Moral dilemmas in seminaries

Jerry Filteau in Washington examines the new Vatican document on US seminaries in the light of the Curran case
A VATICAN report on American seminaries calling for a halt to any form of "confusion" or "dissent" in moral theology teaching deals with an issue central to the disciplining of Fr Charles Curran, a controversial moral theologian at the Catholic University of America.
The report, written by the Vatican Congregation for Catholic Education and released in Washington on October 5, said "emphatic clarification and redress" is needed in some US seminaries because seminarians studying moral theology are not learning clearly "what the Church teaches."
The report, reflecting in-depth studies of 38 US free-standing theological seminaries, said that "the majority" of them offer "moral theology characterised by balance, fidelity, pedagogic appropriateness and pastoral sensitivity." But in some moral theology programmes there is confusion and in a few there is "dissent," it added.
Fr Curran was told last summer by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith that "one who dissents from the magisterium (church teaching authority) as you do is not suitable nor
eligible to teach Catholic theology." The congregation called for revocation of Fr Curran's ecclesiastical licence to teach.
The seminary report urged bishops to consider linking their seminaries to ecclesiastical theology faculties. Such faculties, like the one at the Catholic University, are chartered by Rome, and their teachers need approval from the Vatican to teach.
Fr Curran and a number of other theologians claim his views on dissent are limited and fall within the mainstream of views held by professionals in that field.
Aside from the specific moral issues on which Fr Curran dissents, mainly in the area of sexual morality, the main issues in his case centre on the nature and scope of church authority. Is it possible to dissent from church moral teaching? If so, what are the limits of that dissent?
Fr Curran said: "The possibility of legitimate dissent, I think, is admitted by many" of the moral theologians teaching in US seminaries. The 750 or more theologians who signed a statement supporting the legitimacy of his dissent included a number of seminary professors, he emphasised.
The new Vatican report on seminaries highlighted a pastoral concern in its treatment of dissent. "The present errors and debate over the authoritative character of the moral teaching of the church should not be permitted to confuse the seminarian or lead him to think that the teaching of the ordinary magisterium is somehow non
binding," it said. "To weaken the presumption of truth that rests with the Church's teaching," it continued, "is to do a great disservice not only to the candidate for the priesthood but to those who will, in the future, turn to him to hear the Church's . words of life and salvation."
The report noted that in the "few instances of dissent" which were reported, it was not clear whether "dissent" meant "difficulty" with a Church teaching or actually rejecting or contradicting it.
Throughout the report, no individuals or institutions were cited by name.