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A Decade of Disciplining Theologians

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 March 2013

Bradford E. Hinze
Bradford E. Hinze
Affiliation:
Fordham University, Bronx, New York
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Type
Editorial Essay
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Horizons , Volume 37 , Issue 1 , Spring 2010 , pp. 92 - 126
Copyright
Copyright © The College Theology Society 2010

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References

1 Editor's note: Because of the large number of Vatican documents cited here, providing full bibliographical references would result in cumbersome footnotes. Instead, readers are directed to the Vatican website (http://www.vatican.va) where most documents will be found online; for those few that are unavailable, the site provides full bibliographical references.

2 Acta Apostolicae Sedis (AAS) 57 (1965): 952–55; for English translation, see Council Daybook, Session 4, (National Catholic Welfare Conference, 1966), 354–55.

3 See Annuario Pontificio (Liberia Editrice Vaticana, 2009), 1189–91; Thanks to Eric Meyer for background research on the members and consultants. The information provided on the Vatican website (http://www.vatican.va) concerning the officers and total number of members of the CDF and counselors does not always correspond with the latest information provided in the Annuario Pontificio and available through other channels.

4 For further background, see Mannion, Gerard, “‘Defending the Faith’: The Changing Landscape of Church Teaching Authority and Catholic Theology,” in The Vision of John Paul II: Assessing His Thought and Influence, ed. Mannion, Gerard (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2008), 78–106.Google Scholar

5 “Beschluss der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz von 21 September 1972 zur Regelungeines Lehrbeanstandungs-verfahrens,” Archiv für katholisches Kirchenrecht 141 (1972): 524–30.

6 U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Doctrinal Responsibilities: Approaches to Promoting Cooperation and Resolving Misunderstandings between Bishops and Theologians (Washington, DC: National Conference of Catholic Bishops: 1989)Google Scholar, based on Cooperation Between Theologians and the Ecclesiastical Magisterium: A Report of the Joint Committee of the Canon Law Society of America and the Catholic Theological Society of America, ed. O'Donovan, Leo J. (Washington, DC: Canon Law Society of America, Catholic University of America, 1982).Google Scholar

7 Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference, “The Examination of Theological Orthodoxy,” available on-line: http://www.acbc.catholic.org.au/bishops/confpres/199912100.htm. Accessed May 2, 2009.Google Scholar

8 http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/index.htm; accessed May 12, 2009.

9 This transition is marked by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger's essay, “Current Situation of Faith and Theology,” delivered in May 1996 to the Doctrinal Committee of the Bishops' Conference of Latin America held in Guadalajara; also published as “Relativism: The Central Problem for Faith Today,” Origins 26 (October 31, 1996): 309, 311–17; a similar report was delivered in Bogotá in 1984, Kinshasa 1987, Vienna 1989, Hong Kong 1993, and Menlo Park, California in 1999. Also in 1996 the secretary of the CDF Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone, SDB published “Magisterial Documents and Public Dissent” in L'Osservatore Romano, December 20, 1996, 1, col. 5–6; 5, col. 4–6; English edition, January 29, 1997, 6–7; on the latter, see Sullivan, Francis A., “Recent Theological Observations on Magisterial Documents and Public Dissent,” Theological Studies 58 (1997): 509–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

10 The 1971 version of the Ratio Agendi can be found in AAS 63 (1971) 234–36; English translations can be found in Canon Law Digest 7 (1968–72): 181–84 and Origins 1 (1972) 648. This 1971 text is not available on the internet. Patrick Granfield describes and comments upon the 1971 procedure in “Theological Evaluation of Current Procedures,” Cooperation Between Theologians and the Ecclesiastical Magisterium, 117–43, at 125–32.

11 For a description and commentary on the 1997 Regulations, see Örsy, Ladislas, “Are Church Investigation Procedures Really Just?” Doctrine and Life 48 (1998) 453–66Google Scholar; previously published as “Gerechtigkeit in der Kirche und die Rechtskultur unserer Zeit,” Stimmen der Zeit 216 (1998): 363–74 and Collins, Paul in The Modern Inquisition: Seven Prominent Catholics and their Struggles with the Vatican, (Woodstock and New York: The Overlook Press, 2002)Google Scholar, originally From Inquisition to Freedom (East Roseville, NSW: Simon & Schuster, 2001), 32–45.

