In 2019, James Keenan, SJ, who, when Massachusetts lawmakers were considering the groundbreaking move to recognize same-sex marriage, testified in favor of the proposal;
• In 2016, Orlando Espin, a professor at the University of San Diego (a Catholic institution), who was a partner in a same-sex union;
• In 2010, Peter Phan, whose works on inter-religious dialogue had twice prompted cautionary notes from the doctrinal committee of the US bishops’ conference;
• In 2006, Lisa Sowle Cahill, who criticized the US bishops for emphasizing the abortion issue in their guidelines for voters;
• In 2006, Sandra Schneiders, who called for “non-violent resistance” to the Vatican’s apostolic visitation of the American women’s religious orders. To appreciate Schneiders’ theological approach, ponder this quotation:

  For many the God of Christianity seems too small, too violent, and too male; the focus on Jesus Christ seems narrow and exclusive; the resurrection seems mythological if not incredible and, in any case, irrelevant to a world in anguish; the institutional church seems hopelessly medieval, sexist, and clerical; liturgy is alienating; morality is out of touch with reality; and church ministry is a continual battle with male hostility and power dynamics.

• In 2004, Elizabeth Johnson, whose work on feminism, the doctrinal committee of the US bishops’ conference had warned, “contains misrepresentations, ambiguities, and errors that bear upon the faith of the Catholic Church as found in Sacred Scripture, and as it is authentically taught by the Church’s universal magisterium.”
• In 1992, Margaret Farley, whose work the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith saw “in direct contradiction with Catholic teaching in the field of sexual morality.” (Years later Farley would say of Pope Francis that he “seems teachable.”)
• in 1986, Gregory Baum, a proponent of liberation theology, critic of Church teaching on contraception, and advocate for women’s ordination, who left the priesthood to marry a woman, but later revealed that he also had a longstanding homosexual relationship with another ex-priest.
• In 1976, Richard McBrien, whose work had (stop me if you’ve read this before) twice prompted cautionary notes from the US bishops’ doctrine committee.
• And in 1972, Charles Curran, whose leading role in opposition to the Church’s teachings on sexual morality famously prompted a Vatican declaration that he could not be considered a “Catholic” theologian.

Massingale, Phan, Farley, Johnson, Cahill, McBrien, and Curran have also served terms as president of the CTSA. So one might be tempted to think that this is a small group of discontents who bestow awards on each other. Not so. The CTSA boasts its status as “the principal association of Catholic theologians in North America,” and in fact “the largest professional society of theologians in the world.” In addition to the roster of names listed above, the list of past presidents also includes such deservedly noted theologians as Bishop Austin Vaughan and Cardinal Avery Dulles.

More to the point, the CTSA is the professional society whose members staff the theology departments of most Catholic colleges and universities, whose students become the religious-education directors at countless Catholic parishes. The fact that this association has become a hotbed of resistance to established Catholic teaching is a scandal—and not a new scandal, but one that has continued unchecked for more than 50 years.

So what have our bishops—who are charged with the responsibility for ensuring fidelity to the perennial teachings of the Church—done to address this scandal? From time to time a bishop will issue a statement deploring the prevalence of theological dissent, or take a stand by refusing to attend commencement at a local Catholic institution that promotes that dissent. Then the bishop lapses back into silence, and the dissent continues.

In our lifetime the American bishops have been forced to confront the scandal of sexual abuse. They have not yet been forced to confront the scandal of theological dissent. What will it take?

It is instructive to notice that in the case of clerical abuse, for years the bishops tried to manage the problem rather than resolve it: to stifle publicity, to minimize the damage, to reassure the faithful, in short to engage in damage control—rather than to use their rightful authority to discipline the miscreants. Isn’t that the way the bishops are handling the problem of theological dissent to this day?

Phil Lawler has been a Catholic journalist for more than 30 years. He has edited several Catholic magazines and written eight books. Founder of Catholic World News, he is also the lead news analyst at CatholicCulture.org. See full bio.

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