In hindsight, what they did was appalling. But when several Catholic university leaders gathered in the summer of 1967 at a remote retreat in Land O’ Lakes, Wisconsin, did they fully anticipate the consequences of their vision for “modern” Catholic education? Hopefully not. It was 50 years ago, on July […]
https://cardinalnewmansociety.org/wp-content/uploads/contract2-credit_large-768x481-1.jpg481768Patrick Reillyhttps://cardinalnewmansociety.org/wp-content/uploads/CNS-logo-2C-450-tag2.pngPatrick Reilly2017-07-20 19:37:172020-05-26 13:59:58The Land O’ Lakes Statement Has Caused Devastation For 50 Years
On July 23, 1967, at a meeting in Land O’Lakes, Wisconsin, twenty-six leaders of Catholic higher education representing some ten Catholic colleges and universities in the United States of America issued what became known as the Land O’Lakes Statement. This statement, officially titled “The Nature of the Contemporary University,” declared that:
“The Catholic University today must be a university in the full modern sense of the word, with strong commitment to and concern for academic excellence…”
https://cardinalnewmansociety.org/wp-content/uploads/shutterstock_225039793-768x482-1.jpg482768Kenneth D. Whitehead, Ph.D.https://cardinalnewmansociety.org/wp-content/uploads/CNS-logo-2C-450-tag2.pngKenneth D. Whitehead, Ph.D.2017-07-20 18:48:002020-05-28 12:36:31Hope Emerges after the Devastation of Land O’Lakes
The 1967 “Land O’Lakes Statement” by leading Catholic educators precipitated a revolution in Catholic higher education that amounted to heresy and schism.[1] Major Catholic universities in the United States—Notre Dame, St. Louis University, Georgetown, and Boston College, to name a few—proclaimed their independence from the Magisterium of the Church. Claiming that “the Catholic university must have a true autonomy and academic freedom in the face of authority of every kind, lay or clerical, external to the university itself,” the Land O’Lakes Statement announced its separation from the teaching authority and hierarchy of the Church and established its own magisterium, what Monsignor George Kelly called “a two-headed church.”[2] Substituting liberal modernism for Catholic orthodoxy, the Land O’Lakes Statement viewed the mission of the college as conformity to the “modern,” as an education “geared to modern society”[3] that resists “theological or philosophical imperialism.”[4]
https://cardinalnewmansociety.org/wp-content/uploads/Pope-John-Paul-II-shutterstock_75937891-730x458-1.jpg458730Most Rev. David Rickenhttps://cardinalnewmansociety.org/wp-content/uploads/CNS-logo-2C-450-tag2.pngMost Rev. David Ricken2017-07-20 18:24:002020-05-27 16:17:44The Restoration of a Catholic ‘Idea of a University’
Editor’s Note: The Cardinal Newman Society is releasing several articles marking the 50th anniversary of the devastating Land O’Lakes Statement, in which several Catholic university leaders declared Catholic universities independent from “authority of whatever kind, lay or clerical, external to the academic community itself”. In considering the future of Catholic education, […]
https://cardinalnewmansociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Perspectives-in-Cathlic-Ed-Web-Header-845-x-321-px-01.png13383521Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., J.C.D.https://cardinalnewmansociety.org/wp-content/uploads/CNS-logo-2C-450-tag2.pngBishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., J.C.D.2017-07-20 18:03:002020-05-27 15:53:17Catholic Higher Education in the United States: A Modern Retrospective
Introduction Principles of Catholic Identity in Education: Board Reflection is designed to help members of a school’s governing body reflect upon those elements the Catholic Church expects to be present in all Catholic education and which make it distinctive. The reflection is structured upon five principles of Catholic identity derived from […]
Catholic Identity in Education: Faculty and Staff In-Service is designed to help a school’s faculty and staff reflect upon those elements the Church expects to be present in all Catholic schools and which distinguish them from other schools. The evaluation is structured upon five principles of Catholic identity derived from Church […]
https://cardinalnewmansociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Faculty-InService-Cover-Image_FOR-WEBSITE-1024x797-1.jpg7971024Cardinal Newman Society Staffhttps://cardinalnewmansociety.org/wp-content/uploads/CNS-logo-2C-450-tag2.pngCardinal Newman Society Staff2017-03-15 15:36:002020-06-02 15:59:01Principles Faculty and Staff In-Service
