The Australian Catholic University and DePaul University (Chicago) service-learning partnership

In this paper, we report on the service-learning partnership between Australian Catholic University and DePaul University (Chicago) and how this partnership has enriched the scholarship of service-learning for both institutions. Using a case study methodology, we explore how two large Catholic Higher Education Institutions (CHEIs) with similar, yet distinct missions have partnered to learn about each other’s approaches and contexts. Since 2018, the SteansCenter for Community-Based Service-learning and Community Service Studies (DePaul) and ACU Engagement, the central agency responsible for supporting the extensive service-learning program at ACU, have met to discuss their programs and explore opportunities for collaboration. These discussions have led to new understandings and translations in the pedagogical terminology across Australian and US contexts and the identification of how mission coherence can inform partnerships between CHEIs. The partnership has also led to ongoing collaborations that have furthered the service-learning mission and institutionalisation of both universities. The paper concludes by reflecting upon the value of partnerships between CHEIs across national boundaries and the value of mutually exploring mission, principles, and practice as the field seeks further institutionalisation of service-learning. That is, service-learning for the mutual benefit and transformation of the community and university.

The power of love: The spiritual foundations of chaplaincy in Catholic universities – A framework for discussion

This article delineates the foundational theological principles upon which a Catholic Higher Education chaplaincy devoted to the spiritual development of staff and students might rest. We claim that this is a key dimension of chaplaincy work. In a (post)modern culture where staff and students exhibit a range of beliefs or none, we offer a broad definition of spirituality not necessarily tied to religion and construct a framework which might appeal to a wide cross section of people attending Catholic Universities. It examines how the insights and guidance of two French Catholic writers, the 16th century priest St. Francis de Sales and the contemporary philosopher Jean-Luc Marion, offer a basis for understanding what constitutes a spiritual approach to life. We suggest that their emphases on the power of love, the heart, God’s glory, imago Dei and gift constitute a ground of hope and stable base from which spiritual progress might take place. We also outline how this template challenges the emphasis on autonomous agency at the centre of much educational discourse at the present time.

Communication strategies and responses to change around issues of sexuality in Catholic higher education

Sometimes, change around sexuality at Catholic higher education institutions exists in the shadow culture –the values and systems that drive a culture of an institution but that differ from those openly espoused. Past studies have often focused on the creation of LGBTQ student organizations at one or at most four institutions. The present study examines qualitative data from 31 employees at 17 different Catholic colleges and universities across the USA in which employees indicate how they navigated the process of effecting change around human sexuality at their Catholic institution. Interviews were transcribed and coded with a three-phase coding procedure that was then reviewed by an expert panel. Participants experienced both supportive and resistant reactions from colleagues. Issues of human sexuality were defined broadly to include not only student groups around orientation (i.e., LGBTQ student groups) but also sexual assault policy and prevention, policy around transgender student housing or restrooms, incorporating sexuality into the curriculum, same-sex employee benefits, etc. Reasons for resistance included fear, misunderstanding, mission incongruence, and perceived scandal. Methods of navigating change consisted of data gathering, increased visibility, taking a student focus, public conversations, trainings, one-to-one education, task forces, student protests, engaging with university heritage and mission, sensitivity to language used, and more discreet methods of effecting change. These data strengthen the literature by offering a detailed description of these methods, identifying the geopolitical atmosphere as relevant to the change process, noting some methods as ineffective, and clarifying communication that occurs in the shadow culture. Beyond Catholic higher education, readers may find these themes useful in effecting change at their own higher education institutions, including institutions with much fear and anxiety around sexuality.

Secularization and Catholic Higher Education

Until the 1970s, most sociologists thought that it was only a matter of time before the process of secularization would marginalize religion to the personal and private sphere. That has not happened. Thinkers such as José Casanova, Charles Taylor, and others clarify the many meanings of secularity and open space for theology. A comparison of Protestant and Catholic colleges shows how the latter has a chance to remain religiously rooted intellectually, depending on the formation of its faculty and the contributions of a global reality of Catholicism.

Theology in the Catholic University

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.

Conclusion

This chapter rehearses the arguments of the book, reaffirms the importance of the open circle model, and sees gains for Catholic higher education through academic freedom (as explained in chapter 8), engaging religious pluralism while teaching and researching Catholicism as an intellectual tradition. The chapter explains why the phrase “Catholic intellectual tradition” is used. It returns to the critical importance of the three north stars: Jesus (existential component of love and justice), Mary his mother (education, formation, and wisdom), and John Henry Newman (the continuing relevance of his Idea of a Catholic University). For Catholic colleges and universities to avoid going secular, as have most of the major mainline Protestant universities in the United States, the chapter underscores the critical importance of leadership, faculty recruitment and formation, and the Catholic intellectual tradition.

Introduction

This chapter introduces the importance of a continuing substantive conversation on the identity and mission of Catholic higher education. It reviews some of the debates before and after Vatican II (1962–1965) and explains the metaphor of the “open circle,” the danger of mission slippage, and the profound cultural changes over the past seventy-five years. It also offers a diagnosis of the current state of Catholic higher education and describes the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies (ifacs.com).

The Future of Catholic Higher Education

After many years of scholarship, administrative experience, and leadership in Catholic higher education, the author has written a book that draws upon many academic disciplines to paint a picture of the past and the current situation (challenges, strengths, and weaknesses) of Catholic universities. After identifying the foundational pillars of Catholic higher education, he points the way to a future that is open to modern culture without capitulating to it, embraces Catholic intellectual traditions without fossilizing them, and presents a vision of its relationship to the hierarchy that is respectful, independent, faithful, and dynamic.

Introduction

The introduction describes the author’s purpose, aims, and methodology of the book and why it should matter to all who care about Catholic higher education. The author discusses his own indebtedness to Catholic higher education and acknowledges that Catholic colleges and universities in the United States serve students and society in laudable ways. However, the introduction presents the thesis of the book: many Catholic institutions of higher education have failed to embody the values of the Gospel and the principles of Catholic social teaching (CST) in some important institutional policies and practices. Just Universities argues that the corporatization of the university undermines the fidelity of Catholic higher education to its mission by hindering efforts to promote worker justice on campus, equitable admissions, financial aid, and retention policies, just diversity and inclusion policies, and socially responsible investment and stewardship of resources. The author acknowledges the argument of the book represents one perspective and is intended to generate more sustained conversation about ways that Catholic social teaching should shape the life of Catholic institutions of higher learning.