Post by hoyaloya on Jun 30, 2016 18:43:52 GMT -5
Recently, I attended a reception graciously hosted by parents of a recent graduate. It honored Rev. Kevin O’Brien, S.J. (C’88),Vice President for Mission and Ministry, Georgetown University, discussing “The Meaning of Jesuit Education.”
When he was introduced, it was stated that Father O’Brien was moving on to be director of Theology at Santa Clara but it was hoped he would return to Georgetown as President when “Jack” stepped down.
Father O’Brien gave a polished speech stating that Jesuit education meant being “attentive” and something else and “loving.”
When he finished, I spoke about how Jesuit education changed my life, and what it meant when I went to Regis HS in NYC 1949-53 and to Georgetown 1953-1957.
There we learned that the Order was founded by St. Ignatius, a military man, in the 1500s and the Jesuits became the spear point for the counter-reformation. Rather than weapons of arms, they used intellect and dialogue and were humanist educators. They met the Reformation head on and drew on tradition and logic to make their case.
The Jesuit emblem looks like the English letters IHS but are actually the Greek letters Iota Eta Sigma, an abbreviation for Jesus. It is in the seal of the Jesuit Order and on the wall of Georgetown’s Gaston Hall.
The motto was AMDG – Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam - for the greater glory of God; that was what we should aim for in our school work and in our lives.
What the Jesuits especially emphasized was that we had a duty to speak up when we saw something wrong. They boiled it down:
1.have the courage to speak the truth, 2. withstand intimidation and denigration, and 3. keep on speaking the truth.
I then stated I had to do that duty and state an unpleasant truth: for the last 3 decades, Jesuit education has not had the meaning it once had.
I cited the following:
In the early 90s, Georgetown sponsored and subsidized a pro-abortion club on campus;
Georgetown has honored pro-abortion politicians;
When Cardinal Arinze was a guest on campus, he correctly set forth Catholic teaching on homosexual relations; some faculty walked out; rather than back Cardinal Arinze, Georgetown apologized for his remarks;.
Georgetown’s president went national to extravagantly praise a privileged white woman student who demanded that taxpayers fund her contraceptives;
Georgetown honored Kathleen Sibelius, author of the HHS mandate requiring Catholic groups, such as the Little Sisters of the Poor, to offer insurance for abortion services;
When the most pro-abortion president in the history of our country came to speak at Georgetown in Gaston Hall, his people demanded that Georgetown cover up the Jesuit emblem HIS, and Georgetown complied!
Recently, Georgetown hosted a lecture by the president of the country’s largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood. I explained that as long as Georgetown does not honor people who promote actions antithetical to our values,
I have no problem with them speaking. But, I do have a problem when Georgetown, after providing a platform for them, does not set the record straight with an articulation of our principles. Jack Degioia did not do so then and has not done so in the past.
Father O’Brien said something to the effect that there was a lot to discuss but this was not the time.
When we left, Bonnie expressed concern that this was not an appropriate venue for my remarks. I told her that my many offers to debate anyone from the Administration, anytime, anywhere, had been ignored, that my letters to the alumni magazine were not printed, that a critical comment I made [on a site where the University invited comment] was expunged, that there was no other venue, and that my remarks were on the topic - the meaning of Jesuit education. Bonnie withdrew her concern.
Question: how can Georgetown claim that Jesuit education means “loving” while Georgetown persistently promotes the killing of babies in utero.
When he was introduced, it was stated that Father O’Brien was moving on to be director of Theology at Santa Clara but it was hoped he would return to Georgetown as President when “Jack” stepped down.
Father O’Brien gave a polished speech stating that Jesuit education meant being “attentive” and something else and “loving.”
When he finished, I spoke about how Jesuit education changed my life, and what it meant when I went to Regis HS in NYC 1949-53 and to Georgetown 1953-1957.
There we learned that the Order was founded by St. Ignatius, a military man, in the 1500s and the Jesuits became the spear point for the counter-reformation. Rather than weapons of arms, they used intellect and dialogue and were humanist educators. They met the Reformation head on and drew on tradition and logic to make their case.
The Jesuit emblem looks like the English letters IHS but are actually the Greek letters Iota Eta Sigma, an abbreviation for Jesus. It is in the seal of the Jesuit Order and on the wall of Georgetown’s Gaston Hall.
The motto was AMDG – Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam - for the greater glory of God; that was what we should aim for in our school work and in our lives.
What the Jesuits especially emphasized was that we had a duty to speak up when we saw something wrong. They boiled it down:
1.have the courage to speak the truth, 2. withstand intimidation and denigration, and 3. keep on speaking the truth.
I then stated I had to do that duty and state an unpleasant truth: for the last 3 decades, Jesuit education has not had the meaning it once had.
I cited the following:
In the early 90s, Georgetown sponsored and subsidized a pro-abortion club on campus;
Georgetown has honored pro-abortion politicians;
When Cardinal Arinze was a guest on campus, he correctly set forth Catholic teaching on homosexual relations; some faculty walked out; rather than back Cardinal Arinze, Georgetown apologized for his remarks;.
Georgetown’s president went national to extravagantly praise a privileged white woman student who demanded that taxpayers fund her contraceptives;
Georgetown honored Kathleen Sibelius, author of the HHS mandate requiring Catholic groups, such as the Little Sisters of the Poor, to offer insurance for abortion services;
When the most pro-abortion president in the history of our country came to speak at Georgetown in Gaston Hall, his people demanded that Georgetown cover up the Jesuit emblem HIS, and Georgetown complied!
Recently, Georgetown hosted a lecture by the president of the country’s largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood. I explained that as long as Georgetown does not honor people who promote actions antithetical to our values,
I have no problem with them speaking. But, I do have a problem when Georgetown, after providing a platform for them, does not set the record straight with an articulation of our principles. Jack Degioia did not do so then and has not done so in the past.
Father O’Brien said something to the effect that there was a lot to discuss but this was not the time.
When we left, Bonnie expressed concern that this was not an appropriate venue for my remarks. I told her that my many offers to debate anyone from the Administration, anytime, anywhere, had been ignored, that my letters to the alumni magazine were not printed, that a critical comment I made [on a site where the University invited comment] was expunged, that there was no other venue, and that my remarks were on the topic - the meaning of Jesuit education. Bonnie withdrew her concern.
Question: how can Georgetown claim that Jesuit education means “loving” while Georgetown persistently promotes the killing of babies in utero.
