MANASSAS, Va. — Recent remarks made by Pope Benedict XVI about Catholic higher education spurred the Manassas, Va.-based Cardinal Newman Society to issue a special report on the status of the mandatum’s implementation in U.S. Catholic colleges and universities.
Titled “A Mandate for Fidelity: Pope Benedict Urges Compliance With Theologians’ Mandatum,” the report features several key Church leaders and scholars calling for a renewed commitment to the Church’s canon law mandatum requirement for theologians who teach at Catholic colleges and universities.
Pope Benedict addressed the topic of Catholic higher education on May 5, during the ad limina visit by the bishops of Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Washington and Wyoming.
“The report was prompted by Pope Benedict’s address to the bishops, in which he ties the mandatum directly to the work of colleges and universities to renew their Catholic identity,” said Patrick Reilly, president of the Cardinal Newman Society.
The report suggests that the mandatum has largely been disregarded due to “scant information available about who has the mandatum and the procedures followed by individual bishops to grant or deny it.”
The canon law mandatum is a bishop’s acknowledgement of a theology professor’s declaration that they will teach in communion with the Church and her teaching authority, as required by Canon 812.
The Pope spoke of the mandate in the context of “a growing recognition on the part of Catholic colleges and universities of the need to reaffirm their distinctive identity in fidelity to their founding ideals and the Church’s mission in service of the Gospel.”
“Yet much remains to be done, especially in such areas as compliance with the mandate laid down in Canon 812 for those who teach theological disciplines,” said Pope Benedict.
“The importance of this canonical norm,” he continued, “becomes all the more evident when we consider the confusion created by instances of apparent dissidence between some representatives of Catholic institutions and the Church’s pastoral leadership: Such discord harms the Church’s witness and, as experience has shown, can easily be exploited to compromise her authority and her freedom.”
The Cardinal Newman Society report quoted Cardinal Raymond Burke, canon lawyer and prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, on the significance of the Pope’s recent words. “The Holy Father only has a limited number of occasions during these ad limina visits to speak with bishops,” Cardinal Burke said. “That he would devote one of the lengthier communications with the bishops to the subject [of the mandatum and Catholic higher education] certainly indicates to me that it is a serious concern on his part. … It would seem reasonable to me to think that the Holy Father brought it up because of a concern that it is not perhaps being implemented in the way that’s intended.”
Public or Private?
In 1983, Pope John Paul II approved the revised Code of Canon Law, including a section governing Catholic colleges and universities and the mandatum. He later issued the apostolic constitution Ex Corde Ecclesiae (From the Heart of the Church) to guide the universities.
In the late 1990s, the U.S. bishops approved particular norms to implement Ex Corde Ecclesiae in the U.S.
The bishops’ 1999 “Application of Ex Corde Ecclesiae for the United States” included the requirement that Catholic theology professors at Catholic colleges and universities obtain the mandatum. The bishops’ “Guidelines for Ex Corde Ecclesiae,” which were issued in 2001, stated that “the mandatum is an obligation of the professor, not of the university.”
A 2011 doctoral dissertation survey of U.S. Catholic colleges and university leaders, conducted by James Caridi, vice president for student development at Ohio Dominican University in Columbus, Ohio, found that 42% of the respondents said they have neither a department nor a chair of Catholic theology, as required by Ex Corde Ecclesiae; 36% said they did not know whether their theology professors have the mandatum.
Ten years ago, an award-winning Register investigative series discovered that the mandatum was being treated as a private matter between the theologian and his or her local bishop, thus making it virtually impossible for students or their parents to know which professors had received it in good standing.
Students and parents’ only recourse was to contact individual members of the theology department to ask whether they had in fact received the mandatum, a request which faculty members were not always willing to share.
In essence, the manner in which the mandatum was being implemented, rather than renewing Catholic higher education, served only to hide dissenting theologians in a seemingly Church-sanctioned way.
Of the nation’s more than 200 Catholic colleges and universities, only a handful publicly disclose that their theologians have the mandatum.
The Register and the Cardinal Newman Society publish annual college guides that invite colleges and universities to be listed as a way of witnessing to their Catholic identity. However, many schools decline participation in the guide.
