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Jesuits 1080. Were not the Jesuits the very embodiment of the intolerant moral theology of the Catholic Church? The Jesuits are members of a Religious Order whose members pledge themselves to love Jesus Christ as much as possible, to labor solely in His interests and in order to win as many souls as possible to His service. 1081. Did not Clement XIV suppress the Jesuits because he was so shocked by their crimes, and die shortly afterwards from poison? No. The Jesuits were very active in stemming the tide of the Reformation, and many of the Protestant princes and rulers...

Denver, Colo., Sep 30, 2009 / 03:35 pm (CNA).- Contemporary astrophysics hold the scientific key to prove the existence of God, but unfortunately very few know the scientific facts, said Fr. Robert J. Spitzer, S.J, PhD, during a conference delivered on Sunday at the John Paul II Center for the New Evangelization in Denver, Colorado. The Honolulu-born Jesuit is the past president of Gonzaga University and is also well-known philosopher and physicist who is involved in bringing science and theology together. Fr. Spitzer is currently engaged in an ambitious project to explain the metaphysical consequences of the latest astrophysical discoveries,...

On September 15, 2009, StandForMarriageMaine.com released a television ad which featured Scott Fitzgibbon, a professor at Boston College Law School, arguing in defense of marriage between one man and one woman.  He encouraged Maine voters to vote "yes" on an upcoming ballot referendum which aims to overturn state legislation which legalized homosexual "marriage" last May.Complaints from fellow faculty members at Boston College, a Jesuit-affiliated school, soon began piling up. Merely one day after the ad aired, Boston College Law Dean John Garvey issued a letter to the BC law community, writing, "Several of you have contacted my office to express...

Carlson says he has a duty to speak up in moral conflict By: Derrick Neuner Posted: 8/20/09 It's a new year at Saint Louis University, and along with changes occurring on campus, there has also been a change in the St. Louis Archdiocese. On June 10, after serving four years as bishop of the Diocese of Saginaw, Mich., Archbishop Robert J. Carlson was installed as the head of the St. Louis Catholic Church. As archbishop, Carlson will be responsible for over 550,000 Catholics and he will have a unique chance to interact with one of the nation's oldest and largest...

Father Julio Giulietti, president of Wheeling Jesuit University since 2007, has been fired by the university’s board of trustees, which is composed of fellow Jesuits. “The board's desire to micromanage the university has gotten out of control. They seem to have a poor understanding of the Jesuit education,” said Father Giulietti, who headed the Center for Ignatian Spirituality at Boston College until his assumed the presidency of West Virginia’s sole Catholic university. “We have a large number of freshman coming in this year, higher than expected. Our graduate programs are going gangbusters. There is a greater excitement among the alumni....

Another bishop has declined to attend another graduation ceremony at another Catholic university because of plans to bestow an honorary degree on another pro-choice politician. This time it's New Orleans Catholic Archbishop Alfred Hughes who says he will not attend next month's graduation at Xavier University of Louisiana, which plans to award an honorary degree to Donna Brazile, a Democratic strategist, Louisiana native, Roman Catholic and abortion rights supporter. Hughes is joining in protest a dozen other Roman Catholic bishops who plan to boycott next month's graduation at the University of Notre Dame, which plans to give an honorary degree...

The Galileo affair: history or heroic hagiography? by Thomas Schirrmacher Summary The 17th century controversy between Galileo and the Vatican is examined. Fifteen theses are advanced, with supporting evidence, to show that the Galileo affair cannot serve as an argument for any position on the relation of religion and science. Contrary to legend, both Galileo and the Copernican system were well regarded by church officials. Galileo was the victim of his own arrogance, the envy of his colleagues and the politics of Pope Urban VIII. He was not accused of criticising the Bible, but disobeying a papal decree...

Jesuit theologian Roger Haight, whose writings on Christology, especially in his 1999 book “Jesus: Symbol of God,” led the Vatican to bar him from teaching in Catholic institutions, has received a further punishment: The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) has barred Haight from writing on theology (he may continue a work in progress on Ignatian spirituality) and he is forbidden to teach anywhere, even non-Catholic institutions. That means that at the end of the coming semester Haight, who resides at America House in New York, will stop teaching at Union Theological Seminary in Upper Manhattan.The CDF began...

