V e r i ta s

Vol. 1 {2009} No. 2

Deepening Appreciation of the Beauty, Wisdom, Vitality, & Diversity of the Catholic Tradition

The Bishop John S. Cummins Institute for Catholic Thought, Culture & Action

the MissioN

The Bishop John S. Cummins Institute for Catholic Thought, Culture and Action seeks to deepen appreciation among all con-stituents of the campus community for the beauty, wisdom, vitality, and diversity of the Catholic Tradition. We do this by:

Fostering a conversation between the Catholic tradition & contemporary intel-lectual life.

The Institute understands the tradition of Catholic higher education as one of provid-ing a context in which fides quaerens intel-lectum, “faith seeking understanding,” can take place. The Institute is a resource for integrating the search for faith and reason throughout the curriculum and the acad-emy.

Promoting a sacramental understand-ing of reality and the vision that this world is “charged with the grandeur of God.”

The Institute understands that Catholic faith is not about the intellect alone, but that it manifests itself also in rich and varied cultural expressions: in liturgy and ritual, in literature and art, in music and dance, as well as in our daily lives as a campus com-munity.

supporting all members of the commu-nity in leading lives that are respectful of human dignity and responsive to social justice concerns.

The Institute promotes the principles of Catholic Social Teaching and endorses initiatives developed by its representative groups and other members of the commu-nity that aim to inculcate habits of the heart and faith and zeal for transforming lives.

On the COver: LassaLian spirituaLity Library COLLeCtiOn

saint Mary’s COLLege Of CaLifOrnia CaMpus

CoNteNts

Letter frOM the Chair, 1

spirituaLity: the Way tO prOMOte the CathOLiCity Of saint Mary’s COLLege, 2

the inteLLeCtuaL traditiOn Of saint Mary’s COLLege: an evOLutiOn, 6

COre CurriCuLuM, 12

Letter FroM the Chair

in his “General Argument” in The Idea of A University, John Henry Newman writes that the univer-sity “has the office of intellectual education; but the Church steadies it in the performance of that office.” Furthermore, he writes that “religious doctrine is knowledge.” It is with this understanding that Saint Mary’s College defines itself as a liberal arts, Catholic, and Lasallian institution of higher education. These three constitutive elements of Saint Mary’s College are to be understood as inter-

secting and enfolded. They are not separate and discreet elements with particular aspects of the College addressing each element. Rather, it is the intersection which provides the basis for the mission of Saint Mary’s College.

But what do we mean by each of these constitutive elements? What do we mean by a liberal arts institu-tion which is Catholic? Father Thomas McElligott addresses this in his article in which he attempts to describe what it means to be Catholic, to describe what it is that is being promoted. Father McElligott teaches in the Theology/Religious Studies Department at Saint Mary’s College and is the Chaplain for the Saint Mary’s College Brothers’ Community. Brother Mel Anderson, FSC, former President of Saint Mary’s College, describes the evolution of the curriculum at Saint Mary’s College. The curriculum, certainly a core curriculum, should reflect the mission of an institution. We might ask at the end of these articles, does the curriculum at Saint Mary’s College make it clear that it is a Catholic college with the liberal arts as its heart and in the tradition of Saint John Baptist de La Salle?

The Governing Board of the Bishop John S. Cummins Institute for Catholic Thought, Culture and Ac-tion welcomes any responses you might have to this question as well as suggestions for the Institute as it looks for strategies to promote the Catholicity of Saint Mary’s College.

Brother Donald Mansir, FSCChair

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Melanie Morey and John Piderit use the word “crisis” to describe the lack of concentrated

attention to the “catholicity” of the Catholic colleges in the United States. This paper addresses that topic and proposes that the best way to promote the “catholicity” of Saint Mary’s Col-lege comes down to addressing the question of spirituality, particularly Christian spirituality, and its specific articulation in the lif e and practice of the Brothers of the Christian Schools.

