Marquette University Responsible for Theologian's Pro-Abortion Advocacy

June 04, 2009 - 11:44 PDT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MEDIA ADVISORY

MANASSAS, VA (JUNE 4, 2009) - A national Catholic education organization today rejected arguments by Marquette University theologian Daniel Maguire that religious and pro-life leaders are responsible for the murder of late-term abortionist George Tiller, but instead blamed the Jesuit Catholic university for negligence in providing Maguire a public platform for his pro-abortion advocacy.

"George Tiller's murder is shocking and reprehensible," said Patrick J. Reilly, President of The Cardinal Newman Society (CNS).

"Abortion is also reprehensible, and a Catholic university that for many years has refused to discipline or remove a stridently pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage activist from its theology department is guilty of gross negligence," Reilly said. "Marquette University does serious harm to the Church by granting credentials to a reckless theologian whose work has been condemned by the U.S. Catholic bishops, who persists in misrepresenting Catholic teaching and who advocates a moral right to killing innocent pre-born children."

On the web site for "The Religious Consultation on Population, Reproductive Health, and Ethics," Maguire's nonprofit organization that claims abortion is permissible for Catholics despite clear teaching to the contrary, Maguire posted his reaction to the murder of Tiller and his letter to the editor of the New York Times that was published on June 3.

He wrote that Tiller, a "brave man," believed in women's "legal and constitutional right to abortion in problem pregnancies" and was killed "for honoring the law of the land."

Maguire warns that Tiller "is not the first doctor to so die, and unless we get serious about this form of terrorism, he will not be the last. Religious and political leaders who fan the flames of anti-choice, anti-woman fanaticism are not without guilt."

Maguire claims that homosexual marriage and abortion are morally permissible and that faithful Catholics can be pro-abortion. He wrote two dissenting pamphlets in 2006 and distributed them to all the Catholic bishops of the United States. They were titled The Moderate Roman Catholic Position on Contraception and Abortion and A Catholic Defense of Same-Sex Marriage.

He wrote: "[T]he Roman Catholic position on abortion is pluralistic. It has a strong 'pro-choice' tradition and a conservative anti-choice tradition. Neither is official, and neither is more Catholic than the other."

In March 2007, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) Committee on Doctrine censured Maguire for his writing, proclaiming his teachings to "cross the legitimate lines of theological reflection and simply enter into the area of false teaching. Such mistaken views should not be confused with the faith and moral teaching of the Catholic Church."

In a subsequent letter, The Cardinal Newman Society called on Marquette University President Rev. Robert Wild, S.J. to take responsibility for Maguire's acts of public dissent, noting that Maguire only has credibility because of his position as theologian at a major Catholic university.

"Marquette employs Maguire as an expert theologian despite his repeated violations of the principles and methods of Catholic theology," wrote CNS. "Students can rightly question why a Catholic university's theology department includes a former priest who falsifies Catholic teaching and disputes infallible doctrine as the basis of his scholarly work."

Responding to Father Wild's arguments that Maguire has contractual rights as a tenured professor, CNS proposed options that could diminish Maguire's damage to the Church and to Marquette's reputation, including transferring Maguire to another academic department, giving him a faculty title that clearly identifies him as a non-Catholic theologian who rejects Catholic teaching, publicly identifying theology faculty who have a "mandate" from the local bishop as required by Church law, or publicly condemning Maguire's views and actions as inconsistent with Marquette's Catholic identity.

Contact

The Cardinal Newman Society
http://www.cardinalnewmansociety.org
VA, 20110 US
Adam Wilson - Outreach Manager, 703 367-0333

Keywords

Marquette University, Daniel Maguire, George Tiller, abortion

Category

Catholic Church

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