Sacred Heart Hosts 2023 Catholic Studies Symposium
Participants hope to increase the number of students majoring or minoring in Catholic studies
Sacred Heart University recently brought together college and university representatives from across the country to discuss ways to launch and develop Catholic studies programs.
Participants bounced ideas off each other and discussed shared experiences at the 2023 Catholic Studies Symposium at West Campus. The purpose of the symposium was for individuals from universities nationwide to share ideas with each other about how to bring Catholic thought, imagination and social justice to their universities through Catholic studies programs. This was the symposium’s third annual meeting.
Catholic studies’ faculty feel that it’s important to have the opportunity to collaborate with colleagues at other universities and share ideas. The symposium allowed for just that.
Kenneth Parker, the Ryan endowed chair for Newman Studies at Duquesne University in Pennsylvania, said there was once a time at his university that faculty and students did not feel connected to the University’s Catholic mission. That eventually changed as Catholic ideas were being taught across several areas of discipline and students’ interests piqued in studying the Catholic intellectual tradition. This pushed forward the development of a Catholic studies program.
The symposium participants shared a common goal, and that was to integrate Catholic studies across all disciplines and find students particularly interested in declaring Catholic studies as a major or minor. Discussions sparked further conversations, and each participant was able to ask questions and get advice to bring back to their respective schools.
Michelle Loris, SHU’s Center for Catholic Studies director, said during a question-and-answer session that SHU requires students to take two Catholic intellectual tradition courses. The courses enable students to discuss profound human questions relating texts of the Catholic intellectual and western tradition to their lives. Loris said many students continue to take Catholic studies courses beyond the two required and complete the minor in Catholic studies.
Loris will be uniting with participants in the future to establish a formal organization of Catholic studies programs like the associations that exist for other disciplines of study and practice. Loris is confident SHU will support the effort.
“This is very innovative,” said Loris. “We are looking forward to this growing and flourishing both nationally and internationally.”
John Boyle, Catholic studies chair at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota, the most renowned program in Catholic studies, felt especially inspired and was proud of all the work being done and the thoughtful conversations at the symposium.
“This is a movement, and it is one of the most important Catholic studies movements in higher education happening right now,” said Boyle. “We are witnessing history.”
Seton Hall University in New Jersey will host next year’s symposium. This year’s participants said they look forward to continuing the rich and robust conversations and the relationships those discussions forged.
Top, from left, are Ken Parker, Duquesne University, John Boyle, University of St. Thomas and Michelle Loris, SHU.