I've been asked to address with you this evening. Is this topic of academic freedom and Catholic higher education? What I intend to do is to develop three major points. The first will be a brief overview of the historical development of this in Roman Catholicism higher education. The second point will be to talk about some threats which are now existing against academic freedom and Catholic higher education and the third part will be to give a ROTC and Al or arguments why I think Catholic higher education needs academic freedom. Before I begin just a very brief definition of academic freedom academic freedom is the freedom of the academician in teaching research and publication. Basically as it developed in the circumstances of the United States academic freedom was developed because of the threat coming from outside agencies either members of the Board of Trustees or supporters of the institution who then tried to interfere in the hiring firing and promoting a faculty members. I was thinking coming in on the plane today that one of the academic freedom cases not that long ago was in the neighboring state of Wisconsin when the state legislature wanted to deny tenure to a faculty person who claimed that margarine was as good as butter. but that fundamentally academic freedom than is the freedom from external forces interfering in the hiring firing promoting of faculty in the United States the instrumentality that tries to make this happen in reality is the reality of academic tenure so that a tenured professor can only be dismissed on charges of incompetency with a judgment made by academic peers in the first instance and by no external Authority whatsoever. Fundamentally, then that's the definition of what we're talking about briefly. Then Roman numeral one will be this brief overview of the historical development and here I have two major points a will just be to briefly describe this development and B will be to tentatively give some reasons why it occurred. So a the development itself interestingly enough before 1960. It was generally accepted by Roman Catholic Educators and by the American academic community in general that Catholic institutions of Higher Learning did not want and could not have academic freedom. This was generally and I can say totally accept it thus for example in the 1950s the president of Georgetown University referred to and I quote the sacred fetish of academic freedom close quote. At that time in the 1950s Sydney hook who at that time was writing quite a bit about academic freedom and Dorst the shavian expression that a Catholic University is a contradiction in terms. Robert M. MacGyver who wrote A the most systematic Treatise of the subject in 1956 used Catholic higher education as what he called the religious argument against academic freedom. So it was generally accepted by all that Catholic higher education was opposed to academic freedom did not believe in it and certainly did not want it for its own institutions. Frankly a very amazing change took place in the middle 1960s. In fact the first article of an academic in this country really saying that Catholic institutions should think about academic freedom and adopt it was only published in 1964. The change came quite dramatically after that in 1966. For example, the what is now called the college theology Society defeated emotion to endorse the 1940 aaup statement on academic freedom and tenure this is sort of the Bible of academicians the 1940 statement on academic freedom and tenure by the American Association of University professors and the association of American colleges and this statement is the basic principle statement of what academic freedom is in the United States in 1966. The college theology Society voted not to accept that statement a year later. They change their vote and voted to accept it. A tremendous change occurred perhaps best illustrated by the famous Land O Lakes statement in 1967. When 26 prominent Catholic Educators Matt at Land O'Lakes, Wisconsin, which is owned by the University of Notre Dame and they're under the leadership of Father Theodore hesburgh and many other presidents of Catholic institutions of Higher Learning. They issued what became known as The Land O'Lakes statement and this statement tried to identify. What is a Catholic University. And it began by saying that Catholic institutions must have quote a true autonomy and academic freedom in the face of authority of any kind they or clerical external to the academic institution itself close quote. This was an amazing document. That supported full academic freedom for Catholic higher education interestingly enough then it was in that same year that the two Catholic institutions st. Louis and Notre Dame were the first Catholic institutions to change their internal governing structure most Catholic institutions before that time were governed by the religious community owned by the religious community or the diocese that supported it and ultimately controlled by the religious community in 1967 single was the first established a Labor Board of Trustees. We're that I there was a lady dominance on the board and it was the board that owned and controlled the institution. But as I say, this is comparatively new this was only in 1967 and after that time then this spread very rapidly and I think we can say by the early 1970s. The mainstream of Catholic higher education had accepted academic freedom as necessary for its own self understanding and identity. So that's the quick historical overview now be why why did this happen? How did this change this dramatic a hundred and eighty degree change