Daniel Maguire, a Roman Catholic theologian at a Jesuit university, has spent the last three decades defying the church.
At United Nations meetings, in magazines and on TV and radio news programs, he has argued that Catholic thinking through the centuries has allowed birth control and abortion.
No one from the church or his school, Marquette University in Milwaukee, ever tried to curb him - until last month. That's when the U.S. bishops approved an effort to rein in renegade theologians across the nation.
Maguire is one of the few among hundreds of theology professors publicly resisting the bishops: He will speak Wednesday at a meeting of Planned Parenthood in Washington, D.C., to promote a new book.
Most of his colleagues are being more cautious, waiting to see how the bishops' action plays out.
The bishops passed a measure that requires Catholics teaching religious subjects at America's 235 Catholic colleges to apply by next June for a certificate - or mandatum - that verifies they are sticking to church doctrine in their courses.
``As theology became a lay thing, the Vatican lost control. They want to get it back,'' said Maguire, who believes the mandatum limits academic freedom. ``The way you get it back is to say you're totally dependent on a bishop to say whether you're competent.''
Patrick Reilly, president of the conservative Cardinal Newman Society, said Maguire should be ousted from Marquette's theology department.
``It's a scandal and a lie for them to be representing him as an individual who teaches Catholic theology,'' said Reilly, whose group works to preserve the religious identity of Catholic colleges. ``He has been thumbing his nose at the church for a long time.''
But since Maguire is tenured, it is highly unlikely his job will be affected. Other instructors have less protection, and are anxiously awaiting word from local bishops on how each will handle the certification process. Many bishops have said they will only tell college presidents which instructors complied.
Teachers are privately reflecting on their next step and few will be as public about their choice as Maguire, said Daniel Finn of the Catholic Theological Society of America, which has more than 1,400 members in the United States and Canada. Finn advised the bishops on the mandatum.
``I think the vast majority of people are really feeling torn,'' said Finn, a professor at Minnesota's Saint John's University. ``They don't want to be perceived as openly rebellious since they aren't.''
Finn declined to reveal his own plans.
The Rev. Richard McBrien, a theology professor at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., has refused to seek certification.
He predicted the issue would have a ``chilling effect on attracting Catholic faculty and doctoral students to our universities,'' and said some faculty were concerned about the mandatum's impact on tenure, among other issues.
``People like me, with tenure, senior professors at Catholic colleges and universities, won't be affected,'' said McBrien, author of the popular theology textbook ``Catholicism.'' ``People who feel most uneasy about it are junior people.''
Bishops cannot compel instructors to apply for certification - only colleges can hire and fire professors. However, bishops could try to influence personnel decisions by exerting pressure on the schools.
Marquette spokeswoman Kriss Schulz said it was too soon to know what the impact will be on her university, since Archbishop Rembert Weakland, head of the Milwaukee diocese, has not said how he will handle certification. But she said administrators would not attempt to influence faculty.
``The mandatum is between the archbishop and the university professor,'' she said. Weakland is still reviewing the issue and cannot comment, archdiocese spokesman Jerry Topczewski said.
At least one Web site, http://www.mandata.org, has been trying to make the process public. The site lists hundreds of names of religion instructors, with a check mark next to those seeking certification, or a red circle with a slash through the center for those rejecting it.
The operator of mandata.org, which has no explanation of its mission but is considered by professors to be a conservative watchdog site, did not respond to an e-mail request for comment. Many bishops have condemned such sites and questioned their accuracy, although McBrien's and Maguire's names are correctly marked with red circles.
On the Net: Maguire: http://www.religiousconsultation.org/
Copyright 2001 The Associated Press.