Okay, people. The Jesuits have a rather unique spirituality, and it’s much akin to the difference between an infantryman and a special forces commando. In fact, St. Ignatius set up the Society by loosely using a military model.
These men frequently have to work in isolation, and function on the fly, much like a special forces operative has to do. They do have a superior, but report in to him. Sometimes they live in community, sometimes not. They always have a mission to bring God to the people, and to find God in all things.
They’re intellectuals, and that fact tends to put a lot of people off. Most people are downright intimidated by these brilliant men. They excel at preaching and teaching. ** If you are ever fortunate enough to take any university-level course taught by a Jesuit father or brother, I would advise you to never, ever skip a class, do your readings, and be prepared to defend any position you take. ** I’m a product of Jesuit education (Fordham and Canisius.) A Jesuit’s favorite activity in the classroom is to take your pet theory, fashion it into a club, and beat your brains out with it! My professors lived for those moments, and I could just see them rubbing their hands in anticipatory delight when a poorly prepared student got up to recite. Papers you turn in on immaculate white paper, neatly double-spaced, will return to you covered with so much red ink that you would think the instructor needed a transfusion after marking them! Trust me, though, if you survive the semester, you will have learned the material so well that you could expound on it and apply it in your sleep!
Because of their fairly intrepid mission, a loose cannon Jesuit can get out of left field a little more easily and with less detection than, say, a loose cannon member of another order or congregation. It doesn’t mean that there are more loose cannons among their society.
They continue to go to the most remote places and undertake the task of finding God in all fields of endeavor, and I do mean all fields. There is even a Jesuit who runs (or used to run) the dance department at Boston University and danced for Boston Ballet! I’ve no doubt that if humanity ever colonizes another planet, there will be a Jesuit in the second wave of exploration. I personally am impressed by their ability to expound the Gospel, and generally will drive quite a ways to hear Mass said at the local Jesuit-run parish. You don’t leave after Mass without something from one of their homilies that will nag at you for the rest of the week. It will percolate, and give you a new insight, whether you like it or not.
There’s plenty of good in the society, and I wish that people who only see the high profile and vocal outliers would keep an open mind, study some really good Jesuit-written works, maybe listen to some homilies, and stop picking on them!
pax
:thumbsup: