The Vatican, The Bishops, The Academy
Saunders, Paul C.
THE VATICAN, THE BISHOPS, THE ACADEMY If push comes to shove, nobody will budge Paul C. Saunders I n April, the Vatican Congregation for Catholic Education unexpectedly returned to the American...
...In asking them to rewrite the ordinances, the cardinal wanted two points emphasized: First, that there should bea juridical relationship between the Catholic university and the church...
...In particular, the document was not sufficiently explicit on the "necessity for every Catholic university to set out formally and without equivocation, either in its statutes or in some other internal document, its character and commitment as 'Catholic...
...civil law would not have recognized a resolution imposed from outside the university...
...The Vatican would like to change this...
...Put differently, the court's analysis of the nonpontifical faculties at CU did not depend on the fact that the university also had pontifical faculties...
...is one of academic freedom and self-regulation by the academic com tinder American law, the only way either Ex corde or the American ordinances can be applied in a legally binding way is for the universities themselves to do it...
...They have found ways of successfully incorporating their Catholicity into their programs...
...Once the requirement for a canonical mission is contained in the governing statutes of the university, it becomes an implicit condition in the tenure contracts with those professors and is legally enforceable by U.S...
...tried to downplay the troublesome canon 812 issue by dealing with it in a footnote: "The mandate of canon 812 will be the subject of further study...
...Ten years later, the 1983 Code of Canon Law specified, in canon 810, that it was the responsibility of the competent ecclesiastical authority to "provide for the appointment of teachers to Catholic universities who besides their scientific and pedagogical suitability are also outstanding in their integrity of doctrine and probity of life" and that when those qualities are missing, the teachers are to be removed...
...Because of the criticisms of the schema, the Vatican announced that it was merely a "discussion draft" and that a revised version would be forthcoming, taking into account as much as possible the comments that had been received...
...Once any Catholic university, even a nonpontifical one, freely chooses in its bylaws to be governed by an apostolic constitution, it is more than likely that an American court would enforce that choice, just as the Washington, D.C., Superior Court did in the Curran case...
...Joseph Komanchak sketched such a scenario-what might be called the "Commonweal" solution-in an essay "The Catholic University in the Church" (Catholic Universities in Church and Society: A Dialogue on Ex Corde Ecclesiae, Georgetown University Press, 1993...
...Have we reached an impasse...
...0 YOU ~ April • Outside the Market No Salvation...
...there is considerable evidence that the Vatican believed that the local ordinary had rights and obligations with respect to Catholic universities all along and that Rome had never endorsed the "laicization" of those universities that took place in the 1960s...
...But it has not...
...and that the Holy See might change the requirements for those faculties at any time, imposing on the university an obligation to accommodate such changes or risk losing the authority to confer ecclesiastical degrees...
...if it were to lack this [juridical] relationship with the institutional church" (Origins, August 24,1995...
...At present, the universities themselves make those decisions...
...Removing Currari s canonical mission only prohibited him from teaching in the pontifical faculties at CU because only those faculties had a canonical mission requirement...
...Origins, August 24, 1995...
...Who should decide whether the theology that is being taught is sufficiently orthodox...
...To their credit, they have tried hard to forge a compromise that all could live with...
...Here is where the American bishops can stand up for their Catholic universities and can support them in their attempt to remain Catholic without a juridical bond to the hierarchy...
...That is not likely...
...This is because in the eyes of the law an apostolic constitution that governs pontifical faculties and requires a canonical mission is functionally identical with an apostolic constitution that governs all other Catholic universities and requires a mandate...
...The Vatican has not changed its fundamental position...
...For example, the bishops Paul C. Saunders is a perlrn'r at Craiall:, Swai:ic & Moore and ri lurnscr trrish-c ~ rf h:refham Lluive'rsil rr- He• u'rivvt 0s Colt P1,q.1 to Charles Curran in Curran rv...
...While that may happen, it would be largely irrelevant: Under American law, C Commonweal 1 2 September 26, 1997 the only way either Ex corde or the American ordinances can be applied in a legally binding way is for the universities themselves to do it...
...Since the late sixties, those universities have been independent of the hierarchy and under the control of lay trustees...
...Such pontifical faculties are governed by Sapientia chrisliinza, an apostolic constitution (1979) requiring that all professors who teach matters relating to "faith and morals" have a "canonical mission" from the local bishop...
...The church's position has been consistent for four hundred years...
...That is equally unlikely...
