ERIC EJ1098452: Theology for Citizenship: How a Catholic College in the Augustinian Tradition Prepares Citizens to Transform Society

2006·0.18 MB·English

by  ERIC

Forum on Public Policy
Theology for Citizenship: How a Catholic College in the Augustinian
Tradition Prepares Citizens to Transform Society
Joseph T. Kelley, Provost, Merrimack College

Abstract: Uses Vatican and papal documents to reflect on the distinctive mission of
Catholic colleges and universities in light of their responsibility to prepare students for
virtuous citizenship in a religiously and ethnically pluralistic society. Shows how one
Catholic college understands its academic community in light of such a mission.

Introduction
After vigorous debate the early Americans amended their four-year old Constitution by
adding a list of citizen rights and protections, a “Bill of Rights”. The First Amendment in
this Bill of Rights prohibits the establishment of a state religion. This explicit prohibition
is followed immediately by an assertion of every citizen’s right to the free exercise of
religion.1 In addition to shaping the religious history of the new United States, the First
Amendment’s directives regarding religion also made American society fertile for and
friendly to the growth of religiously affiliated colleges.
The purpose of this article is twofold. It will explore the distinctive mission of one
kind of religiously affiliated American college or university, namely Catholic institutions.
It will demonstrate how American Catholic colleges and universities understand and
elaborate their missions in light of Vatican documents that address higher education and
the Church’s interaction with culture, and will show how the educational mission of these
Catholic institutions contributes to the well-being of American democracy through the
values inculcated in their students. Finally, it will illustrate how one American Catholic

1 “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to
assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” First Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution, <http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/> (March 3, 2006).
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college has expressed its educational vision for the twenty-first century in light of the
founding religious tradition of the Order of St. Augustine.
Religiously Affiliated American Colleges and Universities
There are about 3,200 colleges and universities in the United States that grant
post-secondary degrees, from the associate to the doctorate.2 About half of these 3,200
are public or state institutions funded by taxpayer dollars. The rest are private,
independent institutions. These private schools include liberal arts colleges, major
research universities, comprehensive universities, historically black colleges and
universities, single-sex institutions, as well as schools of law, engineering, art, business
and other professions.3
About one thousand of these 1,600 private schools are faith-related, the vast
majority being Christian.4 Each of these religiously affiliated schools by its founding and
mission is an institutional expression of the free exercise of religion. Americans have
wedded the second phrase in the First Amendment—the “free exercise of religion”—to
their creative penchant to form private associations, a tendency noted by Alexis de
Tocqueville in the early 1800’s.5 The constitutional prohibition against a state sponsored

2 National Center for Education Statistics, Digest for Education Statistics, 2004, Chapter 3 Postsecondary
Education, <http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest> (March 7, 2006). There are also another 800 or so
postsecondary schools that offer specialized training in art, technology, engineering, design and health
fields.
3 National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU), <www.naicu.edu> (March 8,
2006). These 1600 private colleges and universities enroll about 3.1 million or 20% of America’s 16.5
million students, and grant 30% of all post-secondary degrees.
4 In the United States there are several accredited Jewish colleges and universities, and many Jewish
theological schools or seminaries; three accredited Buddhist universities; and, no major accredited Islamic
or Hindu universities or colleges.
5 “Americans of all ages, all conditions, and all dispositions constantly form associations. They have not
only commercial and manufacturing companies, in which all take part, but associations of a thousand other
kinds, religious, moral, serious, futile, general or restricted, enormous or diminutive. The Americans make
associations to give entertainments, to found seminaries, to build inns, to construct churches, to diffuse
books, to send missionaries to the antipodes; in this manner they found hospitals, prisons, and schools. If it
is proposed to inculcate some truth or to foster some feeling by the encouragement of a great example, they
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religion, the protected free exercise of religion, and American social initiative and
ingenuity have all helped to produce this impressive collection of religiously affiliated
colleges and universities unique in the world.
There is great variety in the nature of the religious affiliation of these American
colleges and universities. The affiliation of most Christian evangelical and fundamentalist
colleges with their church or faith community is typically one of close cooperation and
doctrinal congruity. In such cases the clear purpose of the college can be expressed in
such phrases as “to advance the cause of Christ-centered higher education and… to
transform lives by faithfully relating scholarship and service to biblical truth”.6 Typically
in such schools students, faculty and staff are expected to pledge and often to sign
statements of faith and morals.
On the other hand many private colleges have only a nominal relationship with
the original founding church. In such cases the contemporary religious affiliation is an
historical footnote in the course catalog. Zealous founders stare down from their portraits
on the walls of the administration building at the latest generation of students. However
the fervent faith of these founding fathers or mothers has little or no real influence on the
education of students today. Remnants of the institution’s original religious affiliation
may be found in references to a place for ethics in the curriculum and character
development in student life. Explicit faith commitment, however, is usually not

