Report: The Catholic University of America is reasserting its Catholic identity in the face of its professors' hostility over this

[mdgspencer]

Is Curranism Finally Dead at the Catholic University of America?

A few weeks ago, the Chronicle of Higher Education got all spun up about whether “Catholic U.’s Chaste Brand” was scaring off prospective students. Some anonymous professors were practically gleeful…

www.crisismagazine.com

The president of this Washington, D.C, school is working to reestablish its Catholic identity.

But to 'disgruntled professors there Catholic has supposedly become too religious and this has hurt enrollment, the implication being that the school should curtail all that Catholic stuff or a good part of it.

Curran, mentioned in the title of this article, was removed from the faculty of the Catholic University of America in 1986 as a dissident against the Catholic Church’s moral teaching. He was involved in a very high-profile battle against the Pope’s “Humanae Vitae,” which weighed in against contraception, after this encyclical came out… But his shadow lay over this university, this article explains, and as professors’ hostility to Catholicism there shows.

 

[Maximilian75]

Good for them! Other authentically Catholic universities, like Franciscan U of Steubenville, have provided a clear example

 

[PaulfromIowa]

I first heard about Kellyanne Fitzpatrick, now Conway, when she was a student at CUA trying to organize a College Republicans chapter. She couldn’t find the required faculty sponsor because there were zero(!) Republicans on the faculty. The Democrats had a group for years. A Dem political science professor finally took pity on her and agreed to be the sponsor.

 

[Maximilian75]

Well, before Roe v Wade in '73, there was basically no reason for Catholics to not be Democrat, and JFK didn’t help that at all

 

[PaulfromIowa]

Correction: It may have been Trinity College, right next to CUA. According to the web, she went to Trinty College, then Oxford, and GWU law school.

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

It’s apparently not just professors who are hostile to the idea. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, the school had a $3.5 million dollar budget shortfall and declining enrollment. They’re currently working on cutting 35 full-time professors. Perhaps not the best time for a prospective freshman to enroll.

 

[giuseppe96]

Actually, both Democrats and Republicans were in favor of Roe. The two dissenting judges were a Democrat and a Republican. Democrats didn’t become mostly pro-choice until I’m guessing the 80s.

 

[margaret42]

Pray that Catholic University stays Catholic, and accomplishes it’s goal.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

The real problem CUA has is that it’s located in a city with a whole bunch of good competing universities and that Georgetown and GW are overall higher ranked.

Establishing a very Catholic identity would be a good way for it to carve out a niche for itself and I would think it would actually help enrollment. Georgetown is already a huge diverse behemoth, so we don’t need another “diverse” Catholic school in that area that lags behind Georgetown in the rankings.