A national Catholic organization has asked the University to investigate the possibility that Notre Dame theology professor Father Richard McBrien plagiarized arguments, structure, themes and some exact language in a Los Angeles Catholic publication - an allegation the University has addressed, McBrien said Monday.
The Cardinal Newman Society (CNS) - which aims to renew Catholic identity at United States Catholic universities - requested an investigation of the case in a Jan. 19 letter to University President Father John Jenkins.
The CNS alleged that McBrien's Jan. 6 column in The Tidings of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles mirrored an op-ed piece by Eileen McNamara that had appeared in the Dec. 11 issue of the Boston Globe. McNamara had denounced a protest of a Catholic Charities fundraiser honoring Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, who supports abortion rights and homosexual marriage.
The University has not released a report, but McBrien said the University has addressed the situation.
"The University of Notre Dame has conducted a review of this allegation according to its normal procedures, and I am completely satisfied with its outcome," he said Monday via e-mail.
University spokesman Dennis Brown declined to comment Monday on any such review.
"We can neither comment on the results of a review nor acknowledge that an investigation or review has taken place," Brown said. "From the University's standpoint, it is completely a confidential matter."
Brown also would not confirm whether or not a Notre Dame professor has been found guilty of plagiarism in the past.
