Mother, Not Teacher?

When Catholic theologians want to announce something patently absurd, they are sometimes inclined to invoke as protective cover “the spirit of Vatican II.” The meaning seems to be: “Anything goes.”

Thus, Archbishop John O’Connor had no sooner said publicly that Geraldine Ferraro had misstated “the position of the Church” on abortion than Professor Daniel C. Maguire of Marquette University handed the New York Times a list of 55 U.S. Catholic theologians (out of two thousand) who hold that the archbishop is wrong. A letter from Maguire to the Times followed: “Archbishop O’Connor’s basic problem is that he is not a theologian, nor doIasa theologian find him well informed on the complex Catholic theology of abortion.”

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Michael Novak

Michael Novak was a Catholic philosopher, journalist, novelist, and diplomat.

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When Catholic theologians want to announce something patently absurd, they are sometimes inclined to invoke as protective cover “the spirit of Vatican II.” The meaning seems to be: “Anything goes.”

Thus, Archbishop John O’Connor had no sooner said publicly that Geraldine Ferraro had misstated “the position of the Church” on abortion than Professor Daniel C. Maguire of Marquette University handed the New York Times a list of 55 U.S. Catholic theologians (out of two thousand) who hold that the archbishop is wrong. A letter from Maguire to the Times followed: “Archbishop O’Connor’s basic problem is that he is not a theologian, nor doIasa theologian find him well informed on the complex Catholic theology of abortion.”