Cardinal Avery Dulles dies at 90
Cardinal Avery Dulles, who grew up in a famous American family (Dulles Airport is named for his father), converted to Catholicism while at Harvard, and went on to become the most honored Catholic theologian in U.S. history, died today at age 90.
I had a chance to interview Cardinal Dulles back in 2001. Here's what I wrote at the time, including a partial transcript of our conversation:
Avery Dulles, the scion of a wealthy and prominent Presbyterian family, arrived at Harvard in 1936 as an agnostic, but found God in the buds of a tree by the banks of the Charles River one rainy February afternoon two years later."How could it be . . . that this delicate tree sprang up and developed and that all the enormous complexity of its cellular operations combined together to make it grow erectly and bring forth leaves and blossoms?" he asked himself. And the answer, he later wrote, was "Him who moved the stars, and made the lilacs bloom."
Dulles, a brilliant student passionate about learning, found himself ravenously consuming the new works of French Catholic theologians, and one day he marched into a Catholic bookstore and asked, "How do I get into your church?"
He had never even met a priest, but he decided to become one, figuring, "I guess I wanted to go the whole way."
Today, Dulles, whose great-grandfather, great-uncle, and father (John Foster Dulles) all served as US secretaries of state, and whose grandfather was a distinguished Presbyterian theologian, is now the most prominent Catholic theologian in America.
His accomplishments are many - 21 books, more than 650 articles, and a long career teaching thousands of students, for the last 13 years at Fordham University in New York, where he is still a professor at age 83.
And in February, he became the first American Jesuit and the first American theologian to be named a cardinal.
Last week, Dulles visited Boston to receive an award at a fund-raising dinner for the New England Jesuits. In an interview with the Globe at the Jesuits' humble provincial headquarters in the South End, Dulles talked about his journey to faith and his career since:
Q. What drew you to Catholicism?
A. Perhaps it was the studies of the Reformation period. We had to read Luther and Calvin and the decrees of the Council and Trent and all those sorts of things, and I just found myself resonating with the Catholic positions in all those controversies, and also feeling that the culture of Europe was destroyed or ruptured by the Reformation in a way that was unfortunate. And then I discovered the Catholic Church as it existed in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and it was a very vital, vibrant thing. St. Paul's parish there - the liturgy was very well performed, and Sunday evening they were having benediction, they were all singing the hymns of Thomas Aquinas in Latin, and I said, `This is the church for me.'
Q. Your journey to Catholicism strikes me as having been more intellectual than spiritual.
A. I think that's probably true. I hope there was some spiritual aspect to it, but I've never had any great taste for what's called spirituality. I think it deals so much with emotions and feelings. I don't have many emotions or feelings. I tend to have ideas. I was interested in Catholicism ideally, intellectually. I was convinced that it was true. I was interested in truth.
Q. How has your life changed since you've become a cardinal?
A. I get more invitations to lectures and things like that. I try to get out of them when I can, but I'm on the road a good bit. And then some things you have to get dressed up for.
Q. What is the appropriate role of dissent in the church?
A. Dissent should be rare, respectful and reluctant. One's first reaction as a Catholic is to agree with the official teaching of the church.
Q. Can you imagine married priests, or female priests, in the church?
A. Married priests is a much easier question. We have married priests. In the early centuries many of the priests and bishops were married, and Eastern Rite Catholics have a married clergy, and we have a number of converts from Protestantism who are married priests who function as priests and enjoy their family life. So that's possible. The question of women is a doctrinal issue. I think the weight of scripture and tradition is decisively against it. In the early '70s I was not sure the question had been decided, I was kind of open. But after 1976, Paul VI answered the question pretty thoroughly. That pretty much settled my mind on the point.
Q. You have said one of the roles is to critique the culture. What is your critique of American culture?
A. Our technology is so advanced, we sometimes get the feeling that we can reconstruct everything, and we define power, so we have a hard time accepting anything that we cannot change. So we want to reconstruct the church, we want to rewrite all the dogmas of the church. We feel that we can replace everything by our own power, and according to our own preference. Our notion of freedom needs to be critiqued. We don't have a moral freedom to do what is wrong. We're under a higher law.
Then we want instant satisfaction. Part of the American culture is to produce as much as possible and consume as much as possible, so we consume an inordinate amount of the world's resources. Our consumption should be governed by need, and needs to be restrained more than it is. We need to take greater care of the needs of the poor who are left out of the capitalist process.
(Photo, by Chitose Suzki of the Globe staff, was taken in Boston in 2001.)
Comment
Permalink
E-mail
God Bless him and may God receive him quickly.
An amazing testimony to the reasonableness of the faith. God rest his soul.
Wow. Thank you for reporting this. Very sorry that Cardinal Dulles hasn't appeared on my radar until now at his passing, but what a thoughtful, well spoken, interesting man. I'll be heading to the library to find more of his writings. Thank you and God bless Cardinal Dulles.
Interesting that the same man who says that an intellectual drive for truth brought him to the church also says that the response of the good Catholic should not be to question church (i.e. human) edicts but to just accept the "official teaching of the church." I don't understand this type of intellectualism.
A true orthodox Catholic and, amazingly, an AMERICAN!! A very rare combination. The Church needs more Avery Dulles to lead the flock away from the current liberal morass which threatens to consume the American Catholic Church.
