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A North American view of the Catholic University |
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26/11/2009 (2:29)
Attending the conference of the International Federation of Catholic Universities in Rome last week, Professor James L. Heft from the Institute of Advanced Catholic Studies at the University of Southern California in the United States spoke about the unique and pertinent education that Catholic universities provide.
“There is no Catholic university that doesn’t require of all students, whether they are Catholic or not, that they take at least two courses in theology. Often they also add two courses in philosophy. So that goes across the board. Besides that, there may well be in some universities special workshops for students who major in business, or students who major in engineering, to think about on the one hand justice in the economy, or to think about sustainable environmental practices in engineering. So there are many ways you can take Catholic Social teaching as a vehicle that applies to many of the areas that students may major in other than theology.”
Father Timothy Scott, President of St. Joseph’s College at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, attending the same conference, emphasized the importance of the leadership which the Catholic institution provides in the midst of a confused world.
“We are not formally the spokesmen of the Catholic Church, but public society tends to turn to Catholic universities whenever there are questions of involved matters of the Catholic Church. A good example would be areas of bioethics, issues at the beginning of life, issues at the end of life, issues in sexual ethics. All these matters have great importance in public society, and so people turn to Catholic institutions to understand better what the Church has to say.”
With their unique education and the leadership they provide, Catholic institutions are valuable commodities. North America is fortunate, for according to Father Scott, Catholic institutions are on the rise.
“There are a number of universities, young universities being formed in Canada and the United States, particularly from people who are very devout, from new Catholic movements. These are very young institutions. They are struggling to get started, but they have great promise I think.”
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