How Can Catholic Identity Be Protected?
Thursday April 3, 2008
4:30-6:00pm
McShain Lounge at McCarthy Hall
Open to the public
RSVP requested: berkleycenter@georgetown.edu
To be Catholic, does a university need a faculty composed predominantly of Catholics, or can a majority non-Catholic faculty pursue higher education within a Catholic tradition?
One answer came from Holy Cross priest and Notre Dame history professor, Wilson Miscamble, who wrote an article on "The Faculty 'Problem': How Can Catholic Identity be Preserved?" (America September, 2007). He argued that the Catholic University "has increasingly lost its distinctive content and [has] come to resemble what occurs in secular institutions of higher learning." In order to preserve its Catholic identity, a University like Notre Dame must rely upon a predominant number of Catholic intellectuals on its faculty. He called for two-thirds of all faculty appointments to be committed Catholic scholars.
Chester Gillis argues that hiring for mission or Catholic identity is much more complex than Professor Miscamble indicates. Naturally, Catholic universities have an interest in preserving their religious identity and should work towards this goal so that they do not become institutions with solely historic ties to their Catholic founders. Acheiving this, however, is more complex than merely having a certain number of Catholics among their ranks.