Catholic University Extols Pro-Abortion Alumnus Nancy Pelosi

Note: "Pro-abortion" doesn't even begin to express the anti-Catholic and pagan "values" of Speaker Pelosi. There is nothing suitable about her public persona from a Catholic perspective. If there are any alumni of Trinity who still remember with any fondness their authentic Catholic upbringing or their conversion to the faith, they really need to express outrage about this sacrilege. The leaders of Trinity now join the club of Ivory Tower Heretics.

Catholic University Extols Pro-Abortion Alumnus Nancy Pelosi

WASHINGTON, January 30, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Despite its Catholic mission, Trinity University in Washington, D.C., continues to extol two of its pro-abortion alumnae, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius. Both public officials identify themselves as Catholics, but reject Catholic teaching on serious moral issues.

"It runs contrary to the very purpose of a Catholic university to applaud the pursuit of power for gravely immoral ends," said Patrick J. Reilly, President of The Cardinal Newman Society. "By deliberately associating itself with vocal advocates of what Pope John Paul II called a 'Culture of Death,' Trinity University has taken the low road."

Featured on Trinity's website is an announcement of Sebelius's Democratic response to President Bush's State of the Union address on Monday - which Trinity President Patricia McGuire attended as Pelosi's special guest. Also posted are an alumni magazine profile of Sebelius, a 2006 news release announcing her selection as head of the Democratic Governors Association, and a news release on TIME Magazine naming her a top governor.

But nowhere on the Trinity website is Sebelius's support for abortion mentioned. Instead, the site quotes Pelosi, who claims Sebelius "epitomizes the leadership that is moving America in a New Direction." The site links to a "blog" on which McGuire praises Sebelius as "an amazing political leader" who "has been able to build bipartisan coalitions around issues of importance to people in Kansas" - but not including the defense of innocent human life.

In 2003, Trinity honored Pelosi and Sebelius with honorary doctorates at a gala dinner. In November 2006, Trinity hailed the reelections of both women to their posts. In January 2007, Trinity again hailed Pelosi's selection as House Speaker with a press release. Then Trinity endured a barrage of criticism from The Cardinal Newman Society and other concerned Catholics when it hosted a special Mass for Pelosi on January 3, the day before she was sworn in as Speaker.

Worse still, the celebrant of the Mass requested by Pelosi was Jesuit Father Robert Drinan, a former member of Congress who had supported abortion rights and publicly defended President Bill Clinton's veto of a bill to ban partial-birth abortion. In his homily, Father Drinan had the audacity to recall "Christ's personal love of children and His affirmation that 'whatsoever you do for the least of My brethren you do for Me.'" When Father Drinan died three weeks later, Trinity posted a tribute to him.

Of Sebelius's pro-abortion views, Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City said in September 2006, "It is difficult to find a single instance, either in a procedural or substantive vote, where she acted in a manner that would afford unborn children the maximum protection. ...Sebelius voted to weaken or eliminate even such modest measures as parental notification, waiting periods and informed consent." He spoke on the occasion of her veto of a bill banning certain late-term abortions.

To express concerns contact:
Trinity
125 Michigan Ave. NE
Washington, DC 20017
202-884-9000
webmaster@trinitydc.edu

Free Speech Not So Free at DePaul U

From: "DePaul's "1984" Moment"

By Nicholas G. Hahn III
FrontPageMagazine.com 1/29/2008

If you were to tour DePaul University's campus asking students about free speech, you would notice the hesitation in their answers. For the past couple of years, the DePaul administration has earned a reputation as a foe of controversial ideas, especially those that offend or challenge the status quo. This has tarnished DePaul's academic standing as a quality institution. To remedy this problem, President Rev. Dennis Holtschneider created a Free Speech and Expression Task Force and charged it with creating a policy for free speech that would hopefully rebuff any claims that DePaul isn't a friend of the free marketplace of ideas.

A university, in other words, should make everyone feel
as comfortable as possible, perhaps a return to the Haight-Ashbury experience
these professors miss dearly–-no disagreement, no argument, no reasoning, no
thinking, no responsibility. Their concept of "free speech" is meant to “protect
those without power.” This model of free speech, of course, is not free at all.
It is an ideological weapon which is regularly used to further the diversity
agenda. A model of "free speech" which involves controlling speech in order to
correct perceived injustices of the past is Orwellian to say the least.

