…dissent from Fr. Jenkins’ action, that is.

This, an "Open Letter to the University Community" by Dr. John Cavadini, chair of the Theology Department

He digs deep, and faults the "Closing Report" for basically ignoring the Church, of which Notre Dame is a part and a ministry:

The President’s statement, as a way of going forward, seems to ratify our unspoken declaration of independence from the Church, to permit it as the "default" mode of operation, and to invite the reduction of any model of the university which entails any explicit relationship to the magisterium of the Church as a "seminary" model (pace all intellectually rigorous seminary programs, including our own). This is to invite and to cultivate an intellectual tradition that is not moored to any ecclesial community or authority that could have a claim on defining that intellectual tradition. It is to invite and to cultivate an intellectual tradition in which "Catholic" is not normed by accountability to any incarnate, historical body but only to the disincarnate, a-historical church of the mind.

The ancient Gnostic heresy developed an elitist intellectual tradition which eschewed connection to the "fleshly" church of the bishop and devalued or spiritualized the sacraments. Are we in danger of developing a gnosticized version of the "Catholic intellectual tradition," one which floats free of any norming connection and so free of any concrete claim to Catholic identity? Are we – meaning all of us, and not just the President, for this is not just his problem – disowning the problem, rather than facing it honestly as a problem, as a project, as a challenge, as a struggle and yes, as a commitment? There is no commitment if it is not explicitly stated.

These concerns may be more evident to a Theology department chair than to others, because it is beyond dispute that no one cares much about theology apart from the believing community, the Church, and that without a concrete accountability to the Church theologians would eventually be out of a job! But everyone who is honestly invested in Catholic identity, in a genuine Catholic intellectual tradition, in the special intellectual witness that is demanded of a Catholic university, should feel some caution, and even some regret, at the absence of any explicit commitment to accountability to the Church reflected in the President’s statement, and in the early positive responses it received. Without a sense of the University’s close relationship with, and accountability to, the Church, the unique and precious intellectual fabric that we have woven here and which many, including many who are not Catholic, have come to value precisely because of its special character and witness, can never in the long run be sustained.

I would ask that anyone who has come to value the uniqueness of our intellectual culture here at Notre Dame consider carefully what I have written, and not discount it immediately as just another instance of the standard boilerplate of extremist pressure groups that unfortunately exist within the Catholic Church today. This is not the time to indulge in the luxury of discounting by labeling. For this, I thank the reader in advance. I am sure that as a university community we can rise to this occasion. I am also sure that we have no other choice if we want to preserve some distinctiveness as an intellectual culture.