Question on Jesuits

[FullyMT]

Ok...I came back last night from visiting the University of San Francisco. It's a Jesuit College, although the student life tends to be very liberal (despite this fact, I still love the college). A lot of what is focused on is "social justice" and the university does a lot of work in the city to help the homeless, poorly educated, etc. I never really caught onto what would be considered as bad about the Jesuit order in general though...my friend who goes there (a very orthodox, conservative, Catholic) told me that many are very liberal. What does this mean? How can a priest be "liberal" when they are called to obedience to the Church and the Holy Father? Wouldn't our Holy Father Pope John Paul II know about this and call for some type of investigation into this or something if they are "liberal"? Just sorta confused on the topic and religious order in general.

 

[Irenaeus]

Hey my friend, how are you?

Unfortunately the United States is only a small fraction really of the Universal Church, much less in your area. I think the best "Court of Appeal" would be the Archbishop, who would (hopefully) crack down.

Dissent is everywhere. You have some Cities on a Hill like Franciscan, Christendom College and Ave Maria, but a lot of our educational institutions are falling to secular pressure.

If a Priest is "liberal" (by that, we mean, dissenting in a De Fide doctrine, or disobeying a precept of the Church) then all I can say is that he's a scandal to the faithful, a poor witness to Christ, and obscures the message of Christ in the world, which came not only to heal temporal evil, but spiritual evil. Prayer is always a good course of action. Many are losing their faith.

Things are getting better, though...much better than they were.

 

[faerieevaH]

One of the things we should be careful about though is that the word 'liberal' is used for a large area of things and not all of them are what is considered 'liberal' in the bad meaning of the word. Liberal has become a container word that is used by everyone and their cat to refer to whatever they do not agree with. Sometimes the word is justified, but not always so.

 

[Aaron-Aggie]

Full it is key to rember there are many ways to not be in line with the church including those who claim themselfs to be strong holds of orthodox.

My experince of Jesuirts (my old parish was jesurit) was that each is unquie just like every other priest out there

One Father like to sing so much that he was a regular member of the chior when it wasn't his turn to say mass.
Another use to run the seminiar so his personiltiy reflected that postion.
Another was the type that befreinded everyone and had a great desaire to reach every one on a personal level.
Another gained permission from the bishop to "leave" the preist hood.

But I have never knowen a Jesurit or any other priest for that matter that I would belive would opening defiy the request or order of a Supireri, Bishopi or the pope.

Its one thing to discuss if the writen statemnets, policys , or common activtiys of a group are withen the teachings of a church. Its a completly diffrent areana when we begin to sterotype people.

There are pro life democrats and there are pro choice republicians.

 

[Markh]

I heard that the Jesuits debate against the notion of Papal infallibility.

 

[Carrye]

Liberal is a political term, not a specifically religious one. Within the Church there is the range of orthodoxy. Those who tend to hold more progressive ideas are termed 'liberal', while those who hold more old-fashioned ideas, dare I call them that, are termed 'conservative'. The terms can give you a general idea about where a person is at and what he/she may or may not believe, but they aren't exact labels with exact definitions.

And I have to admit that I don't know a lot about the Jesuits over at USF. I know a lot more about the ones on this side of the Bay. But in general, if your prof is an older Jesuit, he'll be rock solid. If he's middle-aged, there's less certainty.

 

[FullyMT]

Thanks for clearing up some of those "misconceptions" for me A-A, I'm well aware that not "all" Jesuits are "liberal". It was just something I had heard that bothered me a tad. And my friend that I said was orthodox, conservative, etc...That is my own opinion, she doesn't say that about herself (although she does claim to be conservative in regard to her stance on abortion and legal issues). As I said, I was just confused on the way the terms may be used and if anybody knew anything in particular.

Hey my friend, how are you?

I'm doing really well! Thanks! I pray you're doing well as well!

Thank you all for your answers!

 

[Maggie893]

A very good friend of mine is a Jesuit novice in the Northwest Province. The novitiate house is in Portland, Oregon. What he has found is that many of the younger Jesuits tend to be "liberal". Let's just say he was one of the few in the house voting Bush. It's been a struggle to some degree for him. Having said that most of the older Jesuits are deeply spiritual, well-educated and dedicated men. Unlike any other order the Jesuits report directly to the Pope through their Superior General. When the Pope says we need a mission here...they go. The major charisms of the Jesuits is social justice and spiritual discernment. As we speak my friend is in a 36 day silent retreat, doing the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius. The Jesuits are one of the largest orders in America and they do amazing missionary work on this continent and off it. So you balance a highly intellectual, sometimes humanistic perspective of some of the priests with the deep spiritual internal discernment and love for the poor.

