STUDIES IN CATHOLIC

HIGHER EDUCATION
A Policy Series Guided by the Principles of Ex Corde Ecclesiae

Newman’s University in Today’s American Culture December 2008

by Rev. C. John McCloskey III, S.T.D.

About the Author

Father C. John McCloskey III, a priest of the Prelature of Opus Dei, is a research fellow Center Leadership
of the Faith and Reason Institute. After graduating from Columbia University, he worked Joseph A. Esposito
professionally on Wall Street before earning a doctorate of sacred theology at the University Director
of Navarre. He was Director of the Catholic Information Center in Washington, D.C., from Evangeline C. Jones
1998-2003, and an assistant chaplain at Princeton University from 1985-1990. An ad- Deputy Director
junct professor of the Catholic Distance University, Fr. McCloskey has written many articles
(archived at www.frmccloskey.com) and worked extensively in the media. He has hosted 2008 Newman Fellows
numerous EWTN series, including ones on Newman and Catholic authors. Well known for Peter Kwasniewski, Ph.D.
guiding many people into the Catholic Church, he is co-author of Good News, Bad News: Wyoming Catholic College

Evangelization, Conversion, and the Crisis of Faith (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2007). Brennan Pursell, Ph.D.
DeSales University

Executive Summary Center Advisory Board

William H. Dempsey, Esq.
John Henry Newman’s “idea of a university” is an ideal that President, Project Sycamore

would be difficult to realize in the present American culture. John P. Hittinger, Ph.D.
Nevertheless, Newman’s influence can be seen in various papal Professor of Philosophy

statements and documents issued by Pope John Paul II and Pope Center for Thomistic Studies

Benedict XVI, as well in the increasing number of new Catholic University of St. Thomas (Houston)

colleges. Rev. Leonard A. Kennedy C.S.B., Ph.D.

Former President, Assumption College,

Both Popes have emphasized that the greatest challenge to Univ. of Windsor; and St. Thomas More

Catholic education, and the greatest contribution the university College, Univ. of Saskatchewan

can make to the culture, is to restore to that culture the convic- Rev. Joseph Koterski, S.J., Ph.D.
tion that human beings can grasp the truth of things and con- Associate Professor of Philosophy,

sequently know their duties to God, themselves and others. As Fordham University

Newman insisted, philosophy and theology are essential for uni- Msgr. Stuart W. Swetland, S.T.D.
versity education. Vice President for Catholic Identity

and Mission, Mount St. Mary’s University

A strong sense of Catholic identity comes from within the Hon. Kenneth D. Whitehead
Church and should permeate all aspects of campus life and con- Former Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary
tribute to the integral formation of the whole human person. If Education, U.S. Department of Education
Newman were alive today, he would join the recent Popes in en-
couraging Catholic campuses to do more to evangelize, and not Cardinal Newman Society
simply engage, the culture. An energetic, faith-driven campus Executive Staff
ministry is necessary to create a Catholic culture on campus and Patrick J. Reilly
form modern apostles capable of exercising what Newman re- President and CEO

ferred to as “personal influence” on those around them. Thomas W. Mead

Executive Vice President

9415 West Street

Manassas, Virginia 20110
703-367-0333

www.CatholicHigherEd.org
Newman’s University in Today’s American Culture
by Rev. C. John McCloskey III, S.T.D.

December 2008

This paper is available online at The Center for the Study of Catholic Higher Education’s website,
www.CatholicHigherEd.org

About The Center

The Center for the Study of Catholic Higher Education is the research division of The Cardinal Newman Society.
Its mission is to promote the ongoing renewal of Catholic higher education by researching and analyzing critical
issues facing Catholic colleges and universities, and sharing best practices. The Center’s work is guided by the
principles of Ex corde Ecclesiae and the Magisterium of the Catholic Church.

Copyright © 2008 The Cardinal Newman Society. All Rights Reserved.

