Corpus Christi staff version 'inaccurate'

BY A STAFF REPORTER
'THE PROBLEM at Corpus
Christi Institute of Religious Education, from which the majority of the teaching stall has resigned, was not one of academic freedom, but of responsibility, said Cardinal Heenan in an address to the students of the college—which he founded—on Tuesday.
He was, he said, giving details of what had happened over the past few years, so that they could judge if he had acted unfairly in refusing to allow five visiting lecturers to speak at the college.
His original statement had been seen by Fr. Richards, Principal of the college, before it was issued from Archbishop's House last week. But a statement subsequently issued
by the staff of Corpus Christi was not shown to him, and he did not regard the facts in it as accurate, he said.
The text of Cardinal Heenan's address was as follows: "I well understood the distress that students and past students of Corpus Christi must have felt when they read in the press last week of the difficulties which have arisen over the college. I feel that I owe it to you to take this first available opportunity of giving you an account of the events which have led to the present s'Auation. The essential facts Were in the Statement from Archbishop's House last week.
"Before issuing that Statement I sent a copy to Fr. Richards and invited his comments. I was anxious not to say anything which might reflect unfairly on the staff. I said that they must feel free to issue a Statement of their own if they felt it desirable. I was not shown their Statement before It was published but I assume that the press account is authentic. I do not regard their version of the facts as accurate. "That is why it seems important to give more details of what has happened over the last few years. You will then judge if I have acted unfairly towards the college which I founded. I do not wish to create further controversy but I believe that unless the public is given a fuller account of the facts, the future of Corpus Christi College could be at risk.
"The public has been given to understand that the Archbishop of Westminster has crushed a body of zealous catechists through fear of their honest search for truth. The problem has been presented as one of academic freedom. The issue is not, in fact, one of academic freedom but of responsibility. A bishop has the right and, indeed, the duty to decide what is to be taught and who is to teach in a diocesan college of catechetics.
"The press understandably assumed, when told of its world-wide reputation and eminent lecturers, that Corpus Christi must be a university or institute of theological research. It is, of course, nothing
of the sort. It is a college founded to teach Catholic theology to future catechists. Among its students only the priests have completed a theological couise. Only the priests can be regarded as in some sense theological postgraduates.
"Most of the nuns, brothers and laity who form the majority of the student body have no more theological training than the thousands of teachers in Catholic schools throughout the country. It is important to stress that the status of Corpus Christi is akin to that of a Catholic training college. Students here are in a similar position to students in a teacher training college taking an extra year in divinity.
"Let me give you a brief history of my dealings with the college. The premises were made available through the kindness of the Sisters of Sion when their grammar school was about to merge with the Cardinal Manning School. I gladly accepted the generous offer of the Mother Provincial and also her suggestion that Fr. Richards might be willing to become the first principal.
Fr. Richards agreed to accept the post on condition that Fr. Peter De Rosa, his colleague at the seminary, would also be appointed to Corpus Christi. The president of St. Edmund's was willing to release both these priests to Corpus Christi and Fr. Charles Davis to Heythrop College.
"Corpus Christi opened with every prospect of success. The first year naturally was experimental, and it is not surprising if certain mistakes were made. The chief and probably inevitable mistake lay in the choice of students. It is easy now to see that there should have been much greater selectivity. Nobody foresaw that candidates who were unstable elements in their own communities might be sent to the new institute.
"In fact, some priests and nuns were sent who were unsuitable. During the first year or two students were admitted who were unsettled in their vocation, and this proved harmful to the reputation of the college.
"There was a further source of embarrassment. Young people have always enjoyed shocking their elders by careless talk. Some of the first students gave a wrong impression of Corpus Christi. The staff was in no way to blame for the fact that a number of priests and teachers were alarmed by some of the views expressed by students from the college.
"Religious superiors also began to experience difficulties with students returning from (continued on page 8)