Ex Corde Ecclesiae Today

In 1990, Pope John Paul II issued his apostolic constitution on catholic universities, Ex Corde Ecclesiae. This document lays out specific guidelines and outlines the defining characteristics of a truly “catholic” institution of higher learning. The document met some controversy, especially in the United States, where many “Catholic” universities espouse relativism in the name of tolerance and academic freedom.

Lay Witness recently sent a letter to the presidents and administrators of several Catholic colleges and universities, posing this question: “What is distinctive about the way your institution of higher learning manifests its Catholic identity in keeping with Ex Corde Ecclesiae?” The responses we received are as varied as they are interesting. As you’ll see, the teaching given in Ex Corde Ecclesia is not only palatable, but also enjoyable to those committed to the truth.

JOHN PAUL II INSTITUTE
Washington, DC

By statute, the Lateran University is particularly linked to the Bishop of Rome. In John Paul II’s words, it is “the Pope’s own university.” Within the Lateran family, the John Paul II Institute underlines by its very name this profound closeness to his person and the Magisterium. Pope Clement XIV founded the Lateran in 1773 to be a place where scientific knowledge and the heritage of faith form the academic community. The epistemology underlying our research is by nature ecclesial, and therefore both communional and relational, where credible teaching is underpinned by personal testimony.

This educational method successfully brings together students from different cultural and spiritual experiences, from dozens of languages and 100 countries: young men preparing for priesthood, young people committed to consecrated life and lay people preparing to play their part in the Church and in society. All will find here the resources necessary to assume a mission giving the fullest meaning to their lives.

Most Rev. Rino Fisichella
President

THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA
Washington, DC

I believe that CUA’s founding identity, mission, and purpose distinguishes CUA among its peers precisely because of its special responsibility to the Church. Its faculties of philosophy, theology, and canon law have an obligation, unique in the United States, to present the Church’s teaching and intellectual support for that teaching in a clear, comprehensive, and critical, yet unambiguous way. It should be the place where the Catholic Church in our country “does its thinking” not merely as an end in itself, but also in service to the Church’s broader pastoral and evangelizing mission, objectives identified by Pope John Paul II in his constitution Ex Corde Ecclesiae. Because of that, all of the other faculties and programs of the university draw deeply from the richness of one truth rooted in the unity of faith and reason.

CUA continues to meet its primary obligations to graduate and doctoral students and that fact itself helps account for the excellent quality of instruction—more rigorous, more demanding—offered to undergraduates, an education that is both complemented and supported by a dynamic program of campus ministry and a campus life where Catholic identity and Catholic principles and values have pride of place and carry with them clear expectations of student behavior on and off campus.

The university community is committed to pursue the institution’s Catholic mission with an energy and zeal that have brought about a renewal of Catholic campus life at CUA. Surrounded on each respective side by the magnificent Basilica of the National Shrine, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, and the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center, it is hard to pass through CUA’s grounds without sensing that this institution draws its life “from the heart of the Church, ex corde Ecclesiae” and has charted its future course clearly and unambiguously in that spirit.

Very Reverend David M. O’Connell, C.M., J.C.D.
President

FRANCISCAN UNIVERSITY OF STEUBENVILLE
Steubenville, OH

From my first reading of Ex Corde Ecclesiae, I saw that the authentic charism of St. Francis of Assisi naturally reinforces the four essential characteristics of a Catholic university detailed by Pope John Paul II. At Franciscan University of Steubenville, we find additional inspiration to be fully Catholic in the teaching and example of our patron. Here’s how:

Every Catholic University, the Holy Father says, must have a Christian inspiration. St. Francis was nothing if not Christocentric. He urged his brothers and sisters to follow one simple rule: Live your life according to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Franciscan University also strives to “follow Jesus Christ, the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”

The Pope also says that Catholic universities must have a continuing reflection in the light of the Catholic faith upon the growing treasury of human knowledge. St. Francis had a holistic, integrated approach to learning and thus saw connections everywhere between earth and heaven, reason and faith. He exhorted his followers to put first things first—prayer before study—so that knowledge for its own sake would never become their goal. At Franciscan University, we encourage students to grow in their personal relationship with the Lord while professors help them discover the connections between their faith life and their studies.

