With more than 1,600 alumni, including 225 priests and religious, and hundreds living their lay vocations, the Center for Catholic Studies program at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul has been educating and forming future leaders “to see Christ in all that they are and in all that they do” for the past 30 years.
As the first and largest of its kind, the Catholic Studies program at UST seeks to embody the impact of the Incarnation on human thought and culture by encapsulating the interdisciplinary exploration of art, history, theology, science, literature, philosophy and the professions.
“Catholic Studies didn’t start off with a strategic plan or some type of agenda. It started off with faculty thinking in terms of the question of the mission and culture of what a place like St. Thomas in particular — and Catholic universities in general — should be about,” said Michael Naughton, professor and director of the center.
“Education should do three things. It should pass on the best of the culture; it should draw out the best in the students; and it should prepare the students for the world in which they’re living,” Naughton said.
In the 30 years since its inception, the Catholic Studies program has focused on being mindful that the rich traditions of the Church and the deep reflections on the human condition by people like Shakespeare and Dante, people like St. Augustine and St. Aquinas, don’t often get passed along in traditional university settings.
“When we started this program, we were wrestling with key questions like, ‘How one should run a business within the Catholic tradition, how do we help students feel that call within the culture that we’re living in?’” said Naughton, one of the earliest faculty members. “These ideas often get suppressed because we don’t talk about religion. We don’t talk about meaningful things. In our program we strive to create the condition to allow students to be more open to the grace in using their minds. And in using their hearts to defend those ideas.”
During its 30-year history, the Center for Catholic Studies has collaborated extensively with other parts of the university and its affiliates, including undergraduate and major seminaries, the philosophy and theology departments, and the various professional schools. They have also created multiple institute programs, collaborating globally with many of the 1,800 Catholic universities worldwide.
“Our biggest accomplishment is our students. The second biggest accomplishment is that we were the first Catholic Studies program founded, and since that time, there have been over 60 Catholic Studies programs initiated throughout the country, attempting to renew, in their particular way, what it means to be a Catholic institution,” Naughton said.
John Boyle, a professor who also taught some of the first courses and now is chairman of the center, said the reason the Catholic Studies movement has been such a success for 30 years at St. Thomas and nationwide is because of its fundamental intellectual insight.
“We are interdisciplinary because the Incarnation touches everything in human culture,” Boyle said. “It’s not just theology, or just philosophy, or just history, but our goal is to bring those together. So why have students been coming to us for 30 years? I think the answer is because the human mind is made to put things together. We live in a culture in which education is specialized. But Catholic Studies develops a habit of mind so that what you think and learn will be integrated and interdisciplinary. To have a place where students can come and think in a unified, disciplinary way is absolutely essential for a Catholic institution like St. Thomas.”
As part of Catholic Studies celebrating its 30th anniversary, Archbishop Bernard Hebda will celebrate Mass at the Chapel of St. Thomas Aquinas at UST on Sept. 23, followed by a reception and dinner featuring keynote speaker Liz Lev, a world-renowned art historian who has been part of the Catholic Studies’ Rome program since 2010.
“When I originally started working with the program, my task was to create an art history course and help the students take advantage of their Italian experience within the program’s study abroad in Rome,” Lev said. “The course is intended to completely immerse students in the fact that the Catholic Church has a very rich tradition of artistic beauty, and the process that the Catholic Church engages with the world and the process of evangelization really takes advantage of all these different means of communication and engagement. The artistic beauty is meant to propagate the faith, to evangelize, to uplift and to make us understand more what it means to be Catholics.”
Having been part of the Catholic Studies program for nearly 14 years, Lev said she has developed a great love and respect for the program, including the various professors, many of whom she considers close friends.
“However, what excites me the most about the program are the students,” she said. “The students are extraordinary and are unlike any students I’ve taught in any other program. And I’ve taught a lot of different programs in Rome. There’s something about these Catholic Studies students and their willingness to work to understand as well as their curiosity, their appreciation for and their openness to wonder, and their own personal witness,” Lev said. “These students have taught me about my faith and how I should live my faith. Many of these students have become my friends, people that I look forward to seeing. It’s an amazing group of people.”
CELEBRATING 30 YEARS
The Center for Catholic Studies 30th anniversary celebration will include an alumni event Sept. 21 at O’Shaughnessy Distilling Co. in Minneapolis, and a special Mass Sept. 23 with Archbishop Bernard Hebda followed by a dinner featuring a keynote speech by renowned art historian Liz Lev.
