Catholic colleges weakening students' faith, new study finds.
Catholic students who attend Catholic colleges and universities in the US are more likely to move away from the faith than to deepen their commitment, a new study shows.
The study found that 32% of Catholic students at Catholic schools attend Mass less frequently by the time they graduate, while only 7% attend more frequently.
Roughly 8% of the graduates reported leaving the Catholic faith during their college years, while students who had entered the Catholic Church during their college years accounted for only 4% of the graduates.
The new study by Georgetown's Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) largely confirms previous reports from the Cardinal Newman Society calling attention to a "crisis in Catholic higher education." “Catholics should be alarmed by the significant declines in Catholic practice and fidelity at many of America’s Catholic institutions,”
said Patrick Reilly, the resident of The Cardinal Newman Society. The authors of the CARA report agreed: “Regardless of where students begin their college journey, Catholic colleges should be helping students move closer to Christ, and certainly doing a better job of moving students toward the Catholic faith than secular colleges do.”
Link (here) to Catholic Culture.
I guess I'm not suprised by this as an employee and interested party at a Jesuit college. For example, in the philosophy classes here deconstruction is the biggie, in bioethics abortion is not mentioned, and in theology it's historical/cultural hermeneutics. It's interesting to see when they draw the line though, such as with the Anne Lamotte debacle last year.
ReplyDeleteWell put Manaus. There are ripple effects that do affect society out of religious and philosophical instruction at Jesuit institutions. I have seen them at Diocesan level instruction, quoting fringe theology from some of today's Ignatian styled theories.
ReplyDeleteJMJ
Joe
It appears as if with philosophy some (or many, but let's not generalize) have become followers, and with theology too but not necessarily of Jesus Christ.
ReplyDeleteJPII once said that all priests educated after Vatican II needed to be re-educated, so led astray were they. Dissident theologians have done icalculable damage to the souls of Catholics everywhere.
ReplyDeleteAt John Carroll right now, there is uproar over the President's decision to NOT include "sexual orientation" in the school's anti-discrimination clause for hiring employees. This led to student protests at a basketball game last week: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nc3ergeeZok
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that the President had the courage to do this, when the Faculty Council voted to add to the clause, but let's hope and pray that he doesn't back down under the tremendous pressure he is facing.
Hurting.
ReplyDeleteThat's why Im glad I found the Dominicans.