take place in such a short period of time? I can only suggest a number of reasons how mention for very quickly first of all theological reasons especially associated with the second Vatican Council. As you'll recall for example, the second Vatican Council change the Roman Catholic Church's approach to religious liberty and accepted religious freedom for the first time in Catholic history. Well, obviously there could be connections between religious freedom and academic freedom. Also the second Vatican Council talked about the legitimate autonomy of Earthly and cultural institutions like the autonomy of the state or the autonomy of the college or the University. Also, the second Vatican Council reminded us that change has often occurred in the church and the change will often come about through the work of theologians. So that was the theological aspect. Secondly, I think there was also a cultural aspect namely after the second world war and it began to grow after that. Roman Catholics became much more accepting of the American culture and experience the ghetto mentality was changing. Now again, not all of this was a mixed blessing but nonetheless there was an Acceptance Now of American institutions that had not been there before and therefore a greater willingness to do it. A third reason we're changes within Catholic higher education itself. Up until that time most Catholic higher education was run by religious communities the administration a heavy percentage of the faculty were religious. They were mostly undergraduate institutions before the second world war. Really Catholic University was the only Catholic graduate school in the United States. Now after the war things began to change first of all you went in for grad more graduate education. Then also you had more lay people coming onto your faculty lay people also became began to have roles in the administration of institutions. With this came a recognition then that many of your new faculty were trained at good American institutions of Higher Learning and they wanted to apply the American Standards of institutional autonomy and academic freedom to Catholic higher education. I mentioned already that by the late 1960s some Catholic institutions had now recognize that control shifted to a Board of Trustees, which was predominantly late and was no longer run by the religious community the diocese or the sponsoring religious body. Also a much greater professionalism, then came into Catholic higher education. I mentioned before the college theology Society. One of the reasons that group was founded was to make the teaching of college theology more professional. Frankly in the 1950s anyone with religious profession or a collar on their neck or a veil on their hair was capable of teaching Catholic theology in a Catholic College. And this was an attempt at a greater professionalisation. Also in 1955 my colleague and steam dean of American Catholic historians John Tracy Alice wrote his famous article decrying the lack of Catholic participation in the intellectual life in the United States. And frankly perhaps this more than anything started Catholics questioning critically Catholic higher education. Why was it that Catholics who had entered the mainstream who had done risen and so many other fields but yet had made practically little or no contribution to the American intellectual life. So all these reasons I think from that educational Viewpoint help to explain this dramatic change, which took place. Fourth I think it's also important to mention changes in the defense of academic freedom. You can defend academic freedom on a number of grounds and there's no doubt that some people in the United States defended it on the basis of the empirical scientific method. The only kind of truth is the truth that is empirically verifiable. They were many who defended it coming out of an Enlightenment prejudice against any existence of the Transcendent or any role to play in human intellectual Life by a belief in God. Obviously Catholics would be opposed to those kinds of justifications of academic freedom. However to its credit the famous 1940 statement of the aaup and the association of American colleges in my judgment rightly avoided any of those overly metaphysical definitions or supports of academic freedom. And their point and I think it's the correct one was to say that academic freedom is ultimately Justified because it is good for Society at Large. That ultimately by giving this freedom to professors in the academy, which we don't give to other people. We ultimately do it not because it's just good for the professors and not just because it's good for the Academy. But because it's good for society as a whole. This is how Society itself is better off is sustained and nourished and helped by academic freedom. So that more pragmatic definition or grounding of academic freedom made it much easier. I think for people out of a Catholic tradition to be willing to accept. So that's the first point then this tremendous development that took place now Roman numeral 2. This will be a little bit shorter the threats to academic freedom which are now existing in Catholic world today that basically as I mentioned by the 1970s, the mainstream of Catholic higher education had accepted the principles and procedures of academic freedom. However, more recently now there have been some threats to academic freedom and let me mention a few of them. First of all in 1980 there were a number of earlier ones, but I just we only have 50 minutes you have time and I got a plane. So as a result that I'll have to skip over some of these