The most 'Catholic' university that isn't Catholic

By Phil Lawler ( bio - articles - email ) | Apr 16, 2011

Cardinal William Levada will celebrate Mass for the graduation ceremony at Ave Maria University in Florida on May 7.

The prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the highest-ranking American prelate ever to serve in the Roman Curia: that’s a nice coup for a young, small Catholic school.

But wait: here’s the interesting thing. Ave Maria is not a Catholic university. Not officially, at least.

The local ordinary, Bishop Frank Dewane of Venice, has not yet acceded to the school’s request for formal recognition as a Catholic university. Thus Ave Maria (AMU) cannot yet claim the official “Catholic” label. The school still carefully describes itself as an institution “in the Catholic tradition.”

Last November First Things magazine produced a list of the 10 “most Catholic” Catholic schools in America. AMU sat at the top of the list, edging out such commendably orthodox Catholic institutions as Christendom College, Thomas Aquinas College, and the Franciscan University of Steubenville. One might quibble with the First Things rankings; it’s the sort of list that lends itself to arguments. Still the fundamental point comes through: By one imperfect measurement, AMU is the most Catholic university in the country. And yet for official purposes, AMU isn’t a Catholic university at all. In that same November 2010 issue, First Things also listed its editors’ choices for the 10 least Catholic Catholic colleges and universities in the country. Many of the names will be familiar to our readers:

1. DePaul University, Chicago
2. University of Detroit Mercy
3. Seattle University
4. Niagara University, Niagara Falls, New York
5. University of San Diego
6. Lewis University, Romeoville, Illinois
7. Georgetown University, Washington, DC
8. D’Youville College, Buffalo, New York
9. Molloy College, Rockville Centre, New York
10. Lourdes College, Sylvania, Ohio

What’s interesting about that list? All of those schools—with the possible exception of Molloy College in Rockville Center, Long Island (whose public statements refer to a “private” college, resolutely ducking the question of religious identity) can call themselves Catholic. Whereas AMU takes pride in educating students “in the Catholic tradition,” most of these schools try to camouflage their religious affiliation. There's a lot of reference to "tradition," but it isn't always a "Catholic" tradition. DePaul and Niagara refer to their “Vincentian” tradition; Seattle University the “Jesuit” tradition; Lourdes talks of the "Franciscan tradition."

(The most interesting verbal gymnastics are done D’Youville College, which was named for the founder of the Grey Nuns, St. Marguerite d’Youville. If you read her biography, as presented on the university’s web site, you will not once see the word “Catholic.” Still one assumes that St. Marguerite was in fact a Catholic, and sure enough, if one reads to the very end, one is rewarded with the assurance that the college “honors its Catholic heritage and spirit of St. Marguerite d’Youville.”)

If DePaul and D’Youville can be classified as “Catholic” colleges—along with the dozens of other nominally Catholic institutions that welcome Planned Parenthood on campus, why can’t Ave Maria by designated a “Catholic” university? It’s no secret that AMU has hit some speed-bumps in its first few years of existence. There have been personality clashes, budget overruns, administrative gaffes. Bishop Dewane might have been waiting for some reassurance that the storms would abate and the school would move forward on an even keel. Fair enough. Now Ave Maria has a new president, promising vigorous new leadership, still resolutely anchored “in the Catholic tradition.”

What more will it take, do you suppose, before the bishop officially recognizes AMU as a “Catholic” university? If the administration can entice the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith onto the campus for commencement exercises, what more will it take?

Update: Responses from our readers have convinced me that I have asked the wrong question. If Bishop Dewane wants to withhold the “Catholic” label until he is reassured about the administrative practices and overall stability of AMU, fine. I don’t mean to argue that question. Rather, I mean to point out that AMU—a school with an evident zeal for the Catholic faith, whatever its other weaknesses—still is not officially classified as Catholic, while many other schools with an evident contempt for the faith still carry that label.

Or put it this way: AMU very much wants to be known as a Catholic university, but formally it isn’t. Dozens of other schools are terribly embarrassed by the “Catholic” label, and still have it. So let me ask my final question in a different way:

What more will it take, do you suppose, before other bishops officially recognize that other Catholic schools probably don’t want, and certainly don’t deserve, to bear the “Catholic” label?