In a hyper-sexual society, once-traditional morals have eroded even in our Catholic institutions—and especially on many Catholic college campuses. Research shows that the pervasive “hook up” culture on the typical American campus is found even at many Catholic colleges, a fact that will not surprise most Crisis readers.
Given the documented consequences of the Sexual Revolution, it’s long past time that Catholic colleges take the lead on campus reform, creating cultures that reinforce the expectation of chastity. Solutions are by no means simple, as the casual sex scene has become an accepted norm of college life—even seemingly acceptable to many Catholic parents who would never allow such behavior in their homes. But while there’s no quick fix, Catholic colleges can at least start to address the problem by observing the residence life policies of those few faithful Catholic institutions and their other Christian counterparts that promote a culture of chastity.
Good solutions often begin with good data, so The Cardinal Newman Society has published a review of the dorm visitation policies at 191 residential Catholic college campuses in the United States. Our report, Visitation Policies at U.S. Catholic Colleges, is a factual overview of policies that regulate student visits to those campus residences that function, at least in large part, as student bedrooms.
https://cardinalnewmansociety.org/wp-content/uploads/nguyen-dang-hoang-nhu-HHs_PrvxSQk-unsplash-scaled.jpg19202560Adam Wilsonhttps://cardinalnewmansociety.org/wp-content/uploads/CNS-logo-2C-450-tag2.pngAdam Wilson2016-02-23 21:02:072020-05-26 15:11:19New Dorm Visitation Study Reveals Need for Reform
This report presents the results from a Cardinal Newman Society study of the visitation policies in student residences at residential Catholic colleges, not including seminaries, in the United States.1 Data used in the report was collected during the summer of 2015.
The report primarily evaluates visitation hours—the times during which colleges permit students of the opposite sex to be present in student bedrooms (including single-room residences) on campus. The report also presents information on other residence life policies that regulate the interaction between male and female students in campus residences. The report considers the policies of Catholic institutions and then compares policies of select Catholic and other Christian colleges.
In the first part of the report, it is found that the vast majority of Catholic colleges have residence life policies that permit students of the opposite sex to visit each other in bedrooms until early morning hours, behind closed doors. More than one quarter of the Catholic colleges permit students to stay overnight in an opposite-sex bedroom at least one night a week. Very few Catholic colleges prohibit opposite-sex visitation entirely. About a third of Catholic colleges have policies that explicitly forbid sexual intimacy in campus residences. The report also explores additional policies that regulate student behavior during visitation times, including open-door rules.
In the second part of the study, a sample of Catholic and other Christian colleges was selected in order to compare visitation policies. The selected non-Catholic Christian colleges have substantially more limited opposite-sex visitation hours than their Catholic counterparts and are stricter about prohibiting sexual intimacy in residences. Many of the selected Catholic institutions are ambiguous in their policies regarding sexual intimacy.
Methodology
For the first part of this report, the researcher attempted to review policies regarding opposite-sex visitation at all residential Catholic colleges in the United States. Policies were identified for 191 Catholic colleges, but no policies were found for three Catholic colleges.2 Another ten Catholic colleges were nonresidential and therefore not included in the study.3 The visitation hours for all Catholic colleges are included in Appendix A at the end of this report.
For the second part of the report, the researcher compared a sample of 40 Catholic colleges affiliated with the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities (ACCU) and 40 non-Catholic Christian colleges affiliated with the Council of Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU). For a rough parity between samples, they include only institutions that were rated in the U.S. News & World Report Best College Rankings and Lists in 2015.4 For both Catholic and other Christian institutions, six were selected from the U.S. News “National Universities Rankings,” six from the “National Liberal Arts Colleges Rankings,” four from each of the four “Regional Universities Rankings,” and three from each of the four “Regional Colleges Rankings.” The highest-ranked Catholic and other Christian colleges in each category were selected; however, some were excluded and replaced by other colleges, because no visitation information could be found. The samples do not allow for a strictly equivalent comparison, but nevertheless they are of interest because of their similarities in secular rankings and yet substantial differences with regard to visitation policies. The visitation hours for the sample of Catholic and other Christian colleges are included in Appendix B at the end of this report.
Information included in this report was collected during the summer of 2015 from various resources posted online by the colleges. Information was also collected through direct communication with some of the colleges by email and phone when there was insufficient data online. Online sources include, but are not limited to, student handbooks, student life or residence life handbooks, community standards pages and residence life information pages. The most recent official college documents which could be found at the time of the study were used.
Some institutions have stricter policies for freshmen than for other students. There is also variation in the visitation hours among different residences at some colleges. In such instances, the most relaxed hours for undergraduate students were recorded. Some institutions that set specific hours for visitation were reported to have open visitation due to the fact that they permit overnight opposite-sex visitation under certain circumstances. And some institutions that prohibit overnight opposite-sex visitation do not provide any time limits to visitation. These instances were reported as open visitation.
The report focuses on visitation hours for traditional campus residences. Some colleges have more relaxed visitation hours for students in campus apartments, houses, and townhomes with the rationale that such living arrangements include areas for visitors that are not bedrooms. Because the emphasis of this report is on bedroom visitation, the policies for such residences were generally not used for analysis in the first part of the report.
Similarly, some colleges that do not permit opposite-sex visitation do allow for common area visitation in residence halls. Such common area hours were not taken into consideration in this report, which is focused on bedroom visitation. The exception to this rule is when common area hours are set by a college, but the decision on visitation hour limits for bedrooms is left up to students. In these cases, the report uses the common area hours to determine the latest visitation hours in the bedrooms. These instances are not considered to have “open” visitation due to the fact that common area hours were always found to be more relaxed or equal to bedroom hours.
Institutions that rarely permit opposite-sex visitation during special open house events under close supervision are reported here as not allowing visitation.
The main categories of visitation hours utilized in this report are “Weekday Nights” (Monday through Thursday) and “Weekend Nights” (Friday and Saturday). Some colleges have opposite-sex visitation hours on only certain days of the week, but these are recorded as a college’s weekday or weekend policy, as appropriate. If the hours vary, the latest hour is recorded.
In the section considering policies on sexual intimacy in the first part of this report, only those policies that explicitly prohibit sexual activity were quantified. Other policies not recorded include those prohibiting cohabitation and overnight visits of the opposite sex, but without explicitly proscribing sexual intimacy. As the purview of this report is to gather specific visitation hours and definite rules regarding sexual intimacy, those policies not explicitly forbidding sexual intimacy were not considered in the analysis.
The charts in this report round down visitation end times to the closest hour.