“We hear often from Catholic families who are distressed and confused by the secrecy at many Catholic universities regarding the mandatum,” said Reilly. “They believe they have a right as Catholics and consumers to know which professors are committed to authentic Catholic theology, and they are dismayed that any college course would be taught in shadows and darkness, least of all Catholic theology."
The primary concern of the theologians who do not publicly disclose whether they have the mandatum is that “it will diminish them in the esteem of the secular academic world,” noted Jesuit Father James Conn, professor of canon law at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, who is currently serving as professor of the practice of canon law at Boston College School of Theology and Ministry. “They feel that it would somehow diminish their academic freedom to be beholden to the ecclesiastical authority when their colleagues do not have to,” explained Father Conn.
Cardinal Burke, however, said that as a public declaration, in writing, the mandatum is a public act. “The fact that I teach in accord with the magisterium is a public factor,” said Cardinal Burke. “Ultimately, the mandatum gives that assurance to students that, if they enroll in a given college or university, they can count upon receiving a solid education in Catholic theology.”
“The reason for the law is a kind of truth in advertising,” said Father Conn. “Otherwise, it serves no purpose. Canon 812 was not meant to be a meaningless norm.”
Nothing in Canon 812 or in the American bishops’ approved norms or guidelines for implementing the mandatum states that it must be kept private or be made public.
Father Conn said that the U.S. application is the fruit of compromise between theological societies who lobbied against the mandatum, universities fearful of litigation and bishops who lacked the wherewithal to put teeth into the document.
“In the end, I think the U.S. application is a flawed document,” said Father Conn. “It should have answered all these questions.”
As a result, the degree to which it has been implemented varies greatly from diocese to diocese. Retired Omaha, Neb., Archbishop Elden Curtiss in 2003 advocated publicly disclosing recipients of the mandatum since 2001, when the U.S. bishops approved their mandatum guidelines. Archbishop Curtiss told theologians at the two institutions of higher education in his diocese that if they refused to sign the mandatum he would release their names. The archbishop told the Register in 2003 that all of the theologians had received the mandatum.
“The Holy Father’s intention was that the bishop would dialogue with the faculty and that they would show that they were in union with the Church and the teaching magisterium,” Archbishop Curtiss told the Register in 2003. The mandatum, in other words, was meant to work against dissent, not shield dissenters from view.
Who Should Disclose?
If neither the theologian nor the university wants to disclose which theology professors are teaching in concert with the Church, then who should? Some have advocated that it is up to the bishop to publicly disclose the information.
“The college should display its communion with the bishop by being the appropriate entity to publish the names of those college professors with or without the mandatum,” said retired Diocese of Scranton Bishop Joseph Martino. “In the absence of the local college’s fulfillment of this act of ecclesial communion, the bishop should publish the names and keep them published and updated — for example, on a diocesan website, for future inquirers.”
Father Conn agreed.
“Who, then, is left to say who has the mandatum? The bishop,” said Father Conn. “The bishop does not have to say why or how. He simply has to say Yes or No.”
“I wouldn’t know why you wouldn’t want it to be public,” Capuchin Franciscan Father Thomas Weinandy, executive director of the Secretariat for Doctrine and Pastoral Practices of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in the Newman report. “The whole point is public recognition that somebody is truly a Catholic theologian.”
Until the mandatum is implemented differently, few Catholic leaders see any hope for change. The report calls for greater accountability, and the mandatum is one way to do that, although it hasn’t been implemented well.
“Given the connection between the mandatum and an institution’s Catholic identity, how can colleges and universities simply ignore the mandatum?” asked Reilly. “We wanted to know why the mandatum is included in the canon law section on universities — and again in Ex Corde Ecclesiae — if it has no bearing on a Catholic institution’s responsibility to hire a qualified and committed faculty. Apparently, it does.”
Senior writer Tim Drake is based in St. Joseph, Minnesota.
