From Bill Berkowitz of Talk To Action:
Within the space of 48 hours, Ave Maria University Provost Joseph
Fessio was fired and then rehired. Ave Maria University was founded recently by Domino’s Pizza founder Tom Monaghan.
Details of the original firing are still murky. At first it appeared that Fessio, founder of Ignatius Press in San Francisco (the primary English-language publisher of Pope Benedict XVI) and the University of San Francisco’s Ignatius Institute, wasn’t up to the task of enrolling enough students or raising the necessary money for building the first new Catholic university in the U.S. in 40 years.
Then, it seemed that the former student and longtime friend of the current Pope (formerly Cardinal Josef Ratzinger) may have been let go because of his comments to the California Catholic Daily suggesting that homosexuality has biological roots.
Fessio told the publication that "same-sex activity is considered disordered. If there are ways of detecting diseases or disorders of children in the womb, and a way of treating them that respected the dignity of the child and mother, it would be a wonderful advancement of science."
Talk To Action has the full story.
I doubt this has anything to do with Fr Fessio’s comments on the OSU sheep study and Rev Mohler’s comments about curing gays. There were only two negative commenets concerning what Fessio said or that he said anything at all (See: Hey, Hey, Baby Gay! What Do You Do? What Do You Say? & Fessio Fired from California Catholic). Though showing Fessio seated in a pasture stroking a sheep in the California Catholic article, Fessio Reinstated … Sort of does elicit in one certain musings about what happened.
From the point of view of Catholic orthodoxy, there is nothing even faintly controversial about saying that a homosexual orientation may have biological roots.
The Catholic Church has no “official point of view” as to whether a particular person’s sex drive may have been shaped by genetics, prenatal exposure to different levels of hormones, etc.
Since what Fr. Fessio said is unobjectionable in terms of Catholic doctrine, it seems far-fetched that it would have been a source of controversy at Ave Maria.
A much more likely hypothesis making the round in the Catholic blogosphere is that there have been some stresses on campus concerning liturgy: Fr. Fessio favors he traditional solemn Latin, while Mr. Monaghan favors the more emotional Charismatic forms of prayer.
Julianne Wiley wrote:
I am not sure of that. The Roman Catholic Catechism states:
The Church won’t call anyone gay, lesbian homosexual or even heterosexual according to Courage. And while the Church says it speaks of homosexuality as objectively disordered only in philosophical terms unrelated to its genesis, the Church speaks of heterosexuality in glowing terms associated with biology [Courage]: “the vast majority of men and women have a natural God given attraction toward physical union with a person of the opposite sex.” Courage groups are known as “reparational,” and focus upon “weakness in our homo-emotional struggle” and “accepting our psychological limitations” The Courage website also warns against the idea of a biological origin for homosexuality. The founder of Courage, Fr John Harvey has said:
Which is clearly a statement concerning a pscychological genesis. Then there is the Catholic Medical Association whose “directive,” Homosexuality and Hope, flat out says “not born that way,” and then goes on to detail a number of psychogenic causes for rhoomosexuality.
If the Catholic Church has no stake in what whether the genesis of homosexuality is biological or not – “no official point of view” – then it had better speak to its ministries and membership about it and set them right.
Actually, Julianne Wiley is correct. There is nothing in Catholic teaching about the origins of homosexuality.
As far as the Catholic Chuch “speaking to its ministries and membership about it and setting them right,” they haven’t been too successful at forcing absolute conformity with anyone whether they are on the left or the right.
Same is true with Methodists, Episcopalians, Baptist, Jews, Republicans, Rotarians, or the Boy Scouts.
I personally doubt the dustup with Fessio has anything to do with his conjectures on sexuality. But that’s just a hunch on my part. Fr. Fessio is very well-known and well-regarded in conservative and neo-conservative circles. Monaghan is well-known and not so well liked. Both are strong personality. I think the rivalry is more personal (and perhaps a bit more mercurial on Monaghan’s part) than anything else.
Actually, both Julianne and Lynn are correct.
While there may be nothing in the Catholic catechism about the origins of sexual orientation, the conservative Catholic Medical Association has for years collaborated with Courage, NARTH, and conservative political groups to promote the myth that sexual orientation is caused solely by environmental factors (such as bad parenting and abuse), and that it is preventable and treatable through “therapy.”
I agree it’s quite possible that Fessio’s firing was unrelated to the dispute over origins. There are numerous possibilities. But:
Ultimately, only Monaghan and Fessio know what actually happened.