seminary 'rebellion'
By a Special Correspondent
ANOTHER big seminary row has blown up in the United States — this time in Boston. Eight seminarians have been expelled for staging a 22-minute silent demonstration in protest against "personal and academic restrictions".
Coming so soon after the sacking of 21 teachers at St. John's Catholic University in Brooklyn, the Boston affair has caused a radio and press furore.
Cardinal Cushing of Boston has authorised an investigation of education at the seminary and a revision of the case involving the expelled seminarians.
SILENT MARCH
By this announcement he staved off a further demonstration of 500 Catholic students outside his residence.
The silent march that originally sparked off the rumpus was staged outside a meeting between Cardinal Cushing and the clergy. One of the eight seminarians, Mr. David Kuleisus, said that more than 100 others were in the protest.
Another spokesman for the expelled students insisted that they all submitted to the Church's authority, but that they were being expected to "forego their power of reason".
In Brooklyn, the mass-expulsion at the university has been condemned as "inexcusable" by an investigating committee of the American Association of University Professors.
The university, said the committee, had "grievously violated academic freedom" in dismissing 21 members of the faculty without giving reasons.
The university president, Fr. J. T. Cahill, C.M., immediately challenged the committee's report, charging the committee with being inaccurate and jumping to wrong conclusions.