Priest’s Book Tells Sad Tale of Jesuits’ Abortion Complicity in the USPART IV
COMMENTARY: The late Jesuit Father Paul Mankowski knew how badly some of his brother priests and his superiors had betrayed the Society of Jesus.
Father Raymond J. de Souza
January 7, 2022
Fifteen years on from Father Drinan’s final benediction for Pelosi, both the Speaker and President Joe Biden turn to Jesuits for political cover for their abortion politics. Both of them sought audiences recently from the first Jesuit pope, with Biden claiming the approval of Pope Francis to continue receiving Holy Communion at the Jesuit parish in Washington that he attends.
A former Jesuit provincial himself and admirer of Father Arrupe, Pope Francis would no doubt be scandalized — if not surprised — to learn of the extent of Jesuit complicity in the monstrous scandal that was the congressional career of Father Robert Drinan.
To what extent have such Jesuits — in a great calumny upon the many other faithful fathers and brothers — become famous for complicity in giving cover to Catholics who promote the abortion license?
Consider this 1997 column from Maureen Dowd of The New York Times, a Catholic who favors liberal abortion laws. She was writing about Nothing Sacred, a TV show in which a “hip, glib, cute young priest” drives his penitent to get an abortion:
“I didn’t think the show reflected the point of view of the entertainment elite or, as some critics have ranted, of its ‘non-practicing’ Jewish producers,” Dowd wrote. “I recognized the point of view of the Jesuit elite. Jesuits are the flyboys of the church, the teaching intelligentsia most likely to be found drinking pricey wine and traveling abroad and devising interpretations of church dogma.”
In this special “Ignatian Year” declared by the Society of Jesus, the Ignatian priority on the examination of conscience would seem fitting regarding the political activity of Father Drinan, now that Father Mankowski’s memorandum has revealed a more complete story.
Epilogue:
In a previous article, I wrote about the failed attempt by St. John Paul II to reform the Jesuits in October 1981. It is surely the case that the scandal of Father Drinan, and the apparent inability of Father Arrupe to do anything about it, contributed to John Paul’s conclusion that the Jesuit leadership was incapable of reforming itself.
In that, Father Mankowski concurred. In a 2004 letter included in Jesuit at Large, he writes to a young man enquiring about entering the Society:
"It is my conviction that, at present, the Society of Jesus is a corrupt order. That means that it has serious problems in all its endeavors at all levels of authority, and, more importantly, it has lost the capacity to mend itself by its own internal resources. … In all candor I have to say that, at present, I see no indication whatever of the capacity or a willingness on the part of the Roman Jesuit leadership to address and remedy these problems.”
Father Mankowski had not lost hope though, and knew that the charism of Ignatius was poured into earthen vessels. He passed on this advice, despite the bleak state of the Society: “That said, if I had to do it all over again, knowing what I know now, I would enter the Jesuits tomorrow.”
One hopes that Father Mankowski is now doing his bit for Jesuit reform, now blessedly beyond the reach of superiors bent on frustrating that essential mission.
https://www.ncregister.com/commentaries/priest-s-book-tells-sad-tale-of-jesuits-abortion-complicity-in-the-us