College, Country, Church. 1789-1989. Vol 1, Number 1

DOCUMENT RESUME

ED 311 799 HE 022 855

TITLE Current Issues in Catholic HigneL Education. College, Country, Church. 1789-1989. Vol 1, Number 1. Summer 1989. INSTITUTION Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, Washington, D.C. REPORT NO ISBN-1-55833-030-5 PUB DATE 89 NOTE 39p. AVAILABLE FROM Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, Suite 650, One Dupont Circle, Washington, DC 20036 ($4.50). PUB TYPE Books (010) JOURNAL CIT Current Issues in Catholic Higher Education; v10 ni Sum 1989

EDRS PRICE MF01/PCO2 Pius Postage. DESCRIPTORS Academic Freedom; Catholic Educators; *Catholic Schools; *Church Related Colleges; *Church Role; College Role; Educational History; Higher Educat.on; International Educational Exchange; *Private Colleges; Religious Education; Single Sex Colleges; Womens Education

ABSTRACT A collection of papers on current issues in Catholic higher education is presented. Papers ar- as follows: "Introduction" (Alice Gallin); "Changing and Remaining the Same: A Look at the Record" (Philip Gleason); "Catholic Women's Colleges: A Review of the Record" (Karen M. Kennelly); "A Weight to Our EstaLlishment: Georgetown University and the Republic" (R. Emmet Curran); "Reflections: The Importance of the International in Catholic Higher Education" (Theodore M. Hesburgh); and "Bicentennial History of the Catholic Church in the United States" (Patrick H. Samway). Papers from the 1989 Annual Meeting of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities are also included: "Disciplined Inquiry: A Catholic Reflection or. Academic Freedom" (William J. Byron); "Response" (James J. Annarelli); "Response" (James L. Heft); and "The Hesburgh Award: A Response" (Sally M. Furay). (SM)

*********************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * from the original document. * ***k******************************************************************* an.

00C COL 4e e ..'' _..°<(A o 17 0. _z.0 Q z0 ,.., a f 0) 0 0 .54) 6:Sb, s-P".

"PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY U S. OEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Association of Catholic Office ot Educational Research and Improvement EDUC ONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION RESOURCES Tins document has been reproduced oS Colleges & Univercit-les received from the person or organization Originating it 0 Minor changes have been made to improve TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES reproduction quality INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)." Points of view of opinions stated in this document do not neCesssnly represent official 41. OERI position of policy Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Chair: Kathleen Feeley, SSND College of Notre Dame of Maryland vice Chair: Joseph A. O'Hare, SJ Ford ham University, NY Immediate Past Chair Francis J. Kerins Carroll College, MT

Terms to 1990 Louis DeThoirasis, FSC St. Mary's College, MN Brigid Driscoll, RSHM Marvmount College, NY Author Hughes University of San Diego, CA Janice Ryan, RSM Trinity College, VT Paul Tipton, SJ Spring Hill College, AL

Terms to 1991 Dorothy Brown Rosemont College, PA Theodore Drahmann, FSC Christian Brothers College, TN Margaret Huber, CDP LaRoche College, PA William Neenan, SJ Boston College, MA Norman Francis Xavier University, LA

Terms to 1992 Lawrence Biondi, SI Saint Louis University, MO Bartley MacPhaidin, CSC S.tonehill College, MA Jeanne O'Laughlin, OP Barry University, FL Timothy O'Meara University of Notre Dame, IN William Sullivan, SI Seattle University, WA ex-officio Catherine McNamee, CSJ President, NCEA

ACCU Executive Staff Alice Gal lin, OSU Executive Director PaulGallagher Associate Executive Director

ISBN 1-55833-030-5 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction Alice Gatlin, OSU 3

Changing and Remaining the Same: A Look at the Record Philip Gleason 4

Catholic Women's Colleges: A Review of the Record Karen M. Kennelly, CSJ 9

A Weight to Our Establishment: Georgetown University and the Republic R. Emmet Curran, SJ 14

Reflections: The Importance of the International in Catholic Higher Education Theodore M. Hesburgh, CSC 17

Bicentennial History of the Catholic Church in the United States Patrick H. Sammy, 51 19

1989 Annual Meeting Papers

Disciplined Inquiry: A Catholic Reflection on Academic Freedom William I. Byron, 51 23

Response lames I. Annare Ili 29

Response lames L. Heft, SM 32

The Hesburgh Award: A Response Sally M. Furay, RSCJ 35

4 Introduction

This has been a year of bicentennials The Why are we so caught up in these celebrations? For Constitution of the United States of America, the all of us it is an occasion to reflect on and be grateful beginning of the structure for the Catholic Church, and for our freedomas a church and as a nation. Itis also the foundation of our first Catholic college at a time to evaluate our use of that freedom and to Georgetown. The nation, the church, and higher educa- dream of a continued educational mission. tion all born, as it were, in the same year. That the To help us in this process of reflection on our history, events were inter-related was attested to by John we asked three eminent historians to assist us: Philip Carroll, when he wrote of the "extraordinary revolu- Gleason on the history of Catholic higher educationin tion" that had occurred in the the life and position of the United States, Karen Kennelly, CSJ, on the develop- the Roman Catholic Church because of the break with ment of Catholic women's colleges, and Rev. Emmett England. As recounted by Professor David O'Brien in Curran, SJ, on the story of Georgetown. Public Catholicism (p. 9), which Father Patrick Samway But our world is not confined to this continent. Rev. cites later in this issue, in 1783 Carroll rejoiced in the Theodore M. Hesburgh, has been a leader in fact that "free toleration is allowed to Christians of American Catholic higher eoucation who has always every denomination" while in several states "a com- had a global vision. President of the IFCU munication of all civil rights, without distinctionor (International Federation of Catholic Universities), he diminution, is extended to those of our religion." Here, has promoted exchange and cooperation on all levels. he pointed out, English-speaking Catholics werenow His new work, after ...)5 years as president of University free to worship as they pleased, educate their children of Notre Dame, is to direct the Center for International and in some states partici2ate on an equal basis in pub- Peace Studies, a project which brings together scholars lic affairs. So, it was only appropriate that ACCU par- from around the world to live and work together fora ticipate all in these "birthday" celebrations. year or more on the Notre Dame campus. We were honored by the United States Bicentennial Finally, in this issue we include the papers from the Commission in May, 1988, for the work done onour ACCU annual meeting. The keynote address by Rev. many campuses to focus on the Constitution and its William J. Byron, Si, president of The Catholic contemporary meaning. ACCU's executive director University of America, was sponsored by Delta served on the sub-commission on tl-e history of the Epsilon Sigma, and was on the topic of an American American church set up by the National Conference of Catholic perspective on academic freedom. Two pre- Catholic Bishops' Bicentennial Committee. Itwa.. this pared responses by Rev. James Heft, SM, and James sub-committee that designed the series of books, The Annarelli are also included. In her acceptance of the Bicentennial Commission History of the Catholic Church in Hesburgh Award for 1989, Sally Furay, RSCJ, touched America, edited by Chistopher J. Kauffman. These six all of us deeply by her personal conviction about the volumes give us a splendid over-vi' w of the life of the value 14 what we are all engaged in the tremendous church, and a review of them appears in this issue. task of Catholic higher education. Finally, with inspiration from Rev. Timothy Healy, SJ, The discussion of these topics and many related ones and under the direction of Rev. Charles Currie, SJ, the will not be ended with the bicentennial. They are fun- Georgetown anniversary has been the occasion for a damental issues of purpose, of goals, and of gover- two-year series of events, including discussions of such nance. As such, they are closely aligned with questions topics as research in science and technology, the of culture and history and can never be answeredin a Catholic dimension in higher education, and public static context. policy and the common good. There also was a four- What will the next century Lontnbute to world histo- day conference at Georgetown University in June 1989 ry? There will be other events to celebrate and other on the theme of higher education, and a great celebra- tasks to be accomplished. With St. Paul, let us press tion of Jesuit education in the United States on June 8 on to what lies ahead." at Georgetown Prepparatory School. Alice Gal lin, OSU Executive Director 3 CHANGING AND REMAINING THE SAME: A LOOK AT THE RECORD

Philip Gleason

The expression "identity crisis" has pretty well THE INTERLINKAGE OF TRADITION AND passed out of fashion) We hear it much less often than ADAPTATION we did a few years ago. Yet the concern Catholic edu- catorsel about maintaining the distinctive religious For most of us, "traditional" usually means whatwe character of their schools suggests that the problem it remember of former times. That doesn't reallycarry us designates is still very much with us. Andone can con- back very far, hence it is not surprising thatsome of fidently predict that it will remain, for what psycholo- our "traditions" are of quite recent vintage. Most peo- gist Erik Erikson has in mind when he coined the ple, for example, are taken aback when told that only expression is a perennial paradox how to change three Catholic colleges in the country offeredan aca- without becoming completely different; how to remain demic major in religion in 1937, and theyare even the same without stultifying oneself bv, losing touch more astonished to learn that teaching theology to with changing reality. undergraduates was not seriously proposed until two Erikson was of course primarily concerned with years later. identity as a personal problem. But he was also deeply In fact, tradition is being modified almost continu- interested in history and paid careful attention to it in ously, and adaptations quickly merge with olderways analyzing issues related to identity. That should not and soon become an indistinguishable part of the tra- really be surprising although it probably seems so dition they modified. Once stated the point is obvious. for the interaction of continuity and change is what his- It will be worthwhile, however, to give a few examples tory is all about. And to bring continuity and change to indicate how pervasively the novelty of American into balance is to negotiate and identity crisis. That circumstances required adaptations that soon became being the case, it seems reasonable to inquire whether part of the customary pattern. The experience of the the past history of Catholic higher education in this teaching orders that played so crucial a role in the his- country may not afford useful perspectives on the tory of Catholic higher education in this county illus- problem of continuity and change as it presents itself trates how flexible "tradition" could be in this regard. to us today. Consider the case of the pre-eminent teaching order, In seeking to show that history can enrichour under- the Jesuits. In Europe, where their schools were sup- standing of the problem, I will be speaking of continu- ported by endowments, they charged no tuition. In this ity in terms of tradition, and change in terms of adapta country, schools had to be self-supporting, and the tion The first part of the discussion points out that tra- Jesuits found it impossible to continue the European dition and adaptation are so closely intertwinedas to tradition of free education. Although the Americans be almost inseparable. The second and third parts had trouble convincing their superiors in Rome, they identify two periods in which the pace of changewas were at length (in 1833) given permission to charge intense enough to justify speaking of them as crises. tuition in their schools, and thereafter took suchan The conclusion offers some brief commentson arrangement for granted. Americanization as an o erall perspective on the sub- The absence of fixed endowments, and the fact that ject. they existed in a religiously pluralistic society in which Catholics formed at first a tiny minority, likewise dic- tated that Jesuits and all other teaching communities of men and women accept non-Catholic students. Until Dr Gleason is a professor of history at the University of Notre the middle of the nineteenth century it was not at all Dame In slightly different form this paper tuts deliveredas a tex- unusual for Protestants to constitute a third to a half of ture in Georgetown University's Bicentennial Series on October the s.udent bodies in Catholic colleges and academies 27,1987. a fact that doubtless seems surprising to those who

4 6 assume the early colleges were founded simply to mental system that accompanied it, around the first "protect the faith" of Catholic youngsters. World War. Writing in the 1960s, Robert I. Gannon, SJ, Because of the popular demand for education, reli- formerly president of Fordham, still remembered the gious communities found schools and colleges the new approach's being spoken of as "the depart from ideal means for establishing a toe-hold-- an institu- the mental system." tional base from which they could derive support, recruit new members, and expand their operations. THE CRISIS OF INSTITUTIONAL MODERNIZATION Thus, education played a crucial role in the development of religious communities in this country, even if The change that Father Gannon referred to were part that was not the work for which they were primarily of the first of two crises of adaptation. ttook place founded. The Vincentians, for example, were draw:. between 1900 and 1925, primarily in the areas of orga- into collegiate education almost immediately on arriv- nizational structure and curriculum. Those who ing in Missouri in 1818, and found it impossible to opposed the changes regarded what was going on as withdraw even though many in the community secularization, and in a sense it was. But toward the end regarded it as a departure from their real mission. of the period, the Catholic "identity" of the colleges The Christian Brothers furnish a particularly interest- and universities was given a mon elaborate articula- ing example of the interaction of tradition and adaptation through the adoption of Neoscho'asticism as the tion and the complications that could result. In official philosophy of Catholic education. Europe, the brothers did not teach Latin because mas- Space does not permit anything like a full discussion tery of that language was a mark of upper class status, of these changes, or of the larger realignment in and their founder, John Baptist de la Salle, intended American education of which they were a part. Let me them to teach the poor. In the United Stated, however, simply list some of the most important. they taught an corners (of the male sex); and since sec- 1. Socially, the most obvious change was the vast ondary schools or colleges couldn't be taken seriously enlargement of the clientele, including women. There if they didn't teach Latin, the brothers taught that too. were only three or four Catholic schools for women They did, that is, until 1900 when headquarters in offering college-level work in 1900. By 1930, forty-five France required them to stop doing so. The French women's colleges were accredited by the NCEA, while superiors, who looked at matters from the European twenty-nine more were still too new to have gained perspective, regarded what was really a matter of edu- accreditation. The first steps toward coeducation took cational democratization as an indication that the place in this era, and between 1899 and 192b the total American brothers had betrayed their community's number of collegiate, professional, and graduate stu- commitment to the lowly! dents in Catholic institutions increased sevenfold (from In terms of organizational structure the great adapta- 6,500 to 46,000). tion was the long, slow, and painfully achieved trans- 2. Professional education likewise expanded tremen- formation of the Catholic college understood as a dously in this era. The term 'professional.' should be Gymnasium that is, a school combining both sec- understood to here as including not only law, ondary and (what we call) collegiate studies into two medicine, and dentistry, but also vocationally-oriented separate institutions, namely, an American-style high programs in engineering, pharmacy, journalism, music, school and an American-style college. It is a complicat- and education. The last-named, education, was espe- ed story. Here I will simply assert: 1) Catholic colleges cially important since it was intimately linked to the started out as Gymnasia; 2) they began making adjust- rapid multiplication of women's colleges, and also to ments almost at once; but 3) the changeover was not the beginnings of graduate education in Catholic insti- completed until the first quarter of the twentieth centu- tutions. Except at The Catholic University of Amenca, ry. graduate study in Catholic schools was confined main- More or less the same is true of curricular content. ly to masters-degree work until after World War II. Catholic educators began with the ideal of the pre- 3. With respect to undergraduate studies, the great scribed classical curriculum and tried to realize it in change was the definitive separation of secondary practice. They had to bow to realities from the first, from collegiate instruction that is, the rejection, at however, for in the nineteenth century only a small long last, of the Gymnasium-denved structure. Since minority of their students probably under ten per- prep-level students still outnumbered "true collegians" cent finished the classical cours' and received the by about two-to-one on the eve of World War 1, this A.B. degree. The Jesuits, whose commitment to the was a wrenching adjustment for Catholic colleges, and classics seemed an essential element of their heritage, a number of them did not survive it. were particularly troubled by the curricular compro- "Standardization" was the term most often applied mises they had to make. They held their noses while to these changes at the time. It involved the differentia- offering the "commercial course" in the nineteenth cen- tion of Lollegiate and secondary studies on the basis of tury, only giving in to "electivism," and the depart- college-admission standards expressed in high school