Permission to reprint is hereby granted provided no modifications are made to the text and it is identified as a
product of The Center for the Study of Catholic Higher Education, The Cardinal Newman Society or both.
Note: the views expressed herein are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Center for the Study
of Catholic Higher Education or The Cardinal Newman Society.
Newman’s University in Today’s American Culture
My topic is “Newman’s University in Today’s American Culture,” but I should start by say-
ing that “Newman’s University” does not exist. John Henry Newman’s idea of a university is
clearly an ideal. Newman himself had a certain platonic tint to his philosophic thought, and his
“ideal” would be difficult to live up to in any present-day culture. Moreover, the model of vir-
tually all American universities is a continental one, drawn from the German experience rather
than the British, with a heavy emphasis on graduate studies and professional schools rather
than on the liberal arts.
Nevertheless, we could say happily that there are increasing numbers of liberal arts colleges
gradually returning to their foundations, where Newman, if he were alive, would recognize
his influence. Some of these may with time develop into universities that will approximate the
Newmanian idea and ideal. The very fact that there is a Cardinal Newman Society and that the
Church has spoken in Ex corde Ecclesiæ is great reason for hope.
In addition, more recently and perhaps as important for the practical American experience,
Pope Benedict XVI has made clear that his pontificate will continue to encourage and insist that
Catholic education will be truly Catholic in all its aspects—including campus environment, the
choice of faculty members, its theological teaching and in its very nature as an agent of evan-
gelization. In April 2008 at The Catholic University of America, Pope Benedict told over 400
Catholic educators:
Clearly, then, Catholic identity is not dependent upon statistics. Neither can it be equated simply
with orthodoxy of course content. It demands and inspires much more: namely that each and every aspect
of your learning communities reverberates within the ecclesial life of faith. Only in faith can truth become
incarnate and reason truly human, capable of directing the will along the path of freedom (cf. Spe
Salvi, 23). In this way our institutions make a vital contribution to the mission of the Church and truly
serve society. They become places in which God’s active presence in human affairs is recognized and
in which every young person discovers the joy of entering into Christ’s “being for others” (cf. ibid.,
28).…Education is integral to the mission of the Church to proclaim the Good News. First and foremost every
Catholic educational institution is a place to encounter the living God who in Jesus Christ reveals his trans-
forming love and truth (cf. Spe Salvi, 4). In this way those who meet him are drawn by the very power
of the Gospel to lead a new life characterized by all that is beautiful, good, and true; a life of Christian
witness nurtured and strengthened within the community of our Lord’s disciples, the Church. [em-
phasis added]

For its very foundation, Newman would demand that the university recognize the exis-
tence of objective truth and insist that we, with our will and intellect, are bound to submit to it.
Without this affirmation and belief that our Faith has a truth-claim that is universal in its scope,
there simply cannot be any mission. Pope John Paul II reminded the American bishops of this
point in Veritatis Splendor:
The greatest challenge to Catholic education in the United States today, and the great contribution
that authentically Catholic education can make to American culture is to restore to that culture the
conviction that human beings can grasp the truth of things, and in grasping that truth can know their
duties to God, to themselves, and their neighbors. . . . The contemporary world urgently needs the
service of educational institutions that uphold and teach that truth is “that fundamental value with-
out which freedom, justice, and human dignity are extinguished” (VS, no. 4) [emphasis added].

 Pope Benedict XVI, Address to Catholic Educators at The Catholic University of America (April 17, 2008).
 Pope John Paul II, Ad Limina Address to American Bishops, VI (May 30, 1998), no.3.

Newman’s University in Today’s American Culture

by Rev. C. John McCloskey III, S.T.D.

 Pope Benedict added to this emphasis on the concept and reality of truth:
The dynamic between personal encounter, knowledge and Christian witness is integral to the diakonia
of truth which the Church exercises in the midst of humanity. God’s revelation offers every genera-
tion the opportunity to discover the ultimate truth about its own life and the goal of history…In this
way, Christ’s Good News is set to work, guiding both teacher and student towards the objective truth
which, in transcending the particular and the subjective, points to the universal and absolute that
enables us to proclaim with confidence the hope which does not disappoint. (cf. Rom 5:5)

