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What Now for Catholic Education?
When Pope Benedict XVI addressed Catholic educators at The Catholic University of America last Thursday, he did more than insist on orthodoxy in Catholic schools and colleges—he laid out a vision for Catholic education that spiritually transforms its students, the Church and the world.
For the Pope, this means not just fidelity to Catholic teaching, but “that each and every aspect of your learning communities reverberates within the ecclesial life of faith.”
He called for faithful Catholic instruction for all students, rejection of moral relativism, academic freedom that is reverent of Catholic teaching and morality, witness to the “unity of truth” in all disciplines, and a commitment to Catholic teaching both inside and outside the classroom. He reminded educators that “first and foremost” they should provide students “a place to encounter the living God who in Jesus Christ reveals his transforming love and truth.”
So how does this get translated into practical change for Catholic colleges and universities, assuming leaders who share the Holy Father’s vision and courage? A few thoughts, proceeding from particular concerns that have caused the Vatican much angst about Catholic identity:
Moral relativism: Pope Benedict perceives that “the ‘crisis of truth’ that exists in society is rooted in a ‘crisis of faith.’” The solution to moral relativism begins with the conviction of faith, most importantly among Catholic theology professors.
For many colleges and universities, this calls for replacing many officials, faculty and staff with others who share Pope Benedict’s vision—starting from the top, and replacing tenured professors over the long term. It requires trustees who will support “hiring for mission” even when challenged by disgruntled professors and interfering secularists like the American Association of University Professors.
Publicly disclosing which faculty members have the mandatum—a formal recognition from the local bishop that a theologian intends to teach authentic Catholic doctrine—would help students choose genuine Catholic theology courses.
Disintegrated curriculum: Restoring rigorous core requirements that were once the hallmark of Catholic higher education would teach what Pope Benedict calls the “unity of truth.” In particular, Pope Benedict says that Catholic colleges and universities “have the duty and privilege to ensure that students receive instruction in Catholic doctrine and practice.” The best Catholic colleges graduate students with an understanding of the Catholic intellectual tradition including theology, ethics and philosophy—and a healthy dose of the liberal arts.
Intellectual anarchy: Pope Benedict calls on Catholic colleges and universities to reject limitless academic freedom—now sacrosanct within most of American academia—explaining that “any appeal to the principle of academic freedom in order to justify positions that contradict the faith and the teaching of the Church would obstruct or even betray the university’s identity and mission.”
This means insisting that professors limit their teaching and public advocacy to areas of their own expertise, without wading in to moral issues that are properly reserved to the theological disciplines. It also means that academic freedom does not justify a Catholic college or university endorsing or simply providing resources and facilities to advance views contrary to Catholic teaching—consider the debates over The Vagina Monologues and political rallies for pro-abortion politicians on Catholic campuses.
Moral decline on campus: Pope Benedict calls for fidelity to Catholic teaching “both inside and outside the classroom.” He also laments the common approach to sexuality that emphasizes “management of ‘risk,’ bereft of any reference to the beauty of conjugal love.” Catholic college officials can build a Christian campus culture by reclaiming responsibility for helping students’ spiritual and personal development and consistently encouraging chastity.
Pope Benedict on Thursday put forward an exciting challenge to Catholic educators. It was a challenge eagerly anticipated by faithful Catholic families yearning for the renewal of Catholic higher education.
Father Paul Locatelli, the recently named worldwide secretary of Jesuit higher education, has said that Pope Benedict “has high expectations of universities, sometimes higher than we can deliver.” Catholic families look to leaders who truly can deliver to make the Holy Father’s vision a reality.
Patrick J. Reilly is president of The Cardinal Newman Society at its national office in Manassas, Virginia.
By Patrick J. Reilly |
April 21, 2008; 11:06 AM ET
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Posted by: Paganplace | April 22, 2008 12:54 AM
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Mind you, I say the below in context that it rather appeared this Pope had done a pretty good job here on the visit-to-America thing. I welcome a lot of what he said and hope the Catholics hold him to it.
Posted by: Paganplace | April 21, 2008 11:26 PM
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Well, it seems despite certain spin, ol' Cardinal Ratzinger is still up to his old tricks.
But then again, I turned down Catholic universities when I'd had the chance, even in what he apparently feels was an unacceptably 'lax' time High school was quite enough.
That whole thing about not teaching risk management regarding sexuality in schools, though, (Shouldn't people know all about that by college and 'too late,' anyway?) ...Seriously, you can only say, 'Don't do that,' so many times and in so many ways, and it's all essentially the same: hardly a preoccupation for university curricula, I should think.
I mean, I grew up in a time when the AIDS phenomenon and associated scares supposedly was making people more chaste. It didn't. Everyone just had to convince themselves it was 'love forever, really,' every time the hormones kicked in. Which is surprisingly easy, it seems, if not exactly the road to conjugal bliss. :)
Posted by: Paganplace | April 21, 2008 11:05 PM
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As a graduate of a historically catholic university, this article makes me sick to my stomach.
Posted by: Anonymous | April 21, 2008 9:20 PM
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Observer:
Exactly. This is just like his last post. Restrict academic freedom, eliminate freedom of speech and have theology trump science. Sounds antithetical to the very purpose of colleges and universities. This is a prescription for indoctrination not education.
Posted by: DZ | April 21, 2008 7:37 PM
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Mr. Reilly's interpretation of the meaning of Pope Benedict's ideas for Catholic education is a sure prescription for the decline of that education.
Posted by: Observer | April 21, 2008 5:49 PM
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The comments to this entry are closed.
Umm, JJ?
Exactly what in our previous acquaintance, or in fact, my last two posts, leads you to the belief that I'm 'siding' with this Pope or any Pope?
And I'm not homosexual. I'm bi. So happens I've been with another gal for a number of years and we'd like our civil rights as a couple, now, thanks.
You spend a lot of time typing, here. You could do to read a bit, if that's not too much to ask Your Homophobic Prophetickalness.
Trust me, I'm not exactly hanging on the Vatican's every word, here. Doesn't mean this is about 'sides' in some kind of game. It's about people getting along. And hopefully, some of what it's said he said will stick. *This* issue, same old stuff, though, clearly.