Posted on 05/06/2005 3:09:10 PM PDT by ndkos
VATICAN CITY - The editor of the Jesuit weekly America is leaving the magazine after the Vatican received complaints about articles he published on touchy issues such as same-sex marriages and stem cell research, Jesuit officials said Friday. ADVERTISEMENT
The Rev. Thomas J. Reese, a widely respected expert on the Catholic Church and the Vatican who was editor for seven years, is being replaced by his deputy, the Rev. Drew Christiansen, the magazine said in a statement.
Jesuit officials in Rome and the United States, who spoke on condition they not be identified, said some American bishops had contacted the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith about articles in the magazine over the years that had presented both sides of controversies over sensitive church issues.
The Vatican has had a sometimes tense relationship with the Jesuits, some of whose members in the past have questioned papal pronouncements on birth control, priestly celibacy and the ban on women priests.
The magazine had made a point of publishing broad points of view — including some that clashed with church teaching — irking some Catholics in the United States and Rome, the officials said.
Some of the hot-button issues included gay priests, stem-cell research, whether Catholic politicians can be denied communion if they support abortion rights, and same-sex unions.
The magazine also wrote about a Vatican document that outlined the idea that divine truth is most fully revealed in Christianity and the Catholic Church in particular.
The document "Dominus Iesus" was issued in 2000 by the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith — the office that was headed by German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before he became Pope Benedict XVI last month.
Critics complained the document could set back Church efforts to reach out to other Christians and believers outside the Church.
Reese is based in New York where the magazine is edited. He was in Rome for the election of Benedict, who had enforced a hard line on church doctrine and silenced theologians who diverged from it in his 24 years as Pope John Paul II's orthodoxy watchdog.
While in Rome, Reese met with his superior who mentioned there had been complaints about a couple of articles, a Jesuit official in Rome said. The official said Reese had left Rome with the idea he would resign.
Any response to complaints from U.S. bishops or Vatican officials would be made by the Jesuit General in Rome, the Rev. Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, and the 11 Jesuit leaders in the United States.
In the statement from newly named editor Christiansen, he noted that under Reese, the magazine often gave two sides of the debate on sensitive church issues — and that made it more relevant.
"By inviting articles that covered different sides of disputed issues, Father Reese helped make America a forum for intelligent discussion of questions facing the church and the country today," Christiansen said.
When contacted Friday, Reese said only that his tenure ends on June 1 and that he would move immediately to California and continue in his Jesuit ministry. He referred other comment to his news release.
In that release, Reese praised Christiansen, whom he had recruited in 2002.
He said he was "proud of what my colleagues and I did with the magazine, and I am grateful to them, our readers and our benefactors for the support they gave me. I look forward to taking a sabbatical while my provincial (regional boss) and I determine the next phase of my Jesuit ministry."
An official at the Jesuit headquarters in Washington, the Rev. Albert Diulio, said Reese and his provincial supervisor had reached the decision together, and noted that Jesuits tend to rotate jobs every six or seven years.
Diulio said he could not comment on any other reasons behind the change.
An official with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith declined to comment on the matter. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said she had no information.
The Jesuit order founded by St. Ignatius Loyola in 1540 is renowned for its intellectual rigor and its excellent teachers, scholars and scientists. The Vatican has at times taken aim at its independence.
In the most recent publicized incident, John Paul named a temporary replacement to lead the order after the Rev. Pedro Arrupe suffered a crippling stroke in 1981, brushing aside Arrupe's choice for an interim leader in an unprecedented change-of-command.
Arrupe, who died in 1991, had pushed for the church to move for a more socially just world while remaining faithful to papal authority. But during his tenure, some Jesuits especially in the United States and the Netherlands challenged Vatican pronouncements on birth control, priestly celibacy and the ban on women priests.
___
Associated Press writer Frances D'Emilio contributed to this article.
13 Jebbies per province, eh?
Fr. Thomas Reese is an advocate for gay rights, women priests, and is pro-abortion. I hope Reese's replacement will be faithful to the Magisterium.
He was on the air as regularly as McBrien.
Not at it's independence, but at it's willfullness in the matter of teaching ERROR to Catholics all over the world. It was Jesuits who told Teddy Kennedy and John Kerry and their ilk that they could still consider themselves good Catholics by publicly stating that they were 'personally opposed' to abortion all the while supporting it in legislation.
http://www.jesuit.org/sections/default.asp?SECTION_ID=188
The United States Assistancy
Although Jesuits appear, just briefly, in Virginia and Florida in the late 16th and 17th centuries, the United States Assistancy (until recently called the American Assistancy), begins in 1634 with the arrival of Fr. Andrew White on St. Clement's Island in the Potomac River, off the shores of Maryland. The Assistancy today is made up of 10 Provinces comprising the 50 States.
The Jesuits of the United states maintain 70 secondary and primary schools serving 51,346 students staffed by 487 Jesuits, 7 technical institutions served by 4 Jesuits which served 3,131 students, 31 Universities and colleges with a total enrollment of 187,077 students served by 876 Jesuits, and 1 seminary serving 19 students in which 1 Jesuit works. There are 17 social apostolates operated by 39 Jesuits, 138 churches staffed by 307 Jesuits, 31 retreat houses served by 120 Jesuits and 7 spiritual centers served by 21 Jesuits.
A map of the United States shows the locations of the various Provinces in the American Assistancy .
Hmm . . . lots of evangelizing to be done on the Left Coast, I suppose.
I wonder if he'll end up at Loyola or USF. Frightening thoughts indeed.
Don't forget Father Fessio and Cardinal Dulles. There are a few faithful Jesuits out there.
How I wish some of these theologians were actually silenced. Instead they get columns in the New York Times. A priest's superior, whether his bishop or religious superior, can usually order a priest to remain silent on one thing or another. The only time I recall it happening recently was when Rev. James Burtchell(?) was ordered not to talk about the secularization of formerly religious universities both Catholic and Protestant, after he criticized the trend in his _Dying of the Light_. Frankly, such silencing is counterproductive with contemporary dissenting priests, since they won't even obey; only the upright ones would obey such an order.
Now that I think of it, the Jesuit Roger Haight might have been ordered not to teach his theories advanced in his incredibly heretical "Symbol of God" book. Don't remember if this was the case, or if he did in fact obey.
There actually are quite a few faithful Jesusits. My high school alma mater is generally orthodox. But the departure of Reese from America magazine is good news, and a portent of good things to come under Benedict XVI.
Check out this really crappy "poem" from their 2004 poetry contest. I'd post it here, but in addition to exhibiting non-existent writing ability, it also has a bit of discomforting imagery. It's a discredit to poetry in general and anti-war poetry in particular. Needless to say, it took the top prize of $1000(!).
During the conclave, I saw Thomas Reese on (I think) MSNBC as an "analyst". I wanted to whack him upside the head. He is just too smarmy.
It's not the first time I've seen him on television, and not the first time I wished I could whack him upside the head.
""The cafeteria is closed.""
I for one couldn't be happier!
And another one's gone, and another one's gone, and another one bites the dust!
Heck, let's start a notch pole on these kind of "displacements". This is going to be fun it appears.
Papa Ratzi ... the gift that keeps on giving ...
Don't forget Fr. Fessio, too...
"Papa Ratzi ... the gift that keeps on giving ... "
I pray for his health. Four good years of his leadership will do wonders IMHO.
It may. Let's remember the Pope's request at the end of his installation homily: "Pray that I will not flee in fear of the wolves."
(Wouldn't it be great to hear Bush say this?)
bttt
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.