Jesuits Undermine Catholic Teaching On Life/Death

The Society of Jesus (The Jesuits) have long been viewed as one of the most far-left (and disruptive) orders of Catholic clergy.
And since The Jesuits run many universities and secondary schools, they get to influence young minds -- not always favorably.
Now comes word from the Cardinal Newman Society that advocates of assisted suicide are teaching at Jesuit universities despite the U.S. Catholic bishops’ opposition to the practice. It seems to be just another part of "Catholic light" -- the erosion of Catholic teaching and abandonment of a sense of moral responsibility at American "Catholic" universities where binge drinking, hooking up and even co-ed dorms sometimes seem to be all the rage.

Here's more from The Cardinal Newman Society:

Advocates of assisted suicide are teaching at Jesuit universities despite the U.S. Catholic bishops’ opposition to the immoral practice, according to a new report from The Cardinal Newman Society.

Recently, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops issued “To Live Each Day with Dignity: A Statement on Physician-Assisted Suicide” and cautioned about an “aggressive nationwide campaign” of “assisted suicide proponents.”

But in a special report published today in Crisis Magazine, Cardinal Newman Society President Patrick J. Reilly uncovers scandalous associations between the assisted suicide movement and current and recent professors at four major Jesuit universities: Georgetown University, Marquette University, Santa Clara University and Boston College.

Reilly notes that it was a “particular irony” that the assisted suicide statement should be released simultaneously with the U.S. bishops’ ongoing 2011 review of Catholic colleges’ implementation of Vatican guidelines for Catholic higher education in the 1990 constitution Ex corde Ecclesiae.

Writes Reilly: “[These professors] have done more than betray the Catholic Church when they advocated assisted suicide from their platforms at Jesuit universities. Their primary credentials are (or were) as Jesuit university professors. Their participation in academic societies and symposia and journals has depended on their teaching and research positions at major universities. When dealing with ethical issues, no doubt their affiliation with Catholic universities has opened many doors.

“In no small way, then, Catholic universities are partly responsible for such professors’ influence by virtue of their employment. Academic freedom protects professors’ rights to seek truth according to the methods of their discipline. But when professors deny the truths of faith and disregard the common good—especially of those whose lives are snuffed out prematurely—they violate the mission of a Catholic university.”

The special report “Bishops Betrayed on Assisted Suicide” is published at Crisis Magazine.