Woodstock Report | Catholicly Educated

What does it mean to be Catholicly educated? Where are the examples and experiences that illustrate the authenticity of Catholic institutions of higher learning? Those were among the questions pursued as Woodstock went on the road November 30 and held an evening of conversation at Xavier High School in New York City.

The two speakers suggested ways of reflecting on the topic through an examination of the life and legacy of Monika Hellwig, an eminent theologian, a servant of American Catholic colleges and universities, and in her final days, a senior Woodstock research fellow. Six months ago, she died suddenly after suffering a massive stroke (see November 2005 Woodstock Report).

The conversation involved 25 people including religious education teachers at New York high schools, and was titled "On Being Catholicly Educated: The Example of Monika Hellwig." In commending her example, Woodstock senior research fellow John C. Haughey, S.J., alluded to the notion of "catholicity," in the (religiously charged) sense of openness and universality.

"In brief, catholicity is a quality that needs to be given much attention. It's a lot easier to discover in a person than to define in the abstract. It is easy to bear witness to it if one knows or knew a Monika," said Haughey. "There was a capaciousness in her understanding and, although her ideas were well thought through, there was an openness to having them confronted because of her reverence for the interlocutor. She brought a rich interiority to every interaction but she never foreclosed on an alternate voice, even voices that couldn't yet word their need."

Haughey added, referring to the three children that Hellwig adopted, "Mothering, fathering is probably a good condition for inducing one to develop the quality of catholicity!"

In his understanding, Catholic education has quite a lot to do with catholicity, in the expansive sense that he attributed to Hellwig - which ultimately is about seeing God's presence in all things. Her catholicism didn't miss this universality.

What have leaders of Catholic higher education learned from Hellwig's example as well as from the decades-long conversation about institutional identity and purpose, in the midst of an often-polarized debate? Joseph A. O'Hare, S.J., spoke from this perspective as president emeritus of Fordham University in New York, and following the event, Woodstock director Gasper F. Lo Biondo, S.J., asked O'Hare to continue his analysis for publication by Woodstock. What follows here is a partial version of O'Hare's text, which is available in full at Woodstock's Web site.

Joseph A. O'Hare, S.J.

Exploring Identity and Mission

By Joseph A. O'Hare, S.J.

In the November 28, 2005, issue of America magazine, the president emeritus of Georgetown University, Leo J. O'Donovan, S.J., paid tribute to Monika Hellwig, who was a member of the Georgetown theological faculty from 1967 until 1996, when she left Georgetown to become executive director and later president of the Association of Catholic College and Universities, a position she held until August 2005. It was in the latter role that I worked with Monika for eight years, and much of our shared attention during those years was devoted to the continuing conversation about the Catholic identity and mission of the more than 200 colleges and universities that belonged to the Association.

At the center of that conversation was the recurrent question of whether Catholic institutions that were independent of ecclesial jurisdiction could be nonetheless "really Catholic" because of the continuing commitment of those responsible for the institution. One could oversimplify that conversation by saying it concerned the relationship between control and commitment. Could an institution be committed to the Catholic intellectual and religious tradition without being directly under the control of canon law? In reflecting on the personal witness of Monika Hellwig's life, it is clear that Monika was thoroughly committed to the Church without being controlled by it. As a theologian she thoughtfully explored the implications of Catholic doctrine for the pastoral and personal needs of individuals of faith and individuals seeking faith.

It is clear that Monika was thoroughly committed to the Church without being controlled by it.

During her years as leader of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, Monika patiently responded to those critics who continued to argue that Catholic colleges and universities could not be committed to their Catholic identity and mission unless they were clearly under the juridical control of ecclesiastical authorities. Many of us thought that the question had been resolved with the publication of [the Holy See's] Ex Corde Ecclesia in 1990, which accepted the legitimacy of institutional autonomy when it affirmed that even in institutions where the bishops do not participate in the governance of the institution, they should not be considered extrinsic to the life of the university. The question seemed to surface again, however, in the prolonged exchange between the American Catholic bishops and the Vatican Congregation for Education concerning the development of regional norms for the application of Ex Corde Ecclesia to the United States and, in particular, the obligation of Catholic theologians to seek certification (a mandatum) from their local bishop. In the end, the bishops defined this obligation as a personal one between the individual theologian and the local bishop, leaving the question of institutional autonomy untouched. More recently, however, an official of the Vatican Congregation on Education suggested in a speech at Notre Dame some weeks ago that perhaps an "evangelical pruning" of Catholic institutions would be necessary under Benedict XVI to identify those that were authentically Catholic.

