Journal of Catholic Higher Education

Introduction

Michelle Loris — Wed, 19 Apr 2023 00:00:00 -0400

Charism, Crisis, and Adaptation

Kevin Ahern — Wed, 19 Apr 2023 00:00:00 -0400

For many American Catholic universities, mission and identity are shaped by the charism and charismatic traditions of the founding religious congregations. But the use of this language raises several questions in the face of changing dynamics in higher education, the church, and society. Is the language of Lasallian, Vincentian, Dominican, or Jesuit, for example, primarily about branding, or does it reflect a deeper theological claim? With universities in New York serving as a reference point, this paper will explore the emergence of charism as an identity adaptation strategy and the need for attending to the theological dimensions of such language. A deeper theological reading of charism’s corporate dimension, as informed by theologian Sandra Schneiders and others, can provide a useful resource for university leaders as they chart a course for Catholic higher education beyond the COVID-19 crisis.

Neither a Convent nor a Seminary

Christopher Fuller — Wed, 19 Apr 2023 00:00:00 -0400

This essay proposes a Catholic structure for the intellectual life of faculty that invites participation in ways that honor their diverse backgrounds, even antipathy toward religion, while also demonstrating that identifiable Catholic perspectives, including Catholic social teaching, can provide a useful framework for faculty members to understand their academic roles in support of Catholic identity, no matter their religious backgrounds.

Faculty Development

Linda Garofalo, Danute M. Nourse, Mary Garofalo — Wed, 19 Apr 2023 00:00:00 -0400

Current research suggests that faculty development should address a crosssection of personal and professional needs of the faculty, as well as support the institution’s mission. Using evidence to support faculty development can foster reflective practitioners and close the gap between teaching and research by creating “sustainable collaboration practices” between faculty and administration.

Core Fellows

John-Paul Heil, Stephen McGinley — Wed, 19 Apr 2023 00:00:00 -0400

As higher education emerges from COVID-19 restrictions, the post-pandemic transitional moment provides Catholic institutions the opportunity to reconsider their reliance on adjuncts in core curricula. As tenure-track positions decline nationwide and universities increasingly source out coursework to temporary or part-time adjuncts and other contingent faculty, Catholic liberal arts universities should reevaluate how their use of adjuncts aligns with the church’s cosmological and anthropological tenets. The Catholic intellectual tradition is uniquely qualified to identify the underlying causes of and the solutions to higher education’s adjunctification. While we acknowledge thatadjuncts can include retired academics and those teaching part-time for supplemental income or leisure, when we discuss “adjunct professors,” we primarily refer to underemployed adjuncts seeking full-time work in academia without finding it. Based on Catholicism’s vision of reality, the human person, and the economics of receptivity and gift flowing from both, Catholic universities should hire Core Fellows (non-tenured semi-permanent faculty lines exclusively teaching in their core curricula) to replace positions normally filled by adjuncts with positions enabling talented teachers to pursue pedagogical vocations with security and just honoraria.

Finding Meaning in Christian Classics

Patrick Manning — Wed, 19 Apr 2023 00:00:00 -0400

Current trends in disaffiliation and declining enrollment in Catholic schools raise difficult questions about the perceived value of Catholic education and the Catholic Intellectual Tradition (CIT). Following the work of theologian David Tracy, the author makes a case for engagement with Christian “classics” as a promising means not only for re-engaging a wider audience with the CIT but also for addressing the sense of fragmentation and lack of meaning experienced by many contemporary persons. The paper proceeds by presenting an analysis of the plurality and ambiguity of contemporary culture, an explication of Tracy’s work on “classics,” and finally a new approach to engaging students with Christian classics that has proven fruitful in undergraduate courses.

“Laudato si” at 5

Carl Procario-Foley — Wed, 19 Apr 2023 00:00:00 -0400

How might Catholic colleges and universities draw from their unique missions to educate and act together in response to the pressing needs of the environment? Honoring the fifth anniversary of Laudato si, this article argues that Pope Francis’s notion of ecological conversion and his bold conviction that the “cry of the earth is the cry of the poor,” have the potential to advance creative collaborations within and among Catholic colleges and universities. Such initiatives in ecological education and advocacy may serve to temper a spirit of competition in Catholic higher education with an affirmation of a shared identity grounded in solidarity and care for our common home

Good Soil

Darcy M. Ronan, Joseph A. Polizzi — Wed, 19 Apr 2023 00:00:00 -0400

An examination of the Catholic Intellectual Tradition (CIT) informs the substance and manner of educator preparation, grounding a College of Education in the mission of the University. A CIT-formed educator is capable of critically interacting with both harmonious and dissonant contemporary movements in K-12 education to produce judgments of reform, resistance, resilience, and care within the current technocratic paradigm. The CIT hallmarks of formation, vocation, contemplation, cura personalis, and justice have implications for educator preparation programs at Institutions of Catholic Higher Education (ICHE). An educator who is formed in values, thoughtful in practice, attentive to personal relationships, and discerning of educational justice is well-positioned to grow in the intellectual, interpersonal, and technical competencies that define an exemplary and merciful educator. Colleges of Education in ICHE can find the tensions of the human condition which shape the educational venture gracefully and faithfully addressed within the CIT.