The Pope Wins in Court

By Richard N. Ostling

There will be plenty to talk about when 35 Roman Catholic Archbishops of the U.S. meet with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican this week. The purpose of the gathering, in fact, is to clear the air on a number of nettlesome issues, ranging from doctrinal discipline to the role of women in the church, on which the Pontiff and the U.S. prelates do not see eye to eye. By coincidence, one of their most vexing disputes was settled just days earlier, in District of Columbia Superior Court. Judge Frederick Weisberg ruled that the Catholic University of America had every right to follow John Paul's dictates by removing from its theology faculty Father Charles Curran, an outspoken professor who questions church policies on birth control, abortion, homosexuality, premarital sex and divorce.

Among the U.S.'s 233 Catholic colleges, Curran's former employer is unique. The Catholic University was chartered in 1889 by the papacy, and its theology school grants Vatican-authorized degrees. While most U.S. Catholic universities are run by predominantly lay boards, the school's chancellor is the Archbishop of Washington, and 16 bishops, usually including all active U.S. Cardinals, sit on its 40-member board. Last year the board carried out a 1986 Vatican directive and barred Curran from teaching Catholic theology. Curran, 54, retained tenure but spurned compromise offers to teach nontheological subjects in other departments.

The judge ruled that Curran "could not reasonably have expected that the university would defy a definitive judgment by the Holy See that he was 'unsuitable' and 'ineligible' to teach Catholic theology." There was a "direct and unavoidable" conflict, said the court, between academic freedom and the school's fealty to the Pope. The university sided with Rome, and "whether that is ultimately good for the university or for the church is something they have a right to decide for themselves." Heartily agreeing, a Vatican official said the "essential issue was the freedom of the church to regulate teaching of theology in its own schools." Curran, who is now teaching theology at the University of Southern California, will file no appeal. Says he: "I'm a free man now, and better for it."

+ It is unclear whether the decision will have a broader effect on Catholic higher education in the U.S. Curran thinks it might, "given the current atmosphere" of John Paul's campaign to clamp down on errant theology teachers in seminaries and universities. But Sister Alice Gallin of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, emphasizes Catholic University's unusual status and expects no spillover effect. She adds, however, that the case is "a warning that faculties must protect academic freedom."

Many Catholic academicians, pleased with the laissez-faire environment that has developed since the Second Vatican Council, are anxious to prevent any rollback. The Vatican, on the other hand, intends to issue a long-pending decree on higher education including specific provisions for removing dissidents. The whole issue could come to a head next month when some 170 Catholic leaders from around the world meet in Rome to discuss the final draft of the decree. Father Richard McBrien, chairman of the University of Notre Dame theology department, is confident that the document will cause no change in the status quo. "Regardless of what they come up with," he says, "it's not enforceable." That, of course, is just what Father Curran thought.

With reporting by Jerome Cramer/Washington and Robert Moynihan/Rome