NEW YORK - A deadline looms Saturday that could ignite a smoldering conflict over academic freedom between the Roman Catholic hierarchy and theologians at the nation's 235 Catholic colleges and universities.
The winners and losers won't be immediately clear, but in coming years jobs and the shape of Catholic higher learning may be at stake.
Acting on instructions from the Vatican, U.S. bishops have ordered Catholics who teach their faith's doctrine, morality, Scripture, law or history at Catholic schools to obtain a "mandatum" (mandate, in English) from the bishop of the diocese where the college is located.
The document, which the bishops agreed should be obtained by June 1 — this Saturday — attests the theologian teaches only authentic Catholicism.
While some, like the orthodox Cardinal Newman Society, have hailed the mandatum, opponents have derided the requirement as a "loyalty oath." Faculty have complained it tramples their academic freedom.
The penalties dissenters may face is uncertain.
Some bishops warned their colleagues last year they couldn't enforce the requirement. But schools could use the mandatum in rating faculty; it's already affected hiring on at least one campus.
By design, the process is secret; a private matter between each theologian and bishop. For that reason, no one knows how many mandatums have been granted.
Estimates of Catholics teaching religious subjects on church-affiliated campuses range from about 300 to more than 800 priests, nuns and lay professors.
"Everything will depend on the chemistry between a local bishop and the local institutions," said William Loewe, who teaches at The Catholic University of America and heads the College Theology Society. "That leads to a whole wide range of outcomes."
Pope John Paul II called for certifying professors in a 1990 decree as a way to bolster the religious character of Catholic campuses worldwide, and the issue roiled American theologians in the late '90s.
Despite opposition from many professors and academic groups, the U.S. bishops' conference agreed to require the mandatum and put procedures in place last year. But the bishops gave themselves latitude.
Each bishop can word the mandatum as he likes. He can let theologians seek one, or issue them unasked. Even this week's deadline is not absolute.
More importantly for academics and institutions, the mandatum guidelines leave any related hiring and firing to the schools.
The Rev. Dan Pattee at the conservative Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio displays his mandatum in his office. All 12 of his fellow professors, most of them laity, got one, he said.
"I don't think the mandatum is asking us to do anything new," Pattee said. It's "just kind of formalizing things that Catholic theologians have already been doing for centuries." He wonders why anyone would refuse.
So does his school. Franciscan University requires new hires to get a mandatum and last year rejected a job candidate who declined.
This is what the Cardinal Newman Society wants all Catholic colleges to do, said Patrick Reilly, its president. The mandatum, he said, should serve as "the necessary accreditation to be a Catholic theologian."
That's not the common view, however. Many academics view the requirement with concern.
"I hope nobody's going to lose their job over it, but it is possible," said Monika Hellwig, executive director of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities and a theologian.
Wealthy, conservative Catholics could exert pressure on some campuses to fire dissenting professors, even when bishops do not, Hellwig said.
"That is where the threat comes from," Hellwig said. "Self-appointed censors who give the bishops a hard time and write to Rome behind their backs."
Terrence Tilley, dean of religious studies at the University of Dayton, predicted the mandate will diminish Catholic theologians' credibility in the eyes of some of their peers. Some professors will gravitate to secular institutions to teach, or turn away from the discipline altogether, he said.
Or the issue could fade away. That's the prediction of the Rev. Peter Phan, a Catholic University professor and president of the Catholic Theological Society of America.
Many U.S. bishops opposed the mandatum until the Vatican insisted on it, he said. He also noted the risk of lawsuits if a job is lost or tenure is denied for lack of a mandatum. Phan expects most bishops to say "to hell with it."
Sister Mary Ann Hinsdale, a Boston College theologian, agreed, noting the clergy sex-abuse scandal now rocking the church is absorbing the bishops' attention. "I don't think they're thinking about the mandatum," she said.
Hinsdale said Boston Cardinal Bernard Law told her faculty he wouldn't ask them to seek mandatums.
An archdiocesan spokesman said Law has yet to reply even to those who did request one. Said the Rev. Christopher Coyne: "It's still an open question."