The researcher took care to ensure accuracy and completeness of the information recorded but acknowledges the possibility of some mistakes or omissions given the amount of data involved in the research. If any errors are found or reported, they will be corrected in the online version of this report.
Catholic College and University Visitation Policies
Overview
Overall, 182 (95 percent) of the 190 residential Catholic colleges studied permit opposite-sex visitation at some time during the week. Of these, only a handful have open-door policies. About one-third of the colleges have policies expressly prohibiting sexual intimacy in student residences.
Weekend Night Visitation
Fifty-four Catholic colleges (28 percent) have “open” hours on weekend nights (Friday and Saturday), meaning that opposite-sex students can stay in student bedrooms without time limits. Forty-nine (26 percent) permit visitation without time limits on both weekend and weekday nights. Some colleges (39 or 21 percent) do not set any hour limits to visitation on weekends; nine of these (5 percent) leave it up to students to determine, meaning that students are free to establish with their roommates—by means of a residence contract or other agreement—the hours during which opposite-sex guests are permitted. And some (13 or 7 percent) have unlimited opposite-sex visitation for only some students, usually upper-classmen or seniors. All of these instances5 are defined as “open” visitation for this report.6
There are a few examples of open visitation that should be mentioned. Edgewood College specifies a policy that permits “Weekend Opposite Sex/Intimate Partner Visitation Hours.” Edgewood states, “All students are eligible to have 24-hour weekend visitation of guests. Visitation hours in which members of the opposite sex and same-sex intimate partners are permitted are: Weekend visitation hours begin 8:00 a.m. Friday and run through 11:00 p.m. Sunday.”7
A few colleges were considered to have open visitation in light of exceptions made to other standard policies. Examples include La Salle University, which sets opposite-sex visitation hours on weekends. However, La Salle permits overnight visitation in some residence halls “in recognition of such residences’ structural designs and the possibility of legitimate needs for group study,” although it is discouraged.8 The College of New Rochelle sets opposite-sex visitation limits for all students, but says, “The only exception in Angela Hall is that seniors or those over age 23 may have overnight guests of the opposite sex.”9 Similarly, St. Mary’s College in Indiana, which is an all-female college, has visitation hour limits and permits only female overnight guests, with the exception of “Regina South Tower, where male guests may stay over night.”10 Regina South Tower is a residence hall for senior students with one-, two-, three-, and four-bedroom residences. And Seton Hall University sets hours for visitation, but also states that students “can co-host with someone of the opposite gender if you wish to host someone of the opposite gender. Your co-host and guest must remain with you at all times.”11
Eight colleges (5 percent) do not permit any opposite-sex visitation in student residences on weekends.
Of the remaining colleges, the median latest visitation hour is 2:00 a.m. Nearly half of the Catholic colleges studied (91 or 48 percent) end weekend visitation in the 2:00 a.m. hour. A few have later hours: two (1 percent) end visitation at 4:00 a.m., while nine (5 percent) end visitation in the 3:00 a.m. hour. Fourteen colleges (7 percent) end visitation in the 1:00 a.m. hour, 10 (5 percent) end visitation at midnight, one (.5 percent) ends visitation at 11:00 p.m., and another (.5 percent) ends visitation at 10:00 p.m.
Exhibit C – Colleges with Weekend Night Visitation Ending between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m.
College
Visitation Until
Alvernia University
3:00 AM
College of Saint Mary
3:00 AM
Creighton University
3:00 AM
DeSales University
3:00 AM
D’Youville College
3:00 AM
Fordham University
3:30 AM
Mount Saint Mary College
3:00 AM
St. John’s University (NY)
3:00 AM
St. Louis University
4:00 AM
University of Scranton
3:00 AM
Xavier University of Louisiana
4:00 AM
A few Catholic colleges begin weekend visitation hours in the late afternoon or evening instead of the morning as is typical, thereby reducing the total number of hours in which opposite-sex visitation is permitted. For example, Ave Maria University12 permits visitation between 6:00 p.m. and 12:00 a.m. on weekend nights, and the Franciscan University of Steubenville13 permits visitation between 7:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. on weekend nights. As noted below, both colleges also have “open-door” policies during visitation hours.
Weekday Night Visitation
Forty-nine Catholic colleges (26 percent) were found to have open visitation hours on weekday nights (Monday through Thursday). Ten (5 percent) do not permit any opposite-sex visitation in student residences on weekday nights.
Of the remaining Catholic colleges, the median latest visitation hour is midnight. Seventy-one of the colleges (37 percent) have visitation hours ending in the 12:00 a.m. hour, 22 (12 percent) in the 1:00 a.m. hour, 23 (12 percent) at 2:00 a.m., and two (1 percent) in the 3:00 a.m. hour. Some colleges end visitation hours before midnight, with nine (5 percent) ending at 11:00 p.m., three (2 percent) ending at 10:00 p.m., and one (.5 percent) ending at 9:00 p.m.
Of the 190 Catholic colleges studied for this report, five (3 percent) have some form of an open-door policy together with visitation hours. Such policies require that doors remain fully or partly open when members of the opposite sex are present in student residences.
For example, the University of Dallas14 and St. Gregory’s University15 stipulate that the bolts on doors must remain open, thus preventing locked doors and total privacy. Ave Maria University requires that doors be “propped open.”16 The Franciscan University of Steubenville requires residence doors to be “open.”17 And St. Martin’s University requires doors to be open only during the last few hours of visitation each night.18
Open-door policies coincide with relatively limited visitation hours at Ave Maria University, the Franciscan University of Steubenville, and the University of Dallas. The visitation hours at St. Gregory’s University and St. Martin’s University are about on par with most other Catholic colleges.
Policies on Sexual Intimacy and Other Behavior in Residences
About one third of the Catholic colleges (60 or 32 percent) were found to have some form of a policy explicitly prohibiting sexual intimacy on campus. Some colleges (40 or 21 percent) make clear that sexual intimacy is reserved for marriage. Some (52 or 27 percent) mention Catholic teaching or Catholic identity language while prohibiting sexual intimacy. Thirteen (7 percent) prohibit “overnight visits” or “cohabitation” for the purpose of sexual activity, but do not specify that sexual intimacy is also forbidden at other times of the day. Eight (4 percent) prohibit sexual “overnight visits” or “cohabitation” while also mentioning Catholic teaching or Catholic identity language in support of the policy, but do not specify that sexual intimacy is also forbidden at other times of the day.
Of the eight Catholic colleges that prohibit opposite-sex visitation in residences, half of them—Aquinas College in Tennessee, Christendom College, Northeast Catholic College, and John Paul the Great Catholic University—also have policies explicitly prohibiting sexual intimacy. For those that do not explicitly prohibit sexual intimacy, the point may be moot as opposite-sex visitation is already forbidden.
