The Trouble With Jesuits, Part 75

Indianapolis, Ind., Jun 20, 2019 / 01:49 pm (CNA).- The Archdiocese of Indianapolis announced Thursday that a local Jesuit high school will no longer be recognized as a Catholic school, due to a disagreement about the employment of a teacher who attempted to contract a same-sex marriage.
“All those who minister in Catholic educational institutions carry out an important ministry in communicating the fullness of Catholic teaching to students both by word and action inside and outside the classroom,” the archdiocese said in a statement Thursday.

“In the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, every archdiocesan Catholic school and private Catholic school has been instructed to clearly state in its contracts and ministerial job descriptions that all ministers must convey and be supportive of all teachings of the Catholic Church.”

Teachers, the archdiocese said, are classified as ‘ministers’ because “it is their duty and privilege to ensure that students receive instruction in Catholic doctrine and practice. To effectively bear witness to Christ, whether they teach religion or not, all ministers in their professional and private lives must convey and be supportive of Catholic Church teaching.”

Pope Clement XIV lacked "informed Conscience"

“Regrettably, Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School has freely chosen not to enter into such agreements that protect the important ministry of communicating the fullness of Catholic teaching to students. Therefore, Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School will no longer be recognized as a Catholic institution by the Archdiocese of Indianapolis.”

School leaders said that despite the archdiocesan decision, “our identity as a Catholic Jesuit institution remains unchanged,” in a June 20 statement to the school community.

The conflict between the school and the archdiocese began with an archdiocesan request that the contract of a teacher who is in a same-sex marriage not be renewed.

The school became aware of the teacher's same-sex marriage in the summer of 2017, according to a June 20 statement from Fr. Brian Paulson, SJ, head of the Jesuits' Midwest Province. 

Paulson said the archdiocese requested “two years ago that Brebeuf Jesuit not renew this teacher’s contract because this teacher’s marital status does not conform to church doctrine.”
The school leaders wrote that “After long and prayerful consideration, we determined that following the Archdiocese’s directive would not only violate our informed conscience on this particular matter, but also set a concerning precedent for future interference in the school’s operations and other governance matters that Brebeuf Jesuit leadership has historically had the sole right and privilege to address and decide.”

Today in History

On November 27, 1095, Pope Urban II makes perhaps the most influential speech of the Middle Ages, giving rise to the Crusades by calling all Christians in Europe to war against Muslims in order to reclaim the Holy Land, with a cry of “Deus vult!” or “God wills it!”

By the end of the 11th century, the Holy Land—the area now commonly referred to as the Middle East—had become a point of conflict for European Christians. Since the 6th century, Christians frequently made pilgrimages to the birthplace of their religion, but when the Seljuk Turks took control of Jerusalem, Christians were barred from the Holy City. When the Turks then threatened to invade the Byzantine Empire and take Constantinople, Byzantine Emperor Alexius I made a special appeal to Urban for help. This was not the first appeal of its kind, but it came at an important time for Urban. Wanting to reinforce the power of the papacy, Urban seized the opportunity to unite Christian Europe under him as he fought to take back the Holy Land from the Turks.
At the Council of Clermont, in France, at which several hundred clerics and noblemen gathered, Urban delivered a rousing speech summoning rich and poor alike to stop their in-fighting and embark on a righteous war to help their fellow Christians in the East and take back Jerusalem. Urban denigrated the Muslims, exaggerating stories of their anti-Christian acts, and promised absolution and remission of sins for all who died in the service of Christ.
Urban’s war cry caught fire, mobilizing clerics to drum up support throughout Europe for the crusade against the Muslims. All told, between 60,000 and 100,000 people responded to Urban’s call to march on Jerusalem. Not all who responded did so out of piety: European nobles were tempted by the prospect of increased land holdings and riches to be gained from the conquest. These nobles were responsible for the death of a great many innocents both on the way to and in the Holy Land, absorbing the riches and estates of those they conveniently deemed opponents to their cause. Adding to the death toll was the inexperience and lack of discipline of the Christian peasants against the trained, professional armies of the Muslims. As a result, the Christians were initially beaten back, and only through sheer force of numbers were they eventually able to triumph.
Urban died in 1099, two weeks after the fall of Jerusalem but before news of the Christian victory made it back to Europe. His was the first of seven major military campaigns fought over the next two centuries known as the Crusades, the bloody repercussions of which are still felt today. Urban was beatified by the Roman Catholic Church in 1881.