...Given the fundamental disagreement between the American bishops (who are being actively encouraged by American Catholic university presidents) and the Congregation for Catholic Education, it is unlikely that Ex corde will be implemented in the United States any time soon, if ever...
...and second, that professors of theology must receive a mandate to teach theology, theso-called canon 912 requirement...
...The bishops cannot...
...As Joseph O' Hare, president of Fordham University, asks, "If a Catholic university is to be 'part of' the church, in the sense that it is subject to the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the hierarchy, then can it really be an authentic university...
...courts...
...the bishops never endorsed it...
...Of course nobody knows...
...Catholic academic community expected that those ordinances would recognize that in this country, all true universities, even Catholic ones, must recognize academic freedom.They thought they could reconcile that principle with Ex corde...
...At least since the late sixties, American Catholic universities have been quite consistent and vocal about the importance of their independence and the danger that any juridical bond with the hierarchy would create...
...Thus, even if the requirement of a canonical mission did not exist at the time Curran received tenure, "the parties...
...As the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities put it: "The very life of our colleges and universities...
...Any university that modifies its bylaws or its mission statement to claim a special juridical relationship with the church or that requires its theology professors to possess a mandate from the local bishop will have that relationship and that obligation not only recognized but enforced by civil courts...
...Who Do You Say I Am...
...Even though the Vatican is signaling that it will not compromise, the bishops will no doubt keep trying...
...A return to the past is neither desirable nor possible...
...A plenary assembly of the congregation in 1973, consisting of thirty-seven cardinals and bishops, approved the document as "valid but needing improvement...
...Each bishop had the obligation to insure that "universities accept in full the canons and decrees of this holy council and that the masters, doctors, and others in the same universities teach and interpret the Catholic faith according to the directions of these canons and decrees...
...They are flourishing...
...This, along with the appointment of lay-dominated boards, which seemed to guarantee the university's autonomy and academic freedom, appeared to have the acceptance of the hierarchy...
...Not because the bishops and the congregation disagree on the nature of Catholic universities as a theoretical matter, but because they disagree about who is in charge...
...The bishops cannot...
...Further negotiations looking to a solution that will satisfy the Vatican, the U.S...
...The Congregation for Catholic Education undoubtedly knows this, and that is precisely why it insists on a formulation of the ordinances for the United States that requires, as Ex corde itself does, that universities that wish to call themselves "Catholic" must recognize a juridical relationship between the university and the church "by a formal constitutive bond or by an institutional commitment...
...Or third, neither will give in...
...As Laghi put it, "without a bond of communion with the hierarchy, an institution cannot bear the name Catholic...
...bishops and the Vatican continue to negotiate over the ordinances required by Ex corde, these cannot be implemented at any particular university unless the university's board of trustees does something affirmative, most likely by changing the university's bylaws...
...Note that I did not list as one of the possibilities that the American bishops' drafting committee will accept the Vatican's criticisms and modify the ordinances...
...First, the Vatican could relent and grant American Catholic universities a special dispensation from the strictest provisions of Ex corde...
...It may be that some American bishops would like to control their local Catholic colleges and universities, but most probably realize that in the United States that kind of ecclesiastical supervision over, say, Georgetown or Notre Dame, is beyond their competence...
...The Return of the Plague 6 issues per year Individuals: S60 Institutions: 575 Single issues: 515 It c'.hnsc+u°~+ Studies in World Christianity (1354-9901) International scholars offer insights into the re-emergence of Christian and religious traditions worldwide 2 issues per year (May & Oct...
...Sox 302 Maryknoll...
...In fact, even if the American drafting committee, a key subcommittee of which is now headed by Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua, were to accept Cardinal Laghi s changes, it is even more unlikely that any Catholic university that wishes to remain a true university in the modern American context will elect voluntarily to adopt Ex corde ecclesiae...
...One likely outcome, hinted at in Cardinal Laghi s 1995 talk, is a declaration that universities that refuse to accept Ex corde ecclesiae may no longer call themselves "Catholic" or "officially Catholic...
...Another draft was published, and there was consultation with American bishops and educators...
...THE VATICAN, THE BISHOPS, THE ACADEMY If push comes to shove, nobody will budge Paul C. Saunders I n April, the Vatican Congregation for Catholic Education unexpectedly returned to the American bishops, for a "second draft," the regulations time-611 govern the relationship between the hi t rarL by ,noel L.S...
...Second, American Catholic universities could reverse their quarter-century experiment with independence and accept Ex corde as binding on them...
