"Diversity perversity"

Vatican cardinal charges the Jesuits to recover fidelity to the Church’s hierarchy.

The address of a leading Vatican cardinal on Jan. 7 to the 35th General Convention of the Society of Jesus in Rome, called to elect a new superior general, began with customary words of praise for the outgoing superior, Fr. Peter Hans Kolvenbach, and expressions of a certainty that the order would address the challenges it faces worldwide. Yet, the address segued into expressions of disappointment with the current state of religious fidelity to the hierarchy of the Catholic Church.

Many of us pray for that day when one no longer thinks of dissent or disobedience when one hears the word "Jesuit"...

In his homily for the Mass opening the convention, Cardinal Franc Rodé, the Holy See’s prefect for the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, told the sons of St. Ignatius of Loyola that “with sorrow and anxiety” he sees “that the sentire cum Ecclesia [“thinking with the Church”] of which your founder frequently spoke is diminishing even in some members of religious families.” The Church, said Rodé, awaits “a light from you to restore the sensus Ecclesiae. The Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius are your specialty. The rules of sentire cum Ecclesia form an integral and essential part of this masterpiece of Catholic spirituality...”

He noted that “the doctrinal diversity of those who at all levels, by vocation and mission are called to announce the Kingdom of truth and love, disorients the faithful and leads to a relativism without limits. There is one truth, even though it can always be more deeply known...”

Rodé called on those who “oversee the doctrine of your magazines and publications [to] do so in the light of and according to the ‘rules for sentire cum ecclesia,’ with love and respect.”

A report on the "Opening of General Congregation 35" and of the Elections can be read at the Jesuits' page here.