James Keane ("Bernard Lonergan: The Second English-speaking Doctor of the Church?" America, 8/26/25) strongly advocates for the brilliant Canadian Jesuit as next declared Doctor after St. John Cardinal Newman. Let's review what a doctor is and evaluate Lonergan along with other possibilities.
We have 38 doctors, including 4 women. Since 1600 and the Counter-Reformation, we have only had three doctors: Alphonsus Liguori (1787), Theresa of Lisieux (1897) and imminently, John Cardinal Newman (1890). They are few and far between: about one every 141 years recently.
Requirements:
1. Holiness of life. Specifically a doctor must already be a canonized saint.
2. Breath, depth and brilliance of erudition.
3. Orthodox and inspirational in strong influence on the Church.
Here we will suggest five groupings of candidates, from the least to the most probable.
Virtually Impossible
Lonergan belongs here, along with fellow progressive Jesuit contemporaries Rahner, Chardin, and Courtney Murray. These share a vast erudition, including grounding in tradition and engagement with contemporary thought, as well as direct influence on the Council or broadly on the Church coming out of that event. They enjoy reputations of sound moral character and holiness of life, in a modest dimension. On erudition and influence they score very high. Not so much on sanctity and orthodoxy.
Their sanctity appears to be ordinary, not evidently heroic or miraculous. None, to my knowledge, are on the canonization track. We have no reports of anyone reading Insight (or Phenomenon of Man, We Hold These Truths, or one of Rahner's 674 books) and being miraculously cured, repenting of sin, plunging into hermetic life or service of the destitute. Rather, the "Lonergarian Condition" is very specific as intellectual/spiritual/aesthetic: one becomes infatuated conceptually and enters a state of steady euphoria and ecstasy. This joy draws one into further reading, writing for journals, participation in seminars and conferences at places like Seton Hall University.
The effect is benevolent and highly irenic: nice people become nicer, more inclined to be open minded, dialogic, accommodating of the culture, reconciliatory, adverse to conflict...intellectual, cultural, spiritual. To those of us outside of this eco-chamber, the condition is incomprehensible.
(Aside: you feel the affection, Dear Reader, in my teasing. I have never met a Lonergarian I have not like. My favorite, by far, is the much loved and esteemed Monsignor Dick Liddy. He is brother-in-law to my wife's first cousin. Doesn't every family have a Lonergarian?)
(Aside: My son, a flaming Balthasarian like myself, as well as a Kikoian, wrote a piece for the Lonergan Review, highlighting the most Balthasarian elements in the Canadian's thought. A very Lonergarian gesture...welcoming, unifying, reconciling. At the time he was teaching at Seton Hall. When in Rome...)
These four thinkers did their best work in the thriving progressive build up to the Council. They share a weakness that became evident in their disciples in the following decades: confusion regarding the foundational nature of marriage and family, the unitive/procreative nature of gender/sexuality and related issues. These issues are the foundation of our culture but also of our sacramental ecology.
Given this foundational intellectual disorder, along with the high bar of holiness required, it is unthinkable that these brilliant theoreticians become doctors of the Church.
Possible, Less than Likely Candidates
This second group rival the first group in depth and breath of erudition, grounding in tradition and engagement with contemporaneity. What separates them is fidelity to the Catholic ethos of sacramentality, authority, sexuality and gender. For scholarship and influence but also for ecclesial fidelity they score very high. In holiness they resemble our first group: they are known for lives of modest holiness, but no vivid display of the heroic or miraculous.
These include; Dulles, D.L. Schindler, Hildebrandt, Maritain, Gilson, DeLubac, Danielou, Congar, Cardinal Suenens. The most brilliant of all: Balthasar. The most likely to meet the bar for canonization as well as brilliance, influence and erudition: Pope Benedict.
Reasonable Probability Due to Holiness and Practical Impact
These are canonized saints, already certified in sanctity, who have left a body of teaching that is practically edifying and orthodox. They are not academically erudite. They resemble doctors like the two Theresas, Catherine, and Hildegard: pious and inspirational. These are St. Faustina, St. Mother Theresa of Calcutta, and St. Jose Escriva. A personal favorite is St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, a mystic similar to our women doctors although her influence is limited.
Special Cases
These are unusual, but striking candidates.
