Cardinal Avery Dulles, S.J., Dies At The Age of 90

Prominent figure at Jesuit Fordham University, was son of U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and the nephew of Allen Dulles, who served as director of the Central Intelligence Agency, both during the Eisenhower administration, and later served as part of the cover up of the John F. Kennedy assassination conspiracy as a member of the Warren Commission. His father John Foster Dulles was not the first Dulles to serve as U.S. Secretry of State, a position held by John Foster Dulles' grandfather John W. Foster (1892-1893) and uncle Robert Lansing (1915-1920).

From Jesuit Fordham University:

Fordham Mourns the Death of Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J.

Bob Howe
(212) 636-6538

http://www.fordham.edu/Campus_Resources/eNewsroom/topstories_1433.asp

Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J., the Laurence J. McGinley Professor of Religion and Society at Fordham University since 1988, an internationally renowned author and lecturer on theological topics, and the first American to be named a cardinal who was not a bishop, died at the age of 90 on December 12, 2008.

Revered by colleagues and students alike for his work ethic, modesty, gentility and sense of humor, Cardinal Dulles was referred to by fellow theologians as "the grand old man of Catholic theology today in the United States." Cardinal Dulles began his connection with Fordham in 1951, while still a Jesuit in training, when he was appointed an instructor in philosophy. He left Fordham in 1953 to pursue theological studies in preparation for ordination in 1956. After graduate studies in theology in Europe, he undertook an academic and priestly career that spanned five decades and included professorships at the Jesuit school of theology at Woodstock College, the Catholic University of America, and several visiting posts at the world’s top universities and seminaries. In 1988, when he reached the retirement age of 70 in his post as professor of systematic theology at Catholic University, he returned to Fordham–35 years after he had left–to take up the McGinley Chair. Cardinal Dulles referred to his years in the McGinley Chair as the happiest and most satisfying of his life, pleased with the freedom that the position gave him to teach, to lecture and to assume visiting appointments all over the world.

"A man of prodigious intellect and great holiness, Cardinal Dulles devoted his entire life to the task of advancing the dialogue between faith and reason," said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham University. "In the process, he enriched both the Church and the Academy with his wisdom and his warmth. Therefore, it is not at all surprising that he was the first American theologian to be named to the College of Cardinals."

Pope Benedict XVI met privately with Cardinal Dulles at St. Joseph's Seminary (Dunwoodie), in Yonkers, N.Y., on April 19, 2008, during the Pontiff’s pastoral visit to the United States. The private audience was a recognition of the Cardinal’s intellectual and moral influence as a Jesuit, a theologian and a writer. During the meeting, the Pope blessed Cardinal Dulles, and was presented with a copy of the Cardinal’s book Church and Society: The Laurence J. McGinley Lectures, 1988-2007 (Fordham University Press, 2008).

Avery Robert Dulles was born on August 24, 1918, in Auburn, N.Y., the son of Janet Pomeroy Avery and John Foster Dulles, who went on to serve as Secretary of State under President Dwight D. Eisenhower. His paternal uncle was Allan Dulles, a founding father of the CIA. His great-grandfather John W. Foster and his grand-uncle Robert Lansing both had served as U.S. Secretaries of State.

The Dulles family raised their son as a Presbyterian. He did his primary schooling in New York City and was educated on the secondary level in Switzerland and at Choate. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard College in 1940 with a concentration in history and literature. His senior thesis on Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, the Renaissance polymath, was published by Harvard University Press as the Phi Beta Kappa Prize Essay of 1940.

As a young man entering Harvard in 1936, Dulles had already abandoned his Presbyterian upbringing and considered himself an agnostic. However, exposure to the works of the great philosophers and to Catholic writers in his later college years led him to convert to Catholicism while a first-year student at Harvard Law School. In 1946, following service in the U.S. Navy during World War II, he entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. On account of his father's high profile and his own uniqueness as an Ivy League-educated convert, Dulles' priestly ordination in 1956 in the company of fellow Jesuits by Francis Cardinal Spellman (a 1911 Fordham graduate), celebrated in the Fordham University Church on the Rose Hill campus in the Bronx, was reported on the front page of The New York Times. After doctoral studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, Dulles was awarded a doctorate in sacred theology in 1960.

