Catholic Colleges Leader Rejects Ex Corde Ecclesiae as ‘Checklist,’ Defends Pro-Abortion Speakers

Michael Galligan-Stierle

The president of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities (ACCU) has claimed that Pope Saint John Paul II’s Ex corde Ecclesiae, the apostolic constitution for Catholic colleges and universities, is not a “checklist” binding on college leaders and does not prevent pro-abortion speakers and events.

ACCU President Michael Galligan-Stierle’s “checklist” comment resurrects arguments that the ACCU made in the 1990s against conforming with the letter of Ex corde Ecclesiae.  The false implication is that the document presents a personal vision for Catholic education which colleges may interpret in their own way, even when undermining the Church, but does not declare norms that are binding under the Church’s canon law.  (more...)

Catholic Colleges Leader Rejects Ex Corde Ecclesiae as ‘Checklist,’ Defends Pro-Abortion Speakers