Overview
The second part of this report is based on a comparison of the visitation policies at 40 members of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities (ACCU) and 40 members and affiliates of the Council of Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) that are included in U.S. News and World Report’s 2015 Best College Rankings and Lists. See the “Methodology” section on page 2 for details on how the colleges were selected.
The comparison is interesting, because although most Christian sects share similar beliefs about the immorality of sexual activity outside of marriage, the CCCU colleges studied have more limited visitation hours than the Catholic colleges. Many of the Catholic colleges do not set limits on how late students of the opposite sex may visit student bedrooms, while none of the CCCU colleges was found to have open visiting hours. The most common latest time that the Catholic colleges permit opposite-sex visitation is 2:00 a.m.; the most common latest time among the CCCU colleges is midnight.
Many of the CCCU colleges and one of the Catholic colleges have other policies in place related to opposite-sex visitation. These include open-door and open-bolt policies and lights-on rules. Whereas most colleges in both sets have at least some coed residence halls for students, more than half the Catholic colleges and just five of the CCCU colleges offer only coed halls without single-sex options.
Policies, teachings, and regulations related to sexual intimacy on campus were compared between the CCCU and Catholic colleges. A greater number of the CCCU institutions studied have some sort of a statement that forbids premarital sexual intimacy. Colleges of both types that prohibit sex on campus make reference to their mission and/or identity to support the policy. Many Catholic colleges reference “cohabitation” or overnight visits in their policies regulating student behavior in the residences, but often the terms are used ambiguously and do not explicitly prohibit sexual intimacy in student residences. Some do include Catholic teaching and prohibitions on sexual intimacy in their language.
Weekend Night Visitation
Among the 40 Catholic colleges studied, 11 (28 percent) have open visitation hours in primary campus residence halls on weekend nights (Friday and Saturday). Two (5 percent) end their weekend visitation hours in the 3 a.m. hour, more than half (21 or 53 percent) end at 2:00 a.m., two (5 percent) end in the 1:00 a.m. hour, two (5 percent) end at midnight, and just two (5 percent) allow no opposite-sex visitation on weekend nights.
By contrast, none of the 40 CCCU colleges studied has open visitation hours on weekend nights. Two (5 percent) end their hours at 2:00 a.m., one quarter (10 or 25 percent) end at 1:00 a.m., 14 (35 percent) end at midnight, six (15 percent) conclude in the 11:00 p.m. hour, and one (3 percent) ends visitation in the 10:00 p.m. hour. Seven of the CCCU colleges (18 percent) allow no opposite-sex visitation on weekend nights.
Weekday Night Visitation
Among the Catholic colleges, 11 (28 percent) have open visitation hours on weekday nights (Monday through Thursday). One college ends its visitation hours at 3:30 a.m. on weekday nights, four (10 percent) end at 2:00 a.m., six (15 percent) end in the 1:00 a.m. hour, 15 (38 percent) end at midnight, and one ends at 11:00 p.m. Two (5 percent) do not allow opposite-sex visitation hours on weekday nights.
For the CCCU colleges, none of the institutions studied have open visitation hours on weekday nights. One CCCU college (3 percent) ends weekday night visitation hours at 2:00 a.m., another (3 percent) ends at 1:00 a.m., seven (18 percent) end in the 12:00 a.m. hour, eight (20 percent) end in the 11:00 p.m. hour, and 15 (38 percent) end in the 10:00 p.m. hour. Eight CCCU colleges (20 percent) do not allow opposite-sex visitation on weekday nights.
Ten of the Catholic colleges (25 percent) have open visitation hours on Sunday nights. One Catholic college (3 percent) ends visitation hours in the 3:00 a.m. hour, four (10 percent) end at 2:00 a.m., six (15 percent) end at 1:00 a.m., 15 (38 percent) end at midnight, one (3 percent) ends at 11:00 p.m., and one (3 percent) ends at 8:00 p.m. Two of the Catholic colleges (5 percent) do not permit opposite-sex visitation on Sunday nights.
One of the CCCU colleges studied (3 percent) ends visitation hours on Sunday nights at 2:00 a.m., another (3 percent) ends at 1:00 a.m., nine (23 percent) end in the 12:00 a.m. hour, six (15 percent) end in the 11:00 p.m. hour, eight (20 percent) end in the 10:00 p.m. hour, two (5 percent) end at 9:00 p.m., two (5 percent) end at 8:00 p.m., and two (5 percent) end at 5:00 p.m. Nine of the CCCU colleges (23 percent) do not allow opposite-sex visitation hours on Sunday nights, and none have open visitation hours.
A few of the institutions studied were also found to have stricter visitation hour rules for first-year students, including three Catholic colleges (8 percent) and one CCCU college (3 percent).
Among the Catholic colleges, Loyola University New Orleans gives first-year students a visitation period ending at midnight seven days a week prior to completing their “Roommate Agreement” form. Upper-class students do not have such a restriction.19
At Villanova University, first-year students are limited to midnight on weekday nights and 2:00 a.m. on weekend nights, but upperclassmen have open visitation seven days a week.20
Similarly, Wheeling Jesuit University ends first-year student visitation at midnight on weekday nights and 2:00 a.m. on weekend nights, but grants upperclassmen a 2:00 a.m. limit on weekday nights and 24-hour visitation on weekends. Wheeling Jesuit gives several exceptions that can be made to its upperclassmen weekday visitation policy, so the University is listed as “open” in Appendix B of the report.21
Messiah College, a CCCU member, limits both first-year and upper-class students to visitation ending at 10:00 p.m. on Sunday, 10:00 p.m. on Wednesday and 1:00 a.m. on weekend nights. Messiah grants upperclassmen an additional night of visitation on Monday until 10:00 p.m.22
Students Set Visitation Hours
Another way some (4 or 10 percent) of the Catholic colleges address opposite-sex visitation on campus is by allowing students in the same rooms, floors, or wings in residence halls to decide on their own visitation hours. None of the CCCU colleges in the study allow this.
For the purposes of this study, colleges that allow students to set their own hours are considered to have open visitation policies when there is no limit set for them. Where students are permitted to set their own hours within a college-established limit, the latest end hour is reported.
A residence life official at Santa Clara University told us, “Standard policy is that students and their roommate(s) set their own visiting hours in the residence halls, and the University doesn’t have gender-specific restrictions.”
