Posted on 01/07/2008 8:03:28 PM PST by topher
LifeSiteNews.com
Monday January 7, 2008
Top Vatican Cardinal Tells the Jesuits to Clean Up their Act
Repeatedly spoke about his "sorrow and anxiety" at the state of the Jesuit order in terms of infidelity to the teachings of the Church.
By John-Henry Westen
ROME, January 7, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The top Vatican official who deals with religious orders, Cardinal Franc Rode, addressed the 35th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) today. Cardinal Rode who was installed by Pope Benedict XVI as Prefect of the Vatican Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life spoke repeatedly about his "sorrow and anxiety" at the state of the Jesuit order in terms of infidelity to the teachings of the Church.
Cardinal Rode recalled the founder of the Society of Jesus, St. Ignatius and his primary formula for the order: "To serve the Lord and his Spouse the Church under the Roman Pontiff"
"It is with sorrow and anxiety that I see that the sentire cum ecclesia (thinking with the church) of which your founder frequently spoke is diminishing even in some members of religious families," he said.
The once illustrious Jesuits, the great defenders of faith, have over the last 40 years been steeped in dissident controversy. Jesuit priests have featured prominently in the homosexual priest scandal and Jesuit universities and their theologians have been hotbeds of dissent on Church teachings especially those on life and family.
Pope Benedict has put an end to some of the scandal issuing public corrections of several prominent Jesuit theologians. Last year, the editor of the U.S. Jesuit flagship publication 'America', Thomas J. Reese was abruptly resigned after a career of increasing hostility to Church teaching.
The Cardinal's address is being seen by Vatican watchers as another move in the Pope's efforts to restore the order to its former glory.
Later in his address, the Cardinal added, "With sadness and anxiety I also see a growing distancing from the Hierarchy." He explained: "The Ignatian spirituality of apostolic service 'under the Roman Pontiff' does not allow for this separation. In the Constitutions which he left you, Ignatius . . . wrote 'we must always keep our mind prepared and quick to obey' . . . the Hierarchical Church"
Addressing specific areas the Prefect said, "May those who, according to your legislation, have to oversee the doctrine of your magazines and publications do so in the light of and according to the "rules for sentire cum ecclesia", with love and respect."
Cardinal Rode did not content himself with correction but challenged the Jesuits to avant-garde position in the culture war - the very area where there have been so many traitors within the ranks of the Jesuits.
"The Tradition of the Society, from the first beginnings of the Collegio Romano always placed itself at the crossroads between Church and society, between faith and culture, between religion and secularism," said the Cardinal. "Recover these avant-garde positions which are so necessary to transmit the eternal truth to today's world, in today's language. Do not abandon this challenge."
See the full address of Cardinal Rode here:
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2008/jan/080107b.html
See hundreds of related LifeSiteNews.com coverage type in the word "Jesuit" into the LifeSiteNews.com search engine.
(c) Copyright: LifeSiteNews.com. Permission to republish is granted (with limitation*) but acknowledgement of source is *REQUIRED* (use LifeSiteNews.com).
NEWS TIPS to lsn@lifesitenews.com or call toll free 1-866-787-9947.
Donate to LifeSiteNews.com at http://www.lifesite.net/contribute/
I have no doubt he feels genuine sorrow.
I don’t think that’s totally fair. JP Magnus wasn’t the hardline conservative I would have liked him to be, in the end, but he was no liberal either.
JP2 was doing the groundwork that led to the election of Benedict XVI, which would have been unthinkable in the 1980s.
BUMP
There was an article by Benedict Groeschel, I’m afraid I forget where I read it, saying that the lesson of history is that religious orders that are that far gone don’t recover.
Of course Groeschel has taken that advice, as have others.
As you probably know, St. Ignatius puts more than the usual emphasis on the vow of obedience. Regretably, although the good Cardinal speaks well of the retiring General of the order, he seems to have covertly encouraged perversion and dissent. Yet he did so covertly, so it must be hard to justify disobeying him or those he has designated to lead.
As you also know, the Jesuits take a special fourth vow to serve the Pope. But when JP II put the order into receivership and tried to run it directly, the Jesuits refused to cooperate, so he finally backed off. Other than dissolving the order, which was done once before (whether justly or not, who knows?), it’s a very difficult situation.
Certainly the first indicator people will look for is whether they elect a faithful and obedient Jesuit to lead them. Frankly, I doubt that they will.
You can read it both ways. St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Avila reformed the Carmelites, but basically they did so by founding a new order of Discalced Carmelites. There were still Carmelites of the old kind, and they were not reformed.
The same thing with the Benedictines of Cluny. Yes, they were Benedictines, but in practical effect they were a new order of reformed Benedictines.
So, too, Fr. Benedict Groeschel is the founder of the Francisan Friars of the Renewal. Yes, they are Franciscans, but they are also in effect a new order.
You could say the same of the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist.
Probably in a few hundred years the old orders of Benedictines, Franciscans, and Dominicans will have largely died out, but there will be new, reformed orders who will take their places as Benedictines, Franciscans, and Dominicans.
I managed to get on the hook to one of the old orders of Domincan Sisters. They are deeply in debt, their order consists mainly of 90-year-old nuns in what amounts to a nunnery turned nursing facility chronically short of money, always in need of a new furnace or something, basically because all the younger sisters took off and abandoned them. I also happen to donate to the Domican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist. Their problem is that they have an absolute flood of young, smiling, eager postulants, and they keep needing more money to expand their facilities.
The old order sadly dies, the new order takes its place and attracts new postulants. You see it all over the place.
Wow. That’s a very public dressing down.
Great spiritual man. He only woke up at the end of his life to the problems he ignored.
Only at the end of his life. He let years slip away.
Great news, indeed!
B16 is just the exorcist that the Jebbies need right now.
When can we go back to saying mass and quit singing all the time....
&&&
Amen to that, myu FRiend.
Just keep stumbling back — like the rest of us.
From their Mission Statement: “We desire to be a manifestation of the presence of Christ in the world as He continues to live and care for the poorest. We do this through a life of prayer, communal living and free service to the least in society, offering primarily the corporal works of mercy and secondarily, the spiritual works of mercy.”
Visit the MOP web site to learn about what Fr. Ho Lung has done and you will be very impressed, I promise. http://www.missionariesofthepoor.org/
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.