Deal Hudson : How To Make Sure "Catholic" Colleges Really Are

Deal Hudson : How To Make Sure "Catholic" Colleges Really Are: "As you may know, I have a daughter who'll be heading off to college in a few years. Like any faithful parent, if she goes to a Catholic school, I want to make sure she's being taught authentic Catholicism. None of that watered-down nonsense, thank you very much.

In fact, you yourself may have a child or grandchild in a Catholic college. If so, you need to know this: His or her theology professors should have received a 'mandatum' from their bishop by June 1st of this year. While most people have no idea what a 'mandatum' is, it's actually a very important thing (I'll explain why in a minute).

But first, a little background...

You might be familiar with the document 'Ex Corde Ecclesiae' that the pope issued in 1990, calling for the return of a Catholic identity to Catholic universities and colleges and, in the spirit of their Catholic tradition, the certification of those professors. In their 1999 response to the pope's statement, the American bishops declared (grudgingly, in some cases) that a mandatum would be required of all Catholic professors at Catholic colleges who taught in the theological disciplines.

So what exactly is a mandatum? Basically, it's 'an acknowledgement by Church authority that a Catholic professor of a theological discipline is a teacher within the full communion of the Catholic Church...[and] recognizes 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' (Guidelines Concerning the Academic Mandatum, Article 1, a-b)."