Francis A. Sullivan
Encyclopedia
Francis Aloysius Sullivan, S.J. (born May 21, 1922) is an American Catholic
theologian and a Jesuit priest
. He is best known for his research in the area of ecclesiology
and the magisterium
.
, as well as his uncle Louis Sullivan, a Jesuit teaching at what was then known as Weston College (now the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry). Because Sullivan had been passed up two grades early in his education, he finished at Boston College High School when he was barely 16 years old, and immediately entered the Jesuit novitiate in 1938, which then allowed entry as early as the age of 15.
The Jesuits' novitiate at that time was in the donated Berkshire Cottage
known as Shadowbrook
in Lenox, New York. The novitiate was devoted to spiritual instruction and development, concentrating on instruction in the tradition of the Society of Jesus
and its spirituality, and being guided through the full, month-long experience of Ignatius of Loyola’s
Spiritual Exercises
. The way Jesuit formation was structured at the time, the novitiate was followed by the juniorate, devoted to two years of classical studies
, equivalent to the first two years of undergraduate education. This was followed by two years of studying Philosophy at Weston College, in a program tied to, and very similar to, the classical B.A. at Boston College
. Sullivan was awarded his B.A. from Boston College in the spring of 1944. Then after a further third year of Philosophy at Weston, he received a Master’s degree in Philosophy from Boston College in 1945.
Sullivan was now 23 years old, and was close to reaching his original goal of teaching high school. All Jesuits-in-training taught high school for three years as a matter of course during their formation, in what was called their Regency. Sullivan served for two years teaching high school Latin, English, and Algebra to the students in Fairfield, Connecticut, where the Jesuits had just recently opened Fairfield College Preparatory School
in 1942. Sullivan's Regency was cut short because his Superior
, John J. McEleney
, S.J., had decided to prepare Sullivan for study in Patristics
, with an eye toward his becoming a professor back at Weston College. He was therefore sent in 1947 to Fordham University
in the Bronx
for graduate work in Classics instead of the normal third year of teaching. With the possibility of becoming a teacher of Patristics before him, he wrote his Master's thesis on Clement of Alexandria’s attitude toward Greek philosophy, and took his M.A. in 1948.
Sullivan then returned to Weston College to study Theology
for four years, leading to his priestly ordination
in 1951, after the third year of Theology had been completed. A fourth and final year of Theology was then completed. Studying Theology was a new experience for Sullivan, notably distinct from the Classics focus of his education to this point, and was much more interesting as a subject matter to Sullivan than Philosophy. His theological coursework was completed in 1952, and Father Sullivan was awarded the S.T.L. – the Sacrae Theologiae Licentiatus or Licentiate of Sacred Theology
, which is the middle degree in the pontifical university system – by Weston College at the age of 30. He then took a break from his academic preparations for his “Tertianship,” the final year of Jesuit spiritual formation leading to the Jesuit Final Vows, which Sullivan did at a house the Jesuits had in Pomfret, Connecticut
.
in Rome
. The new Provincial Superior who was sending Sullivan off on this next step was William E. Fitzgerald, who was perhaps unaware of Fr. McEleney’s previous intention for Sullivan to teach Patristics, because now Fitzgerald was telling him that he would be returning to Weston to teach the part of the Fundamental Theology course dealing with Revelation
. Making his way to Rome via Normandy, Paris and Lourdes
with a group of Jesuit students, Sullivan excitedly soaked up both his first experience abroad and the new coursework.
Sullivan began to have a sense of his path becoming distinctive, because being sent abroad to the Gregorian for his doctoral work was his first major departure from the routine of regular Jesuit formation. Nevertheless, the shift in focus toward a goal of teaching Fundamental Theology and Revelation was less exciting for Sullivan, who would have preferred to carry on with the original idea of being a Patristics scholar, little knowing that he would actually end up in the field of Ecclesiology
. At the Gregorian, Sullivan studied with two Ecclesiologists: the Dutch Sebastiaan Tromp and the Spaniard Timoteo Zapelena. Although he was in fact a Patristics scholar, Tromp was teaching the Theology of Revelation at the Gregorian. Ecclesiology at the time was centered on the text Mystici Corporis Christi
(often simply called Mystici Corporis), the encyclical promulgated by Pope Pius XII
on 29 June 1943, and Tromp was widely thought to have participated in the authoring of the text with the Pope. For all this ecclesiological work, Tromp was not the professor of Ecclesiology: that post was held by Zapelena. Sullivan noted that Zapelena held to a number of different points than were put forth in Mystici Corporis, and in that way began to experience the diversity of ecclesiological positions possible as demonstrated by his own teachers.
