|
|
| |
Notre Dame magazine home page |
| Autumn 1999 issue | . | Letters about Father Malloy and Father Warner articles | |
LINKS: |
The two stories referred to in these letters do not
appear on the web; they are in the Autumn 1999 print issue only. As a '55 grad. of the College of Commerce' Program for Administrators, I dearly recall the "ethical hot seats" that T.T Murphy, J. Culliton and Rev. Smyth put us on in just about every class! In '58 I entered the U.C. Berkeley MBA Program and in my two years there I distinctly recall the lack of reference to any ethical questions for discussion in classroom or seminar. "Profit maximization" was the primary goal at that time, and it was as though once this were attained , "the good" would naturally flow. Fr. Malloy , in my experience, is correct in stating that "a Catholic University is more open than its secular counterparts,." a comment I'm sure would raise many a secular hackle in schools which pride themselves on their academic freedom. Richard Rutledge '55 Both as a father of a Notre Dame student and as an Executive Director of a Catholic Child Welfare agency, which also faces serious questions of Catholic identity, I deeply appreciated the publication of Reverend Edward Molloy=s article Keepers of the Faith. Philosophically, Malloy persuasively highlighted the importance of maintaining and enhancing the Catholic character of the University, and sharply clarified the role of the faculty in pursuing that end, specifically the Adesirability of having the majority of the faculty be active participants in the institution=s religious tradition.@ Further, his article was instructive in defining the various tensions and conflicts associated with the pursuit of a more Catholic faculty, such as the maintenance of high academic credentials in hiring; remaining open and fair to non-Catholic faculty; and issues related to scholarly debate and the inquiry to truth and knowledge. I would very much like to see this entire debate and Malloy=s intellectual and faith based challenge that Notre Dame must be a Afull-fledged Catholic university@ continue in the pages of this magazine and in other university forums. Perhaps, a more concrete appraisal of how a qualified and Catholic faculty is recruited; what has been implemented in terms of recruitment thus far; and what are some of the stresses encountered, could be addressed in future articles. Francis E. Swiacki, Jr. MSW
I want to commend you on the excellent articles by Fathers Malloy and Warner. In regard to the latter, I think it is important if Notre Dame is to continue as a great university, that external authorities, even ecclesiastical ones, do not have control over hiring. Moreover, academic freedom cannot be restricted in terms of truth and the common good. Everyone has false views, but to say that such views do not come under academic freedom eviserates the very concept of academic freedom. The Acommon good@ is not a clear enough notion to be used in restricting academic freedom and could easily be abused. That is, such restrictions on academic freedom are inconsistent with the American (and Canadian) understanding of academic freedom. Although I do not always agree with the articles in Notre Dame Magazine, every issue has some interesting and thought-provoking articles. I look forward to reading each issue. Edward King, PhD (Philosophy) >65
As regards A A Defining Moment@ written by Richard Warner, CSC. The American bishops spent over 15 years trying to compose a document on AWomen in the Church.@ Every draft sent to Rome was rejected. Revise, they were admonished. The bishops have apparently lost heart and have abandoned the project. Fifteen years of work and hundreds of thousands of words down the tube. Now we are being primed for another statement. Wait patiently, ask those who are engaged in the ACatholic University@ prospective. Give us another five years to get it right. The first proposal sent to Rome was rejected. The bishops were expected to vote on a second and final proposal at their annual November meeting in Washington. But it is already being circulated that they will postpone the vote and pursue more studies and debates and discussions. A Words! Words! Words!@ Eliza sings in My Fair Lady. AI=m sick of Words!--- Show me!@We need wise and prophetic men who are commissioned to lead, and do so with courage. Weak men hide behind a million words. There has been a great shift among us from ACatholic@ and them, to us All-Together. It is the people who have made the shift. To rebuild a University fort in which the Catholic intellectual community retires for safety is an anachronism. I conclude with words from a letter Thomas Merton wrote to Daniel Berrigan: AI am sick up to the teeth and beyond the teeth, up to the eyes and beyond the eyes, with all forms of projects and expectations and statements and programs and explanations of anything, especially explanations about where we are going, because where we are going is where we went a long time ago, over the falls. We are in a new river and we don=t know it.@ Donald W. Whipple, C.S.C >53
