The Irish standard., 1901-10-05
Why Jesuits are Hated.

The sermon at the annual opening OF
St. Johns College, Fordham, N. Y, was
preached by the Rev. John Scully, S. j.,
who said, among other things:
1--WE can easily fancy some looker-on
there must be something wrong, some
thing out of joint somewhere, to cause
such an immense disproportion of
means to the end as is exhibited here
in this renowned college. Here is u
large, a magnificent property,-fne,.
large, spacious, well kept grounds; good
large, solid, substantial buildings, rep
resenting the hard-earned savings Of
many years, of priests, professors,
brothers, who have lalbored here; aye,
more than their savings, for it has
heavy burden of debt; here, too, are
nearly fifty priests, professors and
brothers, with forty servants-and all
this outlay of time, money and men,
what for? 10 educate some 300 boys
and young men. And it is precisely he
cause our colleges have done their
work so we'll, and our teachers have
gained with so many the end for which
they toiled, and their life's work has
been crowned With this success in the
lives of such great numbers of their
pupils, that our Society Of Jesus is so
hated by irreligious men today. Were
we to give our time to mission work
among the faithful OF among the heath
en-, to spend our lives in hearing con-
fessions and administering the sacra-
ments of the Christian church, as the
immense majority of Catholic priests
must do, we should not be calumniated
as we are, driven hither and thither as
we are, so that as Christ says, Who
kills you thinks he has done great
service to Cod John xvi. 2.) In that
case we should be no more prosecuted
than they are; the world would con-
tent itself with despsing us; it would
cease to hate us as it does.
Its hate of us is solely because we
are and always have been teaching
order. 1t hates us because for more
than 300 years the products of our col
leges throughout the world, who as boys
and young men made the same course
of studies you are pursuing now,-have
held their own, and more, in the learn
ed world, have ranked among the
greatest minds, have been the leaders
in every rank of life, and have made 1t
impossible for infdels and atheists TO
say in their presence that the intellect
of the world is theirs, and Christianity
is only for the poor and ignorant. Some
times they have, in their foolishness,
dared to say in the presence Of Jesuit
boy, as our graduates are called, but
generally to their shame and sorrow.
"And so in their humiliation and rage
and hate, they resort to calumny, to
persecution, to expulsion. But all in
vain, while Catholic parents have con-
fidence in us, are loyal to us and, faith.
full to the teachings of our church, en-
trust their sons to our care. They only
succeed in obliging us to circumvent
them, as we usually do not fail to do.
Thank God! that we have such ene-
mies; that is our great glory, as it
would be our shame and humiliation
to have such men, being what they are.
as our well-wishers or friends.
''Such is our aim, boys, and such Is
your high calling,-in every kind of life,
in all professions, married or single,
priests, or lawyers, or physicians, or
engineers, or merchants,-to carry aloft
among your fellow men, whose natural
leaders your education will make you
necessarily to be,-to bear on high by
your words and your aives-the glorious
standard of Jesus Christ; to assist the
strong, to help the weak; to withstans
tyranny, to defend Christian liberty,
and so to make mankind better and
happier for having lived among them.
"You will have the power to do this,
if you are true to yourselves, devoted
to duty, obedient, for you will be I'm
bued with power from on high"