earlier kinds of frictions or threats, but the first I will mention the code of canon law in the Roman Catholic Church was issued in 1983. And this code of canon law contained the famous now-famous Cannon 812, which says the teachers of theological disciplines and institutions of Higher Learning need a mandate from the higher ecclesiastical Authority. Now this cannon then by its very nature says that anyone who teaches theology in a Catholic college or university needs a mandate from the local church Authority that Authority can grant the Mandate but also that Authority can lift the Mandate, huh? And therefore the proponents of academic freedom and Catholic higher education argued that this was a violation of the principle of academic freedom. Now interestingly enough the leaders of American Catholic higher education tried to prevent that cannon from coming into existence. It is now in existence but interestingly enough to my knowledge. It is never been applied in the United States. A second development in April of 1985 the Vatican congregation for Catholic Education as it was then known published a or came out with a document which was a proposed schema as they called it proposed norms for all Catholic higher education in the world. And they were sending this out as a first draft to be discussed commented upon Etc. And ultimately they were going to come up now with norms for all Catholic higher education in the world. In that document this 1985 proposed Norms. They once again applied and accepted Cannon 812 namely the local ecclesiastical Superior had to give a mandate to people teaching Theology and had the obligation at times even to take that mandate away. Also that document said that all Catholic colleges and universities had to be under the direct juridical control of ecclesiastical authorities. Which was different from the American practice. Remember? I mentioned that since the 70s most of them were incorporated as institutions controlled and run by an independent Board of Trustees this document that came out then in 1985 was strenuously objected to by the leaders of Catholic higher education in the United States arguing that it was opposed to academic freedom and institutional autonomy and saying that it in the last analysis could be the death knell for Catholic higher education in the United States. That the argument was that in the United States. Yes, we want to be Catholic and we know that a lot of other institutions of Higher Learning started as religiously sponsored but no longer are the leaders of Catholic higher education want to keep Catholic institutions, but they say that we have to be first of all good American colleges and universities first and therefore we need academic freedom and institutional autonomy. This judgment then of theirs was forwarded to Rome and that along with along with many others now third under these sort of threats in the fall of 1988 a revised version of these norms for Catholic higher education was proposed from Rome. A step forward interestingly enough, they no longer demanded that Catholic institutions of Higher Learning be under the juridical control of ecclesiastical authorities, but they did call for the need for a mandate for anyone teaching theology there and they call for each Bishops conference to establish Norms of how the Bishops would make sure that Orthodoxy was taught in Catholic higher education. So this document has just been circulated there is to be a meeting held in in Rome in this later this spring. I guess you can say that in Minnesota and it means something later in the spring but that ultimately what will happen again is up in the air, but obviously Catholic Educators in the United States see this proposed document as a threat because it does seem opposed to the American notion of academic freedom and institutional autonomy. A fourth point just trying to list these my own case at Catholic university has also I think raise some problems for Catholic higher education in the United States. In the beginning my case began when the Vatican congregation for the doctrine of the faith concluded in 1986 after a seven-year investigation that I was neither suitable nor eligible to be a professor of Catholic theology. At that time the chancellor of Catholic University Archbishop hickey. Informed me that in accord with the statutes of Catholic University. He was beginning the process to take away my canonical mission to teach at an ecclesiastical faculty. Now if you'll excuse it for a minute, we got to get into a little bit of canon law here Catholic University of America is unique in terms of Catholic higher education in this country because it has three ecclesiastical faculties that is faculties, which by their very nature Grant degrees accredited not by American accrediting associations, but by the Vatican And therefore these three faculties existed Catholic University. I was teaching on one of those faculties. Just to muddy the waters a little bit as they always are the faculty. I was teaching on the faculty of theology interestingly enough. Only one quarter of the students were in those ecclesiastical degree programs three quarters of the students were in the Civil American degree programs. Okay, basically to shorten the story a bit that after a university-wide committee came to the conclusion that they could take away my canonical mission to teach in an ecclesiastical faculty only if I were first given another position in the University teaching in my area of competence because they said academic freedom demanded that I had a right to teach in my area of competence. Even though they said I could