My late husband and I have paid the tuition for several of our grandchildren to attend the University of Notre DameC a Catholic school. We did not pay the tuition to have our grandchildren attend a college where as AMonk@ Malloy says ACatholics predominate@ in the recent issue of ANotre Dame.@ Father=s explanation was not satisfying. If we wanted a college where ACatholics predominate@ we could have sent them to any member of colleges where Catholics are in the majority. Maybe the problem is that Fr. Warner advises Fr. Malloy. Fr. Warner is really confused and in his article confirmed this. He does not seem to understand what Catholic is. I hope the Bishops recognize Fr. Warner for what he isB CONFUSED! Father Warner insisted on giving the 1992 Latare medal to Sen. D. Moynihan of New York. The award for being an outstanding Catholic went to an abortion supporter. Perhaps Monk and Warner need a Catholic school. But I have paid enough tuition! Alice Palmer Page
Fr. Richard Warner=s article in the Autumn issue AA Defining Moment: The Church and Catholic Higher Education Draw Closer to a Critical Juncture in the Debate over Academic Freedom@ is a wakeup call that Notre Dame=s high academic standing is being threatened. The culprit is APart Two: Particular Norms,@ drafted by a bishop-canonist subcommittee of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, which document is up for discussion and action at the bishop=s annual meeting. The subcommittee=s requirement that every Catholic university president make a profession of faith and oath of fidelity is not only inappropriate, as the University of Notre Dame Fellows have reasoned, but, as to the profession of faith, unnecessary. The Catholic university president makes a profession of faith at least once a week when he/she recites the Nicene Creed. As for the oath of fidelity, is it to be given to the diocesan bishop? In a group ceremony? Orally or in writing? Annually? Will it survive the death or transfer of the bishop? The subcommitte=s requirement that Catholics who teach theological disciplines in a Catholic university must seek a mandate from the diocesan bishop certifying the applicant as a faithful Catholic and as a person who teaches fully in accord with the Magisterium presents another compromise of the university=s institutional autonomy, as the Fellows have explained. It also opens a Pandora=s box of problems: Will the diocesan bishop make his decision that an applicant for a position on a theology faculty is a Afaithful Catholic@ on the basis of a written application and interview? On the basis of letters to the bishop, pro and con? On the basis of a due process hearing? Will an appeal be permitted? In determining whether or not the applicant Ateaches fully in accord with the Magisterium@ will the diocesan bishop interview students who studied under the applicant? Will he read all of the applicant=s theological writings? Will he insist upon reading the notes and drafts of all writings in progress? Will he require total concordance with all of the voluminous writings and other elements of the Magisterium, or will substantial concordance meet the Afully in accord@ test? Can the bishop refuse to accept a mandate previously issued by another diocesan bishop? Will the bishop limit his mandate to one year and require reapplication? Will he appoint his diocesan theologian to hear these cases and make recommendations to Agrant mandate@ or Adeny mandate?@ Will the applicant have a right to appeal to another bishop or board of bishops? Our Notre Dame Fellows are not only putting up the good fight to protect Notre Dame=s academic freedom and academic standing, but are, I believe, protecting the entire U.S. Church from strange and unworkable proposals crafted by this subcommittee which do not originate in the big loving heart of the Church (ex corde ecclesiae) but in the heads of a small group of canon lawyers. In the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Neil J. McCarty
This past summer there was a T-shirt bearing this inscription: AWhat if the hokey pokey is really what it=s all about?@ What if undergraduate education at Notre Dame is at heart an exercise, not in tolerance (which is principally, if not exclusively, to the good), but in religious indifferentism (which, Catholics will hold, is unacceptable)? We know, for example, that the number of practicing Catholics on the faculty has been, to use Father Malloy=s rather cryptic phrase, Agoing down.@ But how far down is Adown@? There is, I think a trade-off which the University must be willing to make: that is to embrace Catholicity even at the cost of catholicity. A university which refuses to stand for something will likely fall for anythingB a trend which Father Burtchaell has told us about in The Dying of the Light. What, after all, would ND profit were the University to gain the whole world but thereby lose its soul (Mark 8:36)? One concedes procedural problems in ascertaining a Catholic faculty; but such concession hardly means losing sight of the substantive goal of ND as superb both in the education it provides and in the witness it maintains to the sacred in an increasingly profane society. George Bernard Shaw to the contrary notwithstanding, Catholic colleges are both desirable and practicable, provided their leaders have moral vision to know that genuine learning invariably deals with how to live in addition to how to make a living. And the hokey really isn=t Awhat it=s all about.@ James H. Toner (Ph.D., 1976)
