Most US Catholic colleges no longer require theology courses : News Headlines …

Click here to advertise on CatholicCulture.org

Most US Catholic colleges no longer require theology courses

email
print

CWN – December 11, 2012

From Our Store: Liturgical Year 2012-2013, Vol. 1: Advent and Christmas (eBook)

Most of Catholic colleges in the US no longer require students to study theology, the Cardinal Newman Society (CNS) has found.

A survey conducted by Kimberly Shankman of Benedictine College for the CNS Center for the Advancement of Catholic Higher Education found that Catholic colleges have stronger general-education requirements than their secular counterparts. But most Catholic schools have abolished requirements for students to take theology courses.

The CNS study found that the schools with the strongest Catholic identity were most likely to retain a theology requirement. Those schools also had the strongest general-education requirements, the study found.

Additional sources for this story
Some links will take you to other sites, in a new window.

• Study: Most Catholic Colleges No Longer Require Catholic Theology (Cardinal Newman Society)

All comments are moderated. To lighten our editing burden, only current donors are allowed to Sound Off. If you are a donor, log in to see the comment form; otherwise please support our work, and Sound Off!

Most US Catholic colleges no longer require theology courses

Click here to advertise on CatholicCulture.org

Most US Catholic colleges no longer require theology courses

email
print

CWN – December 11, 2012

From Our Store: Essays in Apologetics, Volume II (eBook)

Most of Catholic colleges in the US no longer require students to study theology, the Cardinal Newman Society (CNS) has found.

A survey conducted by Kimberly Shankman of Benedictine College for the CNS Center for the Advancement of Catholic Higher Education found that Catholic colleges have stronger general-education requirements than their secular counterparts. But most Catholic schools have abolished requirements for students to take theology courses.

The CNS study found that the schools with the strongest Catholic identity were most likely to retain a theology requirement. Those schools also had the strongest general-education requirements, the study found.

Additional sources for this story
Some links will take you to other sites, in a new window.

• Study: Most Catholic Colleges No Longer Require Catholic Theology (Cardinal Newman Society)

All comments are moderated. To lighten our editing burden, only current donors are allowed to Sound Off. If you are a donor, log in to see the comment form; otherwise please support our work, and Sound Off!

My Mom Takes Roman Catholic Leaders to Task

This post comes from HRC’s Online Advocacy Manager James Servino:

My mother is amazing. She’s had my back from the second I came out to her – and long before that.

When she heard that the leaders of our Roman Catholic Church had spent $2 million on anti-gay marriage ballot campaigns in this election, she wrote a letter to the top Catholic bishop in the U.S., sticking up for people like me. I think it’s a message he desperately needs to hear.

If you agree with what she’s saying – whether or not you’re Catholic – add your name to the letter and pass it along. (We’re going to deliver the letter to Cardinal Dolan in the next week, so act quickly!)

The letter reads:

To: His Eminence Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York

Your Eminence,

I’ve been going to Catholic mass almost every week since I was a little girl. My aunts and uncles are nuns and priests. My husband was a member of the Knights of Columbus. We raised our kids in our parish community and sent them to Catholic schools. Catholicism is more than just a belief for me – it’s a deep seed of my identity.

And it has always taught me that God made us all, and loves us all the same. The same way I try to love all my kids. That’s why, when my incredible son told me he was gay, it didn’t change my love for him one bit.

He’s always my child.

That’s why I was outraged to learn that the leadership of our Church just spent $2 million on anti-gay marriage ballot campaigns. Think of all the positive things that $2 million could have accomplished. Think of the hungry fed, the sick comforted, the homeless sheltered. Instead you chose to use parishioners’ donations like mine to divide and discriminate.

Catholicism teaches us to love one another – not to attack our sons and daughters for simply wanting to make lifelong commitments and start families. You won’t have to ever marry a same-sex couple, but it makes no sense to deny them the right to be married under the law. And your parishioners aren’t going to stand for it much longer.

I think it’s time we all got on the right side of history. I hope you do, too.

I hope you’ll join my mom and add your name to the letter now. We each have to speak up and make a clear case for equality, whether or not we’re Roman Catholic. In the next election, Church leaders could decide to pour even more money into anti-gay ballot campaigns if we don’t speak out now.