For his dissertation, Sullivan did not find a subject in the field of Fundamental Theology that caught his attention at the time, and so he drew on his already-existing interest in Patristics. He focused on Theodore of Mopsuestia’s
Christology
, since it was sufficient that Sullivan had prepared in his coursework to be able to teach Fundamental Theology upon his return to Weston: the choice of subject for the project was not bound in any way to that destiny which his Superior had designated for him. Discovering that professors at either the Biblical Institute
or the Oriental Institute
could direct dissertations at the Gregorian, Sullivan wrote under the direction of Fr. Ignacio Ortiz de Urbina at the Oriental Institute, who had written on Theodore. Sullivan finished his task in 1955, but since his dissertation, The Christology of Theodore of Mopsuestia, was not published until 1956, that is the date his degree was actually awarded. Having finished the work for the S.T.D. – the Sacrae Theologiae Doctor or Doctor of Sacred Theology
, which is the final degree in the pontifical university system – Sullivan set off for Boston.
He was taking some of the summer to see more of Europe, as he did not have to be in Boston until August 1955, when he would also profess his Final Vows
as a Jesuit. He was at the Jesuit house in Barcelona when an American friend arrived who surprised Sullivan with the news that Sullivan's assignment had changed: instead of teaching Fundamental Theology in Boston, he was listed as being assigned to Rome, although his friend knew nothing more than that. Sullivan wrote to his Superior, Fr. Fitzgerald and discovered that he had been tapped to teach Ecclesiology back at the Gregorian. Zapelena was approaching the mandatory retirement age of 75 and his health was declining. Afraid of a sudden gap in their faculty, the combination of Sullivan's availability and education was seized upon by the Gregorian University to guarantee that their program could continue uninterrupted. After a visit home, and feeling more than a little exiled, Sullivan returned to Rome to teach Ecclesiology at the Gregorian University, an academic ministry in which he would serve for the next 36 years, until his own mandatory retirement at the age of 70 in 1992.
, serving as dean from 1964 to 1970. Having been assigned to Rome unexpectedly, he received permission to take the fall semester of 1955 off, finishing work for the publication of his doctoral dissertation in Boston, and remaining close to his father, who was succumbing to lung cancer. Then in early 1956 he began to step into Fr. Timothy Zapelena's role as professors of Ecclesiology. Zapelena did not end up leaving the Gregorian immediately, and the two of them were both present during the 1955-56 school year. Sullivan began his work still using the book Zapelena had already prepared for his own Ecclesiology course. Zapelena had been teaching a two-semester course for many years, and since he was healthy enough to continue teaching for a little while longer, over the next two years, 1956–58, he and Sullivan split the course as it had been structured, with Sullivan teaching the first semester material and Zapelena teaching the second semester material. Sullivan assumed the full responsibility for the subject in 1958 and the first book derived from the course, De Ecclesia, was published in 1962. This was intended to be the first part of a two-volume work on the Church, but the advent of the Second Vatican Council
disrupted those plans.
The Second Vatican Council re-articulated the theology of the Church so that the subject as Sullivan had been teaching it, largely based on Mystici Corporis
, were no longer adequate to the subject. Nor were professors any longer expected simply to publish Latin versions of their class notes as books. Sullivan had not been called to the Council as a peritus
, which was not surprising given that he was still quite a junior faculty member. Information as to the Council's proceedings were kept quiet until published, however much rumor had to say. Nevertheless, Sullivan was given access to one critical Vatican II document, the draft from of Lumen Gentium
, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church. This happened when he was asked to address the American bishops on the topic of charism
s, a concept found in Saint Paul, particularly in his descriptions of the Church in the First Epistle to the Corinthians
, but which had fallen out of use in Catholic theological circles. Sullivan's research on this idea, as given in his presentation, was then offered to the Council as a correction and advance upon the draft version by Sullivan's former Superior, John J. McEleney
, who was now Archbishop
of Kingston, Jamaica
. In this way, Sullivan's theological work on charisms became part of the second paragraph of Lumen Gentium 12. This theological preparation would have significant impact later in Sullivan's when he encountered the Catholic Charismatic Renewal
.
