Theologians’ Mandatum Should Be Required by Colleges

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Cardinal Burke Says Theologians’ Mandatum Should Be Required by Colleges, Disclosed to Students

blog.cardinalnewmansociety.org/2012/07/24/cardinal-burke-says-theologians-mandatum-should-be-required-by-colleges-disclosed-to-students/
As implemented by the U.S. bishops, a theology professor requests a “mandate” (commonly identified by the Latin mandatum) from the bishop presiding over the diocese where the theologian is employed. The professor commits, in writing, “to teach authentic Catholic doctrine and to refrain from putting forth as Catholic teaching anything contrary to the Church’s Magisterium,” according to U.S. guidelines
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Asked whether only theology professors with the mandatum should be employed at a Catholic college or university, Cardinal Burke responded “yes” and added:
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…[T]he Catholic university will want that all its teachers of theology or the theological disciplines have a mandate and will not, of course, retain the professor in teaching Catholic theology or the theological disciplines who does not have a mandate, because to do so would be to call into question the whole raison d’etre of the university. If a Catholic university doesn’t distinguish itself for its care, that those who are teaching theology and the other theological disciplines are doing so in communion with the Magisterium, what reason does it have to exist?
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I agree with Cardinal Burke on this issue completely.

In reality however, that scenario will not be possible for quite some time as you can’t go firing people because you changed the rules of the game on them after they were already hired. However, new hires can and should be held to this standard.

In addition, information on what the Mandatum is should be published in places which are readily accessible to parents and high school children so that they can make an informed choice about where to look regarding colleges and universities.
 
jwinch2 said:
I agree with Cardinal Burke on this issue completely.

In reality however, that scenario will not be possible for quite some time as you can’t go firing people because you changed the rules of the game on them after they were already hired. However, new hires can and should be held to this standard.

In addition, information on what the Mandatum is should be published in places which are readily accessible to parents and high school children so that they can make an informed choice about where to look regarding colleges and universities.
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The Catholic College/University possibly not be able to discharge faculty who refuse to sign such a mandate, but they can shift them from teaching Theological subject into teaching such subjects as a Humanities survey course to incoming freshmen or a basic general course in Philosophy. I doubt seriously that such non-mandated faculty would stick around for very long.
Any competant manager or University Dean can tell you there are many ways to get a subordinate to resign. The mark of good leadership is to get them to do it and have them think it was their idea in the first place.
 
jwinch2 said:
I agree with Cardinal Burke on this issue completely.

In reality however, that scenario will not be possible for quite some time as you can’t go firing people because you changed the rules of the game on them after they were already hired. However, new hires can and should be held to this standard.

In addition, information on what the Mandatum is should be published in places which are readily accessible to parents and high school children so that they can make an informed choice about where to look regarding colleges and universities.
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The requirement to have a mandatum dates back to 1990. There are going to be very few faculty who can truly say the rules were changed after they were hired. The only difference being proposed is for the adminstrators of the colleges and universities to do a better job at keeping track of the documentation and to act if the faculty person is found to have skipped this requirement.
 
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