As soon as my article appeared, the Diversity Council held a meeting with the president of the University and the Task Force. They demanded that something be done about the troublemaker, namely me. I pointed out that there had been no confidentiality agreement and the Guiding Principles had already been released. But they argued that members would no longer feel comfortable participating out of fear that whatever they say may be published. It was apparently inappropriate for me to hold these individuals accountable for their ideas. I could have been given a warning not to publish anything in the future without consent of the Task Force, which would have protected their sensibilities. But just as the race card helped to derail the Guiding Principles themselves, so now it sealed my fate. I ought to be ashamed, they told me, because the members of the Task Force named in my article were people of color. In other words, people of color are above criticism and my concern for free speech and the betrayal of its principles was essentially racist.

For President Holtschneider this was all he needed to hear. Each and every time an incident like this occurs, the administration buckles to the pressure of the diversity agenda; this time was no exception. Under apparent duress from the Diversity Council, I was informed that I would no longer be welcome on the Free Speech and Expression Task Force. So much for free speech.

Read the whole article here

"More On" St. Louis U and Rick Majerus from LifeNews

St. Louis University Basketball Coach Responds to Abortion Comment Fallout

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com EditorJanuary 24, 2008

St. Louis, MO (LifeNews.com) -- The coach of the St. Louis University basketball team says he's shocked at the national attention he's received for the pro-abortion comments he made at a rally for pro-abortion presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Rick Majerus has come under fire from Catholic officials for defying the Church's pro-life views.

"I'm pro-choice personally. I believe that's the province of being a woman," Majerus said earlier this week about his position in favor of abortion.

Saint Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke condemned the comments and said Majerus is doing the Catholic university a disservice by speaking out against a prominent Catholic teaching.

Majerus told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Thursday that he can't believe the
condemnation he's received, including Burke's saying he should be denied
communion.

"I'm very respectful to the archbishop, but I rely on my value
judgments, thanks to my education at Marquette, which is a Jesuit institution,
just like St. Louis," he said.

"That Jesuit education led me to believe that I can make a value
judgment. And my value judgment happens to differ from the archbishop's,"
Majerus told the newspaper.

"I do not speak for the university or the Catholic Church. These
are my personal views. And I'm not letting him change my mind," he added.

Burke has said the university should discipline Majerus, but college officials have said he isn't speaking for the educational institution and that his views are his own.

"It's not possible to be a Catholic and hold those positions,""Burke said after hearing what Majerus said.

"When you take a position in a Catholic university, you don't have to embrace everything the Catholic church teaches. But you can't make statements which call into question the identity and mission of the Catholic church."

The Cardinal Newman Society, a pro-life group that holds Catholic colleges accountable to Church teaching, is behind Burke.

"We are grateful to Archbishop Burke for his example and leadership," Patrick Reilly, the group's president, told LifeNews.com.

"His call for disciplinary action is entirely consistent with Vatican principles for Catholic universities. Sadly, St. Louis University has repeatedly violated those principles," Reilly said.

Reilly pointed to the Vatican’s apostolic constitution on Catholic universities, Ex corde Ecclesi, which requires that "Catholic members of the university community are also called to a personal fidelity to the Church with all that this implies. Non-Catholic members are required to respect the Catholic character of the university, while the university in turn respects their religious liberty."

"Holding private views is one thing, publicly advocating them with the aim of transforming society and endorsing politicians is a much different matter," Reilly said.

Majerus also added in his original remarks that he favors embryonic stem cell research, that involves the destruction of human life and has never helped patients.

He is a long-time abortion advocate and political activist and he campaigned for pro-abortion presidential candidate John Kerry in 2004.

Saint Louis University Basketball Coach Declares Himself Pro-Abortion

Rick Majerus Forgets He Works For Catholic University. Or Does He?

I'm afraid it's just the times we're in that Jesuit University Presidents are so weak in maintaining any Catholic identity that their employees feel free to contradict Catholic faith and morals publicly. It probably didn't even occur to Jabba the Coach that he was saying anything wrong or even controversial. St. Louis U has caught our attention before as Fr. Biondi was once on the board of Tenet Health System that performed abortions in its hospitals. Let's see how he reacts to this...

Majerus abortion rights comment gets St. Louis bishop's attention
Associated Press

Updated: January 23, 2008, 12:24 PM ET

ST. LOUIS -- A Roman Catholic archbishop said Tuesday that he will ask officials of Saint Louis University to take "appropriate action" against its basketball coach, who said in a television interview that he supports abortion rights.

