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A Guide to Catholic Colleges Using
Ex Corde Ecclesiae

The landscape is complicated and confusing
Catholics have always taken university education very seriously. In fact, over the last century, we in this country have built the largest and the most highly regarded system of Catholic colleges and universities in the world.  Now our Catholic colleges and universities enjoy national prestige and are making headlines to prove it. Regrettably though, some of the headlines have been a source of embarrassment for the Church. For example, in 1996, Fr. Robert Drinan, SJ, a professor at the oldest Catholic university in the United States, publicly defended President Clinton's veto of the ban on so-called partial-birth abortions in the New York Times. Fr. Drinan did this in spite of unprecedented opposition by the nation's Catholic hierarchy against the President's actions.

Unfortunately, these headlines which highlight Catholic universities contradicting the teaching of the Church are mere symptoms of a worsening condition in Catholic higher education. In the name of a distorted notion of academic freedom, many Catholic universities are conforming themselves more and more to secular culture. Today it is not uncommon to find courses such as "Unspeakable Lives: Gay and Lesbian Narratives" or "Gender, Sexuality, and Representation" or "Gender/Sexuality/Power: Medieval Europe" being offered at Catholic colleges and universities. Because this unfortunate state of affairs was already developing during his time, Bishop Fulton Sheen once gave the advice to parents that they should send their children to secular colleges where they will have to fight for their faith rather than have their faith gradually eroded at a nominally Catholic college.

Engaging our own institutions
Pope John Paul II, however, thinks that Catholic universities still deserve the support of the faithful. This is why the Holy Father wrote Ex corde Ecclesiae: The Apostolic Constitution on Catholic Universities. The Holy Father describes the university as being Born from the Heart of the Church--ex corde ecclesiae. In Ex corde Ecclesiae, the Pope gives a profound affirmation of the Catholic university and a standard for all universities that bear the name "Catholic". Our Holy Father even conveys his own intimate experience at a Catholic university stating, "For many years I myself was deeply enriched by the beneficial experience of university life: the ardent search truth and its unselfish transmission to youth and to all those learning to think rigorously, so as to act rightly and to serve humanity better."

Our beloved Pontiff is quite fond of the exhortation "Engage the Culture". And in issuing this challenge, the Pope is not unaware of what it entails. During World Youth Day in Denver, the Pope stated that "vast sectors of society are confused about what is right and what is wrong, and are at the mercy of those with the power to create opinion and impose it on others."  To this daunting situation John Paul II, in Ex corde Ecclesiae, offers the Catholic university as the appropriate response to cultural confusion saying that "It is the honor and responsibility of a Catholic university to consecrate itself without reserve to the cause of truth... A Catholic university is distinguished by its free search for the whole truth about nature, man and God."  The Holy Father further explains that it is the Catholic university's "privileged task to unite existentially by intellectual effort two orders of reality that too frequently tend to be placed in opposition as though they were antithetical: the search for truth and the certainty of already knowing the fount of truth." Catholic universities are special in this way because it is through faith and reason that a community is brought to share in the light of truth.

The Church is depository of truth and the authentic interpreter of Revelation. The Holy Father sees Catholic universities as the essential arm of the Church that engages in the cultural dialogue. The Pope explains, "Through the encounter which it establishes between the unfathomable richness of the salvific message of the Gospel and the variety and immensity of the fields of knowledge in which that richness is incarnated by it, a Catholic university enables the Church to institute an incomparably fertile dialogue with people of every culture. Man's life is given dignity by culture, and while he finds his fullness in Christ, there can be no doubt that the Gospel, which reaches and renews him in every dimension, is also fruitful for the culture in which he lives."

John Paul is well aware that there is much confusion in Catholic higher education over responsibilities of Catholic identity. To this he states, "if need be, a Catholic university must have the courage speak uncomfortable truths which do not please public opinion, but which are necessary to safeguard the authentic good of the society." In commenting on this very passage, Cardinal Bevilacqua of Philadelphia stated that "the ‘uncomfortable truths' that Americans need to hear today are the Church's teaching on abortion, euthanasia, suicide, divorce, contraception, homosexuality, and sexual morality in general together with the Catholic understanding of marriage, family life, the virtues and their connection to the common good." It is always faith that informs culture, not the other way around as so many, and even some within the Church, would have us believe. The Pope elaborates on this point in Ex corde Ecclesiae by stating that "a Catholic university shares in this by offering the rich experience of the Church's own culture." One area that desperately crys out for the witness of faith is scientific research. Based on what society has already done with scientific discoveries, there is much reason to be frightened by the prospects of what lie ahead. Cloning is just one of the current realities that only a short time ago seemed like science fiction. In Ex corde Ecclesiae, the Holy Father addressed this issue. "In the world today, characterized by such rapid developments in science and technology, the tasks of a Catholic university assume an even greater urgency. Scientific and technological discoveries create an enormous economic and industrial growth, but they also inescapably require the correspondingly necessary search for meaning in order to guarantee that the new discoveries be used for the authentic good of individuals and of human society as a whole." 