Adrienne von Speyr was an extraordinary mystic who inspired much of the theology of Balthasar. In many circles she is suspect for the mystical phenomena. I am personally a believer.
Founders of the Lay Renewal Movements are strong candidates for their holiness of life and the immense influence upon the Church and world through their movements. This includes Monsignor Luigi Giusanni of Communion and Liberation, Chiara Lubich of Focolari, and Kiko Arguello and Carmen Hernandez of the Neocatechumenal Way. Kiko is the only candidate here suggested that is still alive; he is not a favorite of the clergy. These are highly probable because their flourishing movements will be able to organizationally advocate for them. Clearly, their cause for canonization is prior to their case for being a doctor.
Long shot, dark horse candidates: Most probable post-abortive, bohemian, anarchistic doctor is Dorothy Day. Most probable homosexual doctor is Henry Nouwen.
Very Strong Candidates
Our two best bets are both canonized saints of strikingly heroic sanctity; world class thinkers who marry classical Catholic wisdom with the best of contemporary phenomenology/personalism, and dramatic personal witness.
John Paul is the strongest possible case as pope, brilliant theorist (including catechesis on the human body), and dramatic agent in world history. He is a no-brainer, a slam dunk. I cannot imagine him not a doctor within 50 years.
Theresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein) is striking in contrasting ways: a world class philosopher herself, she is of Jewish descent, a cloistered religious, and a martyr in the Holocaust. She is also close to a definite choice, in my view.
Conclusion
The office of "doctor" is significant as it embodies Catholicism's intuition of the mutual indwelling of holiness of life, erudition, and loyalty to our deposit of faith. This is the "kneeling theology" of Balthasar, the communion of faith/reason/tradition.
The recommendation of Lonergan as doctor of the Church indicates an ignorance of or indifference to the requirement of sanctity and even canonization as intrinsic to the office. This highlights the fundamental defect of progressive theology: the disconnect of prayer, worship and holiness from theology, now reconfigured and abstracted as an intellectual exercise, non-mystical, non-sacramental, non-practical.
The most probable candidates for doctor are Saints John Paul and Theresa Benedicta of the Cross. After that, St. Faustina, St. Mother Theresa and St. Jose Maria. After that, I would put money on Pope Benedict, Chiara, Luigi and Kiko/Carmen and Speyr/Balthasar.
We stand, even in our own time, on the shoulders of giants!
You holy doctors...pray for us!
Afterthought
A personal, longshot favorite of mine is a local from Bayonne NJ, Blessed Maria Teresa Demjanovich. She is solidly on the path to canonization with miracles and a life of quiet, pronounced holiness. As a young novice with the Sisters of Charity of Convent Station she so impressed her spiritual director that he asked her to write her reflections and he delivered them, anonymously, to her own classmates. She died at the age of 26, leaving a legacy of sanctity and inspiring reflections. I am personally fond of her because, prior to entering the convent, she taught in a Catholic Jersey City high school where she struggled painfully with discipline...an travail that I myself underwent in early adulthood.
Imagine: The Theresa's of Calcutta, Auschwitz and Bayonne join Lisieux and Avila as doctors! So Cool! I challenge you, Dear Reader, to name five saints with comparable holiness, charity and wisdom. I have a dear younger sister and a lovely niece with this name. It is the best female saint name (followed by the many Catherines.) My granddaughter Brigid chose this as her confirmation name (when I happily stood as sponsor!) I am not sure if she favors one of the Theresa's or if she just likes the name. There is no canonical impediment against her invoking all five as patron saints!
Joyfully I commend my sister, niece, and granddaughter, as she launches bravely into the worlds of journalism (internship with America) and law, to the intercession of these marvelous women!
Boastful Name-Dropping
I spoke with Mother Theresa and Dorothy Day. I knew Avery Dulles and David L. Schindler. I attended conferences with John Paul, Benedict, Kiko, Suenens as well as Lonergan.
( Aside: when I heard Lonergan in St. Peter's College circa 1971 my life path was decided: I was so bored I resolved never to pursue an academic career in theology despite my love for the discipline. I have kept that vow and remain a lay, mendicant, amateur student happily free of credentials and degrees. Do you see why I got so agitated at the advocacy of him as doctor?)
I am the Catholic Forest Gump of our time (but not a great runner.) Since holiness, wisdom and charity are highly contagious, I am counting on their continued influence and intercession!
No comments:
Post a Comment