Study Finds Catholic Colleges Have Little Positive Impact on Faith, Values

[PLAL]

cardinalnewmansociety.org/CardinalNewmanSociety/tabid/36/ctl/Details/mid/435/ItemID/290/Default.aspx

Key findings clearly demonstrate that large numbers of students at Catholic colleges and universities are in clear conflict with the Catholic Church:

• Nearly 1 in 5 knew another student who had or paid for an abortion.
• 46% of current and recent students—and 50% of females—said they engaged in sex outside of marriage.
• 84% said they had friends who engaged in premarital sex.
• 60% agreed strongly or somewhat that abortion should be legal.
• 60% agreed strongly or somewhat that premarital sex is not a sin.
• 78% disagreed strongly or somewhat that using a condom to prevent pregnancy was a serious sin.
• 57% agreed strongly or somewhat that same-sex “marriage” should be legal.
• 57% said the experience of attending a Catholic college or university had no effect on their participation in Mass and the sacrament of reconciliation.
• 54% of respondents said that their experience of attending a Catholic college or university had no effect on their support for the teachings of the Catholic Church.
• 56% said their experience had no effect on their respect for the Pope and bishops.

 

[rwoehmke]

My wife and I scrimped, saved, and did without to help six kids to graduate from Catholic Colleges or Universities. I don’t know how they would have responded to that survey, but I do know that they didn’t seem to know much more about their Catholic faith than the knew on graduating high school. The only impact as far as I could tell is that they did not seem to pick up some of the boorish habits that are displayed by students in secular colleges and universities. I am happy about that, but saddened that the learning of their faith was deficient.

 

[a_cermak]

I attended Loyola University in Chicago. It’s a Jesuit institution. The Sacraments were available with 5 Masses on Sundays on campus, with more available at a nearby parish Church. They were available at times of the day when the students would be awake. Adoration was available frequently, the Sacrament of Reconciliation was always available at convenient times. There was a requirement that 3 theology courses were required to graduate regardless of the degree sought (and 3 philosophies too I might add).

All that said, Loyola was no Bob Jones University. The Sacraments were available, but they weren’t mandatory. The theology courses were mandatory, but they could be in Eastern Religion, Judaism, Old Testament, New Testament, Church and Sacrament, Islam… The RAs were there to enforce parietals (visiting time for the other gender), but not to enforce morality.