A symposium jointly sponsored by the
Center for Religion, Ethics, and Culture of the
College of the Holy Cross
and the Catholic Common Ground Initiative

January 29, 2003, 1 p.m. - January 30, 2003, noon
College of the Holy Cross,
Worcester, Massachusetts

The Dialogue is conducted by invitation only; a public discussion will be held Wednesday evening, January 29, from 7:30-9:00 PM.

Honorary Chairmen
The Most Reverend Oscar Lipscomb, Archbishop of Mobile and Chairman of the Catholic Common Ground Committee
The Reverend Michael McFarland, S.J., President of the College of the Holy Cross

Challenges to the Church's Moral Integrity
For two decades the moral integrity of the U.S. Catholic church has been damaged by clergy sexual abuse and the failure of church leaders to deal with the problem honestly and effectively. Amid these revelations of human suffering and pastoral failure, the church is seeking the best path to justice, healing and prevention of abuse. At stake is the moral integrity of the church, touching every aspect of the church's life and work. For all Catholics there are questions of personal integrity, and questions of the integrity of their Catholic institutions, for which they share responsibility.

Moral integrity is consistency, real and perceived, between moral principles and judgments and personal and community practice. The church should of course practice what it preaches but even more, its moral position should be sacramental. The community of faith is called to embody its beliefs in its common life, so that its basic moral teachings are revealed in what the church is, not just in what church members do. Individuals and institutions which are Catholic, then, are called upon not just to do the right thing in their daily lives but, with the rest of the community of faith, to make present, visible, credible, the moral vision of the Gospel.

Catholic Colleges and Universities in Service to the Church
Amid all the discussions surrounding implementation of Ex corde ecclesiae, one point not in doubt is that institutions of Catholic higher education are a critical resource in the life of the church. If this is true in general, it should also be especially so in a time of crisis. Institutions of Catholic high education, with their traditions of careful, multidisciplinary examination and study of questions vital to the life of the humqn community and their crucial role in Catholic intellectual, moral, and integral human formation, have a particular responsibility. Catholics of various viewpoints have stressed different aspects of the current crisis. Institutions of higher education can, at the very least, provide appropriate forums for dialogue among people with diverse perspectives. Such dialogue should contribute both to a fuller understanding of the crisis and to the development of effective responses within the faith community.

Catholic Common Ground Initiative and the Center for Religion, Ethics, and Culture.
The Catholic Common Ground Initiative was established by the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin in 1996 to foster dialogue in the church as a means toward strengthening the pastoral life of the church. The Center for Religion, Ethics, and Culture has a special responsibility to develop and support Catholic intellectual life, bring Catholicism into conversation with other faith traditions, and enable members of the community to share in the life of the contemporary Church and its mission of service to the human family.

Leadership of the Initiative, with its focus on the church's pastoral life, and the Center, with its location within high education, have been exploring opportunities to collaborate. This symposium is the first joint project.

Goals of the Symposium
The goals are to further dialogue among academic and pastoral leaders in the church, to increase the church's understanding of the present crisis, and to discern ways in which Catholic high education can help restore the moral integrity of the church. Symposium reflections will be published in a monograph and sent to the bishops of the country and the leadership of Catholic colleges and universities.

The symposium will be in two parts:

A. January 29th
Exploration of the questions raised by the current crisis, the different analyses being offered of the causes, and consequently the different solutions being proposed. Participants will then begin to look for common ground between those positions and for connections to the role of Catholic colleges/universities.

A public forum that evening will further the dialogue among panelists representing different perspectives and an open discussion with those who come.

B. January 30th
Response of Catholic Higher Education-the task of the morning is to generate concrete suggestions about ways colleges and universities can/should help to restore the moral integrity of the church.