The pope's document on Catholic higher education was aptly named, "From the Heart of the Church." The recent articles in your publication by Father Malloy and Father Warner were very telling and really get to the "heart" of the debate and the issues at hand. What is concerned at this issue's core is the perspective of the Church's role in salvation history and Her mission in our lives and our understanding of the Truth as passed on by Jesus Christ through his apostles. My belief is that Notre Dame's fight for "academic freedom" has left the University severely wanting for the soul that made her great. The Truth is this: Christ left us a divinely-established institution to lead us to Heaven. He promised the guidance of the Holy Spirit and endowed the Church's founders with a unique outpouring of the Spirit at Her beginnings. He guaranteed that She would survive the attacks of modern times -- the "waves" that would crash on her shores would not be enough to destroy the Church, and even the gates of Hell would not prevail against the Bride of Christ. He knew that "wolves" would enter Her fold and that "wheat and tares" would grow together in the Church, but this was part of what would make her survival truly miraculous and great. The Church would prevail even in spite of the sins of Her members and leaders. We believe that the Magisterium preserves the teachings of Christ completely in tact, as He intended at the foundation of His Church. Our Church is one, holy, Catholic and apostolic. Pope John Paul II and the bishops in union with him are the lone voice of consistent teaching on many central moral issues in the modern, post-Christian times in which we live. When Jesus said, "I am the Way and the Truth and the Life," He meant it literally. He established His Church, the Roman Catholic Church, as the means to help his sheep follow that Way. If you don't believe this, you are simply not Catholic by definition. Academic freedom is a euphemism for disobedient dissent. My experience of the Theology Department at the University of Notre Dame was two courses aimed at dismantling the foundations of my Catholic faith. "Historical criticism" was hailed in my Introduction to Theology class as proof that many of the key events portrayed in the Bible were probably fictitious, but nothing was offered to help support the teachings of the Church and the continuity of salvation history. The underpinnings were removed and with no substitute for support. In my second theology class, religious pluralism was heralded as a means of putting all faiths on a common plateau of validity and truth. It was after this class that I returned home to tell my parents, "I am not sure if Jesus Christ is really the Son of God." (Thanks to the intercession of His Mother, I returned to a fuller understanding of God's plan for His people later in my life and was reconciled with the Church and Christ.). Contrast this with the loving but authoritative teaching of Veritas Splendor and you have the dichotomy between "academic freedom" and preaching the Gospel in faith and confidence. The Pope shows great respect for all people of nonCatholic faiths and the cultures in which they live, but he speaks openly about the deficiencies in their belief systems when compared to the revealed Deposit of Faith we have received from the apostles in the Catholic faith. Rather than creating an environment of hostility, the Pope boldly calls for loving dialog and empathy for people that do not share our faith tradition. This "platform" of self-giving love in the model of Jesus (and Mary) gives us the foundation on which we can preach the Gospel to those in our lives. He never hides what he believes nor apologizes for it, and most importantly, in a spirit of true charity, the Holy Father never tries to portray that any faith shares the fullness of Truth that the Catholic faith contains. How else can we win souls? The result of "academic freedom" is scandal. Father Richard McBrien is carted out before any secular news organization to tell the anti-Catholic world how misguided our Pope is when he publishes any teaching or discipline. The athletic department has begun to cause the general public to associate Catholic education with corruption and scandalous violations of ethics. Organizations are beginning to appear on campus that promote sinful lifestyles and abhorrent behaviors. Of course there remains a faithful remnant that witnesses faithfully to the world what is good in the Church, but the fact remains that the "world" focuses on the bad stuff. Either the Truths of our Faith are binding in our lives or they are completely irrelevant. Either the Pope and the bishops have a right to guide us in teaching the faith, or they have no role whatsoever. If the board or key faculty members feel that the authority of the Pope and the bishops do not apply to the jurisdiction of the University, then why the insistence on remaining a Catholic entity at all? Why not break away and become secular or Protestant? How the Church's authority over our personal lives be binding, but not be so over an organization that claims to be Catholic? The Catholic Faith revealed and maintained throughout history is what will make our culture great once again, not the other way around. As we celebrated the feast of Christ the King yesterday and prepare to usher in the great Jubilee Year, it is time to let Notre Dame return to an institution where Jesus Christ reigns supreme - without apology. Non-Catholics