Why is the AMU Oratory Not Approved?
Thu, Dec13, 2007 - Category: University
| Town
AveWatch has received multiple, but unconfirmed,
reports from reliable sources on the Bishop of
Venice's consideration in approving Tom Monaghan's
secular oratory for sacramental use. Readers will
recall that AMU President Healy sat for a local
newspaper interview last month concerning
the oratory's unavailability for Christmas mass.
The interview can easily be seen as an attempt -
whether intended by AMU or not - to push the
Bishop's hand in the matter.
AveWatch was recently told that, in the days leading-up to a private meeting last week between Healy, Monaghan, and Bishop Dewane, AMU's Nick Healy leaked to multiple individuals that he anticipated an announcement of "big news" soon after the meeting. Yet, after visiting the Bishop, Healy declined to offer any information about the results of the meeting that he so enthusiastically leaked earlier.
It is no surprise that Ave Maria was again eager to promote its (counted) chickens before the eggs were even laid. So, why was there no grand announcement about the oratory this week? Could it be that the bishop may have agreed to consecrate the oratory (and thereby allow public celebration of Mass) but still have reserved the right to name a pastor for the campus and Ave Maria Town (that is, if the town ever grows to a size sufficient to justify a parish)? Resistance to such a tradeoff seems plausible given the proclivities of Ave Maria to view priests as its "employees," and for some of these priest-employees, like the Law School's Chaplain Orsi, to see Ave Maria administration as its "bishop."
Since the chaplain of a Catholic university is canonically equivalent to a pastor, it seems quite appropriate that the Bishop be the one to name the university oratory's chaplain, particularly for a so-called "unabashedly Catholic university" like Ave Maria that claims to be "from the heart of the Church". What obedient Catholic could object to recognizing the Magisterial right and privilege of the local bishop to appoint a pastor to a church designated as "Catholic"?
But, what is reasonable and appropriate to the obedient of the Church seems quite difficult for Tom Monaghan when it requires even the smallest loss of control - in this case, it may be authority over the chaplain of the oratory. The current AMU chaplain, Fr. Robert Garrity, is a Monaghan employee from the Diocese of Rockford. The golf-playing Garrity was not appointed by the bishop of the diocese in which he now practices, namely the Diocese of Venice under Bishop Dewane. Under an agreement in which Dewane oversees the oratory's pastor, there would be nothing to stop the Bishop from naming a different chaplain at AMU and more formally exercising his existing canonical right and responsibility to act as shepherd for the Catholics of AMU and Ave Maria Town. Without the bishop's clear line of authority over the chaplain and the oratory, the students of Ave Maria would likely be treated to more of the same "lay ministry" misappropriation already observed on campus (see recent and series). As the Diocese of Venice acquaints itself with the likes of Ave Maria School of Law's Chaplain Orsi, including his unchecked controversial behavior and outspoken stance on issues like immigration, rape, and discrimination, Bishop Dewane would be wise to not let Monaghan's problematic ministry become the face of south Florida Catholicism.
If AW's speculation proves true - and the crux of the issue with opening the oratory is Tom Monaghan's concession of who has final authority over the chaplaincy - then this week's media silence would be a loud commentary on the inability of Tom Monaghan and Nick Healy to do for themselves what they're so good at telling everyone else to do - be faithful and obedient to the Church's Magisterium. They persist in referring to Ave Maria University as a "Catholic university" even though the Bishop of Venice has made it perfectly clear, and public, that Ave Maria has not earned diocesan approval to call itself "Catholic". It could be said that Healy and Monaghan can kneel for the Bishop of Rome to whom they are not directly accountable but, paradoxically, cannot kneel for Rome's appointed local shepherd, the Bishop of Venice, to whom they are directly accountable.
Tom Monaghan and Nick Healy seem to enjoy the misplaced assumption of authority that goes with their Protestantized sense of "lay ministry" and self-importance for church "authenticity".
AveWatch was recently told that, in the days leading-up to a private meeting last week between Healy, Monaghan, and Bishop Dewane, AMU's Nick Healy leaked to multiple individuals that he anticipated an announcement of "big news" soon after the meeting. Yet, after visiting the Bishop, Healy declined to offer any information about the results of the meeting that he so enthusiastically leaked earlier.
It is no surprise that Ave Maria was again eager to promote its (counted) chickens before the eggs were even laid. So, why was there no grand announcement about the oratory this week? Could it be that the bishop may have agreed to consecrate the oratory (and thereby allow public celebration of Mass) but still have reserved the right to name a pastor for the campus and Ave Maria Town (that is, if the town ever grows to a size sufficient to justify a parish)? Resistance to such a tradeoff seems plausible given the proclivities of Ave Maria to view priests as its "employees," and for some of these priest-employees, like the Law School's Chaplain Orsi, to see Ave Maria administration as its "bishop."
Since the chaplain of a Catholic university is canonically equivalent to a pastor, it seems quite appropriate that the Bishop be the one to name the university oratory's chaplain, particularly for a so-called "unabashedly Catholic university" like Ave Maria that claims to be "from the heart of the Church". What obedient Catholic could object to recognizing the Magisterial right and privilege of the local bishop to appoint a pastor to a church designated as "Catholic"?
But, what is reasonable and appropriate to the obedient of the Church seems quite difficult for Tom Monaghan when it requires even the smallest loss of control - in this case, it may be authority over the chaplain of the oratory. The current AMU chaplain, Fr. Robert Garrity, is a Monaghan employee from the Diocese of Rockford. The golf-playing Garrity was not appointed by the bishop of the diocese in which he now practices, namely the Diocese of Venice under Bishop Dewane. Under an agreement in which Dewane oversees the oratory's pastor, there would be nothing to stop the Bishop from naming a different chaplain at AMU and more formally exercising his existing canonical right and responsibility to act as shepherd for the Catholics of AMU and Ave Maria Town. Without the bishop's clear line of authority over the chaplain and the oratory, the students of Ave Maria would likely be treated to more of the same "lay ministry" misappropriation already observed on campus (see recent and series). As the Diocese of Venice acquaints itself with the likes of Ave Maria School of Law's Chaplain Orsi, including his unchecked controversial behavior and outspoken stance on issues like immigration, rape, and discrimination, Bishop Dewane would be wise to not let Monaghan's problematic ministry become the face of south Florida Catholicism.
If AW's speculation proves true - and the crux of the issue with opening the oratory is Tom Monaghan's concession of who has final authority over the chaplaincy - then this week's media silence would be a loud commentary on the inability of Tom Monaghan and Nick Healy to do for themselves what they're so good at telling everyone else to do - be faithful and obedient to the Church's Magisterium. They persist in referring to Ave Maria University as a "Catholic university" even though the Bishop of Venice has made it perfectly clear, and public, that Ave Maria has not earned diocesan approval to call itself "Catholic". It could be said that Healy and Monaghan can kneel for the Bishop of Rome to whom they are not directly accountable but, paradoxically, cannot kneel for Rome's appointed local shepherd, the Bishop of Venice, to whom they are directly accountable.
Tom Monaghan and Nick Healy seem to enjoy the misplaced assumption of authority that goes with their Protestantized sense of "lay ministry" and self-importance for church "authenticity".