U.S. Bishops Condemn Book by Creighton Theologians as ‘harmful’

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has issued a statement describing as “harmful to one’s moral and spiritual life” the book The Sexual Person: Toward a Renewed Catholic Anthropology (Georgetown University Press, 2008), authored by Todd A. Salzman, chair of Creighton’s theology department, and Michael G. Lawler, a professor emeritus in theology. The book presents views that different from traditional teaching on premarital sex, homosexual acts, contraception, and artificial insemination.

The bishops conclude in part:

Professors Lawler and Salzman present their book as a  quaestio disputata, as an examination of a disputed question in  the way of  the medieval universities (4).  The scholarly disputations of the Middle Ages, however, took place in a framework provided by Catholic faith, requiring a recognition of the authority of Sacred Scriptures and authoritative Church teaching and a knowledge and appreciation for the Catholic theological tradition.  The authors of  The Sexual Person, by contrast, base their arguments on a methodology  that marks a radical departure from the Catholic theological tradition.  Consequently, it is not surprising that they reach a whole range of conclusions that are contrary to Catholic teaching.  The Committee on
Doctrine wishes to make it clear that neither the methodology  of  The Sexual Person  nor the conclusions that depart from authoritative Church teaching  constitute  authentic expressions of Catholic theology.  Moreover, such conclusions, clearly in contradiction to the authentic teaching of the Church, cannot provide a true norm for moral action and in fact are harmful to one’s moral and spiritual life.
(Here is the Bishops’ full statement.)

The prize-winning book has been generally well-received by academics (see, for example, the list of endorsements and review excerpts at Georgetown University Press).

More after the break.

Gay students organize, lobby at Catholic University

The Washington Post reports on a student effort to get Catholic University to welcome, affirm, and protect its gay students and staff members. The student group has organized as CUAllies but has been unable to secure official recognition. The group meets informally to offer each other support, and members report that the group has a list of topics that are “off-limits” including pre-marital sex, gay sex, birth control, gay marriage, and other behaviors prohibited by the Catholic church.

The article also has useful information about organized efforts on other Catholic campuses to support gay students:

Today, about 100 of the more than 220 Catholic colleges in the U.S. have a club dedicated to gay students, according to several gay rights advocacy groups. A few schools have gone further: The country’s largest Catholic university, DePaul University in Chicago, started a LGBTQ Studies program (lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender/queer) in 2005. In the mid-1990s, the University of Notre Dame started the Core Council for Gay and Lesbian Students, which advises administrators. Georgetown University has had an official group for gay students since the 1980s and last fall it opened a resource center for gay students, the first of its kind at a U.S. Jesuit university.

This article could easily launch a faculty discussion about how difficult it can be to balance conflicting values in a campus community.

National Institutes of Health approves 13 new “lines” of embryonic stem cells

Inside Higher Ed reports that the NIH has approved the new ‘lines”  to be made available to biomedical researchers, the first new “lines” since President Bush’s 2001 order limiting federally sponsored research to 60 existing lines.

In announcing the newly available stem cell lines, the NIH’s director, Francis S. Collins, said the new lines had been "derived from embryos that were donated under ethically sound informed consent processes," a nod to critics who say the research leans on cells from embryos from donors who never intended them for that use. The NIH said that 96 additional lines were under review.

Here is the full news release.

University of Nebraska Board of Regents tie on vote to return to Bush-era regulations on embryonic stem cell research; resolution fails

Inside Higher Ed and The Chronicle of Higher Education [subscription required] each have detailed reports on the tie vote in the University of Nebraska Board of Regents that defeated an attempt to reject the expansion of research on human embryonic stem cells allowed by the Obama administration. If passed, the resolution would have returned the system to the more restrictive regulations issued by the Bush administration. 

BYU backs off from production of Euripides’ Bacchae

Inside Higher Ed reports that Brigham Young University has decided this year not to stage an annual University of Utah production of an ancient Greek play. This year’s play is Bakkhai [Bacchae] by Euripides.

Rodger Sorensen, chair of theater and media arts at BYU, said that as an institution that is part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the university "must take into consideration our particular audience." As he learned more about the production, he said, he became concerned that audience members would be "troubled" by the production.

"We have no problem with the play,” Sorensen said, “but feel it shouldn’t be done here.” More details and a link to a local review of the production at Insider Higher Ed.

Notre Dame President acknowledges divisions from Obama visit, announces pro-life initiatives

In an email to the “Members of the Notre Dame Family,” now posted by America: The National Catholic Weekly, University President, Father John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., announced several initiatives that he is taking to engage the Notre Dame community with the issues raised by the “vigorous discussions surrounding President Obama’s visit last Spring.”

• Jenkins will be participating in the March for Life in Washington, D.C., on January 22, and he invited other members of the “Notre Dame Family” to join him.
• He gave details on a recently formed “Task Force on Supporting the Choice for Life” “to consider and recommend to me ways in which the University, informed by Catholic teaching, can support the sanctity of life.” He added,

Possibilities the Task Force has begun to discuss include fostering serious and specific discussion about a reasonable conscience clause; the most effective ways to support pregnant women, especially the most vulnerable; and the best policies for facilitating adoptions.

• He called attention to centers that provide care and support for women with unintended pregnancies.

In concluding, he expressed the hope that campus divisions over the Obama visit could be overcome through “constructive dialogue” and “work together”  for a cause “at the heart of Notre Dame’s mission.”

Scranton Bishop, critic of diocesan colleges and universities, resigns

Last Spring I did several posts (here, here, here, and summing up here) about the bishop of Scranton, Joseph F. Martino, who seemed to be testing the limits of Ex Corde Ecclesiae in his relations with four colleges and universities within his diocese.

James Martin, S. J. in America: The National Catholic Weekly, citing an AP story, reports that Martino has now resigned. Martino’s explanation for his resignation:

"For some time now, there has not been a clear consensus among the clergy and people of the Diocese of Scranton regarding my pastoral initiatives or my way of governance," Martino said. "This development has caused me great sorrow, resulting in bouts of insomnia and at times a crippling physical fatigue."

Martin also offers excerpts from David Gibson’s analysis in Politics Daily on the resignation, its reasons and implications.

Recommended Reading: The Making of the Modern University and the Marginalization of Morality

When discussing religion on campus, it helps to know some history about institutional developments and rise of the modern university, about intellectual shifts in the natural and social sciences as well as in the humanities, about the rise of academic disciplines with professional standards and guilds, about the battles that established the American version of academic freedom and professional responsibility, and about the discrimination against minority groups, especially against religious minorities.

Intersecting all these historical developments is the question of the character formation of students—a primary goal of American higher education from its founding to the present day. One of the best ways to understand this intersection is to read Julie A. Reuben’s The Making of the Modern University: Intellectual Transformation and the Marginalization of Morality. (The University of Chicago Press, 1996). As always, I offer only a sketch with the hope that it will entice you to take on the whole book.

Calvin College faculty want discussion on prohibition against advocating for homosexual issues

The Grand Rapids News reports that Calvin College faculty want a campus discussion on academic freedom after being told that it is “unacceptable” for them to advocate for homosexual issues and same-sex marriage. The main faculty concerns expressed in the article were for how the matter was handled:

About 130 of the campus’ 300 faculty attended a meeting this week to discuss the memo. Karin Maag, vice chairwoman of the Faculty Senate, said there are concerns about both the content of the letter and the process by which the policy was determined.

"We see this as an opportunity for a discussion on campus about these issues, for which there is a range of opinion," she said. "We’re really at the very start of that process."

Maag said professors are concerned about how the policy was created.