Dulles once described his decision to convert to Catholicism as reminiscent of the action of "one of those timid swimmers who closes his eyes as he jumps into the roaring sea." He also declared that, on his entry into the Catholic Church, "I made a venture that appeared foolhardy in the eyes of most of my family and friends. As a vowed religious, I took up a career that would make no sense unless the Catholic faith were true." In the account of his conversion, A Testimonial To Grace (1946, Sheed and Ward, reissued with an afterword, 1996), he wrote that, "Although I cannot rival the generous dedication of St. Paul and Ignatius of Loyola, I am, like them, content to be employed in the service of Christ and the gospel, whether in sickness or in health, in good repute or ill repute. … I trust that his grace will not fail me, and that I will not fail his grace, in the years to come."

During his tenure at Fordham, Cardinal Dulles delivered 39 McGinley Chair lectures on theological subjects that were sometimes controversial, including the death penalty, John Paul II and human rights, and church reform. He was considered an American theologian well-versed in ecumenism and a voice for religious freedom, a centrist in Catholic theology. While he applauded the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, he also stressed the need not to undermine Catholic Church polity and the fundamental teachings of earlier popes and councils of the Church. In the last decade of his life he had been seen among his colleagues to have moved to the right, suggesting in 1998 a need for a "countercultural," more orthodox Church, and calling for "doctrinal firmness" in the face of dissent on such issues as the ordination of women.

On February 21, 2001, Dulles was elevated to the College of Cardinals by Pope John Paul II on the steps of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Cardinal Dulles was one of three Americans honored that day, and the only one of the three who was not a diocesan bishop. This honor crowned his lifelong work as a Jesuit, a theologian and a writer. Commenting on the experience, Cardinal Dulles said, "I enjoyed it, but that’s not really what counts. I prefer to spend my time reading, thinking, writing, teaching. I’m not particularly made for ceremonies."

Cardinal Dulles' work as a theologian saw its high point following the reforms made by Vatican Council II, when he wrote his most influential work, Models of the Church, (Doubleday & Co., 1974). The book takes a look at Catholic ecclesiology through five theological models derived from themes enunciated at Vatican II, in order to offer a deeper understanding of how the various ways of thinking about the Church found in the Scriptures may prove relevant to the modern world.

"There were a few years after Vatican II when the church seemed to be asking people to look at different ideas, but I came to fairly traditional conclusions," he said in a 2001 interview with Fordham Magazine."Vatican II said we had to re-examine what is time-conditioned, but having done that, I think we came back to say the councils were right on."

Cardinal Dulles’ writings included 24 books and more than 800 articles, essays and reviews on theological topics. The books include Models of Revelation (Doubleday, 1983), The Catholicity of the Church (Clarendon Press, 1985), The Assurance of Things Hoped For: A Theology of Christian Faith (Oxford University Press, 1994) and A History of Apologetics (Ignatius Press, 2005). He was the recipient of 38 honorary doctorates, and was awarded the Croix de Guerre by the French government for his liaison work with the French navy during World War II. He served as an editor and adviser on several religious publications, including The New Oxford Review and Concilium.

Cardinal Dulles served as the president of both the Catholic Theological Society of America and the American Theological Society. He served on the papacy’s International Theological Commission and was also a member of the United States Lutheran/Roman Catholic Dialogue. His other awards include the Cardinal Spellman Award for distinguished achievement in theology, the Boston College Presidential Bicentennial Award, America magazine’s Campion Award, the Cardinal Gibbons Award from the Catholic University of America, the Fordham Founder’s Award (2002) and the Newman Award from Loyola College in Baltimore. He served on the Board of Trustees of Fordham University from 1969 to 1972.

