David Ancell / Monday February 10, 2003
There is nothing like an article by the New York Times on Ave Maria University. It starts off nice. Then, you have the obligatory comment from Richard P. McBrien. He has the gall to tell us how a really good Catholic would spend his money and claims that “Tom Monaghan has the agenda of a right-wing Republican, and he happens to confuse that with the teachings of the Catholic Church.” Hmmmm . . . and McBrien doesn’t have a liberal agenda. Oh, by the way, maybe good Catholics should not spend money on any university, even Notre Dame.
The Monika Hellwig comment is especially interesting:
There has been concern among the colleges and their representatives, that they are so dismissive of the rest of us,” said Monika Hellwig, president of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities.
Well, Hellwig is the one who wrote a catechetical book, published by none other than Paulist Press, that teaches a heretical teaching on the Eucharist. It says, in a nutshell, that we once thought that Jesus was saying the bread was his body, but now “scholars” (quotes are mine) realize that Jesus really meant the “breaking of bread” and the “sharing” to be his body. Gosh! After 2000 years of getting it wrong, I’m sure glad the scholars finally figured it out (sarcasm intended).
It is no wonder that Monaghan is dismissive of these other “Catholic” universities. While these universities are becoming more and more secularized, it is becoming very difficult for Catholics who wish to learn the actual Catholic faith. Frankly, I salute Monaghan for doing what he did, and I joined the foundation. Besides, I’m glad to have another solidly Catholic university in an area that isn’t way up north. I like the warmer weather down here.
The last unintended joke that I will cover can be found at the end of the first page of the article:
Highly regarded institutions like Georgetown, Notre Dame and Boston College balance their quest for first-rate scholarship from a diverse faculty and a diverse student body against their commitment to a strong religious identity. About a third of the students at Catholic colleges are not Catholics.
Ok, so first-rate scholarship and religious identity are competing interests, eh? Well, I know that a good Catholic education is at least possible at Notre Dame (as evidenced by a lady from my parish who has entered the Nashville Dominicans). I don’t know about the other two. I guess the “commitment to a strong religious identity” doesn’t necessarily mean a commitment to the Catholic faith. They just have to have some “religious identity.”
What we need is first-rate scholarship from a Catholic perspective. This can easily be accomplished. Many of the most brilliant minds in history were our saints. There is no reason why this can’t be the case today.
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