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.

Faculty Recruitment and Formation

This chapter addresses the challenging question of how to sustain a distinctive religious intellectual tradition while hiring people who are diverse in multiple ways. It singles out multiple misunderstandings of what it means to “hire for mission,” defends the intellectual character of the mission of Catholic education, and gives examples of how to run workshops for faculty to hire for the mission of a Catholic university. Once faculty are hired, the next step is to give examples of how the continued formation of faculty in their academic disciplines can contribute with integrity to the Catholic educational mission. Structural elements, including appointments to chaired positions, the building of core curricula, and the importance of interdisciplinary research, can strengthen the mission of a Catholic university.

Liberal Education

The sleepy liberal arts colleges that upperclassmen attended went through dramatic changes by the twenty-first century, both in the growth of numbers of students and in the focus of study: mainly technical, scientific, and commercial education. The liberal arts play a key role in Catholic education. The purposes of liberal education are discussed. One way to describe that purpose is not only to learn about history and literature but also, even more importantly, to learn from history and literature. In the Catholic intellectual tradition, moral formation, abandoned at most secular universities, remains important and strengthens virtuous habits, both intellectual and moral. Liberal education liberates the “fly in the bottle,” gives perspective through the study of history, and deepens human sensibility through literature and theological studies. In that tradition, the transcendent dimension expands the horizons of relevance and deepens sympathy for the human condition. In an age of social media, the relevance of liberal education becomes ever more obvious.

Catholic Studies Programs and Catholic Identity

After the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), the structure of required courses dramatically changed at most Catholic universities. Before the council, it was typical that all students, regardless of their major, were required to take at least eighteen credit hours (six courses) mainly in philosophy and some theology (mostly grounded in the thinking of the thirteenth-century theologian Thomas Aquinas). Once those requirements were dramatically reduced and what was then offered covered more than Christian religions, doubts began to spread among some faculty as to whether the university had lost its Catholic character. By the 1980s, Catholic studies programs began to be created that included more disciplines than theology and philosophy and typically also offered opportunities for the moral formation of students. Controversies erupted between faculty who questioned the academic legitimacy of these programs. This chapter provides an evaluation of the nature and academic legitimacy of these programs.

Humility and Courage

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.

Mary and the Intellectual Life

If Jesus could become human only through the consent of a woman, what importance does Mary of Nazareth shed on education, art, matrilineal traditions, feminist concerns, and admission of women to the academy? What does the New Testament, art, poetry, and philosophy tell us about the connection between the feminine and wisdom? Is not wisdom the final goal of all education worthy of the name?

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.

Teaching and Research

Despite many attempts, there is little agreement of what counts for effective teaching and research. The different styles of four great teachers are examined, compared, and contrasted. Some basic elements, hard to quantify, are nonetheless identified. Realistic expectations for faculty research are discussed, the relationship between the quality of teaching and research is explained, and the importance that faith and reason play in the types of research Catholic universities should support is discussed. Finally, different forms of scholarship and the different expectations for scholarly production as research universities, comprehensive universities, and liberal arts colleges are examined, concluding that rigor can be defined in a variety of ways, not just by the number of articles published in refereed journals.

John Henry Newman in Context

The chapter describes the person and contribution of John Henry Newman (1801–1890) to the idea of a Catholic university. It describes in some detail his life; the challenges he faced in writing his classic, The Idea of a University; why that book is a classic; and his contribution to understanding the significance of liberal education, mentoring students, and student life and community.