Vatican City, Jul 29, 2019 / 04:00 pm (CNA).- The Pontifical John Paul II Institute issued a statement Monday, defending recent changes at the school. But some students and faculty members say that explanations do not address the full picture of issues at the theological institute.
“The academic project of the new Institute, approved by the Congregation for Catholic Education, is designed as a widening of reflection on the family, and not as a replacement of themes and topics. Such expansion, showing even more the centrality of the family in the church and in society, confirms and relaunches with new vigor the original and still fruitful intuition of St. John Paul II,” the July 29 press release said.
The statement aimed to respond to concerns raised by students, alumni, and faculty members of the Institute following the recent approval of its new statutes, or governing documents. The new statutes were called for in 2017, when Pope Francis reestablished the institute, broadening its focus from theology to include “family sciences.”
The Institute was initially founded in 1981 as a center for the study of Christian anthropology and theology, especially in light of the philosophical ideas expressed in Pope St. John Paul II’s “Love and Responsibility,” and the set of his teachings that eventually came to be called the “Theology of the Body.”
When Pope Francis legally refounded the Institute two years ago, he said he hoped its work would be “better known and appreciated in its fruitfulness and relevance.”
Adding a focus on the social sciences, he said, would be an expansion of “the field of interest, both in terms of the new dimensions of the pastoral task and the ecclesial mission, as well as in the development of human sciences and the anthropological culture in such a crucial field for the culture of life.”
The July 29 press release acknowledged that while a chair of fundamental moral theology at the school will no longer exist, changes made to the institute’s curriculum are intended to ensure that “moral doctrine of marriage and family,” and “theological ethics of life,” remain a part of the institute’s coursework.
Fundamental moral theology is already required in the “first cycle” of theological studies required for admission to the Institute’s graduate programs, the press release said.
But a professor at the Institute told CNA that scholarship in the field of fundamental moral theology has been a long-standing part of the school’s identity, and that other subjects also covered in the first cycle, such as Christian anthropology, remain a part of the Institute’s curriculum.
The professor, noting that Humanae vitae is not expressly mentioned in the Institute’s new statutes, said that the school’s chair of fundamental moral theology was established at the Institute’s inception, at the insistence of the school’s founder, Pope St. John Paul II.
“It is important to know that in the old statutes of 2011, based on a few words from Ratzinger about the Institute’s contribution to fundamental moral theology, explicit mention of fundamental moral theology was included,” the professor added.
Regarding concerns raised about faculty dismissals, the press release said that because of its partnership with the Pontifical Lateran University, the Institute has reduced its number of course offerings, and therefore not retained some professors, “according to a policy of consistency and economy.”
Some professors may be eligible for rehire, according to the future faculty needs of the Institute, the press release said.
Among those no longer included among the Institute’s permanent faculty is Monsignor Livio Melina, who held a chair in fundamental moral theology and served as the Institute’s long-time president. The press release said that Melina would no longer hold a permanent faculty position because the chair in moral theology “no longer exists.”
Also dismissed is Fr. Jose Noriega, DCJM, a professor of moral theology at the institute.
Noriega is the superior general of the Disciples of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, a Spanish religious community of 24 professed members. The press release said that Noriega could not continue on the faculty because of a provision in canon law which forbids holding two ecclesiastical positions which are “incompatible.”
Noreiga’s term as superior general of the Disciples of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary ends in January 2020.
Noriega has served as superior for 12 years. The priest told CNA that during his years as superior, including three years under the Institute’s current administration, the issue has not been raised to him by anyone at the Institute.
Noriega also said that there is no proof that his faculty position is “incompatible” with a leadership position in his religious community. He noted that during the time he has held both positions, he also served as editorial director of the Institute.
The press release took issue with reports that a new hiring process will be centralized in the office of the Institute’s Grand Chancellor, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, noting that “the appointment of new permanent teachers must be done through an open competition.”
Such a competition, according to the statutes, is judged by a commission constituted by the institute’s president, a faculty member, and an external member nominated by the Grand Chancellor or a vice-chancellor. Tenured faculty members can veto the commission’s decision by a two-thirds majority.
The faculty member told CNA that because the chancellor appoints the Institute’s president, the composition of faculty hiring commissions remains subject to his influence and control, noting that only one member of hiring commissions, the one appointed by the faculty, would have independence from the administration’s preferences and intentions.
“Analysis of the statutes shows that the concentration of power in the hands of the Grand Chancellor is true,” the professor told CNA.
The June 29 statement also disputed reports that 150 students had signed expressing concern about the direction of the school. The statement said that only a few representatives of the students had signed the letter, which “asked for explanations about the innovations taking place.”
“All students were promptly informed of the news and reassured, in accordance with art. 89 of the statutes, about the three-year validity of the old curriculum. Everyone will be given the opportunity to choose between old and new systems and to draft any new plans of study.”
The faculty member said that while the Institute has told students they may continue in their preferred curriculum, changes to course offerings will make that impossible for those students who wish to continue with the Institute’s traditional theological offerings.