<p>An economics professor from Loyola University in New Orleans traveled to Baltimore's Loyola last week to give a lecture, and everybody's been apologizing ever since.</p> <p>Everybody, that is, but the professor, Walter Block, who chalks up the flap to political correctness.</p>

Spiritual Exercises Index   The Resurrection of ChristFaith in Our Lord’s resurrection from the dead is also a fact of recorded history. It is part of Catholic catechesis, which I wish to stress during this meditation. In other words, I want to bring out as clearly as I can the importance of explaining the mystery of the Resurrection, so that we in turn can pass on this revealed truth and its implications in the lives of others. Sanctity Through the Spiritual Exercises of St. IgnatiusMy purpose in the present conference is to identify what I call the key features of...

Last week brought a Vatican appointment that didn't exactly cut in the direction of what I call "affirmative orthodoxy," meaning Pope Benedict XVI's strong defense of the faith coupled with a gentle, positive style. Archbishop Raymond Burke, named as prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, instead has a profile as something of a cultural warrior. This week Benedict XVI returned to form, with a nomination to a post arguably more consequential than Burke's. On Wednesday, the pope named Jesuit Fr. Luis Ladaria, a Spaniard, as secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Fait By all accounts, they don't come...

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Robert Gabriel Mugabe once assured Zimbabwe's fleeing whites that "there is a place for you in the sun." Now his own place in the country he has ruled for 28 years is uncertain. Mugabe was born in 1924, the son of a village carpenter in Zvimba, 40 miles west of Zimbabwe's capital Harare. As a child, he tended his grandfather's cattle, fished for bream in muddy water holes, played football and "boxed a lot," as he recalled later. Few blacks at the time learned to write their names. But Mugabe went to school, where he was...

Carl Olson points us to a Catholic Insight article by Russell Shaw called Can the Jesuits Be Saved?. He begins by recounting an incident told him by a friend who attended the screening at a Jesuit university of a video on the life of the Jesuit Superior General Pedro Arrupe (1965-1983). Shaw continues: Questions and discussion followed the video. Someone asked if Father Arrupe would be canonized a saint. According to my friend, the answer was: Not as long as the people currently in charge in Rome are calling the shots. That strikes the authentic Jesuit note of the last...

Last Call for the Society of Jesus – To Obedience The Jesuits elect their new superior general and discuss the reasons for their decline. But the Vatican authorities have already said what they expect from the order: more obedience to the pope, and more fidelity to doctrine by Sandro Magister ROMA, January 11, 2008 – Since the day following the feast of Epiphany, 226 Jesuits from the five continents have been meeting in Rome in a general congregation, the thirty-fifth since Saint Ignatius of Loyola (in the illustration, with pope Paul III) founded the order in 1540. The assembly will...

ROME (AP) - The new leader of the Jesuits met Saturday with Pope Benedict XVI and told him the religious order would study the pontiff's invitation to confirm their «total» adhesion to Catholic teaching, including on divorce, homosexuality and liberation theology. The Jesuits have had a tense relationship with the Vatican on issues of doctrine and obedience. The Vatican occasionally disciplines Jesuit theologians and issues reminders of the their vows of obedience to the pontiff. The Rev. Adolfo Nicolas, a Spanish missionary and theologian with extensive Asian experience who was elected as superior general Jan. 19, had a "warm and...

The name "Adolf" says nothing about his politics, but it dates him as a child of the 1930s -- born before the war that made the name unbestowable. The Jesuits' choice of 71-year-old Adolfo Nicolás as their Superior General is a conscious return to the past -- ironically (yet markedly) more so than was the cardinals' choice of 79-year-old Joseph Ratzinger as Pope in the 2005 conclave. In terms of his theology, the Spanish-born Jesuit came of age in the early 1970s, but his academic pursuits, unlike Ratzinger's, gave way to work in formation and administration, and the theological...