Truth is the fundamental value, and it can be known by the use of our reason. Newman
would insist on the required teaching of Catholic philosophy in a Catholic university, building
on the Thomistic foundation of moderate realism. How can a student - or a professor, for that
matter - engage our neo-pagan, post-modern culture without a firm grounding in metaphysics,
epistemology, and nature (Aristotelian physics)? It simply is not possible.
Philosophy alone certainly is not enough, but it is indispensable as a preparation for what
must follow. Newman also saw theology as indispensable for university education. As he put
it: “University teaching without theology is simply unphilosophical. . . . Theology is surely a
branch of knowledge: how then is it possible for it to profess all branches of knowledge and
yet to exclude from the subjects of its teaching one which, to say the least, is as important and
as large as any of them?” Is it too much to ask that our universities acknowledge that there is
such a thing as objective truth that can be grasped by natural reason and that prepares us for
the truths of supernatural Revelation?
This is not simply a question of mandata and forced oaths, but a love of the authority of
the Church that is not simply Ex corde Ecclesiæ but rather “Ex corde Universitatis” itself. Ex corde
Ecclesiæ tells us that if Catholic universities are to become leaders in the renewal of higher edu-
cation, they must first have a strong sense of their own Catholic identity. This identity is not es-
tablished once and for all by the institution’s origins, but comes from within the Church today
and always, speaking from the heart of the Church (Ex corde Ecclesiæ). The Catholic identity of
a university should be evident in its curriculum, in its faculty, in student activities and in the
quality of its community life.
Pope Benedict agrees:
This same dynamic of communal identity—to whom do I belong?—vivifies the ethos of our Catho-
lic institutions. A university or school’s Catholic identity is not simply a question of the number of
Catholic students. It is a question of conviction—do we really believe that only in the mystery of the
Word made flesh does the mystery of man truly become clear (cf. Gaudium et Spes, 22)? Are we ready
to commit our entire self—intellect and will, mind and heart—to God? Do we accept the truth Christ
reveals? Is the faith tangible in our universities and schools? Is it given fervent expression liturgically,
sacramentally, through prayer, acts of charity, a concern for justice, and respect for God’s creation?
Only in this way do we really bear witness to the meaning of who we are and what we uphold.

Catholic identity is no infringement upon the university’s nature as a true center of learn-
ing, where the truth of the created order is fully respected but also ultimately illuminated by
the light of the new creation in Christ. Catholic universities understand that there is not a con-
tradiction between the free and vigorous pursuit of the truth and a “recognition of and adher-

 Pope Benedict XVI, Op. cit.

 John Henry Newman, The Idea of a University, Discourse II, Loyola University Press, 1927, “Theology as a Branch of
Knowledge.”
 Pope Benedict XVI, Op. cit.

Newman’s University in Today’s American Culture

by Rev. C. John McCloskey III, S.T.D.

ence to the teaching authority of the Church, in matters of faith and morals.”
Pope Benedict says:
With regard to the educational forum, the diakonia of truth takes on a heightened significance in soci-
eties where secularist ideology drives a wedge between truth and faith. This division has led to a ten-
dency to equate truth with knowledge and to adopt a positivistic mentality which, in rejecting meta-
physics, denies the foundations of faith and rejects the need for a moral vision. Truth means more
than knowledge: knowing the truth leads us to discover the good. Truth speaks to the individual in
his or her entirety, inviting us to respond with our whole being. This optimistic vision is found in our
Christian faith because such faith has been granted the vision of the Logos, God’s creative Reason,
which in the Incarnation, is revealed as Goodness Itself. Far from being just a communication of fac-
tual data—“informative”—the loving truth of the Gospel is creative and life-changing—“performa-
tive” (cf. Spe Salvi, 2).With confidence, Christian educators can liberate the young from the limits of
positivism and awaken receptivity to the truth, to God and his goodness.

As Cardinal Newman put it:

If the Catholic Faith is true, a university cannot exist externally to the Catholic pale, for it cannot teach
universal knowledge if it does not teach Catholic theology. This is certain; but still, though it had ever
so many theological chairs, that would not suffice it to make a Catholic university; for theology would
be included in its teaching only as a branch of knowledge, only one out of many constituent portions,
however important a one, of what I have called philosophy. Hence a direct and active jurisdiction of
the Church over it and in it is necessary, lest it should become the rival of the Church with the com-
munity at large in those theological matters which to the Church are exclusively committed—acting
as the representative of the intellect, as the Church is the representative of the religious principle.
[emphasis added] And in like manner, it is not sufficient security for the catholicity of a university,
even that the whole of Catholic theology should be professed in it, unless the Church breathes her
own pure and unearthly spirit into it, and fashions and moulds its organization, and watches over its
teaching, and knits together its pupils, and superintends its action.

