Catholic Theology: Where Do We Go From Here?
The details of their analyses vary, but a number of commentators have recently come to the same conclusion: Catholic theology finds itself in a profoundly challenging moment. In his 2021 essay, “The Crisis in Catholic Theology,” Grant Kaplan reflects from his position at a large Catholic university on the “gravitational pull away from theology at the undergraduate level.” Kaplan notes that “dozens of Catholic colleges and universities find themselves in financial peril, with some already shutting their doors and more on the brink of doing so. Cost-cutting measures have made reliance on adjunct professors and non-tenured faculty members the norm.” In fact, in the last ten years, more than twenty Catholic universities in the United States have closed. And, as they face many of the same challenges as other small, private colleges, there is every indication that the pace of closures will only increase.
Meanwhile, even if they remain open, Catholic colleges and universities currently employ contingent faculty to teach roughly three-quarters of the classes they offer. To be sure, many adjuncts are eminently qualified, but the reliance on their labor—usually without a living wage or benefits—makes it much more difficult for those who spend years in graduate school to chart a viable long-term career path. That uncertainty profoundly disincentivizes the study itself.
For many years, in fact, the opportunities for employment for graduate students in theology have been waning. And, sadly, we can expect these prospects to grow even dimmer. Even some of those who currently hold academic positions will in the future find themselves unemployed, given the virtual certainty of increasing school closures, and increasing reliance on adjuncts.
Matthew Shadle, who resigned his position after his previous employer, Wheeling University, eliminated their theology department in 2023, writes a sort of postcard from the front, describing the “transformation of the field of Catholic theology” and “the need to respond and adapt to it.” In his work on Substack, Shadle is pioneering one new form of theological engagement and reflection: an individual, online presence featuring essays, interviews, and more. Is this a necessary part of a new landscape?
Colleges with the clearest Catholic identity and mission do seem to be beating the odds. In fact, colleges including Belmont Abbey and the Catholic University of America are seeing enrollment rise. This is surely something to celebrate. The implications for the larger landscape of Catholic higher education, though, are far from clear. Is it the case that if every Catholic college were to follow suit, they too would find students flocking to their admissions office? Or, is something larger and more inexorable afoot: the hard reality that places where theology has been done will disappear, that many trained theologians will find themselves without the opportunity to do that work full-time, that many others will forgo the option of studying theology at the graduate level, and that many, many students who would have gotten a taste of theology in an undergraduate setting will simply go without?
Even where financial stress on the university as a whole is not an immediate concern, Kaplan’s essay notes, theology is sometimes sidelined within the university’s walls. Theology departments may find themselves without needed funding or other kinds of support. Students, sometimes reflecting pressure from their own families, are increasingly unlikely to choose to major in theology—or in any of the humanities.
In other words, having lodged so much of its work firmly in the context of modern Catholic colleges and universities, Catholic theology now is facing the question of whether that context has become a significantly unreliable or inhospitable one.
Scholars responding to Kaplan’s essay give their own related warnings. In the midst of these challenges, Christopher Mooney calls for theology to rediscover its own nature and purpose—including the indispensable role of revelation. Ligita Ryliskyte points, at the same time, to a challenge that will inevitably arise as theologians take up that task: “the liberal/conservative divide” in theology departments. (Although not responding to Kaplan, Joseph Leinhard, S.J., signals something similar: competing camps with very different assumptions and concerns.) Even with the storms buffeting them, is the greatest challenge an internal one: the need for theologians to come together and rediscover some common account of “What is Catholic theology?”
Of course, the work of Catholic theology has been transformed many times in the past. Catholic theology has its origin long before the appearance of any university. The work of theology has been done in caves and monasteries and foxholes. The current landscape in the United States, where theology is done mostly by lay people and mostly in the setting of colleges and universities, is only about sixty years old. Perhaps we are just at a moment when it is time to imagine and create new possibilities?
In fact, some of those possibilities are already being tried. Brick-and-mortar schools are increasingly offering distance learning, aimed in some cases at students who will not complete a degree, but just want to learn. There are institutes and centers connected to larger educational institutions that pursue their own theology-related mission. Or we see examples like Bishop Barron’s rapidly expanding Word on Fire initiative, which fosters theological reflection not dependent on any diocese, religious order, or school.
The power of the internet, it is now clear, will work best only when it maintains a deeply human grounding. Are there new ways to combine web-based resources with in-person classes or conversations? In densely populated Catholic dioceses, it seems in-person gatherings could be prioritized, whereas other dioceses might benefit from regular virtual engagement punctuated by less frequent in-person gatherings. Are there new ways to make use of retreat houses or parish halls or perhaps even homes?
Or perhaps there are older models that deserve a second look. In the early medieval period, cathedral schools were a place to train priests—and later lay people as well. Cathedral schools, in fact, still exist in a certain form in the United States in the form of various “cathedral” high schools. Could other forms of the cathedral school be revived as a place where regular conversations take place among both clergy and lay people? Dioceses that are larger geographically might organize a hybrid model, in which learners traveled occasionally to the cathedral, while other learning happened at home. This model would certainly emphasize the office of the bishop and the diocese as the locus of unity. Are there ways that this model—or perhaps others—could create new employment opportunities for those who hold advanced degrees in theology?
A new recognition of the importance of the ancient practice of catechism appears in Pope Francis’s apostolic letter, Antiquum Ministerium, in which he established the lay ministry of “catechist.” For those of us who believe that catechetical work is closely related to the work of theology, this step may also suggest new avenues for theological reflection in the lives of parishes, dioceses, or the larger Church.
What other possibilities should we be exploring? What conversations should we be having? How should we be equipping ourselves and one another to do theology that is faithful to the tradition of the Church and sensitive to the challenges of the present moment?
These are questions that deserve careful consideration, given that theological reflection lies at the center of the Church’s life. They bring us back to deep and life-giving questions. How and where will we study theology? How will we recognize expertise in this work? How will we come together to take on the intellectual tasks given to the body of Christ? How will we, as a people, “love God with our minds”?
We can fall into imagining theology as something esoteric or distant, but in fact it lies at the center of the Church’s very life. What good does it do to focus on the Eucharist if we do not also grow in understanding of what it is? How can we engage in public and political life without an ongoing consideration of what human beings are and how we are called to live together?
The work of theology involves seeking to understand who God is, who we are, and how we should live; considering and reconsidering the Church’s teachings in every area; rearticulating the gospel at the present moment; and comparing the Catholic faith to other religious traditions. And anyone who has the opportunity to engage in this work then has the task of sharing the fruits of theology’s work with others.
As I myself have been part of conversations on these issues—particularly with those who are reaching mid-level or senior positions in the academy—more and more of us have become convinced that there are significant advantages to grasping the nettle and addressing the challenges directly. I also believe that that will happen most fruitfully when voices from many quarters are given a say.
To that end, I have created a survey designed to begin to do that. Linked here and below, it is intended to gather information broadly and informally to inform several possible initiatives supporting the work of Catholic theology. All answers will be strictly treated as confidential, unless the participant indicates otherwise.
If you are connected to the work of Catholic theology, please take a moment to complete this survey. And please share widely. I look forward to sharing the results of this poll as just one step along a long journey we are taking together.
EDITORIAL NOTE: Readers can take the aforementioned poll here.