that attend Catholic schools expect to get a taste of the Faith. Otherwise, they would attend the many purely secular institutions available to them. We can respect their faiths without apologizing and hiding from our own. If we believe that there is one Truth (and there can be no duality to Truth) and that Christ guaranteed to secure it through His Church, then why are we fighting so hard for autonomy from His Church? Satan got kicked out of Heaven by stating those fateful words, "I will not serve." Methinks thou dost protest too much on Ex Corde Ecclesiae. Let us turn to the model of faith for whom the University is named for our response to the teachings of the Magisterium. I believe that Mary would have the University of Notre Dame respond to Ex Corde Ecclesiae by stating, "Be it done to me according to thy word." Prayerfully yours,
Father Malloy asks whether there is such a thing as Catholic mathematics or Catholic chemistry. He provides a mixed answer to his questions. He actually raises two issues. Is there Catholic science? Are there Catholic scientists? The second question is the one that counts, since it is the human reaction to God, His creation, and to other human beings that must matter most. God, through Jesus, gave us human beings the faith we refer to as Catholic. He did not send Jesus to change the laws of science or mathematics. With that in mind, what is a Catholic scientist? A Catholic scientist is one who sees the wonder of God in all scientific discoveries. A Catholic scientist also understands that such discoveries have an ethical and moral dimension in the way that they can and do affect individuals and society. A Catholic scientist also treats others with the dignity that all children of God deserve. This means that the Catholic scientist acts with charity towards colleagues and peers. The Catholic scientist does not seek to diminish the person who proposes an idea when the Catholic scientist seeks to challenge that idea. A Catholic scientist when acting as a teacher respects students and seeks to show them the wonders of creation. In the abstract, science is science. However, in the world we inhabit, we can all benefit from the work of those who deserve the title of "Catholic scientist." Kristian Anderson '85L
I found it rather ironic that your recent issue juxtaposed two articles on the frequently discussed "Catholic character" of Notre Dame with four pages of photograph depicting the newly renovated main building. I had the singular displeasure of visiting this monstrosity at the end of this past summer. I found the building's appointments an the craftsmanship with which they were executed to certainly be the finest money could buy. And yet I could not help but wonder what place a $58 million renovation that went well beyond necessity has at a Catholic University. If, as a Catholic institution, Notre Dame is called upon to teach and behave as Jesus did, then perhaps our administration should consider whether the Son of God, having been bom in a manger, would choose t teach in a palace. Perhaps those in control of our beloved university should spend a little less time talking about what it means to be Catholic and expend a little more energy acting as such. John Infranca, >99 Father Edward Malloy, CSC, entitled his article in the autumn Notre Dame Magazine "Keepers of the Faith: Notre Dame's future as a Catholic University depends largely on the beliefs of its faculty.@ He=s right. But what Fr. Malloy fails to tell us is that Notre Dame has adopted and is implementing a new strategy devised by Provost Nathan Hatch concerning the distribution of potential faculty positions. "This policy," to quote Father Malloy (page 202 of his book Monk' Reflections) "restricts one third of all new positions to strategic targets of opportunity C Catholics, women, members of historical minority groups and Holy Cross religious.@ No one knows how many Catholics would be hired under this new policy, but a good guess would be from 10 to 15 percent. If Notre Dame's future as a Catholic university depends on the beliefs of its faculty, with this new approach, in due time, Notre Dame will no longer be a Catholic university. Catholic parents should be so advised. What's sad is that just a short time ago Father Malloy was calling for Notre Dame faculty to be at least 51 percent Catholic. In his Ex Corde Ecclesia, Pope John Paul stated that "a Catholic university should have a majority of its faculty Catholic.@ What happened? The Notre Dame faculty Senate objected. It said no to both Father Malloy and our pope, John Paul II. What now? Notre Dame can do better. The university trustees have a serious responsibility; the future of Notre Dame as a Catholic university is theirs. The alumni should be informed clearly of what is at stake and the administration should immediately halt its Rube Goldberg "strategic targets of opportunity@ program. What=s needed at this point is action not just words. As the late Dizzy Dean liked to say, ASayin= it don=t make it so.@ If the present program is not changed, the secular trend that has almost entirely eroded the Protestant foundations of America's leading universities will also triumph at Notre Dame. One less voice for moral values that our embattled country sorely needs. James McFadden =41 |
||
| Copyright Notre Dame magazine | Notre Dame magazine home page |