In response to my post below, Statements of Faith:  Are They Appropriate? (here), I received this interesting response:

I have experienced these statements of faith as a seminarian preparing
for the priesthood.  It strikes me they are useful from the perspective
of establishing intent.  They are, however, in my humble estimation, not
appropriate or productive as a means for enforcing orthodoxy in
instruction.  The only thing that can perform that function adequately
is oversight with authority.

As someone who entered the seminary after a career in systems
engineering, it occurred to me that an approach similar to establishing
a trademark on the use of the term Catholic (with a capital C) would be
a more effective mechanism to ensure against the misuse of the term than
any other mechanism that might be employed in the western world.

Naturally, this would be highly controversial.  It would not be
problematic for the Roman Catholic Church to establish priority of
ownership, but it might very well be problematic to establish a case for
exclusivity.  Given a successful case for both by the Roman Catholic
Church, groups such as "Catholics for Free Choice" and publications such
as the "National Catholic Reporter" would be required to drop the name
"Catholic."  Universities that failed in the obvious requirements for
fidelity to Catholic teaching and formation would be required to give up
their pretense to Catholic affiliation.

Barring success in this approach, perhaps it would be easier to
establish exclusivity for "Roman Catholic."  It would be interesting to
see how the various and sundry organizations responded.

Of course, there is no likelihood that this approach will be attempted
by the Church, not because it could not work, but because the Church
does not approach enforcement in this way.  Thus, organizations that
fall from grace do not always fall from general public credibility.  It
is very much that way with all product warranties of safety and
authenticity today.  Knockoffs, though illegal, are ubiquitous.  Tainted
products or products that make false claims of some benefit manage to
evade regulatory authorities and mechanisms all of the time.  Its a sign
of the times that people are generally left to their own devices for
protecting themselves from shysters of every stripe.

Fr. Larry Gearhart
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