A professor's view: Catholic studies are here to say.

I graduated from a small Catholic college in 1952. As with practically all my classmates, I had attended Catholic grade and high schools, and nearly all my teachers had been members of religious orders. Our college had midnight lights out, mandatory chapel, and an annual retreat. No one ever wondered about Catholic identity. Catholic authors - a very typical English class - summed up the spirit of the times. The big red course anthology included readings from Newman, Chesterton, Mauriac, Maritain, Brownson, and Merton. It even included luminaries of the liturgical renewal: Adam, Guardini, and Michel.

How different things are today. A doctoral graduate who teaches at a small Catholic college recently told me there are three Catholics on her entire faculty, and that the college had just reinstated a theology requirement. Clearly, Catholic colleges have left the old Catholic ghetto, but the move came with a price. Some closed, others were secularized, and many joined forces with other Catholic institutions to survive. Of those that remain, many are now looking for ways to reaffirm their Catholic identity.

Traditionally, one means of maintaining Catholic identity was through courses offered in philosophy and theology. At one time, philosophers in Catholic schools were generally Thomists. Today, they come in all flavors. Philosophy departments can no longer be expected to be the primary bearers of Catholic identity. Religion/theology/religious studies departments at Catholic colleges have analogous problems. Once theology departments were concerned with imparting advanced catechetics. In the 1960s and 1970s, however, they "ecumenized," sometimes becoming religious studies departments, sometimes becoming indistinguishable from a subset of anthropology. Partly in response, administrators created campus ministry programs to maintain the Catholic character of the institution. Not all the departments secularized, and the campus ministry programs were generally successful. But many observers feel the Catholic identity of these Catholic colleges and universities was betrayed. Into the breach comes the latest morph on Catholic campuses: Catholic studies.

Thomas Landy, a founder of Collegium, an institute on Catholic intellectural life, has described the emergence of these new programs (see, America, January 3, 1998). Most of the programs originated in the manner of the Catholic studies program at Saint Louis University, where I teach. The dean of the College of Arts and Sciences called together a faculty group to study the possibility of such a program, to sound out students, and to investigate similar projects elsewhere. Encountering favorable responses, the university then instituted an interdisciplinary undergraduate certificate program, along the lines of African-American and women's studies. Similar Catholic studies programs have now been set up at roughly twenty Catholic colleges, including Dayton, DePaul, Georgetown, John Carroll, Seton Hall, and San Diego. Most are quite modest. In November 1997, David O'Brien organized a conference at the University of Saint Thomas in Saint Paul, Minnesota, where leaders of existing and prospective programs exchanged information.

Why Catholic studies? As Andrew Greeley writes above [see page 26], the need for such programs arises out of a confluence of educational, economic, and ideological considerations. They address the question of why students and their families should cough up huge sums of money for an education at a Catholic college that is indistinguishable from other private or state institutions. Second, they underscore the Catholic nature of the schools for potential Catholic donors. Finally, they take on the issues posed by the diversification of philosophy and theology/religious studies departments. In so doing, they demonstrate and reinforce the Catholic character of a college.

Of course, the motives are also ideological. The religious orders and ecclesiastical leaders who founded and sustained these institutions fear that the raison d'etre of their institutions, once self-evident, is no longer. In addition, since the document Ex corde ecclesiae, calling for a reinvigoration of the Catholic mission in higher education, Catholic studies programs have gradually come to be viewed as a viable means of demonstrating Catholic character and allegiance.

For some, however, the idea of Catholic studies poses troubling questions: Are they part of some restorationist plot? I do not believe so. The educational and cultural turn that took place in the 1960s - the sort of open, engaged, freestyle education embraced by Catholic colleges and universities in the latter part of the twentieth century - is not going to be reversed. However, there is a feeling among many involved with the programs that something of the Catholic intellectual and cultural tradition has been lost, and that these are worth recovering.

A second issue raised by the advent of the Catholic studies movement is whether the program are a not-so-veiled critique of the present theology or religious studies departments? In some cases, the criticism does not seem to be far from the mark. One director of a Catholic studies program told me that the religious studies department at his institution was delighted to learn of the formation of the new program. "You do the Catholic stuff and we'll do the academic study of religion," was the message.

Though this may be the situation at some institutions, it is not common. More open to the broad sweep of Christianity and to other world religions than in the past, most theology/religious studies departments at Catholic colleges remain recognizably Catholic. The new offerings are not competitors against them, but are usually understood as interdisciplinary programs that include not only traditional theology courses but the academic study of Catholic culture and tradition in art, history, philosophy, literature, music, sociology, and other disciplines.

A third concern is whether Catholic studies will further marginalize the Catholicity of the college or university? Will it relieve the rest of the school of its responsibility to further its Catholic mission? Again, this may be the case in some institutions, but my experience suggests that it is atypical. Most faculty members see the need for a Catholic identity if their respective institutions are to survive and prosper. In fact, the presence of Catholic studies programs gives faculty members from outside the theology/religious studies department an opportunity to participate in realizing the values of the Catholic tradition in the context of their own disciplines. Faculty members can create courses that support the program directly, or they can participate in a variety of interdisciplinary projects.