Whatever tensions may have been at work at different moments in this decades-long conversation, I believe that the conversation has had a transforming influence on Catholic colleges and universities in the United States. On all of our campuses, the issues of identity and mission continue to be explored in a variety of ways. Recognizing that the faculty will be at the center of the actual life of a university, programs to recruit faculty members who are likely to be sympathetic to the Catholic identity of our institutions have been emphasized. Even more important, perhaps, programs for the continued orientation of new faculty after they have been hired have been introduced, as have institutes in Catholic studies and discussion groups that engage senior and junior faculty in continuing exploration of themes arising from the institution's Catholic identity. At their best, in my experience, these programs are part of a continuing conversation, encouraged perhaps by the office of identity and mission, wherever that is located in the institutional structure, but deriving their energy and enthusiasm from the faculty themselves, rather than faculty responding to the mandates of central administrators. Responsibility for the Catholic identity and mission of the institution is everyone's responsibility.

Conversation rather than control has been the source of a renewal of a sense of Catholic identity and mission on our American Catholic campuses. Conversation had led to new initiatives, too often overlooked by those watchdogs of orthodoxy who seem to believe that the Catholic identity of an institution is determined by the boundaries such institutions observe rather than by the initiatives they undertake in developing programs that are inspired by the Catholic intellectual and religious tradition. To be more specific: is the authenticity of an institution's Catholic identity determined by its vigilance in never inviting a public figure who supports pro-choice legislation to give a lecture or receive an honorary degree? Does this test, which seems to be the consuming preoccupation of groups like the Cardinal Newman Society, override any judgment about the Catholic character of the intellectual and pastoral life of the university? Are Catholic institutions to be judged primarily by what they do not do, without any discernible interest on the part of self-appointed watchdogs of orthodoxy in the positive undertakings they should pursue?

Conversation rather than control has been the source of a renewal of . Catholic identity and mission on our American Catholic campuses.

In recruiting new faculty, we have come to recognize more and more clearly that what can appear to be an impeccable Catholic pedigree is no guarantee that an individual will actually be interested in promoting the Catholic identity and mission of the institution, at least once tenure is achieved. On the other hand, faculty members from other religious traditions or none, who are interested in questions of value beyond the narrow boundaries of their own disciplines, can often be engaged participants in this important dimension of a Catholic university's life.

In fact, over the past several years, as we have wrestled with this crisis of leadership in the Catholic Church in the United States in the wake of the sexual abuse scandals, I have wondered if the experience of Catholic institutions of higher education in the United States could be instructive for the wider catholic community. Is continuing conversation, rather than assertion of juridical control, the better path to the restoration of trust in Catholic leadership in the Church? An increasingly educated and disappointed Catholic people recognize the need for moral authority, indeed seek it desperately in a time of shifting cultural values, but do not automatically recognize that authority in any assertion of canonical control or clerical position.

The lessons learned on our campuses . may suggest a piece of the strategy needed for restoring a sense of moral authority in the Catholic Church in the United States.

I believe the conversation about Catholic identity and mission, now more than three decades old, has helped transform our institutions and enriched our lives. I believe that many of our bishops, who have been partners in this conversation with us, have a better understanding of the contribution that Catholic higher education in this country has made and can make to the Church in the United States as it pursues its mission of evangelization of culture. At this moment of crisis in our Church, I also dare to suggest that the lessons learned on our campuses, of sympathetic listening and respect for diversity of opinions, may suggest a piece of the strategy needed for restoring a sense of moral authority in the Catholic Church in the United States.

The full text of Joseph O'Hare's speech is available here.