| |  | | SHU: A PIONEER IN CATHOLIC HIGHER EDUCATION  For a very long period in the Church's history, there was a perception that only formally educated priests, monks and nuns were adequately prepared to be responsible for leading and shaping the Church and its members. Of course, this was not true in the early Church when the disciples of Jesus and their followers were the great leaders (and eventually the Church's great saints). In the early 1960's, during the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic Church recovered and rediscovered its understanding of and appreciation for the mission of the laity (i.e., every member of the Church) as important participants and responsible leaders within the Church's life.
Bishop Walter W. Curtis, second bishop of the Diocese of Bridgeport, CT, was one of the real visionaries in the Church at that time. He truly understood that it was the very natural and truly appropriate role of Catholic lay scholars to take much more responsibility for Catholic higher education and for the transmission and development of the Catholic intellectual tradition (which had been preserved for centuries primarily by the clergy and religious orders). In 1963 Bishop Curtis founded Sacred Heart University to be a shining example of the call that all members of the Church share: to be in the world, working to bring about God's kingdom by using their intellects, talents and unique work opportunities to shape a better world for all peoples. As the first institution of Catholic higher education in the United States that was founded to be led and staffed by the laity, Sacred Heart University has clearly embraced the remarkable vision of Bishop Curtis in its mission:
". . . to prepare men and women to live in and make their contributions to the human community. . . . The University aims to assist in the development of people knowledgeable of self, rooted in faith, educated in mind, compassionate in heart, responsive to social and civic obligations, and able to respond to an ever-changing world. It does this by calling forth the intellectual potential of its students, nurturing each one's spiritual and moral growth, and deepening in them a sense of social responsibility. . . . As a Catholic university, this University seeks to play its appropriate role in the modern world. It exemplifies in its life the Judeo-Christian values of the God-given freedom and dignity of every human person. Inspired by the ecumenical spirit of the Second Vatican Council, Sacred Heart University welcomes men and women of all religious traditions and beliefs who share its concerns for truth, scholarship, the dignity of the human person, freedom, and the betterment of human society." | |