Chair will not have famed theologians
name
By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
NCR Staff
Acting under Vatican pressure, a Catholic university in Holland
has withdrawn plans to name a chair in theology after Dominican Fr. Edward
Schillebeeckx in honor of his 85th birthday.
The Dutch bishops conference has also asked Schillebeeckx to
meet with two prelates to clarify comments made in recent media interviews.
Reached by phone at the Dutch monastery where he resides, Schillebeeckx told
NCR that this is the first time he has been subjected to review by his
own bishops.
Schillebeeckx (pronounced Skill-uh-becks), one of the worlds
best-known Catholic theologians, has faced three Vatican investigations for his
progressive views on matters ranging from Christs divinity to the ability
of lay people to celebrate the Eucharist, but he has never been silenced nor
have his works been condemned.
The University of Nijmegen announced May 25 that the new chair
will be dedicated to theology and culture in honor of Schillebeeckxs
interests, but will not bear his name. It is sponsored by the Foundation Edward
Schillebeeckx, a private group.
Schillebeeckx said that while no date has been set for his session
with the bishops, he expects an amiable dialogue.
Nijmegen, where Schillebeeckx spent most of his career, first
announced the Schillebeeckx chair last November, although plans had
been in the works for three years. It is to be filled on a rotating basis by a
different scholar from outside the Netherlands.
The first occupant will be American Precious Blood Fr. Robert
Schreiter of Chicagos Catholic Theological Union. Schreiter completed his
doctorate on Schillebeeckx at Nijmegen in the 1980s.
Conservative Catholics raised objections to the honor, pointing to
interviews Schillebeeckx gave in conjunction with his birthday. The
controversial points revolved around the resurrection of Christ and the
doctrine that Christ has two natures but is one person.
Schillebeeckx told the press that while he upholds the substance
of the two natures/one person formula, he believes it needs to be rephrased --
otherwise modern people will see Christ as a kind of mermaid.
Some conservatives complain that Schillebeeckx treats Jesus so
much as a human being that his divinity is eclipsed, a charge Schillebeeckx
dismissed as nonsense.
The conservative Catholic newspaper Katholiek Nieuwsblad
editorialized: How can such an apostate be honored with a chair?
Incredible! A well-known economics professor and conservative Catholic
activist in Holland, Frans Rutten, acknowledged that he wrote letters of
complaint to the Vatican.
It is quite clear that Schillebeeckx is a heretic,
Rutten told NCR in a telephone interview. Without any doubt, he
denies the divinity of Christ.
Rutten said that in Dutch theology departments the science
of Schillebeeckx is dominant. I would say that 50 percent of the
priests and almost 100 percent of pastoral workers are indoctrinated into his
theology, Rutten said, arguing that because Schillebeeckx has argued for
expanded ministerial roles for laity he is partly responsible for the drop in
priestly vocations in the Netherlands.
Peter van Zoest, spokesperson for the Dutch bishops
conference, said the bishops have great respect for Fr. Schillebeeckx as
a theologian, but also have doctrinal questions that worry them
arising from the interviews.
The two prelates who will meet with Schillebeeckx are Antonius
Hurkmans of s-Hertogenbosch, and Joseph Lescrauwaet, auxiliary bishop of
Haarlem.
Schillebeeckx said some bishops scolded him when reports of his
remarks appeared. They told me I had caused some uncertainty among
Catholics, he said. I told them the cause of the uncertainty was
the conservative reaction, not me.
Van Zoest told NCR that the decision to ask the university
to withdraw Schillebeeckxs name from the chair came from the
Vaticans Congregation for Catholic Education. It was not just an
order from Rome, he said. This was negotiated.
Nijmegen professor A. Plasschaert, head of the Schillebeeckx
foundation, told NCR that be believes the Vatican acted not to suppress
Schillebeeckxs theology but diplomatically, in an effort to
moderate divisions between left and right in the Dutch church.
From our perspective this is a minor issue,
Plasschaert said. Our objective is to extend the horizons of our students
and continue Schillebeeckxs scholarly interests. The name is
irrelevant.
To date there has been little public protest. Schillebeeckx, who
called the Vatican intervention childish, said he was not
surprised.
Ive received many, many letters of sympathy, he
said, but to everything coming from Rome now people here are
indifferent. He said the days of massive resistance among Dutch Catholics
to Vatican decrees have passed.
Dutch Catholics were so rebellious in the years after Vatican II
(1962-65) that John Paul II convoked a special synod on Holland in 1980 to
bring the church back under control.
Schillebeeckx was first targeted by the Vatican in 1968 for his
views on the virgin birth of Christ and his role in producing the post-Vatican
II Dutch catechism. In 1979, Schillebeeckx was summoned to answer questions
about his book Jesus: An Experiment in Christology. The issues ranged
from whether Jesus was conscious of his mission as messiah to whether
Jesus tomb really was empty.
In the mid-1980s, Schillebeeckx was interrogated for his views on
ministry. Based on historical study, Schillebeeckx had concluded that the
church always gives itself the ministers it needs, hence the ordination of
married men and women cannot be excluded.
In each case, no condemnation followed.
There is no sign that Romes surveillance of Schillebeeckx is
diminishing. He said that the master general of the Dominicans, English Fr.
Timothy Radcliffe, told him the Vatican has expressed concerns about
Schillebeeckxs new book on the sacraments even though it has not yet been
published.
National Catholic Reporter, June 30,
2000
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