In the ND student newspaper, from Rev. John J. Coughlin, O.F.M. a professor of law

Second, please permit me to offer a few observations as a member of the faculty. In his Closing Statement, the president stresses his desire to ensure "the academic freedom to explore the full range of ideas and expressions produced by human thought …," "a wide-open, unconstrained search for truth" and "open, unrestricted academic inquiry." Moreover, he wants to "animate the debate" and "strive to bring these various views into dialogue with the Catholic intellectual tradition." The proposed debate and dialogue seems to presume that our University is at present characterized by a flourishing and pervasive Catholic intellectual life. I firmly believe that Notre Dame is both the best academic institution and most dynamic faith community of the great Catholic universities in the United States. Personally, I feel grateful to be a member of the faculty of a University that I have come to love. I pray for this University on a daily basis. However, I am not so certain that the present state of the Catholic intellectual life here at Notre Dame would make for the strongest Catholic participant in the dialogue with contrary views. I think we ought to be honest and acknowledge that many, and perhaps most, members of the faculty are skeptical about the validity of Catholic truth claims based upon faith. Likewise, many would be suspicious about faith claims as proper participants in public discourse. Vatican II rightly urged that the Church be open to the world. The on-going dialogue continues to bear fruit for all the participants. It must be admitted, however, that the effects of the ensuing dialogue with secular culture have not always been beneficial to the life of the Church. When secular culture rather than the Church begins to serve as the primary formator, the effects are not likely to foster the gospel life. The Catholic intellectual life here at Note Dame has not been immune from the negative effects of the dialogue as it has transpired in the Church over the course of the last four decades. My impression is that secular speech of all types is alive and well at Notre Dame. Rather, it is the Catholic intellectual life that needs to be fostered and nourished.

Given the less than ideal state of Catholic intellectual life at Notre Dame, how might the president of the University respond? To be sure, he should not retreat from the dialogue as it was intended by Vatican II. Whoever the President of the University is at this perilous yet promising time, he would be well advised to come to terms with reality, drink deeply from the living fountain of faith and act with all in his power to strengthen Catholic intellectual life. Unfortunately, nowhere in his Closing Statement does Jenkins affirm that Catholic belief is necessarily normative within the Catholic intellectual community. The statement creates the impression that Catholicism is just another "good idea" sometimes at issue and to be batted around in the on-going intellectual debate at the University. Without the recognition of the primacy of Catholic truth claims at Notre Dame, the University’s own internal dialogue will fail to ensure integration of faith and reason; and in its dialogue with wider culture, Notre Dame will be a weak partner with little of its own to offer. Truth claims based upon faith and safeguarded by proper authorities remain integral aspects of the Catholic approach to reason. Catholic thinkers as diverse as Augustine and Thomas Aquinas have recognized the need for intellectual humility in light of sacred scripture, tradition and the magisterium of the Church. The Catholic approach to reason stands in contrast to the hermeneutic of suspicion and skepticism, which seems to be all too characteristic of contemporary academic culture. Such a rationalist approach labors under the burden of an Enlightenment myth in which rational inquiry is thought to exist independent of viewpoint, tradition and community. To say the least, this myth has long been exposed by scientists, philosophers, cultural anthropologists and theologians alike. The rationalist approach is incompatible with Catholic faith. It demands a divorce between faith and reason. Rather than facilitate the divorce, the president enjoys a principal role in setting the conditions for the reconciliation between faith and reason.

The Catholic tradition respects individual conscience, and not every individual who is a member of a Catholic university community needs to embrace Catholic faith. However, all members of a Catholic university community are asked to respect faith and the truth claims that flow from it. On an institutional level, the proper authority must express the University’s commitment to the priority of Catholic truth over all other claims. Frankly, the University needs to hire more devout Catholic professors who cherish the Catholic approach to reason and are also top-notch in their respective academic disciplines. I am humbled by the excellent hires that the University has made in this regard. Ex Corde Ecclesiae requires that at least a simple majority of the faculty be practicing Catholics. Jenkins has expressed his commitment to this goal. I doubt that his recent action and statement have advanced the goal. To the contrary, I suspect that the president’s Closing Statement will discourage some prospective Catholic hires. I hope that it will not give cause to present colleagues to think about leaving Notre Dame.