Notre Dame Theologian Counsels Theologians To Ignore Mandate

by Unknown

NEW YORK — In the feature article of the February 12 edition of the U.S. Jesuits' dissident publication America, Notre Dame theologian Fr. Richard McBrien, a priest of the Diocese of Hartford, Conn., explained why he will not seek a mandate to teach theology from either of his ordinaries — Archbishop Daniel Cronin of Hartford and Bishop John D'Arcy of Fort Wayne-South Bend.

In his essay, "Why I Will Not Seek a Mandate," McBrien encouraged other theologians to ignore the requirement in Ex Corde Ecclesiae that they seek a mandatum from the local ordinary.

He said his position is not one of "defiance, but of principle."

He claimed that the mandate compromises the academic integrity of the faculty and the university "by introducing an external, non-academic agent in the internal, academic processes governing not only the appointment, retention, and promotion of faculty, but in the designation of which courses faculty members may or may not teach and in which departments.

"Only the academic administration of a university and college, and the chair and faculty of a department are competent to determine those matters. Otherwise, there is no academic freedom and no institutional autonomy (the two hallmarks of a university, cited approvingly and consistently by leading Catholic educators ever since the celebrated Land O'Lakes Statement of 1967)," he wrote.

Another reason he cited for not seeking a mandate is that there remains so much confusion about how a mandate is to be requested, and how it is granted — confusion which the bishops acknowledge; confusion so great the bishops themselves may choose to reject the whole notion of mandates.

"But it is still unclear to everyone, including the bishops themselves, how the mandate will be implemented," he wrote. "It will take at least a year (perhaps more) for a plan to be adopted, and then another full year before it goes into effect.

"This means that there is ample time for practical heads to intervene and to bring some rational order out of the current confusion."

McBrien also raised an issue brought to the floor of last November's meeting of the U.S. bishops in Washington, D.C., by Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert Weakland: that theologians were not consulted during the ten-year period of discussions on Ex Corde, which makes the final product fatally flawed.

What is necessary, he wrote, is a new period of dialog between bishops and theologians; but not just any theologians: only those who receive the imprimatur from the Catholic Theological Society of America — an association of the most hard-core dissidents in the United States.

"Not only should theologians be involved," he stated, "they should be selected by the officers and board of directors of the Catholic Theological Society of America, in consultation with the president-members of the implementation committee, but certainly not by the bishops; nor should the bishops have the power of veto over those selected by the CTSA„ notwithstanding the unfairly low esteem in which this organization is held in certain episcopal circles.

"It is difficult, from this vantage point at least, to see how any procedure can be more than voluntary in character. A few bishops and their militant, pro bono legal counsels may be itching to pick fights in courts of civil law, but no prudent bishop, president, or theologian would want to see that occur. Catholic higher education in this country is already suffering enough from all the charges, leveled without persuasive evidence, about the alleged erosion of Catholic character in our Catholic colleges and universities."

McBrien further observed that the implementation or "application" approved by the bishops at their November meeting and pending recognitio by the Holy See, "has no legal teeth," and each bishop and every theologian or religious studies professor cm decide when, if ever, to request the ' mandate.

Most bishops, he said, will leave it up to the university to decide whether or not a professor should apply for the mandate, and most administrators will be unlikely to force the issue from fear of legal action or losing their reputation with the secular accreditation boards.

What about, the fate dissident theologian Charles Curran, a priest of the Diocese of Rochester, N.Y., suffered when the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith ordered James Cardinal Hickey of Washington, D.C., chancellor of the Catholic University of America, to withdraw Curran's permission to teach theology at CUA?

"Could this happen at other Catholic universities? No, CUA is unique in its relationship to the Holy See and in the composition of its board of trustees… To be legally effective the requirements of the mandate would have to be put into the bylaws of each nonpontifical institution. Independent, lay-dominated' boards of trustees are not likely to do this, and some bishops have said publicly that they were not asking for this. Without doubt the academic reputation of CUA has suffered because of the Curran case. The American Association of University Professors censured the university for its actions. Leaders of other Catholic institutions do not want a similar cloud over their heads," McBrien wrote.

Besides that, McBrien pointed out, most bishops and Catholic colleges and universities don't want to have trouble with their theology departments, so they would be unwilling to enforce the requirements of Ex Corde and the U.S. "application."

McBrien continued: "The more one teases out the potential consequences of the recent vote in Washington, the messier and the more unwieldy the task of implementation seems to become.

"One wishes in the end that the Vatican and the bishops had more confidence in the strength and suppleness of the Catholic tradition," McBrien wrote, and then proposed that the "solution" the Vatican and the U.S. bishops really need is the one already in place at Notre Dame and Boston College: a complete laissez-faire attitude on the part of Church authorities as to what passes for education in Catholic colleges and universities.

"Is there not a middle course between the mandates and outright indifference? There is; and it is being followed already in Catholic universities such as Notre Dame and Boston College and in so many other Catholic institutions like them. Catholic higher education in the United States has not been a failure, nor is it in danger of becoming so. It has produced the best-educated laity in the entire history of the Church.

"We are a more spiritually vibrant and faith-full church because of it."

He concluded: "In light of the above, I do not intend to seek a mandate two or three years down the road when mandates finally become a requirement or an option for Catholic theologians teaching in Catholic universities. For me it is a matter of principle — not of defiance toward the Vatican or the bishops, but of an abiding commitment to the academic integrity of what are among the Church's most precious and valuable assets."

This item 2669 digitally provided courtesy of CatholicCulture.org