A faculty member at an Archdiocese of Detroit seminary has criticized the local archbishop’s July 23 dismissal of three longtime faculty members, arguing that the firings violated sections of the faculty handbook related to academic freedom, contracts and faculty dismissal.

Writing anonymously, the faculty member also said that Archbishop Edward Weisenburger’s dismissal of the canonist Edward Peters and theologians Ralph Martin and Eduardo Echeverria from Sacred Heart Major Seminary (SHMS) has damaged the institution’s reputation and long-term health. 

“Already these firings have generated a considerable amount of bad press for the seminary,” wrote the seminary employee in an Aug. 26 letter to the seminary’s board of trustees. “They have also raised doubts about the direction of the seminary in the minds of some of the bishops and religious communities who send seminarians to SHMS, which could well reduce seminary enrollment and income next year if confidence is not restored.”

The three-page letter, which was written on SHMS letterhead, was signed by “A Concerned Faculty Member” and posted online. The author, whose identity was confirmed by the Register, asked not to be named out of fear of reprisal.

Archbishop Weisenburger’s termination of the three professors, which came just over four months after the archbishop’s March 18 installation as the Motor City’s ordinary, raised widespread concerns of clerical overreach and theological suppression.

The archdiocese did not comment on the moves at the time, but Martin said in a statement that Archbishop Weisenburger had told him he was being fired due to “concerns about my theological perspectives.” Neither Peters nor Echeverria have publicly shared why they were fired.

Each of the three professors, who had served at SHMS for more than 20 years, had previously issued public criticisms of Pope Francis for allegedly causing doctrinal confusion on topics like hell and sexual morality. Archbishop Weisenburger was Pope Francis’ last major episcopal appointment in the United States and suggested shortly after Francis’ death that the late Pope was a saint. 

The faculty member’s letter also revealed new details of the SHMS firings, claiming that Archbishop Weisenburger had given each of the professors a “six-page letter offering them a year of severance pay conditioned upon signing a confidential non-disclosure agreement.” Echeverria had previously told the Register that he had signed an NDA, while Peters shared on social media that he had retained legal counsel.

The seminary employee concluded by asking Archbishop Weisenburger and the board “to do what justice requires” by reinstating the professors or at least going through the proper procedure for dismissal. 

“At the very least, justice requires that our colleagues be paid in full for the remainder of their contracts,” wrote the faculty member.

When asked for comment, an Archdiocese of Detroit communications officer told the Register that the archdiocese “does not comment on archdiocesan or seminary personnel matters.”

 

Meeting with Archbishop

Additionally, an email describing a meeting between Archbishop Weisenburger and the SHMS faculty earlier in August was also uploaded by the same Scribd account that posted the anonymous letter.

The email, which appears to have been written by an SHMS faculty member who was present at the meeting, said that Archbishop Weisenburger “spent less than five minutes” addressing the firings, and said “he was moved to make them because of his ‘conscience.’”

The account of the meeting described in the email was confirmed as accurate by two seminary sources, with one adding that there is still “an open wound” at SHMS after the three professors were fired.

The email also said that the archbishop dismissed concerns that he had violated the seminary’s faculty handbooks on the grounds that “canon law trumps any civil norms or procedures.”

The author of the email also said that he or she had raised concerns that the abrupt firings and lack of justification has created “a climate of fear and uncertainty” at the seminary.

According to the email, the archbishop responded by saying that he would not explain the “reasons” for the firings any further, citing fear of possible lawsuits.

“Thus, the faculty meeting ended with many of us feeling disappointed in the ‘underwhelming’ response of the archbishop,” said the email writer.

Faculty Handbook

In the open letter, the anonymous SHMS faculty member contended that the firings of Martin, Echeverria and Peters violated three separate sections of Sacred Heart’s “Faculty Handbook,” including a policy governing faculty separation that requires the determination of “material violation(s) of the contract and/or faculty handbook.”

“No such violation was alleged, and no cause communicated other than unspecified theological differences. Nor was there any due process,” wrote the seminary employee, who also raised concerns that the handbook’s requirement that “written notification of intent to dismiss” was also not provided.

The letter also contended that the way the professors were fired violated internal policies related to academic freedom and contracts. For instance, the handbook does not speak negatively of differing theological viewpoints, but instead prohibits the teaching of “anything contrary to the Catholic faith or morals as taught by the Magisterium.”

“To terminate these faculty members merely for differing theological perspectives expressed in their print or online publications is a violation of their academic freedom,” wrote the faculty member.

The Register has obtained a copy of the current version of the seminary’s handbook and confirmed that the passages cited by the letter’s author are accurate.

Canon law states that a local ordinary has full and direct authority over his diocesan seminary and that he is to ensure that it is governed “according to the norm of the law and the statutes of the seminary.”  Sacred Heart’s current seminary handbook was approved in 2023 by the board of trustees, led at the time by Archbishop Allen Vigneron, then the ordinary of Detroit.

Canonists contacted by the Register say it is unclear if the archbishop's actions are consistent with canon law, adding that the action could likely be appealed.

In the letter, the anonymous faculty member states that the firings of Martin, Echeverria and Peters have also had a “chilling effect on faculty morale, job security, and academic freedom” at SHMS.

“What is the value of the Faculty Handbook and faculty contracts if they are not respected?” the faculty member wrote.

 

Accreditation Risk?

The letter also claimed that the firings jeopardize Sacred Heart’s standing with its accrediting bodies, possibly violating academic freedom, job security and internal governance requirements. Concerns were also raised that the dismissals could harm the Detroit seminary’s formal affiliation with the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (the Angelicum), in Rome, which allows the Detroit seminary to grant ecclesiastical degrees.

In addition to their long-standing contributions to SHMS, the three fired professors were also widely seen as orthodox figures. 

Martin, 82, the founder of the charismatic apostolate Renewal Ministries and host of the EWTN program The Choices We Face, was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI as a consultor to the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization in 2011 and as an expert at a 2012 synod on the same topic.

Echeverria, 74, is a leader in ecumenical dialogue with evangelical Christians, while Peters was appointed as an adviser to the Apostolic Signatura, the Holy See’s highest administrative tribunal, by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010.

Prior to coming to Detroit, Archbishop Weisenburger served as the bishop of Tucson, Arizona. In addition to the Sacred Heart firings, the archbishop has faced criticism for aggressively curtailing the traditional Latin Mass in Detroit, removing the liturgy from 13 parish churches and confining it to four chapels.

Established in 1919, SHMS serves as a major center for priestly formation in Michigan and the Midwest. Eighteen SHMS graduates representing six dioceses and one religious community were ordained to the priesthood this past spring, the seminary’s magazine reported.

The fall semester at Sacred Heart begins on Sept. 2.

Editor’s Note: This article was updated Aug. 29 to include new information about a meeting between Archbishop Weisenburger and the SHMS faculty.