I believe the Jesuits are the best Catholic order!

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I have recently felt drawn to Ignatian spirituality myself. As for where to rank the Jesuits, I prefer not to that. They have been affected by Modernism, but so has virtually every order. It is, in my view, unfair to label an entire order as rotten because of it. We should just be cautious, as Jesus has always taught us. There will always be good and bad members of any group, no matter what errors come and go.
 
The Jesuits are not an “order” such as the Benedictines, Franciscans or Dominicans. They are an “society” (Society of Jesus.)

A little joke –

A Benedictine and a Franciscan were arguing stridently over which was a better order. Totally frustrated they turned to God the Father via prayer. The next morning they found a note on the refrigerator that read:

"You boys knock it off. Discord among the religious is not good for the faith.

Sincerely;

God, O.P."
 
Colt said:
The Jesuits are not an “order” such as the Benedictines, Franciscans or Dominicans. They are an “society” (Society of Jesus.)

A little joke –

A Benedictine and a Franciscan were arguing stridently over which was a better order. Totally frustrated they turned to God the Father via prayer. The next morning they found a note on the refrigerator that read:

"You boys knock it off. Discord among the religious is not good for the faith.

Sincerely;

God, O.P."
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Actually, the Jesuits were the last order founded. 🙂
 
A Franciscan, a Dominican, and a Jesuit are celebrating mass together when the lights go out.
The Franciscan praises God for a more simple way to worship,
the Dominican preaches how God’s light with triumph over darkness,
and the Jesuit changes the fuse.
This sums up Jesuits pretty well to me. I’ve grown a lot here at my Jesuit university and I really like the Jesuit way of thinking.
 
I have to give it to the Carmelites. Although I learned most of my Carmelite spirituality from a Jesuit (Fr Robert Spitzer en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Spitzer_%28priest%29).

Why? They have 3 Doctors (Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Therese of Lisieux) that I think are really popular.
This only ties the Dominicans (Albert the Great, Catherine of Sienna, Thomas Aquinas… ok St Thomas is the Angelic Doctor).
But the Jesuits have but 2 (Peter Canisius, Robert Bellarmine)
 
All the orders bring something unique to help build the Body of Christ. They are all needed.

That said, if you’re called to an order (or secular orders) then there is certain a “best order”, but it’s the one that is best for YOU, not the best one in general. The Dominicans are the best for me, and the best for jwinch. But they’re not the best for OraLabora or ByzCath.

As for the Jesuits, I like them. They do solid work, and I personally know a Jesuit Archbishop who is outstanding.
 
coolcatholicguy said:
I will elaborate later, but I have seen a lot of scrutiny of the Jesuits around these parts lately. I was just wondering what your guys opinions were of them. I posted this on another post about the Jesuits:
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I am going to go out on a limb and say the following:-

The Jesuits are a great order. BUT… TODAY… there aren’t that many ACTUAL PRACTICING JESUITS. Most just carry the name. These pretend Jesuits say they are the “intelligent” and then teach the worst forms of errors.

So I think what might be more reasonable to say is that there are lot of abuses committed by those who claim to be practicing Jesuits. But they of course don’t represent what the Jesuit stand for or were founded for.
 
passer_by said:
I am going to go out on a limb and say the following:-

The Jesuits are a great order. BUT… TODAY… there aren’t that many ACTUAL PRACTICING JESUITS. Most just carry the name. These pretend Jesuits say they are the “intelligent” and then teach the worst forms of errors.

So I think what might be more reasonable to say is that there are lot of abuses committed by those who claim to be practicing Jesuits. But they of course don’t represent what the Jesuit stand for or were founded for.
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This is amazing. You know all 20,000+ of them.

That’s a rather precarious claim.
 
passer_by said:
I am going to go out on a limb and say the following:-

The Jesuits are a great order. BUT… TODAY… there aren’t that many ACTUAL PRACTICING JESUITS. Most just carry the name. These pretend Jesuits say they are the “intelligent” and then teach the worst forms of errors.

So I think what might be more reasonable to say is that there are lot of abuses committed by those who claim to be practicing Jesuits. But they of course don’t represent what the Jesuit stand for or were founded for.
Click to expand...
This is the type of statement and rash judgment that sullies reputations and causes forum discussions to be closed…
 
My knee jerk reaction is that I wouldn’t trust a Jesuit concerning matters of the Faith as far as I could throw him. It’s probably completely unfair and uncharitable… but there’s just that stigma surrounding them.

