NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      NEW YORK (CWNews.com) - The Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities (ACCU), in a statement public this week, has officially rejected a series of proposals being considered by the US bishops' conference on the implementation of a papal letter on Catholic higher education.

      The papal document, Ex Corde Ecclesia, called on Catholic colleges to more readily adhere to their Catholic identity and Church teaching and asked bishops' conferences to play a greater guiding role. In a draft proposal last year on implementing the directives of the letter, the US bishops proposed that every university president take the Oath of Fidelity, that Catholics constitute the majority of faculty if possible, and that local bishops exercise control over the appointment of theology professors. The ACCU said it opposed all three proposals.

      Some Catholic educators have expressed sometimes vociferous opposition to greater control over the schools by the Vatican or bishops, claiming that academic freedom will be hindered. But the 1990 Vatican documents contends that colleges have academic freedom only "within the confines of the truth and the common good." A bishops' committee is expected to consider proposed changes to the draft proposal at their annual spring meeting June 28-29. The revised version will then be brought before the whole conference of bishops for a vote in November.

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