ROME, January 18, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In a letter to the Jesuits, gathered at their 35th General Congregation dated January 10, 2008, Pope Benedict XVI has called on the ancient order which has been rocked by scandal to reaffirm their "total adhesion to Catholic doctrine" mentioning specifically the Church's teachings on "sexual morality".  The letter comes in the wake of the homily given by the Pope's representative at the opening of the Assembly on January 7, which bemoaned the infidelity of some in the order to the teachings of the Church. (see coverage: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2008/jan/08010708.html ) "I heartily hope that...

I was sent these by e-mail from a reader This is the FSSP in a gathering in 2006: This is the 2008 General Congregation of Jesuits in Rome:  

There won't be any white smoke to tell the world he has been elected, but another sort of secret conclave began in Rome on Monday -- to chose the worldwide Jesuit leader who is known as the "the black pope." At Jesuit headquarters a block from the Vatican, 225 delegates from around the world will choose a new superior general to run the largest and perhaps most influential, controversial and prestigious Catholic clerical order.Their leader is traditionally known as "the black pope" because of the color of the simple cassock he wears and because -- like the pope who dresses...

The Irish Jesuits have sold Sacred Heart church in Limerick, a landmark of Catholic architecture, to a developer who plans to convert the building into a health club. The scheme, if it gets the go-ahead from the local authority, will see the church transformed into a day spa featuring a swimming pool, gym and treatment rooms. The nave of the church will become the pool, but the main altar will be carefully preserved and visible behind a glass wall. So the swimming and sweating will take place in a building with that nice old-fashioned Catholic "look" that's so fashionable these...

This is the title of an article in the current issue of Forbes. It is written by John J. Parris: Jesuit Priest and Professor of Bioethics at Boston College. The article starts with a problem. In 1999 a patient was admitted with Lou Gehrig's disease. The patient indicated she should be kept alive until she could no longer enjoy her family. She eventually became unresponsive. Her daughter refused the hospital's wish to terminate life support. A lengthy (10 month) court battle ensued. The daughter opposed but eventually was faced with the hospital taking the position (Court approved) that the daughter...

On Sunday, November 4th, Rev. Thomas Brennan, S.J., revealed publicly to a parish at St. Joseph University in Philadelphia that he was a homosexual. The priest chose to "come out" during a so-called "Diversity Week" allegedly dedicated to honoring Jesuit founder, St. Ignatius Loyola. The following is Fr. Euteneuer's open letter to Fr. Brennan.Dear Father Brennan,Faithful Catholics are so accustomed to being scandalized by Jesuit priests and universities these days that your public announcement of your same sex attraction during the Mass last Sunday does not really surprise any of us. It does, however, increase the indignation that people of...

Gone are the days when Jesuit priests were virile men who fully embraced the Catholic Faith and prayed to be worthy of a martyr's crown. Let's play "compare and contrast", shall we? First, here's a tale from the 1640s in the upstate New York wilderness:He [Fr. Isaac Jogues] did not yet know the cause of his companion's [Rene Goupil] death; but the old man who had caused him to be slain having invited him, some days later, to his cabin, and giving him food, when the Father came to offer the blessing and express the sign of the Cross, that...

A Jesuit Meets Jesus "I baptize you, Alfred Ronald Nemec, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen." With those fateful words, at the tender age of ten days, I was enrolled on the official roster of the Roman Catholic Church. And, according to Catholic doctrine, I was indelibly marked as a child of God. As the son of a devout Catholic mother and a Catholic-convert father, my early training and schooling was centered around the church and Catholic schools. Even with a move from New Jersey to Florida my parents scrimped...

ROMA, April 23, 2007 – In “La Civiltà Cattolica,” the magazine of the Rome Jesuits printed with the prior scrutiny and authorization of the Vatican secretaiat of state, a review has been published that signals the end of a taboo. The taboo is the one that has obliterated from public discussion, for decades, the thought of the most authoritative and erudite representative of criticism of the twentieth century Church in the name of the great Tradition: the Swiss philologist and philosopher Romano Amerio (in the photo), who died in Lugano in 1997, at the age of 92. Amerio, although he...