There's Art, and There's ART

In 1692, Pope Urban VIII decided to fix up a little fountain in Rome that provided fresh water to the poor. He died before the renovation started. BUT Pope Clement XII resurrected the project in 1730. The resulting new, improved version was complete in 1762 and looks like this:

Meanwhile...

ROME - The new “Pope Francis Laundry,” which opened in Rome’s Trastevere neighborhood on Monday, represents the latest gift from the pope to the city’s poor and homeless.

A statement from the Office of Papal Charities said the initiative came from Pope Francis’s invitation to show “concrete” acts of mercy, in response to the experience of the Jubilee of Mercy, which ended last year.

The free service will allow the poor - especially those without homes - to wash, dry and iron their clothes in the San Gallicano center run by the Sant’Egidio community, which is headquartered nearby.

We Could Use a Pope Like Clement XIV Right Now

The Pope who banished the Jesuits! Order now!

Order here.

Safe Guard Kevlar Vest Feast of St. Sebastian, January 20

From Butler's Lives if the Saints, a brief synopsis of why I would not cut it as a martyr:

The legend of Sebastian’s death is frightening. Romans, the story goes, tied him naked to a tree and used him as a target for archery practice. Many Renaissance paintings portray this incident. After he was left to die, a widow came to bury him, but she was astonished to discover that somehow breath was still in him. She took him home and tended to his wounds. After his recovery, she pleaded with him to escape the risks of living as a Christian in Rome. Instead, he went to Diocletian and demanded that he stop persecuting Christians. Shocked to discover that the young man had survived the target practice, Diocletian ordered the immediate execution of Sebastian. He was then clubbed to death.

It is also the Feast of St. Fabian. Not to be confused with Fabian, the "Turn Me Loose" guy.

Happy Birthday Pope Paul III

The only Pope (that we know of) who was born in a bissextile year! Pope Paul III was born in 1468 on February 29th.

The good news...

Sublimis Deus [English: The sublime God] (erroneously cited as Sublimus Dei) is a papal bull promulgated by Pope Paul III on June 2, 1537, which forbids the enslavement of the indigenous peoples of the Americas (called Indians of the West and the South) and all other people.

The not-so-good news...

In 1540, the Church officially recognized the young society forming about Ignatius of Loyola, the Society of Jesus (JESUITS!).

It's All True, EXCEPT for the Made Up Parts

The other day Pope Francis, in the infamous post-Mexico airplane presser, said:
  

Paolo VI – il grande! – in una situazione difficile, in Africa, ha permesso alle suore di usare gli anticoncezionali per i casi di violenza. … Paul VI – the great one! – in a difficult situation in Africa, permitted sisters to use contraceptives for cases of violenze.

 Apparently the roots of this rumor goes to an article in a Roman paper.

 Long and verbose story short, in that article Palazzini and Lambruschini explore a possible application of the “principle of the double effect” to the case of rape, where a legitimate end is pursued and the probable evil consequence is unintended.

Fr. Hurth attempts an elaboration of Aquinas’ concept of genus moris and genus naturae where the moral status of an act can be different depending on its spiritual and physical characteristics. In fairness, I’ll note that, back then, chemical contraception was relatively new a subject. Tonsured moralists were unlikely to be all that familiar with the science and the physiology involved and it will take 1968 to hear an authoritative pronouncement on this specific subject, the reviled Humanae Vitae. And it came from that same Paul VI who is said to have allowed contraception, if only by way of exception.

That’s all.

No, really, there is nothing else.

