Catholic Education for Catholic Lay Leaders

Catholic Education for Catholic Lay Leaders
Commemoration – John of Kanty, priest, cinops be gone – Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2008

Recently, I (Kenneth Baker, S.J. Editor, editorial in the December 08 issue of Homiletic & Pastoral review) read a book on the history of theology in the Middle Ages hat covered the period A.D. 500 to 1400….

At that time all the courses were united under one “umbrella,” and that was the study of God’s word as found in the Bible. The purpose of study is to learn the truth about the earth, man and God. Everyone understood that there are two levels of knowledge – natural and supernatural. The natural concerns everything man can learn by the use of reason in the trivium and the quadrivium. Everything that was to reveal something of God, as stated by St. Paul in Romans 1:19-20. The supernatural is above the natural and is made known to us by divine revelation contained in the Holy Scriptures, which are inspired and are the word of God….

Basic to this mentality was the understanding of truth. Truth is the goal or object of study. God is absolute truth and therefore the unique source of all truth. Jesus says of himself that he is “truth” (John 14:6). It follows then that whatever truth is attained in any of the sciences is there because God put it there as the Creator of heaven and earth.

For centuries Catholic education was based on this understanding of education and was unified as manifesting something about God the creator and redeemer. UP UNTIL ABOUT FIFTY YEARS, a Catholic college education presented a unified view of man, world and God. The center of the core curriculum was scholastic philosophy, especially metaphysics and philosophy of God, plus the study of Catholic theology in conformity with the ecumenical councils of the past. In addition, the other courses in English, history, languages and science were permeated with the Catholic faith and related to God in one way or another.

Graduates of Catholic colleges in those days knew their faith well. At the time pastors told me that their best and most active parishioners were graduates of Catholic colleges. That whole system fell apart in the 1960s. Specialization in a particular subject became more important than a united view of reality….
THE DISINTEGRATION STARTED WHEN THE COLLEGES CUT BACK ON THE REQUIREMENTS IN PHILOSOPHY AND THEOLOGY, ADDED MORE ELECTIVES, AND BEGAN TRAINING SPECIALISTS FOR THE MARKETPLACE RATHER THAN IMPARTING A TRULY LIBERAL EDUCATION.

A major concern at the universities in the Middle Ages was the relationships between reason and faith. It was resolved by declaring the Catholic faith to be supreme and everything else was subordinate to that….

NOW MOST CATHOLIC COLLEGES IMITATE THEIR SECULAR NEIGHBORS AND OFTEN TRAINING IN SPECIFIC SUBJECTS, RATHER THAN A LIBERAL EDUCATION BASED ON THE CATHOLIC FAITH AND THE HARMONIOUS VIEW OF THE WORLD THAT ONLY IT CAN GIVE. THE NEW CATHOLIC COLLEGES LIKE THOMAS AQUINAS, CHRISTENDOM AND AVE MARIA ARE TRYING TO RECOVER THAT OLDER TRADITION.
George H. Kubeck