The Pope and the Jesuits: John Paul II and the New Order in the Society of Jesus
Type
Book
Authors
Category
Jesuits
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Publication Year
1984
Publisher
The National Committee of Catholic Laymen, United States
Pages
210
Tags
Description
"In October of 1981 the Catholic world was startled by the announcement from Rome that Pope John Paul II had appointed a 'personal delegate' to govern the Society of Jesus, the [almost 450-year-old] religious order popularly known as the Jesuits. . . . it was an unusual intervention by a pope in the internal workings of the largest and most famous religious order in the Catholic Church, and informed people read the intervention as indicative of a certain lack of confidence in the Society on the part of the Pope."
Thus, laconically, James Hitchcock begins his penetrating study of the emotion-charged confrontation between a strong-willed pope and rebellious members of an order that once gloried in the accusation - or accolade - that they were papal "shock troops," highly educated, tightly-disciplined men who added to their religious vows a special pledge of allegiance to the Holy Father.
As Hitchcock makes clear, no other order "has captured the imagination of both Catholics and non-believers in quite the same way." So it is not surprising that "Sceptics have denounced the Jesuits as crafty servants of a malign church" while praising their learning, and "Orthodox Catholics have perceived them . . . as worldly compromisers."
This book is a brilliant essay into contemporary history by a powerful writer who, through his long experience as both historian and journalist, "has developed an extraordinarily original style of analysis," as Joseph Sobran points out in his introduction.
Most impressively, as Sobran adds, " Mr. Hitchcock never insists, never goes beyond the evidence, never even supposes that the evidence is complete. He knows what he knows, and that is enough. He has made the case he set out to make."
That case includes a judgment that could make this one of the most controversial Catholic books of the decade, for Hitchcock concludes that if the Jesuits do not now "experience a second rebirth" of loyalty to the papacy, they could well "pass into history along with numerous other religious communities which simply lost their reason for existing."
Taken from the back cover.
Introduction by Joseph Sobran.
Thus, laconically, James Hitchcock begins his penetrating study of the emotion-charged confrontation between a strong-willed pope and rebellious members of an order that once gloried in the accusation - or accolade - that they were papal "shock troops," highly educated, tightly-disciplined men who added to their religious vows a special pledge of allegiance to the Holy Father.
As Hitchcock makes clear, no other order "has captured the imagination of both Catholics and non-believers in quite the same way." So it is not surprising that "Sceptics have denounced the Jesuits as crafty servants of a malign church" while praising their learning, and "Orthodox Catholics have perceived them . . . as worldly compromisers."
This book is a brilliant essay into contemporary history by a powerful writer who, through his long experience as both historian and journalist, "has developed an extraordinarily original style of analysis," as Joseph Sobran points out in his introduction.
Most impressively, as Sobran adds, " Mr. Hitchcock never insists, never goes beyond the evidence, never even supposes that the evidence is complete. He knows what he knows, and that is enough. He has made the case he set out to make."
That case includes a judgment that could make this one of the most controversial Catholic books of the decade, for Hitchcock concludes that if the Jesuits do not now "experience a second rebirth" of loyalty to the papacy, they could well "pass into history along with numerous other religious communities which simply lost their reason for existing."
Taken from the back cover.
Introduction by Joseph Sobran.
Number of Copies
1
