PRESIDENT’S PAGE The Mandatum, Again Gerard V. Bradley O Timothee, depositum custodi, devitans profanas vocum novitates et oppositiones falsi nominis scientiae, quam quidam profitentes circa fidem aberraverunt.Gratia vobiscum. 1 ad Timotheum 6 he penultimate act of an overripe melodrama played out in the nation’s capital last month. This one has nothing to do with the U.S. presidential election (sic), which remains unresolved as I write. I write, yet again, of the protracted struggle to implement Fellowship TEx Corde Ecclesiae. I write specifically about the mandatum re- quirement of Canon 812, which ECE presents as central to the Catholicity of a college or university. of Catholic The matter is not settled. But from the bishops’ discussion of draft “guidelines” for implementing the mandatum, you can bet that the NCCB will enact next June the plan recently proposed to them. And that will be it. Rome is no longer in the picture; these Scholars guidelines do not require the Holy See’s approval, and all signals suggest that Rome will not intervene further in any way. The pending proposal, then, is going to be the blueprint for the future. Quarterly Much valuable ground has been gained. The Land o’Lakes declaration of independence has been repealed, or at least over- VOLUME 23, NUMBER 4DECEMBER 2000 come. But there is also much cause for disappointment. I person- ally registered an objection to the process by which academic CONTENTS consultants to the Ad Hoc Committtee, chaired by Archbishop PRESIDENT’S PAGE: Pilarczyk, were selected. Many “learned” societies were asked to nominate consultants. The groups solicited ranged from bad to The Mandatum, Again ........................................ 1 awful in their recorded support of the mandatum requirement. DOCUMENTATION: And the consultants actually selected were, apart from Rev. James Homily of Archbishop John Donoghue ......... 2 Conn, S.J., not known as supporters of Canon 812, either. The Cardinal Wright Award Acceptance ............. 4 Fellowship was asked nothing. A copy of my letter to Archbishop ARTICLES: Pilarczyk appears later in this issue. The Credibility of Miracles ............................... 6 For the next issue of the Quarterly I have invited each FCS Meditation (Conference on Director to submit an essay evaluating the draft, and indicating Faith and Science) ............................................. 12 where things are likely go from here. Your letters on the topic are MEMBERSHIP MATTERS................................ 14 welcome. The full draft guidelines will also appear in the next issue. One cause for disappointment. The draft is noteworthy for its AROUND THE CHURCH ............................ 15 lack of a stated link between the mandatum and the Catholicity of Installation of Most Rev. Edward Egan ........ 18 the university. The guidelines do flatly state that “[a]ll Catholics BOOK REVIEWS.............................................. 19 who teach theological disciplines in a Catholic university are required to have a mandatum.” But about the consequences of derelic- BOARD OF DIRECTORS .............................. 22 tion of this duty there is only this: the local bishop “should notify” Letter of President Bradley the college or university. That’s it. No bishop is required or autho- to Most Rev. Daniel Pilarczyk........................ 23 rized or encouraged by the draft to say, or do, anything further. This arresting feature was debated, a bit, by the bishops as about the wisdom of “punishing” or “denouncing” nonconform- (continued on page 2) ISSN 1084-3035 1 FCS4 Quarterly • December 2000 ing theologians and, in turn, their colleges. But save perhaps their souls. why on earth should one think of the issue in such The pastor’s duty is to the truth. And he not terms? If a Catholic professor teaching Catholic only may, but must, ameliorate the scandal inevi- moral theology at a Catholic college is unable or tably created by the derelict theologian. I can unwilling to teach in communion with the think of no way to do so save by an unambiguous Church—which is what the mandatum signifies—a public statement exposing the scandal, and warn- pastor’s first duty scarcely is to “punish” anyone. It ing the faithful about it. is rather to save people from a threat to their faith For this, the inalienable duty of a pastor, and, in the case especially of moral theology, to “notify[ing] the university” just won’t do. ✠ DOCUMENTATION Homily of case T—our Truth must be, as we finally see it, and are perhaps blinded by it, God. Archbishop John Donoghue This Truth is an inexorable thing. It hounds our steps, as the Hound of Heaven pursued doggedly the 25th Sunday of the Year, Cycle B mortal person and immortal