We’re going to send the letters along later this week.

Thanks for taking a stand.

Africa to Loretto, and Back

Fr. Gabriel, right, and Fr. McSweeney in Our Lady of Loretto.
Dennis Mazzuca In October, Father Gabriel Awuafor of Our Lady of Loretto Catholic Parish will be returning to Ghana, after six years of growing in faith, education and community.

Father Gabriel came to Cold Spring from Abreshia in Central Ghana in 2006, and will be returning to his home diocese to await his new assignment.

Reflecting on how he has changed over his time in Cold Spring, Father Gabriel focused on the importance of education. The program that allows priests like Fr. Gabriel to come to America serves both to give aid to our local parish and as a means for the priests from Ghana to receive an education they might otherwise not have gotten.

As an example Fr. Gabriel is returning with a master’s in education and administration. He is looking forward to using the knowledge he has gained here in making sure his local Catholic schools are run more efficiently. Along with the formal education he received, Fr. Gabriel, who can often be seen enjoying a walk around the village, also commented how the experiences of a new culture have affected him. Spiritually, while he would not say his faith has changed, he said it has become stronger and that God has helped improve his priesthood through his time in Cold Spring.

Both Fr. Gabriel and Fr. McSweeney stressed the importance of the program in showing not only the differences in cultures, but also the similarities. “It shows the universality of our Church” says Fr. McSweeney. Fr. Gabriel adds that though there are small differences there is also a strong universal Church.

Fr. Gabriel noted that he has seen a change in the local Catholic parish as well as in himself during his time here. He has seen the parish grow in knowledge, commitment and in activity. As an example, through his time the parishioners have been aiding Fr. Gabriel in rebuilding his home church of St. Anthony’s. It speaks to both the priests’ comments on the universality of the Church, that a small parish in Philipstown, New York, can actively support and give aid to a parish in Abreshia in Central Ghana, so that it now has a roof.

As his time in America comes to a close Fr. Gabriel says he is leaving with many good memories. He would like to thank Fr. McSweeney and the parishioners, whom he refers to in his Sunday homilies as “my friends” or “my brothers and sisters,” for making his time here as good as it was. Fr. McSweeney says that having Fr. Gabriel around these past six years has made his life both easier and more enriched, and adds that it is not so much a job as it is a family.

There will be a going away reception for Fr. Gabriel on September 30th at 2 p.m. at the parish hall.

Proponents may sue Calgary Catholic school board over HPV vaccination

CALGARY - 

Health activists say they’re preparing to sue the city’s Catholic school board for its adamant refusal to allow HPV vaccinations on their property.

HPV Calgary’s Dr. Ian Mitchell said the board’s failure to include the issue at its Wednesday board meeting shows there’s no alternative but to seek legal action on what he calls a life-and-death matter.

“It was the previous board that took this action to ban it and in the past two years this board has never discussed it,” Mitchell said, adding a court showdown would also force a debate with the board.

“We haven’t heard any reasonable argument of why no vaccinations.”

The board said it takes much of its direction on the issue from Alberta’s Roman Catholic bishops who view use of the vaccine — which prevents sexually-borne cervical cancer — as an invitation for teen girls to become promiscuous.

Mitchell said there’s never been a link between sexual behaviour and the vaccine and adds that stance isn’t even one held by the Vatican or Canadian bishops as a whole.

“It seems ridiculous … it’s not even Catholic theology,” he said.

School vaccinations, Mitchell said, are a far more effective way to administer since busy or low-income families without vehicles find it harder to arrange outside schools.

Mitchell said his group will raise funds for the legal action, but hopes the board will revisit the issue rather than spend taxpayers’ money on the fight.

But board chairwoman Mary Martin said there’ll be no change in its position.

“There’s nothing now that would change its course,” she said.

While Edmonton’s Catholic schools allow the vaccine, Martin said the Calgary board is bound to take direction from Alberta bishops.

“There’s no such thing as a health class taught without the background of our faith,” she said.

But Martin also said the board has worked with Alberta Health Services to enable any family to receive the vaccine at clinics.