...Because of its broad acceptance in the academic community, the Land O'Lakes Statement was seen as a Magna Carta for Catholic universities in the United States, and many uni versity leaders believed that it represented a final and defini tive articulation of the relationship between Catholic Embracing the Global Religious Vision JOURNALS FROM ORBI5 BOOKS universities and the Catholic church in the United States...
...nonetheless the final version, now called Ex corde ecclesiae (1990), was remarkably similar to the original "schema...
...In order to keep Curran from teaching in other, nonpontifical faculties, the university's board of trustees passed a resolution stating that there was a special relationship between the university and the church and that the university considered itself bound "as a matter of canon law and religious conviction" by a definitive declaration of the pope-in this case, an edict declaring Curran ineligible to teach theology-even if it had consequences outside the pontifical faculties...
...It wants a juridical relationship...
...If theology is to be granted the same academic integrity of other disciplines, theologians must also enjoy authentic academic freedom...
...Recalling the famous phrase from the 1967 Land O'Lakes Statement, Curran argued that no authority "lay or cleric, external to the academic community" could interfere with his right to academic freedom...
...Whether they will succeed remains to be seen, but it looks more and more as if they will not...
...Catholic colleges and universities (see Corn rrILmw al, June21),1997...
...What about the American bishops...
...Within this structure, our 235 Catholic institutions of higher learning have flourished and, in our opinion, any attempt to subvert this independence would result in diminishment of their influence on the total higher education community and, ultimately, in their being excluded from that community of teachers and scholars...
...Furthermore, most of the American Catholic universities are financially independent from the Catholic church, the most notable exception again being CU...
...that these faculties are governed by an apostolic constitution...
...Canon 810 also provided that the bishops had the "right and duty of being vigilant that in these universities the principles of Catholic doctrine are faithfully observed...
...and, because they guarantee academic freedom, they are attracting first-rate faculty...
...The court continued, "as much as [Curran] may have wished it otherwise, he could not reasonably have expected that the university would defy a definitive judgment of the Holy See that he was 'unsuitable' and 'ineligible' to teach Catholic theology...
...Cardinal Laghi acknowledged that the study was under way, but said that "we hope that a so lution will be found so as to have a full application of the canon incorporated in a second draft of the ordinances...
...Further, because CU's trustees claimed a "special relationship" with the Holy See, they were within their rights to prohibit Curran from teaching theology anywhere else in the university once the pope declared him ineligible...
...But the Washington, D.C., Superior Court concluded that CU was within its rights to prohibit Curran from teaching in a pontifical faculty because he had lost the canonical mission that the university's amended bylaws required...
...Those bylaws applied to Curran even though they were passed more than a decade after he received tenure...
...Who should discipline theologians who stray from what the hierarchy considers acceptable teaching...
...then a tenured professor of theology at The Catholic University of America (CU), was no longer "suitable or eligible" to teach theologv...
...Not surprisingly, these are the very two points that the bishops tried to elide in their "draft...
...What is the lesson of this for the current debate...
...This should not come as a surprise, since Cardinal Laghi said very much the same thing in his talk to the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities in Saint Paul, Minnesota in August 1995...
...I Commonweal 13 September 26,1997 munity...
...Curran was teaching in the department of theology, which is a pontifical or "ecclesiastical" faculty at the university, empowered to award degrees recognized by the Vatican...
...The Land O'Lakes Statement of 1967 calling for academic freedom and the autonomy of the university was a declaration by academics...
...Even after the first appearance of the "schema," American Catholic academics believed that a way would be found to reconcile their independence with the document...
...To do so would require great patience, understanding, and charity on both sides...
...They have dramatically improved their academic standing and the best of them are in the same league with their non-Catholic counterparts...
...As Peter Steinfels put it, "You can't go home again...
...The Catholic University of America...
...To understand why these points of disagreement are important and why they are unlikely to be resolved by mere ,.wordsmithing, recall the Curran case...
...But will it remain Catholic, nonetheless...
...2 issues per year (May & Oct...
...1997 nificance to this discussion, it also requires universities with such faculties to adopt bylaws that make the provisions of Sapientia binding...
...Being independent and participating in the Catholic tradition has worked...
...The court held that it was not that Sapientia christiana required a canonical mission that was of significance, but the fact that the university had incorporated the requirement in its bylaws...
...This is the core of the matter...
...Curran sued for breach of contract, claiming that as a tenured professor, he had certain rights to academic freedom pursuant to which only his academic peers could judge the competency of his work...
