The Newman Guide to Recommended Catholic Colleges (which turn out to be more affordable as well) is available here at the website of the Center for the Study of Catholic Higher Education. There is also a study linked there on College Affordability and Catholic Identity.
February 18, 2009
Looking for Faithful (and Affordable) Catholic Colleges?
A lot depends on what you are looking for in a college education. Most Catholic colleges provide a good (some a very good) liberal arts education, but what if your goals in college are different? There does not appear to be such a beast as a Catholic polytechnical institute, nor do there seem to be Catholic colleges that provide the depth and specialization available through secular universities. My daughter, for instance, wanted to study Russian, and with her grades and aptitude, she wanted to study at the best school available in her field of study. Turns out there are only a handful of schools in the U.S. that qualify, none of which can be considered "Catholic" in the Newman Guide's sense of the word (Georgetown might have qualified, once upon a time, but as I have often remarked, don't mistake a Jesuit school for a Catholic one).
Also sad and disturbing is the lack of any suitable school for Byzantine Catholics, who, in general, have a hard time at "traditonal" Catholic colleges such as Christendom and Steubenville. Attempts to set up an Eastern Catholic "great books" college in Ohio have foundered over fundraising (the current economy doesn't make things look better), as well as on the shoals of jurisdictionalism (Church A won't back it if Church B is involved, Church C wants nothing to do with it if Church A is involved, etc.). If all the Eastern Catholic jurisdictions went in together, the school would be practical and successful; even better, the Eastern Catholics and the Orthodox should get together to form an Eastern Christian University--together, we have the numbers and the wealth. But we are much too happy paddling around in our own individual mud holes to do anything constructive together.
Posted by: Stuart Koehl | February 19, 2009 at 07:06 AM
Are they any Orthodox colleges in the U.S. besides Hellenic College in Massachusetts (once home of Celtics training camp)? Just curious; I have no personal stake in the issue.
Posted by: James Kabala | February 19, 2009 at 07:59 PM
>>>Are they any Orthodox colleges in the U.S. besides Hellenic College in Massachusetts (once home of Celtics training camp)? Just curious; I have no personal stake in the issue.<<<
As far as I know, Holy Cross Hellenic College is the only Orthodox four-year college (my daughter still gets recruiting flyers from them, a year after she got out of high school). There are a number of seminaries and theological academies that give degrees in theology, but they are not liberal arts colleges.
Posted by: Stuart Koehl | February 19, 2009 at 08:20 PM
There does not appear to be such a beast as a Catholic polytechnical institute, nor do there seem to be Catholic colleges that provide the depth and specialization available through secular universities. ....( ... don't mistake a Jesuit school for a Catholic one).
On the taintedness of once-glorious SJ education and that the technical aspect is sorely lacking I couldn't agree more. It seems to me that RCs in the US have done one of two things; retreat into a new other-wordly ghetto (Steubenville being one exception I know of) or embrace the worst, most mendacious aspects of modernity.
Posted by: bonobo | February 20, 2009 at 12:21 AM
(Church A won't back it if Church B is involved, Church C wants nothing to do with it if Church A is involved, etc.). If all the Eastern Catholic jurisdictions went in together, the school would be practical and successful; even better, the Eastern Catholics and the Orthodox should get together to form an Eastern Christian University--together, we have the numbers and the wealth. But we are much too happy paddling around in our own individual mud holes to do anything constructive together.
You mean it would be like asking the Eastern Catholics to be... well... catholic? Geez, Stuart, you want everything! [wink... I know, I know the shoe fits on both... well... all three feet]
And Steubenville traditional?? They may be quite orthodox, but AFAIK the pentecostals pretty much have the run there.
Posted by: Steven Nicoloso | February 20, 2009 at 04:09 PM
>>>And Steubenville traditional?? They may be quite orthodox, but AFAIK the pentecostals pretty much have the run there.<<<
The charismatic Catholic movement was very strong at Steubie-U a decade or so ago, to the point where some people thought it was getting out of hand, but since then it has been toned down significantly. By "traditional", I essentially meant Latin in doctrine, spirituality and liturgical preferences. A number of my Byzantine Catholic acquaintances there found very tough sledding when they tried to explain that Byzantine Catholics are not just Roman Catholics with a cabaret license.
There is a much larger Byzantine presence at Christendom College in Front Royal (a good many people from Christendom are part of the congregations at both Epiphany and Holy Transfiguration, for all that it is a 75 mile drive in each direction), and they manage to hold their own against the Latin traditionalists there. In fact, it seems to have made them much more determinedly Byzantine than a lot of people who went to less aggressively Catholic schools.
Posted by: Stuart Koehl | February 20, 2009 at 04:18 PM