But they’re hardly alone. A lot of the religious have fallen. A lot of the seculars as well…
choliks said:
Actually, the Jesuits were the last order founded. 🙂
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The Jesuits were founded in 1534. The Redemptorist were founded in 1732. Plenty of religious orders have been founded after the Jesuits.
 
Laudate_Dominum said:
My knee jerk reaction is that I wouldn’t trust a Jesuit concerning matters of the Faith as far as I could throw him. It’s probably completely unfair and uncharitable… but there’s just that stigma surrounding them.

But they’re hardly alone. A lot of the religious have fallen. A lot of the seculars as well…
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If that were true then the Holy Father wouldn’t trust them would he?
The Jesuits were founded in 1534. The Redemptorist were founded in 1732. Plenty of religious orders have been founded after the Jesuits.
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Nope. You’re talking about Religious Congregations. That’s different from Religious Orders.
 
Colt said:
“Actually” the Franciscans (Order of Friars Minor) were the last order founded. The Jesuits are a society, namely the Society of Jesus.
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The Jesuits are a religious order. This is what is stated in their UK website:

“The Society of Jesus - also known as the Jesuits - is a religious order of men, within the Catholic Church.
Founded in 1540 by Ignatius of Loyola and nine companions, the Society now numbers twenty thousand men and is present in more than one hundred countries.”
 
I deleted much of what I was going to say here. Must refrain.

In fairness, the Society still produces greats like Fr. John Hardon and more, but it is tempting to focus on the wayward Liberation Theology guys who have mostly by now left the order and started communes someplace…
 
manualman said:
I deleted much of what I was going to say here. Must refrain.

In fairness, the Society still produces greats like Fr. John Hardon and more, but it is tempting to focus on the wayward Liberation Theology guys who have mostly by now left the order and started communes someplace…
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Of course it’s tempting to focus on the troublemakers. This would be no different if everyone focused on the SSPX or the SSPV as the “face” of the traditionalists.
 
manualman said:
In fairness, the Society still produces greats like Fr. John Hardon and more, but it is tempting to focus on the wayward Liberation Theology guys who have mostly by now left the order and started communes someplace…
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Will it make a difference if the founder of Liberation Theology was a Dominican?
 
Br. Jr can clarify the whole Religious Order vs. Congregation debate. 🙂
 
coolcatholicguy said:
I will elaborate later, but I have seen a lot of scrutiny of the Jesuits around these parts lately. I was just wondering what your guys opinions were of them. I posted this on another post about the Jesuits:
Click to expand...
Say that again about the Sacraments? It sounded like the local mega-church Protestant pastor. Anybody, Jesuit or otherwise, who says the Holy Eucharist is not the source and summit of our faith is what they used to call a heretic before such words became ecumenically uncool.
 
severus68 said:
The Jesuits are a religious order. This is what is stated in their UK website:

“The Society of Jesus - also known as the Jesuits - is a religious order of men, within the Catholic Church.
Founded in 1540 by Ignatius of Loyola and nine companions, the Society now numbers twenty thousand men and is present in more than one hundred countries.”
Click to expand...
I believe (my memory is hazy and I can’t find anything to back this up on google) ) that the various Franciscan Rules (for the OFMs, the Third order and the Poor Clares) are the last ones to be promulgated by a Papal Bull. All subsequent orders, congregations and societies have their rule based on a pre-existing Rule.
 
Irish_Eyes_826 said:
A Franciscan, a Dominican, and a Jesuit are celebrating mass together when the lights go out.
The Franciscan praises God for a more simple way to worship,
the Dominican preaches how God’s light with triumph over darkness,
and the Jesuit changes the fuse.
This sums up Jesuits pretty well to me. I’ve grown a lot here at my Jesuit university and I really like the Jesuit way of thinking.
Click to expand...
I heard this a bit differently. The Jesuit does something like offers a lerned discourse on the workings of electricity,

The parish priest changes the fuse!

Having contributed that, I have had some uplifting encounters with Jesuits, Dominicans, Benedictines, Holy Cross Fathers, and those of other orders. A good priest is a good priest.
 
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