Catholic University Teacher Orders U.S. Bishops Not to “Harass” Catholic Politicians

LifeSiteNews ^ | 6/29/07 | Elizabeth O’Brien

[wagglebee]

MILWAUKEE, June 29, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In a letter to the New York Times on Monday, Daniel C. Maguire, a professor of moral theology at Marquette University, stated that bishops should stop harassing Catholic politicians who vote in favor of abortion.

Maguire drew on St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas who both thought that to allow certain moral evils would prevent “greater evils.” He further cited Aquinas, who said that the “wise legislator” imitates God, who “tolerates certain evils lest greater evils ensue.”

The letter continued, “Similarly, today legislators who truly think abortion immoral could vote to keep it legal since greater evils, multiple deaths of women (especially poor women) from botched abortions as seen before Roe v. Wade, would follow.”

He concluded, “Catholic bishops, even though they are pastors and administrators and not professional theologians, should know this and cease harassing Catholic candidates, thus making Catholic candidates less electable.”

Maguire's theology, however, is condemned by the Church. The notion of promoting the "lesser of two evils" is condemned as the error of "proportionalism," while the attempt to draw such a position from the works of Augustine and Aquinas is condemned by orthodox academics as gravely erroneous.

Maguire has had a record of dissent from Catholic Church teaching ever since the sexual revolution in 1960’s. This March the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) condemned Maguire’s views (published in certain pamphlets) on same-sex “marriage”, contraception and abortion as being “contrary to the Church’s faith”. The USCCB further declared, “We deplore as irresponsible his public advocacy of his views as authentic Catholic teaching” (see http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/mar/07032301.htm).

Shortly after this event, Catholic organizations Human Life International and the Cardinal Newman Society called for the dismissal of Maguire from the Catholic University Marquette. Despite these requests, however, he still retains his position as a professor of ethics (see http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/mar/07032713.html).

LifeSiteNews.com contacted the office of Rev. Timothy M. Dolan, Archbishop of Milwaukee, but was unable to obtain a comment by press time.

For the full text of the statement of the Bishops Committee on Maguire:
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/mar/070323a.html

Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

US Bishops Denounce False Abortion, Marriage Teaching by “Catholic” Theologian
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/mar/07032301.html

Dissident Professors At U.S. Catholic Universities Pave Way To Euthanasia
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/jun/05060203.html

To contact the Department of Theology at Marquette University and respectfully voice concerns:

Department of Theology
P.O. Box 1881
Milwaukee, Wis. USA
53201-1881
Phone: (414) 288-7170
Fax: (414) 288-5548

[lastchance]

Unfortunately in this guy’s case a flat EEG has not lead to a death certificate.

[Jaded]

Geeze, in the Moral Theology class that I took it was clearly stated that abortion is a sin.

[ninenot]

The USCC has had enough of “Whopper Dan” and has issued at least one public letter of admonishment.

And, thanks be to God, the Archbishop of Milwaukee also did so.

(No, it was not Abp. Weakland.)

See:http://dad29.blogspot.com/2007/06/marquette-us-perennial-embarassment.html

and follow the internal links.

[ninenot]

History:

Abp. Weakland never required the Mandatum from anyone in Milwaukee at ANY ‘Catholic’ school—Marquette (SJ), Stritch (SSSF), Alverno (OSF), or Mount Mary (SSND).

Needless to say, those institutions also buried the Mandatum stuff somewhere in the ‘inbox.’

[rbosque]

And there lies part of the problem. Are Catholic Universities “Catholic”? I would hope prospective students will do a bit of research before applying to any school.

[Arthur McGowan]

According to Dr. Nathanson, there were deaths from botched abortions in the “old days.” He saw them as a young doctor. But when he founded NARAL, and they needed a statistic on deaths from “back-alley abortions,” they just made one up: 5000 per year. The real figure was somewhere in the neighborhood of 100, at most. And that’s for the entire U.S., in the bad old days of illegal abortion.

[Arthur McGowan]

Marquette has issued a public statement that Maguire remains on their faculty only because of the exorbitant expense of firing him. (He has tenure.) But they also assured the public that they do not allow him to teach!