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State of the Profession: Faith and the Limits of Dissent
By Martin D. Snyder
The election of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI has the potential to exacerbate the tension between core beliefs and theological dissent on Catholic campuses. The National Catholic Reporter in 1999 argued that Ratzinger's "efforts to curb dissent have left the church more bruised, more divided, than at any point since the close of Vatican II." As prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (a Vatican office formerly known as the Inquisition), Ratzinger earned the nickname "the enforcer" for his defense of orthodoxy. Ratzinger was a major player in drafting Ex corde Ecclesiae, a document that was seen by many as the Vatican's attempt to assert control over Catholic campuses. And it was Ratzinger's signature on the letter that banned Catholic priest Charles Curran from teaching theology at the Catholic University of America in 1986, an action that caused the Association to censure that institution's administration.
In a May 2005 article in the magazine Commonweal, Curran, now Professor of Human Values at Southern Methodist University, discussed his differences with Ratzinger. Concluding a seven-year investigation of Curran's theological writings, Ratzinger wrote to Curran that "one who dissents from the magisterium [the teaching authority of the church] as you do is not suitable nor eligible to teach Catholic theology." Curran maintained that his dissent was from noninfallible church teachings. He asked Ratzinger, "Is theological dissent from noninfallible church teaching ever permitted; and, if so, under what conditions is it permitted?" The cardinal declined to respond, but his subsequent actions suggest that the allowable area for dissent, debate, or discussion is very limited.
On the day following the appearance of Curran's article in Commonweal, the New York Times reported that the Reverend Thomas J. Reese, SJ, had resigned as editor of the Jesuit weekly America under orders from the Vatican. Reese had served as America's editor for seven years. The order was issued from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in March, while Cardinal Ratzinger was still prefect.
According to the Times, church officials speaking on the condition of anonymity traced the source of Reese's trouble to articles published by America critical of the work of Ratzinger's congregation and in recent years to articles representing more than one side on church-sensitive issues. Sr. Joan Chittister, OSB, commenting in the National Catholic Reporter in May, pinpointed the motivation for Reese's ouster: "He had the gall to publish two sides of every major issue even though, at the same time, he explained the church's position carefully. He published articles in America that looked at both sides of the communion-for-politicians issue, at both sides of the gay marriage issue, at both sides of the role of Congregation of the Faith, at both sides of the church as institution and religion." In other words, he was fair, balanced, and impartial. He did what good journalists do.
The dismissal of a commentator on church affairs so widely respected as Reese is likely to engender a climate of fear in the Catholic theological community and have a chilling effect on Catholic scholars. Speaking to the Times, Bernard Prusak, chairman of the theology department at Villanova University, a Catholic institution near Philadelphia, said Reese's ouster raised "concerns about the kind of theological dialogue that we should have in the church." "Catholic theology has to explain what the official teaching is," Prusak added, "but it also has the responsibility to probe new data and raise new questions."
Liberal theologians have also expressed fears about the reemergence of Ex corde Ecclesiae. Of particular concern is the enforcement of a requirement that Catholic professors of Catholic theology obtain a mandatum, or "seal of approval," from the local bishop. Pope Benedict's predecessor, John Paul II, had pressed for such a requirement. It was approved in 1999 but never vigorously implemented by the American bishops.
In the National Catholic Reporter's 1999 article, Reese is quoted as suggesting that Ratzinger just leave theology alone. "The mistake the Vatican makes is to not realize that the theological community is a self-correcting community of scholars, like any other discipline," Reese said. "Often the worst thing the Vatican can do is to condemn a theologian." He noted that many theologians condemned in the past now are recognized as great thinkers and loyal church members.
Tightening strictures on professors and silencing a journalist do not bode well for Catholic higher education. They run the risk, in Chittister's words, of "making the whole idea of Catholic 'thought' an oxymoron."
Martin Snyder is AAUP director of planning and development.
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