Bettie Page died at 85. Has longevity anything to do with the kind of life we live?
Eric,
Cardinal Dulles did not say one ought not to question the teaching of the Church, which you make a point of calling "human". For a believing Catholic, the teachings of the Church are articulated in human languages and concepts, but the content is divine, because they are based on the Bible, which is Divine Revelation. Example: The word "Trinity" is not found directly in the Bible, but in various ways the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are called divine, hence a Trinity. But the words in which these divine teachings are expressed are always available for reformulation, to make them more understandable to each new generation, as long as the new ternminology transmute an acorn into maple rather than an oak. Nay, the very act of QUESTIONING is what brings deeper insight into scripture and doctrine. That is what theologians like Cardinal Dulles do.
What he did say is that dissent (which is MUCH stronger than mere questioning) should be "rare, respectful, and reluctant." This attitude is epitomized in the phrase "sentire cum ecclesiae," think/feel with the Church. In other words, be a team player. On most issues, on most days, think that your team, company etc., is the best (though not perfect one) or leave that team and that company, for another one which you will discover is also imperfect.
The point is, for a Catholic, the correct immediate presumption to my Church is that it is right, coupled with the fact that all presumptions may later be found to be true. Its like giving your parents, children, friends, the benefit of the doubt, until they have been proven untrue. The opposite of that is called 'the hermeneutic of suspicion,' that everything/everyone is false, until successfully proven to me. Cynical, distrustful way to go about life. BTW, I think a patriot has the same attitude towards one's nation, right until proven wrong, and ours has been proven wrong many times, but its still ours.
A Catholic should not yell from the rooftops "the Pope and the bishops are jerks." You would not like to be called that, so mutual respect is called for. Humility especially is called for, that my little dissenting idea might just not be correct, in the light of the constant belief of billions down through the centuries of the Church.
And such dissent, while you continue to study the question deeper, should be rare. If one is always dissenting, always wanting to make that dissent public and forming public organizations to protest, that would be a sign that one is in the wrong church
May God bless this lion of the Church in America: Requiscat in Pace.
Those interested in this man might want to keep an eye on First Things.com, specifically http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/
I expect FT's editor-in-chief, Richard John Neuhaus, will publish a worthy eulogy to his great friend some time soon. As of this afternoon, the editors have provided links to 32 articles written for FT by Cardinal Dulles over the years. Read, reflect, and give thanks.
Avery Dulles and his respect for reason were great blessings to the Church he believed was inspired by the Holy Spirit. May he rest in Peace.
Dulles' greatest skill was to present, in a fair manner, those whose positions stood to the left of his, and the same for the right, and then teach the orthodox position always found in the middle. There are those who contend that Dulles moved to the right, became more conservative over the years. But this would only be the ecclesiastical form of Ronald Reagan's political saying :I didn't leave the Democratic Party, the party left me. Dulles realized that the verbal modifications of doctrines and practices made at Vatican II were to update, but not to revolutionize, to change them 180 degrees, as Dulles' critics would have it. Plus, he did all this in understandable English, as opposed the untranslatable translated German of the period.
RIP Avery Cardinal Dulles
the university of mass. at Boston recognized Cardinal Dulles with an honorary degree a few years ago.
I just read the re-published work of his from 1946 of his spiritual and philosophical journey to Catholicism, last night! It is called, "A Testimonial to Grace and Reflections on a Theological Journey." 1995. I really recommend it.
There are those who have made up their mind that the only truth is: there is no truth. From their superior vantage point they pass judgment on the worthiness of the beliefs of others, and feel compelled to point out their self discovered insight. Who needs any church when YOU are truth. Eric's cynicism simply reflects his ignorance of Cardinal Dulles and the Catholic faith. Thank you Gaudete for mopping up the cold water thrown on the memory of a saintly man.
Memory Eternal
God's speed Cardinal Dulles as you enter into your Father's kingdom. I remember you well as a visiting Professor at Boston College in the early 80's when I was a graduate theology student there. What characteristics stood out? Your gentleness and love. Thank you Lord for such a beautiful child of God.
When Fr. Avery Dulles,SJ, was created a cardinal by Pope John Paul II, I rejoiced that a brillant American Catholic theologian was being honored. The first time that I had the opportunity to see and hear him lecture was in the fall of 1976 when he came to Boston College to lecture on his newly published book entitled, "Models of the Church." His book became our textbook for ecclesiology class at Bl. John XXIII National Seminary. I had the opportunity to meet him on several occasions after that through Mgsr. Andrew Cusack's Continuing Education for Priest Seminar. Like a previous comment, I was touched by his humility and down-to-earth approach to life. He will be missed!
This blogger might want to review your comment before posting it.
Blogger
E-mail mpaulson@globe.com.
Articles of Faith on Twitter
views
featured comments
Faith-based gardening: A rose for the popebrowse this blog
by categoryEVENTS
CAUSES
BLOGROLL
Headlines
Media blogs
Media criticism
Politics
Catholicism
Episcopalianism
Evangelicalism
Islam
Judaism
Mormonism
Unitarian Universalism
ALSO OF INTEREST
From our archives
Ma Siss's Place
Benedict visits the US
O'Malley's elevation
The new pope
Pope John Paul II
Parish closings
Catholic church abuse
INside Boston.com
in the area