Can anything be done to save Catholic colleges?

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“Can anything be done to save Catholic colleges?”
  • Total fidelity to the magisterium from top to bottom.
  • Annual oath of fidelity would be nice (yes, I stole this from Christendom).
  • Annual Oath Against Modernism would be nice too.
  • Free and frequent availability of the Traditional Latin Mass. (This was disliked in a previous thread, but I don’t think it’s inappropriate — the topic subject line consisted of an open-ended question, which tells me that any relevant answer is acceptable, and the Church surely allows the TLM.)
  • Insistence upon maintaining traditional Catholic standards of morality and modesty.
  • Classical liberal arts curriculum regardless of major.
I’m sure I could think of others.
 
Yes, thank you! I knew there was list, but couldn’t remember who put it out. Do they put out a list of other school with outstanding Catholic campus ministries/Newman Centers? If not they should.
 
I don’t see things with the same doom-and-gloom lens that many people do.

Places like Christendom and Franciscan (and the other Newman list schools) are great gifts to the Church, and I’m glad to see all the good work they’re doing. However, not every Catholic college has to be like them.

But there’s still good work going on at places like Notre Dame, and a number of other larger Catholic colleges. Many have retained their Catholicity to varying degrees, but have to balance faith and academic freedom/personal expression, etc. I think there’s a happy median to be found. I’d be the first person to say there’s room for improvements at many of these schools, though. Some schools have certainly gone off the deep end, but I think you can still find good solid Catholics doing good solid work on most campuses.

Of course, I became Catholic through the small Newman center at a large public university, so that certainly shifts my perspective. I consider pretty much any Catholic college doing any kind of Catholic stuff on campus to be a step up. 😂
 
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Any day confession can be had by appointment or one in Advent and once in Lent there is an adoration service which after has 4 friars available for confession. Adoration is every week but this specific confession and adoration together is once a semester
 
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Or, don’t assume all catholic colleges are bad and actually visit some to see what they are like. Then make a logical decision between a good catholic college or a secular college with a Newman center. I visited a college with a Newman center that had free condoms.
 
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Dolphin said:
Any day confession can be had by appointment or one in Advent and once in Lent there is an adoration service which after has 4 friars available for confession. Adoration is every week but this specific confession and adoration together is once a semester
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I don’t mean by appointment, I mean regularly scheduled times. Daily by appointment is basically everywhere there is a priest.

How many times each week are regularly scheduled confessions offered (not including special times for Advent & Lent, nor by appointment)?

NOTE: I’m not picking on you or your school. I’m just making the point that the criteria you’ve posted isn’t really all that unique or special.
 
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Small colleges in general are having a tough time. Heaven knows if they will make it through this pandemic.
 
annem said:
You’re right that it’s everyone’s fault that solid Catholic teaching isn’t being passed on to the next generation.
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I think you missed the intensity I intended by my comments. By far the most influential impact on a child is their parents. Those parents did not have a strong faith to exhibit, so the child in early grade school was getting lessons that faith wasn’t a big deal - or even any deal. And that is not to deny the impact that the secular world around them - their peers in middle and high school - have. But the first and most lasting impact come from the parents.
annem said:
However, some fields really are not taught in depth, such as theology or biblical scholarship, until at the university level, and that’s simply collapsed in most of the secularized Catholic colleges. Also, without strong Catholic arguments which should come at the university level, how many young adults believe it simply doesn’t matter whether they continue to live as Catholic?
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I went to a Catholic university before this hit the fan; even then (and I consider it to have been a strong Catholic university at the time) theology classes were for the most part electives; I ;am not sure there was a degree available in theology in the undergraduate level. A few classes in theology were required - very few. However, there was a very clear attitude of all being Catholic. It wasn’t lip service.
 
Agreed it is not “brand new”; but the fall out rate certainly has grown over the last 60 years. Gradually, but almost inexorably.
 
phil19034 said:
I think it is intolerable for men to talk about their penises in public (esp on Church property). So why would I think it’s OK for women to discuss their vaginas if I think it’s wrong for men to discuss their penises?
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Well, there are two answers to that.

First, I don’t see why it would be intolerable to talk about any part of the human body in public. It was, after all, created by God. Every part of the body serves some purpose. If you would tolerate discussing a brain, an eye, a heart, or a liver in public, why not a penis, the testes, the uterus, and so on?

Secondly, these things are not directly equivalent. There is a context, and that context is important. The reason why women are talking about their vaginas and other sexual organs is because of the systemic disadvantages suffered by women in virtually all societies in the world. Obstetric fistula, for example, is a taboo subject in the parts of the world where women are worst affected. In fact, I think there is a very good case for more men speaking out publicly about issues that affect them. For example, many men have been unnecessarily circumcised as infants without having the opportunity to give consent. This is a valid subject to talk about. Many men suffer from erectile dysfunction or premature ejaculation, but feel unable to talk about these problems or seek help. Again, if some men want to write a monologue about this, that would be a welcome initiative.
phil19034 said:
The Vagina Monologues are advertised as if they are a play. When you see the advertisements, they don’t present themselves a health lecture.
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There is no reason why serious subjects should not be addressed through fiction, drama, film, etc. The recent movie Jojo Rabbit, for example, was not a history lecture, nor was it presented by a professor of history. However, it probably taught more people more about Nazi Germany, anti-Semitism, and the dangers of brainwashing children than many more academic enterprises have. Ditto, for example, the brilliant The Death of Stalin. The only danger is when such a work promotes blatant lies, e.g. The Tattooist of Auschwitz.
 
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do_justly_love_mercy:
I didn’t say serious subjects cannot be addressed through fiction, drama, film, etc. I was referring to the advertisements.

The The Vagina Monologues “present themselves [through their advertisements] as a play by radical feminists.” I also said when serious topics are treated with frivolousness - again, mainly referring to the advertisements. Using cartoons is not necessarily frivolous, esp when targeting kids and young people.

However, trying to make some valid points while insisting that sinful behavior (like masturbation) is completely healthy is frivolous (aka provides no value), is counter productive, & damaging.

You disagree with me on format, that’s fine. We can agree to disagree.

However, I still think there is a proper venue for certain topics. Church ground is not a proper place for a play that often promotes masturbation, lust, etc.

Here is what Bishop D’Arcy (God rest his soul) said about The Vagina Monologues playing at Notre Dame back in 2004
Bishop John M. D’Arcy of the Fort Wayne-South Bend diocese, Indiana, criticized the “V***** Monologues” in a two-page statement published earlier this year. He said it should have never played at the University of Notre Dame. “The play violates the truth about women, the truth about sexuality, the truth about male and female and the truth about the human body.”
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Bishop D’Arcy continues: “Freedom in the Catholic tradition, and even in the American political tradition, is not the right to do anything. Freedom in the academy is always subject to a particular discipline. It is never an absolute… Freedom in the Catholic tradition is not the right to do this rather than that. That would be an entirely superficial idea of freedom… Freedom is the capacity to choose the good.”
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Below an article from an author who is a supporter of the Vagina Monologues. She clearly states in first sentence that they are often about masturbation. Programs that speak POSITIVELY of masturbation do not belong on Church property. Whether that’s a parish or Catholic college.
 
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