By “catholicity” I mean “the char-acter of belonging to, or in accordance with, the Catholic Church”. As ex-plained in the United States Catholic Catechism for Adults the proper ad-jective “Catholic” modifying “church” means that the Catholic Church un-derstands itself to be universal, that is, “live[ing] in a diversity of cultures and languages because she is led by the Spirit of Christ to bring the Gos-pel to all peoples,” as well as “univer-sal” by means of its worldwide system of diocesan, eparchial, and parochial structures, and its relationship with the Jewish, Muslim, and Buddhists communities. The bishops note that by “Catholic” the church understands that in it “all the means of salvation are found,” that it possesses “the fullness of faith, the Sacraments, and apostolic succession”; and, citing The Second Vatican Council’s decree Ad Gentes, that the church is missionary “by its

very nature.” While the church un-derstands that it has “the fullness of the faith”, by the nature of the mys-tery of the triune God that faith is dynamic. The church then must remain open to new articulations of faith and to the development of doctrine. Its sacramental life and the apostolic succession of its bish-ops assure its members that it con-tinues to be one with the ever deep-ening understanding of the paschal mystery of Christ’s dying and rising begun in the age of the Apostle and continued ever since through the developing understanding of the church.

In other words, the church’s un-derstanding of itself as “Catholic” challenges it to resist the temptation common enough in any institution to focus only on the partial and the particular of its self-understanding and presence in the world.

The Greek katholikos origi-nally meant ‘whole’ or ‘entire’ as opposed to that which is partial or particular….Catholicism is char-acterized, therefore, by a both/and rather than an either/or approach.’ It is not the product of a single reformer or historical movement in post-New Testament Christian history. It does not find its iden-tity in a single doctrine, confession, liturgical text, or theory of biblical interpretation.

In its long history the institu-tion that claims the name “Catho-lic” has, from time to time insisted on naming some form of the partic-ular as the whole and entire of the Catholic Church. The challenge for the church in general and for those interested in protecting the “catholicity” of a Catholic college is to guard against the temptation to assume this posture. People at ev-

sPirituaLity: the Way to ProMote the CathoLiCity oF the CoLLeGe

rev. thOMas J. MCeLLigOtt, s.t.L., ph.d

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ery level of authority (and lack of it) have in the past and will in the future scream about orthodoxy, and heterodoxy, and every other kind of “oxy”. Such challenges to the catholic nature of the church have gone on from New Testament times. It seems to me that to pro-mote the “catholicity” of a College means to remain faithful to the al-ways difficult to grasp “whole” and “entire” of the faith, articulated most recently in the decrees and constitutions of the Second Vati-can Council.

Such a stance causes multiply problems, of course. The discus-sions of the Bishop Cummins Board of Directors about “catho-licity” based on their reading of some recent papal documents, the Melanie Morey and John Piderit text Catholic Higher Education: A Culture in Crisis, and John Henry Cardinal Newman’s Idea of a University, made them acutely aware of the need, to make the Catholic identity of the College explicit and vis-ible, clear and unambiguous. The above cited statement of the American Bishops make it clear that there are certain unmistakable realities that identify one as Cath-olic but these must always be held in tension with the greater reality of the “whole and entire” that the word “Catholic” identifies. This will necessarily mean a constant return to the never ending debate about what is Catholic enough and what has oozed into the great wash of “fuzzy thinking,” to say nothing of the cauldrons of “heresy”.

The “how” to better articulate and promote the “catholicity” of the college brings me to the ter-

rifying abyss of the universe. I have Professor Ron Olowin to thank for this awareness. However we articulate and promote the “catholicity” of a col-lege we can do so, it seems to me, only by facing who we are in this universe. We are a speck in a universe of trillions of galaxies, in which our own has 240 billion stars, each star of which has its own set of planets and whatever else there is. The catholicity of this fact places our discussion of being faith-ful to a tradition about the meaning of life, death, and resurrection into a light that is some 14 billion years old at one level, and infinite at another. We cannot ignore the cosmological reality, in a word, the scientific articulation of reality, at any level of our discussion of how to promote “catholicity.” The not-

ed science writer Free-man Dyson, in a

discussion of the work of

b i o l o g i s t Carl Wo-ese, says that we had better

pay close attention to

what is going on in biotechnol-

ogy. The domestication of high technology, which we have seen marching from triumph to triumph with the advent of personal computers and GPS receivers and digital cameras [will]soon be extend-ed from physical technology to biotechnology…. I predict that the domestication of biotechnology will

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“hoWeVer We artiCuLate aNd ProMote

the ‘CathoLiCity’ oF a CoLLeGe We CaN do so, it seeMs to Me, oNLy by FaCiNG Who We are iN

this uNiVerse.”

dominate our lives during the next fifty years at least as much as the domestica-tion of computers has dominated our lives during the previous fifty years.”

