New President of Assumption College on Role of Catholic Colleges

This is a good sign, a Catholic College President who gets it, Francesco C. Cesareo, PhD of Assumption College in Worcester, MA.

"The challenges currently facing Catholic higher education can be traced to the late 1960s when profound structural changes impacted the religious orientation of Catholic institutions. While Catholic institutions became stronger academically - by imitating their secular counterparts - they paid little or no attention to hiring faculty with a commitment to and understanding of the religious mission of the institution; the sole focus was on academic credentials. The Catholic intellectual tradition, with its emphasis on the compatibility of faith and reason, became less prominent and, in many cases, was lost. Equally important was the shift in student demographics as fewer Catholic students attended Catholic institutions.

At some Catholic colleges, less than half the student body is Catholic. Add to this the trend toward secularism, individualism and the advocacy of a values-free education that does not acknowledge objective truth - especially moral truth - and Catholic institutions are left pondering how they can remain faithful to their religious heritage in meaningful and concrete ways. As Catholic institutions struggle with the tensions that exist between faithfulness to their religious identity and the exchange of ideas that one expects at a college or university, they also hear Pope John Paul II in Ex corde ecclesiae reminding them that these institutions must be places where "Catholicism is vitally present and operative." Catholic institutions have an obligation to engage the Catholic intellectual tradition."

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