Loyola University New Orleans permits upperclassmen to have open visiting hours, but it limits first-year students to visiting hours ending at midnight until they “have completed and reviewed their Roommate Agreement with a Residential Life staff member.”23
The College of St. Benedict in Collegeville, Minn., has typical visitation hours until midnight on weekday nights and until 2:00 a.m. on weekend nights. However, it “expects” that roommates “determine what hours you wish to host” visitors of the opposite sex.24 Villanova also permits freshmen to set visiting hours by means of roommate living agreements, as long as they are within the pre-set limits imposed by the University.
Typically, colleges require students to respect the wishes of their roommates when bringing visitors into the residence. For instance, both St. Francis College in New York and Stonehill College have open visitation. Stonehill stipulates, “Whether during the day or overnight, guests are only permitted to be in that individual residence hall room with the consent of a resident’s roommate(s).”25 And St. Francis College says, “In consideration to the rights of roommates and other residents, there are limits to the duration and frequency of such visits. A resident may have only one overnight guest at any given time.”26
Visitation in Campus Apartments, Townhomes, and Houses
Some universities offer students alternative residence options in apartments, townhomes, and houses on campus. These options are more prevalent at the 40 CCCU colleges than at the 40 Catholic colleges studied. Apartments, townhomes, and houses on campus are typically reserved for upper-class students. In general, visitation hours were found to be more relaxed in these types of living arrangements.
Only three of the Catholic colleges studied offer students on-campus living options in apartments, townhomes, and/or houses. Two (5 percent) end opposite-sex visiting hours at 2:00 a.m., and one (3 percent) has open visiting hours.
Exhibit J – Catholic College Apartments, Townhomes and Houses Visitation Hour End Times
Catholic College
Weekend Nights
Weekday Nights
Sunday Nights
Belmont Abbey College
2:00 AM
2:00 AM
2:00 AM
University of San Diego
2:00 AM
2:00 AM
2:00 AM
Rockhurst University
open
open
open
At the CCCU colleges, 14 offer campus residential options in apartments, townhomes, and/or houses. On weekend nights, one (3 percent) has completely open visitation hours, three (8 percent) end their hours at 2:00 a.m., five (13 percent) end at 1:00 a.m., two (5 percent) end at midnight, and three (8 percent) end at 11:00 p.m. On weekday nights, one (3 percent) has open hours, two (5 percent) end at 2:00 a.m., one (3 percent) ends at 1:00 a.m., four (10 percent) end at midnight, and six (15 percent) end at 11:00 p.m. On Sunday nights, one (3 percent) has open hours, two (5 percent) end at 2:00 a.m., one (3 percent) ends at 1:00 a.m., five (13 percent) end at midnight, and four (10 percent) end at 11:00 p.m.
Exhibit K – CCCU College Apartments, Townhomes and Houses Visitation Hour End Times
CCCU College
Weekend Nights
Weekday Nights
Sunday Nights
Gordon College
12:00 AM
11:00 PM
11:00 PM
Trevecca Nazarene U.
12:00 AM
11:00 PM
12:00 AM
Azusa Pacific Univ.
1:00 AM
12:00 AM
12:00 AM
Biola University
1:00 AM
11:00 PM
John Brown University
1:00 AM
12:00 AM
12:00 AM
Pepperdine University
1:00 AM
1:00 AM
1:00 AM
Spring Arbor Univ.
1:00 AM
12:00 AM
12:00 AM
Baylor University
2:00 AM
2:00 AM
2:00 AM
George Fox University
2:00 AM
12:00 AM
12:00 AM
Wheaton College
2:00 AM
2:00 AM
2:00 AM
Cairn University
11:00 PM
11:00 PM
11:00 PM
LeTourneau University
11:00 PM
11:00 PM
11:00 PM
Univ. of Valley Forge
11:00 PM
11:00 PM
11:00 PM
Seattle Pacific Univ.
open
open
open
Open-Door/Open-Bolt Policies
Only one of the Catholic colleges (3 percent) was found to have an open-door or open-bolt policy for opposite-sex visitation. By contrast, more than half (21 or 53 percent) of the CCCU colleges have open-door or open-bolt policies. Appendix C lists the colleges with this policy.
Lights-On Policy
Eleven of the CCCU colleges studied (28 percent) have lights-on policies. Most of the institutions that implement this policy do so in addition to an open-door rule. Typically, the lights in a student bedroom are required to be left at least partially on, so that the occupants present during opposite-sex visitation are visible from outside the room.
None of the 40 Catholic colleges studied implements this policy.
Single-Sex Residences
Eight of the Catholic colleges (20 percent) and 13 of the CCCU colleges (33 percent) studied have only single-sex residence halls on campus. Eight Catholic colleges (20 percent) and 17 CCCU colleges (43 percent) have both single-sex and coed halls on campus. Twenty-one Catholic colleges (53 percent) and five CCCU colleges (13 percent) have only coed residences.27
For both Catholic and CCCU colleges with only single-sex residences, it was found that they have roughly the same kind of opposite-sex visitation policies as the rest of the institutions studied. Even when considering together institutions with only single-sex residences and those with both single-sex and coed residences, there is still no noteworthy difference in average visitation hours when compared to all institutions.
Several of the institutions studied have varying forms of prohibitions on sexual intimacy. Some colleges specify that they prohibit pre-marital sex, and some identify specific forms of sexual intimacy that are prohibited. Others say instead that “cohabitation” is against college policy. Only the colleges that specifically disallow sexual intimacy were considered by this study to have a sexual intimacy prohibition in place. Aside from assessing prohibitions on sexual intimacy, this section of the report is based on general observations and is not quantified.
Eleven of the Catholic colleges studied (28 percent) provide some sort of official statement that sexual intimacy is reserved for marriage and/or is inappropriate among students. Thirty of the CCCU colleges (75 percent) have such language in place.