5 "units,' a quantitative measure of study-time that whole story, three features of the higher educational came into use between 1900 and 1910. The analogous scene played a role in this deN elopment. 1) the tremen- measuring-stick on the college level, introduced just a dous expansion and growth already sketched, 2) the little later, was the "semester hour" or "credit." A institutional modernization that introduced specialized "standard college" was thus defined as an institution departments of philosophy w here more professional- that accepted students who had completed sixteen ized teachers held forth in required courses extending high-school "units" and g:.ve them a degree after they over twelve credit hours or more, and 3) the aforemen- had been exposed to 120 semester hours of college tioned uneasiness er the loss of curricular unity and work. Other "standards" dealt with such matters as the the need to find a new way of integrating faith and academic preparation needed by college teachers, the knowledge. minimum number of departments a college should Neoscholasticism, and the broader intellectual and have, library holdings, laboratory equipment, and cultural revival of which it was tilt, central element, value of endowment. thus articulated a Catholic worldview within which Standardization of this kind was made necessary institutionally modernized Catholic colleges and um- when the old classical curriculum was displaced by the ersities prospered from the 1920s through the 1950s. In rise of new fields of study. As new subjects proliferated other words, tradition was reinfutLed on du. ideological and became more specialized, and as specialization level, even while adaptation was avtdip pursued on tht, orga- was extended to students through the elective princi- nizational level. ple, it became harder to specify what a college educa- This kind of situation otn rously entailed tensions, tion should include. In the absence of any consensus as which became more intense after world War II, as over to content, the standardizing bodies (more familiar to all enrollments surged and graduate work expanded us as accrediting agencies) in effect said it didn't matter dramatically. The contrinersy ON er Catholic intellectual what subjects one studied so long one studied them life set off by Msgr. John Tracy Ellis's famous blast in long enough in institutions that met agreed-upon Thought (Autumn 1955) testified to the seriousness of "standards" in respect to procedures, personnel, and the strains. Knowing what happened next, we are facilities. tempted to think that everyone should have been pre- The standardizing movemcrit gaN e secondary and pared for fundamental _eadjustments on the ideologi- collegiate education its modern framework the cal level. But the fact is that when they came in the shape we take so much for granted that we assume it 1960s, those changes iook eery-one by surprise and was always there. The reformers who championed we halve not yet figured quite how to accommodate standardization in Catholic institutions performed an them. Which brings me to the second crisis of change. invaluable service. That they encountered great resis- tance is understandable since traditionalists regarded it THE CRISIS OF IDEOLOGICAL MODERNIZATION as sheer surrender to materialistic secularism and a betrayal of the Catholic liberal arts heritage that inte- For those who were adults when it began, this crisis grated true humanism and the true faith. is part of the present moment and hardly needs to be The critics were not, of course, wholly wrong. In the described. As a matter in fact, its beginnings date back 1930s they were joined by Abraham Flexner, Robert more than a quarter of a century, and are quite remote Hutchins, and Mortimer Adler in their flaying of the from the experience of the younger faculty in Catholic superficiality and crass vocationalism that electivism colleges not to mention the students, to whom and quantitative standardization permitted. Their most Vatican II is hardly less "historical" than Trent. To such telling criticisms centered on the breakdown of curric- persons, it might seem extravagant to characterize as a ular coherence which, for Catholics, also implied a fail- "crisis" what they are apt to regard as long overdue ure to integrate faith and learning as adequately as the reforms attended, in their coming, by pleasantly classical curriculum had done. Widespread uneasiness exhilarating episodes of righteous militance. over this problem was one of the factors that led To the extent that this impoverished view of things Catholic educators to take up the teaching of actually obtains, it is a problem we will have to bypass, neoscholastic philosophy so fervently in the 1920s. because there is no room for even a sketch of the devel- It is true that the "Scholastic Revival" had already opments in question. Here I will simply assume that been under way for more than a half-century, and I do the reader knows what I am talking about when I say not mean to imply that Thomism was not studied until that the "Catholic identity" issue, which emerged in after World War I. But it was only in the twenties that the middle 1960s, did and does represent a real neoscholasticism became a real school philosophy a crisis. It is a crisis because it required Catholic institu- system of thought that was taught to undergraduates tions to decide whether they wish to remain Catholic, on a mass basis as the "official" philosophy of the and, if they do, to devise new ways to operationalize Catholic Church. Althiugh they are obviously not the that decision.

6 What are some of the changes whose combined effect nothing has taken its place. The only thing that even adds up to crisis? Most obvious are the structural, cur- looks like a candidate is peace-and-justice education. ricular, and disciplinary changes (such as the shift to That approach is closely linked to new .y emerging lay boards of trustees, the reduction or elimination of trends in theology, but whether it will furnish an ade- course requirements in religion and philosophy, and quate base for a distinctive Catholic presence in the relaxation of in loco parentis) which eroded the "tra- American higher education remains to be seen. We are ditional" religious identity and atmosphere of Catholic thus, as I see it, still in the midst of the crisis of ideolog- institutions. But these changes flow from deeper shifts ical modernization. Rather than speculate on how it in the realm of ideas and values. They are really by- will develop in the future, I will conclude with a few products of the more fundamental crisis of ideologLal v cry general comments about the way tradition and modernization. adaptation have interacted over the long haul. The nature of that crisis can be put in a nutshell by saying that a working consensus no longer exists among CONCLUDING REMARKS Catholic academics and administrators about what it means, in intellectual terms, to be a Catholic and about how I want to propose that Americanization constitutes Catholic faith should influence the work one does as a schol- the most useful perspective on the subject. Since ar and teacher. adjustment to the local environment meant adapting to I do not mean that they have all given up on these American circumstances, that might seem a tautology. matters. The point, rather, is that disagreement, uncer- To give it more concrete content, let us consider three tainty, and confusion abound. Some, of course, have very American principles that have shaped the adapta- given up. It would be fatuous to deny that the faculties tions made by the colleges. of Catholic institutions include a considerable propor- 1. Democratization changed the relationship of the tion who are indifferent to the preservation of their schools to their clientele, as the examples of the Jesuits' school's religious character, and a smaller percentage charging tuition and the Christian Brothers' teaching who are discreetly unsympathetic to that goal. Many Latin illustrate. Democratization was also at work in others, however, are still actively committed to the the extension of higher education to women. The elec- ideal of relating faith and learning, both in their per- tive principle was interpreted as a democratization of sonal teaching and by means of curricular programs. studies, and in recent years faculty participation in The trouble is that conservatives, moderates, progres- governance has been linked with the democratic ideal. sives, and radicals disa"ree deeply about how things 2. Freedom is another cornerstone value. One of its are to be done. What is worse, they often suspect each less obvious implications is voluntaryism the princi- other of bad faith. The resulting climate of confusion ple, that is, that people are free to launch their own and mistrust nourishes the kind of superficial cynicism endeavors and carry them forward by their own which academics adopt so thoughtlessly, and which efforts. That is, to a considerable extent, the key to the itself becomes a factor in the situation because it whole activity of Catholic higher education in this encourages people to say "a plague on all your hous- country including the "proliferation" of Catholic es" and join the ranks of those who have given up on colleges and universities, which critics have so often the whole project. lamented, without, apparently, perceiving how prolif- It is my view, which I :annot develop in detail, that eration is connected with freedom and voluntaryism. the collapse of neoscholasticism played a key role in A more recent, and more positively evaluated, example these developments. Ideas, intellect, truth these are of freedom's influence is the new concern for academic the very crux of higher education. And whatever one freedom that has established itself in Catholic institu- may think of its intrinsic validity, neoscholastic philos- tions in the past two decades. ophy and theology functioned for two generations 3. Secularity or religious neutrality, is the last of the before the council as the agreed-upon Catholic system American principles that has affected Catholic higher for reconciling the claims of faith and reason, establish- education. In its practical working out, secularity/neu- ing the rational grounding for religious claims, and trality tended to become Secularization, understood here articulating the implications of faith in the areas of per- as that separation of religion from social and political sonal morality (e.g., natural law teaching on birth con- life which has expanded outward from the constitu- trol), social ethics (e. g., subsidiarity and the common tional separation of church and state to include many good), even international relations (e.g., just war teach- other areas of life which were earlier thought of as ing). Neoscholasticism, in other words, constituted the falling within the purview of the churches. As the state intellectual foundation on which the Catholic identity of expanded into these areas, the churches withdrew or at Catholic institutions of higher education rested in the 'east attenuated their involvement. In higher education half-century before the Second Vatican Council. this development occurred in the pace-setting institu- Neoscholasticism no longer functions that way, and tions between 1880 and 1910. Catholics, although quite

7 hostile to the secularizing tendency through the 1950s, tinue to act upon our colleges and universities and will have become much more sympathetic in the past quar- therefore have to be dealt with. ter century. This shift is part of the rethinking of The second is that while Iregard them, and church/world relationships that dates from the Second Americanization in slot), as good things, I do not Vatican Council. In higher education, the changeover regard them as unproblematic. In other words, I do not to lay bunrds of trustees parallels the juridical "secular regard democratization, freedom, and secularity;neu- ization" that took place when clergymen were dis- trality as the kind of good things of which it is impossi- placed from the boards of leading Protestant institu- ble to have too much, and which are to be favored tions around the turn of the century. everywhere and under all circumstances. Rather they Assuming that this makes clear what I meant in..11- should be seen as part of our heritage an important ing Americanization the most useful perspectiv c on the part, since we are American --idiotic educators. But all kind of adaptations Catholic colleges and universities parts of that heritage, and contemporary needs as well, have made, it remains only to say AN hat I think about it. must be balanced against each other as we endeavor to To do so adequately would require another paper. do justice to both continuity and change in negotiating Since that would be out of place here, let me conclude the still-continuing crisis of identity. with two observations. The first is that these factors, forces, tendencies, principles whatever one wishes to call them will con-

8 Catholic Wornen's Colleges: A Review of the Record

Karen M. Kennelly, CSJ

A review of the record of Catholic higher education degrees, and the South and West were unrepresented. for women in the United States is particularly oppor- Thus we find the Sisters of the Holy Cross founding in tune given the occasion of the bicentennial of the offi- the 1840s an academy which became a full-fledged col- cial establishment of the Roman Catholic Church in this lege, St. Mary's in South Bend, Indiana, by 1905, bac- country and the 1990 bicentennial of the first religious calaureate degrees were conferred for the first time in congregation of women, the Carmelites of Port Tobago, 1898. The Sisters of Providence likewise founded an to be established in what was then territorial United academy in rural Indiana in the 1840s. St. Mary-of-the- States. The Carmelites, faithful to their contemplative Woods in Terre Haute began offering college-level vocation, declined Bishop John Carroll's pressing in i- instruction in the last decades of the nineteenth century tation to teach as a means of supporting themselv es. and was chartered as a baccalaureate degree-granting Later, women's congregations, beginning with institution in 1909, by which time a full baccalaureate Elizabeth Ann Seton's companions (in the early nine- program was in place. teenth century), began the schools which were to be the St. Clara Academy, founded in 1851 by the forerunners of the women's colleges of the next century. 1 Dominican Sisters (S:asinavva), became the nucleus for Of unique importance for the emergence of colleges St. Clara College chartered in 1901, it had a four-year for worr. n were the academies founded by the great curriculum well developed by 1908, and relocated from majority of immigrant and indigenous communities in rural Wisconsin to suburban Chicago in 1922 when it the 1800s. Although sources of reliable data arc defi- was renamed Rosary College. The Sisters of Charity of cient for the period, it is estimated that the 200 women the Blessed Virgin Mary opened St. Mary's Female religious in the country as of 1822 had expanded to Academy less than three weeks after their arrival in 45,000 by the end of the century. They were members of 1843 in Dubuque, Iowa. 120 distinct communities and were conducting roughly The academy evolved into a four-year college, known 650 girls' academies. 2 These figures help place in per- first as Mount St. Joseph's and then as Clarke College, spective the college movement which originated in the between 1901 and 1915.1n Michigan, Sister Servants of last half of the nineteenth century with the introduction the Immaculate Heart of Mary began with an academy of collegiate courses of study at a handful of academies. in Monroe in 1845, adding to it normal school cu arses What has been looked upon as a "proliferation" ur and, in the first decade of the p. esent century, baccalau- unfortunate growth of numerous small institutions of reate studies. St. Mary's College, established at the orig- doubtful quality was actually a severely selective inal academy site in Monroe, was renamed Marygrove expansion fro.n a strong base of academy resources. and moved to Detroit in 1929. The 14 women's colleges included in 1918 in the first Minnesota gained two women's colleges two more Catholic Education Association accreditation list which w ere to follow under the auspices of the Benedictines recognized this category of higher education (the 1916 through the initiative of the Sisters of St. Joseph of survey ignored the women) provide an instructive Carondelet and the Sisters of St. Francis of Rochester. insight into the beginnings of the Catholic college for The Sisters of St. Joseph opened St. Joseph Aeaoemy women in the united States.The cluster of midiv est within a few weeks of their arrival in St. Paul in 1851, institutions had the oldest academy pedigrees, the east- having gained valuable academy experience in St. ern seaboard group the earliest awarding of college Louis since 1836. They laid Flans for opening a collegiate department in 1887, but, deterred by financial difficulties, did not do so until 1905 when they founded a Sister Karen M. Kennelly i:. prh.int gies,,.itt of Mohnt St. new high school, Derham Hall, and the College of St. Mary's College, California. Catherine in the same building with boarders from St.

9 . Joseph Academy as the student body. The Sisters of St. extension of academy instruction, necessitated by the Francis formed Winona Ladies Seminary in 1893as a eu'acational trends of the times and essential for the secondary school to which collegiate studies were to be continuation of the educational apostolate of the reli- added. This was done in 1907 with the introduction of gious themselves. State certification requirements were the first year of college work at St. Teresa's College. rapidly rendering it impossible for sisters to teach with- On the eastern seaboard, the School Sisters of Notre out a normal school or a baccalaureate degree. 5 Neither Dame, having begun an academy in Baltimore in the could academy diplomas any longer enable the sisters' 1860s, began adding college studies in the 1870s. They students to enter the elementary or secondary teaching secured a college charter in 1896 and first awarded bac- field. Catholic women, excluded from Catholic colleges calaureate degrees in 1899. and universities, were resorting to private and public The Sisters of Charity of Newark founded St. institutions that admitted women to obtain the level of Elizabeth's Academy in 1860; by 1895 the New York education they desired and needed. Regents visitor encouraged them to offer a college-level Debate in Catholic circles over what the sisters pro- curriculum. A college charter was secured in 1900. The posed to do often hindered and seldom assisted them Ursulines built on their experience conducting an elite in the realization of t. eir ambition to provide for boarding school to charter the College of New Rochelle Catholic women equality in the educational sphere. in 1904; extension classes in New York City from the Persuasion that women belonged in the home prompt- outset foreshadowed New Rochelle's urban future and ed lay and clerical critics to question the need of higher stimulated its early growth in 1926 its 552 students studies for women and to speculate on the harmfulness made it the sixth largest Catholic institution of higher of such occupations. William Stang, Bishop of Fall education in the country and the largest of the Catholic River, Massachusetts, epitomized this viewpoint when women's colleges. 4 he reasoned in a 1905 volume that women were intend- The New Jersey Sisters of Mercy and the Grey Nuns ed by God to be wives and mothers and that they did similarly progressed from academy te. college when not need to be as educated as their husbands, to whom they founded Mount St. Mary's (later Georgian Court) they should be subordinate. There was no necessity f9r College and D'Youville College (Buffalo, New York), women to read newspapers ant novels, occupations for respectively, both in 1908. The Religious of the Sacred which higher education would presumably fit them, for Heart in Cincinnati, having begun with a downtown "smartness is not becoming to a women. "6 academy in 'IP,: which they later transferred to the out- Pragmatic reasons convinced others of the merit of skirts of the city, upgraded this to a college in 1917. what the women religious proposed. In the bracing cli- Alone of the colleges appearing on the Catholic mate of the upper Mid.vest where Mother beraphine Education Association's 1918 accredited list, this college Ireland of the Sisters of St. Joseph worked hand in hand was short-lived and did not appear on the 1926 accredi- with her brother, Archbishop John Ireland, to build tation list. Catholic institutions in an archdiocese encompassing Finally, the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur broke three states, colleges for women seemed a good idea custom by establishing a college rather than an acade- and the sisters seemed capable of anything. Having my in one of the cities where they functioned as educa- acquainted readers of the sisters' plan to open a college tors. Trinity College, founded by them in Vvrashington, in St. Paul in 1891, the editor of the local Catholic news- DC, in 1900, was a departure from their usual pattern paper noted that "the requirements of the time demand and unique among the earliest Catholic colleges for a collegiate institute... .The world has changed very women in its deliberate creation apart from academy intuit for women of late years. Almost every depart- precedent. The forthright intent of the sisters to pros hie ment of business, of literature of science, or art is higher education for Catholic young women, as well as thrown open to her. The education of the past suited the the proximity of the Trinity site to The Catholic past narrow sphere of woman, the education of tht, University of America, open at that time only to men, future must be as broad as the wide field opened up to evoked public debate among Catholics regarding the the gentler sex."" After a rhetorical nod in the direction propriety and desirability of college study for women. of reservations regarding women's capacity for higher The steadfastness of the sisters, their academic and fis- studies "we are not here discussing the physiological cal acumen, and the positive response of vt omen to qc estions regarding the undeveloped and therefore their college initiative contributed to the determination uncomplicated state of the average woman s brain as of numerous communities to follow suit. Other power- compared with 1....n's" the editorial returned to the ful factors contributed to the impressive growth in the solid ground of pragmatism and an unreserved number of Catholic colleges for woman between endorsement of the sisters' collegiate aims. 1926 and 1955 that number increased from 26 to 116 The world has seen fit to open to women almost four year and 24 jurior colleges. Among them, women every field of industry and intellect and therefore religious viewed collegiate instruction as a natural Catholic women should be prepared to take part

