God In the HOuse: The Life and Times of Catholic Theologian Anthony Kosnik (Margaret Stack) - A Review
The Roman Catholic Church is the
largest Christian communion worldwide. Thus, it has an outsized influence on
the larger Christian community. Therefore, Protestants pay attention to what
happens with our Roman Catholic siblings. As we pay attention to what occurs
within that Church, whether it is a papal election or pronouncements on any one
of many issues, religious and secular, it is important to remember that the
Roman Catholic Church is not monolithic. It has its liberal, conservative, and
moderate wings. Because of its history and its many priestly and sisterly
orders, over time these orders have allowed for diversity of purpose and
perspective. Thus, Jesuits and Benedictines have very different emphases. Mainline Protestants, like me, tend to align
ourselves with those on the left, while conservative evangelicals (as long as
they don't view the Pope as the anti-Christ) align with those on the right.
That leaves the larger middle, where things get a bit trickier. Perhaps the
area of social teaching and cultural engagement centers where Roman Catholics
have exerted significant influence is sexual ethics. Therefore, we see this
play out especially among the leadership is its opposition to abortion and
birth control. While there is a growing movement pushing for LGBTQ inclusion,
there is still resistance among many leaders. Then, in related areas, there is the
issue of clergy celibacy (except for Eastern Rite Churches that are in
communion with Rome but have married clergy) and the ordination of women. To
get a true sense of how this is lived out within the church, it is helpful to
read memoirs and biographies.
In Margaret Stack’s book God in the House, we have a rather intriguing biography of the late Roman Catholic
theologian Anthony Kosnik. Kosnik, who grew up and ministered in metro-Detroit,
may not be a household name, but he gained notoriety in the late 1970s and
early 1980s due to his participation in a study sponsored by the Catholic
Theological Society of America. This study, which was published in 1977 under
the title Human Sexuality: New Directions in American Catholic Thought: A Study, pushed boundaries that many in the hierarchy did not welcome. God
in the House helps us better understand this era in the Catholic Church, an
era in which the larger church was grappling with cultural changes and the
openness to change in the church that many perceived as the legacy of Vatican
II. As we have seen in recent decades, after the papacies of John Paul II and
Benedict XVI, the Church, especially in the United States, moved back toward
the right. While change may be in the air, it is too soon to tell how the
papacy of Leo XIV will impact the future direction of the church.
So we have this biography of
Anthony Kosnik, who was a friend and colleague of such noted Catholic
theologians and leaders as Charles Curran and Bishop Thomas Gumbleton. Kosnik’s
story is told by Margaret Stack, a licensed clinical psychologist, who married
Kosnik late in his life after he left the priesthood to pursue other areas of
ministry. As one discovers, this is a very personal biography that includes the
author’s own story of friendship, collaboration, and then marriage.
So, who is Father Anthony Kosnik,
the central figure in this biography, which helps us better understand a period
of great upheaval within the Roman Catholic Church as it grappled with the new
possibilities and opportunities for cultural engagement after Vatican II,
especially when it comes to sexual ethics? We learn that Tony Kosnik was
ordained in 1955 in the Archdiocese of Detroit, where he served the Catholic
Church for forty-seven years as an educator and priest. For many years, he
taught moral theology and served as the dean at St. Cyril and Methodius Seminary
in Orchard Lake, Michigan (a Detroit suburb). We get a sense of his background
as a child of Polish extraction living in Hamtramck, which was many years ago a
Polish enclave. Therefore, Stack introduces us to Tony Kosnik's rather
conventional Catholic formation in a Polish context as he moved toward the
priesthood. In his Polish Catholic community, becoming a priest was an honorable
calling.
What is interesting about Kosnik’s
move from a rather conventional Polish Catholic background to being part of a significant
liberalizing movement within the Church is that his doctoral studies in Rome
coincided with the election and installation of Pope John XXIII and the opening
of Vatican II. We get to view John XXIII’s installation as Bishop of Rome
through Kosnik’s eyes, which is in itself intriguing. He was also present, as a
student, at the opening of this transformative Council. Thus, one might say
that he imbibed the spirit of that Council in ways that others did not. That
includes Joseph Ratzinger, who would later be elected as Pope Benedict XVI.
The focus of the biography and the
reason many will want to read it is Kosnik’s engagement with questions of human
sexuality, including abortion, divorce, celibacy, and LGBTQ inclusion. On the
latter, he was among the pioneers of this discussion. While the study he helped
write led to his resignation from his teaching position and seminary
leadership, he never wavered in his pursuit of what he believed was appropriate
Catholic teaching. The opposition to his positions, as found in the Human
Sexuality book, came from the Vatican, which pushed back on the study’s effort
to raise questions not about abortion but birth control, clerical celibacy, and
homosexuality. Along the way, we meet several of his collaborators, including
the aforementioned Bishop Thomas Gumbleton and ethicist Charles Curran, who
endorsed the biography, noting that he had “publicly said that Tony Kosnik was
the best pastoral theologian in the Catholic Church in the United States.” He
thanked Margaret Stack for providing this “study of Kosnik’s work as head of
the committee appointed by the Catholic Theological Society of America to
produce a contemporary study of human sexuality.” We also encounter other collaborators in this
and other projects, such as the Roman Catholic theologian John McNeill, who was
a major advocate for inclusion of gays and lesbians in the church, along with
Richard McCormick, SJ, of Notre Dame and Margaret Farley RSM of Yale. We also learn of his
relationships with his superiors, who did not always appreciate his efforts.
Stack reveals the story of someone
many Catholics and non-Catholics will have never heard of, and yet his
influence continues because of his willingness to push boundaries. While the
book focuses on his leadership in attempts to revise Catholic social teaching
on sexuality, there is much more to his life story, including his engagement in
the civil rights movement. We learn of his departure from the priesthood, but
not the church he had served for so many years, so he could marry Margaret
Stack. Not only did he marry, but he also participated in a variety of
educational efforts focused on pastoral theology in the Metro-Detroit area, including
serving as interim director of the Doctor of Ministry program at Ecumenical Theological
Seminary. Although Kosnik passed away several years ago, this book may arrive
at just the right time, as change is afoot in the Catholic Church. Tony Kosnik,
priest, social activist, teacher, and husband, is someone few, at least in my
circles, will know of, but getting to know him through Margaret Stack’s God in the House will prove worthwhile. The good news is that there are also
lots of pictures.
Copies of God in the House may be purchased at your favorite retailer, including my Amazon affiliate or my Bookshop.org affiliate bookstore.
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