not Teach an ecclesiastical faculty. The Board of Trustees of Catholic University rejected the faculty committee report and finally in late spring of 1988 concluded that because of quote religious conviction and canon law. I was unable to teach theology anywhere at Catholic University. See no longer was it a question of just the ecclesiastical faculties now, it was a question of the whole university and they went on to say as the president said at Catholic University. There is an ecclesial limit on academic freedom. Five reactions, especially now of the United States Catholic Bishops to the whole question of academic freedom. I mentioned that the mainstream of Catholic higher education in the from the 1970s on had accepted academic freedom. Interestingly enough. They were very concerned that they would get support from the Bishops of the United States. In 1980 the Bishops of the United States issued a pastoral letter on Catholic colleges and universities in which they acknowledged the need for academic freedom and institutional autonomy in Catholic higher education. So this seemed then is if the leaders of Catholic higher education had now accomplished what they had set out to to get the support of the American Catholic Bishops for their position. I mentioned that famous schema from Rome in 1985 the majority of American Catholic Bishops joined the Catholic Educators in opposing those proposed Norms that I talked about. However, it's interesting that a minority of American Catholic Bishops supported those norms. Now again, interesting in the last eight months three American Catholic Bishops have publicly written that academic freedom at Catholic institutions of Higher Learning must be limited. So it seems now that there is a change happening on the part of some United States Catholic Bishops. So that's the situation at the present time what will happen in the future? I don't know as I said, there's someone out there before dinner. It's tough enough being a theologian in the church today. Let alone being a prophet. I don't know what's going to happen. But that in the last analysis you can see the tension that is happening. Obviously in Rome. There's a strong sentiment against academic freedom the mainstream of American Catholic higher education strongly desires to have academic freedom at one time. It seemed the American Catholic Bishops were supportive of that but now there are strong indications that many Catholic Bishops in the United States now believe there should be limits on academic freedom and American Catholic higher education. So that brings us to the third and final point. The three points obviously prove my trinitarian Orthodoxy here. Some some might argue it to Gillian dialectic. But anyway. The in the light of all of this. My point is I think it's important for us who believe in academic freedom to try to make the best argument possible for the defense of academic freedom in Catholic higher education interestingly enough that change took place so dramatically and so quickly in the late 60s and early 70s that we really don't have a very well-developed ROTC on a land defense of academic freedom for Catholic higher education. So that's what I'd like to do now. Just three quick introductory remarks. That first of all the problem the obvious problem is that we as Catholics believe there is a teaching office given to Pope and Bishops in the church. And therefore with his teaching office given to Pope and Bishops does it not seem that at times this teaching office must interfere in the academy for the good of Catholic faith. And for the good of the Catholic Church. That's the nub of the problem the second introductory remark. How do we go about trying to prove that academic freedom is good for Catholic higher education. Remember I mentioned before the reason why American Society at large decided to accept academic freedom. We did it because we said in the last analysis. It's good for society as a whole. Now analogously, I think we who believe in academic freedom for Catholic higher education must make the same basic argument namely I think we have to prove that academic freedom should be accepted by the Catholic church because in the last analysis, it's good for the church. the third introductory remark that Fundamentally, the tension will always primarily be in the area of theology experiences pointed this out the present controversies point this out the proposed Norms from Rome point this out. It's precisely in the area of theology where the tension is going to be most severe so that if we can prove academic freedom even in theology is good for the church then obviously we proved it for everything else. Just a final introductory remark or up to four but it'll save something later on that the leadership of Catholic higher education has often made the point that if we do not have academic freedom and institutional autonomy, the very future of Catholic higher education is jeopardized precisely because we will not be able to get government grants. Government loans for our students government money to put up buildings Etc. Now, I think that's very true. However, I think you know, we at least to our academicians have to try to come up with a little better reason, you know as an ethicist. I'm very willing to say, you know, sometimes we should say no to people who are going to give us money. And just because we're getting money. I don't think is ultimately a good enough reason now In fairness again, obviously, these Educators themselves are convinced that Catholic higher education is for the good of the church, but nonetheless, I think that point has to