10 in this new and enlarged sphere. It is well that our lege for women, published in 1890, became the Catholic academies should realize the immense blueprint for the Sisters' College at The Catholic change which has come over the 1. odd for University of America begun by Father Thomas Shields women, that in !. the women of today is a work- in 1911, and his lecturing and other activities on behalf ing partner in the world's buL ness.8 of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur helped the sis- Like John Lancaster Spalding, Bishop of Peoria, ters overcome last minute obstacles to the foundation of Archbishop Ireland not only believed wholeheartedly Trinity. Allusion has been made here and there in this in equality of opportunity for women in higher educa- narrative to the women whose leadership and foresight tion (and in suffrage) but also lent his prestige and accounted more than any other single factor for the practical support to sisters when they undertook to founding of the Catholic women's colleges and their found colleges. The College of St. Catherine benefited subsequent development. Biographical studies remain from his donation of land, the dedication of proceeds to be done on most of these unusual women, so influ- from the sale of the two-volume publication of his ser- ential in shaping the singular characteristics of the earli- mons, The Church and Modern Society, and the directing est colleges. Julia McGroarty of Trinity, Pauline O'Neill of a $20,000 donation from a local philanthropist to the of St. Mary's, South Bend, and her successor, Madeleva sisters as the first building was going up. Trinity Wolff, Antonia McHugh of St. Catherine's; Pauline College benefited in different ways from Ireland's Kelliger of St. Elizabeth's, and, the only lay woman to moral support when it seemed that critics might pre- carry out major administrative and faculty responsibili- vent it from opening; its most important episcopal sup- ties in the early colleges, Mary Molloy of St. Teresa's.12 porter, however, was Bishop Spalding whose lectures, At least one contemporary observer, a priest-classicist writings, advice and interventions did much to defuse who had the honor of delivering the first annual opposition to Trinity in the years immediately preced- patronal feast day address in 1906 at the College of St. ing its opening in 1900. Mother Julia McGroarty, Catherine, noted the conspicuous reliance on women at founder of Trinity, badly needed Ireland's affirmation of the Catholic colleges as a matter of pride even in com- the college concept in 1898 when he wrote, "As to parison with sister-colleges for women: whether there should be higher education for young The ladies' colleges of the country, even women, that is a settled question. Higher education Wellesley, Bryn Mawr, and Vassar, have to com- there will be, and higher education there ought to be." plete their efficiency by the adventitious aid of the She and the sisters assisting her in the preparation of sterner sex. It is the specific note of our Catholic faculty, curriculum development, and fund raising colleges for women that the work is substantially preparatory to Trinity's construction and opening done by members of their own sex.11 solicited Spalding's help as well as Ireland's. They were One of the key accomplishments of the first college not disappointed. presidents and deans was the preparation of a distin- Well known for his views on the equality of women, guished sister-faculty. Although no others among the Spalding had used the platform of an 1878 commence- women's or men's colleges and universities had the ment address at the University of Notre Dame to chal- reward of seeing their faculty awarded a chapter of Phi lenge an all-male graduating class to build a better sod- Beta Kappa as was the case of Antonia McHugh at St. ety in which the poor would be protected, child labor Catherine's in 1937, perhaps a dozen could point to a ould cease, the ignorant would be educated, war faculty, library, curriculum and student body of superi- would be condemned as "public murder," the prevalent or quality by the 1930's. system of industrial competition would be considered The example of the earliest Catholic women's col- worse than war; and in which "women must hate the leges, including that of the Holy Cross Sisters' Saint same rights as men."1° It was once more a university Catherine Normal Institute (Baltimore, 1875), combined setting, this time the laying of the cornerstone for The with the need to provide teacher training and access to Catholic University of America in 1883, that afforded higher education under Catholic auspices to women,14 Cpalding a chance to reiterate publicly his views on stimulated rapid growth between 1918 and 1930. The progress as related to the emancipation of women. Catholic Education Association's accredited list by 1931 Speaking to an audience gathered to celebrate the included, it addition to the original 14 women's col- founding of a university for men, Spalding argued that leges, 26 new institutions in the Atlantic Coast and East any true Christian must support the cause of women. Central regions. Albertus Magnus (Connecticut), Saint "whoever is thoroughly imbued with the spirit of Joseph's(Maryland),Emmanuel andRegis Christianity must sympathize with all movements hav- (Massachusetts), Mt. St. Vincent, Good Counsel, ing as their object the giving to women the full posses- Nazareth, and St. Joseph's College for Women (all in sion of her rights."11 Access to higher education under New York State), Immaculata, Marywood, Rosemont, Catholic auspices was one of the rights Spalding and Seton Bill (all in Pennsylvania), St. Francis Xavier believed in most strongly. I Iis plans for a teachers' col- College for Women (Illinois), Nazareth (Kentucky),

11 Maryville College of the Sacred Heart for Women and nic minority women have been exceptionally well Webster College (the latter chartered as Loretto; both in served by Catholic women's colleges. Missouri); Mt. St. Joseph-on-the-Ohio, Notre Dame, and If today's demographic and competitive trends have Ursuline (all in Ohio); and Mount Mary (Wisconsin). forced closure or a co-educational optionon some,18 the The West Central grouping included six added since 47 remaining Catholic colleges forwomen exhibit a 1918: Marymount (Kansas); St. Benedict, and St. dynamic spirit informed by commitment towomen in Scholastica (Minnesota); Duchesne College of the the setting judged most conducive to the realization of Sacred Heart (Nebraska); and Incarnate Word and Our their potential as human beings that of a single-sex Lady of the Lake, both in San Antonio, Texas. The West, college totally dedicated to their higher education. lacking any CEA accredited collegesas of 1918, now had Holy Names, Dominican College of San Rafael, and Immaculate Heart (all in California) and Loretto FOOTNOTES Heights (Colorado). Several others in this region and elsewhere in the country had acquired stateor regional, 1 Barbara Misner, SCSC,Highly Respectable and Accomphshed Women though not Catholic Education Association, accredita- Religious_1790-1850 (Boston: Garland, 1987), recounts the history and educational initiatives of the country's first seven congregations of tion: Mount St. Mary's, Los Angeles; San Francisco women religious. College for Women; Maryhurst (Oregon); St. Mary-of- the-Wasatch (Utah); and, back east, Sacred Heart, St. Rose, and Marymount, accredited in New York State 2 Mary Brewer,Nuns and the Education of American Catholic Women, 1860-1920 (Chicago: Loyola, 1087), Tables 2 and 3, p. 15 derives the 1917-1920; Mercyhurst and Mount St. Joseph, accredit- figures from the admittedly incomplete Catholic Directories 1840- ed in Pennsylvania 1928 -1929; Villa Madonna, 1910 and a variety of supplementary sources. Kentucky, 1929; and Mary Manse and Ursuline College, Ohio, the former at an unspecified date and the latterin 1923.15 Fontbonne and Maryville College ofthe Sacred 3 This phase of the women's college movement promises to be devel- Heart were accredited as members of the Corporate oped in Philip Gleason's comprehensive history of Catholic colleges and universities tentatively entitledContending with Modernity; amI Colleges of St. Louis University. Absent from the listing grateful to Professor Gleason for an advance draft of chapter two, -A was the country's only Catholic college for African New Beginning. Catholic Colleges, 1890-1930." Americans, Xavier University of New Orleans, begun by Mother Katherine Drexel as a teachers' college in 4. Catholic Educational Association Standardization Commission's 1915 and chartered as a four-year college in 1925. 1926 summary, as compiled iu Gleison,op cit.,Table 2. Issues of quality in these and the many Catholic women's colleges of later foundation, especially the 49 5 A trend traced and documented by Mary J. Oates, CSJ, motherhouse normal schools established in the 1955-65 "Professional Preparation of Parochial School Teachers, 1870-1940," decade, are capably addressed in Oates' recent essays.16 Historical JournalojMas.achusctts 12 (lanuary, 1984) 6072. Clearly, very few of the last named grouping merited the title of liberal arts colleges; only three ultimately 6. Socialism and Christ:or:ay (New York:Benziger, 1905) 178- 179; Stang gained regional accreditation. Successful completion of allied himself completely with the conservative view of woman as an accreditation processes offers a valuable criterion of idealized queen of the home. see he lead chapter in Karen s1. quality. Still, one's conclusions on this matter would be Kennelly, CSJ, 1incrican GithUli. 14ininn.A Historical LAplorationO. env greatly enhanced by comparative studies, woefully York: Macmillan, 1989). inadequate at this time, of faculty qualifications, curricula, library and other academic resources, endowment, 7North-Western Chronicle,XXVII (Apnl 10, 1891) 4. and alumnae achievement.17 The minimal standards upheld by accrediting agencies were exceeded bymany 8. Ibid. of the pre-1930 foundations, and the few post-1930 institutions whose faculty, curricula, and student bodies QInland to NI...Groan), correspondenee eited in sister Helen Louise marked them as superior colleges. Womenas adminis- Nugent,Sister Julia(New York. Benziger, 1928) 285. trators and faculty members enjoyed opportunities unequaled in any other segment of the United States 10 The address appears under the title of Ideals in Li/mutual, andthe system of higher education. The degree of access to an HigherLife (Chicago: McClurg, 1890) 24-26. affordable post-secondary education by far exceeded that offered to women by other private co-educational 11 Quotation from "Woman and the Christian Religion," in Socialism and Labor and Other Arguments(Chicago: McClurg, 1902) 116. or single-sex colleges throughout the period under con- Although Cardinal Gibbons seldom aired his views publicly, his sideration, an accessibility made possible the "living benevolent patronage of higher education Mons on behalf of women, endowment" of the contributed services ofwomen reli- .peufieally relating to Notre Dame Conch,. in Baltimore and Trinity, gious. First generation college goers, and racial and eth- should be noted. 1f

12 12 Congregational and coliege histories yield some material in this 1933) lists a trio of CEA accredited teachers colleges in Ohio as of regard; see also Sister Angela Elizabeth Keenan, Three Against the 1930. the Sisters College of Cleveland, Teachers College of the Wind (Maryland: Westminster, 1973) on the founders of Trinity, Karen Atheneaum of Ohio, and Teachers College of St. John s University. M Kennelly, CSJ, "Mary Molloy Woman's College Founder," in She omits mention (Appendix pp. 126-132) of other accredited normal Women of Minnesota, Selected Biographical Essays (St. Paul. Minnesota schools such as Mt. St. Joseph Teacher., College founded by the Historical Sock y, 1977) 116-135, and by the same author The Sisters of St. Joseph of Buffaio in 1925, accredited in 1928 by New Dynamic Sister Antonia and the College of St. Catherine," Ramsey York State, and conferring the baccalaureate degree by 1936 Very County History 14:1 (Fall/winter, 1978) 3-18. The Molloy essay is early normal schools such as Saint Catherine s Normal Institute, anthologized in Mary J Oates, Higher Education for Catholn Women. founded to 1875 in Baltimore by the Holy Cross Sisters, are excluded An Historical ANthology (New York: Garland, 1987). by her methodology.

13. The Reverend P.F. O'Brien, St. Catherine's Day Address, 16. Oates, Catholic Colleges for Women, op. cit., citing Sister M. Adele November 25, 1906, printed in the College literary magazine Ariston Francis Gorman, OSF, In Defense of the Four-Year Catholic women's 1:2 (winter, 1906) 4. College," Catholic Education Review 63 (September, 1965) 372.

14. Other Catholic colleges and universities remained closed to women except for summer sessions at Marquette (1909) and at the 17 Such studies are woefully lacking. In addition to citations of pub- Catholic University of America (1911). The irony of religious lished material in Oates, Catholic Colleges for Women, see the provoca- women, responsible for most of the teaching of religion and catechiz- tive essay by Abigail Quigley McCarthy, "A Luminous Minority," ing in U.S. society, being excluded from graduate studies in theology (Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, January, 1985), did not escape Sister Madeleva Wolff whose concern over this depri- and chapters by Mary Ewens, OP, and Mary Oates in American vation led her to introduce graduate programs in theology at St. Catholic Women, op. cit.. Mary's, South Bend, in the early 1940's.

18. Most recently, the College of St. Teresa in Winona, Minnesota, and 15. Mary Marietta Bowler, A History of Cathdic Colleges for Women in Maryrnuunt College in Salina, Kansas, both due h.. Aube at the end of the United States of America (Washington, DC. Catholic University, the 19884989 academic year.