Catholic examples include:
Benedictine College states that it is “committed to the teachings and moral values of the Catholic Church, including the belief that human sexuality… is to be genitally expressed only in a monogamous heterosexual relationship of lasting fidelity in marriage.”28
Gregory’s University states, “Contrary to the pervasive opinion of secular culture that views casual sexual activity among unmarried persons to be the norm, St. Gregory’s University affirms the Church’s teaching that the rightful context for sexual activity lies exclusively within the union of sacramental marriage.”29
The University of Notre Dame says that it “embraces the Catholic Church’s teaching that a genuine and complete expression of love through sex requires a commitment to a total living and sharing together of two persons in marriage.” Notre Dame further states that students “who engage in sexual union outside of marriage may be subject to a referral to the University Conduct Process.”30
Villanova University cites Catholic teaching and states that “a genuine and complete expression of love through sexual union requires a commitment to living and sharing of two persons in marriage.” And Villanova says that it “reserves the right to take action under the Code of Student Conduct for students found in violation of this policy.”31
Xavier University in Ohio “draws to the attention of all its members the traditional and wise Catholic moral teaching that properly locates sexual activity within the relationship of a man and a woman united for life through marriage as husband and wife.” Xavier further states that its religious identity “impels us to recognize the norm of chastity for everyone, whether homosexual or heterosexual.”32
CCCU institutions that make reference to their missions or values while advancing policies regarding sexual intimacy include:
Baylor University’s policy states that it “will be guided by the biblical understanding that human sexuality is a gift from God and that physical sexual intimacy is to be expressed in the context of marital fidelity.”33
George Fox University cites Scripture and states “only marriage between a man and a woman is God’s intention for the joyful fulfillment of sexual intimacy,” and “Sexual behaviors outside of this context are inconsistent with God’s teaching.”34
Oklahoma Wesleyan University forbids students from engaging “in any behavior that promotes, celebrates, or advertises sexual deviancy or a sexual identity outside of the scriptural expectation of sexuality.” The University affirms “the exemplar and standard of heterosexual monogamy within the context of marriage.”35
Wheaton College states that it upholds “a biblical sexual ethic that reserves consenting intimate sexual expression within a marriage between a man and a woman.”36
Many of the CCCU colleges studied go beyond only specifying that sexual intimacy should be reserved for marriage and also include language prohibiting other forms of sexual activity and related practices. For example, The Master’s College cites several Scripture verses, states that sexual intimacy is reserved for marriage, and includes the language, “Any form of sexual immorality such as pornography, fornication, adultery, homosexuality, bisexual conduct, is sinful and outside of God’s design for sexual intimacy (Lev 18:1-30; Romans 1:18-29).”37
Dordt College has a similar policy and says, “the college firmly holds to the biblical teaching that premarital intercourse is forbidden. Further, behavior (e.g. nudity, lying in bed together) that encourages such intimacy will not be tolerated by the college.”38
Messiah College, under its section on Scriptural Guidelines, mentions that “we are to avoid such sinful practices as… sexual intercourse outside of marriage, homosexual behavior, and sexually exploitative or abusive behavior.”39
Some of the other CCCU colleges studied prohibit premarital sexual intimacy without mentioning their religious mission in the same context. For instance, Biola University states, “Any behavior that is considered compromising, sexually inappropriate, or causes others in the community to be uncomfortable is prohibited.”40
Trevecca Nazarene University states that students are not allowed to engage “in acts of sexual immorality, such as premarital and extramarital relations.”41 Malone University stipulates, “Sex should be exclusively reserved for the marriage relationship, understood as a legal, lifelong commitment between a husband and wife.”42 And Pepperdine University prohibits “Sexual activity outside a marriage between husband and wife including, but not limited to, premarital, extramarital or homosexual conduct.”43
Nearly all of the colleges studied were found to have specific sections for policy regarding sexual misconduct in their student handbooks. While none of the 40 Catholic colleges studied were found to prohibit premarital sex as a part of their sexual misconduct policies, several of the CCCU colleges studied do. Taylor University states as part of its sexual misconduct policy, “Remaining sexually pure is God’s plan for our lives. The following [sexual misconduct] guidelines are intended to provide direction when dealing with students who are sexually involved outside of the marriage relationship.”44 Calvin College also states under its sexual misconduct policy that “premarital intercourse is in conflict with Biblical teaching,” and those “engaging in such conduct face disciplinary action including parent/guardian notification, or suspension.”45 While not mentioning sexual misconduct per se in the same context, Wheaton College specifies, “Intimate sexual expression outside the biblical boundary of marriage may increase the risk of miscommunication about consent.”46
Many of the Catholic colleges studied prohibit “cohabitation” or overnight visits by members of the opposite sex, rather than specifically prohibiting all premarital sexual relations among students. Overall, there is much variance among Catholic colleges in the ways they use the term cohabitation and describe overnight visitation policies.
For instance, some Catholic colleges stipulate that visitors of the opposite sex are not permitted overnight, but they do not explicitly prohibit sexual activities at other times of the day. The College of the Holy Cross says, “Guests are not permitted to stay overnight in the same room with a member of the opposite sex.”47 Seattle University specifies, “Given the values of Seattle University, cohabitation is not permitted in University residence halls or apartments. Only guests of the same gender as their resident hosts are permitted to stay overnight in the residence halls, provided that the guest is not in an amorous relationship with the resident host.”48 Saint John’s University in Minnesota also stipulates, “Guests of the opposite sex are not permitted to stay overnight in any student residence.”49
Some Catholic colleges, without making direct mention of sexual activities, do not define the term cohabitation, or they use it broadly to mean any visitor who is not the primary resident staying in a campus residence for an extended period of time. For example, Stonehill College says, “reflective of Catholic values and moral teaching, Stonehill encourages relationships between young adults that foster physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being and, as such, the College does not permit cohabitation.”50 Wheeling Jesuit University has a broad policy which defines cohabitation as “the consistent presence of a guest who spends a day/night or longer period of time in a student’s residence hall room.” Wheeling Jesuit stipulates that “Visitors of the same or opposite gender found to be a consistent presence… will be considered to be engaged in cohabitation, and the host and student(s) involved will be subject to conduct review through the Office of Residence Life and Student Conduct.”51 And Bellarmine University states that “Cohabitation exists when a person who is not assigned to a particular residence hall room or apartment uses that room or apartment as if he or she were living there.”52
A couple Catholic colleges have policies that specifically prohibit overnight sexual encounters, but they do not include language prohibiting sexual relations at other times. Georgetown University defines cohabitation as “overnight visits with a sexual partner” and says it is “incompatible both with the Catholic character of the University and with the rights of the roommates.”53 Creighton University stipulates, “Overnight visits with a sexual partner is incompatible both with the Catholic nature of the University and with the rights of the roommate and is strictly prohibited.” It defines cohabitation as “living together outside of marriage in an intimate relationship.”54
A few of the Catholic colleges studied have very loose or practically nonexistent policies regarding sexual relations among students. Rockhurst University, which has open visitation, stipulates that “Guests may not stay for more than two consecutive nights (48 hours) unless permission is obtained from the Resident Director.”55 A residence life administrator from St. Francis College stated, “Currently there is no policy specifically prohibiting sexual activity in the residence halls. However, any activities taking place in a room must have the consent of all residents of the room including their roommates.”
