Despite my username I was raised in about the most Trad of all TradCath households you can imagine. AMA. Save me from being #14 in line at this cursed job audition
Despite my username I was raised in about the most Trad of all TradCath households you can imagine. AMA. Save me from being #14 in line at this cursed job audition
Jesuits are usually pretty good when it comes to a lot of progressive social issues, which I think is interesting given that they were explicitly formed as a counter-reformation force and spearheaded the Inquisition.
They were designed to fuck up Protestant Theologians, talking down some peasants about to turn Hussite or Reformed means you have to engage materially and quickly. They also very quickly came round to the Benedictine critique of Colonialism.
As for the Inquisition, it's a common misconception that Jesuits spearheaded the Spanish Inquisition (they did have a substantial role in the Roman Inquisition, but that was not nearly as nightmare fuel.) It was unfortunately mostly Franciscans (another usually quite based order) who lead the worst abuses.
Oof. Now I feel weird telling people my Confirmation name is Francis...
Francis is cool, as are Franciscans mostly. The Spanish Inquisition and its supporters were looked at as borderline heretical by Rome, even at the time. Rome gave asylum to Jewish refugees fleeing the inquisition.
Speaking of Franciscans, I saw above that you had some harsh words for the Poor Clares. Besides running EWTN, is there anything that sets them apart as being particularly bad? I thought their vow of poverty wasn't any worse than that of like the Bernadines.
I think my impression of their poverty amd heavily cloistered exisistence is coloured by 16th Century accounts of their lives like in Galileo's Daughter.
From what I hear the modern order is far less harsh and their commitment to the Franciscan rule is admirable.
Yeah, in my experience at least they've been pretty chill. My aunt was childhood friends with a woman who became a Clare and she'd bring me along for visits to the convent as a kid; they always were kind to me even after I came out.
I mean as a whole they probably had the same reactionary tendencies that you see in a lot of Church organizations, but I did appreciate that they were nicer to me than my own folks were sometimes.
Education and a dedication to the poor and social justice does that. The fact that Jesuits are Rey wired to do that year of being poor and sieving off the goodness of others seems to change a lot of them. For the better