Hatch on Catholic Universities

This essay, "Intellectual and Moral Purpose Still Meet at Catholic Universities," by Nathan Hatch -- an eminent historian and the outgoing Provost of the University of Notre Dame -- is taken from the latest Chronicle of Higher Education and is relevant, I think, to our conversation about Catholic law schools. 

Dr. Hatch reports, among other things, being "bother[ed]" by what he perceives as "the mood of distrust that the Vatican expresses toward Catholic higher education in the United States[.] . . .   [This] worried distrust stands in striking contrast to the flourishing experiments in Catholic higher education that I have witnessed at Notre Dame and elsewhere. While I am deeply aware of the struggles and failures of Catholic institutions and of the powerful secular undertow in academic life, what I find remarkable is how creative and intentional these communities have become in renewing their Catholic identity. . . .  Far from losing its soul, Catholic higher education has emerged as a vital influence within the broader American society and the Roman Catholic Church itself. . . .  Catholic universities have not given up the dream of linking intellectual and moral purpose.  They provide a middle ground where vital religious traditions can engage modern thought in a climate of academic freedom. . . .  In addition, Catholic universities welcome a diverse range of faculty members and expect the curriculum to confront students with different ways of thinking. . . .   The intellectual crossroads of a Catholic university avoids two extremes: the homogeneity of religious colleges and the relativism of modern universities."

Dr. Hatch is right, in my view, to "accentuate the positive."  And, given that his experience with Catholic higher education has been at the University of Notre Dame -- where, I think it is safe and fair to say, questions of Catholic identity and mission have always been at the center of the University's conversation -- I think it is understandable that his impression of the health of Catholic higher education is as positive as it is.  That said, I do think that he is too quick to be brush aside the Holy See's concern, and the concern of many bishops and Catholic laypeople, that at many other Catholic colleges and universities, all is not well. 

Dr. Hatch adds:  "Catholic universities face stiff challenges if they are to prosper as genuinely Catholic and remain accountable to the highest standards of scholarship. They, too, have much to learn from the church on which their life depends. Most important, they need to find ways to recruit Catholic intellectuals and other faculty members who are committed to the august tradition of 'faith seeking understanding.'"  I agree with Hatch that it is "most important" for Catholic institutions of higher learning to focus on the connection between hiring and recruiting, on the one hand, and "prospering as genuinely Catholic," on the other.

Dr. Hatch is, by the way, off to serve as President of Wake Forest University, a fine institution that is, I gather, considering the possibility of re-engaging with its own religious history and tradition.  Stay tuned.

Rick