A national survey of U.S. Catholic college presidents reveals significant gaps in the implementation of Ex corde Ecclesiae more than 20 years after the Vatican issued its apostolic constitution for Catholic higher education.

The survey results are presented in “Ex Corde Ecclesiae and Catholic Higher Education,” a doctoral dissertation by James Caridi, vice president for student development at Ohio Dominican University in Columbus, Ohio.  About half the presidents of the nation’s 217 Catholic colleges and universities responded to Caridi’s survey in the spring of 2011.

The study’s release comes just as the U.S. bishops are wrapping up a review of the implementation of Ex corde Ecclesiae, the 1990 Vatican constitution that defines and sets requirements for Catholic colleges and universities worldwide.  The U.S. bishops’ “application” of Ex corde Ecclesiae, including guidelines specific to American Catholic institutions, has been in effect since 2001.

“After more than two decades of renewal in Catholic higher education, there are still some institutions that fail to meet the minimal requirements of Ex corde Ecclesiae,” said Patrick J. Reilly, president of The Cardinal Newman Society.  “That is shameful, as are the scandals that we continue to report on many campuses.  What a contrast to the depth of Catholic identity that we see at the colleges profiled in our Newman Guide!”

Caridi’s dissertation is generally positive about the results of his survey, finding that Catholic college presidents generally support Ex corde Ecclesiae and believe they are meeting its requirements.  But many presidents also acknowledge that their institutions have not complied with the constitution.

For instance, although Ex corde Ecclesiae describes theology as essential to the Catholic university, 42 percent of the presidents of U.S. institutions report having neither a department nor a chair of Catholic theology as required by the constitution.  More than seven percent say that Catholic theology is not even taught in their institutions.

The Vatican also requires each professor of Catholic theology to have a mandatum from the local bishop—an affirmation that the professor embraces and intends to teach authentic Catholic doctrine.  Whereas some Catholic colleges consider the mandatum to be necessary for hiring as a Catholic theologian, most refuse to reveal or even track who has the mandatum.  According to the survey, 36 percent of Catholic college presidents said they don’t know whether their theology professors have the mandatum, 10 percent said some but not all of their theologians have it, and another 6 percent said no faculty have it.

Both Ex corde Ecclesiae and the U.S. “application” require that at least a majority of trustees and faculty members are Catholic.  Among the presidents, 10 percent said a majority of trustees are not Catholic or the presidents don’t know whether they are.  Half the presidents said they don’t know whether they meet the requirement for faculty, and another 12 percent said Catholics do not constitute a majority of professors at their institutions.  Only 53 percent said they are even trying to “recruit and appoint Catholic professors” so they constitute a majority of the faculty.

One in eight Catholic college presidents disagreed with the statement, “The relationship between the Local Bishop and me is one of close and consistent cooperation.”  Ex corde Ecclesiae and the U.S. “application” describe close collaboration with the local bishop as essential to an institution’s Catholic identity.

Only 60 percent of the presidents said that their boards of trustees had analyzed Ex corde Ecclesiae more than 20 years after it was issued by the Vatican, and 10 years after the U.S. “application” for Catholic higher education became Church law.

More than 20 percent of the presidents disagreed with Pope John Paul II’s description of Ex corde Ecclesiae as a sort of “magna carta” for Catholic higher education.