Sullivan was named Dean of the Faculty of Theology at the Gregorian University from 1964–70, and it fell to him to revise the statutes of the university according to the norms put forward by the Congregation for Seminaries and Universities (now the Congregation for Catholic Education
). While this extra work – without the assistance of a staff – was a great burden, Sullivan did restructure the faculty so that they were better able to conduct research as well as teach: for the first time having regular sabbaticals toward that end.
A number of prominent Catholic ecclesiologists
have worked with or studied under Sullivan. Sullivan was on the dissertation committee of Avery Cardinal Dulles. Joseph Komonchak and Richard McBrien
were also his students. William Cardinal Levada
, the current Prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, received his doctorate under Sullivan in 1971.
From 1992, Sullivan continued to teach graduate students as a professor of theology at Boston College
. Only after the spring semester of 2009, when he turned 87, did Sullivan finally retire from teaching.
In December 1995, he questioned the assertion of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith that the teaching reiterated in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis
regarding women's ordination had been infallibly taught. Sullivan wrote that "I do not see how it can be certain that this doctrine is taught infallibly by the ordinary and universal magisterium."
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
theologian and a Jesuit priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
. He is best known for his research in the area of ecclesiology
Ecclesiology
Today, ecclesiology usually refers to the theological study of the Christian church. However when the word was coined in the late 1830s, it was defined as the science of the building and decoration of churches and it is still, though rarely, used in this sense.In its theological sense, ecclesiology...
and the magisterium
Magisterium
In the Catholic Church the Magisterium is the teaching authority of the Church. This authority is understood to be embodied in the episcopacy, which is the aggregation of the current bishops of the Church in union with the Pope, led by the Bishop of Rome , who has authority over the bishops,...
.
Early Life and Jesuit Formation
Francis "Frank" A. Sullivan was born in Boston on May 21, 1922 to George Edward and Bessie [Peterson] Sullivan, the second of four boys. Raised in an actively Catholic household, Sullivan became interested in the possibility of life as a Jesuit and as a teacher through the influence of Jesuit instructors he admired at Boston College High SchoolBoston College High School
Founded in 1863, Boston College High School is an all-male Jesuit Roman Catholic college preparatory secondary school with historical ties to Boston College. It has an enrollment in grades 7-12 of approximately 1,500 students and is located on a campus on Morrissey Boulevard in the Dorchester...
, as well as his uncle Louis Sullivan, a Jesuit teaching at what was then known as Weston College (now the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry). Because Sullivan had been passed up two grades early in his education, he finished at Boston College High School when he was barely 16 years old, and immediately entered the Jesuit novitiate in 1938, which then allowed entry as early as the age of 15.
The Jesuits' novitiate at that time was in the donated Berkshire Cottage
Berkshire Cottages
America's Gilded Age, the post-Civil War and post-Reconstruction era, from 1865 to 1901 saw unprecedented economic and industrial prosperity. As a result of this prosperity, the nation's wealthiest families were able to construct monumental estates in Newport, Rhode Island, Bar Harbor, Maine and...
known as Shadowbrook
Anson Phelps Stokes
For other men with the same name, see Anson Phelps Stokes Anson Phelps Stokes was a merchant, banker, publicist, philanthropist, and became a multimillionaire. Born in New York City, he was the son of James Boulter and Caroline Stokes; brother of William Earl Dodge Stokes and Olivia Eggleston...
in Lenox, New York. The novitiate was devoted to spiritual instruction and development, concentrating on instruction in the tradition of the Society of Jesus
Society of Jesus
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...
and its spirituality, and being guided through the full, month-long experience of Ignatius of Loyola’s
Ignatius of Loyola
Ignatius of Loyola was a Spanish knight from a Basque noble family, hermit, priest since 1537, and theologian, who founded the Society of Jesus and was its first Superior General. Ignatius emerged as a religious leader during the Counter-Reformation...
Spiritual Exercises
Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola
The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, are a set of Christian meditations, prayers and mental exercises, divided into four thematic 'weeks' of variable length, designed to be carried out over a period of 28 to 30 days...
