The National Conference of Catholic Bishops released a statement last Wednesday claiming that bishops cannot punish theologians who do not seek permission to teach from the Catholic Church.
This announcement comes one year after the bishops voted to implement Ex Corde Ecclesiae, a Papal document meant to tighten bishops’ authority over the nation’s 235 Catholic colleges and universities.
The document, translated as “From the Heart of the Church,” made two things clear when passed in 1999. First, it asserted Catholic bishops’ right and responsibility to develop a policy for theologians to receive a mandate to teach in Catholic colleges and universities. Second, Ex Corde stated the onus or burden would be on the individual Catholic theologian to seek that mandate.
These measures were taken to ensure that all instructors in theology and religious history at Catholic colleges and universities get a seal of approval from their local bishops in order to ensure that all teaching conforms to the Catholic doctrine.
Last week, in their announcement that theologians do not need to request a mandate and cannot be punished if they do not receive a mandate, the bishops acknowledged that it is the trustees, not the Catholic Church that controls Catholic universities and colleges.
“It is my understanding that the diocesan bishop does not have the power to enforce anything in the context of university life,’’ Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk of Cincinnati, the chairman of the bishops’ committee on the mandatum, said in a news conference following the announcement.
Pilarczyk went on to claim that the requirement is an appropriate effort by the church to ascertain that those who claim to teach Catholicism are following the Church’s beliefs.
Cardinal Bernard F. Law of the Archdiocese of Boston said that his criterion for issuing a permit would be the intent of a theologian.
He further said that just because a “theologian has church permission to teach doesn’t mean they will always be one-hundred percent reflecting what the church is saying.”
According to Jack Dunn, Boston College director of public affairs, the announcement was met with surprise on the Heights.
“We are pleased with the bishops ruling,” Dunn said. “It suggests an endorsement of our contention that requiring Catholic theologians to seek a mandate would be an infringement of academic freedom and institutional autonomy.”
When the Papal document was passed last year, it created numerous concerns as many felt that the provisions stipulated in the document would cause conflict on campuses and perhaps cause schools to abandon their Catholic identity.
Those who opposed the document were most perturbed by the ordinance that would have allowed bishops the power to decide who is fit to teach Catholic theology. The debate on this issue centered around the claim that this requirement directly contradicts the nature of an academic institution that is founded on inquiry and free thought.
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