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Catholic World News News Feature

New guide lists faithful Catholic colleges in US October 03, 2007

The Virginia-based Cardinal Newman Society has announced publication of a new comprehensive guide for Catholic students and parents selecting a college. The culmination of two years of research and interviews, The Newman Guide to Choosing a Catholic College recommends 21 Catholic colleges and universities in the US and Canada that "faithfully live their Catholic identity and provide a quality undergraduate education."

The Newman Guide, edited by Joseph Esposito, the Cardinal Newman Society’s director of research, puts its stamp of approval on schools ranging from Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Maryland-- the second-oldest Catholic college in the US-- to Wyoming Catholic College of Lander, Wyoming, which opened this autumn.

The book sorts the 21 recommended institutions into three rough categories:

1. The "joyfully Catholic" schools are mostly institutions founded in the late 20th century and committed from the outset to a strong Catholic identity: Christendom College, The College of Saint Thomas More, Franciscan University of Steubenville, Magdalen College, Thomas Aquinas College, The Thomas More College of Liberal Arts, University of Dallas, and the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas.
2. The "born from the crisis" schools are of more recent vintage: Ave Maria University, Holy Apostles College & Seminary, John Paul the Great Catholic University; Our Lady Seat of Wisdom Academy, Southern Catholic College, and Wyoming Catholic College.
3. Finally, the colleges "fighting the tide" that have resisted secularizing trends are Aquinas College (Nashville, Tennessee), Belmont Abbey College, Benedictine College, The Catholic University of America, DeSales University, Mount St. Mary’s University, and St. Gregory’s University.

Along with profiles of the 21 schools-- and a special section explaining the omission of the University of Notre Dame-- the Newman Guide offers essays on Catholic higher education by contributors including Archbishop Elden Curtiss of Omaha, Nebraska; Father C. John McCloskey III, Father Benedict Groeschel, CFR; philosopher Peter Kreeft; and Cardinal Newman Society president Patrick Reilly.

Cardinal Newman Society is a nonprofit organization begun in 1993 to renew and strengthen Catholic higher education.