“We’ve taken additional steps of ensuring we’ll get them there,” she said.

“We’re leaving it squarely in the hands of parents.”

HVP Calgary says the board is abdicating its democratic responsibility by taking direction from bishops.

But Martin said their students’ parents expect just that.

bill.kaufmann@sunmedia.ca

Twitter: @SUNBillKaufmann

Sunday, September 23, 2012

• Yes, it’s a simple health issue.

• It should be up to them.

• No, nobody be forced to offer anything.

Vote

or view results

0%

0 votes

Yes, it’s a simple health issue.

0%

0 votes

It should be up to them.

0%

0 votes

No, nobody be forced to offer anything.

« Return to Poll

Faith, Hope and Water

By Kathleen Sullivan | Chronicle Staff

Alumnus Emmanuel Mwerekande is a Catholic priest who is striving to bring hope and life’s basic necessity — clean water — to Our Lady of Fatima parish in the village of Mubende in the predominately Catholic nation of Uganda.

The parish — with 45,000 members, 49 sub-churches and 15 Catholic schools open to children of all faiths — is a vibrant faith community, with about five weddings a month and more than 2,000 baptisms a year. This year, 620 children made their first Communion on Holy Thursday.

Fr. Emmanuel recalled the day that access to clean water became so important to his ministry. He was visiting a woman sick with HIV/AIDS when he realized that the medication she was taking was being washed down with filthy, bug-infested water.

“I didn’t want to give her the water,” he said. “It was going to add more misery. We have no running water. We collect water in pond-like wells that are shared with animals. Our water has to be boiled before you can drink it and even then you cannot be sure you have cleared the bacteria. So, the people get sick from the water.”

 Other threats come from the disease-carrying mosquitoes found near the water sources. An added difficulty in Mubende is that the water wells are a 10-mile walk from the villages. When there is a drought, the children who fetch the water must walk farther and then do not have time to go to school.

“I became a priest because I wanted to help people. I grew up in a poor village and saw how the priests and missionaries were helping people. I felt it was my call to help people,” said Fr. Emmanuel, who was ordained in 1990 and earned a master of arts degree in pastoral ministry from Boston College in 2006.

Help for Mubende came from BC via the establishment of the Irish Famine Memorial (IFM) Fund, endowed through a generous gift from the family of former University Trustee Thomas Flatley, who died in 2008. Fr. Emmanuel was awarded an IFM grant to install 10,000-liter water tanks as well as latrines at some of the schools in the parish. The grant also enabled the purchase of books and school supplies and the establishment of a lunch program for schoolchildren ages five to 15. Funds also were provided to purchase 200-liter rain barrels for the elderly and families so they can collect rainwater from their roofs.

The advances have “brought a great change in the lives of the schoolchildren and the community at large,” said Fr. Emmanuel. “The students were so excited to have books. We are experiencing a big food shortage that has led to high food prices that are too much for some families to bear. Students and parents were so excited about the lunch program.

“I’m glad that my dream of helping people is coming true because of Boston College and the Irish Famine Fund. I’m able to help people with water and education,” he added.

The next project on Fr. Emmanuel’s agenda is the building of a new church and rectory to replace the parish’s 87-year-old central church and rectory that have been devastated by termites and recently condemned.

Another long-term goal of Fr. Emmanuel is the development of a sustainable agriculture program. He believes there may be opportunities to tap into a local spring for water. The community would benefit from the food grown, but it is not his first priority.  “The people have been asking me about irrigation, but it’s impossible to think about feeding a plant when a child is dying without water.

“My dream is a water collection, purification and distribution system,” said Fr. Emmanuel, noting that the nearby hospital does not have clean, running water. “Water is life.

“I do what I can and the rest, God does.”

Proponents may sue Calgary Catholic school board over HPV vaccination

CALGARY - 

Health activists say they’re preparing to sue the city’s Catholic school board for its adamant refusal to allow HPV vaccinations on their property.

HPV Calgary’s Dr. Ian Mitchell said the board’s failure to include the issue at its Wednesday board meeting shows there’s no alternative but to seek legal action on what he calls a life-and-death matter.