The opinion of three moralists on a magazine, attempting to offer, I repeat, an opinion on a complex matter, gets quoted loosely and ad nauseam by other moralists and journalists and becomes “Rome” and later “Paul VI”.
They will tell you that that article legitimized the concept of “lesser evil”. Leaving aside the fact that we can never choose evil, no matter the scale of it, the fact is that in 1957 Palazzini had co-edited a widely used manual where the following is said (I quote a 1962 English edition of this manual):

“To choose the lesser of two evils is permissible if the lesser evil is not in itself a moral evil (sin), but a purely physical evil or the omission of something good or indifferent, from which in a specific case an accidental bad effect will follow, less serious, however, than that which another course would provoke” (Ludovico Bender OP, in Dictionary of Moral Theology, Ed. Roberti, Francesco, Palazzini Pietro. Transl. by H. Yannone. Westminster, MD: Newman, 1962).

Now, I am no moral theologian but contraception is in fact a moral evil in itself (see Humanae Vitae 16) and not a “purely physical evil”, much less “something good or indifferent”. Case closed.

Did you know he is a Jesuit?

Prince Albert and Princess Charlene and the Priviledge of White

Prince Albert and Princess Charlene

Yesterday was the Feast of St. Devota, who I never heard of but is the Patroness of Monaco. The King and the Queen burn a boat for the occasion.

Wikipedia explains (and FYI - she isn't mentioned in the Catholic Encyclopedia):


Her cult became important to Monaco and the Grimaldis. Since 1874 it has been the custom that on the evening before her feast day a symbolic fishing boat is brought in procession into Port-Hercule and set alight outside the Église Sainte Dévote. This is followed by a fireworks display that lights up Port-Hercule.


On January 27, Mass is celebrated in the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception attended by HSH Prince Albert II and HSH Princess Charlene. It is followed by a Solemn Procession of the Relics, to request protection for the Royal Family and the Principality. Receptions in the Monte Carlo Opera House also take place.Albert II, Prince of Monaco participated in this ceremony. 

 OK. HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!

The Cathedral in Monaco is named after St. Nicholas. I know, because I've been in it. It's where Grace Kelly is buried.

Also in attendance was the new Princess of Monaco, the fabulous Princess Charlene. She and the Prince met with the Pope three weeks ago...and Princess Charlene wore WHITE!

Le privilège du blanc ("the privilege of the white") is a French term used for a tradition whereby certain designated Catholic queens and princesses are permitted to wear a white dress and white mantilla during an audience with the Pope .

The Prefecture of the Pontifical Household sometimes issues special instructions when the privilege may be used, such as during papal audience or Masses at the beginning of a pope's reign.
A Catholic princess or queen retains the privilege at the discretion of the Pope, by which she remains a Catholic in good public standing; or married to another Catholic monarch, or simply granted by the Pope at his dispensation. A Catholic royal may also choose to freely exercise the privilege depending on the importance of occasion, and does not negate her privilege should she choose to wear black at certain points of Papal audiences.


As of 2015, the following women are eligible for the privilege:

•  HM Queen Sofia of Spain (from her husband's accession in 1975)
•  HM Queen Paola of the Belgians (from her husband's accession in 1993)
•  HRH The Grand Duchess of Luxembourg (from her husband's accession in 2000)
• HSH Princess Charlene of Monaco (since 2013)
• HM The Queen of the Belgians (from her husband's accession in 2013)
• HM The Queen of Spain (from her husband's accession in 2014)
•  HRH The Princess of Naples
  

Put Down the Book and Back Away....

A  complete play by William Shakespeare will performed on Vatican territory for the first time in April, according to Nigel Baker, the United Kingdom’s ambassador to the Holy See

In commemoration of the fourth centenary of the playwright’s death, Shakespeare’s Globe will perform Hamlet at the Palazzo della Cancelleria.

Writing in L’Osservatore Romano, the ambassador recalled an embarrassing incident in 1964 in which the Royal Shakespeare Company asked Blessed Paul VI to bless a copy of the First Folio of Shakespeare’s plays. The Pope, misunderstanding the request, took the folio in his hands and thanked the Company for the gift.

Thanks for the book!

 
 " It is not recorded how the First Folio was extracted back from the Pope,” wrote Baker. “Perhaps my then predecessor, the then British Minister to the Holy See Sir Peter Scarlett, had to exercise some of his well-honed diplomatic skills.”

