The Issue: Jon Sobrino talks on Catholic university identity
What we think: Include students in identity discussions
The Provost's Planning Committee on Catholic Intellectual Traditions held a major event in front of a packed Robsham Theater on Thursday. Jon Sobrino, a Spanish Jesuit noted for his work on liberation theology at the University of Central America (UCA) in El Salvador, spoke on the Catholic university in the 21st century. His talk was followed by responses from Dr. M. Shawn Copeland, a theology professor at Boston College and Dr. Peter Ireland, an economics professor at BC.
The event was notable for several reasons: first for the strong response from the BC community. An impressive number of faculty, administrators, and Jesuits joined an overwhelming student audience to fill one of the largest presentation spaces on campus. This demonstrates that the question of what the identity of a Catholic, Jesuit university really is has penetrated to the core of a wide cross-section of the campus community.
A number of recent trends and events have made the identity question central to the concerns facing a Catholic institution like BC. Demographic changes have created a more diverse student body - one in which the concerns of non-Catholic, GLBT, and female students have been of growing importance. Concerns have arisen about how to deal with changes in the campus and in young American culture in general, while maintaining fidelity to the Catholic mission of the school. These changes are not BC-specific; universities like Georgetown, Marquette, and St. Louis find themselves confronting many of the same issues.
As reported in the Washington Post, these concerns have penetrated to the very top level of the Catholic hierarchy. In April, Pope Benedict will visit the United States, where he will deliver a lecture at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. and meet with the presidents of most of the 252 Catholic colleges in the United States. Many people have speculated the Pontiff will issue a rebuke to what some have called the "the failure of Catholic colleges to adhere to church teachings."
2008 Woodie Awards
