Friday, October 29, 2010

Truth is stranger than fiction.

POSTED AT: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2010 11:28:36 AM
AUTHOR: JAMES MARTIN, S.J.

Believe it or not, I'm a member of a theater company: the Labyrinth Theater Company, who I first got to know when they asked me to help them with a play called "The Last Days of Judas Iscariot," 

15 comments:

The Old Eremite said...

Father Martin is merely extending the firm tradition of his order. In his famous Italienreise, Goethe, having witnessed a theatrical performance in the Jesuit College at Regensburg, wrote as follows: "This public performance has again convinced me of the cleverness of the Jesuits. They despised nothing which could in any way be effective, and treated the matter with love and attention. This is not cleverness as one thinks of it in abstracto; it is a delight in the thing, a participation in the enjoyment that is given, as this great religious society counts among its numbers organ-builders, sculptors and gilders, so are there some also who devote themselves with knowledge and inclination to the theater and in the same manner in which they distinguish their churches by a pleasing magnificence, these intelligent men here have made themselves masters of the worldly senses by means of a theater worthy of respect." Quoted from R. Fülöp-Miller, The Power and the Secret of the Jesuits (London, 1930), 419.
Anyone interested can find a trove solid information about Jesuit Theatre at the Fairfield University Website: http://www.faculty.fairfield.edu/jmac/sj/cj/cj4drama.html . Also at this secular Website, a compilation of links on the subject of Jesuit Theatre: http://www.theatrelinks.com/jesuit-drama/

I cannot understand why you posted this without comment. Fr. Martin's participation in this theatre group (cum permissu superiorum), hardly means that he approves of everything it does. Given conditions in the culture at large, any attempt to avoid association with anything in the least objectionable would result in our immuring ourselves in a Catholic ghetto even more tightly sealed-off from the circumambient society than the one we broke out of toward the end of the 'fifties. I experienced that (though not thank God, in the schools and parishes which I myself attended) and I have no wish to go back.

TTC said...

I posted the piece because it speaks of Fr. Martin's "tradition" of betraying Our Lord God Almighty by leading souls astray and his performance of 'the last days of judas iscariot'.

The irony is that the apostolate we are raising from the ashes of 'the jesuit tradition' of leading souls into the abyss are indeed seeing their last days.

The Old Eremite said...

Just to clarify: I don't think Fr. Martin performed in "The Last Days of Judas Iscariot"; He seems to have been called in as a consultant.
Now, as for this " "tradition" of betraying Our Lord God Almighty by leading souls astray," could you be more specific? I mean, that's a very grave charge and would seem to cry out for specificity and evidence. Of course there have been villainous Jesuits in the course of the order's more than 500 years of history, but do you mean to say that its whole tradition is bad? Are you really in the same camp as, say, Voltaire?
Also, could you give us an idea of your grounds for being so wildly optimistic as to maintain that Fr. Martin's tradition is currently in "ashes" and is "seeing its last days"? Compared to other groups in the mainstream of the Church, they seem pretty flourishing to me. (Still the largest religious order of men.) A little solid evidence never hurt an argument.

TTC said...

'm sorry you don't get the irony.

I'm sorry too that you can't see the evidence.

You know what's better than me giving you a laundry list?

Go to any Jesuit college website and look up when the hours are for confession and Masses. Count the people in line at the Confessional and count the people at Mass. Then go to the admissions office find out how many Catholics are registered at the school.

While all the twinkle toed Jesuits are pussyfooting in theaters in leotards and making pretty with paint on canvasses,the souls of the flock they are given are reaping the harvest of the poison they are teaching in classrooms.

What the Jesuits don't realize is that on the day of Judgment, when Christ asks what you did with the people He sent you to bring to the confessional and the Sacraments He laid down his life for - and Martin does a jig and you show Him your canvasses, He's going to be as pleased as you are about your accomplishments.

Good luck with it.

Jerry said...

It seems that Fr. Martin is way out there. Click here and scroll down to "James Martin SJ." Accusations include that he isn't really pro-life, teaches "centering prayer," and denies the inerrancy of Scripture, which is heresy. Here's another article about how Fr. Martin wants more homos in the priesthood.

The Jesuits house several of the major wreckers of the Faith, a testimony to Satan's hatred for the stupendous good that they had done in the past. Wreckers include Teilhard, de Lubac and Rahner. One solid Jesuit I haven't heard much about lately is Fr. Paul Mankowski.

The Old Eremite said...

Well, I took up your challenge, and, without spending too much time on it, this is what I was able to find, drawn just from the three institutions of higher learning conducted under the aegis of the New England Province.

HOLY CROSS COLLEGE:
The very ample schedule of Masses and other Sacramental Services is on a jpg accessible at: http://offices.holycross.edu/chaplains/schedule

BOSTON COLLEGE:
Information about Liturgical services and Reconciliation is available at: http://www.bc.edu/offices/ministry/liturgy.html

FAIRFIELD UNIVERSITY:
The site is a little harder to navigate, but the most of the necessary information can be found at: http://www.fairfield.edu/student/cml_schedule.html

As for the numbers attending the Masses or to be found in line for the Sacrament of Reconciliation (available by appointment in most places -- no more standing in line), no figures are published, and the rate of participation in reception of the sacraments is out of direct Jesuit control, since it cannot be compelled.
As for Non-Catholic enrollment -- are we not to have any sense of mission toward those who are not of the household of the faith? I would expect the Jesuits, as an essentially missionary order, to put particular emphasis upon the cultivation of services to non-Catholics. Should Xavier have holed up in Goa, providing spiritual succor only to the colonial Portuguese?

The Old Eremite said...

Jerry,
On deLubac: do you think John Paul II was so naive or unconcerned as to make a heretic a cardinal?

Anonymous said...

To Carol McKinley:

Were Jesus walking among us today, I have no doubt -- none --that He would have something to say to you, Ms. Mckinley, that would challenge your assumptions and vilification of Father Jim. God bless you.

Sincerely,

Stephen Adly Guirgis

TTC said...

That's all you've got?

You post dates and times of Masses and tell me there are no lines for Confession anymore?

I stood two hours in line a few weeks ago at a parish where a priest is teaching the Catechism.

When you teach moral theology and penance and then you go and sit in the Confessional they will come.

The Jesuits teach immoral theology, they don't preach penance, they don't sit in the confessional but put appointment hours and when nobody calls, blame Christ for having hostile teachings so you can spend the time painting and dancing in leotards.

Catholic schools are for Catholic schools to learn their religion.

Priests and Bishops filling them up with people hostile to our religion and then shutting down teaching out of some daft notion that our schools are for hosting people who are going to put pressure on our own children not to listen to it.

I have a better idea. Why don't you let the Muslims have a go at the charity of filling their schools with people who will challenge Muslim children to reject what they're teaching. Let us know how it works out.

TTC said...

By the way - When you get to the part in Scripture where Christ brought non-believers into the temple instead of actually going to Portugal and providing succor to them, you let us know.

TTC said...

Stephen,

Thanks for your comment.

I have felt the wrath of Jesus for many of the mistakes I have made over my life.

You see calling Fr. Martin's errors as some kind of a personal attack but these priests better get their act together because they are responsible for the souls they are misleading.

Challenging them to be accountable is righteousness.

Jerry said...

Hi Old Eremite,

How about Joseph Bernardin? Roger Mahoney? Theodore McCarrick? Walter Kasper? William Keeler? I'd hate to have to explain any one of them to the Judge.

Yes, de Lubac denied the gratuity of the supernatural, effectively denying Original Sin. That's part of the New Theology we suffer with these days.

The Old Eremite said...

Hi Jerry!
Okay, so now you have sought to discredit, through your "New Theology" link, everyone in the church who has exercised his intelligence on fundamental matters of faith over the last 60 years, including the current Pope and his immediate predecessor. So is it wrong for me, as a Catholic, to align myself theologically with John Paul II and Benedict XVI? Who is left? Ottaviani, Siri, and Lefebvre?

Jerry said...

Old Eremite,

"Okay, so now you have sought to discredit..."

Of course, it's just me.

It's not that that website has merit of its own. It makes the case very clear that St. Thomas and the new theology are like oil and water. They don't mix.

But alas, it's just me.

Ottaviani, Siri, Lefebvre? Are you in need of a modern day champion? Then I'll give you back to Larson.

TTC said...

"exercising their intelligence"??

God made things so simple for this kind of treachery to give yourself the permission to sin, he reduced it to a story about God's Law, Adam & Eve, an apple and a snake.

Any time you tell anyone to 'exercise their intelligence [against God's] let this be a reminder to you that the two souls who did it were cast out of Paradise.