Fidelity to the Christian message as it comes to us through the Church is another hallmark of both the Catholic University and St. Francis of Assisi. Though he lived in the freedom of the Holy Spirit, Francis fully submitted himself and his order to the Pope. He beautifully embodied the dynamic orthodoxy we seek to live at Franciscan University, faithful to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and the Magisterium. For this reason, in 1989 Franciscan University became the first Catholic university in the United States to administer the Oath of Fidelity to our theology faculty, priests, and campus ministers.

The final characteristic has special meaning to us as a Franciscan school: an institutional commitment to the service of the people of God and of the human family. Francis marked his conversion from the day he overcame his revulsion and embraced a leper. From then on, he cared for the most marginalized in society. Franciscan University follows St. Francis in this, offering students the chance to encounter Christ in the poor, infirm, aged, and imprisoned through our Works of Mercy Program and many mission trips to cities in the United States and abroad.

Fr. Terence Henry, TOR
President

CHRISTENDOM COLLEGE
Front Royal, VA

Christendom College has fully embraced Ex Corde Ecclesiae from the moment the document was first issued by the Holy Father. Our entire faculty voluntarily takes the Oath of Fidelity to the Magisterium of the Church at the opening of every academic year. The board of directors also takes the same Oath of Fidelity. Adhering to this document, Christ plays an absolutely central role in everything we do at Christendom College: the way we worship, the way we study, and the way we recreate together as a community. Christendom College, in its challenging curriculum, has united the two orders of faith and reason, and has allowed the Catholic faith, with its illuminating light, to shed its rays throughout our entire academic program. Our Faculty Handbook and Vision Statement also incorporate the spirit and teaching of Ex Corde Ecclesiae. Staff members who are not Catholic share in and respect the fundamental mission of the college, which is to provide the finest possible Catholic liberal arts education to our students. In keeping with the personalism of the Holy Father (which is manifested in this document), we have deliberately chosen to limit the size of our college so as to never exceed one faculty member for every 15 students to ensure that everyone at Christendom College will be known by name. Our outstanding faculty serve as mentors and take a personal interest in the progress of each individual student. For us, “Catholic” will never simply be a label, but will always refer to the joyfully lived experience of our faith in Jesus Christ and the Church he founded.

Dr. Timothy T. O’Donnell
President

THE COLLEGE OF ST. THOMAS MORE
Fort Worth, TX

At the college, we endeavor to understand how devotion to the Catholic Church and its dogmas and doctrines impacts the understanding of the classical liberal arts (rather than the other way around). As one member of the college put it: “We are not individuals who, because we are Catholic, seek the truth; rather, we seek truth and that’s why we are Catholic.” It is with this always in mind that we believe it is so important for our students to develop discernment and taste in disciplines such as literature, music, and the fine arts. Catholic philosophy and theology have had an almost unfathomable impact on these over the centuries, they are an intrinsic part of what it means to be fully human. Our faculty members take an Ex Corde Ecclesiae oath. We challenge our students, through intellectual formation and personal example, to embrace the faith and wisdom that we cherish.

Dean Cassella
Provost

DUQUESNE UNIVERSITY
Pittsburgh, PA

The mission statement of Duquesne University describes our purpose as serving God by serving students in the pursuit of academic excellence with a profound concern for moral and spiritual values. As President of Duquesne University, I saw my obligation as leading the university in a continuous elaboration of our mission statement in every facet of university life. While respecting the dignity of every person, to me it was critically important to promulgate our unique identity as a Catholic university. It was necessary to emphasize the symmetry between our academic pursuit of truth and the splendor of infinite truth, as well as the often misunderstood nexus between faith and reason. To me it was important to recognize that the sacred gift of freedom became distorted through the fallacy of “absolute” freedom of the individual. Such a concept fails to recognize the external standards of the virtuous life—manifested by the cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude, and moderation; and the supernatural virtues of faith, hope, and love. We pursue the Mission Statement of Duquesne University as a clear manifestation of the principles announced in Veritatis Splendor and Fides et Ratio, culminating in the recognition of the true Catholic university as outlined in Ex Corde Ecclesiae.