13 A Weight to Our Establishment: Georgetown University and the Republic

R. Emmet Curran, SJ

This year Georgetown is celebrating its bicentennial Constitution in that heroic struggle for human indepen- along with the Federal Government. That Georgetown dence not merely for American Independence, but claims 1789 as its founding date, underscores the spe- for the independence of mankind...."2 cial relationship it has seen itself having with the repub- John Carroll was the link, not only to the republic, but lic in whose capital city it is located. The claim appears to the hierarchical church as well, becoming the first to have arisen from a mistake in the 1870s about the bishop in 1789. As another banner implied, Carroll had date of the construction of the first building on campus. founded Georgetown at the very creation of the institu- But by 1889, the first time in which the university cele- tional American Church in order that It might grow in brated its beginnings, the symbolic value of 1789 had wisdom and truth in a republic that depended for its become all too obvious, however dubious its connec- survival on a free and educated citizenry. tion with Georgetown's origin? It made the university The three gold medals that were awarded to mark the as old as the republic and the hierarchical church in the centennial underscored the connection between United States. This special connection to church and Georgetown, Carroll, church and republic. One went to state, especially to the latter, was a theme repeatedly Groer Cleveland as President of the United States, one stressed during the three day centennial celebration. to Cardinal Gibbons as the archbishop of the premier The inscription on a banner on the west wall of Healy see of Baltimore, and one to the histonan John Gilmary Hall proclaimed Georgetown's unique link with the Shea, for his life of Archbishop Carroll. Republic; Euge VenerabEin Mater Sapi,:ntunt Nutrix Tit That Carroll had founded his school in the wake of So la Inter Onuses Vixsti 2atriae Annos Viva. Valens the American Revolution was no accident. The revolu- Vixen." "Congratulations, venerable mother and nurse tion set off a wave of college found ings, some 23 of sages! You alone, among the many, have lived since between 1782 and 1800. If sovereignty was now in the the nation's birth. Live on, prosper, and prel ail." Conde people, the only hope for the success of the republic Pa lien's Centennial Ode echoed it, if more floridly, was in an enlightened citizenry. Most of the new col- Arot.nd thy cradle blew the trumpet blast leges were connected with Protestant denominations, Of victory, when Liberty at last with the Presbyterians the most involved. For Burst the chains that held her bound Catholics, the religious liberty that the revolution had And all the land leaped at the glorious sound, occasioned made possible the very opening of a college. And a nation sprang to life No Catholic leader better realized the opportunities F:om the dragon jaws of strife, that the revolution had created than did John Carroll. Strong-limbed and beautiful in power Education became an integral part for Carroll's plan for Through mighty wrestling in that heavy hour! a republic church, schools that would reflect their The Centennial Oration by Martin Morris of the Law catholic heritage and republican environment in giving Faculty developed it futher. "One hundred years ago... "consistency to our religious views in this country."' when Washilgton, Franklin, Adams, Hamilton, But if Carroll's academy found itself on the doorstep Jefferson, Madison and Robert Morris, our se% en wise of the federal capital, it was more the result of serendip- men... were laying deep and strong the foundations of ity than dn, 'nation. As Carroll admitted in 1791 to his our Federal union in that same year the foundations English friend, Charles Plow den, when Congress had also were laid of this Republic of the Intellect by one finally decided to locate the permanent capital some- who had participated with the framers of the Federal w here on the Potomac, he had not really been thinking of the possibility when he had proposed Georgetown as the location for the academy in 1786, although Father Curran i> an ax.o..zate. proh.s.yor of lu)tory at GLorscto,, n Georgetown that time was one of the chief bidders University.. for the federal government. In the circular that he wrote

0 in 1787 to attract funding for his academy; Carroll listed Justice Marshall declared that the college was a pnvate three principal reason for the choice of Georgetown. foundatiun, whose charter the state legislature could "Salubrity of Air, Convenience of Communication and not revoke or alter at w ill.' A charter had become, not a Cheapness of Living." Prices in Georgetown (believe it threat touniversity's independence, but a safeguard or not) were relatively cheap, certainly in comparison to for its integrity. Baltimore or Philadelphia. Given Carroll's lack of Taking advantage of the several congressmen who money, this was no mean consideration. The port vil- had had sons in the college, President John Grassi lage of Georgetown was well situated enough to afford apt lied for a charter in order to confer academic "convenience of cominunication," ..1though not as cen- degrees as well as to prevent the possibility that the tral as Baltimore. As ft r its salubrious air, the hilltop government might someday force it to become part of setting outside of town seemed especially healthy in a some nonaectarian or other sectarian university. And wooded area cooled by Potomac breezes. Georgetown there was '.he special tircumstance of the very first stu- in fact was the first cf ly schools to choose such an dent of the school, William Gaston, being a member of elevated setting. Health may have been the primary the Hous.. of Repre,entatives from North Carolina. reason but image was another. The "College on the Gaston shepherded the petition through the Congress Hill" became a :ontmon nineteenth century ideal. For and President James Madison signed the charter on Carroll, the school, like lAintlirap's Boston, was to have March 1, 1815. a life larger tha-.1 its .awn. And there was another rea- By 1820 father Grassi had assembled at Georgetown son, unspoken, but real enough. Georgetown had a faculty of republican Catholic intellectuals, such as become the urban center of the Catholic gentry as they Carroll he, ti envisioned for his school a generation earli- moved up from Southern Maryland. Baltimore counted er. Benedict Fenw ick, James Wallace, Roger Baxter, and relatively few Catholics, only about 7% of the popula- Thomas Levins. This group of Anglo-Americans was tion, and most of them were working class, hardly the very intent on fostering a curriculum and discipline group to support an educational institution. that would be consistent with the republican society in But if Carroll had given little thought to geopolitical which they lived. They introduced science and modem possibilities, he instantly reccgnized that the fed,,ral literature, and in may ways attempted to take advan- presence would, as by put it, "give a weight to cur tage of the feat.ial presence. Wallace and Grassi, both establishment."4 And he was reasonably sure that com- gifted astronomers, were even envisioning the develop- missioners appointed by Congress would choose a spot ment of a national observatory at Georgetown. But along the Potomac within the tidewater, which would from the reestablishment of the Jesuits in the United put it either in Georgetown, or what would be even bet- States in 1805, there was a heavy influx of numbers of ter, within four miles of it. As it turned out, the site the the Society from the continent, most of whom (Grassi commissioners chose matched his wish perfectly. Of was an important exception) were deeply suspicious of course, it didn't hurt that his brother, Daniel, was one of the republican institutions and pnnciples that Amenca the commissioners. At any rate, the location of the new epitomized. As one Belgian Jesuit, subsequently to capital next to Georgetown greatly confirmed Bishop become briefly president of Georgetown, observed in Carroll's ambition to have an American Catholic college 1823. the Americans "have curious principles. they that would rival any school in the country. wish for revolutions, adopt the condemned proposi- In the last year of Carroll's life, 1815, Georgetown tion. that the Sovereignty resides essentially in the people. became the first school to receive a federal charter. They approve murder, blood shed, Just as the Jacobins Despite his ambitions for the institution, Carroll had did in France... 6 Little wonder that such continental made no earlier attempt to secure a charter, either from Jesuits tended to isolate themselves and their students the state of Maryland or the federal government. In the from that larger society. late eighteenth century, to receive a charter was to place Before the end of the 1820s, coiamental superiors had a public character on the institution and make it depen- taken over the college and scattered Grassfs republican dent on the chartering authority. Carroll had seen bla- faculty. By 1830 a new group of Irish and Anglo- tant instances of governments intruding to control col- American Jesuits, Roman trained, controlled the colleges in Pennsylvania and Virginia. By 1815 there had lege. William McSherry, Thomas Mulledy, and James been significant shift in the relationship between col- Ryder were president for most of the next twenty years. lege and state. A college was no longer regarded as an From the beginning, Georgetown, unlike virtually all ann of the state for the training of a provincial elite and schools in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth cen- the safeguarding of public character, but as a form of turies, was a national, indeed international, school. In private enterprise, as independent as any commercial its first decade alone nearly one-fifth of the students corporation. This new characterization of the college Lame from outside the United States, with the West was given classical legal definition in The Trustees of Indies supplying some forty students. Once the federal Dartmouth College versus Woodward (1819) when Chief government moved to the new Washington City,

4 Georgetown began a long tradition of educating the University of America was one such force. Another was sons of diplomats and ministers stationed htre, not to the shift of the center of American Jesuit grch ity, at least mention those of many congressmen, senators, and in the eastern part of the United States, from even presidents. From 1790 to 1870, about six per cent Washington to New York City. Even within the Society of the students came from outside the United States, of Jesus, the thought grew that if there was to be an two thirds of them from Latin America (some 190 stu- American Louvain, it was to be in New York, the intel- dents) and the other third split equally between Canada lectual capital of the country. By the early part of this and Europe. Of some 1088 students whose fathers' century, the Jesuit Father General was pursuing a plan occupations we know, 212 or over one fifth of them to nittke Fordham the "pnmary" Jesuit university in the were connected with the federal government or were Unitt'd States, housing not only an outstanding faculty foreign diplomats. The sons of several presidents, and programs in both graduate and undergraduate including Martin Van Buren'ohn Tyler, and Andrew studies, but also intellectual journals that would speak Johnson, attended the college: to the high and middle culture. Whether measured by students, visits between cam- But if the story of the nineteenth century is finally pus and capitol, or scientific cooperation, the four of Georgetown's decline as a unique Amencan Catholic decades in the middle of the nineteenth century institution, the story does not end there. Roman plans marked a high point in the relations between the col- seldom, if ever, controlled American reality in the way lege and the federal goverament. Washington's intended. In 1919 President John Creeden, in response Birthday and Independence Day, the high feasts of the to the appeals of alumni and government officials, civil religion of antebellum America, were two of the founded the School of Foreign Service in what one can most sacred days of the year at the college. only term the spirit of local initiative. Rome found out Congressional forays became clinics for eloquentia per about it after the fact. The new school was a bold feLia. Commencements drew presidents and congress- attempt to take advantage of the Washington men, generals and justices to the campus. connection and provide a unique contribution not only The academic re.ival that the college experienced to the federal government but indeed the international during this period came mainly from a new intellectual community. The twentieth century for Georgetown migration that Georgetown was a beneficiary of, the would mean, among other things, rediscovering what it influx of Italians, Germans, and Swiss after the revolu- is to be a Catholic university in Washington, and tions of 1848. Immigrants like Angelo Secchi, the father accepting the challenge to serve both church and repub- of astrophysics, and Benedict Sestini were responsible lic, to prepare citizens for the two realms, to incarnate for the significant contributions to astronomy that in a much more complex age Carroll's vision of an insti- Georgetown made through its observatory in the sec- tution that in its own autonomous way could be fully at ond half of the century. The continental Jesuits played home in each. an important role in the intellectual life of Georgetown, in the classroom and in the observatory. But they weak- NOTES ened, at the very least, the attempt to translate Carroll's vision of an Amencan Catholic republican institution of 1 Historically there was little notable about 1'89. The decision to higher education giving "consistency to our religious begin the academy was made in 1786. The first construction began in 1788. The first student arrived in 1791 and classes began in 1792. views" to the larger society, of showing the compatibili- The only tlng of note that occurred in 1789 was the acquisition of ty, indeed the ideal symbiosis between Catholicism and the deed u, property upon which John Carroll had already American culture, in a suburb of the capital city of the begun to bui 1. United States. Eventually the Europeans set the intellectual life of American Jesuits at Georgetown and else- 2. John Gilmary Shea, History of Georgetown College. Memorial of the where in a much more conservative direction. By 1870 First Centenary (Washington, 1891), 339, 365, 370-371. the Maryland provincial could write that events in Europe had "made ultramontanes of all of us here who 3. Carrul; to Plowden, December 15, 1785, in Thomas 0 Brien have any good within."7 Hanley, SJ, ed. The John Carroll Papers (Notre Dame, 1976), I, 198. In the last three decades of the century, two presidents, Patrick Healy and Joseph Havens Richards, 4. Carroll to Plowden, White-Marsh, Feb. 3, 1791, in CP, 1,490. attempted to make Georgetown a university worth the name. The magnificent Flemish Romanesque structure 5. Jurgen Herbst, From Crisis to Crisis: American College Government, that Healy broke his health in building was his state- 1636-1891 (Cambridge, Massachusetts and London, England, 1982), ment that Georgetown was aspiring to be nothing less 232-233. than a great university in a national city, an American Louvain. But by the 1880's, countervailing forces b. Maryland Province Archive's 206 R 22 Beschter to Dzierozynski, proved stronger than this vision. The Catholic Baltimore, December 17, 1823.

16 1 Reflections: The Importance of the International in Catholic Higher Education

Theodore M. Hesburgh CSC

When I first went to college in 1934, the only element tional and ecumenical students have been in residence of the international in my thoughts and studies was at Tantur during the last eighteen years, promoting the Latin and Greek. Three years later, when I went to idea of Pope Paul VI that there should be a place in Rome to study at the Gregorian University, suddenly Jerusalem, our common homeland, where Christians everything was international, the church (I saw the first can live, study, and pray together, "that all might be black African Bishop consecrated in St. Peter's by Pius one, as Thou Father in Me, and I in Thee, that all might XI), the student body which contained every nationality be one in Us." Lately, we have extended that ecumeni- and race on earth, our communications which were cal dream to include the sons of Abraham, Jews, suddenly in six different languages, and the main char- Muslims, and Christians. The current director of the acters, the pope, Mussolini, Hitler, and Chamberlain. Institute is a Pau list, Father Thomas Stransky. Three years later, all that abruptly ended when the The second institute began as a Civil Rights Center blitzkrieg sent us home. However, for the next five during the time of our domestic civil rights struggle. It years, we heard of wartime battles in places we had was quite activiLA at first. Almost a million dollars later never imagined, Guadalcanal, Tarawa, El Alamein, it ran out of money. Now it has been reactivated in a Tobruk, Stalingrad, and Kasseline. more studious and international mode under the direc- In the years that followed, international became the tion of in.fessor of International Human Rights, Father name of the game as I .ered on the board of the William Lewers, CSC. Its new title is the Center for Institute of International Education, the International International Human Rights Studies. Its documentation Atomic Energy Agency, the Overseas Development is current and worldwide. It is also given to advocacy Council, the International Federation of Catholic where this is effective, as it often is. Universities, and a host of other international associa- The third institute is the Kellogg Institute for tions. International Studies which for the moment is con- For the last five years, I have met with the Pontifical cerned mainly with social, economic, and political Council on Culture which was inaugurated by Pope development in Latin America. It is also studying com- John Paul II to seek out the v alues of fourteen world parative developments in Asia and Africa. The Kellogg cultures and to plumb their relationship to the Gospel is the best endowed of the institutes with more than fif- in today's world. teen million dollars. The executive director is Father After retiring from the presidency of Notre Dame last Ernest Bartell, CSC., the academic director is Dr. year, I decided to focus efforts on the dc,clopment of Gui:!ermo O'Donnell of Argentina.T..Lyare assisted by five institutes that I had founded in recent years at the Dr. Alejandro Foxley of Chile, Kellogg chair holder in university. All of them represent values and concerns International Development. that should characterize the role of a modern Catholic The fourth institute, directed by Governor John university All of them are international. Gilligan of the Law faculty, is the Institute for Taking them in the sequence of their founding, the International Peace Studies. This has the next largest first is the Ecumenical Institute for Theological Studies endowment of about eight million dollars. This insti- at Tantur, Jerusalem. This was begun in 1970 after five tute, like Kellogg, works closely with the Human intensive years of planning by an international and ecu- Rights Institute and has faculty fellows from about menical academic council. Over two thousand interna- twenty departments of the university. It also networks with a wide variety of international associations. The institute sponsors both graduate and undergraduate Father Hebiffirgh a pubitient LII1CritIOofthe Usuut:rAty of courses and an international yearlong graduate seminar Noire Dame. for students from a dozen countries, including China,

17 Russia, England, France, the United States, Japan, India, part of my new task, even though I dislike that most of Africa, and Latin America. The prevention of nuclear all. Well, retirement can't be all fun. war, disarmament, conflict resolution, and world order One last note. International studies needs visibility, are its main concerns. since it is relatively new. Fortunately, we have funding The fifth institute also began recently asa domestic for a new Center of International Studies right at the environmental, educational, and research laboratory at entrance of the campus. We are also hoping that our Notre Dame's 7,000 acre forest and lakereserve near current international study programs in ten countries Land O'Lakes, Wisconsin. Given the current interna- from Mexico to China will heighten student and faculty tional concern regarding acid rain, ozone depletion, and interest in the world at large. greenhouse effect, this institute's concerns will be It has been a long time since I first sailed to Europe increasingly global. The acting director is biology from New York in 1937. Two million miles and 131 Professor Ronald Hellenthal. countries later, I am convinced that the provincial When one considers the possible internationalcon- America and its colleges and universities of my youth cerns of a modern Catholic university, justice, peace, have truly entered a new domain, as the globe has human rights, devc.lopment, ecumenism, and ecology shrunk, and become increasingly interdependent and certainly stand out. They are all inter-related,as we are more challenging to all of us. I write these lines at finding more and more in the work of the five insti- 41,000 feet, en route to Moscow, having been in six tutes. Both the ecumenical and ecological institutes are other countries in the last ten days. Need I say more. minimally endowed and the human rights institute not Adveniat regnum tuum, semper et tibique. at all as yet. Obtaining adequate funding for all will be