“It was the previous board that took this action to ban it and in the past two years this board has never discussed it,” Mitchell said, adding a court showdown would also force a debate with the board.

“We haven’t heard any reasonable argument of why no vaccinations.”

The board said it takes much of its direction on the issue from Alberta’s Roman Catholic bishops who view use of the vaccine — which prevents sexually-borne cervical cancer — as an invitation for teen girls to become promiscuous.

Mitchell said there’s never been a link between sexual behaviour and the vaccine and adds that stance isn’t even one held by the Vatican or Canadian bishops as a whole.

“It seems ridiculous … it’s not even Catholic theology,” he said.

School vaccinations, Mitchell said, are a far more effective way to administer since busy or low-income families without vehicles find it harder to arrange outside schools.

Mitchell said his group will raise funds for the legal action, but hopes the board will revisit the issue rather than spend taxpayers’ money on the fight.

But board chairwoman Mary Martin said there’ll be no change in its position.

“There’s nothing now that would change its course,” she said.

While Edmonton’s Catholic schools allow the vaccine, Martin said the Calgary board is bound to take direction from Alberta bishops.

“There’s no such thing as a health class taught without the background of our faith,” she said.

But Martin also said the board has worked with Alberta Health Services to enable any family to receive the vaccine at clinics.

“We’ve taken additional steps of ensuring we’ll get them there,” she said.

“We’re leaving it squarely in the hands of parents.”

HVP Calgary says the board is abdicating its democratic responsibility by taking direction from bishops.

But Martin said their students’ parents expect just that.

bill.kaufmann@sunmedia.ca

Twitter: @SUNBillKaufmann

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

• Yes, it’s a simple health issue.

• It should be up to them.

• No, nobody be forced to offer anything.

Vote

or view results

0%

0 votes

Yes, it’s a simple health issue.

0%

0 votes

It should be up to them.

0%

0 votes

No, nobody be forced to offer anything.

« Return to Poll

Proponents may sue Calgary Catholic school board over HPV vaccination

CALGARY - 

Health activists say they’re preparing to sue the city’s Catholic school board for its adamant refusal to allow HPV vaccinations on their property.

HPV Calgary’s Dr. Ian Mitchell said the board’s failure to include the issue at its Wednesday board meeting shows there’s no alternative but to seek legal action on what he calls a life-and-death matter.

“It was the previous board that took this action to ban it and in the past two years this board has never discussed it,” Mitchell said, adding a court showdown would also force a debate with the board.

“We haven’t heard any reasonable argument of why no vaccinations.”

The board said it takes much of its direction on the issue from Alberta’s Roman Catholic bishops who view use of the vaccine — which prevents sexually-borne cervical cancer — as an invitation for teen girls to become promiscuous.

Mitchell said there’s never been a link between sexual behaviour and the vaccine and adds that stance isn’t even one held by the Vatican or Canadian bishops as a whole.

“It seems ridiculous … it’s not even Catholic theology,” he said.

School vaccinations, Mitchell said, are a far more effective way to administer since busy or low-income families without vehicles find it harder to arrange outside schools.

Mitchell said his group will raise funds for the legal action, but hopes the board will revisit the issue rather than spend taxpayers’ money on the fight.

But board chairwoman Mary Martin said there’ll be no change in its position.

“There’s nothing now that would change its course,” she said.

While Edmonton’s Catholic schools allow the vaccine, Martin said the Calgary board is bound to take direction from Alberta bishops.

“There’s no such thing as a health class taught without the background of our faith,” she said.

But Martin also said the board has worked with Alberta Health Services to enable any family to receive the vaccine at clinics.

“We’ve taken additional steps of ensuring we’ll get them there,” she said.

“We’re leaving it squarely in the hands of parents.”

HVP Calgary says the board is abdicating its democratic responsibility by taking direction from bishops.

But Martin said their students’ parents expect just that.

bill.kaufmann@sunmedia.ca

Twitter: @SUNBillKaufmann

Friday, September 14, 2012

• Yes, it’s a simple health issue.

• It should be up to them.

• No, nobody be forced to offer anything.

