Ever wonder why conservative Catholics get frustrated with liberal Catholic universities? You need look no further than yesterday's Washington Post. Dr. Patricia McGuire, the president of Trinity College, argues that what Catholic colleges need is yet more freedom to explore . . . .
Mindless dogmatism is not part of the Catholic intellectual tradition. As stewards of that tradition, Catholic colleges and universities engage in the robust "dialogue of faith and reason" that the church expects of us, exploring the complex mysteries of God, the profound meaning of human life, the social-justice imperatives of the Gospel.Critics of Catholic higher education, however, seem to expect us to be submissive disciples of some lesser religion, obedient to a doctrinaire laundry list of "Thou Shalt Nots" -- e.g., "Thou Shalt Not" stage a play about women's body parts ("The Vagina Monologues"), allow gay students to form clubs or allow speakers whose political views diverge from church teachings.
Actually, we were hoping you would proclaim the faith.
We know that there must be a dialogue between faith and reason, but why is it that on Catholic campuses, that dialogue is always to the detriment of faith? Catholic colleges act as though the faith is unclear in its teachings, that the faith is some great unkown, and that reason is the only light to guide us. Actually, the faith is quite simple -- you need only buy yourself a copy of The Catechism of the Catholic Church to see what faith teaches us. After reading it, Dr. McGuire, you can easily see what the dialogue between the faith and, say, The Vagina Monologues must be -- a simple declaration that the play is beneath the dignity of consideration by Catholics. Put the two next to each other, Dr. McGuire, and see which has more intellectual merit.
But we don't ever get that discussion, as much as Catholic college presidents like to say we do. Instead, the truth is hidden under a bushel, and the worthless trash of our culture is paraded around and celebrated for all to see. This is what we object to. We're not moralists, Dr. McGuire -- or better, we are not just moralists -- we are intellectuals. The Vagina Monologues are trash. If you cannot see that, you have no business being a college president, or even, frankly, in considering yourself to be literate.
When Pope Benedict XVI visits Washington this week, he will have a special meeting to address the presidents of Catholic colleges and universities. Critics have swung into full smackdown mode, predicting that the pope will lambaste the presidents for failing to prohibit activities the critics deem offensive.The image of us presidents as wayward boys and girls assembled before the pope for chastisement feeds into the most pernicious anti-Catholic stereotype of mindless adherence to theocratic rulers. For Catholics to encourage the kind of actions that bolster such banal stereotypes is the real scandal.
Really, doctor, you mustn't deprive us of our fantasies. Indeed, we'd like to imagine that the Pope will issue a statement criticizing the universities' abandonment of the faith. We find that easier to believe than that a Catholic university president will ever protect and defend that faith. We must have the first dream, for some fantasies are beyond even our imaginings.
The pope and the presidents have more serious and urgent business to consider together in the name of our faith. Civilization itself is beset by profoundly consequential choices among radical forms of religious and political beliefs, creating deep chasms within the global community and threatening long-term war and violence that undermine the peace essential for true human dignity.
Most of this is, of course, pure nonsensical academic cant. But notice how Dr. McGuire slips in the inference that the pope and the university presidents are somehow working together? They're considering the urgent business, we lesser mortals mustn't interfere with them. Pure nonsense. The problem is a simple one -- on the great issues that divide us, the Pope and the university presidents are on opposite sides. And as for the radical forms of religious beliefs causing great chasms, Dr. McGuire, let's be honest -- surely you can see that there is only one religion that is causing the great chasms -- and that religion is Islam. I don't see too many radical Catholics strapping bombs to themselves and walking onto buses in Tel Aviv, do you? Don't lump conservative Catholics in with the nuts in the world, Dr. McGuire.
Ours is a world with extreme economic disparities in which a small percentage of the planet's inhabitants consume almost all of the resources while billions lack even the most fundamental sanitation, shelter, food or education. The mission of Catholic higher education is to educate citizen leaders to enable them to address these grave moral and social challenges with conscience, conviction and intellectual strength.
