Catholic priest, professor, theologian, and author
Motto
Scio Cui Credidi (I know whom I have believed - 2 Tim. 1:12)
Coat of arms
Avery Robert DullesSJ (/ˈdʌlɪs/DUL-iss; August 24, 1918 – December 12, 2008) was an American Jesuit priest, theologian, and cardinal of the Catholic Church. Dulles served on the faculty of Woodstock College from 1960 to 1974, of the Catholic University of America from 1974 to 1988, and as the Laurence J. McGinley Professor of Religion and Society at Fordham University from 1988 to 2008. He was also an internationally known author and lecturer.
Dulles was raised a Presbyterian but had become an agnostic by the time he was a student at Harvard.[1] His religious doubts were diminished during a personally profound moment when he stepped out into a rainy day and saw a tree beginning to flower along the Charles River; after that moment he never again "doubted the existence of an all-good and omnipotent God."[2] He noted how his theism turned toward conversion to Catholicism: "The more I examined, the more I was impressed with the consistency and sublimity of Catholic doctrine."[2] He converted to Catholicism in the fall of 1940, much to the ire of his father, who nearly disowned him as a result.[1][3][4]
Upon his discharge from the Navy in 1946, Dulles entered the Society of Jesus, and was ordained to the priesthood in 1956. After a year in Germany, he studied ecclesiology under the American Jesuit Francis A. Sullivan at the Gregorian University in Rome, and was awarded the doctorate of sacred theology in 1960.
Although Jesuits make a promise not to pursue ecclesiastical dignities and do not normally accept promotion within the Church hierarchy, Dulles was created a cardinal on February 21, 2001, by Pope John Paul II. He was not made a bishop, as is normally the case, as the pope had granted him a dispensation. His titular church and assignment was as Cardinal-Deacon of SS. Nome di Gesù e Maria in Via Lata. Because he had reached the age of 80 before becoming cardinal, Dulles was never eligible to vote in a conclave. Dulles became an honorary, non-voting member of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
In his later years, the cardinal lived with the effects of polio he had contracted in his youth. On April 1, 2008, Dulles gave his farewell address as Laurence J. McGinley Professor of Religion and Society. As Dulles was unable to speak, Fordham president Fr. Joseph O'Hare, S.J., read his address. In addition to the loss of speech, the use of his arms was impaired but his mind remained clear and he continued to work and communicate using his computer keyboard.[7] Fr Joseph McShane, SJ also presented him with the university's President's Medal that evening. April 1, 2008 also marked the date the Cardinal's book, Church and Society: The Laurence J. McGinley Lectures, 1988–2007 (Fordham University Press, 2008) was released.
In his Farewell Lecture, the cardinal reflected on his weakening condition:
Suffering and diminishment are not the greatest of evils but are normal ingredients in life, especially in old age. They are to be expected as elements of a full human existence.
Well into my 90th year I have been able to work productively. As I become increasingly paralyzed and unable to speak, I can identify with the many paralytics and mute persons in the Gospels, grateful for the loving and skillful care I receive and for the hope of everlasting life in Christ. If the Lord now calls me to a period of weakness, I know well that his power can be made perfect in infirmity. "Blessed be the name of the Lord!"[7]
Dulles died at 90 on December 12, 2008, at Fordham University in the Bronx, where he had lived for many years. His remains were buried in the Jesuit cemetery in Auriesville, New York.[9]
Works
Dulles wrote 25 books and hundreds of articles and essays. A catalogue raisonné including his many translations, forewords, introductions, reviews and letters to the editor, was published by Fordham University Press in 2012 under the title The Legacy of Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J.: His Words and His Witness.[10]
Partial list of publications
Princeps Concordiae: Pico della Mirandola and the Scholastic Tradition – The Harvard Phi Beta Kappa Prize Essay for 1940, Cambridge, MA: Harvard (1941).
A Testimonial To GraceSheed & Ward, New York (1952); the fiftieth anniversary edition of this book was republished in 1996 by the original publishers, with an afterword containing his reflections on the past fifty years.
Avery Dulles (Author), R.R. Reno (Introduction) (2012). The Orthodox Imperative: Selected Essays of Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J. First Things Press. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)
^As I Remember Fordham: Selections from the Sesquicentennial Oral History Project. [New York, N.Y.]: Office of the Sesquicentennial, Fordham University. 1991. p. 61. ISBN0-8232-1338-2.
^Avery Dulles (1941), Princeps Concordiae: Pico della Mirandola and the Scholastic Tradition – The Harvard Phi Beta Kappa Prize Essay for 1940, Cambridge, MA: Harvard.
^Sarrocco, Clara (June 2012). "Briefly Reviewed". New Oxford Review. 79 (5). Archived from the original on December 21, 2016. Retrieved December 14, 2016.
External links
Initial text based on faculty bio posted with permission from Avery Dulles