THIS TOO SHALL PASS : Why Ex corde's mandate won't last

Commonweal, Dec 21, 2001 by Peter C. Phan

Similarly, it is doubtful that the mandate will be reversed because of the courageous posture of the American bishops vis-a-vis Rome or by the persuasiveness of a theological argument. If it is reversed, it will likely happen because of purely external factors such as loss of federal and state funding, expensive lawsuits against the bishops and the colleges and universities, bad publicity, difficulties in hiring new faculty, and the destruction of the lives of theologians, especially the lay ones. Unfortunately, these harmful things are not hypothetical scenarios. They are very real probabilities.

It is widely acknowledged that Rome's position on the Chinese Rites wreaked havoc with missionary work in Asia. Indeed, the church has yet to recover fully from the damage. Rome's actions created untold suffering for Asians who had to betray their ancestors and their cultural heritage in order to be Christian. It is imperative that the mandate not be allowed to do similar damage to our universities and colleges. School presidents and boards of trustees must not allow the mandate to be written into the statutes of their institutions.

Regardless of their views on the mandate, a sense of professional solidarity is imperative for theologians. Those who apply for the mandate are not necessarily right-wing and narrow-minded or orthodox and faithful to the church, nor are those who refuse it "stubborn, sinful, and disobedient" or left-wing and broad-minded. As history warns us, not all the juridical actions of the magisterium are efficacious, let alone infallible.

Peter C. Phan is the Warren-Blanding Professor of Religion and Culture in the Department of Religion and Religious Education at The Catholic University of America, and president of the Catholic Theological Society of America.