Catholic Colleges/Universities

[lotusblossom]

I am a recent graduate of Franciscan University of Steubenville, as is my husband (May 06). I highly recommend the school! It has a great environment of faith-filled young adults and staff and encourages good habits, not typically bad ones you find in most colleges.
-They have daily mass three times a day, almost daily confession and chapels in every dorm.
-They have solid professors and plenty of Franciscan friars as well as other religious on campus.
-They have a thing called Household Life which is compared to fraternities/sororities (which there are a few at FUS), but minus all the partying and more focused on growing in one’s faith.
-Like all schools, both good and bad, there is still drinking, smoking, and plenty of other bad habits that are there, but it is the “popular” thing to not get involved in those activites and most of those appear to take place off-campus. Franciscan also, I think, teaches students balance in life and strives to incorporate all aspects of a person’s life with their faith.
-There’s plenty of fun there with dances, coffeehouses (where people use their gifts to entertain esp. with music), sports, praise&worship, and all other things on campus.
-You can be charismatic or traditional and still feel welcomed. They have Latin Mass (Norvus Ordo) and Byzantine Divine Liturgy at least once a month on campus. Plus, there’s churches all around to go to.
-The city itself isn’t the safest, but as long as you use good judgement, you’ll stay out of trouble.
-You don’t have to be a theology major to learn and implement your faith. I was an accounting major, my husband a math/education major, and I was able to take many different theology courses, plus take part in so many activities.
-Great clubs - from pro-life to working in business to Latinos for Christ
-BEST PART - Austria study-abroad program. Any student can go, and it’s worth it. They have professors come over from here to teach, and SO much travelling time!

The only thing is that it tends to be a bubble - once you’re outside, it gets lonely, but hopefully you’ll learn to keep your faith strong outside of “The Hill” and get involved wherever you land.

Hope this helps! God bless!

 

[lotusblossom]

University of Illinois has an amazing Newman Center! HUGE school, but they even have a Catholic dorm. I have a friend who went there and she LOVES it (and is very devoutly Catholic). Franciscan University does offer some great programs, esp. in accounting, which is what I graduated with. Their biology/chem is supposed to be great and their nursing is very rigorous. The only weak area, which I think they’re looking to work on soon, is their engineering.

 

[Anima_Christi]

Is it so important to go to a Catholic university?

I go to a non-Catholic college because it’s very good for my field of study. It’s not considered a particularly spiritual college, however. I avoid the on-campus masses as much as possible because they’re terrible and the homilies are borderline heretical; I’m also not very active in the Newman Center on campus for various reasons.

Nevertheless, I’ve met some wonderful Catholics who really support each other in the faith, and I feel that I’ve been able to grow in my faith while in college.

Also, I have friends from many different faiths, and also friends who are atheists, and I think I’m beginning to learn how to talk to them about my faith.

So, I think there are benefits to attending non-Catholic colleges (especially insofar as academics are concerned, depending on what you wish to study). It seems that there are few genuinely good Catholic colleges left in the U.S., as well. I’d personally make academics my top priority when choosing a college; it tends to turn out that the more “academic” the student body is, the more respectful and charitable they are to those around them.

I am the same way, at my university the Newman Center is extremely liberal but I have managed to find a good group of orthodox, somewhat traditional Catholic friends through our pro-life group. I am a convert and came into the Church while I was 18, a college freshman, but I know that if I had been Catholic while I was in high school I would have looked into going to a Catholic college (such as Christendom). I’m already in my third-year at UK but if I could go to a Catholic college, Christendom would definitely be my top choice. Franciscan U. would probably be about 5th on my list because although it is considered to be generally “orthodox”, I am a traditionalist (as in Tridentine Latin Mass) and would not fit in with the “praise and worship” charismania atmosphere at Franciscan.
However, I am looking into going into the theology program at Ave Maria U. to earn a Master’s or possibly a doctorate in theology after I finish my Bachelor’s at UK. Can anyone share their experiences with Ave Maria University, particularly their graduate level theology program? How is their financial aid? Any other pertinent information about them would be appreciated. Thanks!