The Cardinal is survived by the children of his eldest brother, John W. F. Dulles, and sister-in-law, Eleanor Dulles: John Foster Dulles II, Edith Dulles Lawlis, Ellen Coelho and Robert Avery Dulles; nieces Janet Hinshaw-Thomas and Lilly Holt, and nephews Foster Hinshaw and David Hinshaw; cousins Allen Jebsen, Joanna Jebsen Cook, Tina Afokpa, Per Jebsen, Dr. Mary Parke Manning, Thomas Manning, Diane Igleheart and Joan Talley; and by godson Andrew Curry. John W. F. Dulles, the Cardinal’s brother, and John Dulles' wife of 68 years, Eleanor Ritter Dulles, both passed away at ages 95 and 91, respectively, in June 2008, in San Antonio, Texas.

In accordance with the traditions of the Church, the Cardinal's death will be marked by the celebration of three Masses:

Tuesday, December 16, at 7:30 p.m. in the University Church
Wednesday, December 17, at 7:30 p.m. in the University Church
Thursday, December 18, at 2 p.m. at St. Patrick's Cathedral

The members of the University family are invited to join the Jesuit Community at each of these Masses.

In addition, the Cardinal's family will receive visitors in the University Church on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons from 2 to 5 p.m.

Founded in 1841, Fordham is the Jesuit University of New York, offering exceptional education distinguished by the Jesuit tradition to approximately 14,700 students in its four undergraduate colleges and its six graduate and professional schools. It has residential campuses in the Bronx and Manhattan, a campus in Westchester, and the Louis Calder Center Biological Field Station in Armonk, N.Y.
12/08

From Catholic News Reporter:

Cardinal Avery Dulles, S.J., RIP

By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.

Published:

December 10, 2008

http://ncronline3.org/drupal/?q=node/2837

Cardinal Avery Dulles, a Jesuit, a scion of one of America’s most prominent political families, and widely considered a giant of 20th century Catholic theology in the United States, has died at the age of 90.

Dulles was in residence at Murray-Weigel Hall at the Jesuit-run Fordham University in New York at the time of his death.

Born in 1918, Dulles was the son of the future U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and the nephew of Allen Dulles, who served as director of the Central Intelligence Agency, both during the Eisenhower administration. Two other more distant relatives also served as U.S. Secretaries of State.

The future Jesuit priest was raised Presbyterian, and declared himself agnostic at the start of his student days at Harvard in the late 1930s. At the university, however, he came into contact with Catholic thought, and converted to Catholicism in 1940. After a stint in the U.S. Navy, Dulles entered the Society of Jesus and was ordained to the priesthood in 1956.

Those were the years of ferment in the build-up to the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), and as a budding theologian, Dulles reflected the intellectual excitement of that era. He taught at the Jesuit-run Woodstock College from 1960 to 1974, and then at the Catholic University of America from 1974 to 1988.

Over the years, Dulles published 23 books and some 750 articles. Perhaps his best-known book was 1974’s Models of the Church, in which Dulles outlined five different images of the church that have developed over the centuries, from “institution,” “mystical communion” and “sacrament” to “herald” and “servant.” Though Dulles regarded each as valid on its own terms, most readers in the immediate post-Vatican II period regarded the images of “herald” and “servant” as best reflecting the council’s vision, and tended to see Dulles as part of the broadly “progressive” theological outlook associated with Vatican II.

As the post-conciliar period gave way to the John Paul years, however, Dulles began to give voice -- along with a broad swath of Catholic opinion -- to doubts about whether some of the reforms and innovations associated with Vatican II had perhaps led to a weakened sense of Catholic identity.

In a 2006 interview with NCR, for example, Dulles expressed deep admiration for both Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI, but added that if he had any criticism, it might be that both men were perhaps “not traditional enough” on some issues, such as the death penalty and the church’s teaching on a just war.

Whatever conclusions Dulles reached, they were always informed by deep learning and considerable generosity to opposing views. Perhaps in recognition of that, Dulles served at various points as president of both the Catholic Theological Society of America and the American Theological Society. Over the years, he was also deeply involved in ecumenical relations, including the United States Lutheran/Roman Catholic dialogue.

In 2001, Pope John Paul II elevated Dulles to the College of Cardinals, the first American-born theologian who was not a bishop to receive the honor. In a typical gesture of humility, Dulles insisted at the time that the pope meant to honor “North American theology” rather than him personally.

