Fr. John L. McKenzie on Prudence Trumping Scripture

J. Neil Daniels

John L. McKenzie, S.J. (1910–1991), former professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame, wrote in 1969:

"The Catholic Church does not pretend to adhere literally to the biblical text; [for example] celibacy is proposed and defended as justified by the historical experience of the living church. It is a law which the church made and which the church can unmake. The discussion can proceed only on whether it is prudent to retain the law, not on whether the law represents the New Testament."

—John L. McKenzie, The Roman Catholic Church (New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1969), 75.

McKenzie’s statement is telling. By openly admitting that the Catholic Church “does not pretend to adhere literally to the biblical text,” he affirms a principle that places ecclesiastical tradition and pragmatic reasoning above the authority of God’s revealed Word. The example of clerical celibacy underscores this approach: the question is not whether such a practice accords with the New Testament, but whether the Church deems it “prudent” to maintain it. This effectively shifts the standard from Sola Scriptura (Scripture as the ultimate rule of faith) to ecclesia suprema, where the Church’s self-determined laws and historical experiences dictate doctrine and practice.

In other words, as McKenzie frames it, the Church reserves the right to legislate apart from, and even contrary to, the teaching of Scripture, so long as it believes the change to be pastorally wise. Such a posture is not merely a theoretical difference from Protestant convictions; it represents a fundamentally different source of authority. Where the apostolic command is clear, the Church’s task is not to weigh whether obedience is “prudent,” but to submit to the Word of the living God. To reverse this order is to make the voice of the Church supreme over the voice of Christ Himself in Scripture.