Agape Latte discusses religious life and its history

Braving the cold weather, students piled into Hillside Café Tuesday night to hear Rev. Jack Butler, S.J., speak about poverty, chastity, and obedience as a part of the religious life for December's Church in the 21st Century (C21) Agape Latte series.

Butler framed the conversation in three parts: the history of religious life, his definition of certain related terms, and why people choose to enter a religious life.

According to Butler, religious life has been a part of history in every culture even before the birth of Jesus.

"There have always been people who are living together in their religious values, standing apart from culture," said Butler. When Roman leaders began killing Jesus' followers, they embraced the murder as just another way in which they could prove their love for God.

Eventually, Christianity became the official religion of the Holy Roman Empire, and the murders ceased. Yet people still felt a desire to live a life devoted to God, so they moved out into the desert, renounced all of their possessions and relationships, and lived together in they way they understood Jesus did, said Butler.

Two developments arose from this type of simple life devoted to God. There was a monastery of mortification, in which members killed themselves in what they saw as fulfillment of spirituality, and the monastery of those who wished to live in community, pray often, and be holy. Soon, these religious people yearned to go out into the world and help others, and thus Jesuits came to be.

Butler emphasized the difference between a priest and a religious. "A religious is someone who lives in community under a rule which binds those people together, and takes the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience."

Priests make promises of celibacy and obedience, yet they are different since this only means priests will not marry and will be obedient to their bishops.

Each religious group has different ways of viewing the world, said Butler. For Jesuits, the vow of poverty is taken to unclutter one's life in order to follow Jesus. Butler explained that if he were to be called to work in a different location, he would be able to leave immediately because of his vow of poverty.

Chastity is more than not having a wife or abstaining from sex, said Butler. For Jesuits, it is about having no relationship with either a thing or person that demands more than one's relationship with God and his people. "It's not that I don't want marriage and kids - I really do - it's that I put God and his people before everyone and everything else," said Butler.

Butler stressed that although some believe that the vows make them holy, "Sex is not bad and dirty, because God doesn't make anything bad. It's meant to be celebrated," said Butler.

"Jesuits take the vows for two reasons: to be available to go into the world and help people, and because they are broken people who need you, God's people," said Butler.

Butler cited psychologist Carl Jung's assertion that all relationships are formed out of weakness and claimed that it is that weakness which is essential to forming relationships.

Although it doesn't always sound appealing, people choose the religious life simply because they fall in love with it and Jesus, said Butler.

"God wants us to find our passion in life and go for it, and I am a happy Jesuit because I've found my deepest desire: taking care of people," he said.

Butler did not always embrace the religious life. He had always been partly fascinated, partly scared of God. "I met religious people, and I thought they were crazy. Now I am one, and I know we're crazy!" said Butler.

After experiencing a lot of death early in life, he found himself angry and scared, and channeled his frustrations into football. He went to college and then graduate school, still unsure of what he wanted to do with his life.

One day while proctoring an exam, Butler saw the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. He let her walk out of his life that day, but he happened upon her by chance in a CVS one day much later and asked her out. They began dating and were later engaged.

Although he loved the woman, Butler had trouble focusing on their relationship. "In the midst of being with her, I used to picture the people I worked with at the shelter. I couldn't shake them from my mind," said Butler.

Eventually she recognized he was no longer emotionally with her, and she urged him to fulfill his passion and take care of people.

"To be a religious, you have to fall in love with Jesus in a particular way," said Butler. Although he acknowledged most students in the room would not experience such a love with God, as a Jesuit he challenged them all to fall in love, follow their hearts, and fulfill their passions.