During his April visit to the United States, Pope Benedict XVI met privately with Dulles, in what amounted to a farewell. During that 15-minute session, Benedict said he remembered fondly the work Dulles had done for the International Theological Commission, an advisory body to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, during the time then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger served as prefect.

Dulles had a wide circle of friends, among whom he was admired for his keen sense of humor, deep personal calm, and a prodigious work ethic.

Last April, Dulles delivered a farewell lecture as the Laurence J. McGinley professor of religion and society at Fordham. By that stage confined to a wheelchair and unable to speak for prolonged periods, Dulles prepared a speech that was read on his behalf.

In that address, Dulles wrote that his aim had always been “to incorporate the valid insights of all parties to the discussion, rather than perpetuate a one-sided view that is partial and incomplete.”

“I think of myself as a moderate trying to make peace between (opposing) schools of thought. While doing so, however, I insist on logical consistency. Unlike certain relativists of our time, I abhor mixtures of contradiction,” Dulles said.

He also confirmed his deep faith.

“The most important thing about my career, and many of yours, I feel sure, is the discovery of the pearl of great price, the treasure hidden in the field -- the Lord Jesus himself,” Dulles said.

Dulles held 28 honorary doctorates, along with virtually every major award bestowed upon theologians and distinguished intellectuals. His death brings the number of American cardinals down to 16, with 13 under the age of 80 and thus eligible to vote for the next pope.

The following news account The Boston Globe posted by Thomas Richards to the Un-Hived Mind provides a Q&A into his thinking that lead him from nominal 'Protestantism' to Roman Catholicism and ultimately to the Jesuit Order.

http://z10.invisionfree.com/The_Unhived_Mind_II/index.php?showtopic=5406

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles_of_faith/2008/12/cardinal_avery.html

Cardinal Avery Dulles dies at 90

Email|Link|Comments (16) Posted by Michael Paulson December 12, 2008 02:40 PM

Cardinal Avery Dulles, who grew up in a famous American family (Dulles Airport is named for his father), converted to Catholicism while at Harvard, and went on to become the most honored Catholic theologian in U.S. history, died today at age 90.

I had a chance to interview Cardinal Dulles back in 2001. Here's what I wrote at the time, including a partial transcript of our conversation:

Avery Dulles, the scion of a wealthy and prominent Presbyterian family, arrived at Harvard in 1936 as an agnostic, but found God in the buds of a tree by the banks of the Charles River one rainy February afternoon two years later.

"How could it be . . . that this delicate tree sprang up and developed and that all the enormous complexity of its cellular operations combined together to make it grow erectly and bring forth leaves and blossoms?" he asked himself. And the answer, he later wrote, was "Him who moved the stars, and made the lilacs bloom."

Dulles, a brilliant student passionate about learning, found himself ravenously consuming the new works of French Catholic theologians, and one day he marched into a Catholic bookstore and asked, "How do I get into your church?"

He had never even met a priest, but he decided to become one, figuring, "I guess I wanted to go the whole way."

Today, Dulles, whose great-grandfather, great-uncle, and father (John Foster Dulles) all served as US secretaries of state, and whose grandfather was a distinguished Presbyterian theologian, is now the most prominent Catholic theologian in America.

His accomplishments are many - 21 books, more than 650 articles, and a long career teaching thousands of students, for the last 13 years at Fordham University in New York, where he is still a professor at age 83.

And in February, he became the first American Jesuit and the first American theologian to be named a cardinal.

Last week, Dulles visited Boston to receive an award at a fund-raising dinner for the New England Jesuits. In an interview with the Globe at the Jesuits' humble provincial headquarters in the South End, Dulles talked about his journey to faith and his career since:

Q. What drew you to Catholicism?

A. Perhaps it was the studies of the Reformation period. We had to read Luther and Calvin and the decrees of the Council and Trent and all those sorts of things, and I just found myself resonating with the Catholic positions in all those controversies, and also feeling that the culture of Europe was destroyed or ruptured by the Reformation in a way that was unfortunate. And then I discovered the Catholic Church as it existed in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and it was a very vital, vibrant thing. St. Paul's parish there - the liturgy was very well performed, and Sunday evening they were having benediction, they were all singing the hymns of Thomas Aquinas in Latin, and I said, `This is the church for me.'