A fight over using public money for a Catholic university is now before The Missouri Supreme Court. The case involves Saint Louis University, which wants $8 million in public money in the form of tax-increment financing for its new planned basketball arena. But opponents argue that the funding would violate church/state separation provisions in both the U.S. and Missouri constitutions. While school officials say they are not downplaying the university's Jesuit heritage, they've sparked a debate by arguing that Saint Louis University is not controlled by the Jesuits or the Catholic Church.

“Can a man serve God faithfully and posess slaves?” Brother Joseph Mobberly, S.J. asked in his diary in 1818. “Yes,” he answered. “Is it then lawful to keep men in servitude? Yes.” The Jesuits of the Maryland province had always relied on plantations to support their ministries. The estates were extensive, totaling 12,000 acres on four large properties in Southern Prince Georges, Charles and St. Mary’s counties, and two smaller estates on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. In 1634, when the Jesuits arrived in Maryland, Lord Baltimore awarded them quasi-estates in which they were permitted to live off the rent of tenant...

The Jesuits in Guelph, Ont., have a plan that's only going to take them 500 years to complete. The Jesuits are comparing their Old Growth Forest Project to such ambitious schemes as the medieval cathedrals of Europe, the pyramids and the Great Wall of China. The priests are setting aside land for a future forest ? a forest that won't qualify as old growth until a handful of centuries have passed. This forest starts with a web site, www.oldgrowthforest.ca. At the site, people are invited to donate. For every $20 gift the Jesuits will set aside a square metre of...

The superior general of the Jesuits, Dutch Fr Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, has informed members of the Society that he intends to step down in 2008, the year he will turn 80. Catholic News service reports that in a letter sent on Thursday to all members of the Society of Jesus, Fr Kolvenbach said a general congregation to elect his successor and to discuss other important matters would begin on 5 January 2008, in Rome. Each of the 91 Jesuit provinces in the world will hold a provincial congregation by 1 March 1 2007, to prepare for the Rome gathering. While the...

The monument is sponsored by Les Jésuites de Sudbury.'' No service of faith without promotion of justice. No promotion of justice without dialogue with other traditions.'' (34th General Congregation 1995, Society of Jesus)''From the beginning to the end WORKING TOGETHER FOR PEACE'' ALPHA AND OMEGA Peace represented by a dove, a Christian Cross and the symbols in each of the letters A(lpha) and O(mega) represents the 12 current religions. You can visit the monument of peace on the right hand side of the alter where Mass is celebrated on the Grotto Mountain.

'POPE WHO NEVER WAS' SHOWS HOW CLOSE  MAJOR CHANGE CAN COME TO THE PAPACYIt may be just smoke. Or it may be Benedict's first big test. The issue is condoms -- whether the Church can allow them in unusual cases, in order to save lives -- and it was all kick-started by a prominent  Cardinal who many had on their short lists of papal candidates.It showed how close the Church can come to leadership by a pontiff with views at strong variance with current policy.When Time Magazine speculated on a successor to John Paul II, this former archbishop of Milan,...

Pope Reminds Jesuits of Vow of ObediencePope Benedict XVI reminded members of the Jesuit religious order Saturday of their vow of obedience to the pontiff and said their main job was to interact with modern culture. Benedict made the comments following a Mass in St. Peter's Basilica in honor of the Jesuits, who are marking several anniversaries surrounding the founder of the order, St. Ignatius Loyola, and other prominent members. Benedict told the prelates that Loyola was a faithful servant of the church. "And it was from this desire to serve the church in the most useful and efficient way...

NEW YORK, APRIL 11, 2006 (Zenit.org).- A recent "statement of principles" by 55 Catholic Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives has rekindled the debate over the responsibilities of Catholic politicians. The signatories of the letter stated that "we seek the Church's guidance and assistance but believe also in the primacy of conscience." But, according to Jesuit Father Joseph Koterski, professor of philosophy at Fordham University, the Catholic understanding of conscience requires a distinction. The crucial factor is not fidelity to one's chosen moral principles, but rather fidelity to moral principles given to us by God. Father Koterski explained to...

