Despite reports that the Jesuit Pope has sparked a growth in Jesuit membership, Patrick Reilly at National Catholic Register remains sceptical.
“Jesuit membership has been spiraling downward for more than 50 years,” he wrote.
“What’s certain is that the Jesuit order has a membership crisis, and there’s no reason to predict stability or growth anytime soon.”
Jesuits should consider “whether these numbers reflect a greater instability in the order and a loss of reputation in the Church. While there are a number of exceptional Jesuits, the Society suffers from repeated controversy and moral confusion among others in its ranks,” he argued.
“The reputation of the Jesuits as the ‘foot soldiers’ for Christ is repeatedly undermined by many of their Jesuit universities, which are rapidly losing their Catholic identity and fidelity.”
Clashes of religion
The history Channel show Vikings is “the most religious show on television”, wrote Bishop Robert Barron at wordonfire.org.
TV characters are usually “presented as though they are indifferent to the world of faith”, but in Vikings “there is no one who does not take with utter seriousness a connection to a higher, spiritual realm.” Bishop Barron mentioned a Lindisfarne monk holding the Gospels to his chest, and the horror of the faithful when a Viking spat out the Precious Blood. In the clash of religions in the show “we find all of the confusion, fascination, explosive violence, and truly creative dialogue that we might expect from a real confrontation between faiths”.
Writing a Catechism
The decision of the Russian Orthodox Church not attend the Pan-Orthodox Council had an unexpected side-effect. In an interview at pravmir.com, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, number two in the Russian Orthodox Church, explained how he came to write a new catechism.
“In the Synodal Biblical-Theological Commission for many years we wrote a large catechism … a fundamental work which would contain a detailed exposition of the Orthodox faith,” he said. It was sent out for review, and he received a letter saying it was too long and detailed; what was needed was a short book.
“This review, I have to be honest, annoyed me. So much so that I sat at the computer and wrote my own catechism – the one that we could give to the person before he gets baptised. I wrote it so that it could be read in three days. I also wrote it within three days in a single burst of inspiration,” he said.
When the Russians decided not to go to the Pan-Orthodox Council in Crete, “a whole two weeks became unexpectedly free. I spent the time on the catechism: I wrote it in three days and edited [it] in a week.”
✣Meanwhile…
A leader writer for the Wall Street Journal has announced his conversion to Catholicism. Sohrab Ahmari, who was born in Tehran and moved to the United States when he was 13, has a law degree, but entered journalism after the troubled 2009 election in Iran. After Fr Jacques Hamel’s murder last week, he tweeted: “#IAmJacquesHamel: In fact, this is the right moment to announce that I’m converting to Roman Catholicism.”
✣ Confusion reigned for a while at World Youth Day in Kraków when Pope Francis, having led the youth in a minute of silent prayer for a deceased volunteer, geared up the crowd again for celebration with the words: “Now go and do your duty, make noise all night long!” But the Polish interpreter, mishearing, inserted a negative: “Now go and do your duty, and don’t make noise tonight.” The faithful eventually carried out the Pope’s actual wishes.
✣ Father Federico Lombardi, the Pope’s spokesman, has ended his career as director of the Holy See Press Office. On the flight from World Youth Day, Pope Francis paid a special tribute to him, and Fr Lombardi was presented with a cake.In keeping with his reputation as a hardworking, dutiful and obliging priest, he was instantly appointed president of the Joseph Ratzinger – Benedict XVI Foundation.
✣The week in quotations
John Paul II was a great plagiarist, for he was copying Jesus Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York Press conference at World Youth Day
You have the wrong humanity, because you are not a part of humanity French Imam Abdelatif Hmitou addresses Fr Hamel’s killers Associated Press
Even the BBC can’t change truth Lord Alton on the Corporation’s claim that the Church was silent in the face of Nazism Website post detailing the Catholic response to Hitler
For me, Messi Pope Francis when asked whether Maradona or Pele is the greatest footballer World Youth Day
✣Statistic of the week
8m Malawians who will be in need of food aid Source: Mary’s Meals
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