. The way Jesuit formation was structured at the time, the novitiate was followed by the juniorate, devoted to two years of classical studies
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
, equivalent to the first two years of undergraduate education. This was followed by two years of studying Philosophy at Weston College, in a program tied to, and very similar to, the classical B.A. at Boston College
Boston College
Boston College is a private Jesuit research university located in the village of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA. The main campus is bisected by the border between the cities of Boston and Newton. It has 9,200 full-time undergraduates and 4,000 graduate students. Its name reflects its early...
. Sullivan was awarded his B.A. from Boston College in the spring of 1944. Then after a further third year of Philosophy at Weston, he received a Master’s degree in Philosophy from Boston College in 1945.
Sullivan was now 23 years old, and was close to reaching his original goal of teaching high school. All Jesuits-in-training taught high school for three years as a matter of course during their formation, in what was called their Regency. Sullivan served for two years teaching high school Latin, English, and Algebra to the students in Fairfield, Connecticut, where the Jesuits had just recently opened Fairfield College Preparatory School
Fairfield College Preparatory School
Fairfield College Preparatory School is a Jesuit Prep School located on the campus of Fairfield University in Fairfield, Connecticut. It is an all male school of about 900 students, first founded by the Society of Jesus in 1942...
in 1942. Sullivan's Regency was cut short because his Superior
Provincial superior
A Provincial Superior is a major superior of a religious order acting under the order's Superior General and exercising a general supervision over all the members of that order in a territorial division of the order called a province--similar to but not to be confused with an ecclesiastical...
, John J. McEleney
John J. McEleney
John Joseph McEleney, S.J. was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He was the first Bishop and first Archbishop of Kingston, seving between 1956 and 1970...
, S.J., had decided to prepare Sullivan for study in Patristics
Patristics
Patristics or Patrology is the study of Early Christian writers, known as the Church Fathers. The names derive from the Latin pater . The period is generally considered to run from the end of New Testament times or end of the Apostolic Age Patristics or Patrology is the study of Early Christian...
, with an eye toward his becoming a professor back at Weston College. He was therefore sent in 1947 to Fordham University
Fordham University
Fordham University is a private, nonprofit, coeducational research university in the United States, with three campuses in and around New York City. It was founded by the Roman Catholic Diocese of New York in 1841 as St...
in the Bronx
The Bronx
The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. It is also known as Bronx County, the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated...
for graduate work in Classics instead of the normal third year of teaching. With the possibility of becoming a teacher of Patristics before him, he wrote his Master's thesis on Clement of Alexandria’s attitude toward Greek philosophy, and took his M.A. in 1948.
Sullivan then returned to Weston College to study Theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
for four years, leading to his priestly ordination
Priesthood (Catholic Church)
The ministerial orders of the Catholic Church include the orders of bishops, deacons and presbyters, which in Latin is sacerdos. The ordained priesthood and common priesthood are different in function and essence....
in 1951, after the third year of Theology had been completed. A fourth and final year of Theology was then completed. Studying Theology was a new experience for Sullivan, notably distinct from the Classics focus of his education to this point, and was much more interesting as a subject matter to Sullivan than Philosophy. His theological coursework was completed in 1952, and Father Sullivan was awarded the S.T.L. – the Sacrae Theologiae Licentiatus or Licentiate of Sacred Theology
Licentiate of Sacred Theology
Licentiate of Sacred Theology is the title of the second cycle of studies of a Faculty of Theology offered by a pontifical universities or ecclesiastical faculties of sacred theology. An Ecclesiastical Faculty offers three cycles of study: Baccalaureate or fundamentals, Licentiate or specialized,...
, which is the middle degree in the pontifical university system – by Weston College at the age of 30. He then took a break from his academic preparations for his “Tertianship,” the final year of Jesuit spiritual formation leading to the Jesuit Final Vows, which Sullivan did at a house the Jesuits had in Pomfret, Connecticut
Pomfret, Connecticut
Pomfret is a town in Windham County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 3,798 at the 2000 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which, of it is land and of it is water....
.