Benjamin Wiker: Benedict XVI: Doctor of the Church
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Seeing how far many (most?) of the Catholic colleges and universities have strayed since Land O’Lakes, the academic staff of a college who aren’t Catholic and, therefore, the uncertainty of what has and hasn’t been taught, it is imperative that ALL sign a mandatum (not just theology professors) and ALL should be Catholic. The latter is a requirement of most primary and secondary schools and should continue through the Catholic educational system (It is hard to believe that there are not Catholic professors who are qualified to teach any subject). Part of the problem lies in this area when one reads that a sociology or law professor, etc, state something that contradicts the Magisterium, but nothing is done to the offender. This becomes problematic at some schools (Jesuit ones come to mind) where even the priests contradict the Magisterium. One also must think about this: if what is taught in a college is in error, what of those who become teachers - is there not a propensity to continue the error?
While this should be disclosed by the institution—even made available on their websites—parents may want to try contacting the bishop to request information regarding which theologians in the diocese have the mandatum.
@Bob—I agree. As religious orders dwindle and even disappeared, these Catholic institutions have not fostered enough faithful lay Catholic academics outside of the theology (or “religious studies”) departments to become faculty members and administrators now that those who took positions soon after Land O’Lakes are retiring. The Church must put their effort into the theologians through the mandatum because I think they have already lost the battle everywhere else—ironically thanks to Catholic higher education.
The primary concern of the theologians who do not publicly disclose whether they have the mandatum is that “it will diminish them in the esteem of the secular academic world,” noted Jesuit Father James Conn, professor of canon law at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, who is currently serving as professor of the practice of canon law at Boston College School of Theology and Ministry. “They feel that it would somehow diminish their academic freedom to be beholden to the ecclesiastical authority when their colleagues do not have to,” explained Father Conn.
This is a question and an issue that we all have to get better at answering and addressing, first of all by asking the following questions of ourselves and those in the secular academic world vis-a-vis the practice and teaching of theology: Is objective truth knowable? What is Man? What, therefore, do we mean by “freedom,” academic and otherwise? What do we understand the Church to be, and what, therefore, is the Magisterium and the role of the Magisterium? Who do we understand Jesus Christ to be, and how do we read Holy Scripture? What, therefore, is theology, and what is its purpose? Furthermore, how many people are aware that the letters “Ph.D.” stand for “Doctor of Philosophy”? A Ph.D., therefore, is more than a mere credential: it expects something very specific of you. These are questions that we need to ask ourselves, and also others, and I think that they point to a good offense being a good defense.
This argument is tiresome and not really valid in the first place. But besides that, there are schools that provide this disclosure and EVERY one of them is clamoring for more students. There are schools that choose not to disclose. For the very small group of Catholics who really are worried about their University having displayed the Mandatum - just to to one of those schools. Nobody said you have to go to Georgetown, Holy Cross, Boston College, etc. It’s not like you don’t have a choice.
And by the way, you’ll never get what you think you want from those larger institutions anyway, goofballs like Patrick Reilly are tilting at windmills.
All Faithful Catholic Colleges and Universities must use the “CATECHISM of the CATHOLIC CHURCH, Second Edition” as a required student text for first and/or second year students. This will help to avoid the teaching of errors whether those errors are accidental or on purpose. Until US Bishops start actively promoting the reading of the CCC, we will continue to have problems. “Through the harmonious and complementary efforts of all the ranks of the People of God, may this Catechism be known and shared by everyone, so that the unity in faith whose supreme model and origin is found in the Unity of the Trinity may be strengthened and extended to the ends of the earth.” - Pope John Paul II (pg xv). Do not expect a Catholic Education from any College that does not use the CCC as a required student text.
Important article. I am really glad there is an increase of attention paid to this topic. Catholic in name alone isn’t enough. Universities of conviction build people of conviction.
On the Catechism of the Catholic Church
It is the greatest work of John Paul and Benedict.
Indeed, I have several hard-line Protestant friends who use it, although with caution as it is certainly at odds with much of their lamentable Protestanism.
They like that it summarizes Christian teaching, with which they largely agree, in an organized coherent clear manner. Today so much is mushy doubletalk.
Bob, you did say ‘stray’. The province of a university is to educate; the word ‘stray’ is to restrain the educative endeavor of an university. Unfortunately, those whose mindset is a simple ‘obey’ advocate such an anti-educational posture. Sadly, your post is a proposal to water down the value of a degree from a catholic unversity. It is one matter to survey catholic teaching in a theology course; quite another to similarly advocate catholic scrutiny in non theology courses. What is taught at a university is what is known, constant search for the not yet known, and proper methodology of study, reason, observation and critical thinking. What Bob proposes is contrary to critical thinking.