18 20 The Bicentennial History of the Catholic Church in the United States

Patrick H. Samway, SJ

The National Conference of Catholic Bishops, with a the United States in terms of good citizenship, but they generous grant from the Knights of Columbus, has retreated from the culture into ethnic enclaves, these recently authorized the publication of six volumes, all were the preservationists who nurtured their Old handsomely produced and marketed by Macmillan, World cultures in defense against this hostility. Isaac that together present a bicentennial history of the Hecker and the Americanists, such as John Ireland, Catholic Church in the United States. Each of the books, forged a transformationist identity, one that was which struggle against exclusivism based on race, eth- derived from the Carroll era and was based upon the nicity or gender, was written or edited by a distin- spiritual compatibility of Catholicism and American guished church historian. Read as a group, these books, culture." under the general editorship of Christopher J. In Patterns of Episcopal Leadership, edited by Gerald Kauffman, editor of the respected journal U.S. Catholic Fogarty, SJ, 14 U.S. church historians examine key cler- Historian and author of Tradition and Transformation in ics some of them quite colorful and controversial Catholic Culture: The Priests of Saint Sulpice in the United beginning with those influential during the period of States from 1791 to the Present and Faith and Fraternalism, Anglo-French domination (John Carroll, Louis William give a probing, synthetic view of the problems and DuBourg, Benedict Joseph Flaget, John England) developments, explored over the years by John Gilmary through the period of the immigrant church (John Shea, Peter Guilday, Theodore Maynard, Thomas Baptist Purcell, Martin John Spalding, James Gibbons, McAvoy, Msgr. John Tracy Ellis, James Hennesey, SJ, John Ireland and Michael Corrigan), to the first half of and Jay P Dolan, that have taken place in the Catholic the 20th century (William O'Connell, Patrick W. Church in the United States since the early days of Riordan, James Clement Kelley, George William Federalism and the appointment in 1789 of John Carroll Mundelein, John Patrick Cody, Francis J. Spellman and of Baltimore as the first Roman Catholic bishop for the Paul J. Hallinan) The biographical portraits of these United States of American. men reveal not only their administrative styles, but In his genera troduction, Kauffman paints with their own personal problems as they had to deal with wide strokes the history of the Catholic presence in the issues of national and intemationa: importance. Such a United States. "Throughout these volumes one reads view from the top allows the reader to see how the about the persistent need for Catholics to forge their authoritative church in the United States reacted to the religious identities within the ethos of the new nation. pressures and problems presented by both civic leaders In its origins the nation tended toward enlightenment and Vatican officials. and toleration;Catholics .inMaryland and In Living Stones. The History and Structure of Catholic Pennsylvania reflected an open cosmopolitanism sym- Spiritual Life in the United States, Joseph P. Chinnici, bolized by the leadership of John Carroll. There was a OFM, discusses under five headings the personalities conscious effort to embrace religious liberty and plural- and topics that pertain to an understanding of Catholic ism as positi. c factors, a denominational civility charac- prayer life in this country. 1) "An Enlightenment terized the era. Subsequently, periodic outbursts of mil- Synthesis, 1776-1815," which embraces religious plural- itant anti-Catholicism and nativism during the periods ism, nature and grace, the ecdesiological dimensions of of immigration led Catholics to identify their loyalty to piety, as well as the sentiments and affections of Jesus, 2) "The Immigrant Vision, 1830-66," which contains discussions of Christ, the person and the church, the tri- Father Samway b literary editor of America. This review oi igi umph of the purgative way and the immigrant vision, wally appeared in America, volume 160, April 15, 1989, and IS 3) "The Spiritu?lity of Americanism, 1866-1900," which reprinted with permission of Amerka Press, Itii.., 106 West 56th analyzes notions of conversion and the mission of the Street, New York, NY 10019. 1989. All Rights Reserved. United States, piety, asceticism, the mystery of the

19 0 4, ./.. incarnation, the crisis of Americanism and the struc- of its being republican, immigrant, industrial, liberal, tures of Catholic spiritual life, 4) "A Fractured reform, social, American. He concludes with a discus- Inheritance, 1900-30," which deals with spirituality and sion of the modern styles of public Catholicism. In gen- social reform, Catholic Action and the eucharist as a eral, Professor O'Brien's focus is to invesi.gate the ways symbol of the church, and 5) "Seedbed of Reform, 1930- in which the U.S. Catholic Church helped to shape, 65," which contains moving portraits of Virgil Michael, directly and indirectly, public poLcv as it Lame to terms Dorothy Day, James Keller and Thomas Merton. In with developing demoeratic institutions and programs. looking at a church built of "living stones," Father fie is conzerned, among other things, to account for the Chinnici traces the self-identity of Catholics in the labor movement, anti-Communism and he host of United States, their experiences of society, their cons fic tricky, emerging questions imolving church and state. tions about the institutional church, their deg otional As Professor O'Brien notes. "All phases of religious lives, their attitudes toward asceticism and Christ all activity draw from and in turn influence the larger cul- bound together as a cultural whole in changing pat- ture. issues of church and state and of religion and poli- terns of Catholic belief and practice. tics reflect deeper problems of the historicity and Catholic Intellectual Life in America. A Historical Study of humanity of those who belong to the church, from its Persons and Movements, by Margaret Mary Reher, deals most humble communicants to its most powerful bish- with problems of the Enlightenment and episcopal ops." leadership, the contributions of Orestes Brownson and In Amerkan Cali() lit. Women. A historical Exploration, Isaac Hecker, the development and growth of The edited by Karen Kennelly, CSJ, four religious women, Catholic University of America and Georgetown two laywomen and one layman present a variety of University, Americanism, Modernist scholarship, approaches to the topic that is a central concern to con Progressive social thought and the more contemporary ternpoiary U.S. Roman Catholicism. Their essays on the path to pluralism as reflected in the research and writ- ideals of U.S. womanhood, women in the convent, ings of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, Gustave Weigel, SJ, Catholic domesticity from 1860-1960, the question of and John Courtney Murray, SJ. In this work, Professor equality, the positions taken by reformers and activists Reher admirably tracks the intersections of various and the impact of Catholic feminism on U.S. Catholic intellectual movements and social phenomena as they women as experienced by radical trade unionists, femi- pertain to the history of the U.S. Catholic Church. nine models of domesticity, political suffragettes and Dolores Liptak, RSM, in Immigrants and Their Chard!, women religious dissenters seeking ordination reveal traces the various waves of Catholics seeking refuge in that, in a church where all the priests and hierarchy are the United States over a 200-year period. With each male, a patchwork quilt of thought embodying knowl- new immigrant wave, the cultural and religious bound- edge and sensitm reflection best helps an understand- aries of the ecclesiastieal community underwent dra- ing of complicated, ongoing issues that defy easy matic changes. Dealing first with the identification and answers. Morew, er, this Neolume shows that the U.S. structure of the immigrant church, Sister Liptak shows bishops enwurage ground-breaking analyses of femi- how the Irish, the Germans, the Polish, the French- nist issues something that they have been criticized Canadians, and African-American and Hispanic for avoiding. Catholics have altered the physical, social and spiritual Many people in the Catholic Church in the United complexion of the church in this country. Above all, she States have found it difficult to adjust to the changes deals with the interplay of ethnic groups and the affec- that have taken place in the last 25 years since the tive forms of worship they brought .,ith them, the rules heady years of Vatican II. What these Neol u m es can du is the immigrant clergy had in building up the church and to show that the church is not making changes in some the implication that a church of mixed backgrounds has arbitrary fashion, but that, as it has done since the for the future growth of the universal church. installation of Bishop John Carroll, it copes with the In Public Catholicism, David O'Brien studies with his demands it places upon itself as it undergoes a dynamic characteristic insight the public nature of the U.S. process of intellectual matpratiun and spiritual growth. Catholic Church under the historical and social rubrics

20 r. ti CATHOLIC HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE AMERICAN CONTEXT JANUARY 31 FEBRUARY 1, 1989 Hyatt Regency on Capital Hill, Washington, D.C.

Bicentennial of the American Church toocCOzze.0 rc 0Lk 0

Qe, SS4' ANNUALMEE TING CATHOLIC HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE AMERICAN CONTEXT

e 0

21 NOTE

The following papers were presented at the ACCU 1989 Annual Meeting in Washington, DC. Father William J. Byron delivered the keynote address and was responded to by Dr. James Annarelli and Father James L. Heft. The eighth Theodore M. Hesburgh Award for outstanding contribution to Catholic higher education was presented to Sister Sally M. Furay of the University of San Diego.

2, %4 22 Disciplined Inquiry: A Catholic Reflection on Academic Freedom

William J. Byron, Si

The notion of academic freedom applieso those con- human prudence, especially with respect to the commu- ditions or circumstances wherein a structured teaching- nication of truths that would not be appropriately com- learning transaction can take place. Academic freedom municated in certain cireunistanees ur to members resides in persons teachers and learners who meet certain age groups. These limits apply and are acknowl- in a setting designed to foster disciplined inquiry. What edged to belong wherever the academy functions. happens there is the exploration and communication of The cluesqun facing Catholic colleges and universities knowledge. today looks to freedom of inquiry and communication Sometimes no one is there but the inv estigatur, the of theological knowledge un a Catholic campus in light lone researcher seeking further understanding ofan of the institution's relationship, however indirect, to a identifiable dimension of truth. Academic freedompro- hiera' '.ical authoritarian church. Is there an ecclesial tects the isolated investigator. limit on academic freedom? Can there be an acceptable Sometimes many people are present, often as students constraint on investigation, but, more importantly, on receiving instruction, frequently as coin% estigatuis communication of truth un a Catholic campus because searching for new understandings. Academic freedom of the church-relationship? Moreover, what happens to protects all participants in any given teaching-learning academic freedom when a question of truth or error is transaction. decided outside the academy? Why have academic freedom? To protect the disci- I think there can be and is an ecclesial limit on aca- plined inquirer from the unwelcome whims or reprisals demic freedom. And I think this ecelesial limit need not of powerful others who may disagree with his her violate academic freedom so lung as a church-related views. That is quite different, of course, from the wel- institution, whether Catholic ur nut, understands itself come outcome of having one's views displaced by better to be also faith-related and faith, un that campus, is evidence or sounder reasoning. Academic freedom pro- shared by many and respected by all."Ecclesial* is a vides a needed measure of employment security topro- word distinct from but not unrelated to "ecclesiastical", fessionals whose ideas might displease their academic it is, however, a broader term. "Eeelesial refers to an employers It also is intended to assure students access assembly, a community of believers, the church uniier- to all legitimate fonts of knowledge. Intellectual discus- stood as a people of Cud, the faith community. ery and growth in understanding prosper in rion-eoer- "Lelesiastieal" refers to structure and governance with- dive environments. Academic fn. -dom guarantees such in the faith community. an environment to teachers and learners. Faith, of course, is a gift of God freely accepted by the In any academic context there are limits un academic belies ing person. Acceptance of limits associated with freedom. First is the limit of truth itself. Teachers are not religious faith suggests to me not a denial of freedom free to profess falsehood. Next is the limit imposed by but the exercise of freedom, the freedom of religious the canons and associated competencies the community commitment. of scholars expects to find in a given academic disci If faith is first, last and always a gift and Catholic pline Disciplined inquiry' implies, first of all responsible theology is unambiguous in so describing it language inquiry and then competent communication of the regarding the communication of an understanding of results of inquiry. Another limit un academic freedom is faith must be used with care ;est "teaching the faith" be thought of in images of transfusion or injection. Faith, the ineffable gift that draws one into contact with a God Father Byron is president of The Catholk Univenqt of America of mystery, can nonetheless, and up to a point, be Tliis is the 1989 Delta Epsilon Sigma Lei tun, delivered at the explained. At least the "tenets" of a faith community ACCU annual meeting in ItIollington, DC. at Oa liyatt Rtgouy those formulations of religious truth which are "held" Hotel on February 1,1989. by members of a faith col,imunity can be articulated

23 in their present stage of development, located in their ops should decide. I think theologians and bishops scriptural foundations, and analyzed at different stages should examine together whether ur not a theologianis of historical controversy, philosophical expression and in or out of communion with the teaching church when official ecclesiastical formulation. the theologian offers theories or theses intended to Reflection on past understandings is only part of the advance the tradition. The formal determination work of a theologian. Development of new and deeper remains the pro:ince of the bishop. If the final determi-

understandings is a special responsibility. This is the nation is, in fact, the province eathe bishop, how can the professional and scientific expression of fides plurals institution where that theologian works be said to be intellectuni for theologians in the church. The ecclesial autonomous? By virtue of the identity it has chosen for limit oil this exercise of human understanding in the itself. It has a freely chosen Catholic character expressed church is continuity with the tradition of the church. The in its mission statement and subscribed to by thecam- tradition, however, is a living and growing reality. pus community. The internalization of the Catholic Hence the ecclesial limit on a theologian's academic identity includes institutional acceptance of all things freedom is more viaduct than retaining wall. It is, inany Catholic as congenial to the range of inquiry on campus, case and by whatever metaphor, a limiting factor. and nothing Catholic is viewed as foreign to the enter- Discontinuity would mean, by definition, a break of prise. The range of interest goes far be and the Catholic, greater or lesser proportions from the tradition, a sepa- of course, but the poin_ to note is that nothing Catholic ration from the faith community. Hence the develop- is excluded. The assertion of institutional autonomyin ment of new, better and deeper understandings can the face of an ecclesial limit un academic freedomis, always expect to confront an ecclesial limit, a protective therefore, no denial of academic freedom. It simply layer or buffer zone intended to prevent breaks. This points to an identity internal, freely chosen, and need not be an insurmountable barrier to inquiry nor a accepted by all in the campus community (as distin- clamp on communication. Instead it can serve to remind guished from the broader faith community) which the c _mmunicator that the teaching of Catholic theology acknowledges a role for church authority in doctrinal is not communication only, but communion with the clatters. Those whu choose nut to accept, or no longer community of faith his or her theology it. intended to subscribe to the Catholie identity of the in5titution do serve. That faith community, in the case of Roman not disqualify themselves from the faith community, but Catholicism, is organized hierarchically with clear lines they du separate themselves from identification with the of authority. campus community. To identify with an institution It is consistent with Catholic principles to have ecclesi- without accepting that institution's seif-proclaimed astical authority exercised in a wa, that "authors in identity makes no sense. To proclaim a Catholic identity the sense of encouraging, enabling and drawing out without accepting an ecclesial limit un theological explo- the creative potential of theologians in the church, ration and communication is to misunderstand not only encouraging the exploration of ideas and fostering the the nature of chun.h-relatedness, but also, the idea of a development of what will eventually become official univ eisity and the meaning of academic freedom. Catholic doctrine. Such "authorship" on the part of the Academic freedom can be limited without being violat- church authorities would always look to continuity with ed. the tradition. Continuity will function as the ecclesial In his r..reface to The Idea of a University, John Henry limit on the academic freedom of theologians in the New man noted that "when the Church founds a univer- church. Another way of stating this limit is to describe it sity, she is not cherishing talent, genius, or knowledge, as fidelity to and respect for the teaching authority of for their own sake, but for the sake of her children, with the church. a view to their spiritual welfare and their religious influ- Who is to decide whether a given development repre- ence and usefulness, with the object of training them to sents a continuous advance of tradition ur a discontinu- fill their respective posts in life better, and of making ous break' Who is to determine whether a Catholic the- 'hem more intelligent, capable, active members of WO' ologian is in or out of communion w ith the teaching ety" (p. 5, all references will be to the Loyola University church in his or her efforts to advance the tradition? of Chicago Press edition, 1927, re-issued in 1987). And how are these judgments to find their proper place In the first of his nine "Discourses" un "University within the Catholic college or university, thus protecting Teaching" (fur all practical purposes, Chapter One in the institution's autonomy and the professor's integrity Part One of Tlw !duo old University), Newman comments as a free academic working within appropriate limits? un the rule of ecclesiastical authority in the establish- The answer to this last question presupposes an answer ment of a Catholic university. "Ecclesiastical authority, to the iuestion of Catholic identity. what, in fact, makes not argument, is the supreme rule and the appropnate a university or college Catholic? guide for Catholics in matters of religion. It has always I think theologians and bishops should examine the right to interpose, and sometimes, in the conflict of together questions of continuity or break, then the bish- parties and opinions, it is called un to exercise that nght.

