Special report Catholic colleges face new
rules
By PAMELA SCHAEFFER NCR
Staff
When U.S. Catholic bishops hold
their annual meeting in Washington later this month, some will undoubtedly be
pondering the relationship of endings to beginnings.
Just two years ago, the bishops thought they were nearing the end
of an eight-year process when they voted overwhelmingly, 240 to 6, to approve a
pastoral document sidestepping Vatican efforts to gain greater control over
higher education in the United States.
U.S. academics said outside control over Catholic higher education
would be unworkable in the United States, where academic freedom is a condition
of respect. The Vaticans Congregation for Catholic Education nevertheless
rejected the pastoral approach last year and called for a direct application of
canon law.
During their Nov. 16-19 meeting, bishops are expected to engage in
heated discussion of a subcommittee report calling for changes that, some say,
would please the Vatican while threatening the autonomy and possibly the very
survival of Catholic colleges and universities in the United States.
In contrast to the pastoral approach, worked out in six years of
discussion among bishops and academics, the subcommittee report calls for
schools to revise their bylaws, university presidents to take an oath of
fidelity and theologians to ask local bishops for permission to teach.
The Vaticans effort to gain control began with the 1990
release of a document titled Ex Corde Ecclesiae, (From the Heart
of the Church,) which called on Catholic institutions to take steps to
assure continuation of their Catholic identity by challenging culture where
appropriate, and -- most controversial -- implementing Canon 812, which
requires Catholic theologians to have a mandate from a bishop to teach
theology.
Subsequently, Bishop John J. Leibrecht of Springfield, Mo.,
conducted discussions around the country among bishops and academics that
culminated in the pastoral document approved by bishops in 1996 and rejected by
the Vatican the following year.
The subcommittee that developed the latest set of norms,
representing the worst fears of many college and university administrators, was
headed by Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua of Philadelphia. Bevilacqua declined
to discuss the report, saying he thought it would not be appropriate to do so
before the bishops meeting. Bevilacqua and all members of his
subcommittee are canon lawyers.
Others involved in the tedious process, now nearly a decade old,
put on a good face in interviews with NCR. But sources said some bishops
are deeply upset, and academics are understandably concerned.
Monika K. Hellwig, executive director of the Association of
Catholic Colleges and Universities, said the proposed norms, which would bring
U.S. schools into strict compliance with canon law, will renew
administrators determination to keep explaining to the
Vatican the uniqueness of American higher education.
Its disheartening in one way, because Rome evidently
hasnt heard whats been said before, she said in a telephone
interview with NCR. On the other hand, colleges are determined to keep
explaining, to stay in conversation about this because their financial survival
may depend on it.
Hellwig referred to a possible loss of federal funds if canon laws
are strictly applied as called for by the subcommittees report.
Its very difficult, but I feel our
bishops will work through this thing.
Leibrecht said the subcommittees report has been widely
distributed among bishops and academics, who will be discussing it in local
settings for the next 12 months. He said he expects the document, subject to
amendments, to come before bishops for a vote in November 1999. Leibrecht said
he did not want to discuss what might happen if bishops defied the Vatican by
rejecting the subcommittees report.
Its very difficult, but I feel our bishops will work
through this thing, he said.
Following are some sections of the subcommittees 16-page
report that academics find particularly troubling:
- Catholic universities are urged to recruit and appoint
faithful Catholics so that those committed to the witness of
the faith will constitute a majority of the faculty.
- Catholics who teach the theological disciplines in a
Catholic university are required to have a written mandate granted by competent
ecclesiastical authority -- that is, a local bishop.
- A professors declaration that he or she will teach
in communion with the church is to be expressed by the
profession of faith and oath of fidelity or in any other reasonable manner
acceptable to the one granting the mandate.
- The mandate is to remain in effect indefinitely unless
and until withdrawn by competent ecclesiastical authority.
Catholic universities are advised to conform existing statutes
as much as possible to the proposed new norms.
Many schools undermined
If such rules were imposed, the status of many schools would be
seriously undermined, Hellwig said. The result, she said, could be that
some would have to stop calling themselves Catholic or face loss of full
accreditation and/or of federal funds. The reality is that many schools today
could not survive without those funds, she said.
Marianist Fr. James Heft, chancellor at the University of Dayton,
said he objected to using a profession of faith or oath of fidelity as a means
of control.
There are certain dimensions of oath-taking that Catholics
do every Sunday morning when we profess the creed with other believers,
he said. There is nothing inherent in professing ones faith that is
repugnant.
The issue is whether a means of control -- or at least what
is perceived as control -- is the best way to appeal to adult
Catholics.
Conflict or communion?
Theresa Moser, assistant dean of Arts and Sciences at the
University of San Francisco and president of the College Theology Society, said
the subcommittees proposed norms would ultimately promote conflict
and discord rather than the aimed-at spirit of communion
among academic and church authorities.
Heft said he, too, has confidence in U.S. bishops ability to
find a way to compromise with Rome. I think the bishops in general in the
United States understand well the complexity of this problem, and I think they
will do what needs to be done to stay at the table, not only with us but also
with Rome to arrive at a solution thats workable, he said.
Im concerned. I think anybody who understands whats at stake
should be very concerned. But I also am confident that in time a workable
solution will be arrived at.
Heft regards ongoing struggle between U.S. church officials and
Rome as a very profound exercise in multiculturalism.
There are very few Catholic universities in Europe along the
model we have in the United States, he said. In Europe, Catholic
faculties may be appointed at secular universities, but Catholic universities
per se are rare. Furthermore, he said, the U.S. theological enterprise, in
which huge numbers of lay people teach theology to undergraduates
is atypical. It just doesnt happen in most of the so-called
Catholic universities around the world, he said.
Heft and others said the discussions among U.S. academics and
bishops in recent years had been highly productive. Over the past decade or so,
there has been a gradual clarification among American bishops about
the difficulties of imposing canonical norms, as well as a greater
understanding of the qualities of a lot of the Catholic colleges and
universities, in particular their mission and character, he
said.
Hellwig concurred. On one hand, this is taking an awful lot
of time and energy, she said. On the other hand, eight years ago
American bishops were all across the spectrum on the issue of how
university and church authorities should relate. Today, she said, as a result
of a lot of very useful substantive discussion, there is a much closer sense of
cooperation, she said.
Highlights of proposed new norms |
- Catholic universities urged to recruit faithful
Catholics so those committed to the witness of the faith will
constitute a majority of the faculty.
- Catholics who teach theology are required to have a
written mandate from a local bishop.
- A professors declaration that he or she will
teach in communion with the church is to be expressed by the
profession of faith and oath of fidelity or in any other reasonable manner
acceptable to the one granting the mandate.
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To read Ex Corde Ecclesiae on the Vaticans Web site go to
www.vatican.va/, pick the language of your choice, then click on
John Paul II, then click on Apostolic Constitutions,
and finally English under Ex Corde Ecclesiae. (This
document is availiable in several translations, we have taken the liberty of
choosing English as a translation in these instructions.) This is also listed
in our Documents section as well.
National Catholic Reporter, November 13,
1998
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