12 International Theological Commission of the Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians, Getting the Poor Down from the Cross: Christology of Liberation, http://servicioskoinonia.org/LibrosDigitales/LDK/EATWOT GettingThePoorDown.pdf, accessed May 10, 2009.Google ScholarPope, Stephen J., ed., Hope & Solidarity: Jon Sobrino's Challenge to Christian Theology (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2008).Google Scholar

13 See O'Collins, Gerald, “Jacques Dupuis: His Person and His Work,” in In Many and Diverse Ways ed. Kendall, Daniel and O'Collins, Gerald (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2003), 18–29.Google Scholar

14 Cox, Harvey, The Silencing of Leonardo Boff (Oak Park, IL: Meyer Stone Books, 1988).Google Scholar

15 Küng, Hans and Swidler, Leonard J., Küng in Conflict (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1981)Google Scholar; U.S. Catholic Conference, The Küng Dialogue [documentation from the CDF and German bishops conference] (Washington, DC: USCC, 1980)Google Scholar; Hebblethwaite, Peter, The New Inquisition: Schillbeeckx and Küng (London: Collins, 1980)Google Scholar; Schoof, Ted, ed., The Schillebeeckx Case: Official Exchange of Letters and Documents in the Investigation of Fr. Edward Schillebeeckx by the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, 1976–1980, trans. O'Connell, Matthew J. (New York: Paulist, 1994 [Dutch orig., 1980])Google Scholar; Curran, Charles E., Faithful Dissent (Kansas City, MO: Sheed & Ward, 1986).Google Scholar

16 See Poucouta, Paulin, “Meinrad Pierre Hebga: Theologian and Healer,” African Theology in the 21st Century: The Contribution of the Pioneers, ed. Bujo, Bénézet, Muya, Juvénal Elunga (Nairobi: Paulines Publications Africa, 2005), 70–92.Google Scholar

17 Curran lists the questions raised about his views on “fundamental option, theory of compromise, charge of physicalism against Aquinas and Catholic moral theology, understanding of the indissolubility of marriage in scripture as an ideal, … abortion, and issues of sexual morality, including masturbation, homosexuality, premarital sexuality, contraception, and sterilization.” (Curran, Charles E., Loyal Dissent: Memoir of a Catholic Theologian [Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2006], 107Google Scholar).

18 For personal testimony and documentation, see Häring, Bernard, My Witness for the Church, trans. Swidler, Leonard (New York: Paulist, 1992), 90–188.Google Scholar

19 In honor of Seán Fagan, see Quench Not the Spirit: Theology and Prophecy for the Church in the Modern World, ed. Hanley, Angela and Smith, David (Dublin: Columba Press, 2005).Google Scholar

20 “A Catholic Statement on Pluralism and Abortion,” appeared as an ad in the New York Times on October 7, 1984, with 97 signers, 24 of whom were women religious, including a small number of theologians. Cardinal Jerome Hamer of the Congregation for Religious and Secular Institutes on November 30, 1984 called for a public retraction by the women religious; otherwise they would be dismissed from membership in their religious communities. Barbara Ferraro, SNDdeN and Patricia Hussey, SNDdeN refused and left their order in 1988.

21 Cardman, Francine, “Sisters of Thecla: Knowledge, Power, and Change,” in Griffith, Colleen, ed. Prophetic Witness: Catholic Women's Strategies for Reform (New York: Crossroad, 2009), 46–54.Google Scholar

22 See Schaefer, Judith K., The Evolution of a Vow: Obedience as Decision Making in Communion (Graz: Lit Verlag, 2008), 122–25.Google Scholar

23 Women's Ordination Conference, “Our Story,” http://www.womensordination.org/content/view/8/59/. (accessed Apr. 17, 2009).Google Scholar

24 Cardinal Jozef Tomko, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, offered a critique of three writings of Paul Knitter, Michael Amaladoss, SJ, and Jacob Kavunkal, SVD for undermining evangelization in his 1988 lecture, “Christian Mission Today,” in Christian Mission and Interreligious Dialogue, ed. Mojzes, Paul and Swidler, Leonard (Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellon Press, 1990), 236–62.Google Scholar

25 See above, n. 8.

26 “Top Polish Theologian Rejects Vatican Demand to Retract Article,” http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0804732.htm (accessed June 17, 2009).

27 See O'Malley, John W.'s discussion of the problematic in his “Vatican II: Did Anything Happen?” Theological Studies 67 (2006): 3–33CrossRefGoogle Scholar; reissued in the book with the same title, edited by David G. Schultenover (New York: Continuum, 2007), 52–91. See also the recent essay by Komonchak, Jospeh A., “Novelty in Continuity: Pope Benedict's Interpretation of Vatican II,” America (February 2, 2009), http://www.americamagazine.org/content/article.cfm?article_id=11375&comments=1Google Scholar (accessed May 15, 2009).

