Minneapolis, Minn., Dec 7, 2007 / 10:08 am
The board of trustees at the University of St. Thomas has severed a key legal link with the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, according to the Star Tribune.
In October, the trustees of the University of St. Thomas voted to eliminate the archbishop’s automatic position on the board. For the first time since Archbishop John Ireland founded the university in 1885, a sitting archbishop will not chair the board.
Only the school’s Catholic Studies department and law school are said to have maintained a strong Catholic identity. Two archdiocesan seminaries, St. Paul Seminary and St. John Vianney College Seminary, are affiliated with the University of St. Thomas and could be affected by changes at the school.
Some suspect that the impending retirement of Archbishop Harry Flynn was a major factor in the vote. Archbishop Flynn is believed to have done little to resist secularizing trends at the school, but his successor, Archbishop John Nienstedt, has a reputation for standing up to secularization.