'Black Pope' to stand down By Richard Owen The head of the Jesuits, known as the “Black Pope” because of his black robes, is to step down voluntarily for the first time in the order’s 500-year history. Father Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, a Dutch prelate who has been Jesuit Superior General since 1983, resigned after tensions between the liberal-minded Jesuits and more conservative forces in the Roman Catholic Church. Since the election of Pope Benedict XVI last April a battle has been fought between the Jesuits and the conservative Opus Dei for control of the Vatican’s media operations. The Vatican said that...

Georgetown University was built with a Catholic and Jesuit identity. This bit of information is proudly displayed on the school’s website. But like Bethlehem in Israel, that identity is quickly being lost to a radical strain of Islam, as a counter-terror symposium has been abandoned and a pro-terror conference has been confirmed. Indeed, one of America’s most prestigious universities appears to be under siege. Fearing violent reprisal from militant Muslim members of their student body, the school’s conference center rejected an educational symposium being hosted by America’s Truth Forum (formerly the People’s Truth Forum), a non-partisan, fact-based organization whose sole...

(Reuters) - A leading United States Catholic magazine has apologised to readers after printing an advertisement for a statue of the Virgin Mary covered by a condom, which the Vatican opposes as a form of contraception. America, a weekly run by the Jesuit order of priests, said in its latest issue that it was embarrassed and offended by an apparent prank by a London-based artist offering what he called the "Extra Virgin" statue for sale. A colour photograph showed a statue of Mary, who Catholics believe was a virgin when she gave birth to Jesus, covered from head to toe...

America to publish apology on offensive add for Virgin Mary statue covered with a condomNew York, Dec. 19, 2005 (CNA) - America magazine will publish an apology on Today’s edition about an add for a offensive Virgin Mary statue. The add  which was published in its December 5th edition, was for a “Extra Virgin Mary” statue. It appeared on page 36 of the December 5 edition which displayed a virgin covered with “delicate veil of latex”, in English: a condom.Editor Fr. Christiansen said to CNA he was “deeply offended” by this add. It first appeared in the magazine "because black-and-white...

Vetting advertisements for a magazine is always a little tricky. Editors have a financial responsibility to keep the publication going, and it’s a fairly well-established practice in the trade to accept ads that don’t necessarily match the magazine’s editorial line—I suppose on the principle that if, say, the people at MoveOn.Org somehow believe their money is well spent trawling for converts with an ad in the John Birch Society’s newsletter, it’s not the business of the John Birch Society to correct them. Still, there are limits. Take, for example, the ad on page 36 of the December 5 issue of...

A Jesuit retreat house in Manhasset is hosting a workshop about gay Catholics and the church that had been barred from diocesan property last year by Bishop William Murphy of the Diocese of Rockville Centre. The workshop on building bridges to gay people comes just as the Vatican is about to release a document restating its prohibition barring gay men from the priesthood. Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, the organization leading the workshop, said yesterday that the program does not challenge church orthodoxy. "Our mission is simply to try to help Catholic institutions learn more about the...

SECTION 3RD. OF THE CHARITY OF THE CHRISTIAN IROQUOIS. THIS Queen of virtues has been wonderfully displayed in the person of a poor slave, taken prisoner by the Iroquois from the Chat nation. We shall undoubtedly be touched by the graces that God was pleased to confer upon this captive, and by the singular virtues — and, above all, the charity toward God and her neighbor — that she displayed before the eyes of the savages and the French at La Prairie de la Magdelaine. Here is the narrative: God having permitted that Gentaienton,[11] a village of the Chat Nation,...

