Bishops discuss crime, abortion…
. . . but retreat from Ex Corde Ecclesiae

Gathering in Washington for their annual meeting in November, the US bishops called for changes in the nation’s criminal justice system and lamented the solid political support for unrestricted legal abortion. But they stepped away from plans to ensure the orthodoxy of theologians teaching at Catholic universities.

In their latest discussion of Ex Corde Ecclesiae, the Vatican document on the bishops’ involvement with Catholic universities, the bishops adopted a new policy which—as the Boston Globe put it—”essentially removes the teeth” from the Vatican-approved policy.

Under the terms of Ex Corde Ecclesiae, theologians teaching at Catholic institutions are required to have a mandatum indicating the approval of the local bishop, as a guarantee that his teaching is in line with Church doctrine. But at their November meeting the American bishops announced that they could not control the hiring decisions of private colleges and universities. Consequently, the bishops determined, professors would not be obliged to request or possess the mandatum.

Questioned about that approach, Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk of Cincinnati, the chairman of the bishops’ committee charged with implementation of Ex Corde Ecclesiae, conceded that the bishops were effectively surrendering any authority over theological teaching. “There are lots of laws in the Church that one could contend don’t have teeth,” he reasoned. Boston’s Cardinal Bernard Law also voiced support for the approach, telling a reporter that “theologians have to have the freedom to be wrong.”

The bishops were more decisive in a resolution calling for the overhaul of the nation’s criminal justice system. The statement denounced the use of the death penalty, opposed mandatory sentencing, and called for more funding of drug-treatment programs for prison inmates.

The bishops also passed a strong resolution denouncing a recent US Supreme Court decision overturning a Nebraska law that banned partial-birth abortions. The bishops said that the ruling “has brought our legal system to the brink of endorsing infanticide.” But Archbishop Elden Curtiss of Omaha, Nebraska, said the Church must do a better job of passing on pro-life teachings. “The last election, yet undecided, indicates a majority of Catholic people still do not make abortion the priority,” he said—a reference to the polls that showed a majority of Catholics supporting Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore, who supports unrestricted legal abortion on demand.

For the first time in over 20 years, the bishops’ annual meeting was disrupted by demonstrations. At the Mass opening the bishops’ meeting, homosexual activists from a group called Rainbow Sash attempted to receive Communion, in an effort to call attention to their demands for changes in Church teaching. The bishops announced in advance that the demonstrators would not be allowed to receive the Eucharist. Later, during the bishops’ deliberations in a Washington hotel, Janice Sevre-Duszynska —who had gained access to the meeting by obtaining credentials as a journalist—grabbed the microphone and demanded that the bishops address the wrong done to “women called by God to ordination.” That disruption was ended when organizers turned off the microphone that Sevre-Duszynska was using. She then slumped to the floor, and was quietly removed by hotel security officials.

National Council totters
Financial crisis coupled with ideology split

The National Council of Churches (NCC) is near financial ruin and could face complete collapse within six months, even as the group’s general secretary injured chances at bringing in new members with a remarkable reversal in November.

The NCC gathers 36 mainline Protestant and Orthodox denominations from across the US, and has been actively courting the Catholic Church and evangelical groups to join. However, those efforts were dealt a blow when the group’s general secretary, Dr. Robert Edgar withdrew his signature from a new document, the Christian Declaration on Marriage.

“Under tremendous pressure from the gay and lesbian extremist fringe, Edgar has taken a big step back from ecumenism; he has done Christian unity a huge disservice,” said Diane Knippers, president of the Institute for Religion and Democracy. The declaration was initiated by Bishop Kevina Mannoia of the National Association of Evangelicals, and designed to underline the elementary Judeo-Christian tenet that marriage is a holy union of one man and one woman, that it is an order of God’s creation, and that “in marriage many principles of the Kingdom of God are manifested.” Edgar originally signed the document, but two days later, he told a homosexual activist group that he favored the blessing of same-sex marriages and then withdrew his signature.

However, doctrinal issues are not the only problem dogging the NCC. Due to financial woes, the group is laying off 20 of its 64 employees and media reports suggest that the NCC may not survive in its present state for more than six months.

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