Jesuit Spies? That's a thing?

Sure, use a gun. Jesuit spies use JESUS!

A month ago, Fr. Matthew Simmons was invited to speak at our GOOD CHEER evening. The topic was on the "Papacy". I arrived a bit late and Fr. Matthew was in the mire of questions about Vatican protocol and hierarchy. A topic he ably discussed.

Then one student mentioned Jesuits as spies and, amazingly, Fr. Matthew gave some credence to the subject.

After the session, I asked the student about the "Jesuit spy" stuff. He said he has contact with a Jesuit who told him he had a "go bag" ready in case of being deployed in emergency. "Oh, man", I thought, "what the heck?" After summarily laughing it off with some of the guys, the student good-naturedly defended his claim.

Ok. Wow.

I found this online from Wheeling Jesuit's online paper:
Stealthy Steltenkamp by Alli Santer
Many of you may be familiar with Fr. Steltenkamp, and his time spent on an Indian Reservation before his years here at Wheeling Jesuit. What you may not know is that Fr. Steltenkamp’s time spent on the reservation was part of his training to be an "intelligence agent," the society’s euphemistic title for "spy" or "secret agent."


Fr. Michael Steltenkamp, SJ

Since World War II, different native tribes have been utilized to perform various covert missions. For instance, the Navajo Code Talkers developed the  first unbreakable code in military history.
To better blend in as covert agents, the society began recruiting Caucasians, African Americans, and Asians to join their Native American brethren. This is where Fr. Steltenkamp – priest, professor, author, spy – comes into the story.

His time spent on the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Reservations in South Dakota rewarded Steltenkamp with the opportunity and training to master his skills: surviving in the wild, speaking Lakota (the native language), stealth walking (a smooth, silent gait used to approach without noise and to leave no trace), communing with the elements, and other skills that would make James Bond envious, if Bond could even get the intel on them.

Once Fr. Steltenkamp mastered his talents, he remained immersed in the culture to further his training. Since then, he has been involved in covert missions that require top-level security clearance to obtain the files on. All that I am allowed to release at this time is general information that Fr. Steltenkamp has been involved in thirty-seven successful missions, and only four unsuccessful missions, along with seven missions that I am not at liberty to discuss right now.
Before he was recruited by the "society," Steltenkamp had aspirations to be a priest/professor/author, the additional title of "spy" became viable when society members noticed him for his diverse talents. The man who knows a seemingly endless amount of information on Native Americans and Religion seemed like a perfect cover for someone as a spy.

So, if you ever have the chance to take Fr. Steltenkamp’s Native American class, do so! And know that there is a little more to his stories than he lets on.

Dang. I want a go bag and a covert operation. All I get is to talk to the Middle School.