There still remains the most difficult challenge for Catholic studies programs: their definition. What constitutes Catholic studies? Discussions with other participants in these fledgling programs suggest that despite a rough consensus among them, a wide spectrum of emphases has worked against a clear definition. First, there is the difficulty of what is meant by Catholic. It is a notoriously complicated theological question, and when you add a mix of cultural understandings it becomes murkier still. Furthermore, Catholic studies programs influenced by the postconciliar milieu tend toward inclusiveness, extending the edges of the term Catholic beyond strict institutional boundaries.

If "Catholic" is somewhat elastic, so is what constitutes "studies." Some programs emphasize Catholic doctrinal aspects. This is especially true where Catholic studies are understood as remedial: "Our young people don't know what Catholic beliefs are any more, and the theology department is not teaching them." In most cases, however, Catholic studies are envisioned as interdisciplinary rather than remedial. While it is important that there be a theological component and that students have a good grasp of the material, Catholic studies intends to reflect on the broader impact Catholic faith has had on civilization.

Yet a certain reluctance persists on the part of some departments and faculty to focus on a specific Catholic element in their discipline. For example, there is still no Catholic authors course in the English department of my university, while the literature of nature, women in literature, black voices, even The Empire Strikes Back, all have slots. I would argue that it should not be out of place for an English department at a Catholic university to offer a course on how Catholicism, both as a faith tradition and as a cultural inheritance, has manifested itself in literature. Much the same could be said for other areas. The sociology faculty might rightly resent being asked to teach "Catholic sociology" or a summary of the papal encyclicals, but the social involvement of Catholics, Catholicism as a social phenomenon, and various social patterns influenced by Catholicism would seem to be fitting topics for study. Some fields - like the hard sciences, engineering, and business - are often not thought of (and in fact generally do not participate) in Catholic studies programs. Yet even here possibilities suggest themselves. At Saint Louis University we have a mathematician who specializes in a set of early twentieth-century Russian mathematicians who sought to establish links between math and their Orthodox Christian faith. Today, science opens many primordial questions about eschatology, mind/body/soul relationships, evolutionary theory, and the ethical dimension of biomedical and technological advances. Similarly, economics and business raise questions about the distribution of wealth here and abroad. Clearly, if Catholic studies programs are to succeed, not only the Catholic but the studies have to be broadly construed and the highest academic standards have to be maintained.

Some years ago, a professor in religion and science lectured to our theology department. Though his degree was in physics, he insisted that he was an expert in "the between," in the interconnection between religion and science. When he made serious errors in biblical interpretation, however, the theologians among us came to suspect that the physicists across the way regarded him as a dilettante too. Catholic studies, therefore, must not be conceived of as a new "in-between" subject matter. It must consist of serious study in a given field, taught by experts in the relevant disciplines. Perhaps team-taught courses would be a suitable option. Last year I led a course with an expert in Renaissance art. She taught the art, I handled the theology. There was much interesting interaction. Catholic studies should be interdisciplinary but never a new half-discipline.

A further worry for some is that the programs will focus strictly on the glories of the Catholic tradition, omitting or glossing over its darker sides. This could happen, but in our program, we are careful to include courses on Christian anti-Semitism, the Crusades, the Galileo affair, the treatment of women, and other sad themes in Christian history. Students must realize that there are aspects of Catholic history that are far from glorious. As for the danger of antiquarianism, many of the courses and special interests will necessarily concentrate on ancient, medieval, early modern, and other historical subjects. But contemporary Catholicism, as realized in culture, society, science, politics, literature, etc., will be a primary focus. Most Catholic studies programs I know of are keenly aware of the need for relevance. It is an integral part of their curricula, and they frequently require of the student a capstone project to investigate contemporary activities, questions, and themes. Study of the past should be prolegomena to understanding, engagement, and preparation for the future.

Finally, for what do Catholic studies programs prepare students? The programs usually lead to certificates or to academic minors. Even where they constitute an undergraduate major, however, students generally combine them with another major, one that is more career-oriented. Some take the programs as a means of integrating their undergraduate education, others as part of their preparation for a special educational or religious ministry in the church. Most do so because of the programs' intrinsic interest, or because they wish to solidify their understanding of the Catholic heritage.

But this raises another pedagogical concern: Is Catholic studies a purely academic program, or should it include a more personal and formative component? The program at Saint Thomas, for example, aims at the latter and includes activities usually associated with campus ministry. As to this approach, I remain ambivalent.

This, then, is a thumbnail sketch of recently unfolding Catholic studies programs in the United States. They are a diverse work in progress. They encourage students to cultivate the special interests in Catholic culture and heritage that initially motivated many of them to choose a Catholic college or university. Within the institution, they have challenged individual professors and whole departments to examine the Catholic dimension of a particular discipline. Finally, they have underscored the institutions' ongoing Catholic commitment. Misgivings and lack of clarity notwithstanding, Catholic studies seem destined for a secure place on Catholic college and university campus for the foreseeable future.

Francis W. Nichols is associate professor of theological studies at Saint Louis University.