Catholic identity

Richard A. Sokerka

As Catholic colleges across the nation hold commencement exercises this month, questions continue to be raised as to whether some of them are truly committed to providing a faithful Catholic education, based on speakers invited to campus, those they select for awards and honorary degrees and those chosen to give commencement addresses.

On the heels of these questions, the “2017-18 Newman Guide to Choosing a Catholic College” is hot off the presses, selecting 29 colleges that demonstrated the best how they maintain and strengthen Catholic identity in the areas of academic quality, faculty, theology, core curriculum, programs of study, campus ministry, residence life, student activities, and institutional identity and leadership.

On the list, one would expect to find the names of what are considered to be the most distinguished Catholic institutions in America — Georgetown, Providence, Holy Cross, Villanova, Boston College and my alma mater, Notre Dame. Sadly, not one of them made the list. But Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio is on it — for the 10th year in a row. Also on the list are colleges whose names are not usually bandied about at the dinner table when students are asked for their top choice in a Catholic college — John Paul the Great Catholic University, the University of Mary and Thomas More College.

Though not household names, it’s time for students seeking a true Catholic education to take a serious look at these 29 Catholic colleges. They all have gone about strengthening their Catholic identity while some of our prominent Catholic universities have, in many instances, gone out of their way to engage our secular society on their campuses in such ways that they have compromised their Catholic identity.

For example, Georgetown allowed a lecture on campus by Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood, and Notre Dame gave its highest award for an American Catholic to former vice president, Joe Biden, who unequivocally supports abortion on demand and “same-sex” marriage, even “officiating” at one in the White House. Bishop Kevin Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Ind., told Notre Dame to rescind the award because by its intention to honor Biden, it risked giving the impression “that one can be ‘a good Catholic’ while also supporting or advocating for positions that contradict our fundamental moral and social principles and teachings.” Notre Dame gave the award anyway. It did the same in 2009 in giving President Obama, the most pro-abortion president in our nation’s history who never stopped trying to limit our religious liberties, an honorary degree and allowing him to give the commencement address. When the local bishop questioned this, Notre Dame demurred, citing its long standing “tradition” of honoring newly-elected presidents. Yet, this year, Notre Dame did not accord the same honor to President Trump , who has done more in his first 100 days in office to move forward pro-life and religious liberty protections than any president in the last 50 years. What happened to Notre Dame’s “tradition”?

According to the Cardinal Newman Society, “Catholic colleges compromise their Catholic identity and potentially harm the spiritual well-being of their students when they give these honors and platforms. College administrators send a message to the public that worldly success and popular opinion are more important to their institutions than fidelity to Christ and his Church. And they send a message to students that it’s acceptable and even praiseworthy to unrepentantly oppose the Church’s moral teachings.”

Perhaps Patrick Reilly, president of the Cardinal Newman Society, said it best: “Catholic families can learn a lot about a college’s priorities by whom it chooses to honor.”

It is high time that some of our preeminent Catholic universities stop compromising their Catholic identity and start rebuilding it with their actions.