Suddenly the problem of “intelli-gent design” as a counter to evolution as an explanation of our origins pales into insignificance. Once domesticat-ed, as was the computer, biotechnol-ogy will alter the way we live, and how we think about life.

In the face of the realities science uncovers at every level of life, and the changes in our think-ing and acting in light of those developments how can we better ar-ticulate and promote the “catholicity” of the Catholic college? The answer, it seems to me, lies in spiritu-ality. Before your eyes roll completely to the back of your heads, I do not mean by the term anything even faintly resembling what Barnes and Noble, ‘Booksellers since the stone ages’ means by the term. In a recent trip to a nearby branch of the chain store I discov-ered that spirituality means consulting tarot cards. There is an entire book case dedicated to it. That is not spirituality.

Spirituality is the lived experi-ence of faith. It is “the experience of conscious involvement in the project of life-integration through self-tran-scendence toward the ultimate value one perceives,” as Sandra Schneiders defines it. It is a personal, deliberately chosen way of living, involving the whole person, body, mind, and spirit, in the “ongoing project of life-integra-tion pursued by consistent self-tran-

scendence toward ultimate value (italics in the text). For Christians that ultimate is “the triune God revealed in Jesus Christ whose life we share through the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

The lived experience of faith for us at Saint Mary’s College of California takes on the particular form of the way of life of the Brothers of the Christian Schools. The Brothers and their particu-lar understanding of teaching as the specific way they engage in the apostolic work of salvation entrusted to the Church through Jesus Christ has guided and directed the life of the College from the time the Brothers accepted the invitation of Archbishop Alemany to take over the College. It seems to me that the “how” best to articulate our “catholicity” must consider the spirituality of the Brothers. That spirituality, like life itself, is in process. The Brothers personal lived

reality in the project of self-transcendence toward God in Christ Je-sus, and our own pursuit of, or questioning of, and/or embrace of that ultimate value must be the place of meeting, and of conversa-tion between the Brothers and the faculty and administration of the College, as well as with the staff that supports their work. It is in this holy place, often enough, I would hope, sitting around a table with a text in the seminar style that is one of the distinguishing edu-cational models of this College, that we can provide a safe space for the honest conversation about Lasallian spirituality as the particular expression of the working out of the Catholic nature of Saint. Mary’s College, and how all members of the college community participate in it.

I would suggest that an important text to begin this conversa-tion is a document promulgated by the Saint Mary’s College Broth-

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ers’ Community as a statement of their understanding of the term “Lasallian.” Like any statement composed from ancient sources, Scripture and the teaching of the Church, historical and forma-tional texts, the documents on the life of the Brothers of the Chris-tian Schools from the writings of St. John Baptist de la Salle to the present Congregational admin-istration, and statements of local focus, the mission of Saint Mary’s College as a school of higher edu-cation, this document concentrates in a few words ideas that need careful reading and conversation to understand. I append it to this paper and offer it as an important starting point for understanding our “catholicity” as Saint Mary‘s College.

Our conversation about “cath-olicity” can only take place within the present reality of 21st century life. We live in a post-modern or a post-post-modern age of which my references to the scientific un-derstanding of life exemplify only one aspect. If we must be cautious not to make everything relative, neither can we ignore the immense problem of naming what is true and how it is true when we are specks in a trillion galaxy universe? It seems to me that our spirituali-ties, our personal, life-long engage-ment with reality in pursuit of what brings us beyond everything, in fear and trembling, in doubt and in hope, is one place at least from which to articulate and promote what is Catholic, the whole and the entire.

What dOes it Mean tO be LasaLLian?The Christian Brothers who live and work at Saint Mary’s Col-

lege of California recently developed the following statement. It represents our common understanding of what constitutes the La-sallian approach in higher education.

the LasaLLian apprOaChThe encompassing spirit of a Lasallian institution of higher

education is inspired by the guiding principles of the Brothers of the Christian Schools and their founder, John Baptist de La Salle, a spirit fostering the development of the intellectual faculties en-lightened by faith that seeks understanding.

