The Catholic Church founded the Western system of college education and it was built on disseminating the revealed truth housed within the mission of the Church.
Over the past couple of centuries, the relativism of truth has degraded that ancient tradition to the point where it is difficult even to find Christ’s message within the coursework of the typical Catholic university, which I can attest to as a former student of a Catholic university.
During the Pope’s visit he spoke to Catholic educators about this and his address was pointed, noted in this excerpt from a post on the Catholic World News site.
Pope speaks on academic freedom, Catholic identity
Washington, Apr. 18, 2008 (CWNews.com)
Pope Benedict XVI asked American Catholic educators to "reflect on what is particular to our Catholic institutions," during an April 17 address to the leaders of Catholic colleges and universities.
About 600 educators attended the papal address, which he delivered at Catholic University. Also on hand were 195 directors of diocesan education programs.
The speech to Catholic university leaders was generally regarded as one of the more delicate tasks on the Holy Father's schedule during his American visit. With a few noteworthy exceptions-- mostly young Catholic schools that proudly proclaim their loyalty to the teaching magisterium of the Church-- most Catholic institutions of higher education in the US have adamantly resisted compliance with the standards set by Ex Corde (doc) Ecclesiae (doc), the apostolic constitution promulgated by Pope John Paul II (bio - news) in 1990 governing Catholic universities. (Ex Corde Ecclesiae calls for theology instructors to receive a mandatum, indicating approval from the local bishop. Few theologians at American Catholic colleges have applied for a mandatum, and many US bishops have indicated that they would be uncomfortable judging a scholar's academic credentials.)
Rather than confronting the dispute over Ex Corde Ecclesiae directly, Pope Benedict centered his talk on the need to create a distinctively Catholic identity. That identity, he explained, would be determined not merely by counting the number of Catholic students and professors, but by asking a few key questions about the school's allegiances: "Do we accept the truth Christ reveals? Is the faith tangible in our universities and schools?" A Catholic university exists to spread the truths of the faith, the Pope told his academic audience. Because the purpose of academic freedom is to serve the cause of truth, and because some truths have been defined by the teaching magisterium, "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."
Lampstand Foundation website, http://www.lampstandfoundation.org/
"The sinner is at the very heart of Christianity. Nobody is so competent as the sinner in matters of Christianity. Nobody, except the saint." Charles Peguy (1873-1914)
About
- David H. Lukenbill
- I am a California native, married, we have one daughter and live close to the American River with two cats and all the wild critters we can feed. I am a management consultant to nonprofit organizations and have an Associates of Arts degree in Administration of Justice from Sacramento City College, a Bachelor of Science degree in Organizational Behavior from the University of San Francisco and a Master of Public Administration degree, also from the University of San Francisco.