I was delighted that the theological work of our friend Fr.
Tom Guarino was recognized by the Vatican naming him a monsignor. I recalled a similar happy event when Fr.
Avery Dulles was named a cardinal for the same reason. I think that Fr. Dulles
was something of a mentor to Fr. Tom who has assumed leadership in the
Catholic-Evangelical-Dialogue. I have found in them a similar and striking theological
style that is at once: fiercely loyal to
the Church, open minded and yet rigorous in thought, detached from any
particular theological approach, and modest in epistemological expectations. Each shows a fierce filial loyalty to Christ’s
Church as Mother and Magister in all elements starting with Scripture, Tradition,
the magisterium and the testimony of the saints. Each practices “theology on
the knees” albeit in a humble, unpretentious manner. Secondly, they welcome dialogue with other
faith traditions and a diversity of theological approaches even as they are
precise and painstaking in analysis and wholesome criticism. For example, they
will parse a papal statement to discern exactly what is and isn’t intended, not
hesitating to point out limitations, but in a stance of loyalty and obedience. Docility of the will is joined with clarity of
the intellect. They welcome the positive insights of various approaches but
identify the imbalances. Thirdly, and most interestingly for me: they both seem detached from any particular
theological approach. Neither seems committed to any thinker or school of
thought. I suppose they are indebted, with all Catholic theology, to Thomas,
Newman, DeLubac, and possibly Rahner and Ratzinger. But they seem detached:
fully committed to the Church and her teaching but distant and free to accept
and reject what they want from the competing schools of thought. They both
favor a “models” approach which comes from Kuhn’s understanding of “paradigms”
and is, I suggest, a soft Kantianism:
the “noumenal”, the
unapproachable Mystery of God and Heaven, is inaccessible, even if it is
revealed, and our cognitive expressions are always inadequate and partial, if
valid and necessary. Theirs is a humble,
modest and apophatic epistemology. We “know” God best when we know we are “not
really knowing Him.”This is especially true of Guarino who is engaged with
postmodern agnosticism and acutely aware of human knowing in its historicity,
subjectivity, and enfleshed finitude. I
see three schools of theology competing in the Catholic Church today: a renewed,
traditional Thomism; the conjugal mysticism of Balthasar, St. John Paul II,
Benedict and their “communio” allies; and heirs of the transcendental (Kantian)
Thomism of Rahner and Lonergan. Dulles
and Guarino do not surrender to any one approach but seem to borrow from each:
they share a deep, prayerful spirituality with the romantic mystics but in a
sober manner, without fascination for nuptial mystery as the very interiority
of the Church. With the traditionalists they reverence the intellect in its
capacity and orientation to truth even as they share with the Kantian-Thomists
an awareness of subjectivity and finitude. They are more engaged with modern
thought than the traditionalists, even as they renounce the slide of the
Rahner/Lonergan heirs into an adulterous embrace of the most anti-Catholic
aspects of modernity. My own view is
that Balthasar and John Paul are the
ones who directly, clearly and deeply answer the threat our age faces in regard
to sexuality, family, gender and the very ontological reality of the Church as
Bride of Christ. Dulles was the unrivaled dean of American Catholic Theology:
admired by all even as he resisted the slide of much of the guild away from
precious Catholic truths. Guarino continues his mission: educating generations
of priests, dialoguing with Evangelicals in a time of crisis, and developing
the Deposit of Faith. Guarino is a particularly gifted presenter: energetic,
humorous, and virally contagious in his love for theology. Deeply in love with Christ and his Church,
broad and deep in scholarship, clear in thought, and zealous in search of
Truth: How blessed we are to have close
to us such Fathers of the Church!
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