I will say that every order will have it's strengths and weaknesses. My friend studied within the diocesan model for 7 years prior to this move and although it's hardly perfect....he feels called more clearly here.

If you would like his email I am sure he would gladly help you discern the order and it's scholastica once he's off retreat. Just PM me for the info.

 

[JaneKaty13]

My mom and my dad both went to USF (and I work out at their gym). As a city, San Francisco (where I still live) is very far to the left. If you read my other posts, I'm teased at school for my stance on issues. But I think you'll find that although it is hard to get used to the view, USF is so worth it. I'm even interested in it for college (aside from Boston College and DePaul)...Go for it!

 

[Archbishop 10-K]

I heard that the Jesuits debate against the notion of Papal infallibility.

What's funny is that during the First Vatican Council, the Jesuits championed ultramontanism (the supremacy of the Pope in all matters) and the movement to make papal infallibility into official, written dogma. The Jesuits are caricatured by many fundamentalist Protestants as papal spies, agents, terrorists, invasion armies, etc.

 

[Metanoia02]

What's funny is that during the First Vatican Council, the Jesuits championed ultramontanism (the supremacy of the Pope in all matters) and the movement to make papal infallibility into official, written dogma. The Jesuits are caricatured by many fundamentalist Protestants as papal spies, agents, terrorists, invasion armies, etc.

What is even more ironic is that a number of Jesuits are highly critical of Opus Dei and accuse them of the very same things . You think they would be more sensitive to that type of uncalled for criticism.

 

[Carrye]

I think we need to be careful to qualify some of our statements. As with any order, there is a range of orthodoxy. To say that all Jesuits are this or that is simply inaccurate.

 

[Lifesaver]

The late father Malachi Martin, who used to be an eminent figure when he was alive, was once part of the Jesuit Order, which he left because, according to him, it has completely betrayed its original intentions and nowadays is very disobedient to the Pope.
He tells more about it in his book Jesuits:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/A...95/sr=2-2/ref=pd_ka_b_2_2/104-0183022-4808750

 

[ProCommunioneFacior]

Unfortunately, the colleges that are linked to the Jesuits (ie, Georgetown, Boston College, and USF) are not the bastions of orthodoxy. There are some orthodox faculty at these Universities, however, I would say that they are in the minority.

There are some great Jesuit priests, such as Fr. Mitch Pacwa, but I will say that the Jesuit order, at least in the US, is in need for some correction.

 

[nyj]

I heard that the Jesuits debate against the notion of Papal infallibility.

The Jesuits, otherwise known as the Society of Jesus, founded by St. Ignatious Loyola, were formed with a military-like, disciplinarian background. Loyalty to the Pope and his charisms would be forefront.

It makes me sick when I see people criticizing the entire order, as if any of us are pious enough to judge an entire Order of the Catholic Church. As a matter of fact, if I ever entered the priesthood, my wish would to be either a Jesuit or Dominican.

St. Ignatius Loyola, pray for us.
St. Isaac Jogues and the North American Martyrs, pray for us.
The 300+ Jesuit Martyrs of the 20th Century, pray for us.

 

[ukok]

I've met two Jesuit priest's and benefitted enormously from their teaching RCIA last year....both were incredibly insightful, intelligent and just way off the dial!

Seriously, it appeared to me that they were incredibly sensitive, very deep thinking, spiritually aware and immensely knowledgeable..i was talking to one of them for long after the class had finished..and i could have stayed there for a few hours more...what stimulating and refreshing discussions we had!

God Bless.

 

[ShannonMcCatholic]

But I have never knowen a Jesurit or any other priest for that matter that I would belive would opening defiy the request or order of a Supireri, Bishopi or the pope.

Unfortunately- there are two right here in our little town.....

 

[ZooMom]

Thread closed per OP's request.

 

[Miss Shelby]

Closed at the request of the OP.

 

[Miss Shelby]

LOL... oops. I reopened it.