TIME: Almanac 1990/1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso/time/031389/03138900.018

Text File | 1990-09-22 | 4KB | 64 lines

RELIGION, Page 70

The Pope Wins in Court

A theologian's removal raises questions about the Vatican's

role in U.S. Catholic higher education


    There will be plenty to talk about when 35 Roman Catholic
Archbishops of the U.S. meet with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican
this week. The purpose of the gathering, in fact, is to clear the
air on a number of nettlesome issues, ranging from doctrinal
discipline to the role of women in the church, on which the Pontiff
and the U.S. prelates do ,not see eye to eye. By coincidence, one
of their most vexing disputes was settled just days earlier, in
District of Columbia Superior Court. Judge Frederick Weisberg ruled
that the Catholic University of America had every right to follow
John Paul's dictates by removing from its theology faculty Father
Charles Curran, an outspoken professor who questions church
policies on birth control, abortion, homosexuality, premarital sex
and divorce.

    Among the U.S.'s 233 Catholic colleges, Curran's former
employer is unique. The Catholic University was chartered in 1889
by the papacy, and its theology school grants Vatican-authorized
degrees. While most U.S. Catholic universities are run by
predominantly lay boards, the school's chancellor is the Archbishop
of Washington, and 16 bishops, usually including all active U.S.
Cardinals, sit on its 40-member board. Last year the board carried
out a 1986 Vatican directive and barred Curran from teaching
Catholic theology. Curran, 54, retained tenure but spurned
compromise offers to teach nontheological subjects in other
departments.

    The judge ruled that Curran "could not reasonably have expected
that the university would defy a definitive judgment by the Holy
See that he was `unsuitable' and `ineligible' to teach Catholic
theology." There was a "direct and unavoidable" conflict, said the
court, between academic freedom and the school's fealty to the
Pope. The university sided with Rome, and "whether that is
ultimately good for the university or for the church is something
they have a right to decide for themselves." Heartily agreeing, a
Vatican official said the "essential issue was the freedom of the
church to regulate teaching of theology in its own schools."
Curran, who is now teaching theology at the University of Southern
California, will file no appeal. Says he: "I'm a free man now, and
better for it."

    It is unclear whether the decision will have a broader effect
on Catholic higher education in the U.S. Curran thinks it might,
"given the current atmosphere" of John Paul's campaign to clamp
down on errant theology teachers in seminaries and universities.
But Sister Alice Gallin of the Association of Catholic Colleges and
Universities, emphasizes Catholic University's unusual status and
expects no spillover effect. She adds, however, that the case is
"a warning that faculties must protect academic freedom."

    Many Catholic academicians, pleased with the laissez-faire
environment that has developed since the Second Vatican Council,
are anxious to prevent any rollback. The Vatican, on the other
hand, intends to issue a long-pending decree on higher education
including specific provisions for removing dissidents. The whole
issue could come to a head next month when some 170 Catholic
leaders from around the world meet in Rome to discuss the final
draft of the decree. Father Richard McBrien, chairman of the
University of Notre Dame theology department, is confident that
the document will cause no change in the status quo. "Regardless
of what they come up with," he says, "it's not enforceable." That,
of course, is just what Father Curran thought.