Author:
Publication: Zenit.org
Date: November 6, 2003
Journalist's Investigation Reveals
Worrisome Trend on Mandatums
A U.S. educational group is awarding
its 2003 Ex Corde Ecclesiae Award to a journalist for his articles on Vatican-required
mandatums for theologians at Catholic colleges.
The Virginia-based Cardinal Newman
Society on Tuesday cited Tim Drake for his National Catholic Register series
examining the implementation of John Paul II's apostolic constitution "Ex
Corde Ecclesiae" (From the Heart of the Church) and the mandatum it requires
for theologians at the nation's 235 Catholic colleges.
Drake's research revealed that most
of the Catholic institutions of higher education in the United States won't
tell if their theology professors have agreed to the mandatum.
The mandatum is a recognition from
the local bishop of a theologian's stated intention to teach in accord
with the Church.
The mandatum states: "I hereby declare
my role and responsibility as a teacher of a theological discipline within
the full communion of the Church. As a teacher of a theological discipline,
therefore, I am committed to teach authentic Catholic doctrine and to refrain
from putting forth as Catholic teaching anything contrary to the Church's
magisterium."
When it became clear that Canon
812 was being overlooked by many dioceses, John Paul II in 1990 brought
it to the front of the debate again with "Ex Corde Ecclesia."
The Vatican Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith's 1990 instruction "The Ecclesial Vocation of the
Theologian" explained the reason for the mandatum. It said that one who
has become a Catholic theologian has "freely and knowingly accepted to
teach in the name of the Church" (No. 38). The U.S. bishops began requiring
the mandatum in 2001.
Concern about what is taught on
Catholic campuses isn't just an academic matter. A recent Higher Education
Research Institute study conducted by the University of California-Los
Angeles showed that Catholic students' moral views were weaker, rather
than stronger, after four years on a Catholic college campus.
At 38 of the Catholic colleges surveyed,
37.9% of Catholic freshmen said in 1997 that abortion should be legal.
Four years later, as seniors, 51.7% supported legalized abortion.
So far, only a handful of colleges
-- including Christendom College in Front Royal, Virginia; Creighton University
and the College of St. Mary in Omaha, Nebraska; Our Lady of Corpus Christi
College in Texas; Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio; and Benedictine
College in Atchison, Kansas -- have publicly declared that all their theology
faculty have received the mandatum.
Those that could not or would not
say whether their theologians have a mandatum include high-profile schools
such as Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.; Notre Dame University
in South Bend, Indiana; and Loyola University in Chicago. The Register
series is ongoing.