So, in other words, the Catholic church is merely a form of socialism. There is no spiritual or moral dimension for it to address. It has nothing to say on, say, sexual morality. It is only about the redistribution of wealth.
If that's your view of the faith, Dr. McGuire, then I'd simply ask, why bother? Why not worship the wax figure in Lenin's tomb rather than the living God whose tomb is empty? If Christ only came to redistribute wealth, he needn't have bothered -- we've figured that all out by ourselves.
The seminal Vatican document on Catholic higher education, known as Ex Corde Ecclesiae, posits a remarkably contemporary view of the purpose of Catholic higher education. The document reflects the lively intellectual life of its author, Pope John Paul II, who had long experience as a university professor before moving into the hierarchy. Ex Corde Ecclesiae embraces the fundamental nature of a university as a place of free research and true higher learning leading to the discernment of truth, which is the heart of our faith. To suggest that Catholic universities are not places where intellectual freedom can flourish betrays the very teaching of the church itself, which is respect for our academic freedom.
There is truth to be discerned, to be certain, Dr. McGuire, but you seem to have forgotten that certain truths have also been revealed. There is Scripture, there is tradition, there is the teaching Magisterium of the church. In your quest to discern the truth, have you forgotten about the truths which the Catholic church holds as revealed, truths revealed by God himself? Are we to ignore the truth we know in pursuit of the truth that the meager light of reason might yield to us, contemplating, arguendo, the many slang terms for the vagina?
Nothing in Ex Corde Ecclesiae expects Catholic universities to diminish our identity as normative institutions of higher learning. On the contrary, Ex Corde calls us to an active life as real universities with the additional distinctive dimension of taking the dialogue of faith and reason into the culture, with all of the complex problems that may pose.Of course, church leaders, including institutional presidents, also expect Catholic colleges and universities to manifest clear respect for the church and its moral teachings across the spectrum of issues in human life and moral conduct. How we manage that expectation within our respective communities of diverse scholars and students exercising their free-speech rights is at the white-hot center of many controversies. Controversy itself is sometimes the most fruitful way to teach about our faith.
I'm sorry, but that's just simply wrong. Catholic universities mustn't simply show respect for the church and its moral teachings -- though that would be a nice start. There isn't some kind of neutrality or agnosticism allowed here. The Church is not merely something to give lip service to, while teaching whatever we damn well please. A Catholic university must proclaim the faith and defend it. It must examine all knowledge in light of the truths that have been already revealed. These truths are not unknown to us, and are not mere academic conjectures. They are there in plain print. Read the Catechism and hold to it. Any knowledge gained by a Catholic university along the way is a great and wonderful thing, but realize that the truth is found in the person who died on Calvary. All other knowledge, next to Him, is really just gravy. And if a Catholic university leads away from him, it is simply no longer a Catholic university. Period.
The critics would have us ban plays, speakers, student clubs, faculty members and alumni guests whose words or deeds run contrary to the most orthodox interpretation of Catholic teaching. A great silence would descend on most Catholic campuses if we did that. Rather than being afraid of the expression of contrary ideas, we should leverage the teaching opportunities inherent in the free and open exchange of ideas that is essential to university life. If our faith is as strong as we claim it to be, we should not fear the cacophony that emerges during the struggle of learning.
So instead of a silence in which, perhaps, the voice of God might be heard, we must ceaselessly bleat whatever the culture tells us to bleat? How about simply saying that the culture is badly in need of reform, and we will not contribute to its demise by going along with what everyone else is doing? Is that really so hard?
We needn't be silent when it comes to our culture. In fact, I think we are obligated to speak. But that speech shouldn't always be in agreement. In light of the bankruptcy of today's culture, I'd say that we must not be silent. We must speak in opposition.
Hat tip to Diogenes, whose own take is, of course, priceless.