"Catholic universities are to conduct their research both as a ‘university' and as ‘Catholic'." (EcE)

In addition, the Holy Father has stressed that the Catholic university not only has the responsibility to carry out its research in accord with its Catholic identity, but must also bear Catholic witness to the research and advances that are taking place in society at large. He comments, "If it is the responsibility of every university to search for meaning, a Catholic university is called in a particular way to respond to this need: Its Christian inspiration enables it to include the moral, spiritual and religious dimension in research, and to evaluate the attainments of science and technology in the perspective of the totality of the human person." Our recent history in America has demonstrated the profound influence of social trends which develop on college campuses. During the cultural upheaval of the 1960s, where did ideas of social change originate? The cultural change began on college campuses. In order to confront our surrounding culture which grows increasingly hostile to Life and Truth, we must work to get Catholic colleges and universities back in sync with the mission of the Church.

Jude Dougherty, Dean of Philosophy at the Catholic University of America, stressed this very sentiment in an address on the state of Catholic higher education, saying that "writers as diverse as Walker Percy and John Neuhaus have proclaimed the Catholic moment. But if the salvific teaching is to come, it will come only from trained Catholic minds. To prepare them, Catholic institutions for higher learning are indispensable. To reinforce them where they exist, to recover them where they are wavering..." It is clear that in Ex corde Ecclesiae, the Pope is asking us to support Catholic universities. These are his actual words. "I turn to the whole Church, convinced that Catholic universities are essential to her growth and to the development of Christian culture and human progress. For this reason, the entire ecclesial community is invited to give its support to Catholic institutions of higher education and to assist them in their process of development and renewal."

How do we negotiate the terrain?
This leaves us in a difficult, but not impossible situation. As I mentioned earlier, there is much confusion about what it really means to be a Catholic college or university. If the spectrum of Catholic higher education could be compared to a staircase, there would be schools on each step with varying degrees of commitment to Catholic identity and probably only a handful of schools at the top with uncompromised commitment to the mission of the Church. It is also important to understand that even at some of the Catholic universities which seem totally seduced by secular culture, there might be good departments or groups of professors who are outstanding in the competence and faith.

So in supporting Catholic higher education as a parent or prospective student you still want to choose the best Catholic college or university. This can be very difficult. Knowing what the Holy Father has written on the subject and how to apply his words when considering a Catholic college can help immensely. We can use Ex corde Ecclesiae as a guide when evaluating particular schools.

The criteria from the Holy Father
Here are a few examples of what the Holy Father has outlined for Catholic schools of higher education in Ex corde Ecclesiae and the appropriate questions to investigate when looking at schools:

1. "Every Catholic university is to make known its Catholic identity either in a mission statement or in some other appropriate public document..."

a. When looking over a school's literature and promotion material, does the school proudly describe itself as Catholic and committed to the Catholic Church? Or does the school simply describe itself as being committed to the "Catholic tradition" or the "tradition" of some religious order?

2. "All Catholic teachers are to be faithful to, and all other teachers are to respect, Catholic doctrine and morals in their research and teaching." 

a. Does the school offer courses which contradict the teachings of the Church, especially in the area of abortion and sexual morality?

b. Does the school have any professors who publicly advocate views which are contrary to the Church, such as in the case of women's ordination?

3. "A Catholic university, as Catholic, informs and carries out its research, teaching, and all other activities with Catholic ideals, principles and attitudes... Any official  action or commitment of the university is to be in accord with its Catholic identity."

a. Does the school recognize student groups that advocate abortion and homosexuality?

b. Does the school's student health service provide counseling or literature on contraception or abortion?

c. Is student housing set up in such a way that is conducive to Christian single life and the virtue of chastity?

4. "Priority is to be given to those means which will facilitate the integration of human and professional education with religious values in the light of Catholic doctrine, in order to unite intellectual learning with the religious dimension of life." 

a. Is there evidence on campus that students are participating in the Sacraments (Mass and Confession) and other devotions such as adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and the Rosary?

These are a few basic questions you should investigate when looking for a college or  university that fulfills Pope John Paul's vision for Catholic higher education. The last criteria of having the sacraments and devotions as an important part of the campus is a central indication of an authentic Catholic college or university.  The university enterprise is essentially about coming to know the truth.  In this process, coming to know Truth in the sacraments is just as important as coming to know Truth in the classroom.

It may be difficult to find a school which both fully lives up to the guidelines set forth by Ex corde Ecclesiae and meets other concerns such as costs and location. Knowing what the Church's official stance on the matter is, however, will help you face the possible challenges and seek the best possible education and formation for yourself or for your children.

Some final words of hope
In closing I want to leave you with the words of hope from Cardinal Bevilacqua which are taken from the same address I quoted earlier. I think the Cardinal's understanding in this passage is is vitally important for all of us who continue to support the Church and Her mission in these confusing times.

"Our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, has also spoken of a new Springtime in the Church. He has fought hard against error and aberration, has denounced all the forces of destruction in the "culture of death," but he remains hopeful, that is to say, full of Christian hope, hope in Christ. The winter is not over, but there are undeniable signs of Spring. Fundamental to this Springtime is, I believe, the extraordinarily rich teaching of the  Holy Father  himself. Veritatis Splendor, Evangelium Vitae, The Catechism of the Catholic Church, and yes, Ex corde Ecclesiae: these are the tangible buds, the promise and the beginning, of a renewed Spring."