Upheavals in the Ministry of US Catholic Education and the Effect on Catholic Identity: Models from the 19th Century Schools and 21st Century Hospitals / Democracy and Hierarchy: Education and Catholic Culture

Franz Hall 214

Catholic colleges and universities are an invaluable resource for American society. However, there is often a tension between the culture of Catholicism and the culture of higher education. Although their ultimate commitments may differ, their attitude towards knowledge need not differ. Indeed, Catholicism should have nothing to fear from the advancement of knowledge and should continue to make contributions to its development. This is evident if one highlights certain elements of the Catholic intellectual tradition. The writing of the French thinker Alexis de Tocqueville best addresses the modern condition of Catholics who live in a world where there is no politically desirable alternative to democracy. Though not often thought of as a Catholic political philosopher in the same way that Augustine of Hippo and Thomas Aquinas are, Alexis de Tocqueville is a better guide in figuring out the modern relationship between Catholicism, science, and education. Catholicism has and is influenced by the democratic elements in American political culture, but it also can contribute much to that same democratic culture. According to Tocqueville, a democracy needs to support and promote scientific and theoretical knowledge for its own sake. This is exactly what Catholic institutions of higher learning, at their best, will do. Catholic higher education can help promote the theoretical habits that do not come easily in a modern commercial society and are needed for the spiritual and intellectual health of our nation.