24 2C;

,:a=awaraamiza --nagass It has lately exercised it in our own instance: it has inter- research in religious studies taking place on theircam- posed in favor of a pure university system for Catholic puses. For a variety of reasons legal on the part of youth.... (T)he decision proceeds, not simply from the state universities, preference in the independent sector Bishops of Ireland, great as their authority is, but the many universities will not conduct disciplined highest authority on earth, from the Chair of St. Peter." inquiry and communication of religious truth with To that, Newman adds: "Moreover, such a decision not fidelity to any particular faith tradition. There, ofcourse, only demands our submission, but has a claimupon our is the opening the church- related college or university trust" (p. 28). And the basis for this trust? "It is the deci- wants to fill. sion of the Holy See; St. Peter has spoken, it is he who Since no one thinks it strange to have state universities has enjoined that which seems to us so unpromising. lie with identities drawn from geographic boundaries, with has spoken, and has a claim on us to trust him" (p. 30). special service. relationships to the citizens of their This view may seem quaint, even naive, to the pre- respective states, with openness to state influence, sent-day reader who turns to Newman with a wide dependence on state funding, and daily challenges to open mind and the best of will. But it helps to explaii. their autonomy from outside pressures that threaten to why Newman had no hesitation in stating that "ecclesi- translate influence into control, why should it be regard- astical authority, not argument, is the supreme rule and ed as unusual to have private universities with church- the appropriate guide for Catholics in matters of reli- related identities and relationships to a faith-community gion." Nor does Newman claim here that the pope is that parallel the public institutions' relationships to the always right, just that the Catholic will never go wrong civic community? It is, of course not unusual as the by trusting him. widespread presence of church-related higher education It would be safe to presume that Newman's evident in the U.S., with its constitutional guarantee of the free respect and trust of the church's influence relative to the exercise of religious commitment, attests. Both state- founding of a university would extend to a special role related and church-related universities will always need for the church in the theological life of the university. the protection of academic freedom against undue exter- Much later in his book, in a chapter on "Duties of the nal influences. Both types of institutions will first, by Church Towards Knowledge," he writes: "(T)he Church virtue of their respective charters, have internalized con- has no call to watch over and protect Science, but trol and vested it in a governing board. And both types towards Theology has a distinct duty: it is one of the can welcome or withstand external influence by exercis- special trusts committed to her keeping. Where ing, as they wish, their chartered autonomy. Autonomy Theology is, there she must be; and if a universitycan- simply means that the governing board makes its own not fulfill its name and office without the recognition of decisions, under its charter, in pursuit of its educational Revealed Truth [a point argued earlier in the book], she mission. And finally, all types of institutions of higher must be there to see that it is a bona fide recognition, sin- learning, not just those interested in theology, would be cerely made and consistently acted on" (p. 246). expected to provide the protection of academic freedom Those who dismiss the notion of a Catholic university against undue internal influence, including undue influ- as a contradiction in terms will be relieved perhaps to ence from the governing board. note that the great theoretician of Catholic higher Why should those who think theology is integral to education assigns a "watch over" function quite liter- university- life appear to be on the defensive in our day? ally, an epi-seopus or "episcopal" role to the church Probably because of the dogmatism of science incon- only in the area of theology. They might wonder how temporary higher education. "Scientists believe in sci- that episcopal role can be implemented without imping- ence in the same way that the majority of Catholics ing on the autonomy of the university, and that question believe in the Church, namely as Truth cryst Led in an raises again the issue of identity. Being open to all things infallible Lolittive opinion," wrote Simone Weil, "they Catholic (one way of expressing Catholic identity) contrive to believe this in spite of the continual changes means being open to episcopal oversight in the area of in theory. In boa. cases it is through lack of faith in theology. God." This biting comment is recorded by Robert Coles Without appearing to be excessively defensive, and in Simone Weil. A Modern Pilgrimage (Addison-Wesley, certainly without adopting an offensive attackas the 1987). "A Catholic directs his thought secondarily best defensive measure, the "contradiction-in-tern ts" tk, r ds the truth, but primarily towards conformity Catholic university might fairly ask its secular counter- with the Church's doctrine," argued Weil she then parts how they can claim university status Studinin added. "A scientist does the same, only in this case there Generale, or "School of Universal Learning" would be is no established doctrine but a collective opinion in the Newman's designation if their disciplined inquiry process of formation." And Robert Coles comments: makes no systematic pursuit of revealed truth. Some "That collective opinion can be not only helpful and would reply that they are simply not interested in theol- instructive to those anxious to learn more, but also an ogy. Others would point to ongoing teaching and instrument of control, a means by which compliance is

25 =1 exacted and disagreement punished." Sad to say, science particular minds that it is impossible to weed them of has become the most emphatic expression of the the error without rooting up the whcAt with ix' tp. 450). extraordinarily secular tone of contemporary society. I am not, then, supposing the scientific investiga- I am not lamenting the existence of authorities per- tor (1) to be coining into c-ollision with dogma; nur (2) sons of superior intellect in the scientific community, venturing, by means of his investigations, upon I wish we had more of them. Nor am I suggesting that any interpretation of Scripture, or upon other con- there should be no authorities by virtue of intellect alone clusion in the matter of religion, nor (3) of his teach- in the theological community. I wish we had more of ing, even in his own science, religious paradoxes, them. I am lamenting the attitude, the kind of peer pres- when he should be investigating and proposing; sure that has emerged from the environment of physical nor (4) of his recklessly scandalizing the weak; but, and life sciences, e 'splays a bias against, or at least these explanations being made, I still say that a scientific speculator or inquirer is not bound, in con- an indifference toward, the spiritual, the immaterial the ducting his researches, to be every moment adjust- religious and theological realities of life. ing his course by the maxims of the schools or by Neither physical science nor theology can presume to popular traditions, or by those of any other science be free of pressures, influences, limits and controls with- distinct from his own, or to be ever narrowly in the academy. Both science and theology belong in the watching what those external sciences have to say academy Each depends on the otherit is to realize i to him, or to be determined to be edifying, or to be full potential. Neither should underestimate the other's ever answering heretics and unbelievers, being concern fir objectivity and freedom from inappropnate confident, from the impulse of a generous faith, control. And in considering the cntique of Simone Weil, that, however his line of investigation may swerve Catholics should note their companionship with scien- now and then, and vary to and fro in its course, or tists in her sweeping charge that both suffer from a lack threaten momentary collision or em5arrassment with any other department of knowledge, theologi- of faith in God. Those who feel the impulse for control cal or not, yet, if he lets it alone, it will be sure to of Catholic theology should "walk humbly" as they come hom:, because truth never can really be con- attempt to see, in specific matters theological, just how trary to truth, and because often what at first sight God's authority is to be ascertained. is an "exceptio," in the event most emphatically Secular academics might fairly invite religious educa- "probat regulam" (p. 451, emphasis in the onginal). tors, in the interest of preservation of the idea of a uni- Newman quite literally underlines the importance of versity, to keep a watchful eye on the line between influ- what I referred to earlier as prudence and respect for the ence and control as all universities must. And the canons of a scientific discipline when I identified limits church-related institutions, grateful for the opportunity on academic freedom. Truth also is a limit, as I noted to exist freely here in America, are quite willing to write above. What, then, can be said about error in this control along with religious identity into their civil char- regard? "(I)n scientific researches error may be said, ters. Under their charters, control is exercised by a duly without a paradox, to be in some instances the way to constituted board of trustees, which in all cases must truth, and the only way. Moreover, it is not often the for- respect both due process and academic freedom. tune of any one man to live through an investigation; Outside the chal-er, and from a variety of off-campus the process is one of not only many stages, but of many command posts, the impulse for control will probably minds. What one begins, another finishes; and a true always find the college or university campus a desirable conclusion is at length worked out by the co-operation target. That says a great deal about the importance of of independent schools and the perseverance of succes- the idea which has evolved over the centuries into what sive generations. This being the case, we are obliged, we call a university. It is so important an idea that the under the circumstances, to bear for awhile with what church, the state, and various other entities sacrifice to we feel to be error, in consideration of the truth in which make it their own and vie with one another to make it is eventually to issue" (p.452). their embodiment of the idea the best. In perhaps his strongest expression of feeling on this In Catholic circles, the impulse for control by ecclesias- point, Newman exclaims, "Let us eschew secular histo- tical authorities focuses on theology, the central element ry, and science, and philosophy for good and all, if we of the institution's Catholic identity. Here again, are not allowed to be sure that Revelation is so true that Newman can be helpful. In fact, his entire chapter on the altercations and perplexities of human opinion can- "Christianity and Scientific Investigation" could well not really or eventually injure its authorty!' (p. 453). The serve as a preamble to discussion between bishops and question then, of course, becomes: what, in fact, is theologians once they find the right structure for joint included in divine revelation; what form must a theo- participation in theological dialogue." (T)here must be logical declaration take to indicate that a given doctnne great care taken to avoid scandal," writes Newman," or is proposed for belief as belonging to the body of divine shocking the popular mind, or unsettling the weak; the revelation. association between truth and error being so strong in "Great minds need elbow-room," writes Newman,

26 "not indeed in the domain of faith, but of thought. And ical inquiry faith seeking understanding on a so indeed do lesser minds, and all minds" (p. 453). Catholic campus. "(T)hat there can be no Lontradiction The theologian, like a scientific investigator, operates between faith and reason is a distinctive feature of the within constraints. His or her "elbow-room" will have Catholic humanistic tradition." Since the Catholic uni- an ecclesial limit, namely, continuity with the tradition, versity "is dedicated to the service of truth,.... especially at what John Courtney Murray used to call its there is an intimate relationship between the "growing edge." Newman has a final word directed Catholic university and the teaching office of the specifically to theologians: Church. The bishops of the Church, as Doctores et (W)hat I would venture to recommend to theolo- Magistri Fidel should be seen not as external agents gians, .... is a great and firm belief in the sovereign- but as participants in the life of the Catholic univer- ty of Truth. Error may flourish for a time, but Truth sity in its privileged role as protagonist in the will prevail in the end. The only effect of error ulti- encounter between faith and science and between mately is to promote Truth.... revealed truth and culture. On the other hand, it must be of course remem- Bishops and theologians alike must enable the Gospel bered, Gentlemen, that I am supposing all along always to "challenge the accomplishments and assump- good faith, honest intentions, a loyal Catholic spirit, and a deep sense of responsibility. I am supposing, tions of the age" (cf. Rom. 12: 2), so that the Gospel can in the scientific inquirer, a due fear of giving scan- "purify the culture, uplift it, and orient it to the service dal, of seeming to countenance views which he does of what is authentically human. Humanity's very sur- not really countenance, and of siding with parties vival may depend on it." Required of both bishop and with whom he heartily differs. I am supposing that theologian is "fidelity to the word of God, to ensure that he is fully alive to the tAistence and the power of the human progres,, takes into account the entire revealed infidelity of the age; that he keeps in mind the moral truth of the external act of love in which the unix, _rse weakness and the intellectual confusion of the and especially the human person acquire ultimate majority of men; and that he has no wish at all that meaning." any one soul should get harm from certain specula- But how is this relationship between bishop and the- tions today, though he may have the satisfaction of ologian to work out in practice? The pope sees it this being sure that those speculations will as far as they way: are erroneous or misunderstood, be corrected in the course of the next half-century (pp. 455-56). Theology is at the service of the whole ecclesial community. The work of theology involves an inter- With those words, Newman ends his essay on action among the various members of the communi- "Christianity and Scientific Investigation." Those same ty of faith. The bishops, united with the Pope, have words, it seems to me, would be a useful keynote to the mission of authentically teaching the message of open regional and even local exchanges between bish- Christ, as pastors they are called to sustain the unity ops and theolosians as they attempt to come to a com- in faith and Christian living of the entire People of mon understanding of the eccicala: limits on the disci- God. In this they need the assistance of Catholic the- plined theological inquiry the bishops and the rest of the ologians, who perform an inestimable service to the church urgently need, and which Catholic theologians, Church. But theologians also need the charism from their positions within the academy, are ready to entrusted by Christ to the bishops and, in the first provide. place, to the Bishop of Rome. The proof of their Pope John Paul H addressed an assembly of U.S. work, in order to enrich the life-stream of the ecclesial community, must ultimately be tested and vali- Catholic college and university administrators in New dated by the Magisterium. In effect, therefore, the Orleans at Xavier University on September 12, 1987. He ecclesial context of Catholic theology gives it a spe- spoke to the issue of what makes a Catholic college or cial character and value, even when theology exists university Catholic. In his view, Catholic identity in an academic setting. "depends upon the explicit profession of Catholicity on the part of the university as an institution, and also A structure is needed in every Catholic college to facil- upon the personal conviction and sense of mission on itate participation by the local bishop in the theological the part of its professors and administrators." The pope dialogue of the college, not in the governance of the col- looks to these inshtutions to help "to make the Church s lege but in the theological discussion and debate which presence felt in the world of culture and science." are part of the life of the college or university. This Meeting this challenge requires the personal conviction should be reciprocal influence of theologian on bishop and sense of mission" of :rofessors and administrators, and bishop on theologian, as faith continues its quest for those mainly responsible for the articulation and imple- understanding. An appropriate teaching-learning struc- mentation of the Catholic identity. ture, respectful of this desired reciprocity, is needed. And later in his New Orleans address, with the simple Perhaps the seminar room, as opposed to the lecture assertion that "religious faith itself wits for intellectual hall, is an appropriate model that will foster the kind of inquiry," the pope assumes that there sl,r_.%I be theolog- exchange that is desirable. A roundtable, "horizontal"

IN model is natural to a campus It is properly collegial and But bishop-participants in theological dialogue should certainly preferable to a one-way, "vertical," delivery be willing to put their thoughtson paper. That paper system of judgments and conclusions from bishop to would be shared before the dialogue begins withthe theologians, or vice versa. Any on-campus collegial theologian-participants, just as the wntings of the the- model is superior to the distant and detached exchange ologians would be in the hands of the bishops byway of characteristic of correspondence schools. The Post Office preparation for the structured dialogue. Ifa bishop is is no substitute for direct dialogue. Theologians and incapable of articulating and presenting his theological bishops have to get together for the exploration of all reflection in this way, it seems to me that he therefore theological questions. If they do, they will surelygrow disqualifies himself from participation in the theological in love and respect for one another, and in their under- life of the Catholic university and,more importantly, he standing of the revelation God has entrusted to his recuses himself from judging the quality of the theologi- church. In this way bishops can, as the Holy Fathersug- cal reflection of others. He can, of course, make hisown gests, be "participants in the life of the Catholic universi- the judgments about quality andeven orthodoxy ren- ty in its privileged role as protagonist in the encounter dered by others, bishops are, after all, to be judges of between faith and science and between revealed truth orthodoxy, not of theology as such. But then what and culture." Such participation would dono violence would be the intellectual grounds he could claim for to institutional autonomy. Outsiders from the fields of inclusion in that key sentence in the Holy Father's law, medicine, business, the arts and countless other speech in New Orleans? "The bishops of the Church,as fields of knowledge are routinely invited to participate Doctores of Mngisfri Fidel should be seen notas external in intellectual exchanges on campus. Nor, inmy view, agents but as participants in the life of the Catholicuni- would the fact that the outcome of this fully particip- versity in its privileged role as protagonistin the atory theological reflection "must ultimately be tested encounter between faith and science and between and validated by the Magisterium" necessarily implyan revealed truth and culture!' infringement on academic freedom. Outside courts vali- Typically and quite properly the concern of the bishop date legal theories debated oncampuses. Outside agen- will be centered on the pastoral implications of what cies 'icense drugs tested in university laboratories. emerges from theological reflection. There is no better Patents and copyrights are granted to professors by out- place to register that concern than in the process of theo- side authorities. That Catholic theology should be "test- logical reflection within the university. ed and validated" by off-campus ecclesiastical authori- To invite the participation of a bishopin theological ties is, of course, a special case involving only Catholic discussion on campus is not to presume that differences theologians and Catholic campuses, but notso special as between a local bishop and a given theologianover to disqualify the Catholic campus from membership in what constitutes sound Catholic doctnne wouldimme- the larger set of special cases that makeup the world of diately become grounds for action against the theolo- American higher education. gian. The whole point of putting a structure for discus- A question that cannot be avoided on the side of eccle- sion in place is to create common ground for fuller siastical authorities relates to the preparedness and will- understanding on both sides, for heightened sensitivi- ingness of bishops to participate in dialogue withaca- ties to values like academic freedom, pastoralconcern, demic theologians. Not all bishopsare theologians. Nor and many more. Indeed the structure itself should have all bishops who hold academic degrees in theology become a barrier against arbitrary dismissal to the "kept up" with developments sufficiently to qualify extent that it guides the work of understanding theolo- them for participation in academic dialogue. Another gy is intended to do, namely, reflection on the data of way of posing the problem raised by the pope's New revelation and the application of these understandings Orleans proposal is to suggest that bishops willnow to the practice of life. Moreover, the presence of struc- have to be attentive to their personal bibliographies. In tured dialogue will help to shape the understanding of order to participate in theological dialogue,one must be academic freedom on a given campus relative to theolo- a contributor to theological reflection. One's on reflec- gy. Internal to the discipline of Catholic theology is tion, one's understanding of the tradition, one's insights respect for and fidelity to the teaching authority of the relative to clarifying or advancing tne tradition all church. In some way, Catholic theology finds its basein these must be articulated and communicated to the the teaching of the magisterium. To make this relation- other participants in the dialogue. The traditionalway ship between Catholic bishops and Catholic theologians of communicating these insights is through the delivery more visible, ever. at the micro level of a given campus of papers and the publication of manuscripts. Bishops in a given diocese, will, I think, tend toincrease the who are not academics would not, of course, be expect- probability of theologians becoming more influential ed to have bibliographies that would rival those of the and more secure in their service to the church. professors. (Some bishops might quip that theyare where they are because of the way they chose, atan earlier career stage, to handle the publish or parish option!)