Contradicting the ‘magisterium’ ought not have any bearing at a university. The legacy of the magisterium throughout church history is a mine field of errors. Constant diligence to examination of thought and subject matter scrutinizing all manner of scholarship is paramount to educational standing. Grateful that I am to Jesuit training and steadfastness as it remains firm valueing higher education….
Bob, You said, “The latter is a requirement of most primary and secondary schools and should continue through the Catholic educational system (It is hard to believe that there are not Catholic professors who are qualified to teach any subject).”
These primary and secondary times are the formative years. I’m sure there are Catholic professors who are qualified; however, college/university students are hopefully taught to think and question what they are being taught in all subject matters. The Mandatum should have bearing on any teacher of catholic theology; however, to require this of non-theology professors would diminish the objective of higher education. We cannot and should not teach our youth to think as we think without educating them as to why we do, and exposing them to the thinking of others so they will see why we do not; having a diverse group of teachers is, to me, the best education system available.
@ Jesuitical graduate of Boston College and Nancy
To stray, in this case, is to ignore and even contradict the Magisterium of the Church. All too often, there are those in what are called Catholic universities who state what the Church has publically declared is wrong or in error. The Church has always taught that homosexuality, abortion, female priests, etc, are contrary to what the Church believes but contrary opinions often publically sprew from many Catholic colleges by professors in many different fields – obviously not having signed a mandatum.
No one is suggesting not being exposed to contradictory ideas or exploring the unknown or deepening our knowledge, but the final word belongs to the Church: “The task of authoritatively interpreting the word of God, whether written or handed on [Scripture or Tradition], has been entrusted exclusively to the living Magisterium of the Church, whose authority is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ.” (Dei Verbum # 10)
Contradicting the Magisterium has every bearing to a Catholic school and should be, in the end, all important. In a Catholic university, graduates should not only know our Faith, but should live it and defend it. Without this end result, it makes no difference if the school is Catholic or not.
Bob, earnest scholarship in a university educates its students. It does not indoctrinate them. Whatever the church preaches regarding homosexuality, contraception, female ordination can only be noted as such, or referenced as the purview of the church.
Education as such is not declaring the church wrong, but encouraging the student to examine with critical thought and reason, supplying the student with sufficient material to make its own decision.
If the final word belongs to the church we are forever mired in primitive thought. What Bob advocates is ‘obey’, don’t think. There can be no change without critical dissent. If the vatican does to our catholic universiies as it did in Peru, we shall have no university, but a seminary. And, we all know where our seminaries rank among leading universities…no where in sight.
Jesuitical graduate of Boston College, I’m from Jesuitical Marquette University. You are wrong.
The Magisterium of the Church has never been incorrect in teaching matters of Faith and Morals.
If you had been required to study the “CATECHISM of the CATHOLIC CHURCH, Second Edition”, you would know what the Church teaches, and what Catholics are REQUIRED to believe. This includes all the topics you mentioned and more.
The Church is not a salad bar where people can pick and choose what they want to believe. If you want that, you will have to good to some Protestant Churches.
Jesus gave His Church the power to bind on earth and in heaven, not some college professors or us as individuals. MT 16:18-19.
There are 4 kinds of Catholics. - Faithful Catholics, Heretical Catholics, Schismatic Catholics, and Ignorant Catholics. (And there is no excuse for ignorance with the high literacy rate and availability of the CCC in the USA.)
“ The Catechism of the Catholic Church, which I approved ... and the publication of which I today order by virtue of my Apostolic Authority, is a statement of the Church’s faith and of catholic doctrine, attested to or illumined by Sacred Scripture, the Apostolic Tradition and the Church’s Magisterium. I declare it to be a sure norm for teaching the faith and thus a valid and legitimate instrument for ecclesial communion. “ – Pope John Paul II. (pg 5)
PS: In part thanks to my Jesuit lack of religous education, I left the Church for more than 15 years.
