Fewer Jesuit Priests this Easter, but More People Learning Jesuit Ideals
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Dale_M
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the article:
I wonder if this is part of the same phenomenon of laity eager to formally associate themselves with a monastery, perhaps as an oblate or member of a third order, even as that monastery is suffering from a lack of new vocations.
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franny50
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I attended Fordham University which is a Jesuit Institution.I remember one of the psychologists was also a priest.There is a chapel on the campus and I remember a number of my friends taking part in the rich religous life that the universty affords.I loved the experience.
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hxcCatholic413
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Jesuits are awesome
Perhaps there are less priests because it takes 13 years to be ordained?
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manualman
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Jesuits once were awesome. But in the latter half of the last century the bulk of the order seemed to have dropped the values of St. Ignatius and instead embraced Liberation Theology as their core principles. Not coincidentally, Jesuits priests defected in droves and they failed to attract any new vocations. If there indeed is a resurgence of interest in genuine Ignatian spirituality, then I’d not be surprised if there was FIRST a resurgence in lay interest and then a new wave of postulants to the society.
But based on my (admittedly limited) contact with Loyola University in Chicago recently, I’d say any resurgence in genuine Ignatian spirituality is FAR from universal in the order…
But based on my (admittedly limited) contact with Loyola University in Chicago recently, I’d say any resurgence in genuine Ignatian spirituality is FAR from universal in the order…
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hxcCatholic413
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WHAT!!!
There’s nothing wrong w/ Liberation Theology…Fr. Gustavo Gutierrez, Archbishop Oscar Romero (RIP), Fr. Leonardo Boff, Fr. Jon Sobrino, and Fr. Ignacia Ellacuria (RIP) were God-filled men that devoted their lives to the concerns of the poor. The term “liberation theology” is sheer brilliance and to see it that way takes humility and grace from God.Yes I know that Pope Benedict XVI was against it in the 80’s and then again in recent years when he critiqued some writings of Fr. Jon Sobrino, but what the movement accomplished and it’s main principals were sheer brilliance. God Bless!
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ishii
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Once a great order. At one time they were staunch defenders of the Pope and the truth of the Catholic faith. Now they are all about leftist “identity” politics and the “evils of racism, classism and sexism.” As academia has become radicalized, so have the Jesuits (or atleast many of them). It reminds me of a passage from the Screwtape letters:WHAT!!!
Yes I know that Pope Benedict XVI was against it in the 80’s and then again in recent years when he critiqued some writings of Fr. Jon Sobrino, but what the movement accomplished and it’s main principals were sheer brilliance. God Bless!
“*Whichever he adopts, your main task will be the same. Let him begin by treating the Patriotism or the Pacifism as a part of his religion. The let him, under the influence of partisan spirit, come to regard it as the most important part. Then quietly and gradually nurse him onto the stage at which the religion becomes merely a part of the ‘cause’, in which Christianity is valued chiefly because of the excellent arguments it can produce in favour of the British war-effort or of Pacifism. The attitude which you want to guard against is that in which temporal affairs are treated primarily as material for obedience. Once you have made the World an end, and faith a means, you have almost won your man, and it makes very little difference what kind of worldly end he is pursuing. Provided that meetings, pamphlets, policies, movements, causes, and crusades, matter more to him than prayers and sacraments and charity, he is ours — and the more ‘religious’ (on those terms) the more securely ours. I could show you a pretty cageful down here.”
Racism, classism, sexism, (and now, I’m sure, “homophobia”). Trying to create a heaven on earth because this is all there is. The world is the end, and faith is merely the means.
Ishii*
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hxcCatholic413
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ishii
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My friend, I’m not “afraid” of social justice issues. I am, however, very wary of a focus on leftism and modern “pet” leftist causes that are part and parcel of any contemporary American university faculty and that have infused the modern Jesuit universities. The poor will always be with us. The poor need our help. But don’t tell me that in order to support the poor I must support the Sandinistas in Nicaragua or Castro’s regime in Cuba. We must do what we can for the poor but we must be on guard against the idea that we can create a heaven on earth through political activism. And when people come to believe that “movements, causes, and crusades matter more than prayers, sacraments and true charity” then they are going away from God and toward worldly things.