28 30 RESPONSE

James J. Annarelli

At the risk of sounding trite I do want to note, from 4. Recognition and acceptance of this -ecclesial" limit the outset, how very honored I am to be participating in within the Catholic college or university are essential to this panel headed by so distinguished a leader of the nature of its church-relatedness. Catholic higher education as the Reverend William 5. The ecclesial limitation of academic freedom within Byron. At the same time, I am quite pleased to be here to the Catholic college or university violates neither the discuss a topic that not only has a bearing upon the academic freedom nor the autonomy of the institution future vitality, indeed, survival of Catholic higher edu- because of the Catholic identity which the institution cation in the United States, but also is one close to my through its governing board has freely chosen for heart. My academic expertise is the area of religion and itself. A governing board can welcome external influ- society, and academic freedom and American Catholic ence by exercising, as it wishes, its chartered autonomy. higher education is a subject to which I have devoted 6. A structure is needed in every Catholic college to much academic attention in recent years. It is also a sub- facilitate participation by the local bishop in the theolog- ject that I have, over the past year, quite literally lived, ical dialogue of the college. having experienced following the publication of my book on academic freedom serious institutional I would like to address _lumbers one and three togeth- reprisals at St. John's University, New York. er. But before doing so, I have two prior observations. I would like to thank Father Byron for this contribu- First, Father Byron, early in his talk, differentiates the tion to the continuing exploration of academic freedom related concepts ecclesial and ecclesiastical. He opts to in the American Catholic context. The issue is a com- speak of an ecclesial limit upon theology. It seems to me, plex, indeed, seemingly intractable one whose under- however, that his paper is not focused upon a limit originating from the church as a community of believers standing requires that varying perspectives all necessarily incomplete interface in an ongoing process of understood as a people of God, but rather upon a limit mutual correction. directly related to certain ecclesiological presuppositions I would like now to turn to the specifics of Father concerning church structure and governance. Perhaps Byron's address. I believe that a fruitful way to proceed the limit in support of which Father Byron argues is is to first isolate the major thesis or interrelated theses more appropriately termed ecclesiastical. that constitute the heart of Father Byron's argument and A second prior note: from the outset of his paper then to address each directly. I have identified six inter- Father Byron speaks of the "freedom of theoloaians in the related theses in Father Byron's paper: church" and the academic freedom of the theology professor in the Catholic university as though they were 1. There is an "ecclesial" limit on the academic free- undeniably interchangeable issues. It is nut self-evident dom of theologians in the church. that they should be regarded as such. 2. "The ecclesial limit on this exercise of human under- Now, regarding points one and three of Father Byron's standing in the church is continuity with the tradition of argument. few, if any, Catholic scholars would quarrel the church." with his assertions that there is a limit on the freedom of 3 Judgments concerning continuity are finally made theologians in the Lhurch, that this limit can be conceived by bishops ideally after a prior dialogue with theolo- as "continuity with the tradition," and that in light of gians. present Catholic ecclesiology the final judgment concerning continuity belongs to the pope and bishops. Some might want to emphasize to a greater degree than Dr. Annelh is an assistant profebbor of theology at St. lain ., he does that the theologian is engaged in a critical and University in New York. interpretive field of study which requires a healthy mea-

29 31 sure of freedom for the theologian within the church. and moral issues 4V hen presenting positions on, or inter- The concern here would be to avoid inadvertently slip- pretations of, these issues labeled as Catholic. He or she ping into what has been termed a "theological posi- also has the responsibility to distinguish official church tivism" which, as Bernard Lunergan points out, con- teaching from the contrary conclusions of theologians, ceives the theologian as a "propogandist for church doc- including his or her own. These responsibilities flow trines" who does his or her duty when he or she repeats, from the bask requirements of scholarly honesty and explains, and defends "just what has been said in objectivity understood not as neutrality but as fairness church documents" (Method in Theology. New York. to evidence. Any lack in this area is to be considered a Herder and Herder, 1972, 330-31). But with this possible problem of competence to be addressed by scholarly proviso, Father Byron's assertions would, no doubt, be peers. A theologian's own scholarly conclusions should acceptable to most. Indeed, they are acceptable to me. not reflect upon his or her competence unless the schol- For the emphasis here, as I understand it, is upon the ar's research methods or professional integrity are freedom of the theologian in the church. found to be lacking. Although such a situation might be However, I have serious difficulties with those parts of regrettable, the professor of Catholic theology must be Father Byron's argument which I have summarized as free to reach conclusioits and assume theological posi- points four and five. In Father Byron's view, the recogni- tions at variance with the teaching and interpretations of tion and acceptance of the ecciesial limit upon theology the hierarchical magisterium, so long as the teaching of within the Catholic university are essential to the nature the magisteri..::-.. on the particular question under con- of church-relatedness, and it is precisely the autonomy sideration is made clear. The magisterium must, when of the Catholic university that allows its governing necessary, exercise the right to declare publicly that a board to accept freely this limit asa dimension of its particular theological conclusion is not "in continuity institutional identity. My reservations ,-.oncerning this with the tradition." Such a declaration should not in any view are as follows: way jeopardize the academic position of the theologian 1. I do not think that hierarchical control of Catholic who reaches such a conclusion. It would, however, be universitieswhich in my view is what is being benign- an appropriate matter of concern to the church commu- ly proposed hereis constitutive of Catholic church- nity and should be explored together by the theologian relatedness. Catholic institutional commitment can and as an individual and his or her bishop. should be expressed in ways which respect rather than It appears to me that if one abandons the notions that alter the nature of the Amencan Catholic college or uni- the Catholic university is an extension of the official versity as an institution of higher learning according to teaching church and that the theologian's lectern is a the prevailing conception. pulpit of advocacy (the locus of a higher education, if 2. The limit upon the theologian in the university to you will), appropriate and creative conceptions of the which Father Byron refers is, despite his claims, unlike freedom of the theologian in the university can emerge. any other recognized as appropriate by the lar6,aca- 3. Certainly the governing board of a Catholic univer- demic community in the United States. If such a sity has the right and, indeed, the responsibility to make essential to theology in every settinginstitute, semi- and implement appropriate judgments and policies nary, and university, then perhaps theology so con- aimed at institutional self-definition. However, for the ceived has no place in a university as understood in the Catholic university to remain a university according to United States. the prevailing conception, its governing board cannot Perhaps it would be fruitful to re-examine the invoke institutional autonomy as the justification for its assumption that the freedom of the theologian in the voluntary abrogation of that autonomy. In a related church and the academic freedom of the theologian in vein, in its "1915 Declaration of Principles," the AAUP the university are identical issues in the American recognized that when an institution of higher learning is context. The Catholic university in the United States is a founded by a religious denomination for the propaga- type of American university sharing in a tradition of tion of specific doctrines, its board of trustees does have academic freedom and autonomy. Might it not be that the right to govern the institution in light of this end. the nature and context of the Amencan Catholic univer- However, the declaration emphasized that such an insti- sity require that the freedom of the theologian-professor tution "should not be permitted to sail under false col- be conceived in a broader fashion than the way in which ors." Insofar as an institution restricts intellectual free- freedom of the theologian in the church is conceived? dom, it remains a "private proprietorship" rather than a I would argue that in light of the Catholic communi- "public trust" and therefore has no claim to general sup- ty's understanding of the nature and role of the hierar- port (AAUP Bulletin 40 [Spring, 1954]. 95-96). Similarly, chical magisterium, the professor of Catholic theology in in the 1988 AAUP Committee A Subcommittee Report the university has the responsibility to portray accurate- on the Limitations Clause in the 1940 Statement of ly and fairly official Catholic teaching (as proposed and Principles, the subcommittee members concluded that interpreted by the magistenum) on specific theological "an institution's invocation of its prerogative to impose

30 32 a limit [on academic freedom] would negate any moral Freedom and ELclesial Responsibility representing claim it might make for public support" (Academe 74 the Catholic Biblical Association, the Catholic [September-October, 1988]:56). Theological Society of America, and the College Finally, I 'urn to what I have identified as the sixth Theology Societyreleased a report which warned that point in Father Byron's argument, namely that a struc- restrictions on the freedom of inquiry of Catholic theolo- ture is needed in every Catholic college to facilitate par- gians are alienating scholars from the church and lead- ticipation by the local bishop in the theological dialogue ing to the abandonment of research in controversial of the college. In my view, serious and sustained dia- areas. The report describes many Catholic scholars as logue between bishops and theologians on a local lc el disheartened by these restrictions and observes that would greatly enhance the effectiveness of bishopsas morale among Catholic scholars appears to be quite low. teachers, would aid theologians in maintaining close The mood within many departments of theology is cer- contact with the living faith of. the church, and would tainly not conducive to the kind of dialogue envisioned facilitate the on-going understanding and the positive by Father Byron. development of the complementary roles of bishop and In closing, I must say that I was somewhat disappoint- theologian. I do have reservations concerning the pro- ed by the tone and direction of Father Byron's address. posed locus of this dialogue. It seems ill-advised to At a time when leaders of American Catholic higher establish a formal structure within the univer:ty education should be jealously guarding the threatened through which this dialogue would take place. Once autonomy of their :astitutions, Father Byron appears to integrated formally within a structure internal to the col- be far too willing to surrender such autonomy. And in lege or university, even the best-intentioned external an intellectual climate wherein scholars desperately authoritypolitical, financial, or ecclesiaticalmight be need encouragement to be bold and creative, Father tempted to exercise an inappropriate degree of influ- Byron offers us a Catholic reflection upon academic free- ence. An internal structure for dialogue also could be dom which centers upon limits. I think it is important to misinterpreted by university scholars as a vehicle of keep in mind what Protestant theologian Edward hierarchical supen ision. The result might very well be LeRoy, Jr., observed 20 years ago. Academic freedom the inhibition of creative scholarship. Moreover, we becomes a reality only where an atmosphere or ethos is must keep in mind the reality of our situation. The created which allows the fear of reprisal to disappear Vatican's ongoing attempt to regulate Catholic institu- and which encouragesnot merely permitsinquiry, tions through canon law and other norms, coupled with exploration, creativity, honest cnticism, and the expres- movements against controversial scholars and theolo- sion of convictions. Such an atmosphere is essential to gians originating from various quarters within the fruitful scholarship. If the Intersocietal Committee is cor- Catholic Church have created on many Catholic .:am- rect, it is such an atmosphere which is absent or endan- puses and in the Catholic intellectual community in gen- gered in many Catholic colleges and universities today. eral a climate of rear and suspicion. In the spring of And because of this, the church and the nation will be 1988, the ad hoc Intersocietal Committee on Academic made intellectually poorer.

31 r RESPONSE

James L. Heft, SM

Father Byron's idea of academic freedom may be sum- course, becomes. what, i., fact, is included in divine rev- marized as follows: academic freedom in a Catholic per- elation, what form must a theological declaration take to spective is like that of any academic discipline limited indicate that a given doctrine is proposed for belief as by the truth, by the canons of the discipline of theology belonging to the body of divine revelation." However, and by the human prudence needed to communicate Father Byron does not pause to answer this crucial ques- the discipline's subject matter appropriately. Academic tion. Instead, he follows this question with another quo- freedom in a Catholic perspective, however, accepts the tation from Newman about the theologian's need for ecclesial limit that is grounded in the faith commitment "elbow-room not in the domain of faith, but of freely chosen by a Catholic university. The acceptance of thought," and then proceeds to cite the conclusion of limits associated with religious faith is not a denial of Newman's essay on "Christianity and Scientific freedom, but the exercise of freedom. Therefore, the Investigation," which underscores the theologian's need issue, according to Father Byron, is religious, not aca- for pastoral prudence. demic, freedom. Finally, a Catholic university has a At this point in his paper, Father Byron might have freely chosen Catholic character expressed in its mission turned from Newman's Idea of a University, and taken up statement and subscribed to by the campus community, his later work on The Vatkan Degrees, where Newman to identify with an institution without accepting that stresses the importance of a moderate interpretation of institution's self-proclaimed identity makes no sense. the meaning of papal infallibility, of avoiding the ten- Thus, Father Byron concludes that "to proclaim a dency to inflate infallibility's scope and of the impor- Catholic identity without accepting an ecclesial limit on tance of conscience. It was at about that time, in 1873, theological exploration and communications is to mis- that Newman, after his disappointing efforts 20 years understand not only the nature of church-relatedness, earlier at founding d ..atholic university in Ireland, but also the idea of a university and the meaning of aca- opposed the plan of a Catholic university in England for demic freedom. the simple reason that he had no hopes that the bishops As I understand it, the primary concern about aca- there would allow a genuine university education. In a demic freedom for Catholic theologians in recent years letter written that year 1873 he said, "I dread a minute in our own country, and for that matter throughout the and jealous supervision un the part of authority whicn church in developed countries, is whether it is permissi- will hamper every act of the heads of the university" ble, and in some instances perhaps even obligatory, for a (Lette:.s, vul. 26, p.61). When Cardin; Manning eventu- Catholic theologian to dissent responsibly from some ally set out to establish the short -lived Catholic universi- non-infallible teachings. Much of what I have to say this ty a Kensington, Newman rt_ t,ised to serve on its senate morning has to do with the validity and the importance despite an invitation from the archbishop. That same of the distinction between infallible and non-infallible tension between at least some bishops and universities teachings, and the consequences this distinction has for has extended itself into our own day as well. In this the Catholic theologian. Only once in his paper dues country we are blessed, I might add, with a number of Father Byron touch upon this distinction, and then only bishops who understand universities well. implicitly. After citing a statement of John Henry I wish to begin with a consideration of the nature and Newman to the effect that we should be so sure of the the validity of the distinction between infallible and truth of Revelation that controversies will not diminish nun-infallible teachings. It is not as though we have only its authority, Father Byron states. "The question then, of recently attempted to distinguish between the essentials and the inessentials of the faith. Sts. Peter and Paul and James and the whole church with the assistance of the Father Heft is provost of the University of Dayton. Holy Spirit (Acts 15.22), decided at the Council of

