Ex Corde Ecclesiae: CCCB Issues Ordinances for Catholic Colleges and Universities in Canada
Sunday, July 10 2005(Ottawa – CCCB) The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) has made public a decree of promulgation and the ordinances for the implementation in Canada of the Vatican document Ex Corde Ecclesiae.
Ex Corde Ecclesiae is the Apostolic Constitution on Catholic higher education that describes the identity and mission of Catholic colleges and universities. It was issued by Pope John Paul II on 15 August 1990, and provides general norms to assist Catholic colleges and universities in fulfilling their vision and mandate. Each Episcopal conference of bishops adapts the norms to particular circumstances of the educational institutions of the country, which the Pontifical Congregation for Catholic Education also approves.
The document states: “Every Catholic university is to maintain communion with the universal Church and the Holy See; it is to be in close communion with the local Church and, in particular, with the diocesan bishop of the region or the nation in which it is located.”
The Canadian ordinances, which were approved by the Bishops of Canada at the Plenary Assembly in October 2003, have also received the approval of the Holy See on 18 August 2004. The ordinances had been drawn up after consultations with the heads of Catholic colleges and universities across Canada, who worked closely with the then CCCB liaison bishop with the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities in Canada, Halifax Archbishop Terrence Prendergast, S.J.
The Canadian ordinances for the implementation of Ex Corde Ecclesiae will come into force as particular law for Canada on 31 May 2006.
The following Catholic colleges and universities are members of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities in Canada:
- Corpus Christi College and St. Mark’s College, Vancouver, British Columbia
- St. Mary’s University College, Calgary, Alberta
- St. Joseph’s College and Newman Theological College, Edmonton, Alberta
- St. Peter’s College, Muenster, Saskatchewan
- Campion College at the University of Regina, Saskatchewan
- St. Thomas More College at the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
- St. Paul’s College at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba
- Brescia College and King’s College at the University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario
- St. Paul University, Ottawa, Ontario
- Université de Sudbury at Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario
- University of St. Michael’s College, Toronto, Ontario
- St. Jerome’s University College, Waterloo, Ontario
- Assumption University, Windsor, Ontario
- St. Thomas University, Fredericton, New Brunswick
- St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia
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For More Information Contact:
Sylvain Salvas
Director, Communications Service
Tel: (613) 241-9461
Fax: (613) 241-9048
salvas@cccb.ca