scholarly journals Taking the Check or Checking the Take

Elements ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-74
Author(s):  
Aaron Salzman
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Colleges And Universities ◽  
Socially Responsible ◽  
Catholic Colleges ◽  
Responsible Investment ◽  
Ex Corde Ecclesiae ◽  
Catholic College ◽  
College And University ◽  
Catholic Colleges And Universities ◽  
American Catholic

This essay studies the endowments of modern American colleges and universities. It examines the norms that govern the activities that affect the size of the endowment, specifically spending, acceptance of donations, and investment of endowment funds. The norms regulating the latter two are found to be insufficient, as is evidenced by their inconsistent application. However, American catholic colleges and universities apply the norms regulating investments more consistently than other schools. Catholic colleges' and universities' Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) practices are found to be rooted in the catholic church's official teaching on catholic universities as found in ex corde ecclesiae and the catechism of the catholic church. These documents suggest the need to develop, codify and apply even more rigorous norms governing the acceptance of donations and investment of endowment funds at every American catholic college and university. 

Socially Responsible Investment, the Stewardship of University Resources, and Integral Ecology

2021 ◽  
pp. 135-168
Author(s):  
Gerald J. Beyer
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Catholic Social Teaching ◽  
Colleges And Universities ◽  
Socially Responsible Investment ◽  
Social Teaching ◽  
Socially Responsible ◽  
Catholic Colleges ◽  
Responsible Investment ◽  
Catholic Colleges And Universities ◽  
Integral Ecology

This chapter stresses the need for Catholic colleges and universities to engage in the just stewardship of resources. First, the author argues that all Catholic institutions must take seriously the notion of socially responsible investment, informed by the principles of Catholic moral theology and Catholic social teaching. The chapter then considers whether divestment from fossil fuels is a moral imperative and discusses how socially responsible investment principles should also inform whether Catholic institutions can accept donations from individuals, corporations, or government agencies that may have done grave harm to either people or the planet. The author advances the argument that Catholic colleges and universities have a duty to fulfil the vision of integral ecology in Catholic social teaching by implementing “micro-level actions” and promoting systemic level changes to promote sustainability. The chapter also surveys some of the efforts of Catholic institutions to green their campuses and contends that these institutions must recognize that integral ecology relates to both environmental sustainability and human welfare, including the welfare of workers on campus and in their supply chains.

Humility and Courage

2021 ◽  
pp. 161-171
Author(s):  
James L. Heft
Keyword(s):  
Academic Freedom ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Religious Tradition ◽  
Charles Taylor ◽  
Colleges And Universities ◽  
Intellectual Tradition ◽  
Catholic Colleges ◽  
Catholic Colleges And Universities ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Policies And Practices

Examples of the ways in which Catholic philosopher Charles Taylor interacts with his peers and critics show both humility and courage. Taking the time to understand what other scholars have written, listening carefully to criticism, and responding respectfully and candidly to them are all indications of a humble maturity that too many faculty lack. Given that the academy today is typically more secular in its culture than that of the surrounding local colleges leads many faculty who are religious to censor themselves in ways that indicate a lack of courage—fearing that if a religious tradition influences one’s research, then that research is no longer academically respectable. Given that most Catholic colleges and universities established policies of academic freedom and tenure only in the 1960s, faculty today are quick to defend these policies and practices in ways that make it more difficult to see the value of the Catholic intellectual tradition and a positive and appropriately independent relationship with the global Catholic Church.

A University That Evangelizes?

2021 ◽  
pp. 80-88
Author(s):  
James L. Heft
Keyword(s):  
Academic Freedom ◽  
Colleges And Universities ◽  
Catholic Colleges ◽  
Ex Corde Ecclesiae ◽  
Catholic University ◽  
Catholic Colleges And Universities

After nearly a decade of consultation and discussion, the Vatican issued in 1990 its major statement on the identity and mission of Catholic colleges and universities, Ex corde ecclesiae. One of its claims was that a Catholic university should evangelize. This chapter explores various meanings of evangelization and asks how a Catholic university with academic freedom might evangelize.

American Catholic Universities and the Passion for the Impossible

Horizons ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 239-255
Author(s):  
Theresa Sanders
Keyword(s):  
Religious Diversity ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Institutions Of Higher Education ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Catholic Colleges ◽  
Ex Corde Ecclesiae ◽  
Catholic Colleges And Universities ◽  
Recent Debate ◽  
American Catholic ◽  
The Church

AbstractRecent debate regarding the implementation of Ex Corde Ecclesiae has led many Catholic colleges and universities to reexamine their identity in relation to the church. Often departments of theology and religious studies are charged with maintaining the “Catholic” character of a campus, with negative effects. Much of the reaction to Ex Corde has been framed in terms of free speech, American systems of tenure, and religious diversity. This paper, however, suggests that holiness, understood as an ever-deepening awareness of Mystery (Rahner) or as “a passion for the impossible” (Caputo) might be a more fruitful context for dialogue between Catholic institutions of higher education and the Vatican.

Theology in the Catholic University

2021 ◽  
pp. 185-200
Author(s):  
James L. Heft
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Moral Education ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Unique Contribution ◽  
Catholic Higher Education ◽  
Catholic Colleges ◽  
Catholic Theology ◽  
Ex Corde Ecclesiae ◽  
Catholic University ◽  
Catholic Colleges And Universities

Major secular universities do not teach theology; they teach religious studies, if they teach anything about religion at all. It is impossible to imagine a Catholic university without theology. Four characteristics of Catholic theology show the unique contribution the discipline makes to Catholic higher education. False dichotomies are identified: critical or catechetical and faith or reason. This chapter describes the dramatic changes over the past sixty years in who teaches theology and what is taught to lay students at Catholic universities. Theologians need to address effectively the problem of widespread religious illiteracy among most college students. The Vatican document on Catholic higher education, Ex corde ecclesiae, offers a broad and demanding vision of the type of theological and moral education necessary for Catholic colleges and universities. The expectations of Catholic theologians in the academy and beyond it are daunting.

The Employee as a Human Resource

2021 ◽  
pp. 920-932
Author(s):  
Stephen J. Porth ◽  
John J. McCall
Keyword(s):  
Human Resource ◽  
Religious Affiliation ◽  
Human Person ◽  
Colleges And Universities ◽  
Management Theory ◽  
Business Faculty ◽  
Catholic Social Thought ◽  
Catholic Colleges ◽  
Catholic Colleges And Universities ◽  
Contemporary Management

In this chapter, the authors offer advice to business faculty at Catholic colleges and universities about how a robust and realistic conception of the human person can inform their teaching. This research can support faculty of mission-driven schools of business as they seek to operationalize the implications of the religious affiliation of their institutions. The authors begin by sketching the evolution of management theory over the last century and how theory has changed to represent a fuller and more accurate account of the nature of persons in organizations. They show how the consistent prescriptions of more than a century of Catholic social thought (CST) parallel those now offered by management scholarship. The authors note, however, that though the content of the advice coming from these respective traditions of thought has converged, the grounds of that advice continue to differ in important ways. They conclude by recommending that business faculty embrace and adopt the conception of the person now largely shared between CST and contemporary management theory.

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