The Catholic intellectual tradition holds that the pursuit of truth “contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of the meaning of human life and the purpose of God’s creation” [Ex Corde Ecclesiae]. Zeal for the human and Christian development of students inspires the Christian Brothers and guides every mem-ber of the Lasallian educational community.

This community welcomes all who qualify for admission, drawn from diverse social, economic, and cultural backgrounds, and especially strives to include the economically disadvantaged.

The community of scholars in a Lasallian institution of higher education follows curricula and participates in activities which intellectually challenge, provoke wonder, enhance intuition, and foster congeniality and compassion, so that students might live in-formed and responsible lives, understanding the meaning of Chris-tianity in the world today and sharing their faith, insights, goods and service with others, especially those in need.

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Prior to 1969 the curricu-lum of Saint Mary’s Col-lege resembled what many Catholic institutions of-fered with the exception of

its World Classics program required of liberal arts students for four years and for science and economics/business administration students for two. The College also sponsored an Integrated Liberal Arts program for a limited group of students who desired to fol-low a four-year liberal arts curriculum based on the Great Books of the West-ern World, following for the most part the footsteps of the liberal arts Great Books program at Saint John’s Col-lege, Annapolis, MD. The only excep-tion to the St. John’s program was the inclusion of one segment of religious studies with adaptations to conform to the Great Books seminar approach.

“Saint Mary’s College under-stands liberal education” the Bulletin of 1968-1970 announced, “ as a pro-cess of intellectual and imaginative de-velopment through which the student learns to understand himself in rela-tion to the physical universe, to other people and to God. ”

The Bulletin further notes that “As a Catholic College, Saint Mary’s is in a special way concerned with the heritage of Christian values and the cultural tradition of Western Europe…it fulfills its religious and intellectual responsibilities best not by indoctri-

nating in the limited sense but by attempting to free the student’s mind from ignorance, narrowness and prejudice so that he (co-educa-tion did not commence until 1970) may seek and love wisdom.”

The program of study “aims in particular at the fostering of in-tellectual and imaginative vitality and discipline. The student’s mind is developed in the arts of reason-ing, reckoning and observation through the activity involved in the acquisition of and clarification of the fundamental concepts of theology, philosophy, mathematics and sciences. Imaginative vitality is encouraged not only through the great works of the human imagina-tion but through the effort to relate studies in various disciplines to one another and to the full context of human experience, aesthetic and emotional as well as intellectual.”

Many alumni prior to 1969 saw the curriculum as foundational, providing principles and insight for living wisely, stirring the imagina-tion, presenting a vision of scientif-ic wonder, and enlarging the prin-ciples of economics and business leadership.

The Vietnam conflict, support-ed by mandatory induction, was the catalyst that prompted extraor-dinary changes in attitudes, civil rights, business, politics, social mo-

the iNteLLeCtuaL traditioN at saiNt Mary’s CoLLeGe: eVoLutioN

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res and collegiate life. Given the influence of changes in higher edu-cation nationwide, and the efforts among faculty aided by the Aca-demic Vice President of the time, and approved by the President, a change in the curricular status quo seemed inevitable. The Bulletin of 1968-1970 became obsolete after its first year of use.

The 4-1-4 calendar with its major changes in requirements and featuring “innova-tive courses, includ-ing travel courses to foreign lands” in the one-month January Term, was introduced for the Fall Semester, 1969. It was sev-eral years in the making through the campus politi-cal process, but in spite of its advance planning, more in theory than in practicalities, it was found wanting in both thought and experimentation prior to its intro-duction in the Fall, 1969. The two longer semesters of thirteen instruc-tional weeks each, had been designed without require-ments in philoso-phy, history, lan-guage, mathematics or science, but retained the World Classics program, renamed Col-legiate Seminar with four courses over four semesters being required

for all students (a reduction of three and a half units for liberal arts students from the pre-1969 program) and two courses in Religious Studies, ( a reduc-tion of nine units in Religious Studies for all students.) The faculty eventu-ally reintroduced some requirements, beginning with “Better Writing,” given the generally poor performance

in composition by incoming students. Students were later required to choose courses from several areas of study (known as “area require-ments”), including “ethnic and gender diversity study” to as-sure a more balanced educational menu. Some students could create their own cur-riculum but not with-out faculty guidance and approval. The In-tegrated Liberal Arts program underwent a name change to the Integral Program (to avoid confusion with ethnic studies) and while it adapted to the 4-1-4 calendar it remained essentially unchanged with the exception of elimi-nating the specifically religious studies ele-ment.