Catholic Identity in Education: Selected Church Documents for Reflection is a compilation of selections from Church guidance on education. It is intended to provide simple and structured access to highlights from the five principles that help organize the readings: Inspired by Divine Mission; Models Christian Communion and Identity; Encounters Christ in Prayer, Scripture, […]
https://cardinalnewmansociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Church-Documents-Cover-Image_FOR-WEBSITE.jpg752966Cardinal Newman Society Staffhttps://cardinalnewmansociety.org/wp-content/uploads/CNS-logo-2C-450-tag2.pngCardinal Newman Society Staff2017-02-24 20:10:002020-06-03 14:57:30Principles Selected Church Documents for Reflection
Pope Leo XIII. (1865). Spectata Fides. Retrieved from http://w2.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_27111885_spectatafides.html In these days, and in the present condition of the world, when the tender age of childhood is threatened on every side by so many and such various dangers, hardly anything can be imagined more fitting than the union with […]
https://cardinalnewmansociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Mark-Colliton-Photography-via-Albumarium.jpg6801020Cardinal Newman Society Staffhttps://cardinalnewmansociety.org/wp-content/uploads/CNS-logo-2C-450-tag2.pngCardinal Newman Society Staff2017-02-23 20:40:002022-11-28 12:38:15Church Documents for Catholic School Teachers: Annotated Bibliography
Catholic education provides many important benefits to American society. At a cost substantially less than public schools, Catholic elementary and secondary schools provide an outstanding education to nearly 2 million students, who tend to score high on national tests and succeed in college and career. More than 200 Catholic colleges […]
Considering the morally corrupt and hypersexualized state of our culture, it’s not that surprising that dissenters from Blessed Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae would think now is a good time to revive their tired, old, anti-Catholic push to reverse the beautiful teachings of the Church regarding human sexuality — specifically, the […]
https://cardinalnewmansociety.org/wp-content/uploads/Paolovi-1.jpg8451146Patrick Reillyhttps://cardinalnewmansociety.org/wp-content/uploads/CNS-logo-2C-450-tag2.pngPatrick Reilly2016-09-22 00:14:002020-05-26 14:25:50Humanae Vitae Dissenters Should Not Be Teaching at Catholic Colleges
Excitement is building for Jesuits worldwide as their general congregation to elect a new superior general is quickly approaching this fall. The election presents an important opportunity for them to reflect on the future of the Society of Jesus — and to address serious concerns. Even under a Jesuit Pope, the order […]
https://cardinalnewmansociety.org/wp-content/uploads/St.-Ignatius-of-Loyola-730x350-1.png350730Patrick Reillyhttps://cardinalnewmansociety.org/wp-content/uploads/CNS-logo-2C-450-tag2.pngPatrick Reilly2016-07-29 02:59:252020-05-26 15:04:03American Jesuits Are in a Free Fall, and the Crisis is Getting Worse
We hear a lot about the decline of Catholic schools, but maybe not enough. The numbers are staggering: Catholic school enrollment has declined more than two-thirds in the last 50 years, from 5.2 million to 1.9 million students. Even so, Catholic homeschoolers perceive significant growth in their numbers, with the freedom to explore a […]
https://cardinalnewmansociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Fritz-von-Uhde.jpg519682Patrick Reillyhttps://cardinalnewmansociety.org/wp-content/uploads/CNS-logo-2C-450-tag2.pngPatrick Reilly2016-07-16 21:07:002020-05-26 15:05:18For Catholic Schools to Survive, Their Catholicity Must Thrive
This talk was originally given at The Cardinal Newman Society Presidents’ Meeting in Washington, D.C. on January 20, 2016 Mr. Reilly, esteemed university presidents, dear friends in Christ, I want to thank you for inviting me to join you for dinner this evening, and to offer a few remarks to […]
https://cardinalnewmansociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Lecture-Series-Heading-for-web-e1588006269260.jpg277730Most Rev. James Conleyhttps://cardinalnewmansociety.org/wp-content/uploads/CNS-logo-2C-450-tag2.pngMost Rev. James Conley2016-01-21 17:57:272020-05-26 15:13:43Talk to Newman Guide College Presidents and Senior Staff
The Catholic Church in the United States today faces serious challenges arising from secularism and an increasingly secular society, including growing threats to religious freedom. But while Catholic education is a victim of these threats and can even—when done poorly—make matters worse, faithful Catholic education must be embraced as a key solution to the challenges that secularism poses to Christianity and as a primary means of the New Evangelization.
