EX-CORDE ECCLESIAE
(Exposing Infidelity in Catholic Social Teaching)
“Before God and before Christ Jesus who is to be judge of the living and the dead, I charge you, in the name of his appearing and of his kingdom: Proclaim the message and, welcome or unwelcome, insist on it. Refute falsehood, correct error, give encouragement — but do all with patience and with care to instruct. The time is sure to come when people will not accept sound teaching, but their ears will be itching for anything new and they will collect themselves a whole series of teachers according to their own tastes; and then they will shut their ears to the truth and will turn to myths. But you must keep steady all the time; put up with suffering; do the work of preaching the gospel; fulfill the service asked of you.” (2 Timothy 4: 1-5)
FEATURED BLOG ENTRY: The “Heart of the Church” Needs Major Surgery
(by Dr. Rocco Paolucci, Editor of The Christian Faith + Culture Forum)
In 1990, Pope John Paul II wrote and released “Ex Corde Ecclessiae” (Latin for “From the Heart of the Church”), the Apostolic Constitution regarding Catholic colleges and universities. The objective of this document was to define and refine the catholicism of Catholic institutions of higher education.
In 1999, the Catholic Bishops of the United States, meeting in Plenary Session of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, approved the application of Ex corde Ecclesiae for the United States, according to the norm of law. The document Ex Corde Ecclesiae outines and describes several “General Norms” for Catholic colleges and universities. The General Norms are based on the Code of Canon Law, and are valid for all Catholic Universities and other Catholic Institutes of Higher Studies throughout the world.
From its initial release date, many in the higher education community have widely criticized Ex Corde Ecclesiae for violating “academic freedom” and “institutional autonomy”. I believe it is fair to say that the document has, by and large, been ignored by the vast majority of Catholic colleges and universities. In fact, after more than eighteen years, only about a dozen or so institutions can actually claim to support and conform to the specified norms of Ex Corde Ecclesiae.
This is not surprising to many of us in Catholic higher education, since it is common knowledge that many of these so called “Catholic” instititutions are Catholic “in name only”. As a matter of fact, not only do these same institutions do not conform to the teachings of the Church and the norms of Ex Corde Ecclesiae, they often are observed to teach “against” the Catholic faith, and have a profound disdain for the Church. What makes this situation even more troubling is that, by and large, many of the American bishops have been silent on the subject, exhibiting a sort of “benign neglect”. As a matter of fact, their silence is deafening; especially since, as Article 5 of Ex Corde states “each Bishop has a responsibility to promote the welfare of the Catholic Universities in his diocese.”
After almost twenty years of silence, it is time to shed some light and speak the truth about the “collusion” that has existed between many in Catholic higher education and the Episcopate, to undermine and malign much of the Catholic faith and church. The impact of this collusion has been devastating and traumatic to many of us faithful Catholics, as well as the general culture.
It is not a coincidence that after almost thirty years of receiving a “distorted and corrupted” Catholic education, many graduates of these so called “Catholic institutions” will easily hold views that do not respect the sanctity of life from conception, do not support the traditional family and its values, are not faithful, and embrace “secularism and statism”.
“The heart of the church” is sick and broken, and it is in need of major surgery. As a matter of fact, a triple-bypass is required, and as soon as possible.