Students may and do enroll in philoso-phy, history, language, mathematics and the sciences to fulfill area

studies. However, philosophy, that was once an integrating backbone re-quirement amounting to a total of 17 lower and upper division units, pre-

the iNteLLeCtuaL traditioN at saiNt Mary’s CoLLeGe: eVoLutioN

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1969, became one among many selec-tions in the area requirement category. The philosophy of Saint Thomas Aqui-nas, the thirteenth century Dominican philosopher and theologian was a ma-jor focus of philosophical investigation prior to Fall, 1969.

Though all philosophy require-ments were jettisoned, the Collegiate Seminar program retained a number of philosophical and theological texts that are currently read by all students, such as, The Confessions by Augustine, The Gospel of Mark, selections from The Summa Gentiles by St. Thomas Aquinas, Revelations of Divine Love by Julian of Norwich and The Uses of Knowledge by Cardinal Newman.

The two course Religious Studies requirement devotes one course to the Bible and its Interpretations, or Biblical Literature which is a prerequisite for upper division Religious Studies courses. The other required course is

selected

f r o m among a number of courses such as, Reformations, Challenge of Modernity, The Gospel of Mark, Apocalypse and Eschatology, Christian Spirituality, Sexuality, Marriage and Family—A Catholic Perspective, The

Catholic Imagination, Christian Ethics, Judaism, Islamic Beliefs and Practices and so forth. Students may take more than the two required courses, if their schedules permit and interest draws them to do so.

The World Classes program that had been arranged in chrono-logical order from the ancient Greeks to the Moderns underwent a short-lived adjustment when the 1969 change to Collegiate Seminar occurred. Some faculty attempt-ed to design the program around themes and juxtaposed modern works with the classical texts, un-der the pretext of relevancy. When alumnus Tom Slakey, Ph.D. who was a tutor at Saint John’s, became Academic Vice President in 1971 he persuasively argued that themes, such as Domination and Submis-sion, Poverty, War, Man and Gov-ernment, and so forth, prejudiced the conversation and that contem-porary or relevant readings were something that students should do

on their own while saving the best and most influential books ever written for the seminar pro-gram. The program reverted to its traditional chronologi-cal format when the Seminar Governing Board chose Frank Ellis, Ph.D., as chairman early

in the 1970’s. There is little doubt that the chronological

ordering of the texts provides thoughtful students with a devel-opment of ideas thus contributing to a more comprehensive under-standing of particular eras as well as providing different approaches to major philosophical efforts in addressing a number of the peren-nial questions about how we learn, decide and give meaning to life.

As His Holiness John Paul II

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“the CaLL tO the CathOLiC COMMunity and the Christian

brOthers Of saint Mary’s COLLege in partiCuLar is bOth

CLear and strOng.”

perceived as a growing secularism and skepticism within Catholic higher education he became seri-ously engaged in developing an Ap-ostolic Constitution on Catholic Universities. The title of the docu-ment was taken from the first three Latin words of the document, Ex Corde Ecclesiae ( From the Heart of the Church.) After at least ten years of conversation among lead-ers of Catholic colleges and univer-sities worldwide, the bishops and cardinals, His Holiness was satis-fied that he had heard all that was necessary. The Apostolic Consti-tution was released by the Vatican on September 25, 1990, contain-ing two parts, the first citing the Catholic university’s “Identity and Mission“ and the second entitled “General Norms” an application of the principles outlined in part one for “all Catholic institutes” of higher studies.

