Rite and Reason:One of Ireland's most distinguished theologians will be honoured at a special day-long conference in Co Mayo this month, writes Rev Dr Eugene Duffy
On Saturday, October 13th a conference will be held to honour Prof Enda McDonagh in his home town of Claremorris, Co Mayo. The occasion marks the donation by Prof McDonagh of his personal library to the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology in Castlebar. The event is organised jointly by the GMIT and the Western Theological Institute and will be held in the McWilliam Court Hotel, Claremorris.
This is a unique opportunity for the people of Ireland and Mayo to honour one of our most outstanding academics. Enda was born in the village of Bekan, near Claremorris. He had a distinguished academic career at St Jarlath's College, Tuam, and in Maynooth, where he was ordained for the diocese of Tuam in 1955. He was appointed professor of moral theology at Maynooth in 1958.
His early studies laid the foundations for what came to be his life-long interests. His first doctorate was on the Anglican doctrine of the church in the Tudor period. This led to his first published book, Roman Catholics and Unity (1962). His interest in ecumenism has persisted and as testimony to his work in that area, he was appointed a canon of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin earlier this year.
One of Enda's distinguished doctoral students, Linda Hogan, is professor at the Irish School of Ecumenics. She and another of his former students, Brendan Hoban, will address the conference.
As a young academic Enda's European education took him well beyond his Mayo homeland and introduced him to a ferment of theological thinking then occurring on mainland Europe in the years immediately before Vatican II. In Rome he studied with some of the giants of moral theology in the 20th century: Bernard Häring and Josef Fuchs. It was there he began to see how the casuistic approach to moral theology could be replaced by one that was more personalist and biblical.
It was rather ironic that a man who was sent to Rome to study canon law, which at the time was regarded as a sine qua non for a moral theologian, came back with an entirely radical approach to the subject. After Rome he transferred to Munich for his doctorate in canon law.
Indeed, his freedom of spirit and willingness to break out of the familiar mould was already evident in this move. He found a faculty in Munich that was much more open to his dissertation topic on church-state relations.
Nor was Enda confined by what was offered in the faculty of canon law. In Munich he met another group of theologians, who were to shape the work of the council and some his own theological thought. Among the former was the young Josef Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI. Enda's dissertation on church-state relations laid a foundation on which he has been building ever since.
He is a regular commentator on issues of social and public policy, nationally and internationally. He was an important moral voice during the turbulent years in Zimbabwe between 1973 and 1978. In the fight against Aids in Africa he has been tireless as guide and friend to individuals and agencies involved in that enormously challenging work. As a tribute to this socio-political dimension of his career the conference will be addressed by the former secretary at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Dr Noel Dorr, former taoiseach Dr Garret FitzGerald, Sr Stanislaus Kennedy and Prof Linda Hogan.
In more recent years Prof McDonagh has turned to another source of insight in his theological works: literature and the visual arts. Here again he is leading the way for contemporary theologians as they plumb the depths of the divine mystery as it impinges upon us daily. Next week's event will provide an opportunity to explore the interface between religion and the arts in the company of two contemporary Irish artists, Pat O'Brien and Ann Harkin-Peterson.
Although Enda McDonagh has had a worldwide profile, he has never neglected his Mayo roots and friends. On their behalf Nuala Bourke and Prof Sean Freyne will express their appreciation. In his most recent book, Immersed in Mystery, he has an essay entitled A Mayo Theologian? God Help Us! On two occasions he gathered other Mayo theologians and religious commentators, almost 40 in all, and encouraged them to contribute essays on theological and related themes to books of Mayo theology. They demonstrated how theology can be both global and local in its structure and content. It was an exercise which showed Enda's own gifts as a true educator, drawing out the native talent.
Now he is again supporting that effort and providing his native county with an enormously generous gift of his books, which will ensure that the Mayo people will be able to carry on their theological endeavours for decades to come. Now they have God and Enda to help them! Marion Coy, director of GMIT, will accept the gift on behalf of the institute and the people of the west.
• Rev Dr Eugene Duffy is a lecturer in theology and religious studies at Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick