St. Ignatius Institute - Controversies

Controversies

For its first quarter-century, the SII was a lightning rod of controversy within the university and the Roman Catholic Church. The SII's traditional approach itself provoked controversy. Some members of the university criticized what one scholar called a "parti pris" approach to education with a narrow Catholic — mostly papal — perspective.

Faculty of the SII clashed with members and friends of USF's Department of Theology who objected to SII's practice of hiring theology professors for SII classes rather than relying upon the Department of Theology to provide these faculty. The SII rejected interference by the Department of Theology because the SII wanted to maintain a strong adherence by its faculty to theological positions loyal to the Pope and Magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church, especially on moral matters such as contraception, abortion and homosexuality. Eventually the differences between the SII and the Department of Theology were symbolized by their contrasting responses to Ex Corde Ecclesiae, issued by Pope John Paul II in 1990. The papal document calls for a mandatum to be signed by professors of Catholic doctrine as a kind of testament to the instructor's orthodoxy. The SII faculty readily signed the mandatum as a self-defining act. Meanwhile, USF and the Department of Theology resisted signing the mandatum, as did theologians in many other U.S. Catholic universities in a controversy that continued for over a decade.

Various events also sparked debate, with the SII's continued existence frequently called into question. In 1978, the SII hosted a symposium to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the promulgation of Humanae Vitae, the encyclical by Pope Paul VI condemning contraception. British journalist Malcolm Muggeridge delivered the keynote address, arguing that contraception is a lethal threat to Christian civilization. Another speaker, Fr. Gerald Coleman, dean of St. Patrick's Seminary, Menlo Park, California, delivered a minority opposition paper at the symposium, "allowing theological dissent and reception of communion by couples practicing artificial birth control."

In 1987, USF's campus minister denied access on Sundays for the SII's popular but controversial chaplain, Fr. Cornelius M. Buckley, to celebrate Mass, alleging that his liturgies fostered a cult-like following. Critics of the decision expressed regret at the loss of variety in styles of liturgical worship at USF caused by the campus minister's ruling. Buckley's liturgical approach was described as more "simple" and "solemn."

Also in 1987, the SII faced its greatest crisis to date when the university president fired Fr. Fessio from his position as the SII's first director, over a disagreement concerning the use of a $1 million gift that San Francisco benefactress, Mrs. Louise Davies, gave to the SII. Fr. Robert Maloney, S.J., succeeded Fessio as director. Fessio continued to teach theology at USF and in the SII until 1992, when he resigned to spend more time developing Ignatius Press, the lay-run publishing house he directs in San Francisco.

Controversy again erupted in 1988 when the USF student government required that an SII student who was the editor-in-chief of the university's award-winning newspaper, the San Francisco Foghorn, accept a co-editorship arrangement in the interests of journalistic objectivity.

Additional controversies took place during the term of the SII's third director, John Galten. Under his watch the SII's faculty had to design a course in Asian philosophy to satisfy pressure from the university to incorporate non-western sources into the curriculum. A renewed clash was brought on by the transfer of the SII's chaplain, C.M. Buckley, away from San Francisco. Buckley, a published historian and translator with decades of university teaching experience, was assigned the bed chaplaincy at a Catholic hospital in Duarte, California, an assignment that Fessio would also be forced to accept some years afterward.

Despite these controversies, some SII faculty members and alumni expressed in print that their experience at USF had been enriched by their participation in the SII's intellectual community.