Vote

or view results

0%

0 votes

Yes, it’s a simple health issue.

0%

0 votes

It should be up to them.

0%

0 votes

No, nobody be forced to offer anything.

« Return to Poll

In the Face of the State: The Church Too Is a Res Publica, a Public Thing

Click here to advertise on CatholicCulture.org

On the Culture

In the Face of the State: The Church Too Is a Res Publica, a Public Thing

email
print

By Dr. Jeff Mirus (bio – articles – send a comment) | September 10, 2012 4:38 PM

From Our Store: Essays in Apologetics, Volume I (eBook)

Remember when questions about religious “displays” were raised primarily with respect to public property? In the United States, at least, the question has typically revolved around whether a particular manifestation of religious faith on public (that is, government) property constituted a forbidden “establishment of religion” in Constitutional law. There have been similar concerns in Europe, such as questions about the presence of crucifixes in Italian classrooms.

The history of this issue in many countries is quite interesting, especially as these countries have become more secular. One remembers, for example, the impact of the famous Bundy legislation in New York State, which encouraged the elimination of religious symbols in Catholic schools so that they could receive various forms of state aid. But now, in the United Kingdom, this question is being extended to clothing. At the European Court of Human Rights, attorneys for the UK have argued that Christians do not have a right to wear a crucifix to work.

To work! Now the classic “public space” argument is shifting to the work environment. “There is a difference between the professional sphere where your religious beliefs conflict with other interests and the private sphere,” argued the attorneys. It used to be that we discussed the difference between “public and private”, but now we are discussing the difference between “professional and private”. What does this mean?

Pope Benedict is afraid that it means religious liberty will soon be confined to freedom of worship in church. Not long ago, Phil Lawler made a similar argument, when he noticed that according to the Obama administration, only churches—not individuals—can claim religious freedom.

There is a certain logic here. For a modern secularist, religion is essentially reduced to a private sentiment that ought not to be intruded upon others, unless they happen to share the same sentiment in a specifically religious space. The idea that religious faith could be anything but private is essentially incomprehensible to those who regard religion as irrational, as a disconnected series of ad hoc ideas that happen to make some people feel more comfortable, but which has no relevance outside of personal emotional balance (or imbalance). This equating of religion with mere sentiment was already very advanced in the 19th century. Blessed John Henry Newman argued against it constantly in England. As the twentieth century progressed, even most Christians began to lose a sense of the public aspects of their faith. In view of the immense diversity of religion, they began to reason, it must be the case that religion is essentially a private and even a peculiar thing, almost an idiosyncrasy.

And now, given the rise of the comprehensive modern State, the idea of “private” is slowly being redefined to whatever space the State considers to be essentially irrelevant. Things are private when they are isolated to individuals and small collections of individuals, so that they have no chance of exerting any influence wider than that. If unwanted ideas acquire a broader influence, then they must be prohibited in the space where their influence reaches, because by this new definition private things should not be influential things. With respect to religion, this restriction, as opposed to forthright prohibition, defuses opposition because so many are able to make the excuse that, on balance, it is only fair to limit the manifestation of private sentiments and peculiarities.

In response to all this there is some merit in the usual argument that the separation of Church and State does not require the separation of religion from our public life together, and this is true as far as it goes. But the real antidote is to insist on the fundamentally public nature of religion. It is not only the political order that is “public”. The spiritual and moral order is “public” as well, in the sense that it affects all of us, it deals with the whole spectrum of life and action on which the common good depends, and through the natural law it must actually be sovereign in human affairs. Indeed, it is precisely because of this public character of religion that religious divisions are so devastating to the health of culture and society, and that the decline and disappearance of religious influence is even more devastating.

The Catholic Church in particular is a public institution, with authority to guide the entire human race in its understanding not only of Divine Revelation, assent to which cannot be required, but also of the natural law which again, by virtue of its general accessibility to all through innate human perception, provides the moral framework for the development of society and culture as a matter of basic justice.

