“If you want your children to fight for their faith, send them to public school. If you want them to lose their faith, send them to Catholic school.” – Bishop Fulton Sheen
Recently, our own Seattle University had the unwelcome distinction of being highlighted for its endorsement of several abortion or pro-abortion groups, including Planned Parenthood. Aside from the great need to reform our Catholic institutions of education, this kind of news offers emphasis for the necessity for careful discernment by those faithful who would submit themselves for higher education within the Catholic world.
Its a hard thing, choosing a place to grow in both knowledge and faith, and not one that we can take too seriously. This is the institution, these are the teachers, where the foundations of one’s faith can be built up beyond the basic catechesis of parish formation.
Enter the Cardinal Newman Society, an organization whose mission is to renew & strengthen Catholic identity in Catholic education. The organization observes that:
the Catholic identity of many Catholic institutions of higher education in the United States has become increasingly clouded and the essential elements of Catholic education have been discarded for the sake of a mistaken notion of academic freedom. Many Catholic colleges and universities have pursued a secular model as the university ideal to a point where their own Catholic identity and mission within the Church is no longer clear.
Parents & prospective students should take a look to see how the college or university of their choice pans out in the area of Catholic identity (its not all bad!). Those of us who are outside of the college/university scene would do well to pray regularly for our Catholic institutions.
Bishop Olmsted of the diocese of Phoenix went through great lengths to inform and correct Saint Joseph’s hospital of its error when it strayed in its practices – performing & offering abortions, sterilizations and contraception (all of which are directly contrary to Catholic teaching). Ultimately he revoked their standing as a institution in good standing with the Church: they are no longer permitted to call themselves ‘Catholic’. Sadly, Saint Joseph’s hospital is one of many that are in need of guidance.
Our Catholic education institutions are in a similar position. But we can help – by supporting authentic Catholic identity through our prayers, encouragement offered to deans & bishops and through our enrollment choices.
your brother in Christ,
Father Maurer
PrintPrint
emailemail
Add to favoritesAdd to favorites
FacebookFacebook
TwitterTwitter
I’m enjoying your blog Fr. Mauer — Fr. Jim mentioned it at Mass last Sunday.
I’m surprised to hear about Seattle University’s having some kind of connection with Planned Parenthood. I went there in the late 80s and the Catholic Campus Ministry program, and retreats offered through it, really cemented and reaffirmed my Catholic faith. I would send my kids there in a heartbeat. Does going to a Catholic university provide any level of protection for your kids not being exposed to anti-Catholic elements, whether from other students or professors? — Probably not. For example, I distinctly remember one professor who was an ex-nun, who was pretty hostile to Catholic doctrine. But I still think a Catholic university like SeattleU offers more and better opportunities to grow and deepen in one’s Catholic faith if the student chooses to pursues those opportunities. I had some great spiritual mentoring from a number of the wonderful Jesuit priests there. Especially Fr. Spitzer before he got promoted and moved over to Gonzaga.
Welcome to the blog!
I am glad to hear about your experiences at Seattle University. Its good to know that even with the problems that it has, there are good fruits that can come from it. I know that your experiences are shared by not a few people in the archdiocese (some among our parish staff and our archdiocesan chancery).
I disagree about Catholic universities and protection from anti-Catholic elements: this is one of the basic expectations of a Catholic university. A Catholic institution that doesn’t shield (or attempt to shield) its members from those elements from within that same institution is failing at something pretty basic. Catholic institutions should be safe places for Catholic belief and practice. It would be like going to a medical school and being taught Christian Science (anti-medicine, at least in part). Its contrary to the very mission of the institution.
This isn’t to say that these faults, serious though they are, prevent the institution from offering some good, but they seriously handicap its ability to do so. What is most discouraging though – especially for young people who are not mature in their own personhood and their beliefs – is that these kinds of faults make for an environment where Catholics are put on the defensive, rather than being built up. I imagine it would be like putting a 15-year-old behind the wheel of a car and sending them to the freeway on their first drive. They could probably make it through alright…. but the risk of a disastrous wreck is dangerously high.
It takes an exceptional person to get through that environment intact…. the average person is in serious danger of being hurt and weakened in their faith (or misinformed altogether). And I’m afraid that this is a fruit of these institutions as well, in their current state.
That is why I would discourage folks from going to these institutions until problems/associations like that are addressed and cleaned up. We can be part of that encouragement, so that the good fruits that have come sporadically become the regular result instead of the exception.