Newman’s university in Dublin had a faculty made up almost exclusively of Catholics. It

seems to me that for a university today to be truly Catholic, the same would have to be true. The
great majority of the faculty should be convinced, practicing Catholics, and those that are not
should be carefully vetted to make sure that they respect Catholicism and in no way damage it
through their example or manner of teaching. Truth in advertising would mean that a Catholic
university is not Catholic simply because its theology faculty follows the teaching authority of
the Church but rather that the whole institution corporately has the “sentire cum Ecclesia” which
assures its authenticity and effectiveness in engaging and evangelizing the culture. I agree with
Pope John Paul II when he said, “Your Catholic colleges and universities can be leaders in the
renewal of American higher education.” Now indeed is the Catholic moment in our country, as
the Church is virtually the only institution standing that represents a millennial-old tradition
complete with a coherent, living, proven theory and practice of faith. Pope John Paul II contin-
ued: “At a time when the relationship between freedom and moral truth is being debated on a
host of issues at every level of society and government, Catholic scholars have the resources to
contribute to an intellectual and moral renewal of American culture.”
Without addressing the question of what proportion of the administration and faculty
should be practicing Catholics, Pope Benedict clearly requires that Catholic teaching be always

 Pope John Paul II, Ex Corde Ecclesiæ (August 15, 1990), no. 27.
7 Pope Benedict XVI, Op. cit.
8 John Henry Newman, The Idea of a University, Loyola Press, 1927, Discourse IX, “Bearing of Theology on Other
Branches of Knowledge.”
 Pope John Paul II, Ad Limina address, VI, no. 8.

Newman’s University in Today’s American Culture

by Rev. C. John McCloskey III, S.T.D.

respected and never contradicted from within the university setting:
In regard to faculty members at Catholic colleges universities, I wish to reaffirm the great value of
academic freedom. In virtue of this freedom you are called to search for the truth wherever careful
analysis of evidence leads you. Yet it is also the case that any appeal to the principle of academic
freedom in order to justify positions that contradict the faith and the teaching of the Church would
obstruct or even betray the university’s identity and mission; a mission at the heart of the Church’s
munus docendi and not somehow autonomous or independent of it.

Teachers and administrators, whether in universities or schools, have the duty and privilege to en-
sure that students receive instruction in Catholic doctrine and practice. This requires that public
witness to the way of Christ, as found in the Gospel and upheld by the Church’s Magisterium, shapes
all aspects of an institution’s life, both inside and outside the classroom. Divergence from this vision
weakens Catholic identity and, far from advancing freedom, inevitably leads to confusion, whether
moral, intellectual or spiritual.10

Newman was a man of profound intellect who also, even with his retiring manner, was
a man of action. If he were with us today, I think he would carefully study the situation and
make some judgments and pointed suggestions on how a Catholic college or university in the
twenty-first century should not simply engage the culture but, rather, evangelize it. After all,
was not a large part of the problem of the decline of the Catholic universities in the last thirty-
five years of the last century due to an eagerness to fit in, to be assimilated, to be accepted at
the cost of throwing away their heritage, tradition, and truth claims? Newman was prophetic
in many ways. Liberalism, which he defined above all as “religious indifference,” partly drove
him out of Anglicanism, and he would not be shocked to see how the same had infiltrated with
such devastating results into dozens of Catholic universities in this country.
Newman was, above all, a man of the Church. Even though he had strong opinions, always
well founded and explained, he looked to the Church for guidance and was docile and obedi-
ent to the indications he received both from Rome and from the ordinary in whose diocese he
served. As such, he would have paid special attention to the concrete indications given to the
American hierarchy over the course of the many decades that have passed since the Second
Vatican Council, a Council that he so deeply influenced as the “invisible peritus.” These strong
and clear messages have been delivered in various documents of the Roman Curia, particularly
from the Congregation for Catholic Education, and also in pointed remarks to the American
bishops in the quinquennial ad limina addresses.
Pope John Paul II, like his successor, was a keen admirer of Newman, as is evidenced by
various statements throughout his pontificate, including quotations of Newman in papal docu-
ments and most notably in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. John Paul II and our present Holy
Father arguably are also the popes in history who could be best described as university men
from their student days through their many years as professors and also as bishops responsible
for Catholic university faculties in their own archdioceses. I do not know if the two popes ever
read The Idea of a University, but they certainly have shown familiarity with Newman’s thought
on education. In fact, one of the documents issued in the reign of Pope John Paul II represents
insistent and clear pleading to engage the culture on Newman’s idea:
As we approach the third Christian Millennium, the Second Vatican Council’s call for generous dedi-
cation to the whole enterprise of Catholic education remains to be more fully implemented. Few areas
of Catholic life in the United States need the leadership of the bishops for their re-affirmation and
renewal as much as this one does. Any such renewal requires a clear vision of the Church’s educa-
tional mission, which in turn cannot be separated from the Lord’s mandate to preach the Gospel to
all nations.11

10 Pope Benedict XVI, Op. cit.

11 Pope John Paul II, Op. cit., no. 2.

Newman’s University in Today’s American Culture

by Rev. C. John McCloskey III, S.T.D.

