Sandro Magister reminds us that the Jesuits, like Satan, never sleep:
All roads lead to Rome, not only from Cardinal Reinhard Marx’s turbulent Germany, but also from the quiet and remote American state of Indiana.
In Indianapolis, the capital, a school run by the Jesuits has appealed to the Holy See to be granted the right to disobey its archbishop, on a matter the “synodal way” afoot in Germany has mastered: homosexuality.
It all started with the mock wedding celebrated in 2017 between Layton Payne-Elliott, a teacher at Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School (left, photo by Kathleen Delaney for the newspaper “Indy Star“), and Joshua Payne-Elliott (right), a teacher at another Catholic school in Indianapolis, Cathedral High School.
Because of their condition as “spouses” of the same sex, incompatible with Catholic doctrine, the archbishop of Indianapolis, Charles C. Thompson, in June 2019 ordered their respective schools to fire both. Cathedral obeyed, Brebeuf did not.
This is not the first such case in Indianapolis. In 2018, another Catholic school in the archdiocese, Roncalli High School, fired for the same reason two of its employees who had “married,” Shelly Fitzgerald and Lynn Starkey.
Both slapped the archdiocese with lawsuits now pending in federal court.
This time, Cathedral High School also tried at first to oppose the firing of Joshua Payne-Elliott through the courts, but after the change of its director it decided to bow to the command of the archdiocese.
Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School, on the other hand, has held firm to its refusal to fire Layton Payne-Elliott, and for this reason the archdiocese has removed it from the list of Catholic schools.
Joshua Payne-Elliott, expelled from Cathedral, however, has not given up and has taken the archdiocese to court, complaining that he was unjustly removed “because of who I am and who I love.”
The archdiocese has defended itself by appealing to the first amendment of the American constitution, which protects the separation between Church and state and thus prohibits a secular power from interfering in the internal matters of a church, including the freedom to choose its teachers in keeping with the faith professed.
The court initially gave the go-ahead for the trial, but the Indiana Supreme Court, hearing the case at the urging of the Trump administration and the attorney general of Indiana, Republican Todd Rokita, in December 2020 ordereda refiling. And the court, with a new judge, shelved the trial on May 7, essentially siding with the archdiocese.
Joshua Payne-Elliott has appealed against this dismissal, while for its part Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School – which also hosts a Gender Sexuality Alliance Club in support of LGBTQ students – has appealed the archdiocese’s decision to remove it from the list of Catholic schools.
Brebeuf expressed the reason for the rebellion in a statement signed by its president, the Jesuit William Verbryke, and by the entire board of directors, in which it claimed that its “identity as a Catholic Jesuit institution remains unchanged.”
According to Brebeuf, “this direct insertion into an employment matter of a school governed by a religious order is unprecedented; this is a unique action among the more than 80 Jesuit secondary / pre-secondary schools which operate in dioceses throughout North America.”
And the rebels against the archdiocese of Indianapolis – the statement specifies – are not only Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School, but the entire “USA Midwest Province of the Society of Jesus.”
But it doesn’t end there, because the leaders of Brebeuf, backed by the Jesuits led by their provincial superior Brian G. Paulson, have appealed to Rome for the Holy See’s recognition – against the archdiocese of Indianapolis – of their “informed conscience on this particular matter,” meaning the legitimacy of their refusal to “dismiss a highly capable and qualified teacher due to the teacher being a spouse within a civilly-recognized same-sex marriage.”
It is hard to imagine that such a step by an entire province of the Society of Jesus was taken without the approval of the superior general of the Society, Arturo Sosa Abascal.
Go here to read the rest. Remember when the Jesuits used to be the defenders of Catholic orthodoxy? Neither do they. The Jesuits, a religion unto themselves.
It is doubtful the Jesuits will survive the coming reformation of the Church.
Jesuits? That their name is derived from our lord and Savior is now appearing purely demonic. There is open spiritual warfare within God’s Holy Church of today, and it is clear (to reference Pope Paul VII) that far more than just the “smoke of Satan” has entered the tabernacle. One might well ponder if that isn’t why so many wearing Roman collars, or grasping a bishop’s mitre, also have hooves and horns.
That’s Paul VI…(kinda early yet).
The Jesuit (Fr.) William Verbryke is a heretic. He used to head of the Jesuits here in Cincinnati. He was a guest priest at my parish on Trinity Sunday and he preached about the Prodigal Daughter and God the Mother and several versions of modalism. We had words after mass. I still have my Archbishops letter confirm my concerns were correct. If the Archbishop had publicly condemned his heresies instead of letting them go unaddressed, perhaps Indianapolis wouldn’t be dealing with this.
