The National Conference of Catholic Bishops yesterday approved strict guidelines requiring professors of theology at 235 church-affiliated colleges and universities to teach "authentic Catholic doctrine."
The guidelines are a central component of a broader effort initiated by Pope John Paul II in 1990 to requestbishops in every country to rein in Catholic institutions that the Vatican perceives as diverging from official policy on social issues and bring them into closer alignment with church teachings.
In addition to the theological teaching guidelines, the bishops yesterday forbade the nation's 1,140 Catholic health care facilities, which treat 85 million patients annually, to participate in the use of sterilization as a means of birth control.
The new guidelines spell out no specific penalties for Catholic theologians who refuse to follow the rules and seek a mandatum -- a form of approval -- from their local bishops. But individual Catholic schools could adopt rules requiring faculty to abide by the guidelines.
Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk of Cincinnati warned his colleagues Thursday that "there is no mechanism to make anyone do anything. We cannot make the college make that a requirement for hiring." The guidelines were approved by a voice vote.
When the bishops took the first step two years ago toward adoption of the new guidelines, many Catholic professors voiced concern that academic freedom could be threatened. Those fears appear to have moderated.
"It's going to be subject to a lot of local variation depending on how individual bishops decide to proceed," said the Rev. John P. Langan, who teaches Catholic social thought in Georgetown University's philosophy department and was among those raising red flags two years ago.
"It's not an immediate threat to academic freedom or anybody's job, which was the initial fear," he said. "The outcome of terminating people would be lawsuits," which universities would almost certainly lose, he said.
The Very Rev. David M. O'Connell, president of the Catholic University of America, contended that hostility between academics and the bishops has largely dissipated: "The feeling among the bishops is that the relationship between the scholars and the bishops is closer than ever," O'Connell said from Atlanta.
Catholic University will be little affected by the mandatum requirements: Its theological faculty already receives a special charge from the bishop to teach church doctrine.
The National Conference, meeting in Atlanta, approved a "sample" mandatum form for a Catholic teacher seeking the approval of the bishop: "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."
The guidelines define theological disciplines as the teaching of "Sacred Scripture, dogmatic theology, moral theology, pastoral theology, canon law, liturgy and church history."
The requirement to obtain a mandatum from the local bishop applies only to Catholic teachers of the theological disciplines; a non-Catholic professor would not have to meet the requirements. Current teachers have until June 1 next year to apply for a mandatum; new teachers are required to obtain a mandatum within the academic year or within six months of being hired, whichever is longer.
If a teacher fails to obtain a mandatum within the required time, the guidelines provide only that "the competent ecclesiastical authority should notify the appropriate authority in the college or university."
Two years ago, Rembert G. Weakland, archbishop of Milwaukee and the only bishop to speak forcefully against the new policy, warned that the new guidelines "would create a true pastoral disaster. . . . The tension between the hierarchy and theologians is the greatest I've seen in my 36 years of being a superior." Efforts to reach him yesterday were unsuccessful.
In an attempt to quiet concerns of some professors over their due process rights, the guidelines declare that bishops should provide "the reasons and sources" for denying a mandatum and that if a bishop withdraws or withholds a mandatum, he must state his "reasons in writing and otherwise enable the person who believes that his or her rights have been violated to seek recourse."
In addition, the guidelines declare that professors who "attest that they teach in full communion with the Church actually do so."
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