Library Browsing

 I thought I would use today’s Professional Development post to take a quick look into the publishing world.
 
Liturgical Press has begun a Biblical Commentary series on the Bible from a Catholic feminist perspective. About sixteen of the volumes are complete so far, most from the Hebrew Canon. I did  provide a link to the commentary on 1 & 2 Thessalonians of St. Paul. I have not had a chance to examine a volume yet, but I do trust the publisher.
 
The July 24, 2017 issue of the Jesuit weekly America is a treasure trove this week. Its articles include “The Document That Changed Catholic Education Forever.” This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Land o’ Lakes meeting and declaration of the nation’s presidents of Catholic universities at Notre Dame. The “Land o’ Lakes Statement” was inspired by the Vatican II document Gaudium et Spes, and argued for academic freedom of Catholic colleges and universities and resistance to undue ecclesiastical interference.
 
Land o’ Lakes has become the flashpoint of Catholic higher education in the United States, as many Catholic institutions rearranged their charters to give greater power to lay boards of trustees and provide greater learning forums for those of other faiths or no faith at all. Catholic University had just appointed its first layman president when I arrived in 1969. As Father Coe’s essay explains, Catholics on the right date 1967 as the year that, for all practical purposes, Catholic colleges ceased being Catholic. When I arrived at Siena College in 1974 I was told I could not celebrate Eucharist in my boys’ dormitory because it had been built with federal funds, but truth be told, I broke that rule routinely.
 
National Catholic Register has a scathing critique of the Land o’ Lakes impact by Anthony Esolen
 
In the same issue of America is a book review of The Pope and the Professor, the review titled “The Man Who Fought Papal Infallibility.” This is a biography of Ignaz von Dollinger (1799-1890), a professor in Munich and one of the more important Church historians no one today ever hears about. Dollinger understood the historical forces at work in building momentum for a declaration of infallibility of the pope (for example, Napoleon’s humiliation of the Church and the intrusion of modern, skeptical thought). Dollinger was also an early advocate of ecumenism but was excommunicated in 1871, one year after the declaration of papal infallibility.
 
Dollinger was the mentor of a more famous English Catholic man of letter, Lord Acton, who also worried about the outcome of an infallibility proclamation. Acton’s famous phrase, “Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely;” is a product of the nineteenth century struggle. This book is available on Kindle, among other formats.
 
Enough to review and think about for one day.
 
 
This is the last Wednesday post on professional development till August 16, as I am taking a little break to recharge my batteries.