JESUIT EDUCATION DISSED

Colonel Pat Lang (ret) writes a hard nosed blog called Sic Semper Tyrannis, dealing with geopolitical and intelligence affairs. He appears every so often as an expert commentator on TV news programs.

His shtick is military professionalism.

Recently he wrote a little rant about national TV punditocracy “guiding” the political choices of non-coastal Americans.

It seems clear that the "pundits in chief" of American television have in mind to "guide" American voters to the election of a candidate who, in their collective "wisdom," is appropriate to the office of president of the United States.

Lang singled out Tim Russert and Chris Matthews.

It’s short, kind of a toss-off, but it ends with this weird, one-sentence paragraph:

Both Russert and Matthews are products of schooling that should have done better by them.

My guess is that the Jesuits running Holy Cross and John Carroll are proud to have Chris and Tim as alumnae.

Jesuits can teach bright kids how to attain positions of power. How the grads wield their power, whether for good or ill, well, that’s where prayer comes in.

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SYMMETRY

My impression is that these two completely agree on the WHAT.

And that they completely disagree on the WHO.

Anyway, both have their hands in a "something to hide" position.

Models of monarchy, they represent the good old days when men weren’t afraid to dress-up a little.

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DEAD OR BEHIND BARS

America’s most famous Jesuit, Father Donald McGuire, is in federal custody and prosecutors seem disinclined give him bail, they consider him a flight risk.

Does the U.S.A. have an extradition treaty with the Vatican?

McGuire, reportedly, had been an important spiritual advisor to Mother Teresa. Teresa was in the news recently when it was revealed that she didn’t really believe the Christ story stuff, especially transubstantiation.

So, I’m wondering, when these two frauds got together, what the heck did they discuss? I picture them at a table for two in the dining room of some retreat house:

Teresa: Father, I need to tell you something but you have to promise that you won't tell anyone. Ok?

McGuire SJ: Teresa, Of course, this is completely confidential, but I want to make the same request of you. I too want to tell you something that you must never tell anyone. Agreed?

Teresa: Yes, Father. But what could you…

(pause)

McGuire SJ: You first.

Teresa: Father, I know this is terrible, but I really don’t believe in the Blessed Sacrament. When I see the host up there in the monstrance, I want to believe that it’s the body of Christ. But as hard as I try, all I see is a piece of bread.

McGuire SJ: Is that all? Heck, I’m a serial child molester.

[Teresa can’t help but wince slightly.]

[Long awkward silence.]

McGuire: How’s the veal?

Teresa: You want a taste?

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JESUIT CREDIBILITY

The Society of Jesus (Jesuit) is built around “Ignatian Spirituality.” This sounds very esoteric.

Then, we’re told that Ignatian Spirituality is based on writings by Ignatius of Loyola called “The Spiritual Exercises.”

While I’m sure that The Spiritual Exercises contain, like the Bible, many embarrassing passages that are “not to be taken literally,” two leap out at us.

These two passages go to the heart not of Jesuit Spirituality, but of “Jesuit Credibility.”

They show that Jesuit preaching isn’t about truth, it’s about eliciting desired behavior from the masses. Behavior desired by whom? By the Pope, of course.

In the Spiritual Exercises Ignatius tells his followers to lie and sandbag for the Pope.

LYING: I always thought the “black and white” quote was apocryphal, but here it is:

Thirteenth Rule. To be right in everything, we ought always to hold that the white which I see, is black, if the Hierarchical Church so decides it, believing that between Christ our Lord, the Bridegroom, and the Church, His Bride, there is the same Spirit which governs and directs us for the salvation of our souls. Because by the same Spirit and our Lord Who gave the ten Commandments, our holy Mother the Church is directed and governed.

So, Rule 13 states that the Pope can authorize lying, and that the Jesuits ought to repeat the Pope’s lies as if they were true.