The self-summary of the Intro-duction and Part One of the docu-ment is found in a listing of the four essential characteristics of the Catholic university, namely, “ (1) A Christian inspiration not only of individuals but of the university community as such. (2) A continu-ing reflection in the light of the Catholic faith upon the growing treasury of human knowledge, to which it seeks to contribute by its own research, (3) Fidelity to the Christian message as it comes through the church, (4) an institu-tional commitment to the service of the people of God and of the human family in their pilgrimage to the transcendent goals which gives meaning to life.”

Theology, “Ex Corde Eccle-siae” in particular singles out, “ plays a particular role in the search for a synthesis of knowledge be-

tween faith and reason. It serves all other disciplines in their search for meaning, not only by helping them to investigate how their discoveries will affect individuals and society, but also by bringing a perspective and an orien-tation not contained within their own methodologies.”

The document also includes a Christ-centered section on The Uni-versity Community, that strongly encourages the need for developing a community of scholars, composed of both religious and lay persons of both sexes and both Catholics and Non-Catholics. “The collegial com-munity is seen as seeking an unparal-leled competence in content, objec-tives and results within the framework of a coherent world vision. Christians among the instructors are called to be witnesses and educators of authentic Christian life, which evidences an at-tained integrations between faith and life, and between professional compe-tence and Christian wisdom.”

The second part of the Apostolic Constitution, which generated con-siderable commentary and some resis-tance from Catholic University leaders during the years of internal discussion is titled General Norms, “ that are to be applied concretely at the local or re-gional levels by episcopal conferences and other levels of Catholic hierar-chy,” while considering the statutes of a diverse array of institutions of higher education, the precepts of Canon Law, complementary church legislation, and as far as possible and appropriate, civil law.

The call to the Catholic commu-nity and the Christian Brothers of Saint Mary’s College in particular is both clear and strong. The Catholic institution of higher education is to be undeniably Catholic and evangelistic. The words, “undeniably Catholic” and “evangelistic” must be interpreted with

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care since such language could connote in the minds of potential students and parents some kind of proselytizing, “mind-bending” or required religious adherence or practice. Rather, the pro-posed evangelization must be exercised within the principles that animate the liberal arts. The liberal arts aim to liberate students from ignorance, narrow-ness and prejudice, and invite them to develop their own principles of thought thus enabling them to engage in an in-tellectually unfettered search for truth, to probe deeply the individual and collective human experi-ence, and, if so inspired, to explore the relation-ship between reason and faith.

For the College to be undeniably Catholic It would seem that the first measurement of a Cath-olic institution would be in its interpersonal ambiance, intercommu-nication and a prevailing Christian spirit within its administration, faculty and staff. The second measure would include: a) the commitment of the faculty to seek the truth as well as the spirit and frequency of the dia-logue within it, b) the curriculum that reflects the development of the long-standing Christian intellectual tradi-tion, including philosophy, theology and spirituality, c) the dignity and ap-propriateness of religious experiences, e.g. the liturgy, compassionate pastoral attitudes of the campus ministry, d) the Christian culture that permeates social and entertainment/recreational activities within the student body, e)

occasional convocations, debates and colloquia on social justice, ethical and theological/philosophi-cal topics featuring both experts and faculty members as speakers or debaters, and, f ) academic publi-cations containing faculty articles

that by their insight identify the College as Catholic.

A College committee is pres-ently engaged in discussing the “core curriculum.” This effort is commendable since it is attempt-ing to focus on some integrating principles, translated into courses or a triad of courses, that are rep-resentative of the great Catholic intellectual tradition, something for which many alumni of the 50’s and 60’s express their appreciation.

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Combinations of courses or several courses that provide in-depth phil-osophical principles that will allow students to understand themselves and their colleagues, to integrate the diverse intellectual and social aspects of their lives as well as re-

flect on the authentic meaning of life seem to be a sine qua non intel-lectual element in the present era of our 18 to 22 year-old students.

While we often encounter relativism, skepticism and indiffer-ence to thoughtful insights be they philosophical or within the full-ness of the Christian message, the hope is that a core curriculum will stimulate thought leading to an “existential” unification “by intel-lectual effort two orders of reality

that too frequently tend to be placed in opposition as though they are anti-thetical: the search for truth and the certainty of already knowing the fount of truth.” (Ex Corde Ecclesiae).

