UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism
Jerry Slevin
The Jesuit impact on students still thrives. The Catholic Revolution that began recently with parents and grandparents in a Chilean cathedral (see here, here, and here) is spreading to younger Catholics, now to a New York Jesuit university. As I recently noted here, “Must Jesuits Overlook Jesuit Pope’s Mistakes?” , some Jesuit priests seem often to be silent under our Jesuit pope, but a majority of the 2015 graduating class at Jesuits’ Le Moyne College are objecting to the most prominent US prelate, New York’s Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s being the speaker at their commencement ceremonies in a few weeks. A petition on Change.org asking the college to change the speaker has been signed by more than 500 people. The college’s graduating class is roughly 600 students. See the video of some of the concerned students here,
[TWC News]
The LeMoyne protest by mature Jesuit students suggests the Jesuit pope may face protests when he visits the USA for the first time in a few months. Meanwhile, Cardinal Dolan appears to be reaping a better return on his US presidential election campaign oriented “evangelization” efforts directed at “low tax/less regulation/least safety net” wealthy 0.01% US donors; see his recent conference with Goldman Sachs’ CEO and top bankers, and his earlier “the pope loves the rich” spiel on the CNBC international business network here, Goldman Sachs , and here, CNBC .
Students at LeMoyne reportedly say their research led them to reports that Dolan has been involved in efforts to cover up priest sexual abuse of children. “We have tried to make steps to state our intolerance with sexual violence on this campus and, also, within the church it shouldn’t be tolerated,” said Amy Denny, a senior. “Overall, I do not think Cardinal Dolan represents the tenets we value at Le Moyne College,” said Katherine M. Bakhuizen, a senior. Take that, Tim!
Kailey McDonald, also a senior, is holding out hope that the college will disinvite Dolan. “Jesus taught love and acceptance, and so does Le Moyne,” McDonald said.”The Jesuits do not condemn people for the way they love. I have not seen evidence that Cardinal Dolan reflects these teachings, and I hope Le Moyne recognizes that.”
Cardinal Dolan, the USA’s most visible prelate, is surely having a tough stretch. The former top aide to Dolan’s St. Louis’ mentor, retired Philadelphia Cardinal Justin Rigali, has just been sent back to jail by a Jesuit educated judge for a child endangerment crime, see here, “Two Cardinals’ Aide’s Crime Upheld Yet Philly Visit Is Still On?”
And Dolan’s former St. Louis subordinate, Bishop Finn, was just sacked by Pope Francis over a criminal failure to report a serial child pornographer priest, see here,”Finn’s Law: Police Must Now Handle Crimes Says Pope”.
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