Seven decades in the classroom: The teaching legacy of Ladislas Orsy, S.J. (Link)
Seven decades in the classroom_ The tea…Ladislas Orsy, S.J. _ America Magazine (PDF)
Seven decades in the classroom: The
legacy of Ladislas Orsy, S.J.
James T. Keane
April 08, 2025
A number of years ago, an editor was asked by his colleagues for his final though
from the magazine.
“I’m not quite sure why I should retire,
” he said.
“I’m only 90.
”
He had a point, seeing as he was a veritable youngster compared to contributors like Ladi
legendary canon lawyer and author who died last week at the age of 103. Let me put it thi
peri tus at the Second Vatican Council from 1962 to 1965, a theological expert alongside s
Ratzinger and Hans Kung. Father Orsy was older than both.
Orsy himself finally retired from teaching a few years ago at the age of 99, having spent m
classroom. Upon Orsy’s death on Apr. 3, 2025, William M. Treanor, the dean of Georgeto
(where Orsy taught for 30 years), wrote that “He was, in every way, a giant, and a truly lov
legacy is a great one.
”
Father Orsy was born in Egres, Hungary in 1921, and grew up in the city of Szekesfeherva
of Jesus while a college student in Budapest in 1943,shortly before German forces occupie
World War II. Orsy later remembered the rapidly advancing Soviet army arriving in his tow
year.
Orsy studied in Rome after the end of the war (remembering the city as a poor and despera
of that conflict), then at the University of Leuven in Belgium. He earned a master’s in law
equivalent at the time of an American j uri s d octor degree) and a doctorate in canon law at
in Rome, where he also taught. Ordained in 1951, Orsy came to the United States in 1966
University and then for many years at The Catholic University of America.
In 1991, Orsy retired from Catholic U.
—only to begin a second career a few years later at G
spending another three decades teaching courses in the university’s Law Center on canonLet us leave it to the Lord of the harvest.
”
“For Father Orsy, there were two approaches to interpreting the council,
” wrote the Rev. S
2023 article for :
One was to see it as a past event that left us a body of documents to be read, studied, inter
implemented. This approach saw the council as an event finished and complete that only
obeyed. The second sees the council, as Father Orsy puts it in his book T h eol o g y and C an
marking “the beginning of a new movement.
” Beyond the constitutions, decrees and stat
process of consultations, reflection, revision and argumentation that went into their dev
Orsy, the latter is as important, if not more, than the former.
In the years after the council, Orsy was often called upon by the editors of to pars
theological subjects. These included a 1968 essay bringing up potential areas of conflict in
recently-released encyclical on artificial birth control,
“Humanae Vitae,
” a 1970 essay on
several articles in 1989 and 1990 on the relationship between theologians and the church
wrote a number of articles on the authority of bishops and bishops’ conferences, particula
intersected with canon law.
In 2000, Orsy and Cardinal Avery Dulles, S.J., participated in an exchange of articles on th
a-vis regional and local churches (partly in response to Pope John Paul II’s encyclical,
“Ut U
pope’s request for proposals on how the Petrine ministry might better be exercised). After
scholars had written lengthy articles on the topic for the magazine, they each contributed
Reading their responses, one gets the distinct sense of two great scholars who, while in pr
expressed their differing views with charity and politesse.
Father Orsy died on April 3, 2025, at Murray-Weigel Hall in the Bronx. His funeral was ce
Despite a peripatetic life—born in Hungary, educated in Rome, ordained in Belgium, taki
and spending most of his life in the United States—he remained a member of the Hungari
of Jesus until his death.
In addition to his academic work, Orsy also contributed a number of spiritual reflections t
journals over the years. In a Christmas reflection in 2005, he wrote the following:In this space every week, features reviews of and literary commentary on one pa
writers (both new and old; our archives span more than a century), as well as poetry and o
America Media. We hope this will give us a chance to provide you with more in-depth cov
offerings. It also allows us to alert digital subscribers to some of our online content that d
newsletters.
The spiritual depths of Toni Morrison
Doris Grumbach, L.G.B.T. pioneer and fearless literary critic
What’s all the fuss about Teilhard de Chardin?
Moira Walsh and the art of a brutal movie review
Father Hootie McCown: Flannery O’Connor’s Jesuit bestie and spiritual advisor
Happy reading!
James T. Keane
