Can One Do Catholic Theology
Independently of the Magisterium?

by Kenneth Baker, S.J., Editor
(Reprinted from HPR, August 1999)

■ In March of 1999, it was announced that a group of Catholic intellectuals is establishing a theological research center which will be independent of the Magisterium of the Church.

The group calls itself the “Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies.” The spokesman for the group, Marianist Fr. James L. Heft who is the chancellor of the University of Dayton and chairman of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, said that the new institute “will enjoy the support and encouragement of the American hierarchy, but not be jurisdictionally related to them.”

The group seeks to raise a $50 million endowment to pursue Catholic studies outside of the control of the Magisterium of the Church. They claim that an anonymous foundation” has promised substantial matching funds for the project.

What is going on here? This sounds to me like a move towards schism. They want to do theology, they want to be Catholic, but they do not want to be under control of the Catholic Church. Let me tell you something, clerics, professors and journalists: whatever you plan to do, if it is done independently of the Magisterium of the Catholic Church, it is certainly not Catholic. As Ralph McInerny wrote in Crisis magazine (March 1999, p. 60), “To wish to retain the label ‘Catholic’ while rejecting minimal acknowledgement of acceptance of the Catholic faith is absurd.” It should be obvious that Catholic theology can be done only in the Church and under her authority.

This move is another dodge on the part of Catholic academics to avoid obeying Ex Corde Ecclesiae (ECE) which requires that those who teach theology should seek a mandate from the local bishop in order to have a direct relationship to the Magisterium of the Church in accordance with Canon 812 of the New Code. Something like a ritual dance between the bishops and the university presidents has been going on since ECE was first promulgated in 1990. The presidents have tried several different maneuvers in order to avoid obeying ECE; they agreed to a toothless compromise which was rejected by the Vatican. So now that they know the Vatican is serious, they are moving in a different direction: a “catholic” institute which is not Catholic.

Vatican II is unambiguous on the point at hand: “It is clear, therefore, that, in the supremely wise arrangement of God, sacred Tradition, sacred Scripture and the Magisterium of the Church are so connected and associated that one of them cannot stand without the others” (Dei Verbum #10). Simply stated, it is impossible for anyone to do Catholic theology independently of the Magisterium.

Pope Pius XII made essentially the same point in Humani Generis in 1950 (21): “This deposit of faith our Divine Redeemer has given for authentic interpretation not to each of the faithful, not even to theologians, but only to the Teaching Authority of the Church” (emphasis added).

As I said above, to set up such an institute independently of the Magisterium of the Church is a move towards schism, whether the founders admit it or not. Presumably they want to have it both ways: they want to be known as a “Catholic” research group; they want to be known as teachers in the Church, but they do not want to be under the authority of the Church. But they cannot have it both ways. If they do not want to come under the authority of the Church, if they want to evade Canon 812, then whatever they are doing it is not Catholic in the sense of the Holy Roman Catholic Church.

One wonders about the nature of the “anonymous foundation.” Is it a Catholic foundation? If it is, it should know that it is contributing to further divisions within the Church. And for the sake of truth in labeling, the founders of the new institute should simply drop the word “Catholic,” which they cannot honestly claim, and substitute the word “Religious.” That is what many Catholic colleges have done so they do not have to teach “Catholic” theology.