One of the letter’s organizers told CNA that, to date, 246 students and alumni have added their signatures to the letter through a website set up for that purpose. Organizers say they intend to publish the letter in the coming days.
A student at the Institute, herself among the authors of the letter, told CNA that while students received communication from the Institute’s administrators before they sent their letter, they have received no response to their concerns.
“We students have expressed our reactions of pain and our request for clarification, addressing the academic authorities, to understand, to know what is going on; to express our support to the professors that have been fired overnight –and it is the time to say it, by an academic institution only because they were spiritual and cultural heirs of John Paul II, only because they believe in the teachings regarding marriage and family from Humanae vitae.
With the new order and the new statutes, we don’t have changes that have been shared and agreed upon, but replacements and expulsions. We are witnesses to a true coup d’etat; it is not an integration and alignment of new courses and professors to what already exists and works, but instead the end of an era, with the expulsion of serious and thoughtful persons,” she added.
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So if Poland, Hungary, Slovakia etc decide to bar entry on their soil to any rapefugees from the Middle East on the grounds that they are not vaccinated, Francis will not have any basis to complain.
Great comment.
Vaccine pass or not, I’m staying as far away as possible from this secular smelting facility until and unless good men begin to rebuild it according to the blueprints of Christ.
Good for you. It would be wonderful to have a Vicar of Christ who demonstrates an understanding of the teaching of the Catholic Church.
Lord have mercy.
I’ve been to parts of this vale of tears world wher leprosy still exists. I had great empathy for those suffering. I wondered what having such an affliction would have really been like at the time of Our Lord. I’m starting to learn. As a non-vaxer, with multiple graduate degrees in real sciences, I nonetheless anticipate that it will be only a matter of time before almost all prelates follow the lead of Francis and bar we lepers completely from the Church.
And hopefully another St. Damien will emerge from the ranks!
Looking like protestants were and are mostly right.
2000 years of theology distilled into a single summation medical mandate. Either lessening the theology or magnifying the mandate….
‘Turn the other cheek’ takes on a different meaning in religion these days.
The Vicar of Christ should have insisted on a morally acceptable vaccine in the beginning of the pandemic. Those of us who have religious objections to the currently available, morally compromised vaccines are ignored by Christ’s representative on earth, who seems not to realize that acceptance of the currently available, morally compromised vaccines implies an acceptance of medical research on fetuses aborted by their “mothers.” God help us.
Yes, the Vatican (among others) should have demanded the vaccines and other products be abortion free long ago…and not in the well-you-can-use-them-but-be-sure-to-write-a-protest-letter way they did.
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At this point, however, I no longer just oppose the vax due to the abortion-connection. There are a good number of whispers in the wind that the vax is a real problem for a number of folks, and quite honestly, at this point, I am not sure we know who and who may not be badly affected. We’ve only had it about 1 year.
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I just learned that a medication I take that has a solid track record for safety (admitted, it does have some pretty significant side effects for a minority of people, but they should up quickly so a person can get off pretty quickly as well) has just been linked to an increase risk of lung cancer–to the tune of 12,000 extra cases per year. Sure, this med is used by millions, but still. Would we mandate a drug that caused the deaths of 12,000 a year? I certainly hope not. This drug has been on the market for years, and only now have we learned it can cause cancer.
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Covid is not Smallpox; it isn’t rabies or tetanus or polio. No one should be forced to take a vaccine for it. And honestly, at this point, I think we need to give serious re-think to mandating the vaccines given to children.
So very sad when the Catholic Church has a Pope that really doesn’t get it… the vax was made with a baby (babies) being killed — what the heck more does that tell a person that believes “you do not take the life of another to save another”… come on Vatican…. God is watching….I am so very disappointed in our church for this alone, besides allowing sexual perverts to be priests, bishops, cardinals, and popes…. God is watching…..
In 2013 I resolved I would not return to Rome, my favorite city, until there was a radical change in its orientation. This move proves that it was unquestionably the right decision.
Closed doors? Closed wallet.
The rank tyranny which possesses the Church and society need be called out. It is urgent that Catholic journalism call this petty fraudulent moral posturing out for what is is.
I like the closed wallet–perhaps if we all did that there would be change? I know I will not give to CSA.
What a huge disappointment to see that the VATICAN is further infected by the secular hysteria surrounding this disease. Leftists are busy creating a two tier class-based society. Those who do not wish to be vaccinated for whatever reason are doomed to be second class citizens, and evidently second class members of the church.” Inject this substance into your body” ” Show your papers”. The totalitarianism is all around us. I will say that I had covid and obviously survived the experience although I am a senior citizen. I then took the vaccine shots on doctors advice. That being said I resent the mandates and attempts to FORCE people into compliance by threatening their ability to work, worship, travel, congregate, etc. The dictatorship lives. Things are bad in the US but even worse in former democracies like Canada and Australia. That the church would participate in this is a very grave matter, doing much damage to the faithful. Life of the body at any cost is not what we are about. Taking prudent action is one thing. Masks, as annoying as they be, fall into that category. But BARRING a whole class of people from churches and the Vatican?? Unconscionable.