___________________________________________________________EDITORIAL__________
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Playing Charades
The abrupt transfer of CWR’s
publisher is part of a deliberate campaign
to discourage any authentically Catholic approach to higher learning.
Let me begin with a personal note. Since I became the editor of CWR nine years ago, I have received literally scores of manuscripts about the implementation of Ex Corde Ecclesiae: the Pope’s apostolic constitution on Catholic universities. A few years back I stopped publishing articles on that topic. Last year I stopped reading them.
Many of these articles were written by eminent scholars—some of them personal friends. They often provided keen insights into the wisdom of the norms that Pope John Paul had set out to ensure the doctrinal integrity of Catholic schools, and the difficulties that the American bishops would face in putting those norms into effect. But as the years passed, and the US bishops continued to pother over the issue, I concluded that the discussion was moot. Until our bishops show some interest in enforcing the standards of Ex Corde Ecclesiae, the discussion of that document will remain—if you’ll pardon the expression—purely academic.
Ex Corde Ecclesiae was promulgated in 1990. A full decade passed before the American bishops finally agreed on a plan for the implementation of the Pope’s directives. And that plan, when it finally emerged from the bishops’ conference, was manifestly toothless. Our bishops—the chief pastors and teachers of the Catholic faithful in the US—made it quite clear that they would place their seal of approval on any theologian teaching at a Catholic university, no matter how thoroughly and vigorously that scholar dissented from Church teachings. And when a few cantankerous theologians announced that they would not even ask for such certification, the bishops sent the message that that would be all right, too.
So the situation is quite simple, really. The Pope outlined the responsibilities of diocesan bishops to guarantee the authenticity of Catholic education. The American bishops declined to accept those responsibilities. What more is there to say on the topic?
A pattern of neglect
This year, as practicing Catholics entered the holy season of Lent, a particularly vile feminist production called The Vagina Monologues was produced on several Catholic campuses, scattered across the US. Outraged alumni complained to their bishops—to no avail. Following the lead of the college presidents, the prelates explained that they could not interfere with the free exchange of ideas—even ugly ideas—on a college campus. So on Ash Wednesday, entertainers stood on stages that were built with the contributions of pious Catholic housewives and laborers, and encouraged the young students in the audience to join them in chanting obscenities.In its original off-Broadway form, The Vagina Monologues told the story of a 13-year-old girl who is seduced by an older lesbian. (The show has subsequently been altered, in deference to the few sensibilities that might linger in an avant-garde audience; the girl is now above the legal age of consent.) During this season of scandal, could there be anything more appalling than the performance, on a Catholic campus, of a play that puts a positive “spin” on the sexual exploitation of young people?
And yet our bishops announced, in effect, that “the show must go on.” They refused to exercise their authority in order to stop a disgraceful performance —just as they have refused to exercise their authority in order to guarantee that students will learn the truths of the Catholic faith, and just as they have refused to exercise their authority to protect young children from clerical predators. There is a sad pattern of neglect here: a sad record of episcopal negligence that goes beyond any one particular issue.
As most CWR readers already know, our publisher, Father Joseph Fessio, SJ, has received a direct order from his Jesuit provincial to break off contacts with Campion College, an upstart institution dedicated to the pursuit of authentically Catholic higher learning. (For details, see page 38.) At a time when the vigorous rejection of Catholic teaching is commonplace at Jesuit colleges and universities, and the tentacles of scandal are beginning to wrap themselves around the Jesuit order, it is astonishing that a loyal priest would be forbidden to pursue an initiative that is so clearly in line with the thrust of Ex Code Ecclesiae.
Or maybe it is not so astonishing after all. Last year, when Father Fessio appealed to the Vatican for help in salvaging the St. Ignatius Institute at the University of San Francisco, he met resistance not only from the administration of that school, but from the top leadership of the Society of Jesus. In one memo (which CWR obtained last year), Jesuit Father General Peter-Hans Kolvenbach is quoted by an aide as predicting, with obvious relish, that if Father Fessio pursues a public debate, “the Ex Corde norms will go up in smoke.” The context of the memo leaves no doubt about the conclusion: The leadership of the Jesuit order is working actively against the implementation of the Pope’s directives.
The enemies of truly Catholic higher education are powerful and determined. If defenders of the Catholic vision do not match their determination, this battle could soon be lost.
—By Philip F. Lawler