Tarrytown, N.Y. (October 6, 2005) - After two years of study by two task forces, the Fordham University Board of Trustees has decided to phase out the operations of Marymount College, concluding in June 2007. No new students will be admitted to the College. "Despite the very best efforts of the faculty, administration and staff, it is no longer academically or financially feasible to continue to operate Marymount College as a separate school within the University," said John N. Tognino, chairman of the Fordham University Board of Trustees. "This was a very difficult decision because we knew how deeply our...

A top Jesuit official has been contacting leaders of the Roman Catholic Church to protest a soon-to-be-released Vatican document that is expected to reinforce the teaching that gays are not welcome in the priesthood. The Rev. Gerald Chojnacki, head of the New York Province of the Society of Jesus, said in a letter to his priests that he was asking bishops to tell Vatican officials who are drafting the policy "of the great harm this will cause many good priests and the Catholic faithful." Chojnacki wrote in the letter, dated Monday, that he had participated in the funerals of several...

On the Sunday after Pope Benedict XVI was elected, I attended Mass at a parish whose pastor I like and respect, even if we have rather different political views. Since it was not my regular parish, I hadn't seen him for a while. So we greeted each other warmly and, in light of our new pope's strongly conservative views, closer to my friend's than mine, I asked him: "Please pray for us liberals." He laughed and assured me that I had nothing to worry about. Pope Benedict was now head of the entire church, he said, and knew he had...

Vatican officials are wondering just how serious a problem they have on their hands with the Society of Jesus in the United States after it was revealed late last week that another official of the Jesuit order was forced to resign for controversial writings. Earlier this month, the Rev. Thomas Reese, editor of America, the Jesuits' flagship magazine, was reassigned after complaints were filed in Rome by U.S. Catholic Church officials over the magazine's content, including articles that called into question Church teachings on homosexuality, same sex unions, and stem cell research. But Reese was reassigned by his superiors only...

Brothers in Christ The vocation to holiness expressed in the life and martyrdom of two Mexican brothers inspires their family today, including a grand knight in Guadalajara April 3 has become an unofficial feast day for Cristóbal Huerta Wilde. On that day, the grand knight of Fray Antonio Alcalde Council 3552 in Guadalajara, Central-South Mexico, remembers in a special way the heroic life and martyrdom of his grandfather, Ezequiel Huerta Gutiérrez. Ezequiel and his brother, Salvador, were executed by a government firing squad April 3, 1927, due to their involvement with the Cristeros, a group of rebels, including hundreds of...

The pope has a friend in local priest, editorConservative Fessio clashed with liberal Jesuits at USF Don Lattin, Chronicle Religion Writer Saturday, May 21, 2005 San Francisco Roman Catholic Archbishop William Levada, tapped last week for one of the most powerful jobs at the Vatican, isn't the only Bay Area priest with friends in high places. A sign above Johnson's desk next to a picture of Pope Benedict reads, "Attention Cafeteria Catholics: The cafeteria is now closed." Fessio spent decades battling progressives at the Jesuit-run USF and the California Province of the Society of Jesus. At the same time, Murphy...

In the Chicago offices of US Catholic, a monthly magazine, the editor held an emergency meeting yesterday with her staff to discuss coverage of controversy. In New York, the editor of the biweekly Commonweal magazine arrived at his office to find a blunt e-mail message from a critic declaring, ''You're next." And at Boston College, the school's president was asked at a faculty lunch to explain whether the ability of professors to question teachings of the Roman Catholic Church is now under threat at the Jesuit university. The announcement Friday that the Rev. Thomas J. Reese, an oft-quoted commentator on...

Jesuit Fr. Thomas J. Reese, editor for the past seven years of America magazine, a premier publication of Catholic thought and opinion, has resigned at the request of his order following years of pressure for his ouster from the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The resignation caps five years of tensions and exchanges among the congregation, which was headed at the time by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, the Jesuits and Reese, according to sources close to the magazine who asked not to be identified. A release from the magazine May 6, which did not...

An American Jesuit who is a frequent television commentator on Roman Catholic issues resigned yesterday under orders from the Vatican as editor of the Catholic magazine America because he had published articles critical of church positions, several Catholic officials in the United States said.

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. 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...