Four Jesuits denied promotion by Rome

National Catholic Reporter, March 29, 1996 by Pamela Schaeffer

"I'm not saying that's the reason why," Glynn said, regarding his troubles with Rome. "I just, know that the opposition is not coming from the Holy See itself, and that they have no problem with my orthodoxy. It's worth knowing that a sitting provincial is not considered a heretic.

"I suspect some bishops, whether one or two, may have a concern that I may not be sufficiently cooperative," he said. "If the situation were to arise that would require my cooperation, they might feel that from past experience they couldn't count on it."

Glynn said he, in fact, works closely with members of the hierarchy and had strong support for his candidacy at Weston from Cardinal William Keeler of Baltimore, who wrote a letter to Rome on his behalf when objections surfaced. Glynn said he serves on the board of St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore at Keeler's invitation.

Glynn also had the support of Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of Chicago, who was cited without being named in Wild's memo as the prelate urging the school to seek "clear reasons" for objections to Glynn.

Wild said the search for a Weston president will be reopened.

John Baldovin

Last year, Fr. John Baldovin, professor of historical and liturgical theology at the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley, was the leading candidate for president of that school but Vatican permission was withheld. Although Baldovin declined to discuss specifics, persons familiar with his work noted that in some of his writings on liturgy it is apparent he supports ordaining women as Catholic priests.

Jesuit Fr. T. Howland Sanks became president of the school in January.

Michael Buckley

Fr. Michael J. Buckley, director of the Jesuit Institute at Boston College, was denied promotion to full professor on the pontifical faculty at the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley in the late 1980s. He subsequently served three years as a theology professor at Notre Dame University in South Bend, Ind., and went on to Boston College in 1991. He is a past president of the Catholic Theological Society of America.

Buckley's appointment as executive director of the U.S. bishops' Committee on Doctrine in 1986 had been opposed by some bishops, who cited his signature on a 1977 statement objecting to a Vatican declaration on women's ordination. The appointment went through, but knowledgeable. sources say it is likely that controversy came back to haunt him when he sought promotion at Berkeley.

David Hollenbach

Fr. David Hollenbach, social ethicist and professor at Boston College who holds the Flatley chair of theology, formerly taught at Weston but failed by the early 1990s to obtain the nihil obstat that would have given him pontifical status. He left Weston to become a professor at Boston College in September 1991. Hollenbach was a primary theological consultant to U.S. bishops on their 1986 economic pastoral, "Economic Justice for All." He is a past president of the Society of Christian Ethics.

Details of Hollenbach's trouble with the Vatican are unclear, and he refused to confirm specifics. In fact, he said NCR's information was "wrong" regarding his situation. Hollenbach did not deny having been barred from the pontifical faculty, and the general facts of his case were confirmed by four other Jesuit sources.