Doctoral Studies in Rome
Completing his Jesuit formation in 1953, Sullivan now had an exciting new experience on the horizon: he was being sent abroad for his doctoral studies, to the Jesuit’s first and central university, founded by Ignatius of Loyola himself in 1551, the Pontifical Gregorian UniversityPontifical Gregorian University
The Pontifical Gregorian University is a pontifical university located in Rome, Italy.Heir of the Roman College founded by Saint Ignatius of Loyola over 460 years ago, the Gregorian University was the first university founded by the Jesuits...
in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
. The new Provincial Superior who was sending Sullivan off on this next step was William E. Fitzgerald, who was perhaps unaware of Fr. McEleney’s previous intention for Sullivan to teach Patristics, because now Fitzgerald was telling him that he would be returning to Weston to teach the part of the Fundamental Theology course dealing with Revelation
Revelation
In religion and theology, revelation is the revealing or disclosing, through active or passive communication with a supernatural or a divine entity...
. Making his way to Rome via Normandy, Paris and Lourdes
Lourdes
Lourdes is a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Midi-Pyrénées region in south-western France.Lourdes is a small market town lying in the foothills of the Pyrenees, famous for the Marian apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes occurred in 1858 to Bernadette Soubirous...
with a group of Jesuit students, Sullivan excitedly soaked up both his first experience abroad and the new coursework.
Sullivan began to have a sense of his path becoming distinctive, because being sent abroad to the Gregorian for his doctoral work was his first major departure from the routine of regular Jesuit formation. Nevertheless, the shift in focus toward a goal of teaching Fundamental Theology and Revelation was less exciting for Sullivan, who would have preferred to carry on with the original idea of being a Patristics scholar, little knowing that he would actually end up in the field of Ecclesiology
Ecclesiology
Today, ecclesiology usually refers to the theological study of the Christian church. However when the word was coined in the late 1830s, it was defined as the science of the building and decoration of churches and it is still, though rarely, used in this sense.In its theological sense, ecclesiology...
. At the Gregorian, Sullivan studied with two Ecclesiologists: the Dutch Sebastiaan Tromp and the Spaniard Timoteo Zapelena. Although he was in fact a Patristics scholar, Tromp was teaching the Theology of Revelation at the Gregorian. Ecclesiology at the time was centered on the text Mystici Corporis Christi
Mystici Corporis Christi
Mystici Corporis Christi is a papal encyclical issued by Pope Pius XII during World War II, on the Church as the Mystical Body of Christ. It is one of the more important encyclicals of Pope Pius XII, because of its topic, the Church, and because its Church concept was fully included in Lumen...
(often simply called Mystici Corporis), the encyclical promulgated by Pope Pius XII
Pope Pius XII
The Venerable Pope Pius XII , born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli , reigned as Pope, head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City State, from 2 March 1939 until his death in 1958....
on 29 June 1943, and Tromp was widely thought to have participated in the authoring of the text with the Pope. For all this ecclesiological work, Tromp was not the professor of Ecclesiology: that post was held by Zapelena. Sullivan noted that Zapelena held to a number of different points than were put forth in Mystici Corporis, and in that way began to experience the diversity of ecclesiological positions possible as demonstrated by his own teachers.
For his dissertation, Sullivan did not find a subject in the field of Fundamental Theology that caught his attention at the time, and so he drew on his already-existing interest in Patristics. He focused on Theodore of Mopsuestia’s
Theodore of Mopsuestia
Theodore the Interpreter was bishop of Mopsuestia from 392 to 428 AD. He is also known as Theodore of Antioch, from the place of his birth and presbyterate...
Christology
Christology
Christology is the field of study within Christian theology which is primarily concerned with the nature and person of Jesus Christ as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament. Primary considerations include the relationship of Jesus' nature and person with the nature...
, since it was sufficient that Sullivan had prepared in his coursework to be able to teach Fundamental Theology upon his return to Weston: the choice of subject for the project was not bound in any way to that destiny which his Superior had designated for him. Discovering that professors at either the Biblical Institute
Pontifical Biblical Institute
The Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome, Italy is an institution of the Holy See run by the Jesuits that offers instruction at the university level...
or the Oriental Institute
Pontifical Oriental Institute
The Pontifical Oriental Institute is the premier center for the study of Eastern Christianity in Rome, Italy....
could direct dissertations at the Gregorian, Sullivan wrote under the direction of Fr. Ignacio Ortiz de Urbina at the Oriental Institute, who had written on Theodore. Sullivan finished his task in 1955, but since his dissertation, The Christology of Theodore of Mopsuestia, was not published until 1956, that is the date his degree was actually awarded. Having finished the work for the S.T.D. – the Sacrae Theologiae Doctor or Doctor of Sacred Theology
Doctor of Sacred Theology
The Doctor of Sacred Theology is the final theological degree in the pontifical university system of the Catholic Church....