Q. Your journey to Catholicism strikes me as having been more intellectual than spiritual.

A. I think that's probably true. I hope there was some spiritual aspect to it, but I've never had any great taste for what's called spirituality. I think it deals so much with emotions and feelings. I don't have many emotions or feelings. I tend to have ideas. I was interested in Catholicism ideally, intellectually. I was convinced that it was true. I was interested in truth.

Q. How has your life changed since you've become a cardinal?

A. I get more invitations to lectures and things like that. I try to get out of them when I can, but I'm on the road a good bit. And then some things you have to get dressed up for.

Q. What is the appropriate role of dissent in the church?

A. Dissent should be rare, respectful and reluctant. One's first reaction as a Catholic is to agree with the official teaching of the church.

Q. Can you imagine married priests, or female priests, in the church?

A. Married priests is a much easier question. We have married priests. In the early centuries many of the priests and bishops were married, and Eastern Rite Catholics have a married clergy, and we have a number of converts from Protestantism who are married priests who function as priests and enjoy their family life. So that's possible. The question of women is a doctrinal issue. I think the weight of scripture and tradition is decisively against it. In the early '70s I was not sure the question had been decided, I was kind of open. But after 1976, Paul VI answered the question pretty thoroughly. That pretty much settled my mind on the point.

Q. You have said one of the roles is to critique the culture. What is your critique of American culture?

A. Our technology is so advanced, we sometimes get the feeling that we can reconstruct everything, and we define power, so we have a hard time accepting anything that we cannot change. So we want to reconstruct the church, we want to rewrite all the dogmas of the church. We feel that we can replace everything by our own power, and according to our own preference. Our notion of freedom needs to be critiqued. We don't have a moral freedom to do what is wrong. We're under a higher law.

Then we want instant satisfaction. Part of the American culture is to produce as much as possible and consume as much as possible, so we consume an inordinate amount of the world's resources. Our consumption should be governed by need, and needs to be restrained more than it is. We need to take greater care of the needs of the poor who are left out of the capitalist process.

(Photo, by Chitose Suzki of the Globe staff, was taken in Boston in 2001.)

Notably, the Dulles' comes to these conclusions during the time period of the time and afterglow of the period of the Jesuit Order leader -- the 'Superior General' -- described as one of the two or three of its greatest and most successful leaders, the last of the great Roman Generals: Polish-Swiss Count Wlodimir Ledochowski. According to Malachi Martin:

There seemed, indeed, during those years of Ledochowski, Pope Pius XI, and Pius XII, no real limit to what both Jesuitism and overall Roman Catholicism could achieve. Even – especially, we should say – in the afterglow of Ledochowski’s long reign and into the Generalate of his successor, Belgian Jean-Baptise Janssens, the magic power of momentum seemed to continue.

Wlodimir Ledochowski was born October 7, 1866, to European 'nobility' so known for their longstanding service to Rome; his father was the brother of Mieczyslaw Ledochowski who German-led Prussia's Bismarck's anti-Romish Kulterkampf jailed in 1874, when the future Superior General was only about 8 years old.



With the Counter Reformation including bloody wars to take back lands from Protestants, are we to suppose that the Dulles family -- with its involvement with the U.S. State Department! -- never contemplated that game in the then present with the targeted destruction of Prussia?















Wlodimir Ledochowski WW2 MasterMind

Wlodimir Ledochowski's War Culpability Admission
Wlodimir Ledochowski's Goal Predicted by Maximilian Kolbe?
Wlodimir Ledochowski's Plausible Counter Reformation Strategy
Wlodimir Ledochowski's Holocausts
Wlodimir Ledochowski's Goals Via Goals

Wlodimir Ledochowski's Mission, Motivation, Geopolitical Chessboard
Wlodimir Ledochowski's Plausible Childhood Vow to Destroy Prussia
Wlodimir Ledochowski's Plausible Childhood Inspiration

Wlodimir Ledochowski's Spooky Obscurity

Wlodimir Ledochowski According to Tupper Saussy

Vatican Bank Claims: Prussia Trust?

Maximilian Kolbe on WW2: "God is Cleansing Poland"