form a society.” Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, Volume II, Section II, Chapter V,
<http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/DETOC/toc_indx.html> (March 15, 2006).
6 Council for Christian Colleges and Universities’ mission, <www.cccu.org> (March 17, 2006).
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mentioned, even though such schools owe their existence to a faith tradition that
exercised its right under the Constitution to establish an educational institution.7
Catholic Colleges and Universities in the United States
Catholic Colleges and Universities number just over two hundred and comprise
the largest individual subset of religiously affiliated schools in the United States.8 Post-
secondary Catholic institutions range from nationally and internationally recognized
universities such as Georgetown, Notre Dame and Villanova, to small liberal arts colleges
known only in their region. It is by far the largest informal “system” of Catholic colleges
and universities in the world, an archipelago of schools that chart the westward
movement of Catholic immigrants and their pastors and religious orders across the
American continent.9
In August of 1990, with the publication of his important reflection on Catholic
higher education, entitled Ex Corde Ecclesiae (From the Heart of the Church), Pope John
Paul II called Catholic colleges and universities around the world to assert their unique
and distinctive educational missions. The Pope and many American bishops and leaders

7 One can still find keystones over arched entrances to Harvard Yard that proclaim “Pro Christo et
Ecclesia”—for Christ and the Church: reminders of Harvard’s founding by early New England Pilgrims,
but hardly part of the university’s current mission statement or consciousness. Growing secularism, the
rationalism of the Enlightenment, and the reductionism of the scientific method engendered an anti-
religious ethos in the academy that has, until recently, made religious or theological dialogue suspect in
American higher education. See George M. Marsden and Bradley J. Longfield (eds.), The Secularization of
the Academy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992); James Samuel Preuss, Explaining Religion:
Criticism and theory from Bodin to Freud (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1987); David Claerbaet,
Faith and Learning: A Bold New Look at Religion in Higher Education (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan
Publishing, 2004). I am grateful to the Rev. David Power, OMI, for bringing the last two works to my
attention during the 2006 Oxford Round Table.
8 Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities (ACCU), <www.accunet.org> (March 19, 2006).
ACCU has about 220 members, which includes all but a few of American Catholic colleges and
universities. ACCU is affiliated with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
9 Philip Gleason, Contending with Modernity: Catholic Higher Education in the Twentieth Century (New
York: Oxford University Press, 1995); Alice Gallen, OSU, Independence and New Partnership in Catholic
Higher Education (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1996); David R. Contosta, Villanova
University 1842-1992: American, Catholic, Augustinian (University Park: Pennsylvania State University
Press, 1995).
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in American Catholic higher education had grown concerned that Catholic schools not
repeat the history of many originally Protestant institutions and lose their affiliation with
the church. It was also the Pope’s intent to highlight the distinctive ethos of Catholic
higher education, to differentiate it among Christian approaches, and to distinguish it
from secular or state institutions. In the United States this had led to a significant, on-
going and fruitful conversation both within and across Catholic campuses about what it
means to be a Catholic college or university in the twenty-first century.10 This article is
one example of that kind of conversation.
The “Religion” Question in American Higher Education
Given the wisdom of the First Amendment, not only regarding the freedom of
religion but also the freedoms of speech, of the press, of assembly and of redress of
grievances, it is important that religiously affiliated colleges of any type address the
crucial question that is prompted by the “no establishment” clause in the Constitution. All
American colleges and universities in the United States—Catholic, Protestant and
Jewish—that want to retain or deepen the religious-related aspect of their educational
mission need to be clear about their role in the life of the republic. How does a religiously
affiliated school, with its particular mission and purpose, prepare students for citizenship
in a society that cherishes the five freedoms of the First Amendment and also proscribes
an established religion? Put more explicitly, how can a college or university founded on
the precepts and principles of one, specific religion educate young people for citizenship
in a diverse, secular society that recognizes the supremacy of no religion?