SANDBAGGING: In Rules 14 and 15, Ignatius addresses the notion of sharing “too much truth” with the masses. Here the “saint” makes clear that the purpose of talking to the masses is to affect their behavior, NOT to share truth or insight. So, if there is some truth that might affect the masses behavior in a way undesirable to the Pope or to the Pope’s local political allies, don’t reveal this truth to the masses.

Fourteenth Rule. Although there is much truth in the assertion that no one can save himself without being predestined and without having faith and grace; we must be very cautious in the manner of speaking and communicating with others about all these things.

Fifteenth Rule. We ought not, by way of custom, to speak much of predestination; but if in some way and at some times one speaks, let him so speak that the common people may not come into any error, as sometimes happens, saying: Whether I have to be saved or condemned is already determined, and no other thing can now be, through my doing well or ill; and with this, growing lazy, they become negligent in the works which lead to the salvation and the spiritual profit of their souls.

It’s kind of embarrassing for the RCC, the whole issue of predestination. Paul was a firm believer. Makes for a nasty God, creating people bound for hell.

The only solution to the intellectual quagmire of predestination is to give up the notion of hell. God HAS predestined all of us—to heaven!

But no. The RCC has so little confidence in Christ’s message of love it just can’t give up its reliance on fear.

Conclusion:

Q. Based upon the “Spiritual Exercises,” can we believe anything a Jesuit says?

A. No.

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NAZI POPE: MORE MARTYRS, PLEASE

By beatifying hundreds of Francoist thugs, Pope Benedict once again reveals his Nazi roots. The fact that the thugs wore Roman collars makes them saints. Read the appalling CWN story here.

The Pope says all Christians should be ready to suffer martyrdom.

This sounds a little tinny coming from a Pope who once swore personal loyalty to Adolph Hitler. The Pope’s apologists say that Ratzinger wasn’t really a Nazi—he swore the Hitler oath in order to save his own skin.

Also, we should forget that Ratzinger’s Wehrmacht unit shot at Allied pilots over Germany. We are to supposed to believe that Ratzinger didn’t really mean to hurt anyone.

Ratzinger’s response to the most overwhelming evil of our times was to go along with it.

One thing’s for sure: if you’re martyred in your youth, you’ll never grow up to be Pope.

In recent months the Pope has urged European Christians to have more babies. This has so much the flavor of Lebensborn, it now seems completely fair to call Benedict “The Nazi Pope.”

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BROM PLAYS CATCH-UP

San Diego bishop Robert Brom has sent letters, including return addressed donation envelopes, to all parishioners asking for $25M to cover part of the diocese’ priest child sex abuse settlement. (Union-Tribune story here.)

Brom is an embarrassment. He refers to the $183M settlement which he and his diocese had long delayed with bad faith negotiations and fraudulent bankruptcy filings as “compassionate outreach.” Such spin is sin.

Only after the Federal judge threatened to throw out the Church’s bankruptcy claim, and faced with the possibility of Brom himself having to testify under oath, did the diocese agree to pay for the damages suffered by the children it helped to abuse.

Presumably some of the victims and their relatives are still parishioners in the diocese. Will they receive donation requests?

Brom’s request is short sighted.

Why ask for only $25m? That just takes care of the cases settled to date. What about the sex abuse being perpetrated by priests now and in the future?

Why not set up a revolving fund to settle priest sex abuse cases as they occur?

It would be easier for parishioners to finance priest sex abuse on a pay-as-you go basis.

Payouts made immediately would be lower than in cases covered up and allowed to fester. Actuaries could calculate the size of the fund required.

A million a year, two million, whatever it takes, the parishioners would know what it’s costing, and, they wouldn’t have to worry about being walloped by another $183M bombshell.

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GOD AND SANTA

Our received Catholic faith seems to follow a developmental path similar to that of our received belief in Santa Claus.

Not so bad, really. Adolescence is always rough, but overall it's a good thing.