God bless.
Ishii
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Pork_Roll
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I think these Jesuits interviewed in this article display a lack of faith. It’s very sad to see a priest be indifferent about a vocations crisis. Maybe the Legionaries of Christ should be made into Jesuits. That would breath life back into this order.
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manualman
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The fatal flaw of liberation theology is that it implicitly places the cause of human suffering on an “external” cause (or more bluntly, a scapegoat). It ignores the reality of Original Sin which affirms that humans, while still retaining some original goodness are damaged due to the effects of sin and incapable of true goodness without an infusion of God’s grace.
The inevitable result of LT thinking is to identify a particular ‘villain class’ as the source of human suffering and target the overthrow of that group’s power source as the primary goal of the Church, when the proper role of the Church is to proclaim Christ’s message that ALL of us are sinners and in need of both repentence and Grace to overcome our affinity for sin (not just the rich and powerful, though they are surely included).
The inevitable result of LT thinking is to identify a particular ‘villain class’ as the source of human suffering and target the overthrow of that group’s power source as the primary goal of the Church, when the proper role of the Church is to proclaim Christ’s message that ALL of us are sinners and in need of both repentence and Grace to overcome our affinity for sin (not just the rich and powerful, though they are surely included).
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manualman
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And in case I sound entirely negative, there is plenty of room to hope still. The late Fr. John Hardon was a Jesuit through the worst of the rebellious years and yet he was perhaps one of the early pioneers of JPII’s new evangelization. Fr. Mitch Pacwa and Fr. James Kubicki are outstanding examples of the Jesuit tradition BEFORE it went loopy in the 60’s.
I kinda like the Legion idea, but the current 60’s era jesuit leadership would never permit it. Wait a few years…
I kinda like the Legion idea, but the current 60’s era jesuit leadership would never permit it. Wait a few years…
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hxcCatholic413
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last time I checked people were dying on the streets because of no food…dead bodies lying in roads in Haiti and India…young children playing in waste…yes we can create Heaven on Earth by following the 8 Beatitudes (that’s not political activism)…God Bless!
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hxcCatholic413
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like I said before : most first worlders are defensive about the radical claims of liberation theology
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hxcCatholic413
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haha the “60’s inspired Jesuits” are the future of the Church…they actually work w/ the people…and see issues on a human basis rather than “by the books only”. They seem to be the pioneers on dealing with social justice issues whereas many other individuals hide and preach on a pedestal…just a thought. God Bless!And in case I sound entirely negative, there is plenty of room to hope still. The late Fr. John Hardon was a Jesuit through the worst of the rebellious years and yet he was perhaps one of the early pioneers of JPII’s new evangelization. Fr. Mitch Pacwa and Fr. James Kubicki are outstanding examples of the Jesuit tradition BEFORE it went loopy in the 60’s.
I kinda like the Legion idea, but the current 60’s era jesuit leadership would never permit it. Wait a few years…
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manualman
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Pioneers are, by definition, the first to go in a direction. Read the article and you’ll quickly see that these guys weren’t pioneers. Nobody followed them. The seminaries they control are empty and dust-filled.
And for the record, I’ve been to the thrid world. I’ve troweled plaster to the interior of mud brick huts in public health projects, repaired free medical clinics for the poor and participated in mass in parishes established by Jesuits 400+ years ago in Bolivia. You know what I saw? Everywhere the clergy veered towards LT, the people (poor ones too) have converted to evangelical protestantism in droves.
Sorry, man. LT is spiritual suicide. I understand the appeal, especially there. South America has been for generation where America is heading with an enormous poverty class and a small and exorbitantly wealthy rich class and a pretty skinny middle class in between. But just identifying a problem correctly doesn’t validate the solution proposed for a problem. LT is a solution destined to make things worse, not better.
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hxcCatholic413
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well to each his own I guess…God Bless!
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manualman
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God bless you too. I tend to get a little intense on some subjects, thanks for being a good sport. While neither of us is likely convinced by the other, a little different perspective once in a while can’t hurt any of us.
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hxcCatholic413
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(bolded): yes me too…seems like Catholic Answers is a hotbed for that type of stuff
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