10 John P. Langan, S.J., ed., Catholic Universities in Church and Society: A Dialogue on Ex Corde
Ecclesiae (Washington, D.C: Georgetown University Press, 1993).
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This question grows in importance as religious demographics in the United States
continue to shift. The number of Americans who identified themselves as Christian
declined from 86% in 1990 to 77% in 2001.11 In the same time period the number of
American adults who do not subscribe to any religious identification grew from 8% of the
total population to 14%.12
Another fact of importance for religiously affiliated schools is that many world
events today seem driven at least as much by religious fervor as by economic and social
factors. The so-called clash of cultures is defined, for better or for worse, along religious
lines: one billion Muslims and one billion plus Christians, for example, struggling—or
not—to understand, forgive and tolerate each other. How do colleges and universities that
stand in a Christian tradition—Catholic or Protestant—manage these delicate inter-
relationships between faith and reason, church and state, doctrine and academic freedom,
individual aspiration and the common good?
A Catholic college or university can enrich and distinguish its educational mission
by drawing from Catholic theological tradition and institutional wisdom. This tradition
and wisdom is expressed in many documents and statements of the Church over the
centuries.13 This paper will review five recent official documents of the Catholic Church
that have special relevance for Catholic higher education. A college’s or university’s
affiliation with the Catholic Church should not be only de jure but de facto. To call itself
Catholic a college or university needs not only a founding charter recognized by the local

11 The Graduate Center, City University of New York, “American Religious Identification Survey,”
<http://gc.cuny.edu/faculty/research_briefs/aris/key_findings.htm> (August 19, 2006).
12 The Graduate Center.
13 Alice Gallen, OSU, ed., American Catholic Higher Education: Essential Documents 1967-1990 (Notre
Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1992). This collection of more recent church documents on higher
education is an important overview of the subject.
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bishop or by the Vatican. It needs to reflect in its mission statement as well as in its
curriculum and campus culture the values and virtues that the Church treasures in its
tradition.14
A review of these documents will be followed by reflections on how Catholic
colleges and universities, drawing from the Church’s collective reflections on higher
education and on the intersection of faith and culture, enrich the American citizenry by
preparing graduates to advance the social foundations of democracy. The distinctive
values and virtues of Catholic higher education prepare students to be valued and
virtuous citizens.
Recent Catholic Teachings that Enrich Catholic Colleges and Universities
The Vatican has spoken and written often about Catholic colleges and
universities, especially in recent decades.15 Among the official pronouncements of the
Church there are five seminal documents that provide American Catholic colleges and
universities with a rich source of reflection for their educational missions. The first three
of these documents come from the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965): The Church in
the Modern World (Gaudium et Spes—Joy and Hope); The Relation of the Church to
Non-Christian Religions (Nostra Aetate—In Our Time); and, the Declaration on
Religious Freedom (Dignitatis Humanae—Of Human Dignity). The other two are more

14 Ex Corde Ecclesiae, Part II, General Norms, Articles 1, 2, 3, <http://www.cin.org/jp2/excorde.html>
(March 20, 2006).
15 Pope John Paul II: Sapientia Christiana, April 1979; Discourse to the Institut Catholique de Paris, June
1980; Discourse to the University of Coimbra, May 1982; Address to Intellectuals, to Students and to
University Personnel at Medellin, Colombia, July 1986; Address to Leaders of Catholic Higher Education,
September 1987; Allocution to the International Congress on Catholic Universities, April 1989. Pope Paul
VI: Discourse to the Delegates of the International Federation of Catholic Universities, November 1972;
Address to Presidents and Rectors of the Universities of the Society of Jesus, August 1975. Papal
documents, <http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/index.htm> (March 20, 2006). It is also of historical
interest to note that John Paul II begins Ex Corde Ecclesiae with a footnoted reference to a letter from Pope
Alexander IV to the University of Paris, April 1255—a charming example of the Vatican’s deep sense of
tradition.
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recent: Pope John Paul II’s On Catholic Universities (Ex Corde Ecclesiae—From the
Heart of the Church) issued in 1990; and, Pope Benedict XVI’s first encyclical God Is
Love (Deus Caritas Est) issued in December of 2005.16
Each of these five documents provides the benefit of deep and expansive
theological reflection. They also provide the foundations for a practical theology which
American Catholic colleges and universities might employ to deepen their understanding
of the particular role they play in American higher education.17 These Vatican documents
also outline how Catholic colleges and universities prepare their students to be valued
and valuable citizens in a social democracy.
Many of the ideas that will be highlighted in this article as specific to one of these
documents can be found throughout the other documents as well. Vatican statements and
pronouncements reflect Catholic theological tradition by documenting how ideas build
upon each other from one generation to the next, from one papacy to the next, from one
council to the next. Each document intersects with the others in many ways and each is a
complex statement in the on-going theological and pastoral dialogue of the church.
Documents and pronouncements include ample references to previous Church teaching
and seem to rejoice in overlap and repetition. There is value, however, in lifting main
themes from each of these five documents in order to construct a framework within

