Volume 5, Number 2
December, 2001
Table of Contents
Editors' Comments (p. 137)
Thomas C. Hunt, Ronald J. Nuzzi
Articles
The Application of Ex Corde Ecclesiae in the United States
Most Reverend John J. Leibrecht
Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau
(pp. 138-149)
Pope John Paul II published Ex Corde Ecclesiae, his apostolic constitution on Catholic higher education, on August 15, 1990. As requested by Ex Corde Ecclesiae, U.S. bishops developed an application of that document for the United States during the remainder of the decade. On May 3, 2000, the Vatican approved what the bishops submitted. This article highlights the issues and actions associated with the development of the U.S. application.
Guidelines Concerning the Academic Mandatum in Catholic Universities
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
(Canon 812; pp. 150-156)
Recommended procedures for granting, withholding, or withdrawing the mandatum required for Catholics who teach theological disciplines in the U.S. Catholic colleges and universities were approved June 15 by a voice vote of the U.S. bishops during the spring meeting in Atlanta. The mandatum was called for in a bishops’ document (Origins, Vol. 30, pp. 65ff) applying Pope John Paul II’s 1990 apostolic constitution on Catholic higher education, Ex Corde Ecclesiae (Vol. 20, pp. 265ff), in the United States. The June 15 text says that its “guidelines are intended to explain and serve as a resource for the conferral of the ‘mandatum.’ Only those guidelines herein that repeat a norm of the [application document] have the force of particular law.” The nature of the mandatum, how it is to be granted, what is to be done if a professor does not request it, and considerations related to its denial are among concerns the document addresses (an earlier draft text of the procedures appeared in Origins, Vol. 30, pp. 425ff). “The ‘mandatum’ recognizes both the professor’s ‘lawful freedom of inquiry’ and the professor’s commitment and responsibility to teach authentic Catholic doctrine and to refrain from putting forth as Catholic teaching anything contrary to the Church’s magisterium,” the document says. It observes, “Theologians who have received a ‘mandatum’ are not catechists; they teach in their own name in virtue of their baptism and their academic and professional competence, not in the name of the bishop or of the church’s magisterium.” The new document notes that “the ‘mandatum’ is an obligation of the professor, not of the university”; it explains that the Catholic theological disciplines in this context are “sacred Scripture, dogmatic theology, moral theology, pastoral theology, canon law, liturgy, and church history.” The text says that “ecclesiastical authority should presume, until the contrary is proven, that those who attest that they teach in full communion with the Church actually do so.” It says, “Any negative judgment concerning an objectionable portion of a professor’s work should be assessed at three levels: (1) the significance of that portion of the professor’s work within the context of his or her overall theological contribution; (2) its relationship to the larger Catholic tradition; (3) its implications for the life of the Church.” The text of the recommended procedures includes sample letters for requesting and granting the mandatum. The text, copyright 2001, by the U.S. Catholic Conference, follows. (See also the “On File” page of June 28, 2001, Origins for a report on discussion of the mandatum during the
bishops’ meeting.)
Focus Section
Thomas Merton’s Spirituality of Education
Thomas Del Prete
Clark University
(pp. 157-180)
Thomas Merton was one of the greatest spiritual writers and mentors of our time. This article mines the extensive Merton corpus with a view to education. Three stages are explored in articulating Merton’s spirituality of education: 1) understanding what we are; 2) becoming what we are; and 3) realizing our fundamental unity. Merton’s letters, books, and lectures are cited, analyzed, and compared in an effort to uncover the stages of Merton’s own spiritual journey and to provide a helpful model for today’s educational leaders.
Love or Money: Vocational Attitudes of the Catholic School Teacher
Carol Cimino, SSJ
Catholic School Administrators Association of New York State
(pp. 181-205)
Public and private schools experience teacher shortages today, but the problem is acute in Catholic schools. Reasons given for the shortage in Catholic schools include salaries and benefits. Have teachers’ views of teaching in a Catholic school changed from teaching as ministry or vocation to teaching as merely a job? This study discusses the sense of teaching as vocation among a sample of Catholic high school and elementary school teachers in the state of New York. It ascertains the sense of vocation among these teachers; correlates financial considerations with the sense of vocation; and illustrates that religious preference and practice, years of teaching and ownership, and presence of religious men and women affect how teachers see their job as ministry.
Teacher Candidates’ Incoming Beliefs About Teaching:
Comparing Catholic Service-Learning and Traditional Programs
Vladimir T. Khmlekov, Ann Marie R. Power, F. Clark Power
University of Notre Dame
(pp. 206-228)
This study analyzes a range of professional beliefs held by a sample of incoming teacher candidates in the Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE), a service-learning teacher education program at the University of Notre Dame, and a sample of preservice teachers in a traditional teacher education program at a state university. The key dependent variables in this study are preservice teachers’ sense of professional responsibility and self-efficacy beliefs regarding the intellectual and moral aspects of their teaching. Findings indicate that ACE teacher candidates hold a greater sense of responsibility for helping disadvantaged students academically and for fostering all children’s moral growth compared to their counterparts in the traditional program. This study is the first stage in a longitudinal research project that explores the effectiveness of ACE’s model of teacher education in preparing professionally competent and responsible teachers.
The Development of the Teacher as a Professional in an
Alternative Teacher Education Program
Joseph T. Pascarelli, Blaine C. Ackley, & Gerald M. Balaban
University of Portland, University of Portland, & Clackamas Education Service District
(pp. 229-240)
Recruitment and retention strategies are a growing concern for Catholic educational leaders. This article offers a glimpse into the dynamics of a leading teacher recruitment effort, the Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) sponsored by the University of Notre Dame. After surveying the first two cohorts who taught in Catholic schools through ACE, the authors uncover significant and meaningful components of this alternative teacher preparation program with a view to challenging traditional teacher education efforts and preservice requirements.
Review of Research
Discipline Past and Present: Shifting Paradigms for Effective Practice
Kristina Martin & Ronald J. Nuzzi
Park Hill School District & Saint Louis University
(pp. 244-257)
Book Reviews
Pioneer Mentoring in Teacher Preparation: From the Voices of Women Religious (pp. 258-260)
By Kevina Keating, CCVI & Mary Peter Traviss, OP
Reviewed by Timothy J. Cook
Choosing Equality: School Choice, the Constitution, and Civil Society (pp. 261-263)
By Joesph P. Viteritti
Reviewed by Lance D. Fusarelli