 

Islamic Outreach, Part LXIX

From an earlier post on this blog:

Pope Francis spoke to the diplomatic corps and amongst other things, said, "Hence it is important to intensify dialogue among the various religions, and I am thinking particularly of dialogue with Islam."

The response:

You must say with a sincere heart: ‘We will be your subjects; we will give you our strength’. You must in person come with your kings, all together, without exception, to render us service and pay us homage. Only then will we acknowledge your submission.
And if you don’t observe God’s command, and if you ignore my command, I shall know you as my enemy. Likewise I shall make you understand. If you do otherwise, God knows what I know!
Now you should say with a sincere heart: ‘I will submit and serve you and Thou thyself, at the head of all the Princes, come at once to serve and wait upon us! At that time I shall recognize your submission.

HA! Just kidding! That's what Guyuk Khan wrote to Pope Innocent IV in 1246 when the Pope asked the Great Khan to stop killing so many people.

.

Leonine Prayer

The Leonine Prayers are a set of prayers that from 1884 to early 1965 were prescribed for recitation by the priest and the people after Low Mass but not as part of Mass itself. Hence they were commonly called Prayers after Mass.
The name "Leonine" derived from the fact that they were initially introduced by Pope Leo XIII.  They were slightly modified under Pope Pius X.

Pope Leo XIII

The intention for which the prayers were offered changed over time. Originally they were offered for the defence of the temporal sovereignty of the Holy See. After this problem was settled with the Lateran Treaty of 1929, Pope Pius XI ordered them to be said for the restoration to the people of Russia of tranquillity and freedom to profess the Catholic faith. This gave rise to the unofficial use of the name "Prayers for the Conversion of Russia" for the prayers.
The final form of the Leonine Prayers consisted of three Ave Marias, a Salve Regina, followed by a versicle and response, a prayer for the conversion of sinners and the liberty and exaltation of the Catholic Church, and a prayer to St. Micheal the Archangel. Pope Pius X permitted the addition of the invocation "Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us", repeated three times.

Father Z recommends bringing it back:

In these USA, I would like to see the American Bishops promote the Leonine Prayers during this time when true marriage is under attack. Since the SCOTUS decision Obergefell v. Hodges has changed the laws of the lands, many enemies of the laws of nature and of nature’s God are going to try to force Catholics to violate their consciences. Secularists and their liberal catholic bed-partners will work relentlessly to drive faithful Catholic voices from the public square.
Think about it:

O God, our refuge and our strength, look down with mercy upon the people who cry to Thee; and by the intercession of the glorious and immaculate Virgin Mary, Mother of God, of Saint Joseph her spouse, of the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and of all the saints, in Thy mercy and goodness hear our prayers for the conversion of sinners, and for the liberty and exaltation of Holy Mother Church.

There are some variations of translations, but … I ask you: Is that not a great and appropriate prayer for the challenges we are facing right now?

A Rose By Any Other Name

From Taylor Marshall:

On January 2 AD 533, a priest of Rome named Mercurius was elected as the Pope. He felt, however, that it would be unbecoming of the Holy See to have a Pope named after a Roman god “Mercury.” It would sound strange to Roman ears. Think of saying something like “Pope Jupiter” or “Pope Neptune.” So this priest opted not to be called “Pope Mercury” and instead changed his name when he became Pope.
Not all Popes after Mercury chose new names. However, those with extremely non-Roman names (think Germanic Popes) often chose Roman names assimilate into their Roman context. Pope Adalbert just sounds wrong.
Mercury chose the name “John” to honor his papal predecessor Pope John I who died in AD 526. Incidentally, Pope Saint John I was the first Pope to visit Constantinople while serving as Pope.
Pope John II (Mercury) is notable in Church History because obtained from the Emperor Justinian his orthodox profession of the Catholic Faith and his repudiation of the Monophysite heresy.

• Fun Fact #1: The last pope to use his personal baptismal name was Pope Marcellus II in 1555.
  Fun Fact #2: There hadn’t been a new Papal name since AD 913 until Pope Francis! Before Pope Francis, Popes always chose names from the recycled list of previous Papal names. I supposed that “John Paul” is technically a new name, but it’s also a compound name of two previously uses Papal names.