...Whether in the end that model works for universities as well as many of us think it does for magazines is anybody's guess, but it seems the best solution and remains the most likely outcome...
...Individuals: 535 Institutions: 555 ORBIS BOOKS Dept...
...The schema clearly reestablished control of Catholic universities under the auspices of the local ordinary...
...Many understand as well the consequences for Catholic academia, in terms of accreditation and prestige, of "outside" control...
...But so far the Vatican has not backed down...
...Religion as Source of Violence Dec...
...The U.S...
...bishops, and the schools (the presidents and their boards) are under way, but since both principles and pragmatism are in play, it is far from certain that tinkering with phraseology will avoid an impasse...
...Nor was a similar text, approved by the International Federation of Catholic Universities in 1972, "The Catholic University in the Modern World," given more than a lukewarm endorsement by the Congregation for Catholic Education...
...In recent times, academics, especially those in the United States, came to believe that the church's position had softened...
...There are Wthree possible ways in which it can be resolved...
...Canon 812, which in its draft form "raised a storm of opposition" in North America, according to CU professor of canon law James Coriden, required that "those who teach theological disciplines in any institute of higher studies have a mandate from the competent ecclesiastical authority...
...Of more sig Cerrurnprrre r ii I I S'hlcert'r2b...
...Reestablished" may in fact be the wrong word...
...The congregation rejected their attempt at nuance...
...Catholic universities relent...
...NY 10545.0302 Commonweal 1 4 September 26,1997...
...It is hard to imagine a well-informed board of trustees of one of those universities voting to allow the local ordinary to exercise any measure of control over it...
...This scenario is hardly out of the question...
...It would be impossible for the university to remain Catholic...
...The bylaws were included in the faculty handbook, which the court decided was a part of Curran's contract and, although most contract terms are fixed at the time the contract is made, the court held that a professor's contract with a university is different...
...Whether or not the university is correct that it was obligated to accept the declaration of the Holy See as a matter of canon law, it was surely bound to do so as a matter of religious conviction and pursuant to its longstanding, unique, and freely chosen special relationship with the Holy See...
...June •The Church in Fragments Oct...
...efore the current dispute, some American Catholic academics believed that the Vatican was com fortable with their independence...
...What will happen...
...It was legally significant that the resolution came from the university itself...
...Cardinal Laghi's recent letter makes it quite clear that there will be no compromise from the essentials of Ex corde and canon 812...
...Ex corde does call for implementing ordinances to take account of local conditions...
...In his comments returning the bishops' document, Cardinal Pio L ighi, prefect of the congregation, referred to it as a "first draft," though the bishops probably hoped it was the last draft...
...Individuals: 530 Institutions: S50 Studies in Interreligious Dialogue (0926-2326) Reports on the encounter of religious traditions and worldviews today...
...Note that the bishops apparently could not bring themselves to say "the mandate required by canon 812...
...Will the Vatican relent...
...Will the U.S...
...Should the local bishop or a lay board of trustees decide who may or may not receive an honorary degree...
...The Council of Trent obliged local bishops to insure orthodoxy in Catholic universities...
...n 1985, the Congregation for Catholic Education issued a document known colloquially as the "schema," which set forth the need for Vatican control over all Catholic universities...
...Why were they returned...
...here can the dispute go from here...
...LI B Condlium (0010.5236) 1997 tissues: s'" Feb...
...Colleges and universities could continue to see themselves as Catholic "by inspiration" and operating "in the Catholic tradition," while the hierarchy could point out that they are not "officially" Catholic or, perhaps, that they were not "Catholic" at all...
...onsider the precedent the court established in the Curran case...
...knew that the ecclesiastical faculties were different from the rest of the university...
...It is simply that, though the U.S...
...to make themselves different from, and, some would argue, better than, other universities...
...In 1986, the Holy See declared that the Reverend Charles Curran...
...The presidents of fourteen leading American Catholic universities, including Joseph O'Hare, S.J., Donald Monan, S.J., and Theodore Hesburgh, C.S.C., have said the same thing: "One of the most important values to be protected in an authentic university is academic freedom...
...To be sure, at least one, The Catholic University of America, has gone backwards-to reestablish Vatican control-but the damage done by that decision to its academic standing is still being assessed...
...That resolution kept Curran from teaching theology anywhere in the university and, in effect, put the entire university under the control of the Vatican...
Vol. 124 • September 1997 • No. 16