 Effects have causes, and if Catholic universities are to begin to engage the culture as part
of the new evangelization, that needs to take place as a result of action by the bishops, or by
the board of directors and administrators of the universities themselves, or by the particular
religious congregations that may still have a say in the governance of these institutions. All of
this is doable if there is the will, but it will require men of imagination, vision, and above all
courage—and perhaps a large dose of sanctity—to carry out this reform following the correct
interpretation and implementation of the Council as it has been so patiently laid out for us by
John Paul II throughout his pontificate and now by Benedict. The vision of both popes extends
into the future for the next hundred years. All of us here, regardless of age, will spend the rest
of our lives coming to grips with the meaning of their thought both for our personal lives and
for our society, culture, and civilization.
In the ad limina address already cited, we are told that this renewal is in a special way the
duty of the bishops, which they must not shirk: “The mission of the Catholic school is the inte-
gral formation of students, so that they may be true to their condition as Christ’s disciples and
as such work effectively for the evangelization of culture and for the common good of society.” 12
The key word here is “integral”—the formation of the whole human person or, as Pope John
Paul II might put it, “the acting person.” Newman might have spoken of the need for the uni-
versity man, teacher or student, to make a “real” assent and not simply a “notional” assent to
the truths of Revelation which affect one’s whole personality in all its aspects.
Formation, of course, covers a good deal of ground. However, it is clear that university
education cannot simply be a matter of transmitting knowledge, an idea, which, of course,
is primary in the Newmanian ideal of university education. It also means that ways must be
found, respecting the human freedom of the student, to help him in his physical and super-
natural development, to help him to be a man of character, capable of exercising what Newman
referred to as “personal influence” on those around him. As Pope John Paul II said, “Catholic
education aims not only to communicate facts but also to transmit a coherent, comprehensive
vision of life, in the conviction that the truths contained in that vision liberate students in the
most profound meaning of human freedom.”13
This naturally calls to mind the “in loco parentis” function of a university as an “alma mater.”
The university should attempt to create an environment which would help the student to be
“in the world but not of the world,” following the Gospel injunction. It would seek to create
a campus environment which would make it easier for the student to be virtuous, rather than
making virtue close to impossible. Naturally, this task means rules and regulations, in many
areas, that perhaps today’s students might find onerous. Nonetheless, those very same students
presumably come from Christian homes, “domestic churches” where there were also rules and
regulations, handed down by parents, which deal with matters of dress, dining, neatness, or-
der, schedule, relationships with the opposite sex in dating, etc.
Newman, who certainly did not believe that the university should be a monastery, nonethe-
less would be aghast at the slovenliness of life on our nominally Catholic campuses. Separate
residences for men and women on campus with parietal regulations are an absolutely necessary
starting point. Newman’s “Ideal of a Gentleman,” while not the model for a modern Catholic
student, certainly would be major improvement. Jesus Christ, not a Victorian gentleman, is the
model, but virtue is still virtue and “grace still perfects nature.”
As the Congregation for Catholic Education put it: “In the Catholic school there is no sepa-
ration between time for learning and time for formation, between acquiring notions and grow-

12 Ibid.
13 Ibid., no. 3.

Newman’s University in Today’s American Culture

by Rev. C. John McCloskey III, S.T.D.

