Catholic University

Msgr. John Dunne, retired pastor of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Catholic Church, died Sunday at 92. A native of Ireland, Dunne attended St. Patrick's Seminary in County Tipperary, where he was ordained for the Diocese of Los Angeles in 1927. Upon arrival in California, he became assistant pastor of St. Agatha Church in Los Angeles. He later attended Catholic University in Washington, where he was designated editor of the Tidings, a Catholic periodical, from 1931 to 1942.

Six years after Pope John Paul II directed them to rein in errant theologians at Catholic colleges and universities, the nation's Roman Catholic bishops Wednesday approved a landmark document that moderates the order that had frightened many Catholic educators.

Work among Bible scholars for a long time has transcended the divided condition of Christianity, and their latest output--a revised New Testament--shows it. The new translation, produced under U.S. Roman Catholic auspices, has the ring and often phraseology of the main Protestant translations and the elevated English of their King James ancestry.

A new analysis of Catholic voting concludes that the Democratic Party will probably continue to enjoy the kind of success President Clinton had in November, especially in California, with its growing Latino population. For much of this century, Catholics identified strongly with the Democratic Party, but Republicans turned the tide when Ronald Reagan carried the Catholic vote in 1980 and 1984, George Bush captured it in 1988, and the GOP won over Catholics in the 1994 congressional elections.

A new analysis of Catholic voting says the Democratic Party will probably continue to enjoy the type of success President Clinton had in November with Catholic voters, especially in California with its growing Latino population.

For more than three years, the Vatican has been seeking to set firmer rules to keep Roman Catholic colleges and universities toeing the church line--sometimes to their chagrin. That issue will come to a head next week when a delegation of 230 of their leaders worldwide confers with Vatican officials and Pope John Paul II about the matter. Eighteen delegates are from U.S. Catholic universities, including Sister Sally Furay, vice president and provost at the University of San Diego.

Catholic theologian Charles Curran, refusing to back down in his battle with the Vatican, said Wednesday that he is being "singled out" by Rome for public punishment because he represents a widespread American dissent from the church's teaching on issues such as abortion, contraception and divorce. "I am a theological moderate.

Pope John Paul II, in a strongly worded speech Saturday night, told leaders of Catholic higher education that bishops should have a greater part in the academic affairs of Catholic colleges and universities and warned that Catholic theologians are not free to depart from official Vatican teachings.

A hypothetical question: Two scholars seek employment at Marquette University, the 111-year-old Jesuit institution. One is slightly less qualified than the other, but far better versed in Catholic tradition. Who gets the job? Frank Lazarus, vice president for academic affairs, pauses. "My guess is that the nod will probably go to the outstanding scholar," he said. A true story: In 1989, the school newspaper, the Tribune, published an ad for abortion rights rallies.

A businessman commented to me recently: "I wouldn't want the Vatican's public relations people handling my company. Why do those men keep shooting themselves in the feet?" His reference was to the spate of ugly stories emanating from the Roman Catholic hierarchy. A 15-year-old girl, on the eve of her Confirmation, is subjected to a special interrogation, and her mother is excommunicated for her work as head of Rhode Island Planned Parenthood.