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PRETENDING TO SIN

I have to admit that as an adolescent and young man I did sex things with girlfriends and actually had intercourse with a woman.

Yet I represent myself as a gay man.

This is not such a big deal. Probably lots of gay guys had sex with girls when they were young, some even get married to women before they decide to follow their lust.

But reverse it—say a guy who’s had some youthful sex experiences with other guys, yet represents himself as straight.

I suggest it’s easier for a gay guy to admit he’s had sex with women than for a straight guy to admit he’s has sex with other guys.

Anyway, it’s never good for a man to say, “I am not gay.”

US Senator Larry Craig keeps saying it (to guffaws). Now a Vatican priest is saying the same thing.

It’s Monsignor Tommaso Stenico, videotaped making sexual advances toward a young man.

As the AP (via IHT) story says:

While there have long been allegations of gays in the Roman Catholic priesthood, the Stenico case is unusual because he is a relatively high-ranking Vatican official. Stenico heads an office in the Vatican's Congregation for Clergy — the main Vatican office overseeing all the world's priests.

Monsignor Stenico says he’s not gay—he was pretending to be gay as part of his “research.”

Not the behavior, not the hypocrisy, it’s the sheer stupidity of Monsignor’s explanation that most discredits the Church.

The Vatican ain’t buying it. They shitcanned him.

The story accurately states RCC’s position on gay people.

Vatican teaching holds that gays and lesbians should be treated with compassion and dignity but that homosexual acts are "intrinsically disordered."

I guess one way to express compassion is to tell gays and lesbians that they are “intrinsically disordered.”

Funny, I don’t feel intrinsically disordered. I don’t even feel bad about my sex-with-females episodes.

Every once in a while, when someone indicates they assume I’m straight, I’ll disabuse them. Usually I’ll just say I’m gay.

Sometimes, though, I’ll get all haughty and defensive and declare, “I am NOT straight!”

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WERNICH GETS LIFE; POPE SUPPORTED CRIMES

The upshot of this BBC story is that von Wernich (guilty) is the first of possibly many such Church related cases. According to BBC, the Catholic hierarchy in Argentina all condoned, and some actually participated in the Junta's dirty war.

Is there any reason to believe the Catholic hierarchy in any other part of the world is any better?

Here’s the Pope’s kidnapping-for-Jesus bit:

The most high-profile witness during the three-month trial was the Argentine Nobel Peace prize laureate, Adolfo Perez Esquivel, himself a prisoner under military rule.

He declared in court that he had told Pope John Paul II personally that the military was kidnapping the babies of women prisoners.

"The Pope put down the information I'd given him," he said. "Then he told me: 'You also have to think about the children living in communist countries.'"

So, Pope John Paul II approved kidnapping babies if it’s part of a fight against communism.

I guess if you're pro-capitalist, you just want to canonize that guy.

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HAMMER AND NAILS

Catholic priest, Cristian Von Wernich, according to this story on Latin America Press.Org, has been charged with 80 counts of murder and torture.

Von Wernich was chaplain to a group within Argentina’s military junta and is accused of thorough participation in that regime’s “dirty war.”

Von Wernich was charged in December 2005 after evidence surfaced of human rights violations, but the trial only began in early July of this year, when the prosecutor found there was enough evidence to try him for direct responsibility in seven assassinations, 42 cases of kidnapping and disappearances and 31 counts of torture.

This should come as no surprise to Catholic news followers. Instances of priests and bishops collaborating with totalitarian regimes are plentiful.

In Buenos Aires Father Wernich has found support from two Jesuits.

In June, when Von Wernich’s trial date was announced, Jorge Bergoglio, Buenos Aires” top cardinal, said that the “Church is the subject of persecution.” Bishop Andrés Stanovnik of the northern Chaco province timidly defended the priest: “I’m not going to make any value judgments on a brother. One mustn’t prejudge because Father Von Wernich has only been accused, not convicted.”

