What Religious Orders have a reputation for being "liberal" or "progressive?"

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Dempsey1919

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I ask this because I am discerning a call to the priesthood. I am considering the Society of Jesus or one of the traditional Orders such as the Institute of Christ the King.

I have posted this in the traditional Catholicism forum because I consider myself to be a traditionalist Catholic. With that in mind, I don’t want to join an Order that is classed as “liberal” as “progressive.”

Rightly or wrongly, I generally consider these two words to be synonyms for the word “dissident.” In my experience, this has generally proven to be the case.

Please list any Orders that you consider to be progressive, and please feel free to suggest any other Orders that you like or support.
 
The Jesuits started out very conservative, but then became liberal in the 1960s, in the aftermath of V2. Maryknoll is very left-leaning.
 
the Dominicans tend to be fairly conservative, very orthodox, and very solid; a few can be rather unconventional in their delivery of very orthodox Catholic thought. (Rev. Fr. John Fearon, Rev. Fr. Corapi, and Rev. Fr. Serge Propst, OP, come to mind.)
 
I once heard Fr. Corapi talk about a former order he lived with(which he wouldn’t mention, so as to not defame it). He said that their reverence for the Eucharist was almost completely vacant, including doubt in the Transubstantiation. He said one day he went into the Sacristy, saw crumbs of the Blessed Sacrament, and instead of simply cleaning it up, he went and got candles, and held a Holy Hour. Apparently the head guy was not happy upon finding him. As Fr. Corapi put it, it wasnt long before he and the Order realized they weren’t made for each other.

On a related note, what does anyone know about his current order, the Society of Our Lady of the Holy Trinity? He is my only exposure to them, and I have never heard him talk about them
 
SenorSalsa said:
On a related note, what does anyone know about his current order, the Society of Our Lady of the Holy Trinity? He is my only exposure to them, and I have never heard him talk about them
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I have family over in Wyoming at a parish served by a S.O.L.T. priest, and I have been to a couple of his Masses. He is very orthodox and passionate about church teachings, so, if he and Father Corapi are at all representative of their order, I would certainly recommend it.

I’m surprised nobody has yet mentioned the Legionnaires of Christ or the Transalpine Redomptorists (now that they’re back in communion with Rome) as other examples of good, solid, traditionalist orders.
 
minor detail, but the Transalpine Redemptorists are now The Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer. They had to change their name when the came back to Rome, as they are not technically affliated with the Redemptorists
 
The Society of Jesus, at least in the US, is synonymous with progressivism.

I highly recommend the Norbertine Order- I go to daily mass at a Norbertine parish, and although Novus Ordo we all receive communion at an altar rail and there is Latin sprinkled throughout the Mass.
 
JuanCarlos said:
The Society of Jesus, at least in the US, is synonymous with progressivism.

I highly recommend the Norbertine Order- I go to daily mass at a Norbertine parish, and although Novus Ordo we all receive communion at an altar rail and there is Latin sprinkled throughout the Mass.
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The Norbertines are divided between liberals and more traditional factions. The East Coast group is very liberal and even the Wisconsin group has some funky things about it.
 
Dempsey1919 said:
I ask this because I am discerning a call to the priesthood. I am considering the Society of Jesus or one of the traditional Orders such as the Institute of Christ the King.

I have posted this in the traditional Catholicism forum because I consider myself to be a traditionalist Catholic. With that in mind, I don’t want to join an Order that is classed as “liberal” as “progressive.”

Rightly or wrongly, I generally consider these two words to be synonyms for the word “dissident.” In my experience, this has generally proven to be the case.

Please list any Orders that you consider to be progressive, and please feel free to suggest any other Orders that you like or support.
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Being from the UK you might want to consider the Oratorians. In Toronto they are very Conservative.

There is the FSSP as well and the Marians of Immaculate Conception (Divine Mercy).
 