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peter bayLes

peter bayLes’s diCtiOnary is One Of the best knOWn and infLuentiaL WOrks Of the 18th Centtury. bayLes set neW standards fOr enCy-CLOpiedias and ChaLLenged sCientifiC and phiLOsOphiCaL inquiry. [ LasaLLian spiritu-atLity Library COLLeCtiOn, saint Mary’s COLLege Of CaLifOrnia]

the COre CurriCuLuM

The Saint Mary’s College Core Curriculum Task Force submitted its models for the implementation of a new core curriculum on 23 April. The Academic Senate voted to accept one of the models. In its conclud-ing remarks, the Task Force wrote:

The core is not to be taken lightly. It is parallel to a student’s major course of studies that assists the stu-dent with the necessary skills, which are not simply helpful to a student’s major, but purposeful activities in themselves. These activities include experiences both inside the classroom and outside the classroom directed and guided by instructors who are acknowledged for their competence to do so.

These activities touch the core of the human person, increasingly so over the course of the time at Saint Mary’s College. There is something so meaningful in education that it is to be considered a holy activity. Catholic higher education positions the student to see the whole and to probe being it. The activities help the student ponder human deeds and happenings, help the student to gaze into the unfathomable depths of history, help the student to behold nature and the human person’s place in it, stirs the mind to wonder, and guides students in their search for fundamental causes and principles.

These activities promote something of a liberation, including a spiritual capacity to perceive visible reality as it is, freedom from prejudices through the questioning of one’s assumptions in order to keep a critical distance, and concern for the common good.

The College’s mission states “[n]ourished by its Christian faith, the College understands the intellectual and spiritual journeys of the human person to be inextricably connected.” To experience this fact of the mission, the student must engage in the dialogue between faith and reason. The proper activity of the in-tellect is continually to attempt to resolve the great questions that arise from common human experience in and by self-evident propositions through a search that probes for fundamental principles and causes. This activity is ordered to the development of intellectual abilities important for life as a whole, beyond the knowledge and skills required for any particular profession.

The questions asked repeatedly have been “What should we have our students try to take away after their time at Saint Mary’s College? What is this proper activity of the intellect?” If we look at the mission of the College and its three traditions, we gain some insight. The liberal arts tradition fosters intellectual skills and habits of the mind so that students seek not merely facts but fundamental principles. The tradition integrates knowledge and through it students develop the ability to communicate precisely and eloquently. The Catholic intellectual tradition fosters the Catholic understanding of the human person and promotes cooperation between intellectual and spiritual lives. It also fosters sensitivity to ethical issues and how ethical judgments might be made. The Lasallian tradition makes the student aware of the consequences of socio-economic injustice and looks for strategies to address these injustices. In conjunction, these tra-ditions support faith seeking intellectual understanding. Finally these traditions help students integrate what might otherwise be fragmented, specialized fields of knowledge so that they might address the larger questions about what we are and what we should be as human persons.

piCtured abOve: MarbLe end papers frOM the bOOks in the LasaLLian spirituaLity COLLeCtiOn

the bishOp JOhn s. CuMMins institute fOr CathOLiC thOught, CuLture & aCtiOn

saint Mary’s COLLege Of CaLifOrnia

1928 saint Mary’s rOad

MOraga, CaLifOrnia 94556

pLease visit Our Website:http://www.stmarys-ca.edu/lasallian-approach/core-traditions/catholic/cummins-institute/index.html

editOriaL staff

brOther dOnaLd Mansir, fsCChair

sCOtt kierManaging Editor

kate bOWersLayout and Design

Veritas is published three times per year by the Bishop John S. Cummins Institute for Catholic Thought, Culture and Action at Saint Mary's College of California.

The views expressed in Veritas do not necessarily represent those of the Institute or the College. We welcome your comments.

“the CoNteMPorary WorLd urGeNtLy Needs the serViCe oF eduCatioNaL iNstitutioNs that uPhoLd aNd teaCh that truth is ‘that FuNdaMeNtaL VaLue Without WhiCh FreedoM, justiCe, aNd huMaN diGNity are extiNGuished.’”

--johN PauL ii, Veritas sPLeNdor

The Bishop John S. Cummins Institutefor Catholic Thought, Culture & Action1928 Saint Mary’s RoadMoraga, California 94556