Pros and Cons of the Society of Jesus

Fr. Tomasek and the Jesuit Superior General

October 1991

Values the Society of Jesus has going for it:

1. A deep spirituality, tried and proven, praised by the Church and capable of producing saints and zealous apostles for Christ and His Church.
2. The Spiritual Exercises: While they now belong to the Church, Jesuits are usually the most experienced in them because we make them and direct them so often.
3. Our Saints:  Doctors, confessors, martyrs, teachers whose lives still inspire us to trace some of the manifold Ignatian paths to sanctity.
4. Intercessors in heaven praying constantly for God's grace to attend us; members of the Society too numerous to count interceding for those on earth for the last 450 years.
5. Long and rigorous formation, training and education often forms men of outstanding achievement and service to God, the Church and the culture.
6. Living with men who, in addition to their faults, are by and large seeking holiness and, therefore, live in a spirit of generosity, fun and companionship.
7. Existing institutions which are often powerful apostolic instruments: Universities, high schools, institutes, retreat houses, publications, parishes and missions, the outreaches of which are depended on by the Church.
8. The wide variety of possible apostolates open to individual Jesuits which include education on all levels with all types of populations, spiritual direction, parochial work, missions etc.

Problems the Society of Jesus has going against it:

1. Defacto full, prompt obedience ot the directives of the Holy Father and the teaching authority of the Church. Often excused as a type of 'loyal opposition' etc but very evident in instances such as the publication/implementation of Humanae Vitae.
2. Failure to defend Catholic teaching and morals in the face of the secular/intellectual establishment's bias. E.g., Georgetown U's lame justification for an 'abortion club.'
3. A system of formation and formators who often place subtle pressure and criticism on young Jesuits who manifest robust support for the Holy Father and/or traditional teaching. These men often come to feel diagnosed as 'rigid' or 'inflexible' etc.
4. Even ordained Jesuits are often subjected to tactics described in #3 by a power structure of provencials/superiors who often tend to operate under a 'gentlemen's agreement' not to rock the boat.