Jesuitical graduate of Boston College, Boston and many other so-called “Catholic Universities” do not teach the Faith accurately at all. Therefore your arguments are incorrect.
To compare truths, the University would have to start by teaching the Faith accurately. This would require that they they use the “Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition” as a required student text (studying it from cover to cover), and also have students read an entire Catholic Bible from cover to cover prior to graduating.
These colleges including yours do neither. Therefore, there is no way that a student can use his UNIFORMED conscience to come up with anything appropriate to base his judgements or conscience upon.
You can not compare what you do not know, and you can not know the Faith in its entirety without using the CCC which also references the Bible and other Church documents.
@Jesuitical: What is the purpose of the Catholic university? I suggest this is where we part ways, and I would recommend Cardinal Newman’s masterpiece on the subject.
There is a difference between statements of Church authority and the Church’s authoritative teaching. One may be critical of the discipline of celibacy in the Latin Rite Church. But one may not reject the all male priesthood, as the Pope reiterated this past Holy Thursday. To do so is no different than to reject the teachings of the Apostles that were guided by the Holy Spirit in Acts 15.
Education vs. indoctrination? Come now, are you so naive as to believe that professors are truly “neutral”? While I grant that a good teacher will explain “both sides,” all of us teach from a certain perspective, and Catholic professors have a right, nay a duty, to help form young minds in the Light of Truth—especially when the majority of young Catholics today have not been presented with a compelling argument against the secular culture, but fed milque-toast doctrine in place of strong wine that leads to penance and conversion.
Pat Reilly, thank you for shining a bright light on this darkness in our Catholic universities. When it comes to teaching Catholic Doctrine, there is no such thing as acedemic freedom since there is only one truth. If an instructor cannot teach truth, he/she should not be teaching in a Catholic Institution. They should go elsewhere to share their opinions.
@jesuitical: In light of yesterday’s feast of St. Bridget, I would recommend a review of the “revelations of St. Bridget.”
Why stay “forever mired in primitive thought”? Let’s be “Jesuitical”!
What is not Catholic about a female, homosexual pope, married priests, and Catholic abortion clinics?
Not only is this country going to “hell in a handbasket” as one young physician told me, so are the remnants of the Roman Catholic Church.
A general reading of the comments show that many are in favour of the mandatum and the need to mould students in good moral values. But some question the Church stating that Magisterium is not always correct and so different opinions are expressed or taught in schools and universities. This kind of thought is dangerous. Once you are a believer in Catholicism, you have to agree with its teachings however difficult or however unpopular in secular world. catholic teachings and dogmas are not subject to votes and accepting majority opinion. In the U S and Europe a section of Catholics think that gay sex, premarital sex, divorce and even abortion is o.k. in some cases. This thought is the result of pure ignorance of Catholicism and of the desire for the pleasure culture of modern secular society.
Thank you to the BC graduate for discussing the fundamental role of critical thinking in higher education.
In matters regarding Faith and morals, the Church is the final authority. “All those things are to be believed by divine and Catholic faith which are contained in the written Word of God or in Tradition, and which are proposed by the Church, either in solemn judgment or in its ordinary and universal teaching office, as divinely revealed truths which must be believed.” (First Vatican Council, 1870)
Pope Benedict XVI has specifically spoken to the Jesuits about this, “…at the same time you must loyally take on the Church’s fundamental duty to remain faithful to her mandate and to adhere totally to the Word of God and to the Magisterium’s task of preserving the integral truth and unity of Catholic doctrine. I [ask] you for a renewed commitment to promoting and defending Catholic doctrine, ‘especially its key points, under severe attack today by the secular culture’… The themes, continuously discussed and called into question today, of salvation of all humanity in Christ, of sexual morality, of marriage and the family, must be explored and illumined in the context of contemporary reality but preserving that harmony with the Magisterium which avoids causing confusion and dismay among the people of God (italics added).” (2008)
It seems apparent that “primitive thought” has not won the day at BC, but that seems to be the overarching problem in many Jesuit schools today. Alas, it seems that BC, as in many others, has a case of, “Itchy ears.” Removing the “Catholic” designation from many universities would not render them seminaries (they couldn’t qualify as such), they would simply become “formally” secular.
