JOHN HUGO and an AMERICAN CATHOLIC THEOLOGY of NATURE and GRACE Dissertation Submitted to the College of Arts and Sciences of Th

JOHN HUGO AND AN AMERICAN CATHOLIC THEOLOGY OF NATURE AND GRACE 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 Benjamin T. Peters UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON Dayton, Ohio May, 2011 JOHN HUGO AND AN AMERICAN CATHOLIC THEOLOGY OF NATURE AND GRACE Name: Peters, Benjamin Approved by: ________________________________________________________________ William Portier, Ph.D. Faculty Advisor _______________________________________________________________ Dennis Doyle, Ph.D. Faculty Reader ______________________________________________________________ Kelly Johnson, Ph.D. Faculty Reader _____________________________________________________________ Sandra Yocum, Ph.D. Faculty Reader _____________________________________________________________ Michael Baxter, Ph.D. Outside Faculty Reader _____________________________________________________________ Sandra Yocum, Ph.D. Chairperson ii © Copyright by Benjamin Tyler Peters All right reserved 2011 iii ABSTRACT JOHN HUGO AND AN AMERICAN CATHOLIC THEOLOGY OF NATURE AND GRACE Name: Peters, Benjamin Tyler University of Dayton Advisor: Dr. William L. Portier This dissertation examines the theological work of John Hugo by looking at its roots within the history of Ignatian spirituality, as well as within various nature-grace debates in Christian history. It also attempts to situate Hugo within the historical context of early twentieth-century Catholicism and America, particularly the period surrounding the Second World War. John Hugo (1911-1985) was a priest from Pittsburgh who is perhaps best known as Dorothy Day‟s spiritual director and leader of “the retreat” she memorialized in The Long Loneliness. Throughout much of American Catholic scholarship, Hugo‟s theology has been depicted as rigorist and even labeled as Jansenist, yet it was embraced by and had a great influence upon Day and many others. Hugo was also significant beyond his association with Day and the Catholic Worker, in that he represented a unique theological impulse within American Catholicism. iv This inquiry reveals that not only is the Jansenist caricature of Hugo‟s theology false, but also that that caricature itself is rooted in the particular theological perspective of late nineteenth and early twentieth-century neo-Thomism. Hugo offered a critique of this once dominant theological perspective, and indeed his theology shared many similarities with the work done by Henri de Lubac, S.J. during the same period. This project ultimately intends to show that Hugo‟s theology of nature and grace remains relevant to contemporary American Catholic discourse, as it provides a corrective and an alternative to the somewhat intransigent debates between thinkers who tend toward a “Thomistic” stance and those who take a more “Augustinian” approach. v Dedicated to Liza vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Thanks to my committee, Dr. Dennis Doyle, Dr. Kelly Johnson, Dr. Sandra Yocum, and Dr. Michael Baxter for their support in this project and in my doctoral education. Michael Baxter, in particular, has been a dedicated mentor and friend. I especially want to thank Dr. William Portier, my director, for guiding me through this project and for teaching me what it means to be a Catholic theologian. I would also like to thank my colleagues in the Department of Religious Studies and Theology at Saint Joseph College for allowing me to teach there as I finished this dissertation and for offering me support as I completed the process. Finally, my love and appreciation goes to my family. To Samuel, Ruth, and Mary, who were always there to welcome me home and to keep my work in perspective. And to Liza, my wife, who has been loving, patient, and supportive throughout –always encouraging me to “just get this thing done.” vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………...iv DEDICATION…………………………………………………………………………...vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS……………………………………………………………….vii INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………...1 CHAPTER I. JOHN HUGO IN AMERICAN CATHOLIC STUDIES……………………………….9 Dorothy Day‟s Account of Hugo and “The Retreat”………………………….....13 Hugo in American Catholic Studies……………………………………………..24 II. THE RETREAT………………………………………………………………………51 Natural and the Supernatural…………………………………………………….54 The Supernatural World………………………………………………………….74 The Samples……………………………………………………………………...81 The Supreme Dominion of God………………………………………………….85 Duty of the Present Moment……………………………………………………..88 The Folly of the Cross……………………………………………………………90 III. THE THEOLOGICAL ROOTS OF THE RETREAT……………………………….94 Onesimus Lacouture, S.J…………………………………………………………96 Hugo‟s Appeal to Tradition…………………………………………………….120 viii Ressourcement in the Early Twentieth-Century………………………………..143 IV. EARLY TWENTIETH-CENTURY