An Urgent Message from Fr. Owen Kearns LC, Publisher
What we deliver with our journalism, we cannot deliver without your generosity.
The National Catholic Register needs your help. Revenue from subscriptions and advertising can't keep up with the rising cost of payroll, printing, postage and other expenses. We must rely on donations to make up the difference. To continue our hard-hitting investigative reporting, we need your financial support. Please donate today.
...or click here to learn about donating to specific projects.
Donations to Circle Media are tax-deductible. (Photo credits/CNS)
The National Catholic Register and Faith & Family college guide is made possible through the cooperation of bishops, college presidents, our benefactors, and our advertisers. This year, 28 schools agreed to take our survey.
Mass: “We strongly encourage all our students to frequent the sacraments and to adore Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament oratory. Although we do not have a full-time chaplain on our own campus, we connect our students with local parishes for daily Mass and local priests and religious for confession and spiritual direction.”
Health: “We do not provide student health services. But if we did, we certainly would exclude all referrals to abortion clinics.”
Dorms: “We have a single-sex housing philosophy that intentionally promotes a theology of the body based on Christian anthropology. One hall has both men and women in it, but they are separated by floor with a sophisticated security system that prevents intermingling between floors past visitation hours.” (There are 10 dorms total.)
Mandatum & Oath: “As an online university, our faculty are predominantly adjunct. However, every member of our faculty and staff is approved by the president who is the bishop of the Diocese of Arlington. Since our theology faculty are primarily adjunct, the mandatum is taken in the diocese of their full-time employment.”
Mandatum: “Catholic theologians (and philosophers and canonists) are members of an ecclesiastical faculty and must receive a ‘canonical mission’ from the local bishop/chancellor that obliges them to ‘teach in the name of the Church’ — it is different from the mandatum. They must receive a nihil obstat from the U.S. bishops on the board and from the Holy See before they can be tenured.”
Oath: “The Catholic faculty recite the profession of faith in the presence of and along with the local bishop/chancellor and president at the opening Mass of each academic year. Catholic faculty have not been required to take the oath of fidelity because of the canonical mission / nihil obstat binding the ecclesiastical faculties.”
Dorms: “We have both single-sex residence halls as well as residence halls with floors segregated by gender. New residence halls are under construction.”
Mass: “JP Catholic is tied closely to our local parish, which offers two daily Masses. We offer one campus Mass weekly and confession twice per week on campus. The parish also offers weekly confession and our chaplain is available at all times for spiritual direction. Beginning in [the 2008 school year], we will have a priest student and then we will have Mass daily.”
Oath: “The local bishop has conferred the mandatum through an interview with proposed faculty members, conducted either by the bishop personally or by his appointed vicar general.”
President: “The president is prepared to take the oath of fidelity at any time; however, this was not requested by the local bishop, who did preside at the inauguration.”
Oath: “Our theology professors who teach in the seminary take the oath of fidelity, but those theology professors who teach only in the college are not required to take the oath, as stipulated by canon law.”
Dorms: “Students are segregated by floor or wing requiring card access, and we strictly enforce all visitation policies.”
Mandatum: “Since our archdiocese grants the mandatum only to those with a terminal degree in theology, we do publicly require it of such faculty members.”
Dorms: The university maintains living areas for undergraduate students. These include dormitory/residence rooms, co-ops, and apartments. “Only one dorm, but men and women are separated by floors and by wings.”
To be added to our list of Catholic colleges and
universities, a school must answer the survey questionnaire. N/A (not applicable) answers must be explained. If so desired, No answers may also be explained. (See the guide for examples of explanations.) Send answers to:
Robyn Lee
RegisterCollege Survey
432 Washington Ave
North Haven, CT06473
RLee at
NCRegister.com
Fax:203 230 3838
The Survey
Questionnaire Sources
The Catholic Identity College Survey offers objective questions about a university’s Catholic identity. We designed the survey so that a “YES”answer reflects essential elements of the renewal of Catholic identity called for by Pope John Paul II’s 1990 apostolic constitution on higher education, Ex Corde Ecclesiae (Out of the Heart of the Church), its 2000 Application to the United States, canon law, and other Church documents.
The Institution
President: Canon 833: The president of a Catholic university is personally bound to make a profession of faith, according to the formula approved by the Apostolic See, in the presence of the chancellor or diocesan bishop or a delegate at the beginning of the term of office. The Profession of Faith and the Oath of Fidelity, Acta Apostolicae Sedis 1989: The obligation of a special oath of fidelity has been extended to presidents of Catholic universities.
Board: U.S. Application: “To the extent possible, the majority of the board of trustees should be Catholics committed to the Church.”
Faculty: U.S. Application: “The university should strive to recruit and appoint Catholics as professors so that, to the extent possible, those committed to the witness of the faith will constitute a majority of the faculty.”
The Mandatum: Canon 812: It is necessary that Catholic theologians have a mandatum from the diocesan bishop.
Pope John Paul II (to American bishops, 2004): “By their very nature, Catholic colleges and universities are called to offer an institutional witness of fidelity to Christ and to his word as it comes to us from the Church, a public witness expressed in the canonical requirement of the mandatum. “
U.S. Application: “Catholic students have a right to receive from a university instruction in authentic Catholic doctrine and practice, especially from theologians.”
Mandatum text: “I hereby declare my role and responsibility as a teacher of a theological discipline within the full communion of the Church. As a teacher of a theological discipline, therefore, I am committed to teach authentic Catholic doctrine and to refrain from putting forth as Catholic teaching anything contrary to the Church’s magisterium.”
U.S. Application: “If a particular professor lacks a mandatum and continues to teach a theological discipline, the university must determine what further action may be taken in accordance with its own mission and statutes.”
Oath: Canon 833: Catholic theologians are personally bound to make a profession of faith, according to the formula approved by the Apostolic See, in the presence of the university president if he is a priest, or the diocesan bishop or a delegate, at the beginning of their term of office.
The Profession of Faith and the Oath of Fidelity, Acta Apostolicae Sedis 1989: The obligation of a special oath of fidelity has been extended to Catholic theology professors.
Campus Culture
Daily Mass: U.S. Application: “Catholic students have a right to be provided with opportunities to practice the faith through participation in Mass, the sacraments, religious devotions, and other authentic forms of Catholic spirituality.”The university “shall make provision for effective campus ministry programs, including the celebration of the sacraments, especially the Eucharist and penance, other liturgical celebrations, and opportunities for prayer and spiritual reflection.”
Speakers: The U.S. Bishops’ 2004 Catholics in Political Life: “Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles. They should not be given awards, honors, or platforms that would suggest support for their actions.”
Clubs: U.S. Application: “It is important for Catholic universities to implement in practical terms their commitment to the essential elements of Catholic identity, including activities of officially recognized student and faculty organizations and associations.”
Dorms: U.S. Application: “It is important for Catholic universities to implement in practical terms their commitment to the essential elements of Catholic identity, including the commitment to create a campus culture and environment that is expressive and supportive of a Catholic way of life.”
Health: U.S. Application: “It is important for Catholic universities to implement in practical terms their commitment to the essential elements of Catholic identity, including the commitment to provide health care in conformity with the Church’s ethical and religious teaching and directives.”
Advertisement
Advertisement
Make a Donation now!
Insightful. Informative. Uncompromisingly faithful. The National Catholic Register is more than a newspaper. It’s a cause. Your support for the Register funds important journalism that helps to build a Culture of Life in our nation, and throughout the world. Help us promote the Church’s New Evangelization by donating to the National Catholic Register right now.
.