  1. Go to the website of a diocese.
  2. Click on the men’s religious orders in the diocese.
  3. Go to the websites of the orders. You will get a good sense of the orthodoxy or otherwise of the order from the website.
Go to the remainder of the dioceses and repeat steps 2 and 3. You will now have a short list of orders and you will need to phone and visit those to which you feel attracted.

Good luck. 🙂
 
Get in contact with the Religious houses in the U.K and ask to spend a week end or more there and tell them you are discerning a vocation.

You will soon know who are traditional and who are liberal; I can recommend the Norbetines in Manchester, I spent a day with the Prior when I was in discernement and he was very helpful and recommended that I visit other orders before I made a choice.
 
Aramis:
the Dominicans tend to be fairly conservative, very orthodox, and very solid; a few can be rather unconventional in their delivery of very orthodox Catholic thought. (Rev. Fr. John Fearon, Rev. Fr. Corapi, and Rev. Fr. Serge Propst, OP, come to mind.)
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Mind you the Dominicans in the Netherlands recently came out with a document that suggested numerous grave, diabolical (no this is not too strong a descriptor) heresies. For one…laity can apparently consecrate the Eucharist when no priest is available! :eek:

(Of course the Dutch episcopal conference published an official response to the Domican Province’s heresy). I haven’t heard anything since. My experience with Dominicans here in Canada has been quite good, though I do find the local Dominican parish a little liberal for my tastes, but orthodox teaching wise.
 
To be honest, I would rather not be a priest in my own diocese because it tends to be rather liberal. I want to be involved in a faithful Order connected to a conservative diocese.
 
twf said:
Aramis:
Mind you the Dominicans in the Netherlands recently came out with a document that suggested numerous grave, diabolical (no this is not too strong a descriptor) heresies. For one…laity can apparently consecrate the Eucharist when no priest is available! :eek:

(Of course the Dutch episcopal conference published an official response to the Domican Province’s heresy). I haven’t heard anything since. My experience with Dominicans here in Canada has been quite good, though I do find the local Dominican parish a little liberal for my tastes, but orthodox teaching wise.
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Seems to me that in many cases, the Orders reflect the attitudes of their society/national culture to some degree.

I have found, for example, the the Netherlands as an entity to be extremely liberal; that is reflected in their particular Dominicans (altho’, within the Netherlands, the Dominicans may be perceived as being consevative vis-a-vis Dutch society).

I have also heard the same comparison made about the Dutch Capuchins vs the Capuchins as a whole.
 
GerardP said:
The Norbertines are divided between liberals and more traditional factions. The East Coast group is very liberal and even the Wisconsin group has some funky things about it.
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Interesting. I’m west coast; the Norbertine seminary here is an old Austrian seminary that due to persecution was relocated to the US- all the seminarians are taught the TLM, and all priests are very orthodox.
 
All the Dominicans I’ve known have been from the Western Domincan Priory.

Then again, the Dutch are not noted for orthodoxis nor orthopraxis.
 
All the North American trained Oblates of Mary Immaculate I’ve dealt with are very liberal. As a rule, the Polish ones are more traditionalists – until they’ve spent time in North America.
 
JuanCarlos said:
The Society of Jesus, at least in the US, is synonymous with progressivism.
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What about Father Fessio? The truth is that there are good and bad priests in every order. Find the order whose spirituality you find most compatible with yours, and if you encounter a problem with progressivism, work from the inside to fix it.
 
Fr. Corapi was previously an Oratorian, but left due to liberalism. I would consider the Francisco Friars of the Immaculate. As far as the Jesuits, here is what I think. Here in San Francisco, the Jesuits are very liberal. Orthodox jesuits such as Fr. Cornelius Buckley, Fr. Fessio, etc have been basically banished. I’ve said it many times, if I were born in the '40s, or 30’s, I would join the society. Dempsey1919, message me if you want to here some great stories of my family and the jesuits in the last 50 years.
 
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