BTW, the Bishop of Indianapolis should not roll over and should be very tough. He should interdict ALL Jesuits in his diocese. No public Mass, no sacraments, etc. He should also reach out to his fellow Bishops to do the same. If half of the Bishops did this perhaps they will be taken seriously by the Jesuits.
There was a certain Jesuit, Father John Hardon (no doubt the name is very familiar to many here), who championed homeschooling as a way to kerp the Faith. He has since passed on.
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What puzzles me is this certain other conservative Catholic priest, also a Jesuit and still living, who appears to be very down on homeschooling, and always insists Catholic parents are obliged to send their children to diocesan schools–at least in every article he has written that I have read on the issue.
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Considering the shenanigans that seem to go on in both Diocesan schools and ones run by the various religious orders, I’ve always been puzzled by that.
*keep
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What puzzles me is this certain other conservative Catholic priest, also a Jesuit and still living, who appears to be very down on homeschooling, and always insists Catholic parents are obliged to send their children to diocesan schools–at least in every article he has written that I have read on the issue.
The logic I see is usually that the schools suck because Catholics don’t use them, so it’s our obligation to send the kids to the local Catholic school.
….even if they give public school quality at boarding school prices, no faith formation, and don’t offer any sort of bulk discount. I’ve heard folks convey that the folks running their local school flatly state you shouldn’t have more kids than you can afford to send to the school.
…yeah, I’ll stick with homeschool.
For Catholic schools to be worthwhile and viable, you need to have a salutary matrix that will generate people with a vocation to teach. Perhaps you had that in Lincoln under Fabian Bruskewitz stewardship, but it’s unusual. Otherwise, it’s just a businesst. And a cheat. For an obtrusive example, see the ‘Catholic’ high school in Charlotte, NC, wherein a large bloc of affluent parents went batsh!t crazy when a nun gave a lecture on campus and quoted from an article in The Linacrre Quarterly (and recall, the whole imbroglio was instigated by the school’s quondam ‘religion’ teacher). Shut them down. Homeschooling and homeschool co-operatives are the only option most places.
No you don’t shut them down. You reform them. You keep fighting for whats the best for the children. People forget this is about children and assisting parents form their children.
“No you don’t shut them down. You reform them. You keep fighting for what’s the best for the children. People forget this is about children and assisting parents form their children.”
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What is best for the children, and what is best for parents, is to have the parents raise and educate their own children. Yes, there does come a point: I couldn’t teach my child Trig and Stats, and I didn’t. He went to community college for that. I could not give him a high school science lab class, so he went part-time to a private school for that. A different child has had a variety of guitar/music instructiors; a third took sign language instruction at a homeschool co-op. Next year comes a high-school-age trades program, although considering the lack of workers, it has been suggested he should up at a job site and offer to work. And you know, he just might get a job.
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But I taught all three of my children to read and do arithmetic. I firmly believe most parents can do this and frankly should do this. I see no reason for any tax dollars go to education or why the government is funding it or providing it. The market can do that just fine. And while it is very reasonable for the Church insist Catholic parents raises Catholic children, I have a hard time seeing why parents are expected to hand over their 6 to 18 year old children to the diocesan system to learn reading, writing, and arithmetic, and why the congregation should be on the hook for those expenses.
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Yeah I get what you are saying and coming from. I guess I’m coming from the bigger picture viewpoint, that if they shut down Catholic schools then the only choice would be the public or private system. That would feel like the end of Catholic presence in the education system. And in 30 years time we will be asking ourselves why there aren’t any Catholic school options…. I feel if we don’t have Catholic Schools (institutions which have been around for a long time and are responsible for teaching generations of children- imperfectly at times) then what makes the western world different than say Communist China?
The other thing is how realistic is it really that the Churches are going to provide religious education and are the parents really going to have the time or
motivation to participate in these type of classes? They have a hard time coming to 4 weeks of Sacrament classes let alone a year long school religious curriculum. Just my experience.
I like your mixed method of education and it’s worked. I don’t think everybody can homeschool because a household may require the mother to work to help make ends meet (whether you agree or not a mother should be at home or working). And not every mother is cutout for homeschooling (hats off to homeschooling parents, I have great admiration for them).
I think good Catholic schools have a lot of opportunity to teach character, virtues and Faith even during grammar and arithmetic classes. A school should be more about forming the whole child. There is so much opportunity for Catholic schools to do good for children. So I don’t have a problem with a Catholic school being funded by the diocese if it means providing good education to Catholic kids. We need to keep our Faith going and it’s a big ask for the parents to go at it alone.
S. J. – Sans Jesus?