Ex corde Ecclesiae

What is Ex corde Ecclesiae?

As our readers know, there has been considerable discussion about Ex corde Ecclesiae, or more precisely, the draft norms for implementing Ex corde. For your convenience, we are presenting the key points of the discussion in "bullet form." If you have additional questions, feel free to contact our office .

• The Apostolic Constitution, Ex corde Ecclesiae (ECE) itself, is an inspirational document on the Catholic identity of our schools.
• Attempts have been made since 1990 to establish norms for implementing ECE in each country. A 1996 consensus draft for the U.S., developed by presidents, bishops, and others, was approved 224-6 by the U.S. bishops, but returned by Vatican officials to be made "more juridical."
• The current draft is a slightly improved version of the 1998 draft, which was considered problematic by most Catholic colleges and universities. The bishops intend to vote on this latest draft November 17.
• The most serious difficulties seen in the current draft are:
  1. The requirement for Catholic theologians to obtain a mandatum, i.e., a recognition that the theologian is teaching in communion with the Church. It is recognized that Catholic theologians teaching courses in Catholic theology should teach the Church's position accurately, but that there are many ambiguities about the meaning of a mandatum and how it would be given and taken away. Of major concern is how it would violate commonly understood academic freedom and how it could marginalize the theologian and theology within the academic community.
  2. The requirement of a majority of Catholics on the Board and on the Faculty. Everyone agrees that a critical mass of men and women committed to the identity of the school is needed, but talk of a numerical majority is offensive to our colleagues of other faiths who are equally committed to that identity.
  3. The "risk" of the norms opening our schools to the charge of being "pervasively sectarian" and thus ineligible for public funding. We emphasize "risk", but even if the case would be won, the cost in time and money would be great. A related case like that is presently in the courts in Washington State.
  4. There are other concerns, but the above are the major ones.
• The AJCU and the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities (ACCU) are encouraging bishops to follow Bishop D'Arcy's suggestion for more conversation on the mandatum.
• At this point, it is difficult to predict whether there are enough votes for the 2/3 majority needed for the vote of November 17th.