Is groupthink required?

Published: July 28, 2014

By Dale J. Pekar

I have to confess I was taken aback by the notice on your submission page that you do not print "columns and views that don’t conform to the teachings of the Catholic Church."

There have been many times in my life when I have wondered what exactly constitutes the "teachings of the Catholic Church." It's not as though all the bishops everywhere and throughout all time have been in unanimous agreement. There's a lot of gray area in the world, and certainly the Church's position on things like capital punishment and slavery have changed over time. Do we really mean to convey the impression that every letter to the editor, every opinion voiced in the paper, conforms to the teachings of the Catholic Church? After all, even a book's imprimatur only offers assurance that nothing therein is contrary to Catholic faith or morals.

The other thing that strikes me about this policy is that it would seem to have a stultifying effect on intellectual discussion. What harm can there be in presenting the various perspectives on a given issue? Certainly our faith is not so shallow as to disinvite contrary views.

Most publications are content to simply acknowledge that the views presented do not necessarily reflect those of the publisher.