Some Fundamental Aspects of Catholic Higher Education in the Magisterium of the Venerable Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI

The Thomist 74 (2010): 499-513 SOME FUNDAMENTAL ASPECTS OF CATHOLIC HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE MAGISTERIUM OF THE VENERABLE POPE JOHN PAUL II AND POPE BENEDICT XVI1 RAYMOND LEO CARDINAL BURKE Archbishop Emeritus of Saint Louis Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal ofthe Apostolic Signatura IWISH TO OFFER SOME reflections on the nature and ends of Catholic higher education from the Magisterium of Venerable Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. These reflections, I trust, will be both a confirmation of the steadfast work of the administration, faculty, staff, and student body ofThe Thomas More College of Liberal Arts, and all other Catholic colleges that wish to be true to their Catholic identity, and an inspiration to continue to put one's hand to plow, not looking backward but going forward in the mission of the Catholic college or university for the sake of the Church and society in general.2 I. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY TO SOCIETY AND THE CHURCH My first reflection concerns the importance of the Catholic university to society and the Church. The Declaration on Christian Education, Gravissimum educationis, of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council underlines the importance the Church has consistently assigned to Catholic higher education, in 1 This address was delivered at the Annual President's Council Dinner for The Thomas More College of Liberal Arts, Merrimack, New Hampshire, at The Harvard Club of Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, 4 December 2010. 2 Cf. Luke 9:62. 499 500 RAYMOND LEO CARDINAL BURKE order that "the convergence of faith and reason in the one truth may be seen more clearly."3 It is sufficient to consider the challenges of a lifetime as a member of the Church and a citizen of the nation, and the many and significant fields of human endeavor for which the university student prepares himself, to know the importance of his receiving a complete education, that is, an education in which the convergence of faith and reason in the pursuit of the one truth is consistently taught and exemplified. Pope Benedict XVI gives clear expression to the irreplaceable service of Catholic higher education for the attainment of the necessary unity of faith and reason. In his meeting with Catholic educators at The Catholic University of America, on 17 April 2008, addressing the fundamental Catholic identity of the Catholic university, he reminded them: Clearly, then, Catholic identity is not dependent upon statistics. Neither can it be equated simply with orthodoxy of course content. It demands and inspires much more: namely, that each and every aspect of your learning communities reverberates within the ecclesial life of faith. Only in faith can truth become incarnate and reason truly human, capable of directing the will along the path of freedom (cf. Spe salvi, 23). In this way our institutions make a vital contribution to the mission of the Church and truly serve society. They become places in which God's active presence in human affairs is recognized and in which every young person discovers the joy of entering into Christ's "being for others" (cf. ibid., 28).4 In a particular way, the Catholic university that is true to her identity will help students to be strong in giving an account of their faith in their vocation in life, whether it be the married life, the dedicated single life, the consecrated life, or the ordained priesthood, and in whatever field of human endeavor they engage, 3 "altius perspiciatur quomodo fides et ratio in unum verum conspirent" (Gravissimum educationis 10 [Sacrosanctum Concilium Oecumenicum Vaticanum II, Declaratio de Educatione Christiana, "Gravissimum Educationis," 28 October 1965,Acta Apostolicae Sedis 58 (1966): 737; English translation: Vatican Council II: The Conciliar and Post Conciliar Documents, ed. Austin Flannery, O.P., rev. ed. (Northport, N.Y.: Costello Publishing Company, 1992), 735]). 4 Benedictus PP. XVI, "Ad Catholicam Studiorum Universitatem Americae," 17 Aprilis 2008, Acta Apostolicae Sedis 100 (2008): 323; also found in Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Benedict in America (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2008), 74. ASPECTS OF CATHOLIC HIGHER EDUCATION 501 res1stmg the secularist dictatorship which would exclude all religious discourse from the professions and from public life in general. Quoting Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman, Venerable Pope John Paul...