A spiritual theology professor has said that an internal report acknowledging the Catholic Theological Society of America excludes more-orthodox and conservative thinkers is regrettable, yet an opportunity for change in the group.

The National Catholic Reporter recently published a May 15 report of the Catholic Theological Society of America’s committee on theological diversity, which said, “the self-conception of many members that the CTSA is open to all Catholic theologians is faulty and self-deceptive.”

“As one of our members put it, the CTSA is a group of liberal theologians and ‘this permeates virtually everything … because the CTSA does not aspire to be a partisan group, both attitudes and practices will have to shift if the CTSA is to become the place where all perspectives within Catholic theology in North America are welcome,” the report continued.