Catholic theologian joins Duke Divinity

Duke Divinity School, one of 13 United Methodist schools that train Protestant pastors, has hired its first Roman Catholic theologian -- a recognition of the growing presence of Catholics on the Duke campus and in the Triangle, and a greater willingness among Protestants to embrace their Catholic peers.

Paul Griffiths of the University of Illinois at Chicago will become the first to hold a new professorship specially funded by the William K. Warren Foundation. He will teach Catholic theology both to graduate students preparing for ministry in Protestant churches and to undergraduates interested in learning more about Catholic thought.

His appointment, beginning in January, is historic because the South traditionally has been overwhelmingly Protestant and suspicious of Catholics. Unlike parts of the North and Midwest, the South has few Catholic universities and only one in North Carolina -- Belmont Abbey College near Charlotte. But Catholic immigration to the South, and especially North Carolina, has been brisk.

In the Diocese of Raleigh, which spans the eastern half of North Carolina, Catholic churches are bursting with newcomers and straining the resources of the diocese, which now claims more than 210,000 Catholics, and an even larger number of Hispanics who show up at Catholic churches but don't register.

At Duke University, Catholics make up the largest single religious denomination, accounting for about 20 percent of all undergraduates.

"There's great eagerness among undergraduates and considerable interest among Protestants going into the ministry to learn more about Catholicism," said L. Gregory Jones, dean of the Duke Divinity School.

Jones attributed the interest in Catholicism to the pontificate of the late John Paul II, whose charismatic presence opened the face of the church to outsiders, and to the fruits of ecumenical dialogue between Protestants and Catholics.

In addition, Jones said, "there's a hunger among younger people to understand the riches of the Christian tradition."

'Mass and pizza'

For Catholics, the presence of a theologian on the Duke campus is especially a boon. The Rev. Joseph Vetter, the Catholic chaplain at Duke University, has worked for years to get a Catholic scholar to help him explain the rich tradition of Catholic theology to students and the community at large.

"If we're serious about wanting to have people knowledgeable about Catholicism, we need more than Mass and pizza," Vetter said.

Griffiths said one of the reasons he took the job was the realization that Catholic growth in the South will soon outpace that of other regions of the country and eventually come to define American Catholicism. Plus, he said, the school is well-regarded nationally.

"The Duke Divinity School is one of the best places to do theology today," he said.

Griffiths' appointment comes at a time when many non-Catholic universities, both private and public, are adding endowed chairs in Catholicism, said the Rev. James Bacik, a Catholic priest in the diocese of Toledo who has helped push for Catholic scholars at the University of Kentucky and the University of New Mexico.

Part of the reason is that Catholics -- who now make up 64 million U.S. residents -- increasingly attend nonreligious institutions of higher learning. Where Catholics once attended Catholic universities, they now flock to schools where their religious traditions are not well-understood.

As a result, Bacik said, many Catholics have a shallow understanding of their own faith.

"You need an adult understanding that matches your secular learning," said Bacik.

A Catholic convert

That's where the Catholic Diocese of Raleigh hopes Griffiths will help, too. An endowed professorship will mean more internationally known Catholic scholars will be invited to lecture at Duke, and lay leaders will have more options in taking classes about their faith. Griffiths may even be called on to help guide the creation of learning materials for adult Catholics.

Griffiths is not a priest. Born in England, he was an Anglican until 1996 when he converted to Catholicism. He is also well-versed in Buddhism.

Griffiths won't be the first Catholic on the Duke Divinity School faculty. There are four others, but they teach Bible or World Christianity, not Catholicism.

The divinity school draws students from 30 Protestant denominations.

Funding for the position came from the William K. Warren Foundation of Tulsa, Okla., which has given millions of dollars to the University of Notre Dame, a Catholic school in Indiana.

A member of the Warren family, John-Kelly Warren, graduated from Duke's School of Engineering in 1987.