I'm enjoying the comments, the first few of which seem to proudly espouse the view that "Catholic University" should be an oxymoron.
Why should Marquette hire people whose scholarship challenges the unexamined dogmas of the mother church? They probably wouldn't get an argument out of the archbishop.
The Catholic church is a very firmly feudal organization. These people would probably claim that self-identification doesn't trump ideological divergence with the Holy See (though I'm sure some would undermine their own point if the death penalty or war came up).
That was sort-of my point. It's understandable for the church to try to enforce doctrinal unity from the top down but it's antithetical to the function of a university. In more liberal times, the Jesuits shielded their university but one wonders if Listecki is bent on turning Marquette's sociology department into the equivalent of biology at Bob Jones U (yes, that's an exaggeration but time will tell).
I'm enjoying the comments, the first few of which seem to proudly espouse the view that "Catholic University" should be an oxymoron.
ReplyDeleteWhy should Marquette hire people whose scholarship challenges the unexamined dogmas of the mother church? They probably wouldn't get an argument out of the archbishop.
Many of them don't seem to apprehend that O'Brien is a Catholic too.
ReplyDeleteThe Catholic church is a very firmly feudal organization. These people would probably claim that self-identification doesn't trump ideological divergence with the Holy See (though I'm sure some would undermine their own point if the death penalty or war came up).
ReplyDeleteThat was sort-of my point. It's understandable for the church to try to enforce doctrinal unity from the top down but it's antithetical to the function of a university. In more liberal times, the Jesuits shielded their university but one wonders if Listecki is bent on turning Marquette's sociology department into the equivalent of biology at Bob Jones U (yes, that's an exaggeration but time will tell).