16 An Apostolic Constitution such as Ex Corde Ecclesiae is any important document, so called, issued by
the Pope, or by a Church Council with the Pope’s approval. The next highest category, after an Apostolic
Constitution, is an Encyclical or official letter, such as Deus Caritas Est, to be circulated around the world.
The official Latin title of each of the five documents is provided. Throughout this article the Latin titles will
be used because of their brevity and telescoped theological significance. The Latin titles of Vatican
documents provide a key to a main theological theme of the work.
17 The field of practical theology attempts to analyze contemporary society in order to: identify current
questions, issues, and needs; suggest various practices that might embody the Church’s strategic responses;
and, interpret the contexts which shape those potential practices.
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which to understand the particular and distinctive role of American Catholic colleges and
universities.
There is unfortunately no space to reflect on the rich and instructive political
history and context of each document. Suffice it to say that contrary to popular notions,
Vatican documents, especially those from a council like Vatican II, are the products of
discussion, debate, compromise, and—in the perspective of faith—of the spirit of God
moving amidst the often confusing and contentious political realities that suffuse even the
noblest of human conversations.
Each of these five documents will now be explored for its contributions to the
educational mission of Catholic colleges and universities.
The Church in the Modern World
(Gaudium et Spes—Joy and Hope)
Of the five Vatican documents proposed for contemporary reflections by
American Catholic colleges and universities this is the most important. The other four,
drawing both inspiration and content from this foundational text, more or less elaborate
various aspects of it. Gaudium et Spes serves as a kind of magna carta for the modern
Catholic college or university.18
Gaudium et Spes was promulgated on December 7, 1965. It emerged as the last
and in many ways the culminating work of the Second Vatican II. While earlier

18 Pope John Paul II uses this same analogy of magna carta to describe his hopes for Ex Corde Ecclesiae
#8. Other authors addressing the topic of Catholic higher education might select a different list of Vatican
documents than the one proposed here. For example, one of the early major texts to emerge from the
Second Vatican Council was Lumen Gentium, a long, introspective, theological reflection on the nature of
the Church as the People of God and the Body of Christ. A more conservative or traditional approach to the
questions raised in this paper might add Lumen Gentium to the list or even substitute it in place of Gaudium
et Spes. However, Lumen Gentium says little about the Church’s interaction with the world and relationship
with the diversity of human cultures, both of which are crucial and defining questions for Catholic colleges
and universities.
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documents of the Council focus on the inner life of the Church and doctrine, Gaudium et
Spes expresses the Church’s reflection on its relationship with the contemporary world.19
The document proclaims that the proper role of the Church is one of engagement with the
world in its diversity of cultures, of peoples, and of political systems. The Church should
“focus its attention ... on the whole human family along with the sum of those realities in
the midst of which it lives; that world which is the theater of human history, and the heir
of human energies, tragedies and triumphs; that world which the Christian sees a created
and sustained by its Maker’s love….”20
In contrast to the defensive tone and isolationist stance of much of Vatican
rhetoric and writing throughout the previous century, Gaudium et Spes is remarkable
because of its call for open engagement with the world. It calls Catholics and all
Christians to an optimistic but realistic dialogue with all peoples, with the goal of
transformation of societies and cultures in light of Gospel values.21 The document speaks
eloquently of the Church’s “solidarity with, as well as its respect and love for the entire
human family with which it is bound up,” and of the need to work with all persons for the
renewal of human society and new solutions to common problems.22

19 The opening words are: “The joys (gaudium) and hopes (spes), the griefs and the anxieties of the people
of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the joys and hopes, the griefs
and anxieties of the followers of Christ (#1).”
20 Gaudium et Spes #2. Documents of the Second Vatican Council,
<http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/index.htm> (March 25, 2006). Vatican II
documents are also found in Walter M. Abbot, S.J., ed., The Documents of Vatican II (New York: The
America Press, 1966). Documents are comprised of numbered paragraphs for easy reference.
21 This document is in many ways the Catholic Church’s official reflection on what Richard Niebuhr
described as “the many sided debate about the relations of Christianity and civilization” in Richard
Niebuhr, Christ and Culture, (New York: Harper Brothers, 1951), 1. Gaudium et Spes would generally fit
into Niebuhr’s theological category of “Christ the Transformer of Culture” (Christ and Culture, pp. 190—
229), while many earlier Vatican documents of the nineteenth and twentieth century would fit into his
category of “Christ Above Culture” (Christ and Culture, pp. 116—148).
22 Gaudium et Spes #3.
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