The Idea Of A Catholic University

For decades, those involved in Catholic higher education--including professors, administrators, theologians, philosophers, and students--have perennially taken on the challenge of defining and clarifying what exactly and uniquely characterizes their endeavor. Borrowing his title in part from John Henry Newman's The Idea of the University, Kenneth Whitehead collects in this volume thirteen original essays that examine the mission of Catholic higher education, covering such topics as Catholic studies programs at Catholic and non-Catholic universities and the engagement of Catholic universities with secular culture.

George Bernard Shaw thought that a Catholic university was a contradiction in terms—"university" represents intellectual freedom and "Catholic" represents dogmatic belief. Scholars, university administrators, and even the Vatican have staked out positions debating Shaw's observation. In this refreshing book, George Dennis O'Brien argues that contradiction arises both from the secular university's limited concept of academic freedom and the church's defective notion of dogma. Truth is a central concept for both university and church, and O'Brien's book is built on the idea that there are different areas of truth—scientific, artistic, and religious—each with its own proper warrant and "method." In this light, he argues that one can reverse Shaw's comparison and uncover academic dogma and Christian freedom, university "infallibility" and dogmatic "fallibility." Drawing on theology and the history of philosophy, O'Brien shows how religious truth relates to the work of a Catholic university. He then turns to the current controversies over Pope John Paul II's recent statement, Ex Corde Ecclesiae, which seeks to make Catholic universities conform to the church's official teaching office. O'Brien rejects the conventional "institutional-juridical" model used by the Vatican as improper both to faith and academic freedom. He argues for a "sacramental" model, one that respects the different kinds of "truth"—thus preserving the integrity of both church and university while making their combination in a Catholic university not only possible but desirable. O'Brien concludes with a practical consideration of how the ideal Catholic university might be expressed in the actual life of the contemporary curriculum and extracurriculum. For anyone concerned about the place of religion in higher education, The Idea of a Catholic University will be essential reading.

"A deeply thoughtful articulation of an enduring and appealing ideal. It is an ideal with a resonance beyond the world of Catholic higher education for all in the academy who still respond to the beckoning vision of the ultimate unity of all human knowing and who view it, indeed, as a necessary inspiration if we are to succeed in according to our intellectual activities the sort of seriousness and moral significance they properly deserve." --Francis Oakley, President Emeritus, Williams College "There is a real need, indeed an absolute necessity, for a Catholic university that is true to its religious values. By so being, it makes other, non-Catholic institutions that much better." --E. Gordon Gee, Chancellor, Vanderbilt University "Dean Roche has done a rare thing. He has articulated a sharp and clear Catholic theology of Christian higher education. What has been implicit in the practice of great Catholic universities has now been made explicit in this fine essay." --Robert Benne, author of Quality with Soul: How Six Premier Colleges and Universities Keep Faith with Their Religious Traditions "Catholic identity will mean nothing in the world of higher education if it lacks a genuine intellectual dimension. Mark Roche understands that fundamental fact, tackles the problem directly, and deals with it cogently." --Philip Gleason, author of Contending with Modernity: Catholic Higher Education in the Twentieth Century

The specific concern in What We Hold in Trust comes to this: the Catholic university that sees its principal purpose in terms of the active life, of career, and of changing the world, undermines the contemplative and more deep-rooted purpose of the university. If a university adopts the language of technical and social change as its main and exclusive purpose, it will weaken the deeper roots of the university’s liberal arts and Catholic mission. The language of the activist, of changing the world through social justice, equality and inclusion, or of the technician through market-oriented incentives, plays an important role in university life. We need to change the world for the better and universities play an important role, but both the activist and technician will be co-opted by our age of hyper-activity and technocratic organizations if there is not first a contemplative outlook on the world that receives reality rather than constructs it. To address this need for roots What We Hold in Trust unfolds in four chapters that will demonstrate how essential it is for the faculty, administrators, and trustees of Catholic universities to think philosophically and theologically (Chapter One), historically (Chapter Two) and institutionally (Chapters Three and Four). What we desperately need today are leaders in Catholic universities who understand the roots of the institutions they serve, who can wisely order the goods of the university, who know what is primary and what is secondary, and who can distinguish fads and slogans from authentic reform. We need leaders who are in touch with their history and have a love for tradition, and in particular for the Catholic tradition. Without this vision, our universities may grow in size, but shrink in purpose. They may be richer but not wiser.

Reproduction of the original: The Idea of a University Defined and Illustrated by John Henry Newman