The Interview:
Priest provides Catholic answers for 30 years

The Interview, a regular feature of The Catholic New World, is an in-depth conversation with a person whose words, actions or ideas affect today’s Catholic. It may be affirming of faith or confrontational. But it will always be stimulating.

This week, Catholic New World staff writer Michelle Martin talks with Father John Dietzen, who writes the Catholic Question Box column.

Father John J. Dietzen, 72, has been answering questions about the Catholic faith in his newspaper column for more than 30 years, starting just after the Second Vatican Council. The Peoria priest, now officially retired, still teaches philosophy and writes a weekly column for the Peoria Journal-Star, along with his “Question Box” column that is syndicated to about 40 Catholic newspapers. He served as an editor of the Peoria diocesan paper during the Vatican II years, and has served as a pastor and as director of family ministries for the Peoria Diocese. After answering thousands of questions about everything from abortion to the possible existence of extraterrestrials for his readers, he recently answered several interview questions for The Catholic New World.

Catholic New World: Most of our readers are most familiar with you through your column. How did you start it and how long have you been doing it?
Father John Dietzen: Well, when I started it, it was for our own paper. I was associate editor of the Catholic Post during the ’60s and late ’50s, and as the decrees of the Vatican Council began to be implemented, documents being changed and some other changes happening, it was obvious that many Catholics, including a lot of priests, just did not have the opportunity to follow how certain things were introduced and changed and critiqued. ... They thought the council would be something the bishops would do and it really wouldn’t have too much effect on them. But as these changes started to have some effect, I felt it would be helpful to deal with this in a question-and-answer way. I started doing that in 1968 for our own paper for several years, until I became a pastor, and then it started being syndicated by CNS [Catholic News Service]. That was in 1975, so it’s been syndicated for about 25 years, and I’ve been doing it for 32 years.

CNW: How many letters do you usually get in a given week or month?
FJD: Anywhere from about 75 to 300 in a given week.

CNW: Do you respond to all of them in some way?
FJD: No. First of all, there were a lot of questions through the years that were repeated often—things having to do with marriage regulations in the Catholic Church, membership in the Masons, things about Communion, baptism, funerals, cremation— so I prepared a series of brochures that I make available to readers free of charge if they send a self-addressed stamped envelope, and much of the mail is requesting those brochures.
I do try to respond to, particularly, all of the anguish-type questions. If somebody’s really hurting I feel a responsibility to respond and try to help them, and there’s a lot of that. Sometimes there are personal problems or spiritual problems they don’t feel comfortable going to their local priests about, or they have tried and didn’t get the help they felt they needed.
I try to pick the ones for the column that I think are going to be the most widely interesting.

CNW: Has it gotten away from your original intent, to answer questions sparked by Vatican II?
FJD: Not particularly. Those still come. Most of the questions, one way or the other, have to do with the developments in the church. In the past several years, the questions have moved a lot more into the spiritual area, especially Scripture. A lot of the mail I receive is related to scriptural studies and scriptural questions. That is a result of the council—the growth in the study of Scripture by Catholic groups, sometimes with other Catholics, sometimes with members of other religious groups. Those are all a result of the council one way or the other.

CNW: It sounds like you think it’s a positive development that people are writing with more spiritual concerns.
FJD: Oh, absolutely, yes. In my experience with this column recently—and by recently, I mean the last 5 or 10 years—what is very moving and inspiring is the desire that so many people, good people, have to grow in their faith and understanding, to grow in their grasp of their movements with God and prayer. They’re really wanting to become more intimate in their spiritual lives, with each other, with God, and that surfaces so much.

CNW: How do you get the information for your answers?
FJD: Well, research. I should have learned something in 46 years as a priest, and in the seminary, and doing this. One of the things that’s so helpful for me is that it keeps you reading and studying, because you can very easily make a damn fool of yourself and say things that are really off the wall—which I do sometimes. I couldn’t be writing all this time and not make mistakes. Obviously, you try not to, and to do that, it takes an enormous amount of study, continual reading, and I try to keep in touch with the church, its movements, and still be fair with people.

CNW: You seem to maintain a sympathetic tone towards people in your column, even if you’re telling them that they’re wrong. Is that hard to do sometimes?
FJD: Well, it’s not hard to sympathize with them. It’s hard to know how to do that and still try to bring them around to see another side. I think—I hope—sympathy and empathy come relatively easily, but the problem is how to translate that in such a way that you really help move people away from something that is perhaps all wrong, or half wrong—something that’s holding them back from grasping Catholic tradition fully. I always try to do that, because I understand how people get off track.
I’ve had great blessings in my life, some of which are great education, great experience in the Catholic newspaper world.
I think we, all pastoral people, have a responsibility to understand where people are coming from, why they have difficulty with certain things. Sometimes it’s very clear from the letters that people write that they don’t want any help. They’re making a comment; they’re certainly not asking any questions. They’re telling their position, stating, “This is what I believe. You priests who have lost your faith certainly aren’t going to change my faith.” OK, I can accept that. But most of the time, people are searching for ways to integrate their traditional faith with what they have learned. But sometimes what they have learned is really off the wall.

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