Sadness and Loss at Sacred Heart Major Seminary

Those of us who are blessed to work on faithful Catholic college campuses were shocked and saddened to hear about the Detroit archbishop’s decision to abruptly fire three of the most prominent professors at Sacred Heart Major Seminary. The archbishop’s refusal to provide any rationale for their removal has left a void that has unfortunately been filled with online speculation that has impugned their character and damaged their reputations. 

The three dismissed professors have each provided more than twenty years of exemplary service at the seminary. All three have played a role in creating a culture of faithful orthodoxy at the seminary—a culture that has attracted seminarians from across the country. All three are very well-known in faithful Catholic circles; they have been faithful to the magisterium and tireless in their efforts to educate the young seminarians entrusted to their care. 

One of the three introduced and led the flagship pontifical degree program at the seminary, the Licentiate in Sacred Theology Degree in the New Evangelization. Beyond their teaching duties at the seminary, they have each been willing to provide exceptional service to the national and global Church. One of the three was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI as a consultor to the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization in 2011 and as an expert for the World Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization in 2012. Host of EWTN’s “The Choices We Face” and an author of several books, he is joined by his colleagues in their commitment to evangelization and supporting the magisterium. Another of the three fired professors was named a referendary of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura by Pope Benedict XVI, becoming the first layman appointed to that post since the re-establishment of the Signatura early in the 20th century.

Nevertheless, each of the three have been unfairly maligned by those who have erroneously described them as “critical” of the late-Pope Francis because they have simply asked for more clarification of some of Pope Francis’ more ambiguous and confusing statements and documents. For example, Mike Lewis, editor of Where Peter Is, who was accurately described in a recent article in the National Catholic Register as being “known for his harsh criticism of those he perceives as disloyal to the late pontiff,” asserted that the three:

…openly violated the doctrine taught in the Vatican II document Lumen Gentium (no. 25), the Catechism (no. 892), Canon Law (can. 752), and the Professio Fidei (third paragraph) which teaches that religious submission of intellect and will must be granted to the pope’s ordinary magisterial teachings on faith and morals, even when he is not teaching definitively, according to his manifest mind and will. This leaves no room for devising creative interpretations that are more palatable.

None of this is true. Despite what Lewis has attempted to assert, none of the three have ever openly and publicly dissented from magisterial declarations, exhortations, and encyclicals. Rather, as faithful sons of the Church, each have simply asked for more clarification from Pope Francis when he engaged in what they perceived as doctrinal ambiguity. None of the three have been openly disrespectful of the Holy Father. 

In fact, one of the three wrote Pope Francis: The Legacy of Vatican II, a laudatory book that favorably compares Pope Francis’ discourse with that of his papal predecessors including Pope John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Paul VI in the era since Vatican II. Praising the pontiff, the now-terminated professor presents the call of Pope Francis to all to reflect on the truth of the Dignity of the Human Person to create a “culture of encounter” and seek unity with others as brothers and sisters in Christ.

If they choose, each of the three terminated professors will likely find employment on other faithful campuses that would welcome their orthodoxy and their commitment to bringing the Truth to their students. In the meantime, they are continuing the good work they have been doing all along. One of them has just returned from speaking at a national deacons’ conference in St. Louis, and then he participated at a conference in Birmingham, Alabama. This week, he finds himself helping to lead a retreat supporting hundreds of priests in Cameroon. 

Sadly, the seminarians at Sacred Heart have lost an opportunity to learn from some of the most brilliant—and faithful—professors. One wonders if they will wish to remain in a school that has so little respect for them. 

In my book Renewal: How a New Generation of Faithful Priests and Bishops Is Revitalizing the Catholic Church, I provide extensive data which demonstrates that it is orthodoxy, not heterodoxy, that will write the future of Catholicism. The data in the book provides a robust, orthodox defense of the Faith that wins the hearts of young people and begets vocations. Sacred Heart Major Seminary has provided that robust orthodox defense due in large part to the efforts of these three professors. We need to pray that their legacy can continue.