One of the things that I miss of my days spent in Milford, Connecticut, is the common sense that is embedded in the community and that was part of my upbringing. I graduated from Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, in the late 1980s and then moved south to go to graduate school. But, when I was young, I took for granted the direct and blue-collar way of looking at things that I was raised with. Later, I realized that not all people and not all areas of the country are quite as level-headed. 

Of course, as in other places, these common-sense things are not uniformly held in Connecticut, either. For example, let’s take Sacred Heart, my beloved university (beloved, literally). Sacred Heart was established as a Catholic college in 1963, the year of my birth. The university was founded as a way to give second-generation immigrant kids an affordable college education, under a Catholic umbrella. 

In a way, I am a minor emblem, as my grandfather moved here from Ireland, and I was the first person in my family to go to college. When I started at Sacred Heart, it was a commuting school. It has come a long way from those days. The leadership and school have made great progress.  

But, there are some recent trends that bother me. In the past few years, Sacred Heart has made several public statements and taken several initiatives to support gender ideology. Recently, they have stepped it up even more and hired a “Manager of LGBTQ+ Affairs,” who leads the school’s new Sexuality and Gender Equity Center. Now, you might think you know where I am going on this, as this is a politically loaded subject, but I think my perspective is different. I do definitely think the topic needs to be addressed squarely. 

At the risk of calling out the obvious, Catholics are Christians. The center of the Church is Christ, and any responsible reading of the Bible shows that Jesus was more than a Gandhi-like, Hollywood-fabricated peaceful figure — he had a definite point of view. 

So, if Sacred Heart University is a Catholic school, and Catholics are Christians, and Christ is the embodiment of Christianity, and we know the set of beliefs that Christ held, we have a distinct set of values and way of doing things. This is true even when we make mistakes, which we all do. We all sometimes err against that set of discreet beliefs. I do. But, the point is that there is a distinct set of beliefs — a playbook so to speak.    

If a group of people is clearly not adhering to that set of beliefs, it does not mean we don’t accept them. It does not necessarily mean they are going to hell — that’s not our call. But, it could mean that we don’t pull their philosophy into our own. 

If I am a Democrat and I have a set of beliefs, I don’t hate a Republican. While I may even let that person join my party, I am pretty certain I would not embrace the totality of their point of view right within my own party. I don’t think I would hire a Vice President of Republicanism in my Democratic party.  Moreover, I would not, as a Democrat, want to change our platform to accommodate a Republican convert. 

Now, a major argument to this, of course (since there seems to be an argument for everything) is that we as Christians should embrace our fellow man. And, I believe this. But, of course, in this case, this is a silly argument, since there is a definite difference between loving your neighbor and embracing your neighbor’s set of house rules. I am also not even saying whether one point of view is better than the other; I am saying each is simply different from the other. 

The other thing that occurs to me is more plain and less abstract. I believe it is something on which reasonable people can agree. From my recollection, calculus was pretty hard. I don’t know if they have invented a new way to make calculus any easier in the past 35 years, but I wonder if maybe the school should focus on the subject matter of its courses — it seems to me like this is a steep enough job. At root, this is the point of college, at least primarily. By the way, as an analogy I have been the employer of many talented college kids, and I would say in many cases the kids coming out of school could use some help with lesser things — like reading and writing. Those are not a given.

My larger point is to focus on the basics rather than putting mindshare into things that divert focus away from the basics of a liberal arts education.  

Anyway, it could be just the Milford in me. Maybe I have to go back to college and learn sophisticated and fancy ways to make sense of nonsense. 

 

Brian Hamilton is a nationally-recognized entrepreneur. He is the founder of the Brian Hamilton Foundation and Sageworks (now Abrigo), the country’s first fintech company. He also starred in Free Enterprise, an award-winning show on ABC based on the Inmates to Entrepreneurs program he founded. Hamilton is a native of Milford, Connecticut, who graduated from Sacred Heart University, served on the university’s Board of Trustees and was the first alumnus to give a commencement address at the university.