Near the beginning of the 20th century, Pope St. Pius X was widely criticized by individuals both inside and outside the Church for his harsh condemnation of modernist ideologies, especially in his encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis (On the Doctrines of the Modernists, 1907). As sheperd of the Catholic flock, it was St. Pius' job to ensure that the Catholic faithful - including theologians - did not fall into error, a task which he performed with great vigor and tenacity. Fr. Richard McBrien, a professor at Notre Dame and a leading opponent of Ex Corde Ecclesiae, asserts that St. Pius' pontificate set the Church back intellectually by more than half a century. St. Pius died in 1914; and as luck would have it, it was just over a half a century later - 53 years to be exact - when representatives from Catholic colleges and universities from around the world held a seminar to discuss the matter of Catholic higher education in Land O 'Lakes, Wisconsin. Led by Theodore Hesburg, then-President of Notre Dame University, the attendees of this seminar drafted a statement on the nature of the contemporary Catholic university. This document, now known as the "Land O 'Lakes Statement," addressed 10 points which are summarized below:
1. In order to achieve the ideal of academic excellence, a Catholic university "must have a true autonomy and academic
freedom in the face of authority of whatever kind, lay or clerical, external to the academic community itself,"
and that these conditions are necessary for Catholic universities to survive and grow. In other words, Catholic universities
should be the same as all other modern universities, with the only difference being that "Catholicism is perceptibly
present and effectively operative." 2. As academic excellence and the pursuit of the theological sciences is essential to a Catholic university,
all branches of theology must be represented by the scholars who comprise the faculty. 3. The theological faculty must explore "the total religious heritage of the world, in order to come to the best
possible intellectual understanding of religion and revelation, of man in all his varied relationships to God."
In addition, theological studies must also "serve the ecumenical goals of collaboration and unity." 4. Theology must confront the rest of modern culture in order to enrich itself and apply its insights for the betterment
of modern culture. The Catholic university must also place an emphasis in other disciplines and excel
in these as well, which would make interdisciplinary dialogue possible. 5. The Catholic university should be a critical evaluator of how the Church carries out its Apostolic mission. 6. The Catholic university will support all fields of research, with a special emphasis on and priority to "problems
of greater human urgency or of greater Christian concern." 7. The Catholic university has an obligation to public service, with a special obligation to the Church "and its component parts." 8. "The whole world of knowledge and ideas must be open to the student; there must be no outlawed books or subjects.
Thus the student will be able to develop his own capabilities and to fulfill himself by using the intellectual resources
presented to him." These "intellectual resources" are then to be applied to theological and philosophical problems,
interpersonal relationships within the "community of learners," and "the particularly pressing problems of our era,
e.g., civil rights, international development and peace, poverty, etc." 9. "Within the university community the student should be able not simply to study theology and Christianity, but should
find himself in a social situation in which he can express his Christianity in a variety of ways and live it experientially
and experimentally." In other words, students should determine which manner of Christianity best suits them, based on what they
learn at the university and their own personal experiences. 10. "The evolving nature of the Catholic university will necessitate basic reorganizations of structure in order not only
to achieve a greater internal cooperation and participation, but also to share the responsibility of direction more broadly
and to enlist wider support. A great deal of study and experimentation will be necessary to carry out these changes,
but changes of this kind are essential for the future of the Catholic university.
"In fine, the Catholic university of the future will be a true modern university but specifically Catholic in profound
and creative ways for the service of society and the people of God." NOTE: For the complete text of this document, please visit the following link:
http://consortium.villanova.edu/excorde/landlake.htm
It should come as no surprise, then, that the "Land 'O Lakes Statement" has been used as a primary justification by dissenting theologians for their opposition to the mandates of Ex Corde Ecclesiae, particularly the requirement that all theologians have a mandate (hereafter referred to as a mandatum) from the local competent ecclesial authority (i.e. the local Bishop) which states that what the theologian teaches is in communion with the Catholic Church. This requirement makes perfect sense, as it allows prospective students and their parents know which professors on Catholic campuses will teach authentic Catholicism (after all, why else would Catholic parents send their children to Catholic schools, when a quality liberal arts education can be had at numerous secular institutions?).
