CATHOLIC STUDIES AT ROCKHURST UNIVERSITY: PAST AND PRESENT

By Rick Janet, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of History, Founder and Former Director of the Thomas More Center for Catholic Thought and Culture

As a member of the task force that proposed the establishment of Rockhurst’s Thomas More Center in 2000 (and, subsequently, founding director of the Center), I remember clearly our original charge from then-President, the Rev. Edward Kinerk, S.J. Fr. Kinerk directed us to explore “ways to enrich, and to make more available, appreciation of the Catholic intellectual tradition in a Jesuit context [for] both our internal and external constituencies." The question of identity and tradition was an increasingly important one for Catholic universities at the time, especially given John Paul II’s 1990 apostolic constitution Ex Corde Ecclesiae. That document outlined the rationale for the mission of Catholic higher education and proposed norms for Catholic colleges around the world to follow. Some American Catholic leaders questioned the applicability of Ex Corde’s norms to the American educational environment, leading American Catholic bishops to work out a suitable adaption over the course of the 1990s. In the meantime, many Catholic colleges were establishing Catholic Studies programs in an effort to preserve and advance the underlying traditions of Catholic higher education. Some found this new trend perplexing, wondering why a Catholic institution needed a defined Catholic Studies program to preserve what should already be its distinctive identity. Others feared that such programs might become bastions of Catholic fundamentalism. Many welcomed the move as a way to expand an intellectual tradition at risk of erosion given the decline in religious personnel assigned to Catholic colleges and universities. 

Fast forward 23 years to the present. Catholic colleges are still faced with the challenge of maintaining and/or articulating their Catholic identity, this time in the aftermath of scandals in the institutional Church and growing distrust of Church authority. Pressing demographic and financial circumstances as well as even fewer religious personnel available for assignment to higher education compound the challenges facing Catholic institutions, threatening a crisis of identity in some schools. In this climate, former President, the Rev. Thomas Curran, S.J., raised the issue of reclaiming the Catholic intellectual tradition at Rockhurst’s August 2021 “All Companions Gathering” workshop. As a follow-up to Fr. Curran’s call, I spent the 2022-23 academic year reviewing the state of the Catholic intellectual tradition at Rockhurst. The resulting report (“A Home for Wisdom: Rockhurst University and the Catholic Intellectual Tradition”) analyzes the nature and elements of the Catholic Intellectual Tradition (CIT) and suggests ways to advance that tradition at Rockhurst University. The report focuses on the need for the ongoing development and promotion of Jesuit Catholic values, especially in an academic environment — a need reflected in the long history of Catholic education, its Jesuit subset, and the particular circumstances of Rockhurst University.

What exactly is the “Catholic Intellectual Tradition”? While the tradition itself enjoys a 2,000-year history, the precise phrase grew up only in the last 60 years as a short-hand description of the values and habits that undergird the Catholic educational enterprise. It might best be defined as a habit of inquiry grounded in Catholic ideas and values, tempered by a long history of dialogue with thinkers of all persuasions and perspectives. Over the course of that long history, certain characteristics emerged as hallmarks of the CIT. Catholic thought prizes intellectual rigor, aims at transforming the individual learner and the entire human community, invites dialogue with other traditions, seeks underlying meaning and purpose, is open to the presence of God in all things, recognizes the unity of knowledge across disciplines and perspectives, and accepts the compatibility of both faith and reason in efforts to understand all things. 

How does the CIT relate to Rockhurst’s Jesuit identity? This question arises again and again in most Jesuit universities, as some observers favor “Jesuit” over “Catholic,” preferring what they believe to be the more open and accessible values well-articulated in Jesuit universities. In reality, of course, Jesuit education is rooted in the broader Catholic tradition. The Rev. Mike Sheeran, S.J., long-time Regis University president and former director of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities, refers to Jesuit education as a “subset” of Catholic education. I like to think of it as a dialect or “accent” — we all “speak” Catholic values, but some do it in a Jesuit, or Benedictine, or Franciscan accent. I find that particularly true of Rockhurst’s defined Jesuit values. We speak of “finding God in all things,” which reflects the broad Catholic sacramental principle. We embrace the value of discernment and development of the whole person, which grow out of the core Catholic commitment to the compatibility of faith and reason. We proclaim the "magis" as an effort to go beyond the norm, reflecting the Catholic focus on curiosity and ultimacy. We promote wisdom, an embodiment of the Catholic intellectual focus on the unity of knowledge. We endorse "cura personalis," reflecting the Catholic adherence to the common good. In short, Jesuit values, like the Jesuit educational enterprise itself, are an outgrowth of Catholic values and experience. The Jesuit way is the Catholic way lived in a particular spiritual tradition and environment. When we study and promote Jesuit values, we are studying and promoting the Catholic Intellectual Tradition. 

Why do we need a conscious recommitment to the Jesuit Catholic tradition at this point in our institutional history? Like many other Catholic (and private) colleges and universities, Rockhurst faces daunting challenges — practical, financial, real challenges that cannot be resolved by mere rhetoric. Hard decisions are being made about Rockhurst’s “way of proceeding,” decisions that will affect the very identity and future of the institution. Some might say that we cannot afford the luxury of idealism in the midst of present circumstances. That, of course, belies the underlying foundations of our community. We were founded, grew, and developed because of our Jesuit Catholic identity and mission. As an academic institution, we are made distinctive by our adherence to the Jesuit Catholic intellectual tradition. Exploring, advancing, and promoting that tradition is not a luxury but a necessity, in good times and in bad. As the authors of "What We Hold in Trust: Rediscovering the Purpose of Catholic Higher Education," assert, “Faithfulness to this tradition is not preserving its ashes but passing on its fire. This purpose expresses for the Catholic university its raison d’etre, the reason for its being, what it is designed to do.” 

The work of the Thomas More Center and the Catholic Studies academic program is essential to the life and vitality of Rockhurst University, as much or more today as it was 23 years ago. The Center connects Rockhurst to its underlying intellectual tradition and to the work of countless other individuals and institutions over centuries.