New line in Curran defence

Fr Charles Curran is pursuing a new line in his fight against suspension from teaching at the Catholic University of Washington. He has drawn attention to the sensitive subject of just how much competence bishops should have in assessing the suitability of courses and teachers in Catholic educational institutions.
In suspending controversial moral theologian Fr Curran, Archbishop James Hickey threatened to invoke the controversial Canon 812, extensively criticised by Catholic university officials, that gives bishops wide powers over Catholic higher education.
This canon says that those who teach theology in a Catholic university must have a "mandate from the competent ecclesiastical authority" to do so. Fr Curran described the implications of invoking this canon as a "catastrophe" because choices over hiring and firing and over what should be on the curriculum would be made by those who are "external to the academic community."
Fr Curran also pointed to the implications of canon 812 for the future status of academic accreditation and government funding. American Catholic college and university officials are squarely on the side of Fr Curran on this issue and they also reject the Vatican Higher Education Guidelines as opposed to legitimate academic freedom.
One group, The American Association of University Professors, has appealed to the University to reconsider suspension of Fr Curran because the removal of a professor from his classes before his case has been tried by his academic peers is "prejudicial".
Fr Curran's students are now seeking alternative courses and the university has failed to take on anybody suitably qualified to carry on the courses.
One of his students spoke of Fr Curran's concern for the faith of the Church; "You don't come out of his classes not knowing what the Church's teaching is," he said.