be made much more concrete and has to be made in much greater depth and it has been made. So with those introductory remarks, then I will develop my arguments in favor of academic freedom for Catholic higher education, especially in the area of Theology. And remember what I said, I think in order to do this, what I have to prove is that academic freedom is ultimately for the good of the Catholic Church itself. Why should the church support these institutions if ultimately they aren't for the good of the church I mean, I think that's the point that we have to make and to be very honest with you. I mean, it's not the easiest argument to make but I do think a convincing argument can be made and I will try to do it and lo and behold we're going to do it through Three Steps A B and C. Okay, a would point out the need for and I already caution and modify this by saying the need for some freedom in Catholic theology. That behind this I think is what I call the role of the whole church and ultimately the role of Catholic theology is the role of creative Fidelity to the word and work of Jesus what the church is all about is precisely that creative Fidelity to the word and work of Jesus. But those two words put the tension together. Looking at some of my former students. It reminds me of the time that I was going to give an examination and I was walking behind to students who didn't know I was walking behind them and the one said you study for currents exam and the other one said now, I didn't bother studying for current. I got nowhere to things tension and complexity. I was angry at first and about 2 minutes later. I copped out and said yeah, she's right. Anyhow, there's the tension right there creative fidelity. That we must always be faithful to the word and work of Jesus, but Fidelity means more than just repeating in our time and place what was said in New Testament times. And in fact to its credit our Roman Catholic tradition in my judgment is always stood for that. You know you talk about tensions in the church today. Well, if you can believe some of the people who wrote in the 4th and 5th centuries, they were much greater tensions in the church. Then I mean the dockworkers of nicaea and Ephesus were involved in trinitarian discussions. I can't even get graduate students to get involved in a trinitarian discussion today. Okay, but why because in the 5th 4th 5th and 6th centuries, we were dealing with a very significant problem that goes to the very heart of our belief. Who is God and who is Jesus Christ? And some people said well to understand God we can take this term from Greek theology a person and we can say there are three persons in God and there are two Natures human and divine in Jesus. Ultimately, that's what the church chose to do. But at the time some people came along and said hey, you can't do that. Where does it say in the scripture? There are two natures and Jesus? Where does it even use the word persons to describe the three persons in the Trinity? What you're doing is you're bringing in all this Greek philosophy. And interesting enough we as a church said yeah, we are. But we have to because precisely what we as a church must do is to live understand and appropriate the word and work of Jesus in the light of the ongoing historical conditions of time and place. creative fidelity many Roman Catholics are amazed to learn that for the greater part of the Catholic Church's existence. We did not believe in seven sacraments. It was only in the 12th century that marriage became enumerated as the 7th sacrament. Thereby hangs another tale, but we don't have time for it that fundamentally this kind of creative Fidelity that in must always. Characterize the life of the church and the life of theology. The greatest Theologian in the Catholic church was Thomas Aquinas? And the fundamental Genius of Aquinas in the 13th century was the fact that Aquinas was unwilling just to repeat what the people before him said. What Aquinas did was to take the then-new thought of the European University World namely the Aristotelian ISM that had come in through a Vera Les and he used Aristotle a pagan who didn't know Jesus and probably didn't believe in God and he used Aristotle's thought to understand better and to explain the Christian Mysteries. Two years after he died a provincial Council condemned. And many people you can hear say to Aquinas. What are you bringing in this Pagan for? I mean here we have all those who have gone before us. We have all the saints. We have all the fathers and mothers of the church granted more father's for him than Mother's but basically why don't you pay attention to them. Just repeat what they said. Don't bring in this new pagan. But fundamentally Aquinas stood for the best of Catholic theology of creative Fidelity. All right, that's the first point under the need for some freedom and theology second just an understanding of the hierarchical church teaching that fundamentally. Yes, we believe in a hierarchical teaching office in the Roman Catholic church, but we also believe is Vatican to pointed out that the hierarchical church teaching office is subordinate to the word of God that it conforms itself to the truth and to the word of God and is not above the word of God and is not above the truth. Third history itself reminds us of the tremendous changes that have occurred in Catholic self-understanding. We you experience the second Vatican Council and looking around I guess most of us have which says something about us maybe last year. Excuse me last year. I taught a course at Cornell University and I had about two days to come up