POPE ANNOUNCES SPECIAL YEAR DEDICATED TO THE VIRGIN MARY

New York (RNS) — Pope John Paul II has announced that a year devoted to the Virgin Mary will be observed by Catholics around the world from June 7, 1987 to August 15, 1988. It will be the first such Marian year since 1953-54 when Pope Pius XII announced the observance to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. In announcing the upcoming Marian Year in a New Year's Day Mass at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, John Paul said it will be observed in preparation for the start of the third millennium of Christianity in the year 2000.

LAGHI EXPLAINS HIS ACTIONS IN THE HUNTHAUSEN CASE

New York (RNS) — Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen of Seattle was not singled out for Vatican discipline, as some critics have charged, because of his public opposition to nuclear arms, according to Archbishop Pio Laghi. The Vatican's Ambassador to the United States made his remarks in an interview appearing in the January 30 New York Times.

He added that the Vatican had not given undue weight to attacks on Archbishop Hunthausen from conservative groups. The Ambassador also told Joseph Berger of The Times that the Vatican receives a balanced picture of the U. S. Church from the thirty Americans who hold high positions in the Roman Curia.

Speaking of the secrecy surrounding the Hunthausen investigation, Archbishop Laghi said the Vatican wanted to be sensitive to the Seattle Archbishop's privacy. He said Americans suffer from a "complex of Watergate," which leads them to believe that anything done secretly must be wrong.

Last October, Archbishop Laghi issued a four-page report critical of Archbishop Hunthausen at the urging of several American bishops who felt the Seattle prelate was being punished without a clear idea of the charges against him. The report appeared more than a month after Archbishop Hunthausen revealed that the Vatican had ordered him to share authority with Auxiliary Bishop Donal Wuerl.

The Vatican Ambassador acknowledged that his handling of the episode might have contributed to some of the tension surrounding it. Yet he added that critics of the Vatican's handling of the Hunthausen case and the case of the Rev. Charles Curran focus too much on Vatican procedures rather than on the substance of its case against the men. Father Curran was suspended from teaching at the Catholic University in Washington because of his controversial views on sexual morality.

"In Rome they may have more concern about the problem itself," he said. "Our procedure, canon law procedure, does not match American procedure. But we cannot follow the procedure of a given country if we want to be a universal Church."

"In St. Peter's Square," he said, "you feel the silence and the mystery, but if a piece of marble falls down it makes a lot of noise. Why do you emphasize this piece of travertine falling down and not one hundred columns standing up?"

ITALIAN PROTESTANTS PROTEST CATHOLIC EMPHASIS ON MARY

New York (RNS) — A coalition of Italian Protestant bodies has proposed a one-year moratorium on official dialogue with the Roman Catholic Church, citing that Church's announcement of an upcoming years of emphasis on Mary "without preliminary ecumenical consultation."

The Protestant group, the Federation of Evangelical Churches in Italy, includes Reformed, Waldensian, Methodist, Baptist, Lutheran and Salvation Army jurisdictions.

Expressing "perplexity" that the Catholics acted unilaterally in declaring the year of emphasis on Mary, the Federation said the observance "emphasizes one of the fundamental points of divergence between Catholics and Protestants."

According to Ecumenical Press Service in Geneva, the Protestant group suggested that during the moratorium on dialogue, Protestants should study Mary's significance in theology and church history and the situation of women in the church.

CATHOLIC BISHOPS, UNDER PRESSURE, BACK OFF ABORTION STRATEGY

Washington (RNS) — After taking a pounding from hardline right-to-life activists, the Catholic hierarchy has backed off using a subtle court tactic in which the bishops downplayed their opposition to the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion. Last year, the U.S. Catholic Conference drew loud criticism from some quarters of the anti-abortion movement after filing a brief with the court in support of a Pennsylvania law that restricted access to abortion.

The bishops' legal strategy involved refraining from direct criticism of the 1973 decision. They argued instead that the Pennsylvania law posed no conflict with that court ruling, known as Roe vs. Wade.

In undertaking the strategy, the bishops conceded that a total reversal of Roe vs. Wade was a virtual impossibility, and that to make any headway in restricting abortions they would have to appear to act within the framework of the 1973 decision. In the case of the Pennsylvania law, the tactic failed. The statute, which placed restrictions on procedures that could be used in late-term abortions, was struck down.

Meantime, right-to-life criticism has caused the Catholic Conference to issue three separate public explanations of its legal strategy, which sounded to many like an apology. Now, with another state law under review by the high court, the bishops' agency has filed a brief that makes clear its stance on Roe vs. Wade. The brief urges the court to uphold an Illinois law which requires that parents be notified when their teen-age daughters seeks abortions. The 1983 statute was overturned by a lower court.

In the most recent case, the bishops showed a hint of their former strategy. They argued that protecting "family integrity" by giving parents 24 hours' notification of their child's intention to have an abortion could be done without violating a minor's "right" to abortion. But the brief also chides the court for reaffirming its landmark decision. The Catholic Conference "has long held that whatever might be said about the character of protecting constitutional liberty generally, no liberty requires the death of an innocent child. In no other context does the court allow one's liberty to present a serious risk of harm to another. It is time for the same result here," the brief said.

