KEY DATA: Less than one-third of the 174 Catholic colleges founded during the same century as Georgetown survive today, largely due to social changes.
There have been heated discussions recently at Boston College and Georgetown University about whether to remove crucifixes from classroom walls.
Attending Mass isn’t required at Fordham University.
At the University of Portland, this Catholic school’s leadership officially recognized the university’s first-ever sexuality club, the Gay Straight Partnership in 2008.
And at the University of Notre Dame, the school’s leadership has been making headlines by inviting President Barack Obama to be the university’s commencement speaker.
There’s some irony that a leader who supports abortion has been invited to speak at a commencement, a word which means “a beginning, a start.” Life has many beginnings; Catholics believe the first is at conception.
But beyond the obvious controversy this invitation sparked, collectively such actions beg the question: Are Catholic academic institutions really Catholic?
Bit by bit, the Catholic higher education community is seeing an erosion of Catholic values as tradition is replaced with a polite tip of the hat.
To drive the point home, Robert Benne, Director of the Center for Religion and Society at Roanoke College, wrote in his book, “Quality with Soul: How Six Premier Universities Keep Faith With Their Religious Traditions,” that:
“Catholic education underwent a serious reversal from the 1960s onward. In order to receive federal funds and garner the recognition of the academic elite, many Catholic colleges rewrote their charters and laicized their boards. In the process they weakened these schools commitment to Catholic identity. Many gradually became embarrassed by their Catholic identity. . .”
And Philip Gleason, a professor at Notre Dame, pointed out at a 2005 conference exploring the future of Catholic universities that less than one-third of the 174 Catholic colleges founded during the same century as Georgetown survive today, largely due to social changes.
The chinks in the armor are unmistakable. Each secular allowance diminishes the Catholic identity. Pope Benedict XVI warned Catholic educators that, “Each and every aspect of your learning communities reverberates within the ecclesial life of faith.”
If the Catholic Church and the universities its sponsors don’t find common ground soon, the Catholic identity that has attracted many a student and donor dollar may become extinct.
TAKE AWAY: With each secular allowance, Catholic institutions of higher education are at risk of losing their Catholic identity and becoming extinct.
Karen Hart worked for President Ronald Reagan during his post-White House years, and now is a freelance speechwriter in Washington, D.C.
