Holy Cross Catholic Studies Professor Says Bishop Is "Unwise"
by Professor David O'Brien
Loyola Professor of Catholic Studies
Holy Cross CollegeCatholics in Worcester have every reason to be proud of Holy Cross and of all the remarkably successful colleges and universities created by the Catholic community. American Catholics, led by priests, brothers and sisters from Catholic parishes and Catholic working class families built these schools. Bishops gave their blessing but these institutions were built by dedicated communities and backed by the Catholic people. Today these colleges and universities are entrusted to independent boards of trustees, among whose members are Catholic priests, sisters and lay leaders. They have been given responsibility for these schools by the religious orders that founded them and by the people of the several states who issued their charters.
Anyone who visits Notre Dame or Boston College, Holy Cross, Assumption or Anna Maria, would be struck by the warm welcome they receive, the good people they meet, and the good work, no the great work, that goes on. Serious Catholic Christians know that where people share in doing good work, where intelligence is brought to bear on serious questions of meaning and value, and where all are welcomed and respected, the spirit of God is present. For Catholic community leaders to question the integrity of institutions under Catholic sponsorship that do this good work is a very serious matter. For those communities to be forced to defend themselves for welcoming and respecting everyone, for affirming important community services provided by people who differ over serious moral questions, and for trying to learn as well as teach within wide communities of shared responsibility is deeply unjust.
As a Catholic I share responsibility with my fellow Catholics for the life and work of our church in our Worcester diocese. After four decades of service to Holy Cross I can assure the community that Holy Cross was, is, and will continue to be a first rate liberal arts College faithful to its Jesuit and Catholic heritage. This commitment is consistently made by Holy Cross Trustees, the College's Jesuit President, and its faculty and staff. It is supported by the Society of Jesus, by the vast majority of the College's amazingly loyal graduates, and, until very recent years, by Worcester's Catholic bishops. The Holy Cross community places at the center of its mission serious engagement with "fundamental human questions" of meaning and mutual obligation. We seek to build an intellectual and educational community centered on "fundamental religious and philosophical questions." Toward that end, the College offers courses in theology, including Catholic theology, religious studies, and what is now called Catholic Studies, courses engaging Catholic ideas in many disciplines. We developed a nationally recognized first year program centered on the vocational question "how then shall we live?" As we write, the community, the entire diverse faculty, is preparing to launch a wider first year program centered on fundamental questions: they call the program Montserrat, recalling the spiritual transformation experienced by Jesuit founder St Ignatius Loyola.
At Holy Cross the campus ministry's liturgical, spiritual and apostolic service programs equal those of any parish or campus community in the Worcester diocese. At worship, prayer or reflective sessions after service, Holy Cross staff and students constitute the community of disciples pastors try to build in their parishes. It should be said, too, that lay students, working with our chaplains, provide dedicated and creative leadership for these ministerial programs, signaling a way for the church to overcome the declining availability of ordained ministers. Many Holy Cross graduates continue to serve in ministry after graduation. More would do so if our dioceses and parishes were more welcoming of mature, educated lay people and especially women.
In recent years the Trustees have added special faculty positions for young scholars whose academic vocation centers on the relationship between faith and the intellectual life. They have made a major investment in the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture, placing significant material and human resources behind creative projects that exemplify our Jesuit and Catholic commitments. The Center's programs have included major conferences on the meaning of forgiveness, the anatomy of evil, and the preservation and use of sacred space, as well as forums for the Worcester community on stem cell research, contemporary Islam, and the formation of Catholic conscience in the war on terrorism. Faculty and staff are offered the opportunity to learn of Jesuit spirituality through pilgrimages, retreats and dinners with their Jesuit colleagues. Dozens of student interns work summers with non-profit groups in the Worcester community, including Catholic parishes and diocesan offices. They are supported by large foundations grants designed to help students discern their vocation. We know there is much more we have to do to fulfill our Catholic and Jesuit commitments in an ever changing church and nation, but our Catholic alumni and our Worcester friends can take pride in the College's record to date.
So why are some people so critical? Because Holy Cross has made two choices which a few faithful Catholics find unacceptable. First, along with almost every other Catholic college and university in the United States, Holy Cross chose over thirty years ago to place itself under an independent Board of Trustees rather than under the direct control of the Jesuit provincial. Like all those other academic institutions, Holy Cross has by every measure, prospered under this arrangement, which has again and again been supported by the Catholic bishops of our country. Some Catholics think that this choice was a mistake and that the colleges and universities should be under the direct authority of the local bishop or the Holy See. Those groups are ever alert to statements by bishops critical of the colleges, so Bishop McManus's recent statement critical of Holy Cross is already circulated internationally by well organized Catholic factions.
Holy Cross made a second choice. Catholics devoted to higher education believe that, at the level of college and university research and teaching, Catholic inquiry, "faith seeking understanding," should take place among and not apart from all those other people who also search for understanding in this world we all share. Catholics are not the only people who share fully in the life of the College and Catholicism is not the only voice heard in the many conversations that constitute our academic community. It is our judgement that it is better to think about the meanings of our Christian faith amid the multiple challenges posed by religious pluralism, market economics, social diversity and political democracy, by all those modern realities that form the web of daily existence of lay Catholics. Here the resources of the Church, its prayer and liturgy and community and wisdom, are readily available, as we hope someday they will be available in the marketplace and public square. But we are called, most of us, like it or not, to live our faith, not in monasteries or separate communities composed only of Catholics, but in the midst of contemporary American life. After all, we are supposed to be the very Body of Christ all the time, and not just when we are gathered in church, or in a classroom with people like us studying the latest Vatican statements.
Finally, hospitality to strangers is a powerful Christian tradition, and that hospitality is never conditioned by the ideas of behavior of the stranger. In an academic setting hospitality requires a willingness to listen to and perhaps learn from, not just instruct, the stranger. In the case that upset Bishop McManus, many good people across the state work with young people to help them deal with problems of sexuality. In Worcester they can be found in public schools and community centers, at the YM and YWCA and the Boys and Girls Clubs, and in an endless variety of religious congregations. Some of these youth workers are Catholics, many are not, and some, including some Catholics, disagree with church teaching on these matters. All of us share responsibility for the problem, none of us are doing a very good job persuading people to accept our ideas, so we have much to learn from each other. To question the Holy Cross policy of allowing such groups to rent college facilities for their meetings, and in the process to question the College's integrity, was an unwise decision on the part of our Bishop. When Bishop McManus acts in his capacity as Bishop of Worcester, he acts on behalf of the whole church. In a better organized church he would be able to consult with the local church before making such decisions. In the absence of such consultation and sharing of responsibility, the people of Worcester should know that there are many Catholics who believe that the College of the Holy Cross remains an treasure of the local church and a living witness to the presence of Christ, right there at the top of the hill. It continues to merit that admiration and support of the community and the church.
Related:
Bishop McManus' Statement