Liberal Jesuits Found Newman Institute in Uppsala, Sweden

The Eponymous Flower ^ | 09/02/2010 | Tancred

[0beron]

Editor: The Cardinal Newman Insitute, run by Jesuits, is seeking donors and hope for financial support from conservatives who believe they're running a conservative locale. You might think this is a cause for rejoicing, but we'd encourage you to be cautious. Don't be fooled.

This weekend, after hundreds of years, a Catholic University will open its doors in Sweden. The "Newman Institute" in Uppsala.

Stockholm [kath.net/KAP] This weekend after centuries a Catholic University will open its doors in Sweden. The "Newman Institute" in Uppsala will, according to the school authorities, be the first Catholic educational establishment since the Protestant Revolt in the 16th Century, which has the authority, to issue academic degrees. In 1477 Pope Sixtus IV. had founded the last university in Uppsala, till now. The Jesuit directed University celebrates its opening on Sunday afternoon with three lectures, which will each explore Christendom of the past.

The English Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801-1890), who gives his name to the new institute, belongs to one of the most amazing figures in the Church History of the 19th Century. When he turned 44, the Anglican theological became a Catholic. In 1847 he was ordained a priest, and was named Cardinal by Leo XIII in 1879. The beatification of Newman on the 19th of September in Birmingham is a highpoint and completion of the Holy Father's trip to the United Kingdom.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newman_Institute_%28Uppsala%29

http://www.newman.se/about.htm

[Mr. K]

Hello...Newman

[Only1choice____Freedom]

Has it been lost all this time?

[Houghton M.]

The author on his blog offers not a shred of evidence that the founders are liberals. I happen to know a bit about the history of this institute, which goes back about 10 years. I would not characterize it simply as liberal.

People ought to do some research before they make accusations.

[0beron]

Of course they’re liberals:

1. They’re Jesuits.

2. We have it on good authority that they are.

[Houghton M.]

Then cite your evidence and let your readers judge.

[Unam Sanctam]

There are a few good Jesuits around, like Frs. Fessio and Pacwa, but you’re right — there sure are a lot of bad ones that have gone off the rails. Let’s hope this is a truly Catholic endeavor and not just Church of the Zeitgeist...

[Houghton M.]

You just did a typical MSM “citing anonymous sources” move.

Cite real evidence.

[0beron]

Well, first off, it’s pretty self-explanatory.

Second off, you look at the course offerings and their methodology, things get hairy pretty quick. The emphasis on “inter-faith” for example is usually a dead giveaway, but what’s even worse than that is the Rectors devotion to Karl Rahner.

It’s pretty comical though, he showed up on EWTN basically begging for money, and you know how neoconservatives are, they think the Jesuits are still God’s Marines...

So, yeah... there are a lot of suckers out there who’re going to fall for this. Can you say Stockholm Syndrome?

[Houghton M.]

Oh, so your answer is “it’s self-evident” and they mention Karl Rahner?

I’ve got news for you. That’s not evidence. That’s someone who has been caught out in having bitten off more than he can chew and when called out on it, splutters.

Find some real evidence,other than your “all Jesuits are liberals” assumption.

[Houghton M.]

So, so EWTN is liberal too?

Benedict is as well, I’m sure.

Let me guess. Jesus Christ is to darn liberal for you.

Have a good day.

[0beron]

You must be pretty peeved off to attribute things to me I haven’t said. I never said EWTN was liberal, did I?

Yes, Karl Rahner is bad. I’d say a man who had a decades long affair with a German Communist is pretty untrustworthy, wouldn’t you?

But I’m guessing you have a vested interest.

Good day to you!

[Houghton M.]

No, you just said EWTN is neo-conservative which, in your lexicon is eeeeeeeevvvvvvvviiiiilllllly liberal, is it not?

If you don’t want to be interpreted that way, don’t throw bombs like “you know how neo-conservative EWTN is.”

I can’t have a good day if I have to deal with tin-foil hat folks all the time.

[vladimir998]

I hope the college is orthodox rather than liberal. If it is orthodox, it will be perhaps the only non-liberal Jesuit college in the entire world. I can’t think of a single one in any country that has a reputation for being orthodox or even conservative. Can you?