soul of Francis Vigil Mass, Fellowship of Catholic Scholars Thompson September 23, 2000 Deliberate speed, majestic instancy, Dear Friends in Christ, Came on the following Feet, And a Voice above their beat— f we call ourselves Catholic scholars, then it “Naught shelters thee, who wilt not shelter Me.” seems to me, putting aside the general ramifi- It draws enemies across our path, for those who cations which flow from that premise, that will not bow to the Truth love to knock down those our sole preoccupation in life is the truth: who kneel already in service, the posture inviting the discovery of truth, the illumination of martyrdom. It draws the greatest enemy of all— Itruth, the enthronement of, the apology for, and Satan, Lucifer, Mephistopheles, Old Nick. Job was a finally, the ultimate surrender to, Truth. truth-seeking man, but God proved his worth by Veritas tells us a little more about this spirit we allowing him to be tempted severely, to the point of follow, for the Latin word comes from the ancient exhaustion, of crying out, “Surely now, God has worn root describing not just sight, but those able to see, me out,—he has made desolate....” Faust was a scholar those who can look into reality, and understand how devoted to knowledge, but God allowed the Evil reality is, was, becomes, and perhaps above all, how Spirit, the Spirit of negation and of the abyss to lead it can be used, how it translates into power. him down the paths of futile human endeavor— For this reason, scholars have great power—they youth, love, industry—before He would grant him know how to look at the truth, look into the truth, to see the ultimate truth, the vision of God in His and use it as the fulcrum against which all reality in heaven, and to speak the saving confession: “Stay! for some way or fashion must move, or be moved, dis- thou art yet lovely!” lodged, even, so that new reality may move in, so It cannot then be said that God is kind to schol- that change and progression may occur. And thus ars, for He must Himself find out, that the mind of time may pass, not unwarranted, but with purpose, the scholar is not arrogant, is not proud. God Him- with end, with goal, as progression, and not aimlessly self must hear, from the depths of the pool of and without point. knowledge, the scholar confess that the water of All scholars subscribe to these truths, but being wisdom flows from one source only, a source on Catholic scholars, we look to a higher plane, a high, and not from man’s own ingenuity. personal verity, a reality above all realities which The readings of today’s Mass speak well to this communicates to us, not a proposition, but a danger and dilemma faced by the seeker of Truth, Name—for our truth must be Truth with an upper- and the enemies who lurk, both within and without. 2 FCS Quarterly • December 2000 The Book of Wisdom recounts the words of the struggles with the enemies from within. For what Evil Ones: man of his gifts has not had to face the devils of ego, Let us beset the just one, because he is ambition, pride, and lust, and put them down, be- obnoxious to us ... let us put him to the test fore going on? But go on he has, to become the [and] see whether his words be true ... let us greatest of the Church’s teachers in our time. Some- find out ... [if] God will take care of him. times brief, sometimes lengthy, but always with complete effectiveness, with complete gentleness, They are always there, those evil ones. They and with complete respect for all that is sincere in attack the faith of the simple, of the innocent, by the world. He is a true champion of truths, while attacking the knowledge of those who teach. For if simultaneously leading the charge against what is the teacher falls, who then will follow his ways? false, what is spurious, and what springs from the The enemies lie as well within the human breast, culture of death, the culture he has espied with a too close for comfort, yet too fast upon our nature to clear eye, and which he has named with fearsome lose. St. James understood, and wrote warnings to accuracy. And true to the dictum of our Lord, that the beloved Faithful: “the first must be the servant of all,”—the very Where do the conflicts and disputes definition of the office he holds—Pope John Paul II among you originate? Is it not your inner has followed his course without one blemish of self- cravings that make war within you? But acclaim, conceit, or fatuous construct. listen... Wisdom from above is innocent, rich Dear friends, we are young and old. Many of us, in sympathy, impartial and sincere. with our Holy Father, have passed from youthful For scholars, for seekers of the truth, and—more vigor, into the concentrated stillness of old age.