The Exorcist author, William Blatty, is spearheading a drive to canonically remove the designation “Catholic” from Georgetown University. His effort is both noble and correct. Unfortunately, the petition will be dead on arrival (DOA).
Blatty and other orthodox Catholics are incensed that Kathleen Sibilius, Health and Human Services Secretary, a pro-abortion politician and a supporter of the Obama Administration’s mandate which forces Catholic institutions to provide contraceptives, abortifacients and sterilization coverage in their health care plans, was the school’s Commencement speaker. Blatty’s suit will rely on the Vatican document “Ex Corde Ecclesiae” (1990) which encourages bishops to be vigilant in protecting the Catholic identity of the colleges and universities in their dioceses. According to the document two steps are critical: Firstly, those bishops should investigate the theological faculties of these schools and provide a “mandatum” or a license to indicate a professor’s orthodoxy. It seems that little or nothing has been done either to enforce the policy or else to make known which professors have passed muster. Secondly, it states that if an institution has strayed from its Catholic mission and remains stubborn in not ameliorating it, the local bishop should lift its designation as “Catholic.” To date, no school has suffered this penalty.
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