Freedom vs. Dogma: Academics in Catholic Universities

Do so-called 'Catholic' universities exist to promote Catholic dogma, or do they exist to provide serious educations? I'm sure that some would insist that there need not be a conflict between the two goals, but there is so long as advancing the former includes limiting academic freedom, a critical component of the latter. Unfortunately, Catholic leaders have recently tended towards the latter.

Daniel C. Maguire writes in the Fall 2000 issue of Free Inquiry about the efforts to ensure that all those who teach at Catholic universities hold to Catholic dogmas:

Here is the story behind this effort at thought control. Catholic theology up until 40 years ago was done almost exclusively by priests who were under the direct control bishops and religious leaders. Any theologian who was more creative than bishops could bear was silenced. Then the second Vatican Council opened the doors of theology lay people, including for the first time lay women.

In the United States theology moved from the monastery to the university where academic freedom reigns. Pope Paul VI made statements that seemed to support this, saying that in a university with a Catholic atmosphere students “will experience a community that is open and receptive to truth from any quarter.”

Pope John Paul II tried to change all this, insisting that anyone teaching about theology get permission from the local bishop:

The main point missed by the Vatican and by the American bishops who voted overwhelmingly to play dead before this draconian intrusion into the academy is that our universities are chartered by the states, not by the Vatican. By their charters and by their acceptance of federal and state funding, they are universities and colleges committed by law to academic freedom. They are not free to yield juridical control over their professors to outside religious authorities.

Strictly speaking, universities such as Marquette University, where I teach, are not “Catholic” universities. They are state-chartered American institutions of learning that happen to have special academic interest in Catholic, Protestant, Jewish thought and indeed in all the world religions. University is the noun; Catholic is just one of many adjectives.

The question here thus becomes what is “Catholic” about a “Catholic University.” Maguire says that it merely indicates a special interest in Catholic history and issues. I’d actually go a bit further and say that, at the very least, it indicates a special relationship. This is not a relationship of control, because Catholic institutions do not have control over Catholic universities. On the other hand, Catholic universities do seem to try to make special accommodations and offer extra support for Catholicism, Catholic practices, etc.

Non-Catholics might find such accommodations bothersome, but that’s the price of going to a Catholic university. It appears that some Catholic leaders want more, though, and seek to exercise control over what is taught. So long as these institutions are chartered and funded by the state, however, such control is illegitimate. If they want real control, they are going to have to make the universities genuinely private, like seminaries are. Since that’s unlikely to happen (interest, even among Catholics, would decline drastically), why not create new schools which they can control right from the beginning? Then we’ll see which kind of university does best.

 

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