Appendices
Appendix A – Visitation Hour End Times at Catholic Colleges and Universities
Catholic College
Weekend Nights
Week Nights
Sunday Nights
Single-Sex or Coed Residences
Aquinas College
none
none
none
Single Sex
Bellarmine University
2:00 AM
2:00 AM
2:00 AM
Both
Belmont Abbey College
12:00 AM
12:00 AM
12:00 AM
Single Sex
Benedictine College
1:30 AM
12:00 AM
12:00 AM
Single Sex
Boston College
open
open
open
Carroll College
2:00 AM
1:00 AM
1:00 AM
Coed
Christian Brothers University
2:00 AM
12:00 AM
12:00 AM
Coed
Clarke University
2:00 AM
12:00 AM
12:00 AM
Both
College of St. Benedict
2:00 AM
12:00 AM
12:00 AM
Single Sex
College of the Holy Cross
open
open
open
Coed
Creighton University
3:00 AM
1:00 AM
1:00 AM
Coed
Fairfield University
open
open
open
Coed
Fordham University
3:30 AM
3:30 AM
3:30 AM
Coed
Georgetown University
open
open
open
Coed
Gonzaga University
2:00 AM
2:00 AM
2:00 AM
Both
John Carroll University
2:00 AM
12:00 AM
12:00 AM
Coed
Loras College
2:00 AM
2:00 AM
2:00 AM
Coed
Loyola Marymount University
2:00 AM
2:00 AM
2:00 AM
Both
Loyola University Maryland
2:00 AM
12:00 AM
12:00 AM
Loyola Univ. New Orleans
open
open
open
Coed
Marquette University
2:00 AM
1:00 AM
1:00 AM
Both
Merrimack College
12:00 AM
12:00 AM
12:00 AM
Providence College
2:00 AM
12:00 AM
12:00 AM
Both
Rockhurst University
open
open
12:00 AM
Both
Santa Clara University
open
open
open
Coed
Seattle University
2:00 AM
1:00 AM
1:00 AM
Coed
Seton Hill University
2:00 AM
12:00 AM
12:00 AM
Coed
Spring Hill College
2:00 AM
12:00 AM
12:00 AM
Coed
St. Francis College
open
open
open
Coed
St. Gregory’s University
2:00 AM
12:00 AM
8:00 PM
Single Sex
St. John’s University (MN)
2:00 AM
12:00 AM
12:00 AM
Single Sex
St. Michael’s College
2:00 AM
1:00 AM
1:00 AM
Coed
Stonehill College
open
open
open
Coed
Thomas Aquinas College
none
none
none
Single Sex
University of Great Falls
1:00 AM
11:00 PM
11:00 PM
Coed
University of Notre Dame
2:00 AM
12:00 AM
12:00 AM
Single Sex
University of San Diego
2:00 AM
12:00 AM
12:00 AM
Coed
Villanova University
open
open
open
Coed
Wheeling Jesuit University
open
open
open
Both
Xavier University
2:00 AM
1:00 AM
1:00 AM
Coed
CCCU College
Weekend Nights
Week Nights
Sunday Nights
Single-Sex or Coed Residences
Anderson University
12:00 AM
10:00 PM
9:00 PM
Both
Asbury University
1:00 AM
12:00 AM
12:00 AM
Azusa Pacific University
12:00 AM
10:00 PM
10:00 PM
Both
Baylor University
2:00 AM
2:00 AM
2:00 AM
Biola University
12:00 AM
11:00 PM
11:00 PM
Both
Cairn University
none
none
none
Calvin College
1:00 AM
10:00 PM
10:00 PM
Both
College of the Ozarks
none
none
none
Single Sex
Covenant College
11:00 PM
none
5:00 PM
Coed
Dordt College
12:00 AM
10:00 PM
10:00 PM
Both
Eastern University
1:00 AM
10:30 PM
10:30 PM
Geneva College
1:00 AM
12:00 AM
8:00 PM
Both
George Fox University
12:00 AM
11:00 PM
12:00 AM
Both
Gordon College
12:00 AM
10:00 PM
10:00 PM
Goshen College
12:00 AM
11:00 PM
12:00 AM
Coed
Houghton College
1:00 AM
11:00 PM
11:00 PM
Single Sex
John Brown University
12:00 AM
10:00 PM
none
Both
LeTourneau University
11:00 PM
11:00 PM
9:00 PM
Single Sex
Lipscomb University
none
none
none
Single Sex
Malone University
12:00 AM
11:00 PM
11:00 PM
Single Sex
Messiah College
1:00 AM
10:00 PM
10:00 PM
Coed
Mississippi College
12:00 AM
12:00 AM
12:00 AM
Single Sex
Oklahoma Baptist University
11:00 PM
10:00 PM
none
Both
Oklahoma Wesleyan University
none
10:00 PM
8:00 PM
Single Sex
Olivet Nazarene University
none
none
none
Single Sex
Pepperdine University
1:00 AM
1:00 AM
1:00 AM
Both
Point Loma Nazarene University
1:00 AM
12:00 AM
12:00 AM
Both
Roberts Wesleyan College
1:00 AM
12:30 AM
12:30 AM
Both
Samford University
12:00 AM
10:00 PM
10:00 PM
Both
Seattle Pacific University
12:00 AM
11:00 PM
11:00 PM
Single Sex
Spring Arbor University
11:00 PM
10:00 PM
11:00 PM
Single Sex
Taylor University
12:00 AM
none
5:00 PM
Both
The Master’s College and Sem.
none
none
none
Both
Trevecca Nazarene University
12:00 AM
11:00 PM
12:00 AM
Single Sex
Trinity International University
11:30 PM
10:30 PM
11:30 PM
Both
Union University
none
none
none
Single Sex
University of Valley Forge
10:30 PM
10:30 PM
none
Both
Waynesburg University
2:00 AM
12:00 AM
12:00 AM
Single Sex
Westmont College
1:00 AM
12:00 AM
12:00 AM
Coed
Wheaton College
11:00 PM
10:00 PM
10:00 PM
Coed
Appendix C – Comparison of Open-Door, Open-Bolt, and Lights-On Policies at Sample of Catholic and CCCU Colleges
Catholic Colleges with Open-Door/Open-Bolt/Lights-On Policies
Number of colleges from sample: 1/40
College
Open-Door/Open-Bolt
Lights-On
St. Gregory’s University
✔
CCCU Colleges with Open-Door/Open-Bolt/Lights-On Policies
Number of colleges from sample: 21/40
College
Open-Door/Open-Bolt
Lights-On
Anderson University
✔
Biola University
✔
Cairn University
✔
Calvin College
✔
Covenant College
✔
✔
Dordt College
✔
✔
Eastern University
✔
George Fox University
✔
Gordon College
✔
✔
Houghton College
✔
✔
John Brown University
✔
LeTourneau University
✔
Malone University
✔
✔
Mississippi College
✔
Oklahoma Wesleyan University
✔
✔
Samford University
✔
Spring Arbor University
✔
✔
Taylor University
✔
✔
Trinity International University
✔
✔
Union University
✔
University of Valley Forge
✔
Westmont College
✔
Wheaton College
✔
https://cardinalnewmansociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Catholic-Education-Report-Web-Header-845-x-321-px-01.png13383521Adam Wilsonhttps://cardinalnewmansociety.org/wp-content/uploads/CNS-logo-2C-450-tag2.pngAdam Wilson2016-02-19 02:54:142020-06-18 12:25:07Visitation Policies at U.S. Catholic Colleges
Not long after Nevada created the nation’s first nearly universal education savings account (ESA) program for students last year, two lawsuits were filed to block the program that relied on discriminatory, historically anti-Catholic, provisions in the state constitution. Now the program is on hold following an injunction issued this month by a Nevada district court in one of the cases.