To you pompous, self righteous sloganeers who claim to know what other universities teach. From the course catalog of Boston College: (note the required reading includes THE CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH). You might want to do yourself a favor and get a clue before you pontificate.
Boston College School of Theology & Ministry
Sacramental/Liturgical Theology
TH 628
John F. Baldovin, S.J.
Goal, Scope and Method of the Course
We will cover the basics of the Catholic Church’s teaching on Sacraments, a number of fundamental
liturgical documents, and one in depth study of liturgical theology. The course will be conducted
by lecture and discussion. Students are encouraged to read Vatican II’s Constitution on the
Sacred Liturgy as well as Catechism of the Catholic Church #1066-1209 before the first class.
Course Reading Materials
Catechism of the Catholic Church
The Liturgy Documents, 4
th
ed., Chicago: LTP, 2004
Ever since Humanae Vite most theologians have sought to set themselves up as an alternative Magisterium. Unless they pledge fidelity to Catholic teaching as put forth by the Pope as the supreme teacher, the Magisterium and Catholic Tradition as recognized by Rome then whatever they teach cannot be called Catholic. Same goes for their trade group. If they continue to do so, and never mind about their excuses, then they are in heresy. The church’s primary mission is to save souls. If the teaching is called Catholic but it is not approved by the Catholic Church and its Bishops, then souls are at risk! Church fathers, do your thing to protect your flocks; remember, your responsibility and obligation for our souls are great.
Thank you Bob for your post of Jul 25, 2012 11:33 AM. I’d only like to add the following from the CCC which is from the Magisterium.
CCC: 2089
” INCREDULITY is the neglect of revealed truth or the willful refusal to assent to it.
HERESY is the obstinate post-baptismal denial of some truth which must be believed with divine and catholic faith, or it is likewise an obstinate doubt concerning the same.
APOSTACY is the total repudiation of the Christian faith.
SCHISM is the refusal of submission to the Roman Pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him. “
@I_M_Foreman - “Unless they pledge fidelity to Catholic teaching as put forth by the Pope as the supreme teacher, the Magisterium and Catholic Tradition as recognized by Rome then whatever they teach cannot be called Catholic.”
Where do you come up with this stuff? Absolutely unfounded and untrue. The Church NEVER, EVER said such a thing.
And “Church fathers, do your thing to protect your flocks;”
That’s going to be kind of hard for the Church Fathers to pull off since they’ve been DEAD for centuries. LOL!
Jesuits have had a formidable mission to educate the unwilling. Education is not the acquiescence of non-thinking mindlessly obedient. Magisterium is not an entity, nor is it limited to whatever the bishops and cardinals foist upon us. Rather the magisterium belongs to the whole church, its theologians in debate, its universities in constant quest for new learning, open mindedness, and most of all due reflection and tolerance of thought and willingness to accede to new fingings of science.
What is postulated in many replies is none of this, but simply to obey.
The catechism does not belong in the university. It belongs in Sunday school along with the Baltimore catechism as an instructional manual. Primary and secondary sources are the instruments of university inquiry.
Truthfulness ought not be a distraction…a wise man seeks the truth where it lies, not where he wishes to put it.
Our life is a lifelong march of education through the night, surrounded by invisible foes hiding among the shadows in ignorance, tortured by weariness and pain, toward a goal few on this blog think reachable or understand. An educated person finds a new vision is with him always, shedding over every daily task basking in the light of enlightenment. Very brief is the time our university has to teach those willing to learn in which liberalness of thought or the misery of ignorance is decided. Be it ours to shed sunshine on their path, to lighten their sorrows by the balm of reflective thought, to give them the joy of never-tiring critical thinking, to strengthen failing courage, to instill reason in hours of depressed thought. Let us remember that our travel on the road of learning, they are our fellow sufferers in the same darkness, actors in the same tragedy with ourselves. And when our time upon the stage of learning is over; be it ours to think that, where they suffered in repressed thought, where they failed in new learning, no deed of ours was the cause. This is our goal, our quest, and or abode lies solely in the ‘tuth’.
Studying the CCC in its “ENTIRETY” is not REQUIRED for all students at Boston College. But merely in “part” for those who choose a particular course centered on the Sacraments which is not required.
