SOULS IN THE BALANCE: THE “HERESY AFFAIR” AT THE UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON, 1960-67 Dissertation Submitted to The College of Arts and Sciences of the UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for The Degree Doctor of Philosophy in Theology by Mary Jude Brown UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON Dayton, Ohio December 2003 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. © Copyright by Mary J. Brown All rights reserved 2003 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. APPROVED BY: OC vj-cvcxv.c — Sandra Yocum Mize, Ph.D Dissertation Director Rev. James L. Heft, Ph.D. Ij Dissertation Reader William Portier, Ph.D. Dissertation Reader Anthony B. Smith, Ph.BT Dissertation Reader William Trollinger, ^n.D. Dissertation Reader ■ -* w Sandra Yocum Mize, Ph.D. Chair, Department of Religious Studies 11 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT SOULS IN THE BALANCE: THE “HERESY AFFAIR” AT THE UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON, 1960-67 Brown, Mary Jude University of Dayton, 2003 Director: Dr. Sandra Yocum Mize This dissertation examines the “Heresy Affair” at the University of Dayton, a series of events predominantly in the philosophy department that occurred when tensions between the Thomists and proponents of new philosophies reached crisis stage in fall 1966. The “Affair” culminated in a letter written by an assistant professor at Dayton to the Cincinnati archbishop, Karl J. Alter. In the letter, the professor cited a number of instances where “erroneous teachings” were “endorsed” or “openly advocated” by four faculty members. Concerned about the pastoral impact on the University of Dayton community, the professor asked the archbishop to conduct an investigation. This study uses theological and historical analysis to explore the theological, philosophical, and educational assumptions that underlie and are expressed in the positions espoused in the “Heresy Affair.” As a case study, this dissertation shows how one particular American Catholic university struggled to achieve academic legitimacy. In telling the story of the “Heresy Affair” at the University of Dayton, the dissertation illuminates the tensions within the Catholic Church and between American and Catholic as applied to higher education. iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS In one way or another, I have been studying the “Heresy Affair” for seven years. In that time, I have completed masters and doctoral degrees and been assisted by many people including those directly involved in the “Heresy Affair”: Dennis Bonnette, Eulalio Baltazar, John Chrisman, Randolph Lumpp, and Lawrence Ulrich. This dissertation would not have been possible without their cooperation and sharing of information and memories. The Marianists of the University of Dayton have also assisted me, particularly Bro. Raymond L. Fitz, Rev. James L. Heft, Bro. Paul Vieson, and Bro. Don Hebbeler. Other members of the University of Dayton community who provided support and encouragement include Paul J. Morman, Fred P. Pestello, Daniel Curran, and Kerrie Moore, the University’s archivist. I am grateful to my dissertation committee: Sandra Yocum Mize (director), Rev. James L. Heft, S.M., William L. Portier, Anthony B. Smith, and William V. Trollinger. Other scholars who assisted me along the way include: Michael Barnes, Una Cadegan, Michael Cuneo, James Davidson, Dennis Doyle, Rev. Bob Hater, M. Therese Lysaught, Judith G. Martin, S.S.J., Rev. Jack McGrath, S.M., Cecilia Moore, Maureen Tilley, and Terrence W. Tilley. Fellow doctoral students-Isabel Fernandez, Joseph Jacobs, Vernon Meyer, Timothy Dillon, and Phyllis Scholp-listened unceasingly and supported me in a myriad of ways. Special friends to whom I owe a debt of gratitude include Sharon Brown, Carol Farrell, Dora Girardi, Urska Grad, Gina de Groote, Judy Hecht, Dee Irwin, Jane Krites, Bambi Markham, Judy Owen, Karen Pettus, and Jeanne Reid. They believed in me, loved me, and nudged me onward when I needed prodding. I am particularly grateful to Niki Maxwell for her generous sharing of her editing and proofing skills and for keeping me on schedule as the dissertation neared completion. iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Finally, this dissertation would not have been possible without the love and support of my family: my parents, brothers and sisters, son and daughter-in-iaw, Jason and Amber, daughter, Heidi, and especially my husband, Gary. This dissertation is dedicated to my grandchildren-Kameron, Destiny, and Benjamin-who interrupted my research and writing with more important things such as hugs and kisses. May they and others benefit in the future from higher education that is both American and Catholic. v Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ..............................................................................................................iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS......................................................................................... v CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................... 