Catholic Higher Education

The Catholic Higher Education project, under the direction of John Haughey, S.J., explores how a university can remain faithful to Catholic tradition, even as it becomes more "catholic" (or "universal") in the academic disciplines that it embraces and the backgrounds of faculty and students that find a home on campus. A current problem on many campuses is the way in which academic specialization and "careerism" can narrow the focus of faculty and students, and obscure a university's more holistic responsibility of developing students into well-integrated individuals. This project proposes a coherent and contemporary approach to Catholicity that can help energize and unite both Catholic and non-Catholic faculty in addressing this challenge. In line with the inclusive vision of Vatican II, this project's publications and workshops will help these institutions to appreciate how Catholic tradition does not threaten the integrity of their academic disciplines, but rather calls all disciplines to contribute to the full development of students as integrated human beings. It also hopes to help these colleges and universities widen their sense of mission in the direction of Catholicity.

On February 3, 2007, John Haughey was awarded the Monika K. Hellwig award for outstanding contributions to Catholic intellectual life by the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities. You can read his remarks on that occasion in the March 2007 Woodstock Report.

Also featured in that issue of the Woodstock Report was a detailed description of the project and sample discussion starters from the faculty workshops.