Pro-life leader says Marquette University should fire dissident theologian

Marquette, Mich., Mar 27, 2007 / 08:49 am

Marquette University should stop “hiding behind false ideas of tenure and academic freedom” and dismiss Dan Maguire, whose ideas are inconsistent with the Church’s teachings on contraception, abortion and marriage, said Fr. Thomas Euteneuer, president of Human Life International.
 
Maguire, a theology professor and ex-priest, recently distributed pamphlets, stating that the Catholic Church’s teachings on these three issues are optional and that there is no clear Catholic position on them.

The U.S. bishops’ doctrine committee issued a statement last week, rebuking Maguire for propagating his views, which run counter to Church teaching. Fr. Euteneuer applauded the bishops for issuing a formal and public statement on the matter.
 
“I am very heartened that the bishops of the committee finally addressed an erroneous model of moral theology that dissenting theologians have used for decades to mislead the faithful,” Fr. Euteneuer said, referencing the model which claims certain central moral teachings of the Church are “optional” when they are not.
 
This idea wrongly states that the opinions of theologians are somehow equal with the Magisterium, the priest explained. 
 
Last fall, Human Life International awarded Maguire, who is divorced and remarried, its “Millstone Award” for his advocacy of abortion, contraception, and same-sex marriage. The award’s title refers to the fate of those who mislead the innocent, as spoken by Jesus in Mt 18:6.