1 Statement of Purpose Statement of Thesis to be Developed Significance of Proposed Research Summary of the Conceptual Approach to Be Used in the Research Research Methods II. THE “HERESY AFFAIR” AT THE UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON: AN HISTORICAL NARRATIVE............................................................................... 16 Historical Context The “Heresy Affair” Aftermath m . THE MODERN PHILOSOPHERS AND THE THOMISTS............................. 36 Historical Context Issue I: Philosophical Perspectives of the Faculty Issue II: Relationship of Philosophy to Theology Issue HI: Role of Philosophy in Catholic Higher Education Issue IV: Teaching Methodologies Issue V: Response to Church Authority Issue VI: Assumptions about the Laity Issue VII: Personal Tensions in Faculty Relationships Conclusion IV. SITUATION ETHICS AND TRADITIONAL MORAL THEOLOGY .......... 94 Historical Context Issue I: Approaches to Ethical Decision-Making Issue II: Response to Church Authority vi Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Issue IE: Assumptions about the Laity Issue IV: Teaching Methodologies Issue V: Increasing Personal Tensions in Faculty Relationships Issue VI: Pastoral Concerns Conclusion V. THE CHURCH LEARNING AND THE CHURCH TEACHING.................152 Historical Context Issue I: Views of a University Issue II: Views of a Catholic University Issue HI: Contributions of the Church in its Relationship with the Catholic University Issue IV: Contributions of the Catholic University in its Relationship with the Church Conclusion VI. CLASHING CULTURES: THE FACULTY, THE PRESIDENT, AND THE WIDER CHURCH.............................................................................................213 Historical Context Introduction to the Narrative Table I: The “Heresy Affair” Escalates to the Wider Church Community Consultation with a Canonist The University’s Investigation Reactions to the University’s Investigation The Archbishop’s Dilemma: Four Possibilities The Archbishop’s Fact-Finding Commission The President’s Ad Hoc Committee The Vatican Inquiry Conclusion VH. SOULS IN THE BALANCE: SUMMARY, TURNING POINTS, AND CONCLUSIONS ...............................................................................................321 ABBREVIATIONS........................................................................................................... 336 BIBLIOGRAPHY..............................................................................................................337 vii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Notre Dame historian John T. McGreevy recently said that an area of potential research for historians of U.S. Catholicism is what we might call the Catholic 1960s. The subject is charged, since many historians lived through it and all historians live in its wake. Yet it is also crucial. As commentators such as Paul Berman have noted, Vatican II is not only a central religious and intellectual event of the 1960s—perhaps the central religious and intellectual event—but also one with reverberations that stretch from Eugene McCarthy in St. Paul to Karol Wojtyla in Krakow and Gustavo Gutierrez in Lima.1 In the United States these changes intersected with the Civil Rights movement, the new conservatism, the sexual revolution and the women’s movement. [Leslie] Tender referred to all this in 1993 as the collapse of Tridentine Catholicism, a useful rubric. But such abstractions must be animated by case studies: biographies of leading figures and studies of ideas at the council and beyond, combined with scrutiny of the individual dioceses, convents, parishes, schools, streets, bars, playgrounds, and families through which the Catholic 1960s took life.2 This dissertation is such a case study, scrutinizing the relationship of the University of Dayton and the Archdiocese of Cincinnati as the relationship took life in the “Heresy Affair” of the 1960s. The subject is indeed charged, and yet its study is crucial not only to 1 Paul Berman, A Tale o