Theology professor removed from post after
ordination
By NCR STAFF
A tenured theology professor at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh
was removed from her post after university officials discovered she recently
became an Episcopal priest, according to a Jan. 25 news report in the
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
The professor, Moni McIntyre, is a former nun of the Immaculate
Heart of Mary order who specializes in Catholic theology. Neither McIntyre nor
her attorney, Loraine Tabakin, was available for comment as NCR went to
press.
According to the Post-Gazette, McIntyre returned from
Christmas break to find that her classes had been assigned to other professors
and that books she had written had been removed from the display case in the
theology department. On Jan. 9, she received a letter from Duquesne President
John E. Murray Jr. saying that her decision to become an Episcopal priest
necessarily repudiates certain teachings of the Roman Catholic
church. Murray said she would no longer be allowed to teach theology.
McIntyre remains on the universitys payroll, but Murray said
formal dismissal could follow.
Murray said he had first consulted with Pittsburgh Bishop Donald
Wuerl.
She is now a publicly proclaimed, official teacher of
Anglican doctrine, which differs from Roman Catholic doctrine in very important
areas, Murray told the Post-Gazette. To present her as a
teacher of Roman Catholic theology under these circumstances is a contradiction
which is not in keeping with the mission of the department of theology, the
university or the Roman Catholic church. He said Wuerl had concurred
without qualification.
Murrays action comes as U.S. bishops are preparing to
implement U.S. norms for Ex Corde Ecclesiae, the Vatican document
that calls for Catholic colleges and universities to strengthen their religious
identity. U.S. norms, under discussion now between church officials and
theologians, will require that theologians be certified by local bishops by
obtaining a mandatum, effectively a license to teach.
School officials learned about McIntyres ordination from
Catholic diocesan officials who had noted on the Episcopal dioceses Web
site that McIntyre was to be ordained Dec. 16.
Murray referred to Ex Corde Ecclesiae in his letter to
McIntyre. He told the Post-Gazette that the ongoing public discussion of
the papal document should have served as a signal to McIntyre that she would be
unsuitable as a professor of Catholic theology if she left the church.
Mercy Sr. Margaret Farley, a professor at Yale and former
president of the Catholic Theological Society of America, told NCR that
McIntyres case is troubling, not only in the case itself, but in
the precedent it sets. It seems to say that if you are not a Roman Catholic you
cant teach Catholic theology.
Protestants can understand Catholic
theology and teach it.
We wait to see what it will mean ultimately in terms of how
she can negotiate her situation there, Farley said of McIntyre. My
hope is that in the process were now in, with dialogue between bishops
and theologians, we can build trust. This may test that possibility.
National Catholic Reporter, February 2,
2001
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