O\u27Brien, David

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Conversations on Jesuit Higher EducationVolume 46 Article 9September 2014"Jesuit Si, Catholic Not So Sure" RevisitedDavid O'BrienFollow this and additional works at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/conversationsRecommended CitationO'Brien, David (2014) ""Jesuit Si, Catholic Not So Sure" Revisited," Conversations on Jesuit Higher Education: Vol. 46, Article 9.Available at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/conversations/vol46/iss1/9Conversations 17The 20-year mark is an appropriatemoment to take another look atquestions I addressed in my article“Jesuit Sí, Catholic Not So Sure”(Conversations (1994 (#6)). And it is40 years since the Jesuits’ 32ndGeneral Congregation (1974), whenthey made their historic commit-ment to the service of faith and promotion of justicewithin a preferential option for the poor. And 2014marks 25 years since the murder of six Jesuits and theirfriends by U.S.-trained military assassins at the Universityof Central America in El Salvador. That event deepenedthe Jesuit commitment to justice and broadened under-standing of that commitment among faculty, staff, andstudents at the 28 U.S. Jesuit colleges and universities. The earlier article grew out of discussions in the firstnational seminar on Jesuit higher education, on which Ihad the privilege to serve. I warmly supported the com-mitment to justice and also paid particular attention tothe Catholic side of university mission and identity. Ithought the justice theme was central to understandingsof the church and its colleges and universities thatemerged after Vatican II. Recognizing that the meaning of Catholic identitywas being renegotiated in the wake of Vatican II andlong-term changes among American Catholics, I defend-ed those who emphasized Jesuit rather than Catholic –“Jesuit Sí.” But I also wanted to help Jesuit academiccommunities and those of us who worked in Catholichigher education to carry out our shared responsibilityfor the life and work of the American church. It was inthat spirit of moving forward from “not so sure” that Iwrote the essay in Conversations. Three of the central arguments I made remainbefore us.First, each college and university community and Jesuithigher education as a whole had to think a little more sys-tematically about their Catholic responsibilities and devel-op strategies for implementing their continuing commit-ment to be Catholic as well as Jesuit. Lay faculty, staff, andtrustees would have to be brought into the conversations. In the area of strategic reflection and planning, thelast few decades have been very disappointing. A long,contentious debate about the Vatican’s statement “ExCorde Ecclesiae” and its canonical implementation,along with the passing of a generation of bishops andacademic leaders who worked closely together, sharp-ened divisions over Catholic responsibilities. Local clash-es have led the bishops to adopt a policy of askingCatholic institutions to avoid honoring speakers whowere deemed to oppose Catholic teaching. Academicleaders have responded to these conflicts respectfully,but the widespread concern with Catholic identity, espe-cially when focused on controversial moral teachings,issues related to the role of women in the church, ordivisive political judgments, have made it more difficultto escape the now chronic nervousness – “not so sure”– about Catholic affiliation. Second, one strategy I thought worth consideringwas Catholic studies. As most American Catholic colleges“Jesuit Sí, Catholic Not So Sure” RevisitedBy David O’BrienDavid O’Brien is emeritus professor of Catholic studiesat the College of the Holy Cross and served for threepostretirement years as University Professor of Faithand Culture at the University of Dayton.1O'Brien: "Jesuit Si, Catholic Not So Sure" RevisitedPublished by e-Publications@Marquette, 201418 Conversationsand universities became independent, self-governinginstitutions between 1967 and 1972, they placed respon-sibility for the academic component of Catholic missionon theology. That gave the impression that Catholicthought and imagination were limited to theology, whichturned out to be a pastoral as well as an academic mis-take. Catholic studies programs, designed to engageissues of meaning and value with Catholic resourcesacross the community, offered the opportunity to enrichthe dialogue of faith and culture which is in fact centralnot just to higher education but to Christian life in a free,religiously diverse society. Since 1994 Catholic studies programs have in factdeveloped on many campuses. The Institute forAdvanced Catholic Studies stands as an example, unfor-tunately a lonely