THOMISM: THE CONTEXT OF HUGO AND THE RETREAT………………………………………………………………………...148 Catholic Theology in the Early Twentieth-Century…………………………….151 The Blondelian Challenge………………………………………………………160 American Neo-Thomism……………………………………………………….176 V. THE RETREAT CONTROVERSY, 1942-1948……………………………………179 Prelude to the Retreat Controversy: The “Controversy” of American Catholic CO‟s in World War II ………………………………………………………….182 The Retreat Controversy………………………………………………………..196 The Critics………………………………………………………………………198 Hugo‟s Reply…………………………………………………………………...206 VI. HUGO AND CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN CATHOLICISM……………….215 Hugo‟s Theology……………………………………………………………….217 Hugo and Contemporary Approaches to Catholic Engagement with American Society and Culture……………………………………………………………..235 The Public Theologians and the Neo-Thomists………………………………...248 Why Hugo Still Matters………………………………………………………...253 CONCLUSION………………………………………………………………………..259 BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………………………………………..264 ix INTRODUCTION J.F. Powers, winner of the National Book Award in 1963 for Morte d’Urban, met Father John Hugo two decades earlier. Powers, a Catholic conscientious objector in World War II, attended a retreat led by Hugo just before Powers‟ imprisonment for draft resistance.1 He described Hugo in a letter written decades later, ... there were a few in fairly high places who stood up for Fr. Hugo. In general, though, it was, to quote from my story “The Forks”: “„If that fellow‟s right, Father, I‟m‟ –his voice cracked at the idea- „wrong!‟” -Fr. Hugo‟s writings in the Catholic Worker were influential in my decision to be a conscientious objector, but this would‟ve happened anyway because of an instinct I had then and still have at times to say Shit, no. I say it nowadays when I see newscasters, oh so serious, wearing striped shirts and floral neckties. -I first saw Father Hugo at a priests‟ retreat, preached by him, in the summer of 1943 at St. John‟s Abbey, Collegeville, to which I‟d received an invitation and train fare from an old friend, a priest in the St. Paul diocese. I knew I was going to prison and so I was in the mood for Fr. Hugo (unlike one elderly retreatant, I remember, who, on learning there would be no group picture, checked out). I remember seeing Fr. Hugo off at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport, all of us kneeling on the tarmac for his blessing. I seem to remember seeing him again when I made a private retreat at the orphanage in Oakmont with Fr Farina. I admired and liked Father Hugo, his mind, heart, wit, courage.2 1 According to Patricia McNeal, Powers was one of 15 Catholic CO‟s whose sentence at the Danbury Federal Prison was eventually commuted through the efforts Arthur Sheehan and the Association of Catholic Conscientious Objectors (a group started by Catholic Workers). Powers and the other CO‟s were assigned to work at hospitals in New Haven, Boston, and Baltimore. McNeal, “Catholic Conscientious Objection During World War II” The Catholic Historical Review (April 1975, vol. 61, no. 2): 233. 2 This quote is taken from letter (dated August 22, 1994) written by Powers to Mike Aquilina who co- edited, with David Scott, Weapons of the Spirit: Selected Writings of Father John Hugo (Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division, 1997). 1 While Hugo is best known for his association with Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker movement, Powers‟ letter suggests that Hugo was important beyond that relatively limited circle of so-called Catholic radicals. Indeed, as this project will show, Hugo was significant in that he offered a theological perspective that, while somewhat unique for American Catholicism, was similar to several of the more important impulses within early twentieth-century Catholic theology. Before more can be said on this current examination of Hugo, though, a short biography is needed. A Brief Biography John Jacob Hugo was born in McKeesport, Pennsylvania in 1911, and he died in a car accident in 1985. After studying at St. Vincent‟s College in Latrobe, he was ordained a priest into the diocese of Pittsburgh by Bishop Hugh Boyle (1873-1950) in 1936. Hugo, who had an M.A. in philosophy, was assigned to teach sociology at Seton Hill College in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. In September, 1938, after having missed the annual priests‟ retreat in the diocese, Hugo attended a retreat at St. Mary‟s seminary in Baltimore, led by a French-Canadian Jesuit named Onesimus Lacouture, S.J. (1881-1951). Hugo was greatly moved by the retreat and attended a second Lacouture-led retreat held in September of the following year. That fall, Hugo was also transferred from Seton Hill to Mount Mary College (now Carlow College) in Pittsburgh, where he worked as the chaplain for the women‟s college run by the Sisters

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