VATICAN APPROVES MASS TRANSLATION IN NATIVE AMERICAN TONGUE

Washington (RNS) — A translation of Catholic liturgy into a native American language has been approved by the Vatican for the first time.

The National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) announced here Jan. 7th that the Vatican's Congregation for Divine Worship has approved a translation of the Mass in Navajo.

Half of the estimated 15,000 Navajo Catholics are expected to use the translation, said the Rev. John Gurrieri of the NCCB's liturgy department.

To have its own Mass translation, a language must first be recognized by the Church as a "liturgical language." This is one that is actually spoken by the people who will use it in the worship celebrations and is taught in schools. A second native American language, Choctaw, has been officially recognized as such, and a Mass translation of it awaits Vatican approval.

CURRAN "BLINKS" WHEN HICKEY THREATENS TO USE CONTROVERSIAL LAW

Washington (RNS) — The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Washington won the latest round in his battle with theologian Charles Curran when he threatened to invoke a controversial provision of Church law, a move that would have had wide repercussions in Catholic colleges and universities nationwide.

Father Curran, a tenured professor of moral theology at Catholic University here, had planned to show up at his scheduled classes on Jan. 15 in defiance of a suspension order by the school's chancellor, Archbishop James Hickey of Washington. The priest was censured by the Vatican last year for his dissenting views on sexual ethics.

But he decided to back down after Archbishop Hickey, in a surprise move, threatened to invoke a provision in the Church's code of canon law—never used in the United States—which gives bishops sweeping authority over theology professors in all Catholic schools of higher education.

"If there is a story today, it is that Curran blinked," the theologian, visibly sobered by Archbishop Hickey's threat, said at a news conference on the morning he was to begin classes.

Father Curran said the Archbishop's tactic, which he termed "both irresponsible and reckless," would have had grave consequences for Catholic education.

The Church's Canon 812, which Archbishop Hickey cited, was issued as part of a wider revision of Church law four years ago but has never been invoked. Leading Catholic educators have roundly condemned it as a serious threat to the integrity and independence of Church educational institutions, which must meet such standards in order to qualify for academic accreditation and government funding.

Father Curran's decision to back off made it unnecessary for Archbishop Hickey to follow through on his threat. But Sister Alice Gallin, a spokeswoman for a coalition of 215 Church colleges and universities said she fears Archbishop Hickey may resort to the provision again if a faculty review of recent Vatican disciplinary action against Father Curran winds up in the priest's favor.

The Vatican, in August, declared that Father Curran is no longer eligible to teach as an official Catholic theologian. The action initiated a process to strip Father Curran of his license, "or canonical mission," to teach at Catholic University.

In its ruling, after a six-year investigation, the Holy See cited what it believes to be his too-liberal views on such matters as artificial contraception, sterilization, masturbation and homosexuality. The priest says all these are justified in limited circumstances.

Now, with the matter of Canon 812 raised, the Curran dispute has broadened well beyond both the priest himself and Catholic University. Rome's action against Father Curran has been regarded as exceptional, since Catholic University is the only American school officially chartered by the Vatican and therefore subject to its authority.

But 812 applies to all of the 235 Catholic colleges and universities in America—and any first moves to invoke are likely to have ripple effects across Catholic academe.

The canon reads: "It is necessary that those who teach theological disciplines in an institute of higher studies have a mandate from the competent ecclesiastical authority."

Archbishop Hickey, as the bishop of the diocese in which Father Curran teaches, has authority to unilaterally remove the priest's mandate under the canon. The Archbishop has represented the Vatican in the Curran case. His office issued a statement on Jan. 15 saying it would be inappropriate for him to comment publicly on the dispute while a review by the university's Academic Senate is underway.

At the news conference, held in an auditorium at the University, Father Curran read from a letter in which he told Archbishop Hickey that invoking the canon would threaten the academic freedom and integrity of Catholic schools.

"Decisions about the hiring, promoting, tenuring and dismissing of faculty members would be made by Church authorities who are external to the academic community," he told reporters. About 200 students also attended the news conference, interrupting at several points with loud applause.

In a separate letter made public on Jan. 12, Archbishop Hickey informed Father Curran that he was being formally suspended from all teaching duties in light of the Vatican's ruling in August. Father Curran responded, however, that under university statutes, the prelate's authority only covered ecclesiastical degree programs accredited by the Vatican.

He noted that the three graduate-level courses he was scheduled to lead are taken mainly by students in non-ecclesiastical, "civil programs," and thus intended to go ahead and teach this semester. On the day before the start of the spring semester the University cancelled his courses.

Meanwhile, apparently accepting Father Curran's argument about his limited authority under University statutes, Archbishop Hickey turned to the separate Church law provision, which ended this phase of Curran's fight.