post from yesterday that called for an entire Catholic Order to be converted (to Catholicism). It has since been deleted.

I guess my question, if I may ask it, is why do some people harbour such ill-feelings for the Jesuits and Franciscans, specifically?

Please only respond objectively, I’d rather not have this deleted.

I know that the Jesuits have a long history of internal political struggles with the Holy See - on occasion. Still, Pope Benedict has appointed Cardinal Dulles and Cardinal Vanhoye to the college of Cardinals and both are Jesuits.

To make the long story shorter, I’m confused. Jesuits and Franciscans are men who have devoted their lives to God and the Church, correct?
 
Anyone that says “the Jesuits are liberal” or “the Franciscans are liberal” are stereotyping just like someone that would say “Catholics are statue worshipers.” or “Catholics don’t read the Bible.” Just because some people may be doing that or appear to be doing that doesn’t make it so.

The Jesuits and Franciscans both encompas many different monasteries and groups that are on both extremes. The are many liberal Jesuits/Franciscans and many conservative Jesuits/Franciscans. All of which have devoted themselves to God. I don’t know anyone that would call EWTN liberal and yet they are a Franciscan Order.

Some people within both orders have corrupted ideals of the founders to think that as Francis was called to “rebuild the Church” that it means to rebuild the church in the method that they think is best. Many people forget that Francis always did it with the support of the local Bishop and/or the Pope. If Francis thought the person was wrong he would go through the proper channels to let the person know he thought they were wrong but would always follow the orders due to obediance.

There are many good orthodox people within both Orders but like any human run organization there can be problems, all the way up to and including the high up people in the organization.
 
Thanks Marauder, and apologies for the confusing question.

I need to learn the value of brevity!
 
The way I phrase it is that “the Jesuits are not what they used to be”. There are indeed conservative Jesuits, but from what I can tell, there are VERY few, or else there are a great many loud liberal Jesuits giving everyone a bad impression of the whole Society. (Both, I think.) I know less about the Franciscans but a male friend says that it is hard to find good orders of friars these days, the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal and, I think, the Franciscans of the Immaculate being exceptions.
 
On a side note on the Franciscans, the TOR Friars, and the EWTN Friars and most of the Conventuals (OFM Conv) are pretty solid
 
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