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Catholic identity of colleges and universities
Starting about 1972 the Holy See began to draw up norms that would define and assure the Catholic identity of Catholic colleges and universities. The problem in many part of the world is the growing secularization of these schools. After lengthy consultation with the 900 institutions of higher learning in the world, in 1990 the Holy Father published a document to regulate the relationship between colleges/universities and the teaching authority or hierarchy of the Church. The document is entitled, Ex Corde Ecclesiae (ECE), i.e., "From the Heart of the Church."
ECE spells out certain norms that are to be observed by any college/university that calls itself "Catholic." One of them is canon 812 from the 1983 new Code of Canon Law: "Those who teach theological subjects in any institute of higher studies must have a mandate from the competent ecclesiastical authority."
Five years ago the president of the NCCB, Archbishop Pilarczyk, appointed a committee of seven bishops and eleven advisors to develop an implementation of the norms for the USA. Since that time they have been dialoging with the presidents of Catholic colleges/universities. The "dialogue" has been going on for five full years and still there is no agreement. The main problem is canon 812. As you can see for yourself, the canon is crystal clear. The problem is that most presidents of Catholic colleges/universities in this country do not wish to agree to this requirement.
For, it means that the local bishop will give or not give his approval or license ("mandate") to those who teach theology. It also means that he can remove the "mandate" from a professor who teaches heresy or is guilty of morel turpitude of some kind. In that case, the college would have to get rid of him.
At the November meeting of the NCCB a short document called an "Application to the United States" of ECE was presented for consideration. The bishops were not asked to vote on it because they want to dialogue with the colleges for another year. The final version will be put to a vote in November 1996.
The "application" is full of pious sentiments but the final conclusion is that they refuse to accept canon 812. The question here regards the possibility of a university being truly Catholic without a juridical relationship to the Church. The Vatican apparently thinks that it cannot be, while the American universities, claiming that they are "unique" in the world, seem to think that they can.
The highlight of the brief discussion of this document was the presentation of Cardinal Bevilacqua of Philadelphia. He said that there are twelve Catholic colleges in his archdiocese and he has been meeting regularly with the presidents to discuss the implementation of ECE. The Cardinal said clearly that the proposed bishops' document simply "bypasses" the main issue, namely, canon 812. He said that most Catholic colleges/universities do not want to be governed by the canon because they seem to think it does not apply to them.
The Cardinal argued that if the bishops are not obedient to Rome on this matter, the people will know it and will conclude that they do not have to obey the bishops. A way out of the dilemma, he said, is to ask for an "indult" or exception from the law for the USA. Another bishop said this had been tried and was rejected by Rome.
The college presidents have been influenced by the Land O'Lakes Declaration of 1967 in which a small group of presidents declared their independence from all outside control, including that of the Church. So far the presidents seem to have the upper hand in the dialogue with the bishops. This is a very serious matter, for if canon 812 is not implemented most of our Catholic colleges and universities will be separated from the Church forever. That would be a great loss. If you are concerned about this, I suggest you write to your bishop and ask him to insist at the next NCCB meeting that canon 812 be faithfully applied in the USA. After all, he has to vote on it.
Kenneth Baker,S.J., Editor