John E. Murray, Jr.
Chancellor, 2001 to present
President, 1988-2001

AVE MARIA UNIVERSITY
Naples, FL

As a new Catholic institution of higher learning, Ave Maria University is determined to make its institutional commitment to the Catholic Church uncompromisable and irrevocable. This commitment is best expressed in the bylaws of the university, the most significant portions of which are quoted:

“The essential character of the Ave Maria University shall at all times be maintained as a Catholic institution of higher learning which operates consistently with Ex Corde Ecclesiae, it being the stated intention and desire of the trustees of the university that the university shall retain in perpetuity its identity as such an institution. With such essential character in mind, the purposes of the university include the following:

“To educate students in the principles and truths of the Catholic faith, including dogmatic, moral, and social teachings, as expressed in Sacred Tradition, Sacred Scripture, and the living Magisterium of the Catholic Church, as well as in the great tradition of liberal learning and in such other subjects of study as the trustees of the university may determine according to local and societal needs and professional opportunities, and to develop in these students appropriate professional skills, all so as thereby to prepare them to inform their own lives and the society in which they live and work with Catholic truth and to develop their full vocations, whether religious, priestly, or lay.”

These bylaws cannot be changed without a vote of the board of trustees as a whole, and also the approval of a special committee on mission. This is a self-perpetuating committee of the board, whose members are among the nations’ most knowledgeable, faithful, and active Catholics, dedicated to preserving the mission of the university as set out above. This structure represents, we think, the most effective means (in terms of human endeavor) of preserving the essential Catholic character of the university.

Nicholas Healy, Jr.
President

MAGDALEN COLLEGE
Warner, NH

Like every Catholic institution of higher learning, Magdalen College is born “from the heart of the Church” (ex corde Ecclesiae). Catholic members of the board of trustees, faculty, and staff take an oath of fidelity to the Church at the beginning of each academic year, thereby promising to teach the faith by word and example.

To learn the faith, each student at the college enrolls in four years of catechesis. The catechesis tutorials delve into the Gospels, the Catechism, the documents of Vatican Council II, and the social encyclicals of the Church. Furthermore, the college encourages the students to live a sacramental prayer life—Holy Mass is offered daily, the Rosary is prayed every evening, a Scripture meditation is given on weekdays, and a weekend retreat is conducted each year.

Equipped with the knowledge of the faith and strengthened by daily encounters with Christ in the sacraments and prayer, graduates of the college can engage in the new evangelization called for by Pope John Paul II, as laymen, priests, or religious.

Jeffrey J. Karls
President

THOMAS AQUINAS COLLEGE
Santa Paula, CA

In its landmark 1969 founding document, Thomas Aquinas College boldly proposed a restoration of authentic Catholic liberal education, based on the principle that the essential purpose of a Catholic College is to educate under the light of the faith.

Following the venerable Catholic tradition of “faith seeking understanding” Thomas Aquinas College offers a single, integrated program of studies unique in our day: a thoroughgoing examination, under the guidance of the teaching Church, exclusively of the great books (the original works of the greatest thinkers in the Western intellectual tradition, from Homer and Aristotle to Tocqueville and Einstein). Since the Church is taken seriously as a guide not only in the moral life but also in the intellectual life, special emphasis is placed on the actual texts of the Church’s premiere teacher, St. Thomas Aquinas.

Thomas Aquinas College consists of a community of friends sharing what, in Ex Corde Ecclesiae, Pope John Paul II calls “the joy of truth,” by vigorously pursuing that truth in small seminars and tutorials of 15-18 students. The result: thoughtful, articulate, and committed Catholic leaders.

Dr. Tom Dillon
President

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