ARTICLES

Tale of Two Colleges

How Catholic Will They Be?

By Eric Reslock

Despite economic sluggishness and the financial fallout from scandals that have diminished Church coffers, by late last year two Catholic orders announced their intention to establish new colleges in the Sacramento area.

Christian Brother Craig Franz, president of St. Mary's College in Moraga, made the announcement last spring that his order intended to build a private four-year college, tentatively called De La Salle University, on donated land in Placer County, east of Sacramento. The other proposed college is being sponsored by the Legion of Christ, a Mexican order that has built 11 universities in Latin America and Europe. The Legion is seeking to build its college in Sacramento County near a former air force base, now Mather Airport. The name of the school will be the University of Sacramento. The Legion announced in November that it has obtained canonical permission from Sacramento's Bishop Weigand to proceed. Both the Christian Brothers and the Legion relied on economic, demographic, and other kinds of research to conclude that the Sacramento area is an ideal location for new Catholic colleges.

The Brothers of the Christian Schools order, commonly known as the De La Salle Christian Brothers, operates 14 educational institutions in California, including St. Mary's Moraga. Their oldest school is Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep in San Francisco, founded in 1852. The campus in Moraga offers competitive athletics, a wide variety of fields of study, and other attractions that other small schools do not offer. In a 2001 interview with the Faith, St. Mary's professor Tom Poundstone said that being labeled a Catholic school is something the school wished to embrace. However, the school is not particularly known for taking the lead in terms of spreading the Catholic faith or defending the magisterium. It also does not have a reputation for providing a strong Catholic moral life on campus for its students. A few years ago, the administration invited pro-abortion Congresswoman Barbara Lee to give the commencement address. It has also chartered a gay and lesbian association at the school.

The Legion of Christ was founded in Mexico in 1941. The University of Sacramento will be its first four-year college in the United States. Often called, "Legionaries," the order has a reputation for orthodoxy, though sometimes it is perceived as being rigid. The Legion personnel responsible for establishing the college say they are sensitive to this perception and do not want to cultivate it. The character of the order can be traced to its founder, Father Marcial Maciel, who witnessed the violence of the Mexican revolution in the 1920s in which many members of the Mexican clergy were martyred. Father Maciel is still an active priest.

A Sacramento Bee article last spring reported that the Christian Brothers' Placer County site was going to be developed first. But since the announcement of a possible land grant, environmental protests have been voiced that the donor of the land is really seeking the ability to build a huge residential and commercial development in addition to the new college. The Placer County chapter of the Sierra Club has threatened to sue. Other sites outside the county's jurisdiction are also being looked at. Jonathan Brown, president of the Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities denied the Placer project has stalled. He said negotiations are moving forward as planned and that support in the community is "very strong."

Both colleges are receiving assistance from the association, which has donated temporary office space to the Legionaries in downtown Sacramento. St. Mary's College is already a member of the association. The association contracted with a polling firm last year, which asked Placer County residents if they would support such an institution. In a June 12 article in the Sacramento Bee, Brown said that 70 percent of the local respondents favored the idea.

In a phone conversation, I asked Brown if fundraising was difficult considering the stagnant economy. He said, "it's always challenging. If you have a good idea and you have good people; plus a compelling need and a vision -- that will encourage people to be very generous to both colleges. Brown said, while he is not a Catholic, he perceives that there is a difference among Catholic colleges. He said, "I've heard many people say that Catholic higher education is one size fits all, and that is simply not true." He added, "While these colleges may have a different flavor, I believe some positive synergies can develop." He pointed out that the orthodox Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula arose out of discussions among faculty at St. Mary's in 1968. The college was founded three years later and has already established an international reputation for excellence.

Father Robert Presutti of the Legion of Christ said Bishop Weigand presented a canonical letter of approval last summer for the University of Sacramento. The first phase of the opening will be the graduate school of education, either in downtown Sacramento or nearby. The Legion has not yet launched its capital campaign, but it has raised $1 million in seed financing from donors. The idea is to start small. Father Robert pointed out that their University of Anáhuac in Mexico City started with only 48 students in 1964 and now has 7,000. He said Sacramento County officials toured the Mexico City campus and seemed pleased with what they saw there.

Barry Sugarman, vice-president of instructional development and CIO for the University of Sacramento, has been assisting with the project for five years. He has a Ph.D. in higher education from Columbia University and has also worked in the technology industry. Sugarman said that the college of education will work to provide educators for Legion of Christ schools as well as for other private and public schools. He said students will be able to attain certification to teach in public schools.