Catholic Cruella DeVille

Father Z. visited the Galleries of the Palace of the Doria Pamphilij where he came across this bust of Olimpia Maidalchini...

Olimpia Maidalchini

She sounds like quite a character.

When you go to the Gallery, don’t miss learning about this one.  Donna Olimpia.  She must have been a fright to live with.  At one point she talked Innocent X, her brother in law, out of the licenses for the brothels in Rome, arguing that it wasn’t right for the Holy See to have them.  She immediately took the income and put the family crest over the doors.  At one point she locked the Pope in his room.  Interesting.

Here's what Wikipedia has to say:
 
Maidalchini's reputation can be seen in her unflattering bust by Alessandro Algardi (circa 1650), currently in the Doria Pamphili Gallery. Maidalchini was notorious for guarding access to Innocent X, and utilizing it to her own financial benefit. Her wired widow's hood in the bust was interpreted by Ann Sutherland as a jab at the fact that neither Maidalchini nor her family provided for the burial of Innocent X after his death in 1655, which was paid for by Innocent X's former butler.
Eleanor Herman says that Olimpia locked the Pope alone in his chamber on the night from 26 to 27 December and she went to her palace in fear that the Pope died that night and that her palace was sacked and burned. The morning of the 27th, she was barred access to Innocent X's chamber, much to her chagrin since she was expecting to steal the two chests full of gold that were hidden under Innocent's bed. Right after Innocent's body was removed on 29 December, she entered the chamber, removed the chests, and then ran to her palace to lock herself in fear of what angry mobs could do to her. Olimpia, and many other people, removed papal treasures from the papal palace during the convalescence of Innocent, to the point where he died in absolute poverty since everything had already been stolen from him by his last days of life^. Olimpia allowed the pontiff's body to stay unburied for three days, and to be buried in "the simplest of forms imaginable". claiming that she was a poor widow that couldn't arrange a proper burial^.

The Trouble With Jesuits, Part 28

Proof that I am RIGHT.

Two articles, one in First Things, the other in The Atlantic. The First Things article is in response to The Atlantic one, entitled "The New brand of Jesuit Universities".

As Jones points out in her article, Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Missouri has removed “Jesuit” from the university tagline, while Denver’s Regis University actually hides its Catholic affiliation.

“We hide the word ‘Catholic’ from prospective students,” said Traci McBee, who helps oversee fundraising efforts at Regis University. “We focus on the Jesuit piece rather than the Catholic piece. We’re able to transform a little quicker because we are not waiting for the archbishop to give us permission. We don’t have to ask the Pope when we want to make changes.”

Just as I suspected. The "Jesuit piece" is more important than the "Catholic piece".

Where's Pope Clement XIV when you need him?

Pope Clement XIV

One of These Things is Not Like the Other

Saint John Paul II,  Pope

Benedict XVI, Pope

 

Francis, Maitre d', signals he needs a table for four

The Trouble With Jesuits, Part 26

A really interesting article in "First Things" about the vaccination of children. It appears that some articles are quoting Father Richard McCormack, S.J. (he is referred to as a "moral theologian" in the article, but other sites call him the "NOTED moral Theologian"). To wit:

In the words of moral theologian Fr. Richard M.Cormack, SJ (1922–2000):

In 1829 Leo XII declared, “Whoever allows himself to be vaccinated ceases to be a child of God. Smallpox is a judgment of God, the vaccination is a challenge toward heaven.”

Pope Leo XII

 This alleged statement was often used to ridicule the Holy See and Catholic faith. It “proved” that Catholics did not use reason but blind faith and trusted rather divine providence than their intellect. Just like papacy rejected the unification of Italy and acted “irrationally,” so it had (according to Godkin) denounced all progress.
How could a man like Leo XII, after successful inoculations in Europe, America, Africa, and Asia, really reject a treatment that saved innumerable lives?
He didn’t. The whole “announcement” was made up to discredit Leo XII. A black legend was born. Later, when pressured to present evidence, some historians tried to justify the forgery by suggesting that Leo XII had perhaps said something of the sort as Cardinal, and thus before his election, but could again not produce the actual source of the statement.

