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Did SLU sell its Jesuit soul for a sports arena?
By Tim Townsend
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
04/21/2007
St. Louis University, a Jesuit school proud of its Catholic heritage, celebrated a legal victory last week that affirmed it is not controlled by the Catholic church or by its Catholic beliefs.
The Missouri Supreme Court agreed with the school in handing down a decision that the city of St. Louis did not violate state and federal constitutions by granting the university $8 million in tax increment financing for its new arena.
Opponents of the $80 million arena sued the school in 2004, halting construction.
The Missouri Constitution prohibits public funding to support any "… college, university, or other institution of learning controlled by any religious creed, church or sectarian denomination whatever."
The debate came down to two words: "control" and "creed." Does the guiding mission of a Catholic university align with the specific system of religious faith espoused by the Catholic church? And if so, does that system of faith control the actions of the university?
In a 6-1 decision, the court said SLU "is not controlled by a religious creed."
The Jesuits are an order of priests and brothers, founded in the 16th century by St. Ignatius Loyola. They are best known for their mission work and dedication to education. The Jesuits' General Superior, the Rev. Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, is headquartered in Rome. St. Louis University, though it is a Catholic institution, is not under the authority of its local bishop — in this case, St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke.
As the suit, filed by the Masonic Temple Association, made its way to the Missouri Supreme Court, SLU argued that it was not controlled by the Catholic church, or even by the ideals of the Society of Jesus (or Jesuits), but by its mostly lay board of trustees.
In its Supreme Court brief, SLU said it "… is not now owned or controlled by the Society of Jesus."
The school reminded the court of its decision to sell St. Louis University Hospital to Tenet Healthcare in 1998 "despite the strong and well-publicized objections of the Archbishop of St. Louis." MORE
Read the court document of SLU vs. the Masonic Temple Association
Christopher Key Chapple, a theology professor at Loyola Marymount University, a Jesuit school in Los Angeles, said that while Kolvenbach and Pope Benedict XVI have authority over individual Jesuit priests at SLU, including its president, the Rev. Lawrence Biondi, they have no authority over the institution.
He said all 28 Jesuit colleges and universities in the U.S. are governed with a board like SLU's. Most Jesuit universities began including lay people on their boards in the wake of the Second Vatican Council reforms of the 1960s. SLU introduced laity to its board in 1967 and says it was the first Catholic university to do so.
Biondi was unavailable for comment, but in his deposition, he said: "The control — the vision of the Jesuit tradition is basically in the hands of 42 members of the board of trustees, and of the 42, only nine are Jesuit, all the rest are lay people. There are men and women, there are people of different faiths, there are Protestants, there are Jews, and I suspect there are one or two of no particular religion."
In its brief, the school assured the court that with 42 trustees, it would take 22 of them to conduct the university's business. With 22 trustees assembled, it would take at least 12 votes to approve a corporate act of the board. "Thus the nine Jesuit trustees do not have the numerical authority to take any action on behalf of the university," the brief states.
The school also pointed out to the court that despite its Jesuit tradition, the university does not require employees or students "to aspire to Jesuit ideals, to be Catholic or to otherwise have any specific religious affiliation. Of the 1,275 faculty-staff members at the university, fewer than 35 are Jesuit (which equates to approximately 2.7%). Fewer than half the students who attend SLU identify themselves as Catholic."
In a friend-of-the-court brief filed on behalf of the Masonic Temple Association, the American Civil Liberties Union said it was "surprising the University would sell its heritage for $8 million."
SLU general Counsel William Kauffman said that "at no time did we duck, did we hide from our Catholic Jesuit tradition."
The university's vice president for mission and ministry, the Rev. Frank Reale, agreed. "SLU has changed a lot since 1818, but one thing that hasn't changed at all is our Jesuit identity."
In 2002, SLU was included in city ordinances that granted tax increment financing to several midtown projects. TIF commits anticipated property tax revenue increases to fund development.
In August the university broke ground on Chaifetz Arena at the corner of Compton and Laclede avenues. The arena is expected to be completed in March 2008.
The university said it was fulfilling one of the central obligations of the TIF ordinance, which was to aid in the resurgence of a blighted city neighborhood.
Biondi testified in a 2005 deposition that the $8 million in TIF money was essential to make Chaifetz Arena a reality. "Were it not but for the TIF, we could not build this arena," he said.
According to Biondi's deposition, the $80 million will be made up of $30 million in private donations, the $8 million TIF and $42 in bond issuances. Richard Chaifetz, a Chicago alumni of SLU, gave $12 million.
In the end, SLU was philosophical about the ways the traditional mission of a Catholic university has changed. "Many of the institutions identified as Catholic in the nineteenth century, including St. Louis University, have undergone changes over time," the school said in its brief. "They have adapted themselves, their corporate structures and their missions to serve a largely secular world."
ttownsend@post-dispatch.com | 314-340-8221