For this reason, the first response that Catholics must make when the State tries to privatize religion is to insist, against the State, that the Church also has a public claim, a claim which actually transcends and circumscribes the claims of the State. It is not the State which determines the ends of the Church or the means by which the Church may operate, but the Church which alone can determine the proper ends of the State and the legitimate means by which the State may govern. If the State (or government in a more general sense) has a public character because it is entrusted with the common good in the practical affairs of this world, the Church (or religious authority in a more general sense) has a public character because it is entrusted with the common spiritual and moral destiny of all.

By its very nature, then, authentic religion is not and cannot be a merely private thing. And regardless of how this applies to religious beliefs which lack a firm foundation in reality, we must maintain that Catholicism is not a private Faith, and that the Catholic Church is not a private institution. We need to change our attitude, and we must manifest this changed attitude publicly. It is ludicrous for the State to claim that religion is private and that the Catholic faith must be confined to the space the State assigns to it. This is like claiming that water may run only when pumped, that reality may be discussed only when nobody is present to respond, or that citizens may think for themselves only in storm cellars on the third Tuesday of each month.

No. Religion is a public thing, and in particular the claims of the Catholic Church are irrevocably public, especially when she explains the natural law, outlines the requirements of justice, or articulates the limits of the State. Anything less than this cedes essential territory. I will develop this argument in the future, but for now please make a note: The Church is a public institution in possession of a public authority. The Catholic faith has serious implications for life as a whole, and for the civil authority itself. The State may persecute the Church, but the State cannot alter reality by defining the Church to be something she is not. In other words, the State cannot make the Church a private thing and Catholics commit a serious sin when they lie to themselves and others in order to perpetuate this myth.

Read more from On the Culture

Next post

All comments are moderated. To lighten our editing burden, only current donors are allowed to Sound Off. If you are a donor, log in to see the comment form; otherwise please support our work, and Sound Off!

Faith first

THE Ministry of Education has reiterated that it remains open to the staffing requests of schools run by religious institutions.

This comes after an alleged refusal by the Public Service Commission to consider a submission from the Catholic Board of Education requesting that heads of their schools belong to the Catholic faith.

Public Service Commission permanent secretary Parmesh Chand is out of the country and would comment when he returns.

Director of Catholic Education Remesio Rogovakalali had said in a letter last week, the PSC had turned down a Catholic Education delegation request for Catholic schools to have Catholic head teachers.

“Our submission was to ensure that Catholic schools are headed by head teachers and principals who belong to the Catholic faith, to safeguard the Catholic character of Catholic schools,” Mr Rogovakalali said.

He said the rejection by the PSC could lead to the eventual death of the character, culture and values of Catholic schools and Catholic education in Fiji and Rotuma.

There are 63 educational institutions in the Catholic education system. These include 44 primary schools 17 secondary schools, one teachers’ training college and one vocational institution.

However, Minister for Education Filipe Bole said the ministry understood requests of schools run by religious institutions to have head teachers of the same faith leading the schools.

“Any school authority that needs the principal or head teacher to be of the same faith can approach the Ministry of Education and we will facilitate this,” Mr Bole said.

He said there were obvious reasons for school boards wanting teachers of similar faith — one of them being better understanding.

“The stand of the Ministry is that the view of the schools need to be taken into account.”

“We have had cases where the school board has asked for headteachers of the same faith to lead the school and they have sought our assistance and we have given it,” Mr Bole said.

“Of course there have also been cases where the school has agreed to have a headteacher of a different faith in the past,” he added.

Meanwhile the Methodist Church in Fiji has come out in support of the Catholic Education board saying they shared the same stance.

“In the Methodist Church that is the standing policy,” Reverend Nawadra said.

“The head of school and assistant need to be Methodist but there were times when difficulties arose, someone left in the middle of the year and no one was found to be of the same level.”

“So someone of a different denomination takes the post until a Methodist is found,” he said.

“Part of our mission is to see that children are brought up in the Christian way and someone with that background can understand that,” he added.

President of the Arya Sanatan Dharm Pratinidhi Sabha Fiji Dewan Chand Maharaj said he understood the positions taken by the Methodists and Catholics.

However he said the main concern for the Sanatan run schools was education quality.

“We are not that fussy, just as long as the students get quality education we are happy,” he said.

• Email to a friend
• Print this story
• Back to top