Editor’s Note: From my personal experience speaking with this Jesuit — and to my knowledge I am one of the very few to whom he has ever granted an private discussion on points of canon law — I can assure you he means exactly and only what he says. Therefore, it maybe true that he worked on or will be working on such a document, but not true that he is working on it.
Now isn’t this the sort of thing that gives Jesuits a bad name? In other words, following the letter of the law instead of the spirit of it?
For the spirit of every law is love, its intention being to serve and protect the people, not to give unscrupulous persons opportunity to disadvantage the people to their own self-aggrandizement.
But language is not always up to the task of expressing what the heart desires. Jesus took the scribes and Pharisees to task for this, claiming they would tithe to the last jot and tittle of their cumin and mint, while neglecting the weightier matters regarding love for the people.
Now we have Jesuits, among others, engaged once again in twisting the language of the law to suit themselves. But it doesn’t suit God, and God will not be mocked.