St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke says he's concerned abortion rights comments made by basketball coach Saint Louis coach Rick Majerus (above) could "lead Catholics astray."One of the game's winningest coaches, Rick Majerus made the comment at a weekend rally for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton.

St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke declined to say what the action against Majerus should be, saying that was a decision for the Jesuit university. But he said the coach is a leader and shouldn't support views in opposition to church teaching.

"I'm concerned that a leader at a Catholic university made these comments. It can lead Catholics astray," Burke said by telephone as he attended March for Life anti-abortion events in Washington. "I just believe that it's of the essence for people to understand as a Catholic you just cannot hold these beliefs."

Burke said he will seek to speak with university president Rev. Lawrence Biondi, or a representative, when he returns to St. Louis.

During an interview with KMOV-TV at Saturday's Clinton rally in suburban St. Louis, the first-year Billikens coach identified himself as a Catholic and called himself pro-choice. At first when asked for his views on abortion, he said he didn't want to "go there," but then said he is personally "pro-choice."

Saint Louis University spokesman Clayton Berry said Majerus was at the rally as an individual, not as a representative of the school.

Majerus has one of the best winning percentages among active college basketball coaches with a 432-154 career record. Most of those wins, and a 1998 Final Four appearance, came at the University of Utah, which he left in 2004 due to health concerns.

Before taking the Saint Louis job he worked as an ESPN analyst, and accepted and quickly gave up the coaching job at Southern California.

Burke set off a national debate in 2004 when he said he would deny Holy Communion to John Kerry, then the Democratic presidential nominee, because the Catholic Massachusetts senator supports abortion rights.

The archbishop resigned last year as board chairman for the Cardinal Glennon Children's Foundation because of a benefit-concert appearance by Sheryl Crow, a native Missourian who supports abortion rights and embryonic stem cell research.

Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press

Jesuits Elect To Go Down Same Old path

Note: The sad thing is that the Vatican rubber stamped this appointment while knowing the corrosive effect the Jesuits are having on young people and the Church at large. Some exercise of papal authority might have been called for here...

The new "Black Pope" promises more Jesuit turmoil

by Phil Lawler

Rome, Jan. 21, 2008 (CWNews.com) - Since Saturday, when Father Adolfo Nicolas was elected by the 35th general congregation of the Society of Jesus, journalists have been describing the new Jesuit superior general as "Arrupe-esque" and "hard to classify." He may be one or the other, but he can't be both. If he is indeed "Arrupe-esque"-- and I suspect he is-- Father Nicolas is not at all difficult to classify.

Father Pedro Arrupe, the superior general 1965 to 1983, presided over a dramatic transformation of the Jesuit order. Don't take my word for it; consider the judgment of Time magazine, which recalls that Arrupe's leadership "saw the rise of radical Jesuit participation in politics, from the anti-war movement in the US in the 1960s to the liberation theology that swept Latin America."

Time understandably accentuates the political activities of the Arrupe era, but liberation theology was not the only cause championed by prominent Jesuits of that generation. The Society of Jesus-- once known for rigorous orthodoxy and loyalty to the Pope-- became a hotbed of theological dissidence, on issues ranging from the nature of the priesthood through the necessity of the Catholic Church to the acceptance of homosexuality.

The last years of Father Arrupe's leadership brought the Jesuits into conflict with the Vatican, and in 1983 the general congregation chose a more careful, diplomatic leader, Father Peter-Hans Kolvenbach. Now, we are told by ranking Jesuit officials, the newly elected superior general combines the discretion of Kolvenbach with the spirit of Arrupe. The available information about Father Nicolas confirms that impression. Like Father Arrupe before him, Father Nicolas has become superior general after serving as Jesuit provincial in Japan. Again like Arrupe, he has been profoundly shaped by his long experience and sympathy with Asian culture.

Read the rest at CWNews

Pope Calls on Jesuits to Affirm Catholic Teachiong

Our take: Pronouncements from the Pope and the Vatican are good but at some point they need to be backed up by strong fatherly action or the Vatican risks sliding into the same irrelevancy of other institutions like the UN.

Pope to Jesuits: Reaffirm "Total Adhesion to Catholic Doctrine" on "Sexual Morality"

By John-Henry Westen

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 the present Congregation affirms with clarity the authentic charism of the Founder so as to encourage all Jesuits to promote true and healthy Catholic doctrine," wrote the Pope in a letter addressed to Fr. Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, the Superior General of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits).

