more scenes from a marriage

By Phil Lawler ( bio - articles - email ) | Mar 04, 2008

"The Pope's statement that God's revelation is complete is rank heresy," a leading Jesuit theologian told me in Rome. "The fullness of revelation, according to orthodox Christian doctrine, must await the second coming." The priest scholar faced me across the table of a restaurant in the old city; there were tears of anxiety in his eyes. He is charged with instructing hundreds of candidates for the Catholic priesthood, and is appalled by what the Pope has said. "The statement was evidently written out for the Holy Father by Cardinal Ratzinger's department, which is involved in a fierce dispute with one of the finest liberal Catholic theologians in the world, Jesuit professor Father Jacques Dupuis." [John Cornwell, (London) Times Sunday Magazine, 3-12-00]

The Society of Jesus has always been in communion with the Holy Father and we are happy to be so. Between spouses there are always difficulties ... Only people who love each other can hurt each other. -- V. Rev. Adolfo Nicolás, S.J.

Father Smith (not his real name) is a Jesuit priest working in a Philadelphia parish in one of the older parts of the city. He is a closeted gay priest and does not want his name used. "In my worst moments," he said, "I fear I will have been a collaborator in supporting an institution that oppresses gay people." He said he became a Jesuit after falling in love with an older, 40-year old Jesuit priest. Smith was 20 then and studying at St. Joseph's College in Philadelphia. [Bill Kenkelen, NCR 10-5-90]

The Society of Jesus has always been in communion with the Holy Father and we are happy to be so. Between spouses there are always difficulties ... Only people who love each other can hurt each other. -- V. Rev. Adolfo Nicolás, S.J.

"A lot of people feel, rather than this heavy-handed dogmatic approach, he should take a pastoral approach," says Father Vincent O'Keefe, a former vicar general of the Jesuits who has had his own struggles with Wojtyla. "In the United States we have a lot of Catholics who are divorced. The pope says the doctrine has to be clear. Well, the doctrine is too damned clear! That's not the problem. [Carl Bernstein, His Holiness, 1996]

The Society of Jesus has always been in communion with the Holy Father and we are happy to be so. Between spouses there are always difficulties ... Only people who love each other can hurt each other. -- V. Rev. Adolfo Nicolás, S.J.

"I think at some point it will certainly be possible for women's ordination to take place in the Catholic Church, but one thing is certain: it won't be while this present Pope is alive." [Fr Francis Case, S.J., quoted by Victoria Streatfeild in The European, 10-7-94.]

The Society of Jesus has always been in communion with the Holy Father and we are happy to be so. Between spouses there are always difficulties ... Only people who love each other can hurt each other. -- V. Rev. Adolfo Nicolás, S.J.