Church in the World

‘Misleading’ theologian condemned

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) this week published long-expected criticisms of a major book on religious pluralism by Vietnamese-born theologian Fr Peter Phan, concluding that it contained "pervading ambiguities and equivocations that could easily confuse or mislead" Catholics.

"The crux of the issue is that Being Religious Interreligiously does not express adequately and accurately the Church's teaching," the USCCB's doctrinal committee said on Monday in a 15-page critique of Fr Phan's 2004 volume.

The seven-bishop committee claimed that certain statements in the Georgetown University professor's book, "unless properly clarified", were "not in accord with Catholic teaching" in the following three areas: Jesus as "unique and universal Saviour of all humankind"; the "salvific significance" of other non-Christian religions; and the Church as "unique and universal instrument of salvation".

The bishops began the "evaluation" into Fr Phan's work in May 2006 at the request of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) and it appeared that the new CDF doctrinal note on evangelisation to be released yesterday (see box) was to address some of the same concerns raised by the USCCB. However, it was unclear whether the Vatican or the US bishops were planning to take disciplinary action against the 64-year-old former Salesian and one-time president of the Catholic Theological Society of America, or indeed if any was planned at all.

The bishops said that "since Fr Phan did not provide the needed clarifications" they sought, they had decided to "issue a statement" to "identify problematic aspects of the book" and offer a "positive restatement of Catholic teaching". Most of their statement is based on the CDF declaration from 2000, Dominus Iesus.

Fr Phan, who has lived in the United States since 1975 and is a priest of the Diocese of Dallas, told The Tablet that the bishops had rejected his request for a May 2008 deadline to prepare his response. He declined any further comment.

The bishops said that the noted theologian's book "could leave readers in considerable confusion as to the proper understanding of the uniqueness of Christ". They criticised it for claiming that terms such as "unique", "absolute" and "universal" had "outlived their usefulness and should be jettisoned and replaced by other theologically more adequate equivalents".

The bishops also took issue with Fr Phan's argument that non-Christian religions "may be said to be ways of salvation" and that "religious pluralism is part of God's providential plan". The bishops quoted the theologian as saying that religious pluralism "may not and must not be abolished" by conversion to Christianity. They said this "call to an end to Christian mission" was contrary to Catholic teaching.