US bishops’ committee warns against Creighton theologians’ book on sexuality
September 23, 2010
The Committee on Doctrine of United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has issued a 24-page critique of The Sexual Person: Toward a Renewed Catholic Anthropology, a 2008 work by Creighton University theologians Michael G. Lawler and Todd A. Salzman. Lawler is a professor emeritus, while Salzman is the current chair of the theology department at the Nebraska Jesuit university.
The committee, chaired by Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington, found that the book contains “erroneous conclusions” on the morality of homosexual acts, premarital sex, contraception, and artificial insemination. The committee issued its critique “because of the pastoral danger that readers of the book could be confused or misled, especially since the book proposes ways of living a Christian life that do not accord with the teaching of the Church and the Christian tradition.”
In a statement issued in response, Creighton University said that it “accepts” the doctrine committee’s critique as “authoritative” and added that the university “presents to its students as Catholic doctrine only that which is deemed to be true doctrine.”
“As a comprehensive university, Creighton is nonetheless mindful of its obligation to honor the academic freedom of individual faculty members,” the university’s statement added.
Creighton University received praise in the latest edition of a leading conservative guide to colleges (Choosing the Right College) but is not included on the Cardinal Newman Society’s list of colleges with strong Catholic identities.
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Further information:
- Bishops’ Doctrine Committee Says Book By Creighton University Professors Conflicts With Catholic Teaching On Sexuality (USCCB)
- Inadequacies in the theological methodology and conclusions of the Sexual Person: Toward a Renewed Catholic Anthropology by Todd A. Salzman and Michael G. Lawler (USCCB)
- Doctrine committee says 2008 book errs in views on moral issues (CNS)
- The Newman Guide to Choosing a Catholic College
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Posted by: wolfdavef3415 -
Sep. 24, 2010 12:16 AM ET USA
Here is what I find truly offensive. Secular opinions must be respected in Catholic schools, but Catholic opinions have no place in public schools. It is like being a baseball player who is only allowed, or even forced, to swing at pitches out of the strike zone.