BC merely requires 2 courses in Theology to graduate. There are many to choose from including classes on diversity.
The class mentioned by Joseph is not one of the classes as part of the required Core. Required Core courses in Theology to graduate are numbered: TH 001 through 162.04. There are 20 core Theology classes to choose from for the 2 courses to graduate, and NOT ONE of them is a course on the CCC in its entirety. (You can check this on on the BC internet site.)
When students graduate from BC, they will not know their Catholic Faith based upon required classes.
Joseph, the course you mentioned is NOT a REQUIRED CORE COURSE to graduate. By the discription alone the course merely covers paragraphs 1066-1209 on the Litergy and probably 1210 through 1689 on the Sacraments. This covers 623 paragraphs in the CCC out of 2865 total. These leaves 2,242 paragraphs not taught exactly as from the Magisterium.
Boston College does not have a REQUIRED class on the “CATECHISM of the CATHOLIC CHURCH, Second Edition” in its ENTIRETY.
Students will graduate without knowing their Catholic Faith. This is very sad for a College advertising itself “Catholic”.
Faithful Catholics may not pick and choose what they want to believe.
Jesuitical graduate of Boston College, you have been taught to be a heretic and schismatic. You have proven that you have not been properly taught the Faith at BC.
“ The Catechism of the Catholic Church, which I approved ... and the publication of which I today order by virtue of my Apostolic Authority, is a statement of the Church’s faith and of catholic doctrine, attested to or illumined by Sacred Scripture, the Apostolic Tradition and the Church’s Magisterium. I declare it to be a sure norm for teaching the faith and thus a valid and legitimate instrument for ecclesial communion. “ – Pope John Paul II. (pg 5).
“….the Catechism has raised throughout the world, even among non-Christians, and confirms its purpose of being presented as a full, complete exposition of Catholic doctrine, enabling everyone to know what the Church professes, celebrates, lives, and prays in her daily life.” – Pope John Paul II (pg xiv)
“The Catechism of the Catholic Church, lastly is offered to every individual who asks us to give an account of the hope that is in us (cf. 1 Pet 3:15) and who wants to know what the Catholic Church believes”. – Pope John Paul II (pg 6).
The “CATECHISM of the CATHOLIC CHURCH, Second Edition” is not the Baltimore Catechism.
CCC: ” 100 The task of interpreting the Word of God authentically has been entrusted solely to the Magisterium of the Church, that is, to the Pope and to the bishops in communion with him.”
You are not the Magisterium and neither am I, nor are the Jesuits, nor any Bishops Conference or theologians.
Oh for Heaven’s sake…not even Franciscan or Christendom have “REQUIRED class on the “CATECHISM of the CATHOLIC CHURCH, Second Edition” in its ENTIRETY.”
Know why? Because that is an idiotic idea that even the most orthodox of Catholic universities would buy in to. You don’t need to go to university to read the CCC. You could do that memorization of regulations through an on-line course over the web.
There wasn’t any sort of catechism until 1597 a.d. So you’re telling me St. Thomas Aquinas or Augustine weren’t Catholic teachers because they didn’t teach the catechism?
...and yet Anne the Magisterium has failed its flock. Catechism or katechesis is teaching by word of mouth. Should Catholic school instructors also teach by example…most get an F if I am to grade them.
Leaving aside The Catechetical Instructions of St. Thomas Aquinas in the 13th Century and the fact that both he and St. Augustine are Doctors of the Church, it seems obvious that the cathechism is not being used by students of any age. Elsewise, many of the basic facts concerning our Faith would not be subject to discussion (much less negotiation). Further, it seems, based on what has been written, that many have learned so little of their own Faith, that they should ask for their money back from these Catholic-in-name-only schools. If someone is not given the “core knowledge” of Catholicism as they grow into adulthood, then to expect two classes to solve the problem is unrealistic.
All ‘faith’, divine or otherwise; is an unquestioning belief, lacking the support of proof or evidence. Any god that we can understand is no god at all. “A rational person can knowingly will himself to believe a proposition for which he has no evidence.”
By Joseph you’ve got that right! You can’t go to heaven unless you went to Catholic college or university first!