The once illustrious Jesuits, the great defenders of faith, have over the last 40 years been steeped in dissident controversy. Jesuit priests have featured prominently in the homosexual priest scandal and Jesuit universities have been hotbeds of dissent on Church teachings especially those on life and family.

The Pope stressed this reaffirmation several times, pointing to specific areas where the Jesuits are known to have caused scandal.

In the letter, the Pope stated: "so as to offer the entire Society of Jesus a clear orientation which might be a support for generous and faithful apostolic dedication, it could prove extremely useful that the General Congregation reaffirm, in the spirit of Saint Ignatius, its own total adhesion to Catholic doctrine, in particular on those neuralgic points which today are strongly attacked by secular culture, as for example the relationship between Christ and religions; some aspects of the theology of liberation; and various points of sexual morality, especially as regards the indissolubility of marriage and the pastoral care of homosexual persons."

See the full letter from the Pope to the Jesuits here: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2008/jan/080118a.html

Anti-Catholic Bias in Georgetown AIDS Report

Note: Warning: Georgetown University continues to prove that it IS NOT CATHOLIC!!

Anti-Catholic Bias in Georgetown AIDS Report
by Deal W. Hudson
1/14/08
On January 9, Ray Ruddy, president of Boston's Gerard Health Foundation, wrote a letter to Georgetown University President John J. DeGioia asking him to disavow or retract a Georgetown report entitled "Faith Communities Engage the HIV/AIDS Crisis."

The report, published in November by Georgetown's Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, & World Affairs, criticizes faith-based approaches requiring changes in sexual behavior in fighting HIV/AIDS.

Ruddy asked a Harvard expert on HIV/AIDS prevention, Dr. Edward C. Green, to review Georgetown's document, which promotes condom usage -- in spite of Church teaching -- over behavioral changes. Dr. Green, a former condom marketer, is the author of Rethinking AIDS Prevention and is neither a member of any religious denomination nor attends any church.

[Click here for Dr. Green's full evaluation]

Green was stunned by the way the Georgetown University report, as Ruddy puts it, "castigates the Catholic Church in particular and the faith based community in general." Green concludes that the authors of the report -- Lucy Keough and Katherine Marshall -- express an anti-Catholic bias.

According to Green, Keough and Marshall ignore the scientific evidence showing it is behavioral change, not condom use, that has prevented an HIV/AIDS epidemic. That a change in sexual behavior is the key to limiting the spread of HIV/AIDS was also the conclusion reached by Dr. Norman Heart in his 2003 UNAIDS study of condom effectiveness.

Tragically, Green predicts that if the recommendations of the Georgetown Report are followed, millions more will be infected, and perhaps die, of HIV/AIDS.

In asking President DeGioia to disavow or retract the report, Ruddy's letter concludes, "It seems incredible to many of us that the Catholic Church in general and the Jesuits in particular would permit such an inaccurate and misleading report to be published."

Ruddy's request to DeGioia should also prompt him to review the three future reports on children, shelter, and education already announced by the Berkley Center authors: This is the "first in a series of reports to illuminate the little-understood role that religious actors play in global development."

Green finds that Keough and Marshall do not present "the perspective of faith communities, but rather their own view, a view that is frequently drastically out of sync with the faith communities whose perspective they claim to present."

The Georgetown authors are so uncomfortable with faith-based approaches to HIV prevention that they fail to recognize that changes in sexual behavior, not condom use, are responsible for the decline in HIV in over ten countries around the world (most notably Uganda).

Regarding Uganda, the Georgetown report gets "the story all wrong: they emphasize the role of increasing condom use in bringing down Uganda's HIV rates and downplay the dramatic increase in the number of people reporting abstinence and faithfulness behaviors."

Whereas the scientific evidence points to the success of the faith community's message about behavioral change, the Georgetown report criticizes these messages for stigmatizing those with HIV/AIDS as suffering "retribution" for "sinful behavior."

Keough and Marshall don't see faith-based efforts in a positive light. Why? According to their report:

Faith hierarchies, leaders, and communities have in the past often been promoters of stigma associated with HIV and AIDS, partly because of their difficulty in confronting aspects of human sexuality and partly because they often assume a link between AIDS and what they regard as sinful activities.

Green thinks that authors Keough and Marshall, in failing to appreciate the importance of behavior changes, support the "financial self-interest of contractors and grantees that benefit from the multi-billion dollar global AIDS industry."

