A Jesuit, or a Catholic?

By Diogenes ( articles ) | May 16, 2005

The Boston Globe, still determined to convince its readers that the resignation of a Catholic magazine editor is cause for deep concern, carries side-by-side op-ed columns on the Thomas Reese Affair. There is a characteristically sensible piece by Father Richard John Neuhaus, and a fuzzier piece by the chairman of the theology department at Boston College. Their disagreement really isn't over the case of Father Reese; there's a larger principle at stake.

Building his argument, Father Neuhaus writes:

A Catholic magazine -- and it should be obvious that a Jesuit magazine is Catholic --

Let's stop there. Yes, it should be obvious. But it isn't. And what's true for America magazine is true for Jesuit-run Boston College. The theology chairman quotes with approval the words of that university's president:

We are not directly linked to the Vatican...

You can say that again, Father Leahy. And I'm sure you will.