Check this out. The leadership of the Catholic Theological Society of America protests against being labeled “left-leaning.”
Let’s get this straight.
The CTSA is committed to real theology. You know the buzz words: “the task of critically examining the faith,” which of course involves “dialogue” and “discussion” and “vigorous disagreement.” These are the virtuous people committed to process.
There are other people, unnamed of course, who “confuse theology for catechesis.” I suppose they are the folks who lack critical faculties and don’t do the dialogue/ discussion thing. Authoritarians no doubt, maybe even (gasp) fundamentalists who think that the Church teaches substantive truths that one must affirm and defend in order to be a Catholic theologian.
No left-leaning in this implicit and invidious contrast one. No, none at all.
December 8th, 2009 | 6:39 pm
Mr Reno,
I know almost nothing about the Catholic Theological Society, though in general I am leary of calling any a-political group left or right leaning. That said, do you mean to imply by your note that there is no difference between theology and catechesis?
December 8th, 2009 | 8:53 pm
They are not left-leaning. They are totally on the heterodox left. No leaning involved.
December 9th, 2009 | 6:49 am
I have not seen the “R. R. Reno” by-line enough lately and was reduced last night to reading, “The End of the Road” from the October 2008 issue of First Things. It was great reading. I will send it to my son. The tone of today’s post is understandable and seems part of a new trend – the end of patience, so to speak, with constant, self-righteous attacks from those who seek to construct a new faith in their own image.
December 9th, 2009 | 8:42 am
CHRIS: That said, do you mean to imply by your note that there is no difference between theology and catechesis?
I took this to mean that they like to use that saying as an excuse to go down theological paths that Rome says are paths that ought not be trod by Catholics.
December 9th, 2009 | 10:25 am
The problem with the CTSA’s heterodox theologians is that they themselves don’t distinguish well between theology and catechesis. They often make public statements which teach, and teach error in the bargain, while being identified as “Catholic theologians.” This has caused untold mischief and confusion.
While there is a place for speculative theological dialog, there are appropriate ground rules for conducting it. Airing it out in public as an “alternative” Catholic perspective is outside the bounds. It is well to recall the classic definition of theology: faith seeking understanding. Or to check out the exhortation to theologians in “Veritatis Splendor”, John Paul II’s great corrective of the theologians’ detours into all manner of error in moral theology.
I too don’t care for political labels like “left” and “right”, or “liberal” and “conservative” applied to the Church and its members. I think it more appropriate to use terms like “orthodox” and “heretical.”
December 9th, 2009 | 1:48 pm
No mystery here. The academic theologians are far more eager to ingratiate themselves with secular intellectuals (“there is no such thing as objective truth or morality”) than with the “authoritarian” Vatican that holds that some propositions are objectively true. No promotion otherwise. Just look at who gets the chairs of theology at Catholic universities.
December 9th, 2009 | 4:17 pm
“Love is what gives Obama the hope that America can move beyond our fears….It is up to us to demonstrate if we are worthy of such trust.”
Bryan Massingale
President, CTSA
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