Shut Up, He Explained

Huh? From the New Liturgical Movement:

Translation of the Italian:
 

The fourth Sunday of Lent, John XXIII was once again among the crowd, at Ostia. (about 15 miles to the south-west of Rome.) Thousands of people were waiting for him along the street, in the piazza, in the church. They wanted to see him, to applaud him. They did not know that afterwards, he would rebuke them, in a good-natured way, in his simple , spontaneous, familiar way of speaking.
“I am very glad to have come here. But if I must express a wish, it is that in church you not shout out, that you not clap your hands, and that you not greet even the Pope, because ‘templum Dei, templum Dei.’ (‘The temple of God is the temple of God.’)
Now, if you are pleased to be in this beautiful church, you must know that the Pope is also pleased to see his children. But as soon as he sees his good children, he certainly does not clap his hands in their faces. And the one who stands before you is the Successor of St. Peter.”

They Probably Disagreed About the Refreshments

Pope Benedict is a beer guy, Francis is a wine guy.

From the Associated Press:

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican says it is unlikely that Pope Francis and his predecessor, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, would get together to watch their home teams in the World Cup final on Sunday.
Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said Thursday that the hour of the final is late for Francis’ routine, and acknowledged with a chuckle that Benedict wasn’t known as an avid sports fan. Still, he didn’t rule anything out, saying, “we’ll see in the coming days.”
Pope Francis has already given his word that there would be no papal intervention in Argentina’s fortunes, promising he wouldn’t pray for any team. German-born Benedict’s interests are known to lean more toward intellectual than athletic pursuits.
Lombardi said “both would want the better team to win, without taking sides.”

Jus Exclusivae

Yesterday was the Feast of Pope St Pius X, and reading about him I learned what jus exclusivae means, or meant.

Guiseppe Melchiorre Sarto was born in the Kingdom of Lombardy - Venetia in the Austrian Empire (although it's now part of Italy). His father may have been a Polish immigrant but his official Vatican biography doesn't mention it. Anyway, he was ordained a priest in 1858 and a Cardinal in 1893. In 1903, Pope Leo XIII died. The favorite to succeed him was his secretary, Cardinal Mariano Rampolla. From Wikipedia:

"On the first ballot, Rampolla received 24 votes, Gotti had 17 votes, and Sarto five votes. On the second ballot, Rampolla had gained five votes, as did Sarto. The next day, it seemed that Rampolla would be elected. However, the veto (jus exclusivae) against Rampolla's nomination, by Polish Cardinal Jan Puzyna de Kosielsko from Krakow in the name of Emperor Franz Joseph (1848–1916) of Austria - Hungary, was proclaimed. Many in the conclave, including Rampolla, protested the veto, and it was even suggested that he be elected pope despite the veto.

On the following morning, the fifth vote of the conclave was taken, and the count had Rampolla with 10 votes, Gotti with two votes, and Sarto with 50 votes. Thus, on 4 August 1903, Cardinal Sarto was elected to the pontificate. This marked the last time a veto would be exercised by a Catholic monarch in the proceedings of the conclave."

The Catholic Encyclopedia defines jus exclusiae as:

" The alleged competence of the more important Catholic countries, Austria, France, and Spain  to indicate to their respective cardinal protector or cardinal procurator, those members of the Sacred College who were personæ minus gratæ, so that, if there was a possibility of one of these becoming  pope the authorized cardinal might, before the decisive ballot, give his veto, in the name of his government, against such election."

Three other things about Pope Pius X...

1) "He was also on one occasion chided by Rome's social leaders for refusing to make his (Pius X's) peasant sisters papal countesses, to which he responded 'I have made them sisters of the pope; what more can I do for them?'

2) He was the last Pope without a Doctorate.

3) He is the Patron of the Diocese of Cape Girardeau.

What Do the Two Newest Saints Have in Common?

They both were Time Magazine's Man of the Year.

Pope John XXIII (1962)                 Pope John Paul II (1994)