The following comes from a November 17 Cardinal Newman Society article by Justin Petrisek:
In an address to U.S. bishops gathered in Baltimore this week, Apostolic Nuncio to the United States Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò called on all Jesuits and their respective schools to show “respect to their great tradition” and take the lead in “re-affirming the Catholic identity of their educational institutions.”
Archbishop Viganò said these educational leaders need to “regain firm command of the helm of their institutions through the storms of the present times,” noting that their actions “must always be set by Christ, never allowing influence and wealth to dictate what might be an improper orientation for a Catholic school or university.”
The archbishop specifically mentioned the founding of Georgetown University in his address, saying that Jesuits there were “meant to build up and preserve genuine Catholic teaching to be infused into the culture of America’s young society.”
But Georgetown has faced numerous concerns over the years about the strength of the University’s Catholic identity. In recent months, the University was linked to Planned Parenthood in a Cardinal Newman Society investigative report, honored abortion advocates, including President Obama, and continues to promote and celebrate LGBTQ events and agendas on campus.
Many of the instances of Catholic identity abuse reported by the Newman Society over the years show a steady trend of Jesuit colleges mired in controversy, including Georgetown, Boston College, Fordham University, Gonzaga University, Marquette University and the University of San Francisco, among others.
Catholic education in the United States has been forced to adapt its strategy with a rapidly changing culture, Archbishop Viganò pointed out.
While Catholic parishes with their own individual schools used to be sufficient for “identity, meaning and nourishment in a new world struggling to come to its own realization,” Catholic education is now confronted with the demands of meeting a new, modern world suffering from weakening Catholic identity.
Fr. Felix Just S.J. is scheduled to speak at Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Newport Beach, Ca. on December 10 th. The talk is billed “What is so special about the Year of Mercy” just like their last talk was billed on Pope Francis by Fr. Heft S. M. The true platform is to push women to be ordained priests, with several audience members setting up the questions for women to be made priests. Fr Felix Just S. J. supports and promotes women ordination and he is local working in the Orange diocese. He is also a regular speaker at the Religious Education Congress in Anaheim.
https://catholicsandheretics.blogspot.com/2010/08/support-for-women-ordination-in-diocese.html
Thanks, Catherine. Examples like this show that no reaffirmation of Catholic identity by Jesuit education is possible without a reaffirmation by the Jesuit order itself.
This is a move long overdue. Loyola High School in Los Angeles was showing signs of taking a turn toward the left while I was a student there (1962 – 1966). They need to maintain their traditions and at this point it’s likely to need to recover them.
Any College or University that does not use the Bible and the “Catechism of the Catholic Church, second edition” (aka CCC; 1997, dark green cover in the USA) as REQUIRED texts for ALL students should not be allowed to call itself “Catholic”.
And should be sued by Parents and Students as being fraudulent. – Taking money (tuition) under false pretenses.
What Catholic identity?
the horse is so far outta the barn – ain’t ever coming back.
move on
You are so right. Catholic education in the USA is a joke.
Not at Thomas Aquinas College, a truly Catholic college in Santa Paula, California, overlooking God’s beautiful countryside, a place of respite and immersion in the classics, dignity and respect for one’s fellow human beings, and a beautiful chapel in which to worship daily. It is academically fulfilling and a wonderful place for young people to become admirable young adults. It is a Godsend. Send your children to Thomas Aquinas College if you can.
Elizabeth Schoos, I would not be so sure that women would be any better.. I have known quite a few women in my time with really rotten behavior, especially the ones who pretend to be another women’s friend while all the time trying to seduce the other women’s husband. So called “Sisterhood” is not all it is cracked up to be.
Awful gutsy on the Nuncio’s part, given the order to which the Pope belongs?
or perhaps a message direct from the Pope?