Helping the Afflicted

[Michael]

I think it's much more complex than that, Jenny. The Jesuits were/are often the intellectual elite. They are not at all lacking critical thinking skills. They lay a very firm foundation of philosophy before even talking about theology. It takes about eight years of university level education to make a Jesuit. Though originally they were the intellectual elite that drove the counter reformation, today they are known for challenging the Church. Both they and their universities (like Notra Dame, who upset traditionalists by inviting Obama to speak) are catalysts for change in the Catholic Church - they are now generally driving the liberal wing of the Church. They were also behind 'liberation theology' which again upset the traditionalists who considered it Marxism by the back door. They became so powerful they were once banned by the Vatican and only survived by protection in Tsarist Russia. These elite believe very much in education, but of course they have their own ideas of what makes the best education (don't we all?). Essential to them is teaching people to think well, and to then try to attract the best thinkers to themselves. But, yes, they know the power of the earliest years of education.

Pope Francis is a Jesuit (just to throw in some more trivia).

P.S. And one of my favourite Jesuits, a staunch defender of science .... http://jesuits.org/news-detail?TN=NEWS-20140714111304