For Green, the scientific evidence shows that it is not medical products, such as condoms, that can be credited with limiting the spread of HIV/AIDS:

If AIDS prevention is to be based on evidence rather than consensus, ideology, or bias, then fidelity and abstinence programs, in that order, need to be front and center in AIDS prevention programs for general populations.

But these kinds of behavior-based programs have been "mysteriously absent in programs supported by the major Western donors and by AIDS celebrities." To these donors and celebrities, we can now add Georgetown University, unless President DeGioia responds to Ruddy's letter and disavows the report or asks the Berkley Center to retract it.

As Dr. Green puts it, the Church has an advantage in "promoting the needed types of behavior change, since these behaviors conform to the moral, ethical, and scriptural positions and teachings of virtually all religions."

Yet, Georgetown University, a Jesuit institution, has issued a report that markedly rejects not only the scientific evidence that behavior changes are the best way to fight HIV/AIDS but also the moral teaching of its professed faith.

Catholic College Bashed for Allowing Pro-Abortion Barack Obama Rally

Note: Expect a lot of these stories as apostate Catholic college presidents line up to get close to political power.

Catholic College Bashed for Allowing Pro-Abortion Barack Obama Rally

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com EditorJanuary 14, 2008

Jersey City, NJ (LifeNews.com) -- A Catholic College in New Jersey is coming under fire from a pro-life group for allowing pro-abortion Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama to hold a rally there last week. On Wednesday, St. Peter's College, a Jesuit Catholic institution, allowed Obama to address a large crowd there.

Media estimates indicated Obama greeted more than 4,500 people at the rally, but Patrick Reilly, the president of the Cardinal Newman Society, said the college was irresponsible for giving a pro-abortion politician a forum there.

"It's irresponsible for a Catholic college and its leadership to host a political rally for an aggressively pro-abortion candidate," he told LifeNews.com in a statement Monday.

"Such events curry public attention at the expense of public morality. In so doing, they demonstrate reckless disregard for the most vulnerable human lives and contribute to the general decline of Catholic higher education," Reilly explained.

Not only did St. Peter's College allow the Obama campaign to stage the event on its campus, but its president, Dr. Eugene Cornacchia, endorsed the event beforehand.

He said the school welcomed Obama "as we would welcome any presidential candidate who wishes to discuss and debate the ideas and events that are shaping our history."

Reilly told LifeNews.com that the college went further -- by working in conjunction with the Obama campaign to sign up attendees. According to the Obama campaign web site, 1,074 people registered for the event as a result of the St. Peter's College link.

The Cardinal Newman Society points to the U.S. bishops' 2004 mandate that Catholic institutions should refuse speaking platforms and honors for abortion advocates as a main reason for objecting to the Obama event.

Obama supports Roe v. Wade, partial-birth abortion and making taxpayers fund embryonic stem cell research that involves the destruction of human life -- all stances contrary to Catholic teaching.

Reilly says he hopes other Catholic colleges will go in a different direction from St. Peter's.

"As the 2008 political campaigns intensify, the Cardinal Newman Society calls on all Catholic colleges and universities to remain true to their Catholic identity and principles and reject any manipulation by politicians who work against these principles," he said.

"A college or university is dedicated to seeking and teaching truth, and a Catholic university embraces the truths of the Catholic faith," he added.

This isn't the first occasion on which St. Peter's College has come under fire for giving pro-abortion politicians a platform to speak.

The school honored Judge Reginald Stanton of the New Jersey Superior Court as its commencement speaker in 2003. During his judicial career, Stanton publicly advocated abortion and assisted suicide by starvation.

Reilly also said he was disappointed that the choir of Saint Dominic Academy performed during the Obama event and wearing their distinctive school uniforms. Saint Dominic Academy is a girls' Catholic high school in Jersey City.

Related web sites:Cardinal Newman Society - http://www.cardinalnewmansociety.org

Vagina Monologues due at Catholic colleges

The University of Detroit-Mercy is due to have a production of "The Vagina Monologues". A Vagina Chorus is also scheduled for the play that has sparked controversy among Catholic clergy and laity.

Monday, January 07, 2008By Martin Barillas

The website of the University of Detroit-Mercy, Michigan's largest Catholic-affiliated institution of higher learning, has announced that try-outs for Eve Ensler's celebrated play, "The Vagina Monologues", are scheduled for students on January 15 at the campus's Reno Hall.

