Cardinal Law Meets With Skeptical Theologians

BOSTON GLOBE, May 10 — Boston Cardinal Bernard F. Law met with theologians at local Catholic colleges to discuss Pope John Paul II's apostolic constitution on higher education, 1990's Ex Corde Ecclesia (The Heart of the Church), the Boston daily reported.

Cardinal Law said that he would inform college presidents about which theologians sought a mandatum, a written statement pledging that the theologian will teach authentic Catholic doctrine. But he promised he would not take any disputes public.

The Globe reported that theologians at the meeting “seemed generally satisfied,” despite previous criticism of the mandatum.

Cardinal George Blasts Illinois Law

CHICAGO TRIBUNE, May 13 — In a stinging editorial in the Chicago daily, Chicago Cardinal Francis George decried Illinois school laws that prevent parents from getting “some help from their own tax money in sending their children to any school they want.”

Cardinal George responded to a Tribune article that stated that he opposed Church-run charter schools. “I don't oppose the Catholic Church running charter schools,” he replied; “the State of Illinois won't permit the church to run charter schools.”

Some have suggested turning Catholic schools in financial crises over to the public school system, which the cardinal called “a way of cannibalizing successful but under-funded schools.”

Catholic School Start-Ups Conference

AVE MARIA COLLEGE, May 11 — Ave Maria College is organizing a conference in the Detroit area to promote start-ups of independent Catholic schools, the college announced. The conference will discuss everything from fundraising to finding teaching materials.

Conference coordinator Dan Guernsey said, “Families are home schooling in record numbers, and Catholic education is in demand as never before. But the resources of parishes and dioceses are spread thin, so a lot of parents are taking matters into their own hands and exploring how they can start their own independent Catholic schools.”