So we need a Salesian to express…

“I’ve questioned and I continue to question the Church’s role as an institution, above all in the hierarchy, because it wasn’t able to meet the challenge, which is to say, it wasn’t with the crucified,” said Salesian priest Rubén Capitanio, who testified against Von Wernich. “Von Wernich’s case is more than symbolic, because he put himself on the side of the crucifiers.”

Of course this brings up the deepest of contradictions: Christians sold out to the empire that crucified their savior.

The poor deluded Jews. They thought the Messiah would help them gain enough military power to throw off their oppressors, the Roman Empire.

Little did they know that Jahweh’s intent all along was to join up with the Roman Empire itself. As John the Baptist was to Jesus, so Jesus was to Constantine the Great, paving the way.

Holy Roman Empire. Holy Catholic Church.

So the Jewish people basically performed the role of unpaid surrogate mother--"thanks for giving us Jesus, now take a shower."

That’s the birthright Jacob swindled. Way to go, Jacob!

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--KEEPS ON GIVING

Over at Metrexius Journal, Vas Corp Por describes a boring metaphysics class, his hatred of someone named Plantinga, and Mike Tyson’s fist.

Vas' attention was grabbed when:

Somehow, this branched off into a discussion about sex. Evidently, my poor professor was educated by Jesuits for 8 years, and he claims to be completely incapable of conceiving of sex without guilt. As in, he can't imagine a sex act that doesn't involve guilt somehow, because the bloodsucking Jesuits taught him that even sexual thoughts are sinful. It's objectively wrong, they say. Cripes, that must be awful; I'll take my humanistic moral noncognitivism and guilt-free sex over their "complete metaphysics" any day of the week, thankyouverymuch. Tee hee!

I’m, like, “What he said.”

The title of the post: Gives “Mindfuck” a Whole New Meaning.

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THAT LYING BIBLE

The author of Saint Peter’s Second Epistle was not Saint Peter, at least according to the American Council of Catholic Bishops.

In their introduction to 2Peter in the New American Bible, they state:

Among modern scholars there is wide agreement that 2 Peter is a pseudonymous work, i.e., one written by a later author who attributed it to Peter…

The bishops list numerous reasons why 2Peter could not have been written by the Apostle Peter.

In the first chapter, the author of 2Peter claims to speak with authority because he, the author, was there with Jesus at the “transfiguration” described in Matthew 17.

The epistle-writer says:

16 We did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty.
17 For he received honor and glory from God the Father when that unique declaration came to him from the majestic glory, "This is my Son, my beloved, with whom I am well pleased."
18 We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven while we were with him on the holy mountain.

Clearly, the statements in boldface are outright lies.

That the Catholic Church at some historical point included 2Peter in the official Bible (which is the Word of God) could be seen as some sort of honest mistake.

The Church’s continued inclusion of this bogus, lying document as the word of God hurts the Church’s claim of authenticity, let alone honesty.

2Peter addresses the” scoffers.”

The early Church’s belief that the second coming would happen in their lifetimes was a gigantic misunderstanding. The people, apostles and such, who were actually there, living and traveling and talking with Jesus, completely misunderstood his promise to return soon.

How much else of Jesus’ preaching was misunderstood?

Per the statue pictured above (click on image for source) St Peter had a great physique with a nice net. But he did not write 2Peter.

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BILL OF PARTICULARS

A new conservative blog, Reforming the Jesuits, has emerged.

It’s first post, Why Do You Think the Jesuits Need Reformed [sic], is a nifty bill of particulars, beginning with someone named Bollard who

told interviewers on "60 Minutes" that during his seven years as a Jesuit, at least 12 priests made unwelcome sexual advances and invited him to cruise gay bars.

Presumably Bollard’s complaint to Provincial John Privett, S.J. was that 12 advances in 7 years was too many. Others in formation might find such numbers disappointingly low. It’s difficult to satisfy everyone.