This compilation is a companion to the Cardinal Newman Society’s analysis, Faith and Morals Language in Catholic School Teacher Employment Documents: Best Practices Brief. It provides additional source material for the reader to consider when researching and reviewing faith and morals clauses in diocesan employment documents for Catholic school teachers. Diocesan policies […]
https://cardinalnewmansociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Catholic-Education-Report-Web-Header-845-x-321-px-01.png13383521Dr. Dan Guernseyhttps://cardinalnewmansociety.org/wp-content/uploads/CNS-logo-2C-450-tag2.pngDr. Dan Guernsey2015-06-26 01:08:222020-05-20 14:19:56Faith and Morals Language in Catholic School Teacher Employment Documents: A Compilation from Diocesan Statements, Handbooks and Contracts
The Land O’ Lakes Statement Has Caused Devastation For 50 Years
/in Blog, Mission and Governance Mission and Catholic Identity, Research and Analysis Latest, PR Register Column/by Patrick ReillyIn hindsight, what they did was appalling. But when several Catholic university leaders gathered in the summer of 1967 at a remote retreat in Land O’ Lakes, Wisconsin, did they fully anticipate the consequences of their vision for “modern” Catholic education? Hopefully not. It was 50 years ago, on July […]
Hope Emerges after the Devastation of Land O’Lakes
/in Mission and Governance Commentary, Mission and Catholic Identity/by Kenneth D. Whitehead, Ph.D.On July 23, 1967, at a meeting in Land O’Lakes, Wisconsin, twenty-six leaders of Catholic higher education representing some ten Catholic colleges and universities in the United States of America issued what became known as the Land O’Lakes Statement. This statement, officially titled “The Nature of the Contemporary University,” declared that:
“The Catholic University today must be a university in the full modern sense of the word, with strong commitment to and concern for academic excellence…”
The Restoration of a Catholic ‘Idea of a University’
/in Mission and Governance Commentary, Mission and Catholic Identity/by Most Rev. David RickenThe 1967 “Land O’Lakes Statement” by leading Catholic educators precipitated a revolution in Catholic higher education that amounted to heresy and schism.[1] Major Catholic universities in the United States—Notre Dame, St. Louis University, Georgetown, and Boston College, to name a few—proclaimed their independence from the Magisterium of the Church. Claiming that “the Catholic university must have a true autonomy and academic freedom in the face of authority of every kind, lay or clerical, external to the university itself,” the Land O’Lakes Statement announced its separation from the teaching authority and hierarchy of the Church and established its own magisterium, what Monsignor George Kelly called “a two-headed church.”[2] Substituting liberal modernism for Catholic orthodoxy, the Land O’Lakes Statement viewed the mission of the college as conformity to the “modern,” as an education “geared to modern society”[3] that resists “theological or philosophical imperialism.”[4]
Catholic Higher Education in the United States: A Modern Retrospective
/in Mission and Governance Commentary, Mission and Catholic Identity/by Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., J.C.D.Editor’s Note: The Cardinal Newman Society is releasing several articles marking the 50th anniversary of the devastating Land O’Lakes Statement, in which several Catholic university leaders declared Catholic universities independent from “authority of whatever kind, lay or clerical, external to the academic community itself”. In considering the future of Catholic education, […]
Principles Board Reflection
/in Mission and Governance Principles of Catholic Identity, Research and Analysis/by Cardinal Newman Society StaffIntroduction Principles of Catholic Identity in Education: Board Reflection is designed to help members of a school’s governing body reflect upon those elements the Catholic Church expects to be present in all Catholic education and which make it distinctive. The reflection is structured upon five principles of Catholic identity derived from […]
Principles Faculty and Staff In-Service
/in Mission and Governance Principles of Catholic Identity, Research and Analysis/by Cardinal Newman Society StaffCatholic Identity in Education: Faculty and Staff In-Service is designed to help a school’s faculty and staff reflect upon those elements the Church expects to be present in all Catholic schools and which distinguish them from other schools. The evaluation is structured upon five principles of Catholic identity derived from Church […]
Principles Selected Church Documents for Reflection
