Farley Clinton and the Jesuits

ERIK v. KUEHNELT-LEDDIHN

MR Farley Clinton’s article “The Jesuit Confrontation” OCtOber 11] is the most amazing essay for a long time, in any publication. Certainly the Society of Jesus now finds itself in a deep crisis, and it would not be too difficult to analyze its present plight by probing somewhat deeper. The perennial task of the Society has been to combine the greatest personal discipline of its members with the effort to assimilate the values of the World (and also of the faiths extra muros) to the Church. At the present time, when the Church at large so frequently ignores the warning of St. Paul, “Do not conform with the World and the Times,” the Society of Jesus ignores it more than most other orders. No wonder; this “occupational hazard” stems from the fact that the step from mere understanding to acceptance is often so dangerously easy. As Nietzsche said: “If you fight an enemy, beware of becoming like him. He who looks into an abyss must beware of being sucked into it.”The Jesuits find themselves in a tragic moment of their history, which merits sympathy and a treatment based on real knowledge and profound analysis, not on journalistic sensationalism.

EK

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Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn

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ERIK v. KUEHNELT-LEDDIHN

MR Farley Clinton’s article “The Jesuit Confrontation” OCtOber 11] is the most amazing essay for a long time, in any publication. Certainly the Society of Jesus now finds itself in a deep crisis, and it would not be too difficult to analyze its present plight by probing somewhat deeper. The perennial task of the Society has been to combine the greatest personal discipline of its members with the effort to assimilate the values of the World (and also of the faiths extra muros) to the Church. At the present time, when the Church at large so frequently ignores the warning of St. Paul, “Do not conform with the World and the Times,” the Society of Jesus ignores it more than most other orders. No wonder; this “occupational hazard” stems from the fact that the step from mere understanding to acceptance is often so dangerously easy. As Nietzsche said: “If you fight an enemy, beware of becoming like him. He who looks into an abyss must beware of being sucked into it.”The Jesuits find themselves in a tragic moment of their history, which merits sympathy and a treatment based on real knowledge and profound analysis, not on journalistic sensationalism.