, which is the final degree in the pontifical university system – Sullivan set off for Boston.
He was taking some of the summer to see more of Europe, as he did not have to be in Boston until August 1955, when he would also profess his Final Vows
Fourth vow
The "Fourth vow" is a religious solemn vow that is taken by members of various religious orders or congregations of the Catholic Church, after the three traditionnal vows of poverty, chastity and obedience...
as a Jesuit. He was at the Jesuit house in Barcelona when an American friend arrived who surprised Sullivan with the news that Sullivan's assignment had changed: instead of teaching Fundamental Theology in Boston, he was listed as being assigned to Rome, although his friend knew nothing more than that. Sullivan wrote to his Superior, Fr. Fitzgerald and discovered that he had been tapped to teach Ecclesiology back at the Gregorian. Zapelena was approaching the mandatory retirement age of 75 and his health was declining. Afraid of a sudden gap in their faculty, the combination of Sullivan's availability and education was seized upon by the Gregorian University to guarantee that their program could continue uninterrupted. After a visit home, and feeling more than a little exiled, Sullivan returned to Rome to teach Ecclesiology at the Gregorian University, an academic ministry in which he would serve for the next 36 years, until his own mandatory retirement at the age of 70 in 1992.
Academic Ministry
From 1956 until 1992, Sullivan was professor of ecclesiology at the Gregorian UniversityPontifical Gregorian University
The Pontifical Gregorian University is a pontifical university located in Rome, Italy.Heir of the Roman College founded by Saint Ignatius of Loyola over 460 years ago, the Gregorian University was the first university founded by the Jesuits...
, serving as dean from 1964 to 1970. Having been assigned to Rome unexpectedly, he received permission to take the fall semester of 1955 off, finishing work for the publication of his doctoral dissertation in Boston, and remaining close to his father, who was succumbing to lung cancer. Then in early 1956 he began to step into Fr. Timothy Zapelena's role as professors of Ecclesiology. Zapelena did not end up leaving the Gregorian immediately, and the two of them were both present during the 1955-56 school year. Sullivan began his work still using the book Zapelena had already prepared for his own Ecclesiology course. Zapelena had been teaching a two-semester course for many years, and since he was healthy enough to continue teaching for a little while longer, over the next two years, 1956–58, he and Sullivan split the course as it had been structured, with Sullivan teaching the first semester material and Zapelena teaching the second semester material. Sullivan assumed the full responsibility for the subject in 1958 and the first book derived from the course, De Ecclesia, was published in 1962. This was intended to be the first part of a two-volume work on the Church, but the advent of the Second Vatican Council
Second Vatican Council
The Second Vatican Council addressed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the modern world. It was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church and the second to be held at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It opened under Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and closed...
disrupted those plans.
The Second Vatican Council re-articulated the theology of the Church so that the subject as Sullivan had been teaching it, largely based on Mystici Corporis
Mystici Corporis Christi
Mystici Corporis Christi is a papal encyclical issued by Pope Pius XII during World War II, on the Church as the Mystical Body of Christ. It is one of the more important encyclicals of Pope Pius XII, because of its topic, the Church, and because its Church concept was fully included in Lumen...
, were no longer adequate to the subject. Nor were professors any longer expected simply to publish Latin versions of their class notes as books. Sullivan had not been called to the Council as a peritus
Peritus
Peritus is the title given to Roman Catholic theologians who are present to give advice at an ecumenical council. At the most recent council, the Second Vatican Council, some periti accompanied individual bishops or groups of bishops from various countries...
, which was not surprising given that he was still quite a junior faculty member. Information as to the Council's proceedings were kept quiet until published, however much rumor had to say. Nevertheless, Sullivan was given access to one critical Vatican II document, the draft from of Lumen Gentium
Lumen Gentium
Lumen Gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, is one of the principal documents of the Second Vatican Council. This dogmatic constitution was promulgated by Pope Paul VI on November 21, 1964, following approval by the assembled bishops by a vote of 2,151 to 5...
, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church. This happened when he was asked to address the American bishops on the topic of charism
Charism
In Christian theology, a charism in general denotes any good gift that flows from God's love to man. The word can also mean any of the spiritual graces and qualifications granted to every Christian to perform his or her task in the Church...
s, a concept found in Saint Paul, particularly in his descriptions of the Church in the First Epistle to the Corinthians
First Epistle to the Corinthians
The first epistle of Paul the apostle to the Corinthians, often referred to as First Corinthians , is the seventh book of the New Testament of the Bible...
, but which had fallen out of use in Catholic theological circles. Sullivan's research on this idea, as given in his presentation, was then offered to the Council as a correction and advance upon the draft version by Sullivan's former Superior, John J. McEleney
John J. McEleney
John Joseph McEleney, S.J. was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He was the first Bishop and first Archbishop of Kingston, seving between 1956 and 1970...
, who was now Archbishop
Archbishop
An archbishop is a bishop of higher rank, but not of higher sacramental order above that of the three orders of deacon, priest , and bishop...
of Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley International Airport to the rest of the island...
. In this way, Sullivan's theological work on charisms became part of the second paragraph of Lumen Gentium 12. This theological preparation would have significant impact later in Sullivan's when he encountered the Catholic Charismatic Renewal
Catholic Charismatic Renewal
The Catholic Charismatic Renewal is a movement within the Catholic Church. Worship is characterized by vibrant Masses, as well as prayer meetings featuring prophecy, healing and "praying in tongues." This movement is based on the belief that certain charismata , bestowed by the Holy Spirit, such as...
.
Sullivan was named Dean of the Faculty of Theology at the Gregorian University from 1964–70, and it fell to him to revise the statutes of the university according to the norms put forward by the Congregation for Seminaries and Universities (now the Congregation for Catholic Education
Congregation for Catholic Education
The Congregation for Catholic Education is the Pontifical congregation of the Roman Curia responsible for: seminaries and houses of formation of...
). While this extra work – without the assistance of a staff – was a great burden, Sullivan did restructure the faculty so that they were better able to conduct research as well as teach: for the first time having regular sabbaticals toward that end.
A number of prominent Catholic ecclesiologists
Ecclesiology
Today, ecclesiology usually refers to the theological study of the Christian church. However when the word was coined in the late 1830s, it was defined as the science of the building and decoration of churches and it is still, though rarely, used in this sense.In its theological sense, ecclesiology...
have worked with or studied under Sullivan. Sullivan was on the dissertation committee of Avery Cardinal Dulles. Joseph Komonchak and Richard McBrien
Richard McBrien
Richard Peter McBrien is the Crowley-O'Brien Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame. He is a priest of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford and the author of several controversial books and articles discussing Catholicism. He is most well known for his authorship of Catholicism...
were also his students. William Cardinal Levada
William Levada
William Joseph Levada is an American Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. Since 2005, he has served as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, making him the highest ranking American in the Roman Curia. He was previously the Archbishop of Portland from 1986 to 1995 and...
, the current Prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, received his doctorate under Sullivan in 1971.
From 1992, Sullivan continued to teach graduate students as a professor of theology at Boston College
Boston College
Boston College is a private Jesuit research university located in the village of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA. The main campus is bisected by the border between the cities of Boston and Newton. It has 9,200 full-time undergraduates and 4,000 graduate students. Its name reflects its early...
. Only after the spring semester of 2009, when he turned 87, did Sullivan finally retire from teaching.
In December 1995, he questioned the assertion of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith that the teaching reiterated in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis
Ordinatio Sacerdotalis
Ordinatio Sacerdotalis is an Apostolic Letter issued from the Vatican by Pope John Paul II on 22 May 1994, whereby the Pope expounds the teaching of the Catholic Church's position requiring "the reservation of priestly ordination to men alone." In its clear proclamation that "the Church has no...
regarding women's ordination had been infallibly taught. Sullivan wrote that "I do not see how it can be certain that this doctrine is taught infallibly by the ordinary and universal magisterium."