I have always found the phrase “the camel’s nose under the tent” uniquely useful. There is nothing quite like it to describe a proposal likely to cause more trouble in the future than when we first permit it to become part of the debate. Except perhaps, “Give ’em an inch and they’ll take a yard,” or maybe Lady Macbeth’s advice to her husband about how he should “look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t.”
I am not sure which one — if any — would fit what Washington Post reporter Sarah Pullman Bailey informs us is taking place at the University of Notre Dame. You be the judge.
It is no secret that there are forces at work at our Catholic colleges seeking to follow the lead of the Ivy League colleges in severing the ties to the religious groups that founded them. Those in favor of this change refer to their goal as ending the “seminary school” model that stresses a distinctly Catholic course of study, specifically required courses in Catholic theology.
There is one school that has accomplished precisely this objective: Marist College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. In 2003, the New York Archdiocese stated definitively that Marist College is no longer Catholic.
I have heard some good things about Marist from graduates of the school, one of whom who goes so far as to maintain that the school is “unofficially Catholic.” But that is not the way the college wants the world to see it. As stated on the school’s website, “What started as a school for the training of future Marist Brothers has developed into one of the leading colleges of the arts and sciences in the nation. Marist is ecumenical in character,” with a “commitment to excellence in education, a pursuit of higher human values, and dedication to the principle of service.”
The college describes its campus ministry as an effort to “support the spiritual and religious development of students as they respond to God’s presence in their lives. We work to foster a culture of faith for all people by building and nourishing a community of hospitality, prayer, service, and education.” The school proudly announces its “LGBTQ subcommittee of the Diversity Council,” which is devoted to “providing the campus community with education and training to promote the understanding of issues affecting (but not limited to) lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender/transsexual, and questioning individuals.”
Would it be cynical to suspect that what is being proposed at Notre Dame, as described in The Washington Post on February 19, is the first stage in a campaign to do what Marist has done, that it is the camel’s nose under the tent? According to Post reporter Pullman Bailey, Notre Dame is “reconsidering” its current requirement that its students “take two theology and two philosophy courses in order to graduate.”
But — here’s where things get dicey — those in favor of the proposed change argue that does not mean the university will become any less Catholic. What they propose is that the Catholic intellectual tradition be nurtured by courses outside the theology and philosophy departments; that courses in, for example, “Catholic painters in the Renaissance” or “Dante in literature” can accomplish the university’s religious mandate as satisfactorily as those specifically labeled “theology” or “philosophy.”
Mark Roche, a professor of German language and philosophy at Notre Dame, is cited by the Post. He argues that the university’s theology and philosophy departments ought not be seen as the only “carriers of vision” for Notre Dame. Indeed, that the university’s theology requirement would be improved “by having other disciplines teach courses that count toward it.”
Roche said his objective was “to preserve the unity of truth across disciplines,” and that the “primary task of theology, after all, is to integrate advances in the individual disciplines, and to encourage those disciplines to ask deeper, even ultimate questions.” The idea, he continued, “is to explore how the Catholic mission can be enhanced not by thinking about departments alone but by focusing instead on overarching learning goals.”
John T. McGreevy, dean of Notre Dame’s College of Arts and Sciences, stresses that this proposal is still in the stage of “batting around ideas.” But he is sympathetic to Roche’s vision: “How do we instantiate the Catholic identity in the core curriculum?” he asks. “We care very deeply about the Catholic identity. Maybe we need more theology, maybe we need less, who’s to say how it turns out?”
There is no question that this proposal could work — if it were carried out by professors outside the theology and philosophy departments genuinely committed to our Catholic heritage. Literature departments could be the place where Flannery O’Connor’s and Georges Bernanos’ works are introduced. Orestes Brownson, Jacques Maritain, and John Courtney Murray could be important parts of a course in political theory. The Crusades, the work of Thomas Aquinas and Thomas More, and the papal social encyclicals can be covered effectively by a professor serious about Catholicism in a history course.
The question is whether that will happen, once required courses in Catholic theology and philosophy are dropped; or whether the Catholic content in courses outside the theology and philosophy departments will gradually fade as the years go by, as happened at the Ivy League colleges. (What also has to be considered is whether the courses in theology and philosophy will be taught by professors committed to preserving the Catholic identity of their colleges, or undermining it.)
Franciscan University of Steubenville is taking a different approach to preserving the school’s Catholic identity. The Washington Post reports that it no longer requires that its students “take two theology courses and one philosophy course. Now, students at the Catholic university in Ohio must take three theology and three philosophy courses, said Jonathan Sanford, associate vice president for academic affairs.” Sanford is convinced that “philosophy plays a fundamental role in helping students understand themselves in a complex world. Theology offers a structure for understanding themselves and the world in the context of the Catholic faith. We’re convinced that if students are as well prepared for the most significant questions in life, other things will fall from that.”
I would wager that many readers of First Teachers are scratching their heads at this point, asking themselves why it is not possible to do both what Notre Dame is proposing and what Franciscan has done: maintain a vigorous and solidly Catholic theology and philosophy requirement, while at the same time encouraging professors outside the theology and philosophy departments to incorporate elements of the Catholic heritage into their classes.
Why does it have to be one or the other? Where did the idea come from that students taking literature, history, and social science courses at a Catholic university are being shortchanged if Catholic themes are included in their course of study? (It is what was done at Fordham University when I was a student there in the early 1960s.) Not from anyone favorably disposed to the Church. Secularizing a university does not make it more scholarly or relevant. Quite the contrary.
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(Readers are invited to submit comments and questions about this and other educational issues. The e-mail address for First Teachers is fitzpatrijames@sbcglobal.net, and the mailing address is P.O. Box 15, Wallingford CT 06492.)
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