That the school will carry the non-Catholic specific name, University of Sacramento, may leave one wondering just how Catholic it will be. Reading the university's literature, I wondered the same thing. I pointed out to Father Presutti that, in the fact sheet it has released, the school did not seem to completely reflect the character of the order. One of the bullet points says that students would study, "Judaism, Islam, Buddhism etc." along with Catholicism. Father Robert said, "the point behind that is we're not starting a seminary. But it will definitely be a Catholic college with a Catholic identity. The schools will be respectful of the Catholic faith in a way that makes students from other backgrounds comfortable with being there. The opportunity to become Catholic -- should they choose to do so -- they will have that opportunity."

Since mention is made that the curriculum draws on works of western civilization, I asked if they were looking at a Great Books model. "It is not a Great Books program at all," said Sugarman. He then drew distinctions between the graduate school of education and the undergraduate liberal arts program. Outside of the required classes in arts and sciences, undergraduate students will have an opportunity to major in specific areas. Depending on where students are in that process, some of the departments may use Great Book texts in their courses.

Father Robert added, "and I wouldn't use the term 'western civ' because some use that in a pejorative sense. The idea is to provide the context and history of ideas so that students are able to have a healthy dialogue with the modern world." I pointed out that the public relations materials I'd seen do not mention the pursuit of truth. Father Robert said, "it's definitely there [in the curriculum] and very much in my mind."

Asked whether the school will take a position that certain philosophers are better guides to the truth than others, Father Robert said, "we do want to convey a sense of objectivity and truth. There are philosophers who better capture what that is all about. At the same time, we do not want our students to be afraid of the modern philosophers. We are trying to equip our students with tools to engage the modern world. At the same time, we do want to form a certain set of values and objective standards based on reality."

Still wondering why the university might not want to proclaim forthrightly that it is Catholic, I asked John Galten, president of the year-old Campion College in San Francisco, if there was any downside to doing this. Galten said he does not see a downside provided it's a true account of the school. He said, "it's extremely important these days, with all the controversies in the Church, that Catholic schools give a clear representation of what they are about. They should also offer some kind of evidence so there is no ambiguity. There is real value to truth in advertising."

I asked Peter Deluca, tutor and one of the founders of Thomas Aquinas College, the same question. He said, "we found that, far from hurting our chances of success, it was tremendously beneficial to emphasize -- from the beginning -- the Catholic nature of both the curriculum and the moral life that we aimed to establish at Thomas Aquinas College."

Deluca said a byproduct of this was that it made the school more attractive both to students and donors. "By highlighting the genuinely Catholic characteristics of our new college, we were able to distinguish it from all other colleges and universities across the country and thereby answer a critical question from our potential benefactors: 'why go to the trouble and expense of founding another Catholic college when so many already exist?' When it became clear that this new college would indeed be different, and that it would be an antidote to the weaknesses that were becoming more and more apparent in other institutions, donors began to come forward with generous support."

Deluca continued, "thirty-two years later, with the sustained help of those first benefactors and the many others who have since joined their ranks, we continue to spotlight the authentically Catholic character of our program. And I should add that this focus has also helped to ensure that we attract students -- more and more each year -- who are well-suited to our program of genuine Catholic liberal education."

The character of Catholic colleges has been of particular interest to Pope John Paul II. The 1990 papal document, Ex Corde Ecclesiæ, called on Catholic colleges to adhere more readily to their Catholic identity and Church teaching and asked bishops' conferences to play a greater guiding role. The application of Ex Corde Ecclesiæ for the United States was approved by the U.S. bishops in late 1999. It was decreed that the application would have the force of particular law for the United States, starting in 2001.

Asked if the University of Sacramento would be following Ex Corde Ecclesiæ, Father Robert said, "we will definitely be looking to enact all of those [norms]. The search for truth and fidelity to the Church -- since the Church helps reach the fullness of truth -- you can't really have one without the other."

Sugarman added, "for a new institution, the document is really a road map."

St. Mary's Moraga did not respond when contacted for this article. Curious about the school, I went to its website. I found no mention of the new college. I did find a recent press release announcing that "Julia Butterfly Hill, social activist, heroine and powerful voice for the environment will speak at Saint Mary's. Hill and more than a dozen young activists will be available after her presentation talk with students while disc jockey Mike Keating provides world beat music. It's a very special night celebrating the wedding of spirituality and activism."

TOP