Since 1923 • For a greater Loyola

The Maroon

Since 1923 • For a greater Loyola

The Maroon

Since 1923 • For a greater Loyola

The Maroon

    Knoth begins applying Ex Corde

    The Rev. Bernard Knoth, S.J., university president, has begun to incorporate Ex Corde Ecclesiae into Loyola’s academic policy by sending certain faculty members packets explaining how to apply for approval from the Archdiocese to teach Catholic theology at Loyola, said Kenneth Keulman, chair of religious studies.The acknowledgement is called a mandatum. The Loyola faculty members who will need a mandatum are those Catholic professors in the department of religious studies or who are part of the Loyola Institute for Ministry and teach Catholic theological disciplines.Earlier, Knoth said that he had refused to cooperate with the archbishop when he was asked to provide a list of Catholic faculty members and instead referred him to “public” information about the professors posted on the Loyola Web site.However, according to the Rev. Terry Tekippe, Archbishop Alfred Hughes said he never asked for such a list. Tekippe is a theology and philosophy professor at Notre Dame Seminary and an associate of the Archbishop. Hughes felt “puzzled” after reading a Maroon article on the subject, Tekippe said.”Archbishop Hughes told me clearly that he never asked for the list,” Tekippe said. Knoth declined to comment. Archbishop Hughes met privately with the Archdiocese’s Catholic university presidents last fall to “hammer out” the language of a protocol that outlines the process by which they would implement Ex Corde Ecclesia.Tekippe said Knoth’s comments, as reported in the Jan.18 issue of The Maroon, are confusing in light of the agreement made between Hughes and the university presidents under the terms of the protocol. The article says that at the faculty and staff convocation on Jan. 11, Knoth said he refused to grant Hughes’ request for a list of the names of Catholic faculty at Loyola. Knoth said in a previous e-mail, “After discussion, the presidents and the Archbishop agreed that we would provide otherwise public documents (e.g., university bulletins or other materials) that listed department members.” Last week, Knoth introduced his plan to incorporate Ex Corde Ecclesiae into Loyola’s academic policy. Ex Corde Ecclesiae is a document issued by the church outlining guidelines for education at a Catholic institution. Included in these guidelines is the rule that all Catholic professors teaching Catholic theology at a Catholic university must teach only matter that is in accordance with authoritative Catholic doctrine. The mandatum was implemented in response to Ex Corde Ecclesiae’s admonition that Catholic theologians not teach anything contrary to Catholic theological tradition.”The process is set up so that the application for the mandate is the responsibility of Roman Catholic theologians who teach ‘Catholic theological disciplines’ in Catholic institutions of higher education. The deadline for application is June 1, 2002,” Keulman said in an e-mail.The protocol also says that when an inquiry is made over whether a theologian has received the mandatum, the president may “respond by indicating his/her institutional policy” or “indicate that this is a matter between each theologian and the Church.” Knoth sent the packet of information to all full-time Religious Studies and Loyola Institue for Ministry faculty, including those members to whom the mandatum does not apply.The protocol also says, “The presidents of the Catholic institutions of higher education will make available the names of those professors who are covered by the church’s legislation on the mandatum.” Peter Finney Jr., communications director for the archbishop, said in regard to Loyola, “The protocol is being implemented very much to the satisfaction of the Archbishop.”

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