with a syllabus when it was first announced and I had a marvelous Heidi I said, you know, you got to get a syllabus. You got to get some easy. I said, I'll give a course on Vatican to you got 16 documents. Take one a week. You know, you got a marvelous syllabus right there, huh marvelous idea two days later. I'm talking to a colleague who says hey Charlie those students weren't even born at Vatican 2. I said oh oh, but anyway, we who have experienced it know the development that took place there was precisely a development that took place in and through the theological scriptural and liturgical developments of the time. So therefore there must be need for a freedom and theology. However, that having been said the point must also be made that that isn't enough to justify academic freedom. Because I would still say Catholic theologians are going to make mistakes now, not me, of course some of those other people but all right Catholic theologians are going to make mistakes sometime the hierarchical church office should say we think this opinion is wrong. So by talking about a need for a greater freedom for Catholic theology. I still have not proved my point. It's a cumulative argument that has to be developed and that be now the next step is to give more positive arguments why we should accept academic freedom despite the fact that the oceans will be making mistakes. Why should we accept it? All right. First of all, I mentioned before the Vatican Council to talked about the autonomy of cultural institutions That basically I think the great reality that we experienced here in the United States. As I mentioned was the autonomy of the state you see for so long the Catholic thought was you need a Catholic state. And it and the state must be in the service of the church. It doesn't have that autonomy. And frankly, it was only at the second Vatican Council that we changed our position and recognize that academic freedom are those are the religious freedom and separation of church and state means that the state should in no way be subservient and under the control of the church. We accepted the legitimate autonomy of human institutions. The same thing that I think would argue to accept the autonomy of the college or the university a second point now under these arguments in favor of academic freedom. I think there is an analogy here and sometimes analogies are the quickest way to make the point the analogy, especially that we develop with that developed within Roman Catholicism with regard to quote Catholic journalism. Again, before the second Vatican Council and some places today. We all know the Catholic journalism is not free. We don't publish things that are not edifying to the church. They're censored. And frankly, this was true across the board of the Catholic Press before the second Vatican Council. Now thanks to the council. Thanks to a lot of pioneers in the Catholic Press and to developments in the United States. Anyway, we have now recognized at least on a national level that the press the Catholic Press should be free. So there's an organization called the National Catholic news service in Washington, which to the credit of the Catholic Bishops has total freedom. They didn't have total freedom 20 years ago. Their articles were censored by ecclesiastical superiors. Now to its credit they have total freedom because we have come to realize that you know, the truth itself is nothing we have to be afraid of and yes, they're going to be dis out of fighing things. And yes, they're going to be problems, you know, the fact that the secular press was publishing in any way and we were denying it, you know that did create a few problems itself. But but I think In fairness we recognize then the need for a free press even within the Catholic church and that in the last analysis the church would be better served by a free press even though it might create some short-term problems for the church. My third reason why then academic freedom that should be accepted because the Roman Catholic tradition our theological tradition again to it's great credit has asserted that faith and reason can never contradict one another. In my judgment, that's not only a magnificent statement about faith, but it's also a magnificent faith statement about reason. To say that faith and reason can never contradict one another. We have nothing to be afraid of. In fact, the origins of universities in the west was under the sponsorship of the church this year. We celebrated the 900th anniversary of the University of Bologna the first University in the west sponsored by the church a church that claim that faith and reason can never contradict one another sure. It's a long-term thought and I've always been afraid that many of our problems in the church have come when we forgot that bold assertion of medieval Scholastics. You know that faith and reason can never contradict one another but that's our tradition and what better way is there to attest to that tradition than to recognize academic freedom in Catholic higher education. Fourth point we and in the Catholic tradition have always insisted about the freedom of the act of faith faith is a free gift from God, but it's a free response on our part. We can't Corral people into salvation. Ultimately faith is our free response to God. I think we also know that at times the Catholic church has not stood up for that as much as it should have and again what better way could there be for supporting the freedom of the Act of Faith than to recognize academic freedom and Catholic higher education? I mean God could have corralled us all into salvation of