Conservative blogs such as Good/Bad and RtJ provide much fodder for Jesuit Watch.

We all see discrepancies between policy and practice.

As an example, it’s the policy of the RCC and by extension the Jesuits that homosexual acts are sinful, yet, in practice, many Jesuits are actively homosexual.

Conservatives want the Jesuits to change their practices to make them comply with their policy. These folks want the clergy purged of all practicing homosexuals.

Liberals, including this blog, want the Jesuits to bring their policy into conformance with their practice. We want the RCC and by extension the Jesuits to proclaim that gay sex is licit and potentially sacramental.

The church faces danger if it moves in either direction. Thus, the status f*cked-up quo.

Interesting about Reforming the Jesuits is it’s author, Roberto Bellarmino, “Born in 1542 in Montepulciano, Italy.”

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MORE BIBLE BABBLE

SCRIPTURES, n.
The sacred books of our holy religion, as distinguished

from the false and profane writings on which

all other faiths are based.
Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary

A gay softball teammate one time mentioned that he had been a Catholic seminarian. He said it was mostly the stupid internal politics, corruption, and general nastiness that drove him away.

Somehow I mentioned the Bible and he said the seminarians were discouraged from reading it, let alone considering it. The only purpose of the Bible, they were told, was to legitimize the authority of the Roman Catholic Church.

Here in the United States we associate Bible-reading with religious wrongheadedness.

If you open the Bible randomly there’s no telling what kind of garbage you might come up with—snake handling, speaking in tongues, the Fugitive Slave Act, the Second Coming, polygamy, child sacrifice, the list goes on and on.

Take the Fugitive Slave Act (please). Paul’s epistle to Philemon supports what must be God’s law: that runaway slaves should be returned to their masters. Oh, he also says that Philemon should treat the slave well—wink, wink.

(Is there a sex angle here? Did Paul like women at all? Do you suppose he ever really “got it on” with anyone?)

I love the American bishops’ explanation in their New American Bible. Of Paul:

He does not attack slavery directly, for this is something the Christian communities of the first century were in no position to do, and the expectation that Christ would soon come again militated against social reforms.

This might explain the fugitive slave thing but it points out a much more glaring discrepancy: the early church thought that the second coming of Jesus would happen in their lifetime or shortly thereafter.

They thought that Jesus had promised this to them.

They were completely wrong.

As silly as the Millerites.

Was there some miscommunication?

And what about slavery? Was it ok then, but wrong now?

See, kiddies, don’t open the Bible, it will only confuse you.

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CHINA LEADS THE WAY

Two men were ordained bishops in China yesterday. These men were not selected by the pope. According to this CNS story, however, the pope approves:

The Vatican newspaper indicated that both ordinations had been carried out with the approval of Pope Benedict XVI. The local Catholic communities, who elected the bishops, had indicated to the Vatican that they were worthy candidates, the newspaper said.

If Catholic communities in China can elect their own bishops, why not communities in Europe and America, too?

The whole totalitarian, monarchical, hierarchical structure of the church is a little passé. Countries organized that way are called dictatorships.

A true democrat would tell any silk-slippered potentate to kiss his own damn ring.

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KEEP GIVING, FOLKS

As the total US priest sex abuse payouts, cumulative from 1950, pass $2 Billion, we are seeing more and more reports of financial crime within the RCC.

Right wing commentators point to mutual blackmail contributing to the administrative coverup of the priest sex crimes, but the blackmail need not be sexual.

Evidence that a superior has been embezzling could protect a priest sex offender from exposure.

This story from the Darien News-Review is way creepy. Although blackmail isn't mentioned, someone must have known. Lead:

The Rev. Michael Jude Fay, who resigned last year as pastor of St. John's Roman Catholic Church after he allegedly stole at least $1.4 million in parish funds, pleaded guilty yesterday to a federal fraud charge.

