Jesuits teaching weird stuff?

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As Pope Saint Paul VI said :" “Wherever in the Church, even in the most difficult and extreme fields, at the crossroads of ideologies, in the social trenches, there has been and there is confrontation between the burning exigencies of man and the perennial message of the Gospel, here also there have been, and there are, Jesuits.”

Speaking to members of the Society of Jesus Pope Benedict said : " The Church needs you, relies on you and continues to turn to you with trust, particularly to reach those physical and spiritual places which others do not reach or have difficulty in reaching…In its history, the Society of Jesus has lived extraordinary experiences of proclamation and encounter between the Gospel and world cultures . I feel it is my duty today to urge you to set out once again in the tracks of your predecessors with the same courage and intelligence, but also with an equally profound motivation of faith and enthusiasm to serve the Lord and his Church…while you seek to recognize the signs of God’s presence and work in every corner of the world, even beyond the bounds of the visible Church, while you strive to build bridges of understanding and dialogue with those who do not belong to the Church or have difficulty in accepting her outlook or messages ."
 
The message to the Church of Ephesus in Revelation could be applied to the Jesuits today:
Rev. 2:4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. 5 Remember then from what you have fallen, repent and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.
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This can sadly apply to many orders today (despite the Vatican II decree on religious life ordering them to preserve or recover the spirit of their founders) and in fact much of the Church in general. Their dwindling numbers suggest their lampstands are at risk of being extinguished unless they return to their first loves.
 
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To add some things that others haven’t said. What I’ve learned about the Jesuits is that their order has also focused on education from the start. Schools were founded in Ignatius’ time. They’ve founded 100’s of high schools and colleges in around the world. They still do a very good job as educators, and many of their members have advanced degrees. It comes with the territory that doing research and thinking up knew ideas in the context of education will sometimes be controversial.

In terms of missionary work, they still travel to different countries as educators. It is worth saying that historically their large scale missionary efforts didn’t always have a happy ending. For example check out the movie “The Mission”. The movie describes how they got kicked out of one of their major missionary efforts. This mirrors what happened historically around south America around 200 - 300 years ago. The questions become “Should they be doing large scale missionary efforts like that?” or “Would governments even allow these types of large scale missionary efforts?”. Probably not. It is reasonable that they focus on education and do their missionary work in terms of education.

Like has been said, I think it would be better if they back off some of the confusing political activism and focus on their original Ignatian spirituality.
 
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dconklin said:
I read the title as Jesus teaching weird stuff , which was often how he was perceived. I am on staff at a parish that was, until a few years ago, staffed by Jesuits. As a whole, they are a different group of men - but still focused on Jesus. The Jesuits that were here were primarily concentrating on Ignatian Spirituality and that did a lot of good for our parish. Secondarily, they were interested in human rights and ecological issues.
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They are also very well-educated. Men with a vocation to the priesthood who are attracted to the Jesuits are going to be on the more academic end of things. I’ve been around every kind of academic, and it does tend to go hand-in-hand with intellectual non-conformity. On that basis, I’m not at all suprised to see Jesuits on both theological extremes.
 
Not all Jesuits are “weird” Fr. Mitch Pacwa is a Jesuit and seems okay.
 
I’m of two minds. I was taught by the Basilians; and have a tremendous respect for them. I also have alot of respect for the Dominicans. But I’ve known very smart Jesuits who have done alot of good.

But…

where I struggle is that you have people like Fr. Martin who go so far as to potentially run a great risk of confusing and giving scandal. When we have so many other things in the Church that we are struggling with I really wish Priests like him could do a more visible job of rowing in the same direction. But, that’s just my opinion.
 
The primary charism of American Jesuits is higher education: running universities and prep schools, primarily.

Like most religious Orders in the US they have had to reduce the number of countries they serve as missionaries to, as numbers of Jesuits have declined.

There are very famous Jesuits like Fessio and Pacwa who are quite conservative and well-known media figures.

But most Jesuits tend to be at the other end of the spectrum, often with avant-garde or more progressive views.

I know Jesuits who won’t wear a Roman collar any longer, and dress in a business suit because they don’t want to encourage clericalism.

As far as liberation theology goes - nearly every priest and certainly most Jesuits who have ever ministered in Central or South America have been accused of this. It’s one of the go-to moves of corrupt governments that do not want the Church making head-way with the poor in their countries. Pope Francis ran into this himself, as well.

Now, certainly there are Jesuits who support liberation theology, but, most are simply painted with a broad brush to keep the Church at bay in various countries and keep the citizens “in line,” by their self-serving leaders.

In the end, Jesuits are just like any other group within the Church – there are a variety of different members with all sorts of opinions and interests.

I pray that each might be another Jesus among us,
Deacon Christopher
 
The Jesuits are often applauded for defying the “power structure”. But who is applauding? CNN, NYT, etc…in other words, the real power structure.

The causes they support are mainstream in modern American society. The only persecuted groups they support are those with many other supporters.

The genuinely prophetic people in the Church are those affirming truths currently forgotten, or under attack. This includes the Archbishop of Indianapolis, who stood up to the power structure, and its Jesuits.

Priests and laity in the prolife movement would like the media access enjoyed by Fr James Martin. They try to promote the now unfamiliar truths.
 
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There are jesuits supporting prolife, traditional marriage and orthodoxy. In fact, the only local jesuits I know are all like this. There is even one that researchs things against freemasonry.
 
AlbMagno said:
There are jesuits supporting prolife, traditional marriage and orthodoxy. In fact, the only local jesuits I know are all like this. There is even one that researchs things against freemasonry.
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I also have known local Jesuits who are, or were in their lifetime, solidly orthodox and prolife. But within the Jesuits they were marginalized.

One was fired as principal of the Jesuit high school. He took chaplain at various agencies in the community till he went off to the missions. Another was safely tenured in Theology at the local college for decades. But he was isolated there, no Theology teacher hired in recent years publicly expresses views or assigns books anything like his. When he left, the college prolife group disappeared.

Another orthodox Jesuit lacked tenure. He was moved out of teaching and now works at orthodox ministries unrelated to the Jesuits.

Our Jesuit parish priests are great. They are also elderly, and were formed in the Jesuits when the Society and it’s formation process was very different. That mold is broken. (That parish serves the elderly, for the most part, no religious education, or anything like that).

None of the men I described would likely be considered for leadership in the Jesuits today, or anyone like them.
 
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Far too liberal, in my experience with Jesuits in the US. Far too many of them cross the line and put many souls at risk, in my opinion.
Watching Fr Martin’s Twitter feed recently during “pride” month is a good high-profile example.
 
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Pride month? Please tell me a Catholic Priest isn’t advancing the gay cause?
 
That’s messed up. Priests are supposed to be the sons of Mary; not the brothers of perdition.
 
The Jesuits I’m familiar with are as orthodox as ever… they run a university near me that I considered applying to. Good people, lovely order. They get a bad rep because some people think they’re part of some conspiracy, which is frankly ridiculous, in my opinion.
 
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I agree with you however let’s not be so scared stupid as to not criticize the absurdities. Machine gun and hand grenade toting priests more willing to quote Marx than scripture is a bit over the top.
 
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