God wanted to but she didn't she gave us freedom, huh? And in the last analysis, you know, I think that tells us the importance of freedom in our tradition again, it's not an absolute. I admit that but it's very important. A fifth argument would be that academic freedom and Catholic higher education would bear witness to the whole world that we have. Nothing to fear that we basically are convinced of the truth of our faith and we are willing to recognize that and we are willing to enter into dialogue with anybody about that. And therefore I think we would bear witness to others as a form even of Evangelical witness about our understanding of faith. The sixth point in the last analysis the existence of academic freedom within Catholic higher education. I think would make the teaching authority of the church itself more credible. I don't want to destroy the teaching Authority in the church. I think it's ultimately necessary and important. But I think in the last analysis, it becomes more credible if people know that Catholic theologians have this kind of freedom to openly discuss even though they'll make mistakes. The see the third step now. So the first was to point out some freedom in Catholic higher education in Catholic theology, but that's not enough for what I'm trying to prove be then was six reasons in favor of full academic freedom, even though theologians are going to make mistakes and now see would be there are ways of controlling the negative aspects that will come from theological error. I willing to admit it's going to be there. I think it's over weighed by the positive reasons. I just gave and I think in the final analysis we can also control. A number of reasons for quick reasons here and we're through the first is the best control of it in the account is the way the academy controls thing namely through honest open debate. That precisely you know theological opinion will be opposed by other people and in that debate. Ultimately we would hope to arrive at the truth. And to its credit Catholic theology has known great debate over the years. In fact, sometimes maybe too strong debate. In my own area moral theology. We invented a special type of hatred which in the old Latin textbooks and I'll bet enough you can even translate it came out odium payload you go. Theological hatred that's the hatred the theologians had for one another because they argued so much and so strenuously. Now I don't want odium payloads you come but at least I want a lot more argument topsoil tail ojika, but I mean, that's the normal process to have. That's how you're going to control problems is through is through intense theological debate. Secondly, the teaching authority of the church always reserves the right and must have the right to point out that it thinks a position is wrong or that idiot even thinks a particular Theologian is wrong. They at times can and should do that, but they cannot directly interfere with that person's role in The Academy. a third reason I think we Americans are generally realistic enough and skeptical enough that we're not going to believe everything. Every academician says And I know we accept academic freedom, but we also in oh realize it's a realistically that we're not going to accept everything that an academician says, I mean that we're not children. There's a realism here just because of Catholic Theologian says something doesn't mean people are going to accept it. Because except of course all you hear are accepting what I say. No, but that fundamentally, it's a good thing to have this kind of skepticism which is a say certainly you as a university community have In terms of disagreements with colleagues Etc. So and a fourth reason. So what I'm saying is now then the possible negative consequences of accepting academic freedom and recognizing Catholic theologians will make mistakes can be minimized. I don't think they're going to lead that many people astray. That I mean first of all who bothers even reading Catholic theologians, you know, unless somebody calls attention to them. All right, you know the last time I spoke here there are maybe a hundred people. good lesson for somebody The fourth and final Point academicians themselves have responsibilities again accepted in the aaup statements about academic freedom that the responsibility academician is to be true to one's own discipline and ultimately one has to label one's own opinion as one's own opinion one in Catholic theology has to label Church teaching as Church teaching, you know, you're incompetent and I think you could be fired by judgment by peers. Now if you claim something was Catholic teaching that wasn't Catholic teaching in other words. The Criterion of competence also is present for everybody in the academy and for Catholic theologians, if they're not competent, they can be dismissed. But only on the basis of a judgment by peers in the first instance and by the institution nah by any outside force So what I've tried to do this evening, and is to I hope to seriously engage you in this I think very important discussion about academic freedom and Catholic higher education. My first point was just to give you a historical development in the quick change that took place. The second was to talk about the threats existing for academic freedom and the third was to try to propose as convincing arrazi and Al as I could why I believe Catholic higher Catholic higher education needs academic freedom and institution of autonomy and in the last analysis academic freedom and institutional autonomy are for the good of the Catholic church in the United States. Thank you very much.