Church-related Institutions Research Articles

The Impact of State Aid on Sectarian Higher Education: The Case of New York State

New York State provides institutional aid to nonpublic institutions of higher learning within the context of its constitutional prohibitions against aid to denominational institutions. To qualify for state aid, New York's private colleges and universities must prove they are constitutionally eligible, a process which has prompted extensive self-evaiuation and frequently some changes by many of those institutions with traditional religious affiliation. State aid administrators have chosen to restrict their constitutional approach to state standards and ignore the United States Supreme Court's tripartite standards articulated inLemonv.Kurtzman, as modified by theTilton-Hunt-Roemerdecisions. The state law has been cautiously and diplomatically administered, but the possibility of future state “entanglement” with church-related institutions remains.

Philosophy and the Future of Man: Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association ed. by George F. McLean, O. M. I.

188 BOOK REVIEWS than secular; expressed by way of adaptation and literary creation; proposed progressively and not all at once or in any one book, but after the close of revelation complete and decisive for the faith of subsequent ages. His point is that, in the gradual development present in the composition of the biblical canon, God makes corrections (e. g., regarding the nature of human survival after death) or, better, tolerates certain outward appearances of error which he little by little eliminates. This is divine pedagogy from which men are to learn. Is the divinely directed process of development itself (and not simply the final truth attained) intended to be instructive? An affirmative seems the warranted answer and does not keep the doctrine of life everlasting from being the truth for future ages. Perhaps the development with regard to the office of Christian teacher in the New Testament deserves to be considered in an analogous way. Unless questions regarding the normative character of the direction development took in the New Testament are faced, Christians run the risk of needless ecumenical disillusionment. Projected unions of churches may be rejected for good as well as for ignoble reasons. If the good ones point at some future date to the fact that systematic theologians are not doing their homework now, the cause of Christian unity will not be well served. I may be mistaken on this but it is my view. It is also the reason why I consider the historical studies of Colson and Benoit so important for those concerned with the past and future development of Christian institutions and doctrines. The Catholic University of America Washington, D. C. CARL J. PETER Philosophy and the Future of Man: Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association. Edited by GEORGE F. McLEAN, 0. M. I. Washington, D. C.: Catholic University, 1968. Pp. 245. In recent years social thinkers mainly in France, the United States, and Great Britain have increasingly turned attention to the track of the future and especially the shape of the human city in the year 2000. According to Daniel Bell, Chairman of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Commission on the Year 2000, a combination of the old and new may throw some light on the upsurge of futurism and the special fascination of the year 2000: the old, a residual strain of chiliasm; the new, an overweening technological optimism, complacently trustful that man will be able to create new mechanical miracles. A deeper reason seems at work; contemporary man, who, in the somewhat self-prt>ening phrase, has " come of age," feels confident that techniques like linear programming, decision-making BOOK REVIEWS 139 theory, systems analysis, plus advances in social theory may bring within reach a conjectured prevision, if not control, of certain sectors of the future. For reflections and projections concerning things to come, various symposia have drawn on physicists, chemists, zoologists, social psychologists, psychiatrists , social theorists, political scientists, economists, anthropologists, communications experts, ethnologists, State Department professionals, military analysts, computer experts, and theologians. The lack of philosophers among participants in futuristic conversations seems glaring in the light of philosophies of history propounded by Vico, Spengler, Sorokin, Comte, Hegel, and Marx among others that have endeavored to foretell at least glimmers of what lies ahead and that, some hold, have remotely inspired futuristic ambitions. To remedy in part this deficiency " Philosophy and the Future of Man " was adopted as the 1968 ACPA convention theme. Considering how doubly hard it appears in an age adoring nonconformity to get philosophers (sometimes self-analyzed as a particularly ornery breed) to hew to any set intellectual policy, some may judge it a minor thematic triumph that all seven plenary session papers directly or indirectly ponder lines of the future and, of fifteen panel session papers, seven touch on the meaning of the future in some way. Because of the nature of the theme, roughly two-thirds of the papers are concerned with practical issues. Two other unlinked items may be noted. Thirteen papers are presented by thinkers not connected with church-related institutions. Curiously, little or nothing throughout bears on or derives from Teilhard de Chardin, a seer celebrated for his grand...

