Ten Ways To Renew Catholic Colleges
by Patrick J. Reilly - August 31, 2005
Reprinted with permission from our good friends at InsideCatholic.com, the leading online journal of Catholic faith, culture, and politics.
Most alumni of Catholic colleges and universities in the United States are blind to what is troubling Catholic higher education today. Despite increased public awareness of scandals at many Catholic colleges, including pro-abortion commencement speakers, campus performances of The Vagina Monologues , and dissident and heretical theology professors, alumni publications rarely hint at the controversies on campus.
But for those faithful alumni who are aware of the scandals, it is cause for great dismay. Alumni often feel powerless to stop the secularization that has engulfed many Catholic colleges, frequently with the tacit approval of college officials, faculty, and staff.
But there are ways that alumni can have a significant impact and contribute to the growing movement for the renewal of Catholic higher education. Since 1990, when Pope John Paul II issued the apostolic constitution Ex Corde Ecclesiae , Catholic colleges have increasingly demonstrated a willingness to embrace their religious heritage. Alumni have played an important role by urging them on.
What follows are ten ways alumni can help improve Catholic colleges. The suggestions draw on my twelve years of working with alumni through the Cardinal Newman Society, a national organization dedicated to strengthening Catholic identity at American Catholic colleges, and my leadership of a now-defunct association of alumni from Fordham University.
1. Get Informed
The first and most important step toward strengthening the Catholic identity of your alma mater is to get informed about what is happening on campus and in the Church and share that information with others.
Especially when angered by scandal or slighted by misrepresentation, one can be tempted to fire off an angry letter before getting all the facts. Limited time to study an issue, or the sometimes difficult process of digging for details about happenings on campus, can seem justification for skipping the process altogether. Worse, one may be quick to assume the truth of a rumor simply because it appears consistent with a college's past actions.
