What does it mean to be Catholic?

Such is one of the main questions facing Catholic universities, as the National Conference of Catholic Bishops approved a document that, upon Vatican approval, may prove a significant factor in how theological subjects will be taught in Catholic schools and universities in the future.

By a vote of 223-31, with one abstention, the NCCB passed 70 amendments-added by the bishops in two days during their annual conference this week-to “Ex Corde Ecclesiae” yesterday morning.

“Ex Corde Ecclesiae,” Latin for “From the Heart of the Church,” is an apostolistic constitution issued by Pope John Paul II on Aug. 15, 1990 which describes “the identity and mission of Catholic colleges and universities.” The amendments establish more control for bishops over the nation’s 230-plus Catholic schools and universities.

According to supplemental information released by the NCCB, “the communion of bishops and Catholic universities links the bishops’ right and obligation to communicate and safeguard the integrity of Church doctrine with the right and obligatio

n of Catholic universities to investigate, analyze and communicate all truth freely.”

How the bishops would implement such oversight of Catholic schools, however, is largely ambiguous, according to J.J. Mueller, S.J., Chair of Saint Louis University’s Department of Theological Studies.

“The bishops were asked to come up with and define norms and how to apply them,” Mueller said. “Problems with those norms is that they’re ambiguous. People don’t know what that means . If you don’t know what they are, you can’t apply this.”

The norms Mueller described fall into two categories-pastoral and juridical. The pastoral norms, Mueller explained, address how bishops and the universities under their respective jurisdictions will determine the best course of action to establish the identity of Catholic colleges and universities. The juridical norms address the need for clear, legal terms and guidelines. The juridical aspect was added after the rejection of the first attempt at a constitution of “Ex Corde Ecclesiae” at the 1996 NCCB meeting.

The amendments to “Ex Corde” mainly address ways that Catholic teaching and scripture should be integrated into the mission of the University. One issue which has raised eyebrows of Catholic teachers is the subject of the “mandatum,” a document granting a bishop’s permission upon a Catholic professor teaching theology. Theology professors who are not Catholic, however, would not be required to apply for such a mandatum.

Also under the approved guidelines, Catholic university presidents and the majority of a school’s board of trustees should be Catholics dedicated to Catholic ideals. Challenges arise, though, when incumbent members of a university’s upper

administration are not Catholic, as is the case with Marygrove College, whose president is Baptist.

Although the documents provide some leniency in handling such situations-as well as determining whether or not a professor without a mandatum can continue to teach-opponents of the document state that legal challenges will be unavoidable.

“I really worry that we are opening ourselves to needless controversy in the public forum,” stated Maureen Fary, president of the University of Detroit Mercy, in an article by David Crumm, Free Press Religion Writer. “I know there is a small number of college presidents who think they can work with this, but the overwhelming majority of us find very problematic points in this, and we fear the possibility of lawsuits and the potential of loss of federal aid.”

Proponents of “Ex Corde” recognize the need for such measures to counteract two threats to Catholic higher education-the threat of secularization and the “dangers presented by theologians who express public disagreement with official Catholic teaching,” according to an article written by James Heft in The Chronicle of Higher Education on Nov. 12.

Opponents of “Ex Corde” bring up the issue of academic freedom and autonomy, emphasizing that the role of theological teaching in Catholic institutions “is not only to appropriate the religious tradition of the church, but also respectfully to criticize and purify it.”

Mueller said that, in the case here at SLU, theology professors questioning the teachings of the Catholic church are not against the values upheld by a Catholic university and that raising issues encourages students to think. “‘Catholic’ is not univocal,” Mueller said.

At last night’s Town Hall meeting, University president Lawrence Biondi, S.J., described a “natural tension” between Catholic bishops and theologians that has existed for hundreds of years.

“Bishops have tried to maintain and control the dogma,” Biondi said. “Theologians look at the history of the dogma and challenge the church to think in the tradition of the Catholic church.”

Biondi said that he could not speculate on the impact of “Ex Corde” on SLU. “Presidents of universities don’t know how this will be implemented,” Biondi said. “We certainly are committed to being a Catholic university.