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.

The Effect of Transformational Leadership and Organizational Culture on Lecturer Performance Through Innovative Work Behavior at Catholic Universities in Surabaya

This paper aims to investigate the effect of transformational leadership and organizational culture on innovative behavior and work performance. The sample consisted of 204 lecturers from three catholic universities in Surabaya. The data were obtained from Google form and analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with LISREL program. The results of the study indicate that transformational leadership has a negative and significant effect on innovative work behavior, organizational culture has a positive and significant effect on innovative work behavior, innovative work behavior has a positive and significant effect on performance, transformational leadership has a negative and significant effect on performance, organizational culture has a positive effect and significant on performance, transformational leadership has a negative and insignificant effect on performance through innovative work behavior, and organizational culture has a positive and significant effect on performance through innovative work behavior. It suggests the university leaders apply appropriate leadership styles, maintain and enhance their organizational culture.

The Trouble with the Old-Time Religion

The first decades of the twentieth century saw considerable controversy over the role of more traditional Christianity at major universities. Some popular critics warned the public that universities were becoming hostile to old-time religion. Catholic universities, which were outside the mainstream, remained conservative and strengthened defenses against modern thought with neo-Thomist philosophy. The new Methodist universities had some of the most prominent controversies. Vanderbilt University was moving toward more progressive Christian views, but these were opposed by some archconservative Methodists. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching put pressure on schools to be nonsectarian and to sever denominational ties if they were to participate in the attractive faculty retirement program. Syracuse University, a Methodist school under Chancellor James R. Day, is the most revealing case of resistance to this pressure.

Jesus and the University

This chapter asks why faculty at Catholic universities hardly ever find in Jesus an intellectual resource for their academic work. It explores how within Catholicism the theological reality of Jesus and his life, death, and resurrection have consequences for all the academic disciplines. It revisits the tension of Jerusalem (faith) and Athens (reason) and argues that that tension is creative but should never be dichotomized. It also traces the development of Christian humanism, the power and current shape of secularizing forces, the challenges presented by scientism and postmodernism, and the resources within the Catholic intellectual tradition to respond to those challenges: faith and reason, community, and a sacramental sense.

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.

Ready the Canons: The Role of Canonical Stories in Organizational Sensemaking

This article examines the role of canonical stories in sensemaking. Canonical stories are known by members of a group; storytellers can refer to the shared narratives as repositories of meaning. While the sensemaking literature includes multiple studies of stories and storytelling, no studies have explicitly examined the role of canonical stories in sensemaking. Interviews with 55 top leaders in U.S. Catholic universities confronting a fraught issue in their institutions (undocumented student access) indicate a variety of ways that canonical stories operate in their sensemaking. Respondents referred to community narratives, canonical stories that hold specific meaning for their university communities. They told generic or stereotypical stories and fragments as shorthand in their communication. They also used counterfactuals as referents for their sensemaking. These findings help us better understand the role and importance of canonical stories in organizational sensemaking.