AUGUST 2004 - ISSUE 3 - ISSN 1448 - 632

Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 2003. pp. x, 51.

The idea of a Catholic university may seem to some an anachronism, at best, and, at worst, a nonsense.  Certainly this may be the case for many of the positivist-empiricists in the science faculties of modern secular universities, for whom the spatiotemporal universe is the measure of all things, or to their archenemies, the postmodernists, in the humanities faculties, for whom an understanding of anything is hopelessly contingent.  On the contrary, argues Roche in this essay, the idea of a Catholic university is both coherent and has contemporary value.

The essay began life in 2002 as a conference paper with a more limited focus and, as the title implies, owes something to the famous Dublin Discourses of Newman.  But the author’s intention is to characterize not the university but the Catholic university, and from a point in time when universities have changed much since Newman’s era.

For Roche, a Catholic university has absorbed many of the best features of the modern secular university and of the Protestant universities of Europe and North America.  It welcomes students and staff from many faiths and no faith; it respects academic freedom and the importance of research; it teaches its students to be intellectually ambitious and to analyse all truth claims rigorously (including those of the Catholic tradition); and it systematizes knowledge in ways that remain open to new understanding and to revision.  But it is distinguished from secular and Protestant universities in four principal ways, and the discussion of these is the heart of the essay.

A Catholic university for Roche is universalist in approach, espouses a sacramental view, blends faith and reason, and emphasizes the unity of all knowledge.  These of course are defining features of the Catholic tradition itself, and what Roche is saying is that a Catholic university has first and foremost to be Catholic.

The principle of universalism, as Roche explicates it, means that the importance of the individual, recognised since Reformation times, is balanced by the obligation the individual has to others as members of a community, all formed in God’s image and likeness.  Self-absorption, the blight of our times, is contrary to the transcendent view fostered by a Catholic identity, in which community and love for all are central.  A Catholic university is thus not devoted only to career preparation or critical thinking for its own sake but to internationalism, citizenship, a concern for service and social justice.

A Catholic university recognizes the divine presence in the world, which gives everything in it value and at the same time transcends it.  This sacramental vision gives greater meaning to all that is studied in a university and leads to asking normative questions about the way the current situation of the world deviates from the ideal.  Indeed, there is an obligation in a Catholic university, according to Roche, to ask such questions, because there can be no true disjunction between, for example, politics and morality, law and justice, or sexuality and love.

As a religion, Catholicism has long recognised the importance of tradition as well as sacred scripture and the role of reason in illuminating both.  Philosophy and theology, Roche argues, are thus at the heart of a Catholic university, which recognizes the harmony of faith and reason.  An intellectual approach does not gainsay the significance of belief but joins with it in contemplating the mystery of God in the world.  Tolerance of differing viewpoints is thus cultivated, along with a confidence to confront the anti-rational whatever its source.

Many in secular universities have accepted the increasing specialization of scholars as an inevitable consequence of the rate of growth of knowledge about the world and as signaling an end to the classical ideal of the unity of truth.  In a Catholic university, for Roche, such an ideal is still very much alive and there is a search for the meaningful integration of thought across disciplines.  Scholars are thus not entombed by the weight of their own disciplinary knowledge but seek answers to broader questions, which give academic inquiry a moral focus, be they questions to do with the sustainability of the planet, the widening gap between rich and poor, or the crisis of values in modern culture.

Two questions follow for me from Roche’s analysis:  Do Catholic universities actually demonstrate the features claimed?  Are there different outcomes for Catholic and secular universities that reflect the differences Roche proposes?  There are secular universities that evince an interest in cross-disciplinary work, for example, that leads to researchers there asking the ‘big’ questions about sustainability or third world poverty and the like. There are others for whom internationalism or community service are important.  That is, the fruits claimed for Catholicity by Roche are not unique to Catholic universities.  Does this mean that these outcomes in secular universities are residual effects of an earlier university tradition now moribund in most secular universities, or that, while they can be found in secular universities, it is only in Catholic ones that they are systematically and explicitly expressed?  Roche is silent on this. 

As for the first question, it is doubtful that even Roche’s own Notre Dame matches up to the criteria he sets for a Catholic university.  There are many universities around the world that would claim a Catholic identity and a roll call of only a few of them points to considerable diversity.  On this question, Roche is more helpful.   He points out in a footnote that he is discussing an ideal type and no existing university will give complete expression to his distinguishing features. We can only expect then a ‘family resemblance’ (to use Lauchlan Chipman’s idea) among existing universities and the ideal.  Nonetheless, Roche’s criteria do serve to focus attention on what a university in the Catholic tradition contends it is about and its value to an open society.

This is an excellent essay for those who teach at a Catholic university, not the least because of the theological dimension Roche gives to the argument, based in the Holy Spirit and the animation the Spirit brings to community in a Catholic university.  The essay would be of value too to those inside or outside the Church willing to spend half an hour or so to find out what a Catholic university is about, although the answer will not be to every one’s liking. 

Professor John O'Gorman is the Pro Vice-Chancellor - Quality & Outreach - at the McAuley Brisbane Campus of Australian Catholic University.

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