Somehow the faithful keep donating. I guess that’s why they’re called “faithful.”

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TSK, TSK

So some Jesuit universities are shilling for student-loan lenders—what’s the big deal? Lots of universities around the nation have been caught doing the same thing. There’s no reason to expect better from the Jesuits, is there?

According to this story in Fairfield University’s student newspaper, the Mirror,

Late this summer, it was reported that Fairfield, as well as two other Connecticut colleges, had an agreement with The College Board, Inc. to make the company one of its preferred loan providers in return for thousands of dollars in software discounts.

This is another example of the cryptic nature of Catholic moral theology. The sum total of the two testaments plus two millenia of explication couldn’t help the padres at Fairfield figure out if bribery was ok. But not to worry:

Though the University admits to no wrongdoing, it agreed to follow a financial aid code of conduct to prevent similar scandals in the future.

Gotta prevent those scandals!

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HEAVENLY BODIES

Admission to one’s eternal reward is instantaneous upon death. One’s soul goes immediately into the presence of God, or to H – E – double hockeysticks.

But wait, there’s more (as if there need be). At the end of the world, our bodies will be resurrected and reunited with our souls and earth will be transformed. We’ll walk around and experience things the way we did in mortal life, except everything will be really, really great. And the people in hell will have physical as well as emotional torment.

So, where exactly is Jesus’ body right now? He ascended, but where? Physical, bodily heaven awaits the end of the world.

And where is Mary’s body. It was “assumed” into… where?

So there are two human bodies floating around up there somewhere, keeping each other company.

Do they long for additional human biomass to join them?

“Selflessness” is a tough little paradox.

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HOLY SONNET XIV

Mr Richard McCurdy, S.J., told our sophomore honor class that Donne’s sonnet, Batter My Heart…, was a little “grown-up” for kids our age, but he thought we could handle it.

Also, since he was teaching it to a senior class at the time, it allowed him to kill two birds with one lesson plan.

I always think of Batter My Heart as a “terrible sonnet.” Then wikipedia reminds me it was Hopkins who wrote the terrible sonnets, although Batter… is every bit as terrible as say, Carrion Comfort.

Actually, some rhythmic riffs in Batter… foretell Hopkins’ sprungness.

Here’s a little scorecard to help tell the two apart.



BTW: According to wikipedia Donne wrote a polemic titled Ignatius and his Cohort which takes place in, and numbers Ignatius Loyola among the residents of, hell.

I wonder what pissed him off.

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SAINTHOOD MATH

Just the mention of Mother Teresa gets this blog’s juices flowing. We agree with Hitchens, et al, that this purported saint was anything but.

Like the witches inside Hans Castorp’s Magic Mountain, her vocation fed on a high birth rate.

Our seating plan for the eternal banquet called “Heaven” has Mother Teresa sharing a table with Pedro Arbues, Paul of Tarsus, and Augustine of Hippo—the “Mirth Group.”

The current press notice of her letters regarding the emptiness of Catholic theology focuses on Teresa’s hypocrisy—she adamantly preached things she didn’t really believe.

The Roman Catholic Church, by contrast, touts her perseverance in performing good works even in the face of dark doubts. This belies, however, the church’s contention that charity is connected to belief in Jesus God.

Let’s do the math:

Accept, for the sake of argument, that Mother Teresa’s public ministry can be called “good works.”

According to her letters, during some time periods of her ministry she had a clear belief in Jesus. During other times she did not have this belief.

Of course we find it despicable that Mother Teresa wanted her letters destroyed.

We at Jesuit Watch consider the experience of emptiness and darkness and meaninglessness as the starting point of adult spirituality, not something to be ashamed of. Sharing such experiences with others is the essence of “church.”

We surmise that for Mother Teresa to express her doubts publicly would have been an awkward career move.

[Note: The second picture is of Olivia Hussey portraying Mother Teresa in an eponymous made-for-TV movie.]

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