The Court of the Two Mothers

The lastest from CANS:

Jesuits Courting Two Ladies

By Steven Assom

Rome, April 1, 2006--Reports from Rome suggest that the Society of Jesus, which operates 28 universities in the United States, is prepared to make a bid to add two more universities to its network. Unconfirmed sources report that a meeting took place here last week attended by Jesuit Father General Peter Hans Von Kolvenbach and five U.S. Jesuits including Fr. Charles Current, Fr. Joseph Fussio, Fr. Brian O'Daily, Fr. Kevin Wilder and Fr. Michael Garbanzo. Current is president of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities in Washington; Fussio is chancellor of Ave Maria University; O'Daily teaches at the University of Notre Dame; Wilder is president of Loyola University in New Orleans; and Garbanzo is president of Loyola University in Chicago. The topic of the meetings was reportedly efforts by the storied 450 year old religious order to take over operations of one of the United States’ premier Catholic universities, the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, and one of its newest, Ave Maria University in Naples, Florida.

Speculation has been fueled by the approach of hurricane season. Plaisant Boudreaux, a member of Loyola New Orleans’ Board of Directors would not confirm the rumor, but did say, “We have been exploring ways of minimizing our risk of having to shut down for another semester, having another campus in the same region would certainly be of help.” Wilder would only say, “Our focus right now is rebuilding New Orleans.” Displeasure with some recent statements by Notre Dame’s new president have also reportedly led to a movement among Notre Dame’s faculty to bring the Jesuits in. Outspoken faculty member Brian McRichard told this reporter, “Most of the country thinks Notre Dame is a Jesuit university anyway, it’s likely that most people wouldn’t even notice the change.”

A reported rift between Fussio and Ave Maria University founder Dominic Monahan has set off a power struggle at the fledgling university. Fussio evidently turned to the Jesuits for help when the administration started receiving complaints from students that Fussio seemed far too liberal to lead the university into the eschaton. In a moment of candor, Monahan admitted that the Jesuit “may no longer be the horseman for the job.”

Catholic University expert Rick Riley is concerned about the implications of such a move by the Jesuits. “This would open up two more venues in which young, impressionable Catholic minds would be exposed to heretical commencement addresses,” said Riley, “not to mention the danger of morally complex theatrical productions.” Dick Newsome of the Catholic publication, Second Chances, offers a more positive spin, “Don’t forget these are two universities named for the Blessed Mother. Start your prayers now and what we may see as a result of this move is the conversion of the Jesuits. Imagine the impact thirty orthodox Catholic universities could have on the promotion of capitalism throughout the world.”

Garbanzo would not comment on the matter except to say, “We’ve already got plenty of universities named after Loyola, it would be nice to add a couple of ladies to our family.”

Current promises that we can expect a statement in May about the nature of the Rome meeting. Until then, he said, “You may just want to treat this as if it were all one big April Fool’s joke.”