Bishop talks to young people at Theology on Tap

By Tanya Connor

    The need for Catholic colleges – and lay people – to stand up for the faith was a repeated theme at Theology on Tap April 11.
    Recent controversy about writings of a professor at the College of the Holy Cross, and questions from young adults, became a springboard for Bishop McManus to teach about this and other issues.
    Elinor Reilly, who exposed some writings of Professor Tat-siong Benny Liew in a student publication, was there with other Holy Cross students. Bishop McManus has said that certain writings of Professor Liew, who holds the endowed chair in New Testament Studies at Holy Cross, contain “highly offensive and blasphemous notions.”
    Theology on Tap is a gathering for young adults, held monthly at The Compass Tavern in Worcester. It is organized by the diocese’s youth and young adult ministry, New Evangelization Worcester for Youth & Young Adults.
    Bishop McManus was this month’s speaker. He told a bit about himself, including the wonderful education he received from Jesuits, then took questions from listeners.
    A young man said Holy Cross is his alma mater and asked if the bishop thought it was justified that the college eliminated its knight mascot but kept the name Crusaders.
    Bishop McManus acknowledged that sometimes there is a need for change as historical situations change and that the administration was under pressure from different groups, something he understands as a bishop.
    However, in the final analysis, he said, “I think it was bending the knee to political correctness. If you have chosen to come to a Catholic university … if you don’t like it, go somewhere else.”  
    Bishop McManus said he finds much more objectionable the scholarship of a Holy Cross professor, referring to Professor Liew without naming him.
    The bishop spoke of Pope John Paul II’s apostolic constitution on Catholic universities ( Ex Corde Ecclesiae) reawakening an examination of what Catholic colleges are all about. The  majority of professors should be Catholic, and non-Catholics should, at the very least, forthrightly support the mission of the college, as Ex Corde Ecclesiae teaches, he explained.
    Bishop McManus denounced Professor Liew’s Biblical scholarship, making a distinction between exegesis, or drawing meaning out of a text, and eisegesis, or introducing one’s own biases into a text, as Professor Liew did in the writings that sparked the controversy.
    “When this man was hired, he had published that scholarship,” the bishop said. He said people knew about it, some objected, but he was hired anyway.
    Speaking as a bishop, he said, “My people are furious and outraged that this is going on at a Catholic college.” He said no college can call itself Catholic unless the bishop approves it.     
    Catechesis in recent years “hasn’t worked,” Bishop McManus said, indicating that students might not realize it if a professor is teaching things out of line with Catholic teaching.
    “If you’re going to be a Catholic college, it’s truth in advertising,” he said.
    “Catholicism is a highly rational religion,” Bishop McManus said. Faith and reason work together.
    He also said there is a beauty to Catholicism, and mentioned intellectual excellence, the arts, and liturgies which touch people emotionally. So much in the Church is beautiful; we need to invite people into the Church, he said.
    A listener said Holy Cross is an example of a Catholic school with many problems and asked what the role of Catholic students is.
    Bishop McManus said the example of committed Catholic students on a Catholic college campus can do much for confused peers.
    “Confrontation never helps, because then you become the enemy,” he said, and called for being a leaven instead.
    “Invite some of these people,” he said. “You sort of pick up who’s searching. … I think it’d make big difference.”
    Asked about being open about the Church in the wider world, where people have grievances or an aversion to orthodox religiosity, Bishop McManus said, “There’s a price to pay.” But, he said, “The price is worth paying.” The victory has been won by Christ; we just have to appropriate it.
    Responding to other questions and comments, the bishop talked about other ways to be a good witness.
    “We need good, bright faith-filled people to get into politics,” he said, though there’s a price to pay for that, as others criticize you.
    He praised the demonstrative, public devotion of local Hispanics and said, “The problem with American Catholics – we privatize our faith.” He said he grew up with “overt demonstrations of our Catholic faith,” like making the sign of the cross when passing a church, and displaying religious objects in homes.
    He told of a man who thought it would be “social suicide” to admit his interest in priesthood. The man was amazed at the support he received at Worcester diocesan vocation discernment retreats and now he’s a seminarian.  
    Speaking of another vocation, the bishop said, “We have to build communities of young adults who want to … be married in the Church and raise their children … in the faith.” Good Catholic families are desperately needed.
    He warned against compromising one’s values to prolong a relationship with a significant other, but also noted that Catholics sometimes draw non-Catholic spouses to the Church.