/in Mission and Governance Principles of Catholic Identity, Research and Analysis/by Cardinal Newman Society StaffCatholic Identity in Education: Selected Church Documents for Reflection is a compilation of selections from Church guidance on education. It is intended to provide simple and structured access to highlights from the five principles that help organize the readings: Inspired by Divine Mission; Models Christian Communion and Identity; Encounters Christ in Prayer, Scripture, […]
Church Documents for Catholic School Teachers: Annotated Bibliography
/in Mission and Governance Principles of Catholic Identity, Research and Analysis/by Cardinal Newman Society StaffPope Leo XIII. (1865). Spectata Fides. Retrieved from http://w2.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_27111885_spectatafides.html In these days, and in the present condition of the world, when the tender age of childhood is threatened on every side by so many and such various dangers, hardly anything can be imagined more fitting than the union with […]
U.S. Policy Priorities for Catholic Education
/in Mission and Governance Public Policy and Legal (General), Research and Analysis/by Patrick ReillyCatholic education provides many important benefits to American society. At a cost substantially less than public schools, Catholic elementary and secondary schools provide an outstanding education to nearly 2 million students, who tend to score high on national tests and succeed in college and career. More than 200 Catholic colleges […]
Humanae Vitae Dissenters Should Not Be Teaching at Catholic Colleges
/in Blog, Mission and Governance Commentary, Hiring for Mission Latest, PR Register Column/by Patrick ReillyConsidering the morally corrupt and hypersexualized state of our culture, it’s not that surprising that dissenters from Blessed Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae would think now is a good time to revive their tired, old, anti-Catholic push to reverse the beautiful teachings of the Church regarding human sexuality — specifically, the […]
American Jesuits Are in a Free Fall, and the Crisis is Getting Worse
/in Blog, Mission and Governance Commentary, Mission and Catholic Identity Latest, PR Register Column/by Patrick ReillyExcitement is building for Jesuits worldwide as their general congregation to elect a new superior general is quickly approaching this fall. The election presents an important opportunity for them to reflect on the future of the Society of Jesus — and to address serious concerns. Even under a Jesuit Pope, the order […]
For Catholic Schools to Survive, Their Catholicity Must Thrive
/in Mission and Governance Commentary, Mission and Catholic Identity Latest, PR Register Column/by Patrick ReillyWe hear a lot about the decline of Catholic schools, but maybe not enough. The numbers are staggering: Catholic school enrollment has declined more than two-thirds in the last 50 years, from 5.2 million to 1.9 million students. Even so, Catholic homeschoolers perceive significant growth in their numbers, with the freedom to explore a […]
Talk to Newman Guide College Presidents and Senior Staff
/in Mission and Governance Commentary, St. John Henry Newman/by Most Rev. James ConleyThis talk was originally given at The Cardinal Newman Society Presidents’ Meeting in Washington, D.C. on January 20, 2016 Mr. Reilly, esteemed university presidents, dear friends in Christ, I want to thank you for inviting me to join you for dinner this evening, and to offer a few remarks to […]
Teach, Witness and Advocate: Catholic Education’s Response to Secularism
/in Mission and Governance Mission and Catholic Identity, Research and Analysis/by Patrick ReillyThe Catholic Church in the United States today faces serious challenges arising from secularism and an increasingly secular society, including growing threats to religious freedom. But while Catholic education is a victim of these threats and can even—when done poorly—make matters worse, faithful Catholic education must be embraced as a key solution to the challenges that secularism poses to Christianity and as a primary means of the New Evangelization.
Faith and Morals Language in Catholic School Teacher Employment Documents: A Compilation from Diocesan Statements, Handbooks and Contracts
/in Mission and Governance Hiring for Mission, Research and Analysis/by Dr. Dan GuernseyThis compilation is a companion to the Cardinal Newman Society’s analysis, Faith and Morals Language in Catholic School Teacher Employment Documents: Best Practices Brief. It provides additional source material for the reader to consider when researching and reviewing faith and morals clauses in diocesan employment documents for Catholic school teachers. Diocesan policies […]