Carson City, Nev., District Judge James Wilson ruled on January 11 that the program “would cause irreparable harm to students in Nevada” by taking public funds out of the current public school system structure to create a “non-uniform system of schools.”
The case, Lopez v. Schwartz, was filed by the Education Law Center (ELC) in September on behalf of several parents. ELC argued that the program violated several provisions of the Nevada constitution, including Article 11, Section 2, which states in part that “any school district which shall allow instruction of a sectarian character therein may be deprived of its proportion of the interest of the public school fund.”
“Article 11, Section 2 suffers from the same anti-Catholic taint that plagues the Blaine Amendment,” argued the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty in an amicus brief. The brief noted: “First, it was passed during a time of sweeping anti-Catholic sentiment and with an intent to remove Catholic influence on public schools, and second, it prohibits ‘sectarian’ influences on schools while leaving unharmed ‘generic’ religious practices in public schools.”
The groundbreaking ESA program, passed into law last summer, creates an account for students in which the state deposits an amount equal to 90 percent of the average amount spent by the state per student during that school year ($5,100 for the 2015-16 school year), or 100 percent for students with a disability or with a household income less than 185 percent of the federal poverty level ($5,700 for the 2015-16 school year).
Funds can be used for a variety of educational expenses, such as private school tuition (including religious schools), tuition at eligible higher education institutions, distance education, curriculum, tutoring, exam fees, transportation and specialized services or therapies for students with a disability.
To be eligible for the program, students must attend a Nevada public or charter school for at least 100 uninterrupted school days immediately prior to submitting an application. The first round of funding to the over 3,500 students who applied for the ESAs was scheduled to be sent out February 1.
Wilson ultimately concluded that plaintiffs “failed to carry their burden of proof” that the ESA program violated Article 11, Section 2, but said the program did violate Article 11, Sections 6.1 and 6.2, and “irreparable harm will result if an injunction is not entered.”
Nevada Attorney General Adam Paul Laxalt appealed Wilson’s decision to the Nevada Supreme Court: “My Office is working diligently so that parents can enjoy the genuine educational choice envisioned by lawmakers this past legislative session, and remains focused on resolving the matter as quickly as possible to provide families with the certainty they deserve. A ruling from the state Supreme Court will do just that.”
The ACLU of Nevada and Americans United for Separation of Church and State filed a separate lawsuit, Duncan v. Nevada, against the ESA program back in August. In addition to relying on Article 11, Section 2, the lawsuit also argues that the ESA program violates Nevada’s Blaine Amendment found in Article 11, Section 10 of the state constitution: “No public funds of any kind or character whatever, State, County or Municipal, shall be used for sectarian purpose.”
“The education savings account law passed this last legislative session tears down the wall separating church and state erected in Nevada’s constitution,” Tod Story, executive director for the ACLU of Nevada, said at the time.
“To claim that the ESA Program funds ‘sectarian’ purposes is simply a modern spin on the same discrimination that birthed the Blaine Amendments,” the Becket Fund argued in their amicus brief in the case.
Blaine Amendments, named for former Speaker of the House and U.S. Secretary of State James G. Blaine, are provisions currently found in 37 state constitutions prohibiting the use of taxpayer funds at “sectarian” schools. After Blaine’s failed attempt to amend the U.S. Constitution with the proposal in 1875, versions of the amendment were “added to state constitutions in order to enforce the nativist bigotry of the day” against Catholics, according to The Beckett Fund for Religious Liberty. The provisions are now being interpreted to discriminate against non-Catholics as well.
“Activist groups are treating religious schools and the students who choose to attend them like second-class citizens,” said Diana Verm, legal counsel of the Becket Fund. “It is deplorable to see a discriminatory 19th century law being used to prevent children from access to quality education simply because the school may have religious ties.”
The lawsuit brought by the ACLU of Nevada and Americans United for Separation of Church and State is still awaiting a decision by the district court in Clark County, Nev., but the ACLU voiced support for Wilson’s decision in the Lopez case.
“The ACLU of Nevada is still diligently pursuing a permanent remedy to stop this unconstitutional voucher program,” said Amy Rose, legal director of the ACLU of Nevada. “We are pleased to see that another court recognizes that this program runs afoul of the Nevada Constitution.”
Laxalt, who is also defending the ESA program in the Duncan case, stated last week that the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to hear a case challenging Missouri’s Blaine Amendment was a good sign for Nevada.
“My Office is encouraged by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision that will be of crucial significance in our defense of Nevada’s Educational Savings Accounts,” he said. “The program is currently being challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separation of Church and State, who are asking state courts to twist the Nevada Constitution in ways never imagined, much less intended by our framers, barring parents and private schools with religious affiliations from participating in this important statewide program.
“Nevada’s Constitution does not require religious discrimination,” he continued, “and we are hopeful our nation’s highest Court will confirm that the U.S. Constitution does not allow that either.”
As The Cardinal Newman Society reported last week, a case challenging a discriminatory Blaine Amendment in Missouri’s state constitution will go before the U.S. Supreme Court this year to decide if the state can rely on the historically anti-Catholic constitutional provision in its denial of a grant to a Christian preschool meant to aid in resurfacing the playground with recycled tires.
The U.S. Supreme Court will also make a decision on February 19 to hear a case challenging Colorado’s Blaine Amendment. The Newman Society reported in December that petitioners are challenging a Colorado Supreme Court ruling that blocked scholarship funds to hundreds of families in Douglas County, Colo., who were supposed to be able to use the scholarship to attend a private school of their choice, regardless of a school’s religious identity.
https://cardinalnewmansociety.org/wp-content/uploads/iStock-186821103.jpg14142121Cardinal Newman Society Staffhttps://cardinalnewmansociety.org/wp-content/uploads/CNS-logo-2C-450-tag2.pngCardinal Newman Society Staff2016-01-28 14:51:162020-07-02 16:34:01Discriminatory Blaine Amendment Used Against Education Savings Accounts in Nevada
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 you. This is an esteemed, august, and distinguished group, and I’m very humbled that you’ve invited me to offer a few remarks to you this evening.
