Doug from Upland will be interviewing David Schippers tonight on Radio FreeRepublic! This is a DON'T MISS SHOW!
Posted on 04/23/2002 4:48:55 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Edited on 04/13/2004 3:29:18 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
One of the nation's most prominent publishers of Roman Catholic literature has been forced into an obscure chaplain's job in Los Angeles after he criticized the University of San Francisco as too liberal and sought to open his own orthodox college.
(Excerpt) Read more at bayarea.com ...
Anyone else familiar with Mary Beth besides me?
That was probably when the Jesuits were still a proud and honorable order. Today they in large part just a bunch of liberals. The exceptions are men like Fr. Fessio and his friends who have tried to fight the growing tide of liberalism in the Jesuit order. But many of those middle aged Jesuits will die of AIDS soon as a result of their lifestyles, so maybe there will be a chance to reclaim the order.
I wasn't sure if that was rhetorical or not, but now that you ask, yes.
She's a terrific spokesman for chastity. And the kids love her!
Doug from Upland will be interviewing David Schippers tonight on Radio FreeRepublic! This is a DON'T MISS SHOW!
A Great (Books) Program Bites the Dust
2001-02-01
The St. Ignatius Institute changed my life. Now it's changing hands. Bad news.
And now, for something completely different. I'd like, for a moment, to discuss university politics.
Specifically, I'd like to discuss the program that changed my life. And I'd like to tell you why its existence is now threatened.
The program is the St. Ignatius Institute (SII) at the University of SanFrancisco (USF). When I first came to the Institute in 1983, I was a 20 yearold "nice Catholic kid" whose idea of living a holy life was avoiding mortal sin and attending Sunday Mass. I had been attending a state school, and itleft me feeling very spiritually hungry. I went to USF looking to fill that hunger.
I found what I was looking for. And so much more. The St. Ignatius Institute was a Catholic Great Books program. Itsfounders had the ingenious idea of taking all of the general educationrequirements of the university, and building them into an integrated,10-credit-hours-a-semester Great Books curriculum. The first semester, we studied the Old Testament, Ancient Greek Literature and Aristotelian logic, reading original texts from the period. As the years went on, we moved through history that way, studying one historical era at a time - examining it through studying its literature, history, philosophy and theology.
And, because the program took the place of our general education units,we had the rest of our course load free to pursue any major offered by the university.
But the Institute was more than an academic program. We lived incommunity, along with other USF students, in the residence halls. We went on retreats. We spent time, outside of class, with the faculty. Many of us attended Mass together every evening. Most important, we formed deep,lasting friendships. Many of my best, most treasured friends today arefriends I met in the St. Ignatius Institute.
The St. Ignatius Institute changed my life in many ways. It taught me to think. It rooted my spiritual life. It gave me the best friends I could ever ask for. But there was another, more concrete impact. In my senioryear, the Institute sponsored a speaker series on chastity. That series absolutely enthralled me, and inspired me to begin speaking on the subjectmyself. But the Institute's role in the genesis of my ministry didn't stop there. John Galten, then the associate director of the Institute, saw myinterest and gave me $100 to buy books on chastity, pointing me toward titleshe knew to be particularly helpful. Those books further sparked my thinkingont he subject, and helped me craft my first talks. If it weren't for thatspeaker series and Mr. Galten's subsequent encouragement, I'd probably be consulting in corporate America today, instead of inspiring kids to livechastity.
And now the threat. Relations between the Institute and the University have been strained for years. USF, like many Catholic schools, is slowly butvery surely slipping into educational and cultural secularism. The Catholic identity of the University is becoming more and more symbolic, less and less tangible. And the presence of a solidly, faithfully Catholic program on that campus seemed to serve as a very uncomfortable reminder of that secular slide. Many seemed to resent the Institute's presence, but the program attracted students - and money - to the university. Recognized nationally and internationally for its academic excellence, the program proved difficultfor University administrators to toy with.
Until now. Enter Stephen Privett, S.J., the new president of the university. After only five months at the helm, he has attacked the St.Ignatius Institute with a very large hatchet. On January 19th, he suddenly-- without warning -- fired Institute director John Galten, who has been withthe program since its inception 25 years ago, along with his associate director John Hamlon. What's more, he did so without consulting the Institue's Advisory Board, or following any established procedures orprotocol for such a drastic move. In a letter to Institute alumni, Fr.Privett assured us that in firing the entire administration, his real intent was to strengthen the program, which he somehow plans to accomplish by replacing two full-time directors with one part-time director, and by "joining" the SII to a little-known Catholic Studies program which has apparently emerged on the campus. The SII faculty, however, see the situation differently. On the day of the firings, six core faculty members-- together representing over 80 years teaching in the Institute -- submitted a letter to the university administration. Noting the administration's attitude of " . . . that liberality which can abide all things butorthodoxy," they made clear their understanding that the university's action" signals clearly that the University administration plans to alter fundamentally the character of the Institute." As a group, they announced their refusal, after the current semester, to teach in the re-modeledInstitute or its surrogates. They see the writing on the wall.
And so a good, strong, thriving program has, for all intents andpurposes, died - the victim of university and ecclesial politics. Its directors are gone. Its core faculty are gone. Whatever the university may say, and whatever future program may bear its name, the St. Ignatius Institute I attended is gone. And it makes me very, very sad. The Institute changed my life, and the lives of hundreds of other young Catholics. Who knows how many more generations this wonderful program could have touched?
We'll never know. But I want to publicly acknowledge the contribution that the St. Ignatius Institute made to my life, and to my ministry. To directors John Galten, Robert Maloney, SJ and Joseph Fessio, SJ; to professors C.M. Buckley, SJ; Dr. Stan Arroyabe; Dr. Erasmo Leiva; Dr. Raymond Dennehy; Mr. John Hamlon and Fr. Tony Mastroeni -- as well as the late Drs. Frank Beech and Theresa Crem; and the late Frs. Francis King, SJ and John Richardson, SJ: You all had a profound impact on my life, and on myministry. You taught me how to think, to question, to seek and to believe. You have, by extension, touched the thousands of lives I have consequentlyreached in my own ministry. The fruits of your work stretch far and wide,through me and through the hundreds of other Institute alumni who are makinga difference in the world. God will surely reward you for that. For more information on the fate of the St. Ignatius Institute, see the Friends of the St. Ignatius Institute web site at http://www.friendsofsii.com.
Amen!
They need to get rid of or change the attitudes of these guys. Too many orders need to be revamped. Some should be just shut down. The Holy Father has his work cut out for him.
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