Although the Catholic Church is hundreds of years old, the views National Catholic Reporter publisher Tom Fox expressed in his lecture Monday night at Syracuse University were anything but antiquated.

The National Catholic Reporter is a newspaper based in Kansas City, Missouri that considers itself a “journalistic outlet for Catholics and others who struggle with the complex moral and societal issues of the day,” according to the publication’s website.

The lecture audience was a diverse group of people — from university students to the elderly of the Syracuse community — who came to hear what Fox, who considers himself a liberal Catholic, had to say about the direction of the church in the 21st century.

Fox’s insight and stance on issues of modern-day Catholicism are shaped from his time spent working with refugees in Vietnam after the war. He was welcomed by locals and priests, and when it was time for him to return to the U.S., Fox felt deeply conflicted, he said.

“Vietnam made me a refugee as well,” he said, recalling his attempts to settle back into normal American life after seeing the devastation war had caused in Vietnam. “Those years radically changed my views on life, government and religion.”

Fox’s experiences overseas left him enlightened, yet deeply troubled; he was religious, but he just could not bring himself to submit to following the ways of the Church that had remained static for hundreds of years, he said.

“The church was pulling back as the human imagination was exploding,” Fox said of the years following Vietnam.

Of the issues Fox addressed in the lecture, the main one was finding a way to give women a bigger and more official role in the Church.

“It took 500 years of Christianity for women to make their first intrinsic advances. In the 6th century, a council of bishops voted narrowly to acknowledge that women had souls … women, you made it,” Fox said. The audience erupted in laughter in response.

On a more serious note, Fox posed the question of whether or not the church’s child sex abuse scandals would have gone as far as they did had there been women bishops at the hearings to let their motherly instincts take over.

Fox also said the reason women are not allowed to hold positions of power in the church was not that the men think women aren’t capable, but that they’re intimidated by how bright women are.

Another topic Fox covered was the church’s traditional view on homosexuality, which he believes should be changed to be more accepting of LGBT individuals.

“Catholic teachings on sexual morality are not based on scriptures, but on natural law theology which comes from the ideas of the ancient Greeks,” Fox said.

He added that he believes institutional religion is needed to provide structure and a sense of belonging, but the Catholic Church today remains stuck in tradition.

“We should all be rooting for the Catholic Church’s successful reformation — it’s the last global monarchy,” he said.

When an audience member asked about Pope Francis and the future of the Catholic Church, Fox said he remains optimistic. He knows it is going to take time, but the church is slowly making progress in becoming more accepting, he said.

Fox said he believes the pope is doing what needs to be done and going back to the roots of Christianity.

“Francis is a pastor among pastors … I think he has the gospels right, and that’s the most important part.”

Published on October 5, 2015 at 10:23 pm

Contact Caroline: cbarthol@syr.edu