28 Chrétien désunis: Principe d'un “œcuménisme” (1937); Vraie et fausse réforme dans l'Église (1950); Jalons pour un théologie du läcait (1951).

29 Waldenfels, Hans, “Theologen unter römischen Verdacht: Anthony de Mello SJ – Jacques Dupuis SJ – Roger Haight SJ – Jon Sobrino SJ,” Stimmen der Zeit 226 (2008): 219–31.Google Scholar

30 The papers from this gathering have been published by the CDF and the Doctrinal Commissions from North America and Oceania in Proclaiming the Truth of Jesus Christ: Papers from the Vallombrosa Meeting (Washington, DC: USCC, 2000).Google Scholar

31 Adriano Garuti, OFM, who worked at the CDF from 1975–2003, offered the directives on “Collaboration Between the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and Doctrinal Commissions of Episcopal Conferences” at the Menlo Park gathering (Proclaiming the Truth of Jesus Christ, 49–59). This included “serving as a supervisory body for Catholic publishers in particular dioceses,” which is in accordance with the 1992 document of the CDF on “Some Aspects of the Use of Instruments of Social Communication in Promoting the Doctrine of the Faith.”

32 Patrick Granfield draws attention to the mention of the principle of subsidiarity in the private CDF letter of July 10, 1968 to presidents of episcopal conferences in “Theological Evaluation of Current Procedures,” 122, 141–43.

33 Boyle, John P., “Church Teaching Authority in the 1983 Code” in Dissent in the Church, Readings in Moral Theology, vol. 6, ed. Curran, Charles E. and McCormack, Richard (New York: Paulist, 1988), 191–230, esp. 218–24, at 220Google Scholar; Alesandro, John A., “The Rights and Responsibilities of Theologians: A Canonical Perspective,” in Cooperation Between Theologians and the Ecclesiastical Magisterium, 76–116, esp. 106–9.Google Scholar

34 For background, see Catholic Theological Society of America, Report of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Mandatum, September, 2000.Google Scholar

35 Congregation for Catholic Education, Final Report on the Apostolic Visitation to U.S. Seminaries, http://www.usccb.org/cclv/final_report.pdf (accessed May 15, 2009).Google Scholar

36 See the recent book by Ruether, Rosemary Radford, Catholic Does Not Equal Vatican: A Vision for Progressive Catholicism (New York: The New Press, 2008)Google Scholar; the work of Ivone Gebara is treated by Ruether on 128–38.

37 On the “Newman Guide,” see http://www.catholichighered.org/TheNewmanGuide/tabid/356/Default.aspx (accessed May 14, 2009). As of 2007 the list includes Aquinas College (Nashville, TN), Augustine Institute (Denver, CO), Ave Maria University (Napels, FL), Belmont Abbey College (Belmont NC), Benedictine College (Atchison, KS), The Catholic Distance University (Hamilton, VA), The Catholic University of America (Pontifical Faculty), Christendom College (Front Royal, VA), The College of Saint Thomas More (Fort Worth, TX), Franciscan University of Steubenville (Steubenville, OH), Holy Apostles College and Seminary (Cromwell, CT), Institute for the Psychological Sciences (Arlington, VA), John Paul the Great Catholic University (San Diego, CA), Magdalen College (Warner, NH), Our Lady of Corpus Christi (Corpus Christi, TX), St. Gregory's University (Shawnee, OK), Southern Catholic College (Dawsonville, GA), The Thomas More College of Liberal Arts (Merrimack, NH), University of Dallas (Irving, TX), University of Sacramento (Sacramento, CA), University of St. Thomas (Houston, TX), Walsh University (North Canton, OH), Wyoming Catholic College (Lander, WY); although Thomas Aquinas College (Santa Paula, CA) is on the Newman list, the diocesan bishop does not require a mandatum because no theologians are on their faculty.

38 Thavis, John, “Jesuit Officials Say America Editor Resigned After Vatican Complaint,” Catholic News Service May 9, 2005, http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0502817.htm.Google Scholar (accessed May 7, 2009).

39 Ibid.

40 Here we are guided by the work of Sullivan, Francis, Creative Fidelity: Weighing and Interpreting Documents of the Magisterium (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist, 1996)Google Scholar, and his numerous commentaries on subsequent statements by John Paul II and the CDF, as well as the work of Gaillardetz, Richard R., including By What Authority? A Primer on Scripture, the Magisterium, and the Sense of the Faithful (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2003).Google Scholar Also noteworthy is the dissertation by Figueiredo, Anthony J., The Magisterium-Theology Relationship: Contemporary Theological Conceptions in the Light of Universal Church Teaching since 1835 and the Pronouncements of the Bishops of the United States (Rome: Editrice Pontificia Università Gregoriana, 2001).Google Scholar

41 For similar suggestions see Hinze, Bradford, “The Reception of Vatican II in Participatory Structures of the Church: Facts and Friction,” Proceedings of the Seventieth Annual Convention of the Canon Law Society of America (Washington, DC: Canon Law Society, 2009).Google Scholar

42 Constance Fitzgerald, OCD, “Impasse and Dark Night,” Living with Apocalypse, Spritual Resources for Social Compassion (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1984), 93–116Google Scholar; also http://www.baltimorecarmel.org/ (accessed June 30, 2009).

43 Bryan Massingale has treated groans and grieving in the church in “See, I Am Doing Something New!”, December 16, 2004: http://www.jknirp.com/massin.htm (accessed May 15, 2009).

44 I have personally interviewed over ten people who have been investigated by the CDF including Charles Curran, Roger Haight, Paul Knitter and others who have asked not to have their names cited. I have also consulted Paul Collins's interviews with Tissa Balasuriya, Jeannine Gramick, Robert Nugent, Lavinia Byrne, Hans Küng, and his own testimony in The Modern Inquisition. Published testimonies by Charles E. Curran, Hans Küng, and Edward Schillebeeckx have been cited previously. Also noteworthy is Bernard Häring, My Witness for the Church; Sobrino, John, “Conflict Within the Church,” The Way 26 (January 1986): 33–43Google Scholar and his epilogue to Getting the Poor Down from the Cross, 305–14; the interview with Dupuis, Jacques, “Do Not Stifle the Spirit. In Conversation with Gerry O'Collins” (unpublished)Google Scholar; Haight, Roger, “The Social Edge Interview: Jesuit Roger Haight,” (2007), http://webzine.thesocialedge.com/interviews/the-social-edge-interview-jesuit-roger-haight/ (accessed March 20, 2010 [subscription needed])Google Scholar; idem, “Religion Dispatches Column: No Zombie Jesus: The Vatican and Roger Haight,” interview with Jason Von Wachenfeldt; http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/religio nandtheology/1318/ (accessed June 30, 2009). See also Rahner, Karl, Erneuerung des Ordenslebens: Zeugnis für Kirche und Welt, ed. Batlogg, Andreas R., Werke, Sämtliche, vol. 25 (Freiburg: Herder, 2008), 65–69, 75–77, 115–18Google Scholar; Congar, Yves M.J., Journal d'un théologien (1946–1956), ed. Fouilloux, Étienne (Paris: Cerf, 2001)Google Scholar; Lubac, Henri de, At the Service of the Church: Henri de Lubac Reflects on the Circumstances That Occasioned His Writings, trans. Englund, A. E. (San Francisco: Ignatius, 1993).Google Scholar Testimonies by women theologians who have been investigated by the CDF need to be added to this dossier.

45 Many Catholic theologians have urged the development of synodal modes of discernment and decision-making on doctrinal and pastoral matters in which bishops, theologians, and the people of God participate. For example, Hinze, Bradford, “On Fostering Ecclesial Dialogue: Engaging Contrasting Ecclesiologies,” Ecclesiological Investigations 4/2 (2008) 166–82Google Scholar; Hilberath, Bernd Jochen, “Die Wahrheit des Glaubens: Anmerkungen zum Prozeβ der Glaubenskommunikation,” in Dimensionen der Wahrheit: Hans Küng im Disput, ed. Hilberath, Bernd Jochen (Tübingen: Francke, 1999), 51–59Google Scholar; Rush, Ormond, The Eyes of Faith: The Sense of the Faithful and the Church's Reception of Revelation (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2009), 251–74Google Scholar; Fahey, Michael, “Magisterium,” in The Routledge Companion to the Christian Church, ed. Mannion, Gerard and Mudge, Lewis S. (New York: Routledge, 2008) 525–35Google Scholar; Burkhard, John J., “The Sensus Fidelium,” The Routledge Companion to the Christian Church, 560–75.Google Scholar Also see Hünermann, Peter, “Die Kongregation für die Glaubenslehre und ihre strukturellen Problem emit der Theologie. Eine nicht-kanonistische, auf Erfahrung basierende Reflexion,” Theologische-praktische Quartalschrift 157 (2009): 55–65.Google Scholar