Narrated Aspirations: A Critical Review of Selected Research Concerning Catholic Higher Education in the United States

Abstract

The dialectical tension between the sacred and the secular has fostered fascinating historical discussions concerning the Catholic university in the United States. Scholars such as James Turner and Philip Gleason have offered a host of narratives that provide a context for other scholars seeking to philosophically define the aspirations that will shape the future of the Catholic university. Mark Roche's The Intellectual Appeal of Catholicism and The Idea of a Catholic University is an insightful example of such an effort. While the future of the Catholic university is invariably strengthened by these efforts, one cannot help but wonder how such aspirations might change if assumptions concerning the relationship shared by the sacred and the secular were to be challenged. For example, scholars such as Timothy Fitzgerald question whether the ability of the secular to forge its own identity apart from the sacred is not only at the heart of modernity but also at the heart of the dilemma facing Catholic colleges and universities. Perhaps time will tell whether the secular will subsume the sacred or whether the sacred will once again establish an identity beyond the dialectical tension it currently shares with the secular. Invariably, the future aspirations of Catholic colleges and universities in the United States, and potentially even Catholic colleges and universities in other countries, hang in the balance.