Tom Peters, the American Papist (AmP) has more...
In related news:
- AmP has the list of bishops speaking out at 33 now. I will update mine sometime this weekend and repost it. Please email me - TeDeumBlog@gmail.com if other bishops have spoken out and are not on the list.
- Notre Dame Response - a student organization out of Notre Dame is a good place to see activities being organized. Go there for announcements of what's happening.
- NotreDameScandal.com now has over 315,000 signatures.
- Cardinal Newman Society on Pope Benedict's April 17, 2008 address to Catholic institutions of higher learning. Are some responding appropriately?
- A new initiate has cropped up on the internet: ReplaceJenkins.com
Te Deum Laudamus! Home
The obedient are not held captive by Holy Mother Church; it is the disobedient who are held captive by the world!
3 comments:
I read today in one of Michael Trueman's book little Q&A books on Cannon Law (SURPRISED BY CANON LAW, with Pete Vere, Servant Books) the "Ex corde ecclesiae, a Vatican document...maintains that all universities that use the title CATHOLIC must have their professors recognized by the local bishop...If a university does not comply it may lose the title Catholic." Is it a far fetched conclusion that the president of the university must also be recognized as Catholic? Duh! I wonder if Bishop D'Arcy is familiar with this tidbit of Church propriety.
I can assure you that Bishop D'Arcy is familiar with Ex Corde Ecclesia.
It does not use the word "shall". Rather, it says: "....If a university does not comply it may lose the title Catholic"
Many good Catholics are on the fence, including myself, as to whether to yank "Catholic" from Notre Dame. On the one hand, it does not deserve the title because it's leaders are unwilling to guide the school to make a sincere, authentic expression of Catholic identity in it's initiatives, curriculum, and activities.
One common reason I have heard against exercising this is that it essentially writes off the school and ends any opportunity for the Church to drive change there. Despite losing it's Catholic name, it won't change people's perception that it is a Catholic university, even only if it carries Our Lady's name.
Further, Bishop D'Arcy is on the eve of his retirement. This is a decision best made by the next bishop who will have to live with the decision to allow it to maintain the Catholic name or yank it.
Bottom line: It is not necessarily a sign of weakness when a bishop does not pull the Catholic name from a university. At some point, after much private dialogue, a bishop may come to the conclusion that it is a lost cause.
Time will tell if Notre Dame fits in that category. But, I think the many loyal, Catholic students there would prefer to continue fighting for a return of Catholic identity, rather than pulling it.
The alums would probably also prefer to go this route, hitting them hard in the pocket book until they get the message.
I think it is a matter of time before Notre Dame and, others, change for the better.
I would rather see the bishops go after individual heretical professors (where it can be proven). As these heretics who plant the seed of indifference and dissent in our young people are disciplined by unceremoniously losing their right to teach in a diocese, things will indeed change.
I sort of saw the yanking of the "Catholic" from such places like "excommunication." It's done to save their soul and many times will give pause to turn back the leaders to the faith. I don't subscribe to this either or thing. Catholicism is AND-BOTH, and my oftentimes direct rhetoric is made with that in mind. I'm not interested in punishment. I want to "push" a little for redemption. Surely God does it to me.
Post a Comment