Catholic universities in the USA?

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wolfe_gate

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Does anyone know of any good catholic university’s with a strong catholic identify? I’m starting to look into where I want to go to school and would like to get some ideas.
Also if the school has a men’s swim or water polo team that would be a plus!
Thanks -Collin
 
I don’t know about swing teams, but one of my high school mates went to the Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio that is very strongly Catholic.

There are also many Catholic colleges around that are not part of a university system, but still have great academics and hold true to the Catholic Faith.
 
Fisher More College in Fort Worth, TX is a traditional catholic college and affordable, $10,000 per year which is all inclusive of tuition, room and board.

fishermore.edu/

Ed
 
Thanks for your help everyone! Actually the cardinal Newman guide was one of my open browser pages… Fus is one of my top choices right now, but alas no swim team:(
 
Collin:

I highly recommend Texas A&M University in College Station. The Catholic Student Center there is awesome - my reversion story began there when I transferred. Type Aggie Catholic into your search engine.

I’m told Baylor and Texas Tech have active Catholic Student Centers as well. Back in the 1980’s, Stephen F. Austin had an active Catholic presence, but I don’t know if there is still one there. I do know that the University of North Texas in Denton has an active Catholic Student Center, and when Bishop Vann was in Fort Worth he established Blessed John Paul II Catholic Church up there for the students at the University of North Texas.

Two Catholic schools I recommend are Wyoming Catholic and Benedictine (Kansas).

This may be a little far away, but I’ve heard good things from EWTN about one of the state schools in South Dakota. It’s in Vermillion, South Dakota, and the college has a strong Catholic Student Center like Texas A&M. Maybe they have a swim team.

I’m told that many universities have done away with swim teams, but you might be able to find one and get a scholarship or something.

Hope that helps a little.
 
You can’t do any better than Notre Dame in Southbend, IN and Georgetown in Washington, D.C. Both have strong swim and water polo programs.

Good luck!
 
Thank you very much everybody! Your help has been much appreciated!
 
This place doesn’t have water polo/swim team, but Ave Maria University in Florida is good school (I speak from experience) academically as well as spiritually. You should look it up!
 
If you are looking for a liberal arts education the Newman guide is a good overview. I have had friends attend both Thomas Aquinas College and Christendom College and both are intensive and have sound catholic teachings. They differ in teaching methods, one using seminar and the other using lecture based classes.

If you are looking at a engineering or hard science, the only really Catholic college out there is Catholic University in DC. We went through this with our son about 2 years ago and this is the only catholic college that has an accredited engineering program. It does have some problems. If you want more details PM me. There are other “catholic” colleges out there offering engineering and science, but frankly most are catholic in name only. You could otherwise attend a public university that has a Newman center near the campus and just go through assuming all the social indoctrination stuff is really the garbage that it is. This might be better than going to a school that calls itself catholic and really isn’t.
 
Benedictine College in Kansas is one of a few Catholic colleges faithful to the Magisterium with engineering degree programs.

Christendom College in Virginia is a strong Catholic theology and liberal arts school.

Catholic University of America in DC is directly linked (forgot what it’s called) to the Vatican and is very faithful to the Magisterium.

Mount St. Mary’s in Emmitsburg, MD is a strong Catholic university for everyone but also turns out lots of priests through their seminary.

Wyoming Catholic College provides a great education in an outdoorsy, rural setting.

Thomas Aquinas College in CA provides a Great Books curriculum and has very small class sizes.
 
I went to St.Mary’s College of California. They have a very strong and faithful Catholic Community.
 
Father_of_10 said:
If you are looking at a engineering or hard science, the only really Catholic college out there is Catholic University in DC. We went through this with our son about 2 years ago and this is the only catholic college that has an accredited engineering program. It does have some problems. If you want more details PM me. There are other “catholic” colleges out there offering engineering and science, but frankly most are catholic in name only. You could otherwise attend a public university that has a Newman center near the campus and just go through assuming all the social indoctrination stuff is really the garbage that it is. This might be better than going to a school that calls itself catholic and really isn’t.
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Father_of_10:

You gave some great advice here. I’m an engineer myself who transferred into Texas A&M University. The Catholic Student Center there brought me “back” to the Catholic faith. I had previously attended a “Catholic” college in San Antonio where I just about lost my faith. I also felt that my dollar was better spent at Texas A&M, particularly when I could go to A&M for two years at the cost of what the other college was for one year. I also paid my own way at A&M too, so I will admit I worked quite a bit harder.

I know Catholic University of America is in the Newman Guide now. I like the trend that is going back to single-sex residence halls. Yes, there are some other Catholic schools with engineering programs, but I agree that quite a few are CINO schools.