one, of the kind of support required forsustaining serious Catholic intelligence and imaginationin the United States. These promising initiatives, alongwith new centers on individual campuses, are limited,however, by divisions among Catholics, tensionsbetween academic institutions and the hierarchy, andthe widespread erosion of pastoral resources across theAmerican church. Third, I argued that faith and justice work could beenriched by cooperation with diocesan justice and peaceoffices and with such national networks as CatholicCharities, Catholic Relief Services, and the Campaign forHuman Development. The Jesuits of course had theirown rich resources in social ministries of global reachthat could also open minds and imaginations to newunderstandings of mission and identity. There have been impressive local and nationalexamples of collaboration between Catholic higher edu-cation and Catholic social ministry. While Catholic socialservices, medical care, and education remain extremelyimportant components of American civil society, theysuffer from internal conflicts over “Catholic identity” andpublic policy, disconnection from pastoral life, anddeclining financial support. Jesuits and other religiousorders offer remarkable opportunities for communityand public service at home and abroad, and their workand witness regularly refresh ideas of faith, justice, andthe option for the poor. But collaborative and pastorallygrounded social ministry remains a hope, not a fact. This gap between faith and economic, political, andprofessional life is a very important pastoral problem aswell. No one would argue that the American church hasmade great progress incorporating Catholic social teach-ing into pastoral care for lay people. Among workingclass and immigrant communities faith-based communi-ty organizing still resonates with pastoral care. But bring-ing similar programs of democratic justice seeking andpeacemaking into middle class parishes remains a chal-lenge. Here is an area where academic and pastoralleaders might explore mutually beneficial programs ofresearch, education, and pastoral planning. Thinking and planning together about Catholicresponsibilities was the central plea of my 1994 paper. Theoriginal national seminar considered establishing a nation-al think tank on these matters which would develop ideasfor consideration by the Jesuit Conference and theAssociation of Jesuit Colleges and Universities but decidedthat a strategy focused on encouraging dialogue on indi-vidual campuses made more sense. Perhaps the time hascome to reconsider the possibility of a creative initiative forsystemwide research, reflection, and planning. An initial agenda for such a think tank mightinclude: (1) thinking about what shared responsibilityrequires in all sectors of the American Catholic commu-nity; for Catholics shared responsibility for the life andwork of the church is a fact and not an option; (2) con-sideration of what is required in the future to nurtureand sustain American Catholic intellectual and culturallife; older Catholic publications, informal networks, andlearned societies may no longer be adequate to theneeds of the church for intelligence and imagination; (3)thought about how colleges and universities might workwith pastoral leaders to explore how Christian ideas andvalues can creatively inform the civic and working livesof the Catholic people; attention might be paid here tothe experience of new Christian movements; (4) search-ing for creative initiatives to demonstrate the tremendousresources of the contemporary church and its peopleacross the globe for addressing questions of genuineimportance to faculty, staff, students, graduates, andtheir families. Of course the biggest challenge when I write of “notso sure” – then and now – is how we really feel aboutChristian faith and the Catholic church. Since I wrote in1994, many things have happened in our church – thesex abuse crisis, the continuing inability to address theconcerns of women, the scandalous divisions over public policies – to dampen enthusiasm about thingsCatholic. I had the good fortune over many years tostumble into many experiences of what Pope Franciscalls “the joy of the Gospel,” so I could not but encour-age everybody to enjoy and make vocational use of thegift of faith and Church. I know from experience that, incontrast, many good people have had less positive expe-riences of faith and Church. I pray now as I did in 1994that we will find ways to talk together about how wemight answer that challenge. ■2Conversations on Jesuit Higher Education, Vol. 46, Iss. 1 [2014], Art. 9http://epublications.marquette.edu/conversations/vol46/iss1/9

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