With the exception of Holy Scripture prior to the Catechism of the Council of Trent (late 1500’s) the Church only had the Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas regarding Church teaching plus some individual writings.
Boston College doesn’t teach/require the Summa or the Catechism of the Council of Trent if you want to bring those up. Summa is much more difficult for the average student.
All the things that the liberals want to change are in the current CCC, everything from Priests being celebate, to homosexuality, to fornication, to pornography, to only men being Priests, to marriage being only between one man and one woman, to contraception, to abortion, to subsidiarity, to commutative justice, - etc, etc, etc,.
This is the reason that liberal heretics do NOT want anyone to study the CCC in entirety. The only way they can win their points is to keep Catholics in the dark and as ignorant as possible on the teachings of the Church.
If Blessed Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict wants the CCC used, why are you and some Jesuits trying to bury it.
Remember that Boston C does not use the CCC at all in any required courses.
I could easily give a reasonable test to the students at BC on the contents of the CCC, and they would flunk.
Some of the things you have written are heretical. It means you have never read the CCC in entirety, or you don’t care about being a Faithful Catholic.
None of the CCC is taught as a required core class at Jesuit Boston College.
And further they have not taught you to properly read either, Joseph.
The following info is available on Christendom’s web site - THEO 101: Fundamentals of Catholic Doctrine I. Catechism of the Catholic Church;
THEO 102: Fundamentals of Catholic Doctrine II. The Catechism of the Catholic Church.
Both classes are required freshman courses.
What is BC trying to hide from their students - the accurate teachings of the Church so they can indoctrinate them as they see fit?
As someone else said, Joseph, you and the Jesuits are not the Magisterium.
As parents and consumers in search of teaching the Truth of Christ and His Church, we must be extremely careful where we are educated and where we send our children for education. Sadly, there are very few authenic Catholic parochial schools or for that matter,Catholic private schools. Up here in the NorthWest,we have very limited amount of authentic Catholic elementaries, middle and high schools not to mention colleges and universities. We need to make a stand, contact our bishops and demand better. When an alma mater is not instructing in Catholic ideals and not following the magisterium, we must withdraw all donations. It is imperative to be vocal about such an act…money does talk.
May we all seek to live our Catholic lives in communion w/His Church, attempting to raise our children in His Love, His Truth and His compassion. Jesus, Mary and Joseph assist all families in teaching the Trinitarian Love and honoring His sacrament of marriage. Protect all Your children, most gracious and merciful God.
Anne is that what the Baltimore Catechism taught you; to call people who disagree ‘heretics’ and ‘schismatics’. Instructional manuals as the catechism need not be taught…like all manuals, simply memorized. BC grads are fortunate that THINKING was mandatory. Unlike the ‘pew people’ who have not a clue what the educative process entails; which is read and read some more with critical thought, discussing among peers, and willingness to acquire new learning. Natural Law Philosophy frozen in scholasticism, which the ultra conservatives in the church attest, is fixed and unchanging and impedes learning. University accedes to the Enlightenment, stressing science and reason rather than superstition and myth. An education is not an instruction manual, nor is it indoctrination in apologetics; rather it spans the ‘universe’ of information, free inquiry and thought, encourages expression of debate, allows contrary opinions and totally avoids the constraints foisted upon it by a bishop demanding the digesting and memorizing a book of instruction.
@Pete - you are correct, CCC is not required at BC. However, I was responding to the poster who wrote that BC does not teach the CCC at all. That is incorrect as I mentioned above.
Nice try on the CCC requirement at Christendom though - but again incorrect. There are two courses required called, “Fundamentals of Catholic Doctrine.” Neither of which have the tag-line you invented, “The Catechism of the Catholic Church.” The course description(s):
THEO 101-102 Fundamentals of Catholic Doctrine
(2 semesters, 3 credit hours each semester) A systematic presentation of the mysteries of the Faith, the moral and spiritual norms of Christian life, the liturgy and the sacraments, as revealed in Scripture and Apostolic Tradition and as defined by the magisterial documents of the Church. Required of all students.
My original statement stands true neither have: ““REQUIRED class on the “CATECHISM of the CATHOLIC CHURCH, Second Edition” in its ENTIRETY.”
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