Freeing the Catholic College from Juridical Control by the Church

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Additional informationNotes on contributorsJacqueline GrennanJacqueline Grennan is president of Webster College. Like the preceding article by Mr. Averill, hers is adapted from a paper given in a session on “Changing Patterns of Governance in Church-Related Institutions” at the Twenty-third National Conference on Higher Education in Chicago in March, 1968.

“Sectarian” Higher Education and the Public Interest

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Additional informationNotes on contributorsLloyd J. AverillLloyd J. Averill is professor of sociology at Ottawa University. He was president of the Council of Protestant Colleges and Universities when he presented the paper of which this article is a revision at the Twenty-third National Conference on Higher Education in Chicago in March, 1968, in a session on “Changing Patterns of Governance in Church-Related Institutions.” Much of the first half of the article originally appeared in the October 9, 1968, issue of the “Christian Century.”

Control of Church-Related Institutions of Higher Learning

Control of Church-Related Institutions of Higher Learning

Control of Church-Related Institutions of Higher Learning

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Additional informationNotes on contributorsJoseph P. O'GradyJoseph P. O'Grady is associate professor of history at La Salle College. His article is adapted from a paper read at the annual meeting of the Organization of American Historians in April, 1968. Mr. O'Grady will be glad to supply references for statements not supported by footnote citations.

The Place of the Chapel in a Christian College

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Additional informationNotes on contributorsNels F. S. FerréNels F. S. Ferré is Scholar-in-Residence at Parsons College.

Beyond Separation of Church and State

The American Revolution produced many new patterns of life, among them the institutional invention we call separation of church and state. At that time it was truly revolutionary to suppose that a nation could survive without a tax-supported priesthood, an officially-approved liturgy and creed, and magis trates empowered to enforce conformity and orthodoxy upon everyone by law. Yet our adventurous forefathers tried it, and to everyone's surprise, under this novel American way of doing things, both and government prospered as never before! This American arrangement embodied in the First Amendment to our Constitution has been widely imitated in other lands. It is ironic that, having served us well, and having won acceptance elsewhere, this American tradition is being called in question in the very land of its origin. Congress and the courts are increasingly besought to modify our ancient and accepted ways in order to reinforce the moral and spiritual values of the nation, to stand firm against secular ism and materialism, to encourage religion, and to help the churches and synagogues. And who can resist these well-meant blandishments without appearing churlish? Beyond this, to op pose the giving of tax-funds to church-related institutions of education, service, and welfare for the public functions they allegedly perform is more than churlishness ; it is represented as sheer hostility to religion !

POAU Position on Church-State Relations

Loans for dormitory construction at church colleges. The Community Facilities Administration of the U. S. Housing and Home Finance Agency has provided long-term loans for dormi tory construction since 1951. The Housing Act of 1961 author ized $300,000,000 annually for four years in loans for college housing. The program includes church-related institutions. A report of the College Housing Program, March 23, 1961, indi cates that a total of $340,724,000 has been granted to church related colleges in loans for dormitory construction. This in cludes Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish institutions. Here is the denominational breakdown:

Pastoral counseling centers: Mid-century phenomenon

The movement as a whole has been pictured as a diverse one embracing many administrative patterns with a common purpose of offering help to persons with problems through counseling. Centers in which clergymen do all the counseling, though with the benefit of psychiatric consultation, and having some kind of relationship to a church or church related institution represent the dominant pattern. Centers with interprofessional staffs including ministers, though few in number, have a significant impact on the movement as a whole through their training programs. Centers that are unrelated to any church comprise a significant minority of the centers, and church related centers staffed by professionals other than the clergy are the least prevalent. Though there appears to be some uniformity among the centers in regard to the kind of counseling done, they are sharply divided on the questions of fees, referral, and attitude toward church and community relations.

Churches and the Negro

IF OCCUPATIONAL and residential segregation are the two major problems facing Negroes in the North, educational segregation is the third. It is the thesis of this paper that church-related institutions are adhering to a pattern of segregation and not actively furthering the integration of the Negro into American Society.I Denominational institutions, although no longer dominant, are still an important factor in American education. In the nineteenth century, education gradually became accepted as an established function of government; today we have a public system extending from the nursery school through the graduate school. Nevertheless, as recently as i929-30,