The director/producer is Yolanda Fleisher, and performance of the controversial play is scheduled for February 21.On other campuses, both secular and denominational, performances of "The Vagina Monologues" are frequently offered on St. Valentine's Day, ostensibly to raise awareness of violence against women.

The University of Michigan, for example, will host a performance on February 12-14 at the Pendleton Room. Proceeds from the performances are promised to women's shelters and other programs.

According to the Metro Times, a Detroit MI publication, student players will be joined by professionals. Director Fleischer has promised a "Vagina Chorus" adorned with soft-sculpture replicas of female genitalia.

"The Vagina Monologues" was the product of numerous interviews Eve Ensler conducted with prominent feminists and women about their vaginas and sexual experiences.

Catholic student groups, such as the Cardinal Newman Society, as well as numerous priests and theologians, have denounced the play as being at odds with Catholic teachings.

Even so, others such as Rev. James T. Keane - a Jesuit priest of Fordham University - have shown support for the play.

In an essay at the Busted Halo website, Keane says "To be too strictly moralistic about dramatic art is to preclude the performance of everything from the Old Testament (polygamy! seed spilt on ground! fratricide!) to the life of St. Thomas More (dirty jokes!) to Romeo and Juliet, and indeed anything else in the long tradition of Judeo-Christian civilization".

Performances of "The Vagina Monologues" have taken place since at least 2000 at the Jesuit institution in Detroit. Other Roman Catholic institutions, such as Marquette University, Notre Dame University, Loyola University of Chicago, and Loyola University of New Orleans have also hosted productions of the play.

Top Vatican Cardinal Tells the Jesuits to Clean Up their Act

Note: There is plenty written in articles in this blog about the heretics running Jesuit institutions here in the US. It hasn't escaped the attention of the a Vatican. Let's pray that a new leader breathes new life and fidelity into this renowned religious order.

Repeatedly spoke about his "sorrow and anxiety" at the state of the Jesuit order in terms of infidelity to the teachings of the Church.

By John-Henry Westen ROME, January 7, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The top Vatican official who deals with religious orders, Cardinal Franc Rode, addressed the 35th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) today. Cardinal Rode who was installed by Pope Benedict XVI as Prefect of the Vatican Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life spoke repeatedly about his "sorrow and anxiety" at the state of the Jesuit order in terms of infidelity to the teachings of the Church.

Cardinal Rode recalled the founder of the Society of Jesus, St. Ignatius and his primary formula for the order: "To serve the Lord and his Spouse the Church under the Roman Pontiff"

"It is with sorrow and anxiety that I see that the sentire cum ecclesia (thinking with the church) of which your founder frequently spoke is diminishing even in some members of religious families," he said.

The once illustrious Jesuits, the great defenders of faith, have over the last 40 years been steeped in dissident controversy. Jesuit priests have featured prominently in the homosexual priest scandal and Jesuit universities and their theologians have been hotbeds of dissent on Church teachings especially those on life and family.

Pope Benedict has put an end to some of the scandal issuing public corrections of several prominent Jesuit theologians. Last year, the editor of the U.S. Jesuit flagship publication 'America', Thomas J. Reese was abruptly resigned after a career of increasing hostility to Church teaching.

The Cardinal's address is being seen by Vatican watchers as another move in the Pope's efforts to restore the order to its former glory.

Later in his address, the Cardinal added, "With sadness and anxiety I also see a growing distancing from the Hierarchy." He explained: "The Ignatian spirituality of apostolic service under the Roman Pontiff' does not allow for this separation. In the Constitutions which he left you, Ignatius . . . wrote 'we must always keep our mind prepared and quick to obey' . . . the Hierarchical Church"

Addressing specific areas the Prefect said, "May those who, according to your legislation, have to oversee the doctrine of your magazines and publications do so in the light of and according to the "rules for sentire cum ecclesia", with love and respect."

Cardinal Rode did not content himself with correction but challenged the Jesuits to avant-garde position in the culture war - the very area where there have been so many traitors within the ranks of the Jesuits.

"The Tradition of the Society, from the first beginnings of the Collegio Romano always placed itself at the crossroads between Church and society, between faith and culture, between religion and secularism," said the Cardinal. "Recover these avant-garde positions which are so necessary to transmit the eternal truth to today's world, in today's language. Do not abandon this challenge."

See the full address of Cardinal Rode here: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2008/jan/080107b.html

See hundreds of related LifeSiteNews.com coverage type in the word "Jesuit" into the LifeSiteNews.com search engine.