As I understand it, in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, there was a great division among Jesuits, particularly within the United States. On the one side, you had an “old guard” of traditionalists. And on the other side, there was a large crop of men in their 20s and 30s who embraced what has been known as the “Spirit of Vatican II.” The former group insisted that the latter group’s ideas of “reform” would ultimately sow the seed’s of the destruction of the Society. Nevertheless, by the early ‘80s, the latter group had completely prevailed. But their “success” has ultimately vindicated the predictions of the old guard that opposed them in the ‘60s. The Order has essentially self-destructed, as seminary enrollment has dropped from 5500 in 1965 to 140 now.
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