32 Jerusalem that circumcision was not to be required of work of theologians that "there is no question that it is Gentiles. Medieval canon lawyers assumed that there important to find legal formulas by which we can safe- was a difference, though at times difficult to determine guard the objective freedom of scientific thought within with precision, between matters of discipline and mat- its limits and guaranteeing the necessary room for ters of doctrine, and medieval theologians also thought maneuver for scientific discussion." I believe that one of it was important to determine the degree of authority to those formulas is suggested by the distinction between be attributed to various teachings and theological posi- infallible and non-infallible teachings. tions. It should be recalled that this distinction is not always The question of whether it is legitimate to dissent from easy to draw, for to paraphrase Scripture, the wise non-fallible teachings could arise only once there was a Christian does not ::1,e by infallibly defined propositions more formal distinction between infallible and non- alone. There are many important Christian truths that infallible teachings. It was only around 1840 that the have never been formally and infallibly defined, suchas terms "ordinary" and "extra-ordinary magisterium" the great commandment of Jesus to love God with our were first used in a papal document. About the same whole hearts and our neighbors as ourselves. time, and for the first time, the term "magisterium," that Theologians, it seems to me, are obligated to teach more is, the teaching authority in the church, was, as Yves than only infallible teachings. As a recent editorial in Congar has shown, exclusively identified with the hier- Commonweal states. "Authoritative, non-infallible teach- archy. When the First Vatican Council set down the con- ing, after all, could be reasonably construed to cover a ditions necessary for an infallible papal definition, it great deal that one might want to insist a Catholic the- became possible in a carefully circumscribed way to ologian hew to if he or she is teaching in the name of the identify infallible teachings, and thereby to distinguish church the condemnation of racism, for instance, or more easily the infallible from the non-infallible. That slavery, or judicial torture" (113 [19861. 165). We there- council, however, said virtually nothing about the fore need to recall that there are many more infallible nature of an individual Catholic's responsibility to truths than there are infallibly defined truths. In other accept non-infallible teachings. words, all defined truths are infallible, but not all infalli- Vatican II addresses the matter in paragraph 25 of ble truths are defined. Lumen Gentium when it says that a "religious submis- Having said this, however, it is crucial, none,:teless, to sion of will and of mind must be shown in a special way stress the obvious point made above by Sullivan that to the authentic teaching authority of the Roman Pontiff, non-infallible teachings could be erroneous. The obliga- even when he is not speaking ex cathedra." Commentary tion to accept them cannot be helu to be the same as that on this text has been divided. Some authors have which attaches to the acceptance of infallible truths. argued that it means that all Catholics are bound to Otherwise, the critics of academic freedom for Catholic accept all teachings of the pope, even if some are not theologians will continue to state their case in a way that infallible. Others, I among them, have argued that the obscures if not ignores the importance of this distinc- obligation to accept non-infallible teachings is not the tion. Cardinal Ratsinger states that Father Charles same as that to accept infallible ones. Hence, internal Curran's position that theologians can dissent from non- religious adherence is to be distinguished from what infallible teachings "does not seem appropriate." The theologians call the assent of divine faith which is due Cardinal calls it a "juridical approach" which "tends only to infallible teachings. Internal religious adherence inevitably to reduce the life of the church, and its teach- is not metaphysically (or absolutely) certain, but morally ings, to only a few definitions." Granted, the distinction certain. The distinction between internal religious can be abused. But even greater abuses, particularly to adherence, on the one hand, and the assent of divine the creative and critical work LI theologians, are in my faith on the other is made because, as Francis Sullivan judgement likely if those in authority du nut observe the explains, "The non-definitive teaching of the magisteri- distinction in some fashion. As Ladislaus Orsy wrote um is not infallible, it can be erroneous, if it is not recently, "A good portion of the non-infallible proposi- irreformable, it can stand in need of correction." tions is no more than respectable school opinion, and as Most traditional manuals of theology, even before the such not part of the universally held Catholic doctrine. Second Vatican Council, understood the obligation of Theologians should not be easily castigated for criticiz- ordinary Catholics in this way. If educated Catholics dis- ing or rejecting ouch teachings, to say that all non-infalli- agreed for good reason with a non-infallible ttaching, ble teaching forms an organic anity with infallible mag- they remained in good standing as Catholics, but were isterium is nonsense" ("Magisterium. Assent and to remain silent about their dissent. What is new now is Dissent," TS 48 [19871: 486). the question of public dissent by a theologian concern- To stress as Father Byron does the importance of ing non-infallible teachings. In an address given on accepting an ecclesial limit of academic freedom is, in April 15, 1986, at St. Michael's College in Toronto, my view, to stress what is not in contention. Most Ontario, Cardinal Ratzinger himself said concerning the Catholic theologians accept as a part of their self undei-

33 10 standing that they must theologize within and not power of the infidelity of the age." against Catholic dogma. Most Catholic theologians How theologians should conduct themselves before accept the need for an official magisterium, including the media, which rarely treats issues of considerable the special role of the bishop of Rome. After listinga complexity with any adequacy, and which polarizes number of points on which Catholic theologiansagree positions, leaving out the amount of consensuson an despite their current difficulties with the magisterium, issue that often does in fact exist, remainsa difficult Edward Schillebeeckx adds to the list of agreements that problem. But as we all struggle with this difficultissue "the official magisterium has a distinct and irreplaceable namely, responsib'ublic dissent by theologians function" in the community of believers,a function that from c ,me non-infallib,'achings let us remember at times may include the responsibility of judging the that this is the issue at tit,.:art of academic freedom for work of an individual theologian whose publications a Catholic theologian. It is even more important than the "cause profound doubts about whether heor she still distinctions that need to be drawn between pontifically stands in the line of the great Christian thinkers" ("The chartered institutions of higher education and those Magisterium and Ideology," JES 19 [1982]: 17, cited by which are, according to the latest Vatican draft, Margaret O'Gara, "Shifts Below the Surface of the "Catholic in inspiration," for in both kinds of institution Debate on Dissent," forthcoming in Elias P. Mallon, ed., theology needs appropriate freedom. Authority, Dissent, and Models of Church Unity, Pau list I would like to make one final observation about Fr. Press). Byron's paper. I welcome his proposal for local and In stressing the critical importance of the distinction regional exchanges between theologians and bishops. between infallible and non-infallible teachings for For those bishops who would be willing and capable,a Catholic theologians and for the entire church, I inno structure at each university that would bring theolo- way wish to suggest that the all complex dimensions of gians and bishops together for conversation, would, I public dissent for theologians on non-infallible teach- believe, increase mutual respect and understanding. For ings have been worked out. As I have already suggest- their part, theologians will have to work harderat ed, the distinction is not always easy to make. Most mutual criticism, and take steps to increase and deepen areas of current controversy have to do with moral the- the dialogue between "conservative" and "liberal" theology where there are special complexities yet to be ologians. resolved satisfactorily. Moreover, the danger of scandal In my response to Father Byron's talk, I have said that is a very real one, and theologians ought not to dismiss I believe that the crucial distinction is not between reli- it out of hand. At the same time, it should be recalled gious and academic freedom, but between infallible and that many different types of individualscan be scandal- non-infallible teachings, and howwe ought to deal with ized, including theologians and reflective and informed responsible public dissent by theologians. Howeverwe Catholics, although Scripture advises us to shcw the eventually come to a consensus in the churchon this dif- greatest concern for the most vulnerable. To make a case ficult issue, I am sure that candid, respectful and fre- for the validity of dissent without stressingeven more quent discussion among theologians, university presi- the attitudes of openness and docilityon the part of the- dents and bishops will, in the words of Father Byron, ologians, their willingness to reexamine theirown posi- "increase the probability of theologians becomingmore tions, their desire to seek the truth through careful influential and more secure in theirservice to the research and mutual criticism, is, to quote Newman church." again, to not be "fully alive to the existence and the

34 The Hesburgh Award A Response

Sally M. Furay, RSCJ

I want to thank the Association of Catholic Colleges nixed over these questions. I do not intend today to add and Universities for choosing me as recipient of this further comment on the issues I have described. Many award. Most of my adult life has been dedicated to the of you know more than I do about them, and in any mission of Catholic higher education. It is humbling to case, I would be preaching to the choir. follow in the giant footsteps of previous recipients such Instead, I would ask you to reflect for a moment on as Father Ted Hesburgh, the first honoree, for whom the the nature of the points I just raised. They are predomi- award is named; John Tracy Ellis, eminent historian of nantly "What' questions or "Huw" questions. My inter- Catholicism in this country; Sister Ann Ida Gannon, est today focuses on "Why," not in the sense of "Why BVM, and Jesuit Father Paul Reinert, who were instru- have Catholic higher education?", but rather, "Why mental in charting new paths for Catholic higher educa- have so many of us chosen to commit our professional tion after Vatican II. Nonetheless, I am pleased and and personal lives to Catholic higher education?" More grateful to receive the Hesburgh Award. specifically, why have I made that choice? It is the single Since Vatican II, much has been thought, said, and area where I am the only expert! Like many in this written about emerging facets of Catholic higher educa- assembly, at least since Vatican II, I could have chosen to tion in America. Everyone in this room has become participate in higher education in the public sector, in familiar with the questions as they have been explored in the private non-sectarian academic community, or in all their diversity, both in general and on particular cam- one of the associations. Why am I in Catholic higher puses; each of you could recite the issues as well as I: education, and why is it meaningful to me? My hope is What are the essential characteristics of Catholic col- that, though I am speaking of the motivations of one leges and universities? Their objectives? individual, some of my "Whys" may find an echo in What makes a college or university Catholic? How your hearts. I will focus on three points. is a Catholic college or university Catholic in prac- The most fundamental reason for my sense of tice? "belonging" in Catholic higher education is the integra- What kinds of Catholic institutions are there? How tion between my personal values and those of the insti- do they relate to the mainstream of higher education tution, between who I am and what the institution says in America? To the American hierarchy? To canon it is. My inner life and my work merge into a wholeness, law? What about legal and governmental issues? the faith dimensions of life and work match. Why do I How does one reconcile academic freedom and find thus? Because my university is a human institution essential autonomy with our service to the church? with a religious dimension. Not only most individuals What is the role of campus ministry, of research, of on campus, whatever their personal religious beliefs, continuing education? How do our institutions con- but also the institutional community as a whole share a tribute to social justice and to the development of commitment to God, to person-centeredness. The community? What about service to the broader University of San Diego is clear in purpose, however community? imperfect in realization. Institutional structures are And so on. examined for their consonance with what the institution Everyone in this room has accepted responsibility in says it values, and fundamental internal dynamics seek one form or another for such issues. We have discussed, to be in accord with those values. There is a living wit- probed, read, written, dissected analyzed even ago- ness of overt commitment on the part both of the institution and of many of its personnel. There is recognition that modern men and women listen more willingly to Sister Sally M. Furay is vie president and pkwast 4 thy. witnesses than to teachers, and if they listen to teachers, University of San Diego. it is because they are witnesses(Catholic Higher

35 ".1

fir't '11 i Education and the Pastoral Mission of the Church, USCC, academic freedom the variant lines of Catholic tradition 1980, p.9) I agree with what Michael Buckley said in the and thought can intersect with the most complex chal- early 1980s, that academic leadership or administration lenges, contradictions, and reinforcements of conten)o- within a Catholic university is essentially a religious rary thought, moving towards a unity of world, nd mission. He pointed out that "It is in and through the Word, that all things be assimilated into the Chnst. No Catholic university that the mission of Christ to draw all other institution within human culture can render this human culture to himself is given historical continuity critically important contribution to the Chnstian com- and visibility in the twentieth century"; "the munity (as a whole). ." ('The Catholic University as Catholic university, as a unique Catholic community, is Pluralistic Forum," Thought, 46.181, June 1971, p. 20). like any other Christian community, essentially sacra- mental" ("Jesuit Catholic Higher Education: Some Because of their emphasis on this kind of integration, Tentative Theses," Review for Religious, May-June 1983, Catholic colleges and universities accept the responsibil- p. 344). It is in this context that my own religious values ity to ask questions on many levels, from the perspec- and those of the institution mesh. tives of theology, spirituality, history, economics, social justice, among others, questions such as to para- But the integration begins, not stops, there. The chal- phrase Peter Henriot What relevance, if any, does my lenge of reconciling this facet of institutional identity university have to the issue of the future survival of the and integrity with the fundamental purpose of any uni- human family? When I face challenges such as this versity, namely, its firm commitment to serious teaching question poses, I realize that participation of the educat- and research, is exciting to me. I find compelling the ed person must be aimed at changing the world, not concept that Catholic higher education opens the church simply succeeding in it. My personal dedication to help to the intellectual world. Father Ladislas Orsy, SJ, in a create an environment where the intellectual, spiritual, fine little book called The Church: Learning and Teaching, moral, psychological, social, and physical development expands on Jacques Barzun's designation of the univer- of university students of all ages can change their lives sity as "house of intellect" by noting that a Catholic col- and those of others, freeing them to attain their full lege or university is "the house of intellect made humanity, finds full expression in an institution commit- brighter by the light of faith" (Wilmington: M. lazier, ted to asking such fundamental questions. I firmly 1987, p. 125). As has often been said, loving contempla- believe that social justice itself has a strong intellectual tion is the highest of human activities, and the only one dimension, and that "religious ideals without the neces- humans will enjoy in both time and eternity. Catholic sary secular expertise will not provide the kind of lead- colleges and universities have traditionally insisted ership needed to influence our complex society (USCC, upon strong emphasis in the liberal arts, including the- p. 9). ology and philosophy, as the primary means to the inte- To summarize. my response to the question "Why gration of knowledge which is essential to such loving have I chosen participation in Catholic higher educa- contemplation. The disciplines of theology and philoso- tion?" can be focused simply: phy, dealing as they do with ultimate meaning, have integration between my personal values and those always held a central place in Catholic higher education, of the institution; contributing to the opportunity for students to search commitment to intellectual life which recognizes the for a personal wholeness in issues of faith, values, and faith dimension; the meaning of human existence. Because in my own opportunity to influence the creation of an environ- life these disciplines have helped to orient me towards ment which orients education towards the improve- personal wholeness, I am committed to this educational ment of the human condition. emphasis of Catholic higher education. Though I have always had a strong appreciation of the significance of Several months ago, I heard a presentation by the the intellectual life and of the full development of the president of the San Diego Urban League; he noted that, mind, learning does not constitute for me the perfect as a black man fighting for racial equality, he was, to and fulfilled life: It needs to be integrated with our quote Ralph Waldo Emerson, "inwardly and desperate- search for the Lord and living with our neighbor a life of ly drunk with a belief." I think I can say that I am faith in Him" (USCC, p. 12). New intellectual horizons inwardly and desperately drunk with a belief in in all fields bring new experiences of God; they should Catholic higher education. The mission of Catholic col- they are the pursuit of truth. Not long after Vatican II, leges and universities is intoxicating. Thank you for this Jesuit theologian Michael Buckley described the opportunity to confess my passion, my addiction. Catholic college or university as "a forum where in utter

36 Association of CatholicColleges and Universities (A Department of NCEA) Suite 650 One DupontCircle Washington, D.C. 2 '036

CurI Issues In Calk, k Higher Education Is a publication dale Association of Catholic Colleges and Univenities. It contains original arudes andrepnnts of articles of interest to colleagues In Catholic higher education. Editor. Sr. Alice Cain, OSU. Managing Ed, ton Paul J. CAlaglier. Ednonal offices. ACCU. Suite 650, One DuPont Circle, Washington, DC 20336. Additional topics $5.00 each (1-9 copies), ten or more copies $4.50 each. prepaid.