A Lefty Jesuit (I know – tautology) v. Archbp. Chaput

UPDATE:

Radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt picked up on this and is tweeting about it.  @hughhewit

Follow me, while you’re at it. @fatherz

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chaputI heard about something disturbing which happened recently.  It involves a Jesuit.  Big surprise, right?

Let me from the top say that “I wasn’t there.”  However, I bet that there are some folks out there who can dig into this more expertly than can I.

Apparently Archbp. Chaput had been invited to speak to an interdenominational group of lawyers, judges, etc., in Sacramento, California.  Archbp. Chaput would speak, along with a couple of other people, and then there would be a discussion.  Civilized.  They have, in the past, had representatives of other religions.

However, one of the members of the steering committee of the group, the Jesuit priest and the principal of the local Jesuit High School, threw a fit because the invitee was Archbp. Chaput.  The Jesuit even said that he wouldn’t come to their own organizations event were Archbp. Chaput to be there.

When news of the Jesuit hissy fit got back to Philadelphia, Chaput graciously bowed out of the event rather than serve as a point of division.

Why does this bother me to the point that I want to post about it?

First, this is yet another example of a lefty shouting down, black-balling, someone with whom he disagrees.   I am reminded of other recent occasions in California, when immature students, no doubt egged on by liberal profs, snuffed out a speaker engagement with violence.   Young people are taught to do this.  The Jesuit who did this to Archbp. Chaput is an educator… at a high school.  “If he comes, I won’t come!”, is what you do if the invitation was extended a CEO of Big Business Abortion, not to the Archbishop of Philadephia.

Second, this is another example of Jesuit antics.  Click HERE.  Is this what Jesuits do?  Deny dialogue?

Third, one doesn’t have to think that the sun, moon and stars rise and set on Archbp. Chaput to recognize that he’s got game.   For example, a few years ago, Chaput gave a great speech at Houston Baptist University called “The Vocation of Christians in American Public Life”.  That was not a Catholic environment.  He has a track record of performing well in these situations, which advance ecumenical concerns in a concrete, positive way.  Baptists were more gracious to the Archbishop than this Jesuit.

Fourth, the Jesuit’s behavior in the presence of these non-Catholics surely made them scratch their heads and wonder, “What’s going on in the Catholic Church?” and “How is it that Chaput, who is a high player in the USCCB, who was elected by the US bishops to go to the Synod, who hosted the Pope in Philadelphia, is so bad that this priest is acting like this?”  In other words, the Jesuit probably scandalized them and lowered the Church in their eyes.  I wasn’t there, of course.

This is how the catholic Left operates.  They use the tactics of the secular Left.  Silence any opinion that does not jive with your own.  Allow no dialogue.

I have read the Archbishop’s thoughtful book: Strangers in a Strange Land: Living the Catholic Faith in a Post-Christian World.  You might give it a shot.  Review HERE at NRO.

US HERE – UK HERE

In a spirit unity with that lefty Jesuit, I will deny the opportunity of dialogue and close the combox.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

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