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From President Robert Wild, S.J.
When we received word that Pope Benedict XVI would pay a visit to the United States, specifically that he was building time into his very busy schedule to meet with Catholic college and university leaders as well as school educators and superintendents, I circled the date on my own calendar. I knew with certainty that I wanted to be in attendance at this gathering held at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., both to hear and learn from what the Holy Father had to say about Catholic higher education and to represent there our Marquette University community. Although during the weeks preceding the visit various more conservative Catholics were predicting that most of the Catholic universities in this country were going to receive a thorough scolding from Pope Benedict about their adherence to Catholic teaching, we heard both from sources in Rome and in this country that the Pope’s message would be one of encouragement and support for our ongoing efforts to strengthen the religious identity of our schools.
As it turned out, that was exactly what Pope Benedict chose to do, and his thoughtful address was aimed at encouraging our efforts while reminding us of the importance for our mission and identity of several core Catholic teachings, namely, the importance of proclaiming the Gospel; that absolute truth, which resides in God, can be attained, and that the revelation of faith and the discoveries of reason ultimately stand together in harmony. I encourage anyone who shares an interest in Catholic education to read the complete text of his message, which can be found both in print and online.
The Holy Father began by noting the pivotal role Catholic schools, Catholic universities included, play in sharing the good news of Jesus Christ, noting that this dimension of their work is at bottom the reason for their being. Rightly, these schools at all levels are involved in the search for truth, a search that to be authentic must include efforts to better understand the truth about God, the God who is Ultimate Truth. But because in the human condition such a search is complex and challenging, the Pope also noted, especially in connection with Catholic universities, the importance of academic freedom. He recognizes that the communication of Catholic teaching and values can seem to be at odds with the academic freedom proper to a university, but insists, as has Catholicism for centuries, that both goals can in fact be achieved at a Catholic university.
Catholicism, I would note, very frequently asserts both poles of seemingly contradictory claims: God as both One and Three, Jesus Christ as both God and human being; not just “faith” or just “reason,” but faith and reason as a harmony; and, as here, not just “academic freedom” or just “Catholic teaching” but both. Of course, the challenge is managing all this in actual life. In the latter case, there are a variety of ways to do this, but one of the clearest was suggested to me by one of our present American cardinal archbishops. In talking about the teaching of theology, he remarked that in a Catholic university, he would be happy if a professor dealing with a controverted matter involving Catholic teaching would say to his or her students, “Here is what the Church teaches on this topic” and then, if he or she differed with that, would add, “And here is what I think and why.” Proceeding in that fashion, he stressed, is quite acceptable in terms of Catholic practice and it will help students not to confuse professorial viewpoints with what is actually held by Church teaching while giving them the freedom to think carefully about the matter.
Similarly, through the ages the supposed harmony of faith and reason can seem to be under serious challenge in the face of new scientific discoveries. Examples of this are the discoveries made by Galileo and his telescope and the growing use after Darwin’s time of evolutionary theory to account for the changes in life forms on this earth. Both of these developments originally caused much consternation to religious believers, but in fact as the human understanding of what divine revelation actually demanded or did not demanded of a believer began to expand in the aftermath of these discoveries, what originally seemed to clash mightily with the truth of revelation began to seem much less threatening, much more in harmony. We came to recognize, for example, that chapter one of Genesis was never originally intended to be a literal account of creation – that was the mistaken notion of later ages – and that the Divine Creator of this world could of course have chosen to utilize an evolutionary process to accomplish the work of creation.
In its entirety, the Pope’s visit provided a spiritual lift to those of us who share a commitment to the Catholic Church and to spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ. Hearing him reflect seriously on the importance of the work being done by our Catholic schools was for me a real encouragement to keep on working to maintain and strengthen Marquette’s Catholic and Jesuit mission. And I was also encouraged by the positive view that Pope Benedict clearly has of the state of religious belief and activity here in the United States. At one point during his visit he said in that regard, “Americans have always been a people of hope. This is a land of great faith. Your people are remarkable for their religious fervor. They have confidence in God.”
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