ing in wisdom. The various school subjects do not present only knowledge to be attained but
also values to be acquired and truths to be discovered.”14 At the heart of the university as an
evangelizer of the culture must be the creation of an environment in which the student may
grow not simply in the knowledge of his Faith but also in the practice of it. John Paul II reminds
us: “Catholic schools must help students to deepen their personal relationship with God and to
discover 15that all things human have their deepest meaning in the person and teaching of Jesus
Christ.” Practice should be defined not only as sacramental practice, although that is indeed
fundamental, but also as Christian service. This would take seriously our Lord’s declaration:
“Whatever you do to the least of my brethren, you do unto me.” There is need for a concomitant
growth in virtue as a way of studying and accepting truth. Virtue predisposes to truth.
My own experience with the work of a Catholic chaplaincy at Princeton University, a pres-
tigious secular campus, has convinced me that an energetic, faith-driven campus ministry is a
necessity in order to create a Catholic culture on campus that is capable of forming modern-day
apostles. Piety, reverence for Catholic history and tradition, beauty in the liturgy, the encour-
agement of personal prayer, frequent confession and Communion, the presence of the Blessed
Sacrament, the availability of sound, experienced spiritual directors should be part of any truly
Catholic university experience.
Newman was a great friend of freedom of conscience and also of the variety of spiritualities
in the Church. I think that if he were alive today he would be intrigued with the new institu-
tions, communities, and movements that have arisen in the Church and would welcome their
presence working together with the local campus ministry to help students to be aware of and
to act upon their baptismal vocation to holiness. Newman himself suffered from those who
favored spiritual monopolies and would probably welcome the varieties of religious experi-
ence given by these new groups, faithful to and affirmed by the Church, that have arisen in the
twentieth century. Pope John Paul II, in speaking to American bishops, stressed the key role of
chaplains:
Bishops should take a special interest in the work of university chaplaincies. . . . “The university cha-
pel is called to be a vital center for promoting the Christian renewal of culture, in respectful and frank
dialogue, in a clear and well-grounded perspective (cf. 1 Peter 3:15), in a witness which is open to
questioning and capable of convincing” [Address to the European Congress of University Chaplains,
May 1, 1998, no. 4]. Young adults need the service of committed chaplains who can help them, intel-
lectually and spiritually, to attain their full maturity in Christ.16

If Newman were here today, he would no doubt see the importance of the Catholic universi-
ty’s sharing its revealed truth with the increasingly important sphere of science in our culture.
Scientism with no ethical bounds seems to be the predominant belief system for many educated
people. Newman was aware of the theories of Charles Darwin and commented on them in his
Letters and Diaries. Although a man of letters, like many Victorians, he was fascinated with the
natural sciences and the discoveries and technological advances that were being made through-
out the nineteenth century. He did not find them ominous or see them as a threat. He recog-
nized that the real threat was heresy, apostasy, or schism. He saw the liberal arts as including
not only the letters and languages but also the natural sciences, and he established chairs for
them in his University of Ireland and indeed acknowledged their importance in Idea. He would
have agreed with this statement by Pope John Paul II:

14 Congregation for Catholic Education, “The Catholic School on the Threshold of the Third Millennium” (December
28, 1997), no. 14.
15 Pope John Paul II, Ad Limina address, VI, no. 4.
16 Ibid., no. 7.

Newman’s University in Today’s American Culture

by Rev. C. John McCloskey III, S.T.D.

 The Church’s involvement in universities, which goes back almost a thousand years, quickly took
root in the United States. . . . To belong to a university community . . . is to stand at the crossroads of
the cultures that have formed the modern world. It is to be a trustee of the wisdom of centuries, a pro-
moter of the creativity that will transmit that wisdom to future generations. . . . Catholic universities
should be expected to uphold the objectivity and coherence of knowledge. Now that the centuries-
old conflict between science and faith is fading, Catholic universities should be in the forefront of a
new and long-overdue dialogue between the empirical sciences and the truths of faith.17

We are no longer an immigrant Church. Indeed, our problem, in part, is that we have been
too assimilated. Now is the time for renewal and revival, after thirty years of decline and fall.
Now is the time for a “second spring” in Catholic university education in the United States.
This reform and renewal will have consequences far beyond our borders—into the universal
Church. It is our moment to evangelize and engage and apply the saving balm of the heart and
mind of Christ to our society, which suffers much more from internal decay than it ever will
from outside terrorists.
Our Catholic universities should and must produce the leaders in this new century to show
the way. We have a few excellent small Catholic colleges. Let us produce larger Catholic uni-
versities according to the mind and heart of the Church and of Cardinal Newman, and many
of us will witness at least the beginnings of the “civilization of love and truth” that Pope John
Paul II and his successor, Pope Benedict XVI, have urged us to build. We can count clearly on
the intercession of John Henry Newman, whose influence in the ambit of Catholic university
life will continue to grow, most particularly in the United States.

17 Ibid., no. 6.

Newman’s University in Today’s American Culture

by Rev. C. John McCloskey III, S.T.D.