Marquette theology professor Lauds HHS Mandate, Says Pope Supports Condoms in New York Times

Daniel Maguire with Catholic Rainbow Parents co-founders
Tom and Darlene White.  Source
A radical professor of theology at Marquette University (and former priest) wrote to the New York Times in support of the HHS mandate that forces Catholic colleges and institutions to pay for sterilization procedures and contraceptives including abortifacients.

And it gets worse from there. A lot worse.

Professor Daniel Maguire then outlandishly wrote in the Times that the American bishops who oppose the mandate are in conflict with Pope Benedict XVI who “ended the taboo on condoms.” He wrote:

An accurate look at Catholic teaching on contraception today shows strong support for the position that contraception is not only permissible but even mandatory in many cases.

The American bishops are at odds with other bishops in the Catholic world, with the vast majority of Catholic theologians and with 98 percent of the Catholic laity who have used contraceptives. They are even at odds with Pope Benedict XVI, who has approved the use of condoms “in the intention of reducing the risk of infection.” That concession logically ended the taboo on condoms since it said health care concerns can require the use of condoms.


This, of course, is a wild misreading of Pope Benedict XVI’s statements. In fact, The Vatican issued a clarification of the Pope’s remarks precisely because his words had been “repeatedly manipulated for ends and interests which are entirely foreign to the meaning of his words.” The Vatican clearly states that interpretations like the one Maguire is promulgating are “erroneous.”

One would expect a tenured theology professor to understand this. But this isn’t the first time Maguire has said outlandish things.

He is the author of eleven books, and one of his more recent ones is called Sacred Rights: The Case for Contraception and Abortion in World Religions.
there's a lot more at Cardinal Newman Society

Can the Milwaukee Archdiocese do anything about their anti-Catholic university?  We know the Jesuits wont, in fact, I assume they agree with his statement. 

3 comments:

M.K. Schumacher said...

Does Prof. Maguire still claim to be a Catholic? A search of his name yields a statement from the USCCB website published in 2007, concluding with the following:

"The Archbishop of Milwaukee, exercising his pastoral responsibilities as teacher and shepherd, has made public statements affirming that the views expressed by Professor Maguire in his two pamphlets are erroneous and incompatible with the Church's teaching. We the Committee on Doctrine of the USCCB concur that, despite his claims to authority as a Catholic theologian, the views of Professor Maguire on contraception, abortion, and same-sex 'marriage' are not those of the Catholic Church and indeed are contrary to the Church's faith. We deplore as irresponsible his public advocacy of his views as authentic Catholic teaching. Lastly, we trust that this statement will clarify the Church's faith and teaching for all of the Catholic faithful throughout the United States."

If the professor still considers himself to be within the Church, clearly he is "obstinately persist[ing] in manifest grave sin" and thus should not be admitted to Holy Communion (CIC/83 Can. 915). Let us pray that His Excellency Abp. Listecki will defend the True Faith within his See.

josh said...

Gah, Maguire is the reason that Marquette lost about $100,000 of tuition money out of me when I dropped their doctoral program after getting more interested in moral theology, but refusing to have him as a professor. I wonder if enough people voiced this reality to Marquette they might figure out a better way to get around that pesky tenure problem. I know I'm not the only one who has refused to study moral theology @ Marquette precisely because of their faculty.

Badger Catholic said...

Thank you Michael for the reference.

josh: It boggles my mind how a lunatic like Maguire would be allowed to teach at any institution, let alone a Catholic or Christian one .