[vladimir998]

If I had to build a case that this is a liberal instituition, here’s what I would point to:

1) Look at the courses offered. Most seem okay, but then there’s this nutty stuff: Thomas Merton: andlig vägledare och gränsöverskridare. I’ve never known anyone but a liberal to teach that kind of garbage.

2) Look at the faculty (too many women; they do things like this - and this is the Church History professor: http://family.webshots.com/photo/1100761708039136692FgHfhX )

3) Look at the boss. Here he is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e89C2Cg9oZE

Then again, their paid fundraiser at least is pro-life: http://www.facebook.com/people/Tanja-Akerblom/1018756941

Mind you, in any case, some of the professors there are going to be decent in scholarship even if they might be liberals (if you know what I mean). Here is how one’s recent PhD defense is listed: Mikael Sundkvist defended a doctoral thesis in New Testament exegesis at the University of Joensuu, Finland, on May the 6th 2008. The thesis, with the title “The Christian Laws in Paul: Reading the Apostle with Early Greek Interpreters”, investigates four ambiguous expressions in Paul’s treatment of the Mosaic Law: the law of Christ (which appears twice), the law of faith, and the law of the Spirit of life. Sundkvist analyses the early Greek reception of these expressions and integrates the result from the reception study into the modern exegetical discussion.

Dr. Kari Kuula, University of Helsinki, was opponent at the defence, while professor Lauri Thurén, University of Joensuu, functioned as custos.

Can’t be a dummy.

[Hieronymus]

Some effort has been made to turn Gonzaga around. Can’t think of anything nice to say about any of their other schools in North America as institutions, and North America is where the SJ apostolate in higher education has been strongest, as higher education in Europe was largely secularized around the time of Napoleon.

[Houghton M.]

I am a conservative and I teach Thomas Merton.

And you judge people to be liberal or not based on their looks?

Where you have actual evidence it’s that their fundraiser is prolife. As evidence of liberalism you have nothing but looks?

I know something about the origins of this institute and I know that its founders modeled it on an institution that has fidelity to the Church’s magisterium written into it’s bylaws.

I am sick and tired of so-called conservative Catholics rushing to judgment on the basis of nothing but pre-judice.

Suspend your damn judgment until you have some solid evidence one way or the other.

[Houghton M.]

What you say is true of the established Jesuit universities. I teach at one of them.

But then you have Fr. Fessio’s Campion Institute at the U. of San Francisco. The liberals shut it down but it was a Jesuit-founded faithfully Catholic institute.

Your mistake is in assuming that a newly founded institute that has a tiny footprint in an overwhelmingly non-Catholic country would be like centuries-old established Jesuit schools elsewhere. On what basis can one assume that.

What if, just if, some faithful Jesuits decided to found a small institute in a country where Catholicism is a tiny minority but growing and growing largely in a faithfully Catholic way, attracting converts precisely because it is faithfully Christian whereas the Lutheran establishment has gone off the deep end,

what if, in those circumstances, faithful Jesuits established a school? Would it look like a Fordham or a U. of San Frencisco? Of course not.

Yet that’s what you and others are doing—extrapolating from what you know about Jesuit universities elsewhere to this tiny institute, with no evidentiary basis whatsoever, just raw prejudice and presupposition.

That’s called rash judgment. And it’s wrong. Give it up. Suspend your judgment until you have evidence one way or another. That’s what I’m doing.

[vladimir998]

No, what you’re not suspending your judgment. It seems more like wishful thinking. As I said, I hope it is orthodox. But since there isn’t a single orthodox Jesuit institution of higher learning in the world today - by reputation - I see no reason to not see the evidence for what it is: too many women faculty (almost all liberals in Sweden), faculty who love the Lutheran sect of Sweden, etc.

The burden of evidence is on you.

[0beron]

There's a comment which basically confirms this. They have the usual liturgical abuses, bad theology and so forth. The only thing that hasn't been discussed much is the gay angle, which is all too common with the Jesuits. There is one OD professor there, but you know...: I am a Swedish Catholic and it is also my opinion that the Church here in Sweden has suffered a great deal from these jesuits for several decades now. Over here, they seem to be up for anything: they organize little girls to serve at the altar instead of boys, they have holy communion distributed by lay people, chalice included. They don't offer teaching of traditional Church doctrine but rather continue on the line of the new theology. The professors at their newly founded institute are mainly modernists, apart from one Opus Dei, which is about as conservative as it gets.