Transforming Ideas and Significant Markers: John Courtney Murray, S.J.

Ideas transform. Important ideas of religious liberty in today’s pluralistic world deserve recognition. The search for truth in all its forms requires our sincere appreciation for transforming ideas that may become a stimulus for a more peaceful, equitable world.

Transformation can occur when transforming ideas are developed, communicated, and generate the capacity to unify people despite their diverse origins and beliefs. I have some thoughts on transformative thinking about the relation of the Church and State which we see in the First Amendment to the U. S. Constitution. In part, this stems from my early exposure to ideas in political science from a dear friend. I have in mind two public events which marked the transformation brought about by transforming ideas

When Sister Patricia Ann Matthews, IHM, arrived at Marywood University to join the History and Social Studies Department, she was completing her dissertation on the work of John Courtney Murray, S.J. The theological work of his lifetime had several transforming effects: on the view of U.S. democracy by the European Church, and on the view of American Catholics by other Americans.

The Catholic Church of the late 1800s and early 1900s, largely dominated by European leaders, looked with fear at the pluralism in religious ideas which seemed natural to U.S. citizens. Some Europeans felt that monarchy was the ideal form of government and that Church and State should be united in promoting the truths of Catholicism. If Catholics were a majority, it was expected that they would work to establish the Catholic Church as the official church of the nation. This was accompanied by the idea that “Error has no rights,” i.e., that the organizations of other religions were not entitled to complete equality.

After the Second World War, Pope Pius XII realized that people of every faith and background would be needed to rebuild a broken world. On what basis might those of other faiths or no faith be engaged? At the same time, John Courtney Murray was examining the two ideas which open the First Amendment to the U. S. Constitution: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof….” He viewed these two clauses as coming from natural law, and as having their roots in Catholic understanding of the nature of the human being. In his book We Hold These Truths (1960), Murray argued that the American structure of church-state relations is more congenial to Roman Catholic thinking on the subject than any other such structure in history (Time, 1967).

For Murray, the non-establishment clause is essentially an article of peace, based on the principle of union. Murray quoted Pope Pius XII’s idea that peace (or union) is the primary principle “when it comes to dealing with the difficulties which arise out of mankind’s multiple pluralisms and dissensions” (quoted by Murray, 1960). The idea that the state should not be a direct support of the goals of any religion came about, according to Murray, because of the plurality of religious traditions and because many colonists were “unchurched” in the American colonies when the Constitution was being formed.

John Courtney Murray’s work sometimes raised concerns. Not invited to the first session of the Vatican Council, he attended the later sessions as a peritus, or expert, at the insistence of Cardinal Spellman. However, his role on the Commission which wrote the Vatican Declaration on Human Freedom (Dignitas Humanae,1967) was uniquely valuable. His ideas form the basis of much of that document.

Murray was able to move within the tradition of the Church even while unfolding conclusions that changed thinking in unexpected ways. That brings me to a small but significant event that encapsulates transformation. The day after the Council closed, Murray was privileged to concelebrate Mass with Pope Paul VI and a highly respected group of pre-eminent theologians. It was not only an honor, but also a symbolic event of transformative thinking.

This has been about the Church coming to understand and accept the U.S. view of non-establishment of a state religion. The other half of the transformation concerns the attitude of non-Catholics toward Catholics in the United States. Despite the presence of Catholics in the 13 colonies since 1634, anti-Catholic sentiment rose regularly over the course of the next several centuries. This animosity was often fueled by anti-immigration sentiment, and the idea that Catholic obedience to Church authorities, especially the Pope, would mean a disavowal of the religious liberty described in the first amendment. As late as the 1920s, the cry against the presidential nominee, Al Smith, enumerated “Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion” as the supposed dangers of a Catholic in high office. This fear that Catholics would not support the broad view of religious freedom in a pluralistic society was still present when John F. Kennedy ran for office in 1960. A turning point in that campaign was Kennedy’s speech to Baptist ministers in Texas which allayed their fears concerning an imposition of policies narrowly Catholic in import. Kennedy consulted with Father Murray ahead of that speech. In it, Kennedy called for an America where no Catholic prelate would give directions to a Catholic president, and “no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners how to vote.”

Today we do not find the type of anti-Catholicism that tries to keep Catholics from political voice. Catholics presently hold or have held especially important positions on the Supreme Court, in Congress, and even the White House. My point is that these two moments, Murray’s invitation to concelebrate with Pope Paul VI as a leading, accepted theologian, and John F. Kennedy’s election as U.S. President, are the significant markers that speak to decades of hard theological work by Father Murray and others.

Ideas transform. Important ideas of religious liberty in today’s pluralistic world deserve recognition. The search for truth in all its forms requires our sincere appreciation for transforming ideas that may become a stimulus for a more peaceful, equitable world.

Sources

     John Courtney Murray: American Theologian. Hallel Productions
https://youtu.be/th4dP9ta1CM

     Murray, John Courtney (1960). We Hold These Truths: Catholic Reflections on the American Proposition. New York: Sheed and Ward.

     Religion: Man of the City. Time Magazine, August 27, 1967.