For anyone reading this looking for an engineering program, here are other recommendations:
  1. I recommend the University of Illinois program for engineering, since the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign has an awesome Catholic Student Center. This is in the Diocese of Peoria. Msgr. Swetland was the director there, and Msgr. Swetland is now on the faculty at Mount St. Mary’s University. I pray that Msgr. Swetland will become a bishop someday.
  2. I’m told that the University of Kansas (KU) in Lawrence has an excellent Catholic Student Center. I know KU is also a good school for engineering.
  3. Virginia Tech might be worth a look too. The priests that have staffed the Catholic Student Center in the past came from the Diocese of Arlington (VA). Fr. Brian Bashista was there at one time.
  4. The University of Nebraska at Lincoln would be a place to check too. The Diocese of Lincoln has many strong priests.
Thanks again.
 
wolfe_gate said:
Does anyone know of any good catholic university’s with a strong catholic identify? I’m starting to look into where I want to go to school and would like to get some ideas.
Also if the school has a men’s swim or water polo team that would be a plus!
Thanks -Collin
Click to expand...
Wolfe Gate:

Today, a guy at work asked me about Catholic colleges that had football teams. I couldn’t remember some of them, so I checked a few schools.

I found out that Villanova in Philadelphia does have a swim team. That sounds like a good place to start. Villanova is run by the O.S.A. (Fr. Dennis Wilde from Priests for Life belongs to this order), so it is not a Jesuit institution.

I know Villanova has some good academics, and I had a friend who attended there in the late 80’s/early 90’s. Many alumni have gone on to good careers. Peter Doocy from Fox News is a recent alumnus.

I’ve also heard at Villanova (along with many other Catholic schools) as far as Theology and Philosophy, a student may have to be “discerning” when choosing these classes. Places such as Marquette, Fordham, Boston College (I would definitely take a class with Dr. Kreeft), and Notre Dame (I would avoid McBrien like the plague at Notre Dame) have their share of some really good professors, but also have a few professors on the more liberal side.

Catholic universities I would avoid: DePaul in Chicago, St. Joseph’s in Philadelphia, and Georgetown in Washington, D.C.

As I said earlier, I also recommended some state schools that have good Catholic Student Centers close by.
 
hwriggles4 said:
Father_of_10:

You gave some great advice here. I’m an engineer myself who transferred into Texas A&M University. The Catholic Student Center there brought me “back” to the Catholic faith. I had previously attended a “Catholic” college in San Antonio where I just about lost my faith. I also felt that my dollar was better spent at Texas A&M, particularly when I could go to A&M for two years at the cost of what the other college was for one year. I also paid my own way at A&M too, so I will admit I worked quite a bit harder.

I know Catholic University of America is in the Newman Guide now. I like the trend that is going back to single-sex residence halls. Yes, there are some other Catholic schools with engineering programs, but I agree that quite a few are CINO schools.

snip…
  1. Virginia Tech might be worth a look too. The priests that have staffed the Catholic Student Center in the past came from the Diocese of Arlington (VA). Fr. Brian Bashista was there at one time.
Thanks again.
Click to expand...
My son transferred to VA Tech this past year, lives off campus and is quite happy there. CU is a good school, but the cost is exorbitant, close to $50k/year, financial aid is minimal. From my view they appear to be funding the graduate programs through the tuition of the undergraduates. It came down to not going $150K in debt for a 2nd tier engineering school, and CU is in an awful, high crime area of DC. It is less expensive for him to live off campus at VA Tech than on and also helps avoid some of the shenanigans that go on.
 
Father of Ten:

Looks like your son made a good decision as an engineering student. He will definitely have less debt, and quite frankly, Virginia Tech is a better known school for engineering. That said, he will probably have more opportunities for interships and co-ops as a Virginia Tech student than at CUA.

I didn’t realize CUA was in a bad part of Washington, D.C. I know a few students who transferred from the University of Houston in part because UH is not in a good part of town. My brother went to UH as a graduate student, but he chose to live off campus in a better section of the city. The University of St. Thomas in Houston doesn’t look to be in a good part of town either.

I lived off campus when I went to Texas A&M, mostly because I was a little older. I started there at 25 (graduated at 28), and quite frankly, I didn’t want to live in a dorm with a bunch of 19 and 20 year olds. Texas A&M did have quite a bit of campus life, and I often studied in the library, or in the physics building, and I had a meal plan so I normally ate at one of the dining halls. Eating at the dining hall was a good place for an off campus student to meet people and make friends. I’m also glad I found the Catholic Student Center there. Many off campus students ate at the dining hall and quite a few came to the Catholic Student Center and Sunday Mass.

Father of Ten, I do agree that living off campus helped limit some “temptations”, and being involved in the Catholic Student Center helped me make some friends (some I still keep in touch with) with similar values.
 
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