An election-year dispute over Roman Catholic politicians and their obedience to church teaching has extended to Catholic colleges, as U.S. bishops collectively warn schools against honoring dissenting lawmakers.
The admonition, in the bishops' statement last week on the duties of Catholics in public life, puts new pressure on Catholic colleges and universities as they decide which speakers to invite to campus. Conservative Catholic watchdog groups like the Cardinal Newman Society say the prelates' statement is their strongest yet on the topic.
"Never has it in any formal way been addressed by the bishops as a whole," said Patrick Reilly, the society's president.
The bishops said lawmakers who support abortion rights and other policies contrary to core church teaching should abstain from Holy Communion and "should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions" from Catholic institutions.
The issue is a central one for the schools, which have long struggled to balance their Catholic identity with academic freedom and a desire to place themselves at the center of American life. It is a particularly sensitive problem during a presidential race.
The University of Notre Dame traditionally invites the Democratic and Republican nominees to speak on campus and has no plan to abandon that practice this year, university spokesman Matt Storin said.
John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic nominee, is a Catholic who supports abortion rights and other policies at odds with Catholic beliefs.
President Bush is a Methodist whose position on abortion is more in line with the church, although his stance on the death penalty, stem-cell research and the war on Iraq deviate from that of the Catholic hierarchy.
Georgetown University in Washington is a frequent stop for the nation's policy-makers. Kerry gave a budget policy address there in April.
How the warning plays out depends on each school's relationship with its local bishop. Prelates adapt church teaching for their own dioceses, but do not directly control most colleges, which have their own boards of trustees. However, bishops can pressure schools to conform.
Allison Dobson, a spokeswoman for the Kerry campaign, said the candidate has no confirmed appearances right now at Catholic universities.
Most Catholic schools already vet commencement speakers and honorary degree recipients for their positions on key Catholic issues. However, it is not uncommon to find speakers who back laws the church considers immoral.
One example this year was the Jesuit University of San Francisco, which invited San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom to address business graduates.
Newsom became a nationally recognized advocate for gay marriage when he allowed the city to issue same-sex marriage licenses this year. The church considers gay sex "intrinsically disordered." A spokesman for the university did not return repeated calls for comment.
Michael James, vice president of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, which represents more than 220 U.S. Catholic schools, said a distinction must be made between honoring someone and allowing them to present an argument in the context of a lecture series or symposium.
While schools won't invite an abortion rights supporter to give a commencement address on abortion, that same person could be part of a campus conference examining the issue, college spokesmen say.
"Our schools see themselves as places where we need to invite multiple ideas and points of view," James said.
The problem becomes more complex when schools honor lawmakers for accomplishments unrelated to their positions on church issues.
Boston College Law School chose as its commencement speaker Walter Dellinger, who served as acting Solicitor General and a Clinton adviser, and has advocated for abortion rights. University spokesman Jack Dunn said the law school wasn't honoring Dellinger for his position on abortion, but "for his legal accomplishments."
Storin said he was most concerned by the bishops' ban on providing "platforms" for offending lawmakers. He said that provision could undermine academic freedom.
Susan Gibbs, spokeswoman for Washington Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, head of the bishops' task force on church relations with Catholic politicians, said the bishops meant to bar policy-makers from speaking on "the topic where they disagree with the church" — not blanketly prohibit their participation in educational events.
Even this restriction troubles some academics. But Reilly argued that limits are needed.
"There is a degree to which someone who is very publicly advocating abortion rights should not be put in a position of honor or expertise regardless of what they're speaking about simply because it sends a message that these individuals have a general respectability from a Catholic perspective," he said.