By Randall Smith
Debates about the “Catholic character” of an institution often arouse strong passions in Catholic colleges and universities. Other “Catholic” organizations should also have these discussions. In fact, when a Catholic institution stops having them, it is usually a bad sign.
Some people think that a “Catholic” university should be like any other, except for a Catholic chapel somewhere on campus.
A second group believes that a “Catholic” school should teach some kind of “ethics.” That students understand they should not cheat in business, lie on tax returns, or break promises. And that they should not be racists. Whatever “ethics” teaches that, teach it.
Members of a third group, somewhat smaller, have the suspicion—which they often dare not express—that it would be good for students to learn some “Catholic” values. What values? For some, they would also be not cheating, not lying on taxes, not breaking promises. Others would add “caring for the poor” and not being racists.
A very small group thinks that the “Catholic character” must permeate the entire education. Students do not need to be Catholic to learn that Catholics hold a certain view on the nature and dignity of the human person; that Catholics believe that the universe is a free act of a single God who created it as an expression of His justice and love, and that we are called to be instruments of that justice and love, helped by grace.
Whether non-Catholics accept these ideas for themselves or not is up to them, but it does not seem an attack on their freedom to tell them what Catholics believe. They might even find it attractive. Many already have.
It also seems reasonable to explain that Catholics believe that the truth of reason and the truth of revelation never contradict each other, because both come from the same God. Under this view, the scientist who arrives at the truth of the created world is “reading the Book of Nature” written by the hand of God. And the literature professor, by opening the minds and imaginations of students, also offers something essential for Catholic education. As St. John Henry Newman understood, both aspects are crucial.
And yet, this matter of “Catholic character” is usually difficult to promote, as difficult as defending liberal arts education. The struggle for both is linked. If you lose one, you will soon lose the other. The university, an institution dedicated to wisdom through a unified vision of the arts and sciences, is a Catholic invention. Catholics should preserve it.
Some professors reject the topic of “Catholic character” because they believe they will be forced to teach Catholic doctrine. But according to the vision proposed here, if they teach with excellence the truth proper to their discipline, they are already—whether they like it or not—offering a Catholic education.
And frankly, it would be absurd to ask them to teach something for which they were not trained. We do not ask theology professors to teach organic chemistry; nor should we ask organic chemistry professors to teach theology. But it is reasonable to ask that theology professors teach Catholic theology. Many do not.
Those who oppose an institution having “Catholic character” often forget something—even those who defend it sometimes forget it too—that Catholic character can be ideological or can be ethical, depending on how we understand “character.”
You can be a “character” in a play, or you can be a “person of character.” Catholicism can be something you mention, that you put in your ads, or it can be something that you embody and do, because it has become your “second nature.” Understood this way, Catholic character would be judged by how people are treated, by justice toward employees and dedication toward students. If that were the Catholic character proposed, would they still oppose it?
A friend recently asked me: “Why are so many Catholic institutions so inhumane?” A professor from another school told me: “I’m not sure I want to work at a Newman Guide school again after how they treated me.” My friend suggested that maybe those schools, believing they do “the big thing” well (whatever they think “the big thing” is), think they don’t need to worry about how they treat their people.
I don’t have an answer, except to say that more Catholic universities and more Catholic institutions (including curias) need a serious examination of conscience. The Church’s teaching on human dignity and the principles of social justice are not for others, but also for us.
You cannot treat people with contempt, without attention to their needs or dignity, and then claim credibility as “Catholic,” whether through a beautiful chapel, an orthodox theology department, or excellent social justice programs.
Whether you consider yourself “wonderfully liberal” or “blessedly conservative”; teach the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, or gender studies and liberation theology; boast of your multicultural Mass or your traditional Latin Mass: if you do not treat people with dignity and respect, you do not have a “Catholic character.” You are professing an ideology, not being Catholic.
About the author
Randall B. Smith is a professor of Theology at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas. His most recent book is From Here to Eternity: Reflections on Death, Immortality, and the Resurrection of the Body.