Fr. Don Cozzens RIP

 The Diocesan Obituary is interesting for what it does not say.

In remembrance – Father Donald B. Cozzens

He was ordained to the priesthood for service to the Diocese of Cleveland by Bishop Clarence Issenmann on May 22, 1965 in the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist.

His first assignment was as parochial vicar at St. Christopher Parish in Rocky River. 

Father Cozzens went to the University of Notre Dame for summer studies in the summers of 1969 and 1970, and then returned to St. Christopher Parish.  (Note it says nothing about him earning an MA degree there)

On Sept. 9, 1970, he was appointed parochial vicar of St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Akron, and served as a part-time instructor of religion at St. Vincent High School, also in Akron. Father Cozzens was named chaplain of St. Vincent High School on June 24, 1971, and on Aug. 9, 1974, he was named chaplain of Our Lady of the Elms, motherhouse of the Sisters of St. Dominic, also in Akron.

On July 1, 1977, Father Cozzens was appointed director of Newman Ministry with residence at St. Josaphat in Cleveland. He served on the faculty of Ursuline College beginning on June 29, 1981. 

(The diocesan obituary then gives us his rise in the diocesan bureaucracy but nothing about his earning a doctorate in psychology) 

During this assignment, he was appointed associate judge for the Diocesan Tribunal on Sept. 21 1983, and prosynodal judge, Diocesan Tribunal, on Nov. 1, 1983. 

On Jan. 1, 1989, Father Cozzens was appointed associate secretary and vicar for services to clergy and religious personnel, and on June 14, 1989, he was appointed secretary and vicar for clergy and religious.

Father Cozzens was appointed rector-president of Saint Mary Seminary in Wickliffe on Jan. 1, 1996. (Obviously one does not get such an appointment without advanced degrees).

He concluded that appointment on June 1, 2001, and he began serving on the faculty of John Carroll University. From June 1, 2002 until his retirement on June 1, 2009, those who knew him said Father Cozzens shared his thoughts and opinions freely. (But it says nothing about the fact that he wrote six books and three novels. He also was known to be kind and generous in his compliments to others.

John Carroll University Remembering Fr. Don Cozzens

Furthering his education, Cozzens earned a Master of Arts from the University of Notre Dame in 1973 and a Ph.D. from Kent State University in 1976. He developed a passion for writing while earning his graduate degrees and published his first article in 1974. 

Cozzens continued to write while educating future clergy members and published his first book The Spirituality of the Diocesan Priest in 1997. Fr. Cozzens’ writing sometimes addressed issues within the church and drew criticism. Colleagues say his intent was not to draw attention to those problems but to help solve them.   

Fr. Cozzens continued his commitment to the church and JCU during his retirement. He regularly presided over Monday’s noon Mass in St. Francis Chapel on Campus. He was also active in The Church of Gesu services and would frequently fill in for pastors at the Church of St. Dominic in Shaker Heights.

Finally, Denis Sadowski who once was editor of the Diocesan Newpaper but who now writes for Catholic News Service 

Fr. Donald Cozzens, who challenged clericalism in the church, dies at 82

As an author and lecturer, Father Donald B. Cozzens, a Cleveland diocesan priest and former seminary rector, shared candid insights on the priesthood, challenging the Catholic Church to confront clericalism and renew its structure.

It was Father Cozzens' book, "The Changing Face of the Priesthood," published in 2000, that set the course for much of his life after he stepped down as president-rector of St. Mary Seminary and Graduate School of Theology in the Diocese of Cleveland a year later to focus on teaching and writing.

(He had actually raised the topic of homosexuality in the priesthood. He was on his way up the ladder to becoming a bishop. I remember when he talked about the book at JCU right after it was issued. He was scheduled to give a retreat to the midwestern bishops and was wondering how that might go),

Other works included "Sacred Silence: Denial and the Crisis in the Church," "Faith That Dares to Speak," and "Freeing Celibacy," all of which focused on the issues he felt the church must openly address. Overall, he edited one book and wrote six others on the priesthood.

Father Cozzens later wrote three mystery novels that stemmed from the topics related to the priesthood and the church that he focused on in his nonfiction books, columns, essays and lectures throughout the United States and in other countries.

After leaving his seminary post, Father Cozzens was a resident scholar at the Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research at St. John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota, from 2001 to 2002. He then became a visiting professor of religious studies at John Carroll University and served as writer in residence until his retirement from the Jesuit-run school in 2016 but remained active in campus ministry for several years. He had retired from active ministry as a priest in 2009. (I think this means that he began to receive his pension and was no longer officially being assigned by the diocese. Before that he had leave to serve on the JCU faculty. He continued to minister as a priest at JCU)

 He was named diocesan director of Newman Campus Ministry in 1977, serving for four years, and joined the faculty of Ursuline College in suburban Cleveland in 1978. At Ursuline, he was named an associate professor of psychology and religious studies in 1981.

What is left unsaid in these articles is that he had gotten a Ph.D. in counseling psychology. Quite likely he had come across many instances of sexual abuse when he served as Vicar for Clergy. I remember him remarking that these priests were all in denial about the seriousness of their behavior.  Sounds like the plan was to get him a degree in psychology and make him president-rector to weed out (probably quietly) the problem seminarians.  That was ok until he began to talk openly about sexuality in his book.  That ended his career in the diocese.

It is interesting that although Cozzens taught in the religious studies department at JCU, he was never given a tenure track position, and his rather extensive background in academia is not talked about by JCU.  For them he was the guy who wrote controversial books whom the students liked. I suspect his fellow theology professors, other than Hahnenburg who is interested in ecclesiology, did not see him as a academic. 

It will be interesting to see how the diocese handles the funeral. There are the customary vespers with homily the night before presided over by a retired auxiliary bishop, and the funeral Mass by the bishop. Both homilists are diocesan priests whom I do not recognize. I suspect they will give the dioceses' viewpoint that ignores his writings.   I hope it will be livestreamed from the Jesuit parish because of the pandemic but it might not be.  They might not want to celebrate this controversial priest.  I suspect once the pandemic is over that there will be some memorial celebrations of his life and work here and maybe elsewhere by the many people who found support and encouragement in his writings