O’Brian On Jesuit Education

‘…By the way, Stephen, those Fathers were not Jesuits, I suppose? I did not like to ask straight out.’

‘Of course not, Jack. They were suppressed long ago. Clement XIV put them down in the seventies1, and a very good day’s work he did. Sure, they have been trying to creep back on one legalistic pretext or another and I dare say they will soon make a sad nuisance of themselves again, turning out atheists from their schools by the score; but these gentlemen had nothing to do with them, near or far.’

1 1770s, that is. From The Reverse of the Medal, volume 11 (of 20) of perhaps the greatest novel in the English language, by Patrick O’Brian (the speakers are Post Captain Jack Aubrey and surgeon and spy Stephen Maturin). Also recommended is the study Status Envy: The Politics of Catholic Higher Education by Anne Hendershott.

7 Comments

  1. bill

    Yay, Go Creighton Prep, Go Marquette!! Blue Jays! Warriors!

  2. Lawrence Todd

    Go Hounds – 2012 NCAA Lacrosse champs – Loyola University Maryland
    Class ’67 Mathematics
    I was a non catholic in a Jesuit school who found the well rounded education a definite plus to my life.

  3. bill

    Marquette of the ’60s! When 15 hours of philosophy and similar amounts of theology were mandatory! No social justice or mandatory service hours. The only 13th amendment violation we had to worry about was the draft!

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