by Thomas P. Harmon
Most Catholics know that our Catholic colleges are not what they once were, but those same Catholics are often unaware of how urgently renewal is needed. Without an immediate rededication to the spiritual as well as the academic development of students, the faith of another generation is at stake.
Catholic identity discussions today center around the mandatum for theologians and issues of institutional fidelity to the Church. But despite their importance, Catholic identity and the reasons for the mandatum are awfully abstract ideas, and sometimes the debate and confusion over these abstract ideas obscure the urgent and pronounced problems that exist in today’s American Catholic colleges and universities.
The bottom line is: students at Catholic colleges tend to emerge from those colleges less devout, practicing their faith less, and believing less what the Church teaches. In many areas, the secularization of Catholic students is more extreme than in secular institutions.
Facts and Figures
A decade ago, UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute released a study of American college students, and there is no reason to believe the results have changed all that much. One might expect a Catholic education to foster conversions and vocations to the religious life, but the study found quite the opposite.
The study found that the percentage of students at Catholic colleges who attended a religious service in the past year went from 91.3% among freshman down to 83.3% for seniors.
Only 11.5% of Catholic college seniors reported much stronger religious beliefs and convictions than when they entered college. That’s fewer students than at Protestant colleges (18.1%) and even public four-year universities (12.4%).
Students professing to be Roman Catholic dropped slightly overall from 75.7% to 72.1% and severely among men from 81.1% to 74.1%. Distressingly, whereas .7% of Catholic college freshman reported vocations to the religious life, only .2% of graduating Catholic college students still had those plans.
Support for legalized abortion among Catholic colleges students increased shockingly from 40.4% to 58.5%. That’s an increase of more than eighteen percent, a far more dramatic change than at other private and public colleges!
Instead of passing on the faith and winning converts, American Catholic colleges appear to be de-Catholicizing their students even more effectively than secular universities. Instead of taking up the Holy Father’s call for a New Evangelization, American Catholic colleges have become purveyors of the Culture of Death. Instead of educating in the faith they have led to the abandonment of that faith to a significant degree.
In most cases, these results are caused by neglect and not deliberate action by Catholic colleges. To no small extent, they represent the larger problem of “faith illiteracy” that confronts our Church today. But the results are shameful nonetheless.
Remaining on Guard
In order to escape Catholic colleges these days with both a degree and an intact faith, Catholic students need to be on guard and they need to be proactive.
Oftentimes, a devout Catholic will enter college with the conviction that all who claim to be Catholic believe in the teachings of the Church. As this Catholic student will discover, this is not the case, especially in universities where administrators and faculty tolerate or even foster a culture of dissent. In these situations, the pressure to conform to the dominant culture of dissent can be crushing. When peers, priests, and professors openly question, deny, and even mock the Magisterium, a Catholic student will usually find it difficult to maintain confidence in his or her convictions.
In such situations, it is important for the student to find a community within the university to support him or her. Usually, they already exist. Sometimes they are organized around a certain club, such as a pro-life club, the Knights of Columbus Council, the Catholic Studies club, a community of students who attend daily Mass, a Marian group, a group dedicated to Eucharistic adoration, or an alternative Catholic campus newspaper.
A peer group of committed Catholic students and faculty provides foundational support and counteracts the sense of loneliness that students can encounter. Catholic fellowship can be an important consolation and a bulwark against the ravages of the “theology lite” peddled at many Catholic universities.
Catholic peer groups can usually direct a concerned student to good Catholic mentors on campus. If a professor of theology or a campus minister denies a truth of the faith, it is helpful to have another adult with whom to speak about what the Church actually teaches about such matters. These adults are usually sensitive to the student’s situation and more than willing to help.
If possible, it is also important for the student to find a good priest for spiritual direction. If the student can find a good spiritual director, then an otherwise persecuted four years of religious observance can turn into a time of unprecedented spiritual growth.
Sometimes all it takes to give students confidence in their faith is for one or two people on campus, students or faculty, to speak up and perhaps challenge dissenters, thereby breaking the perception of isolation for faithful Catholics. These incidents, in which an individual or a small community witnesses to the faith, can snowball quickly. Sometimes a vital, strong orthodox voice can grow up on campus almost overnight because of the witness of a few. There are usually more faithful Catholics on campus than one might realize at first.
Confronting Dissent
In extreme cases, if dissent on campus becomes intolerable, the student may wish to do something about it.
As with most bureaucracies, Catholic colleges are very good at damage control. So, if the college invites an objectionable speaker to campus, or a theologian dissents from the Magisterium in a theology class, or the health center refers to Planned Parenthood or dispenses contraception, or the campus liturgies are invalid, make sure to get as much information as possible: time the scandal occurred, exact words spoken, where it took place, etc. The more details the better.
It is often prudent to approach the party involved to ask if your interpretation of events is accurate and even to get the details of the event down in writing with the signatures of those involved. Be sure to respect the chain of command. Approach each proper authority in turn so that you cannot be accused of mishandling the situation.
If the faculty and administration at the college are unresponsive, then it is certainly within your rights to write to the bishop. Most dioceses have websites with contact information. It may also be appropriate for you to contact the Cardinal Newman Society (www.cardinalnewmansociety.org; phone: 703-536-9585) at this point with your complaint. The Cardinal Newman Society has various resources to support students in such situations.
Most of all, though, the Catholic student needs to pray, avail themselves of the sacraments, and make time for spiritual reading. These are the keys to growth in college and beyond.
© Copyright 2002 Catholic Exchange
(Thomas P. Harmon is president of the Association of Students at Catholic Colleges and a senior majoring in philosophy at Gonzaga University in Spokane, WA.)