I have been asked to speak to you about celebrating Catholic identity in the context of your universities and colleges. And in some ways, I feel ill equipped for that task—your institutions already represent some of the most Catholic places in our country—places where Catholic culture, intellectual life, and sacramental life flourishes in beautiful ways.
I am a graduate of a large, land-grant public university. (Rock Chalk Jayhawk!) And my diocese, the Diocese of Lincoln, does not have a Catholic university. But I do hope that I can offer a few thoughts that might be helpful to you in the important work you undertake.
I’d like to talk for a few moments about the Catholic University of Ireland, the university founded by my spiritual patron, Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman.
Most of you know that Newman is probably the most famous English convert to the faith, a prolific writer and thinker, and most of you are very familiar with Newman’s Idea of a University. In fact, most of your institutions probably draw wisdom and guidance from Newman’s work. But you might not be as familiar with Newman’s term as the founding president of the Catholic University of Ireland. And the story might be instructive for you today.
In 1852, Newman was asked by the bishops of Ireland to be the founding rector of the Catholic University of Ireland.
He didn’t want the job. The Catholic University of Ireland was founded to compete with the anti-Catholic Queen’s University of Ireland, which forbade theology and undermined the Church’s mission. But Newman wasn’t sure the Irish bishops really understood what a Catholic university should be. He took the job, and began in 1854, only after the Holy Father asked him personally.
His first biographer, William Philip Ward, says that “the story of the next three or four years is a long drawn-out history of apparent failure.”
Newman clashed with the Irish bishops—especially Cardinal Cullen, the Archbishop of Dublin. Newman’s vision was a well-educated laity, formed in the humanities, as described in Idea of a University, which he developed as he began the project. But he felt the bishops wanted to found a sort of pre-seminary, whose sole focus would be training for future priests. They clashed over faculty appointments, curriculum, and authority. Newman felt that their promises were often broken. The bishops refused to allow him to accredit the college, which he thought it guaranteed its failure.
Newman’s work in Ireland, says Ward, “made no difference, and wasted his time.”
The clashes between Cardinal Cullen and Newman put the university in dire straits. Its enrollment was too low, its funding was unclear, and its episcopal leadership, at least from Newman’s perspective, expected him to “pick up the crumbs.”
In October of 1858, these frustrations came to a head. Cardinal Cullen had failed to approve Newman’s appointment of a vice-rector. A dean had been appointed without Newman’s approval. It was clear that he had been sidelined. In November, after a period of reflection, Newman tendered his resignation
The bishops of Ireland felt he had failed. Newman felt, in some ways, they had failed him. Some felt that he had failed the Holy Father. The faculty felt that his departure would lead to the University’s demise. And, in fact, the Catholic University of Ireland lasted only 50 years before it was absorbed in to the secular university it had originally sought to defeat.
Newman’s time in Ireland might be seen as a spectacular failure. But Newman believed that the Lord had called him there for a purpose, and had used his service there to further the Kingdom. He had honed and articulated a vision for education—and a vision for the Church—while he was in Ireland. He was now passionate about well-formed and active Catholic laity. And he believed the Lord had wanted that vision, and would use it.
He wrote to a friend. Resignation, he said, “does not prove that what I have written and planned will not take effect some time and somewhere, because it does not at once. For twenty years my book on the Arians was not heard of …
My Oxford University Sermons, preached out as long ago as seventeen years, are now attracting attention at Oxford. When I am gone something may come of what I have done at Dublin. And since I hope I did what I did not for the sake of man, not for the sake of the Irish hierarchy, not even for the Pope’s praise, but for the sake of God’s Church and God’s glory, I have nothing to regret and nothing to desire different from what is.”
The path of Providence, as he had seen before, had been dimly lit. But he believed that for all his failure, the Lord would use his work for great and beautiful good.
I want to make three points about Newman’s experience at the Catholic University of Ireland, and about your role in contemporary Catholic education.
The first point is that Providence is utilizing your faithfulness even when you cannot see it. Many of your colleges and universities are in precarious and difficult situations today. Many of you face real and clear threats because of your fidelity to the Gospel. For some of you, it is no exaggeration to say that your survival is at stake, in the face of threats to religious freedom. And some of you may wonder why the Lord is calling you to persevere in a culture so hostile to your mission and ministry. But, dear brothers and sisters, Providence is utilizing your faithfulness.
Whether your colleges are able to weather the storms, or whether you’re capsized by the winds of persecution, the Lord is utilizing your work, and calling you to faithfulness. Newman’s university did not survive. But the work that came out of his time there—especially Idea of a University—laid the groundwork for faithful and dynamic Catholic university education across the globe. The so-called “failure” of the Catholic University of Ireland was the catalyst for the good work that you’re now doing.
Newman wrote: “God has created me to do Him some definite service; He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission—I never may know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. Somehow I am necessary for His purposes….a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall do good, I shall do His work.”
God has created and called your institutions to do some definite service. And in the tribulations that many of you face, you may not see what the purpose is. None of us see clearly the movement and intentions of the Holy Spirit.
But Providence lays the groundwork of the Lord’s will over time. And your work—whether blessed with worldly success or not—is guided by the hand of Providence. And the Church thanks you for your fidelity.
My second point is that our contemporary situation requires new and creative approaches to the mission of orthodox and dynamic Catholic higher education.
The Catholic University of Ireland, as Newman envisioned it, was a new approach to Catholic higher education. The idea of founding a university whose principal mission was the formation of a “well-educated laity,” seemed novel. To us, with the benefit of hindsight, the mission and methodology seems obvious. But consider that the bishops of Ireland had such difficulty envisioning the primacy of the liberal arts, and the role of lay faculty and administrators. At the time, Newman’s thoughts were considered revolutionary, and maybe even subversive.
We need a continued renaissance in our approaches to Catholic higher education. As an example, I should mention that some estimate 90% of American Catholic college students attend public universities. Some of them are poor, or new to this country, or the first in a family to attend college. Some of them are disinterested or poorly formed in the faith. Some of them are studying in programs that small colleges and universities cannot offer. And you know, far better than I, that their education and formation is not only bereft of a Catholic character, it is often hostile to the truths of the Gospel.
Catholic colleges and universities, if they are true to their mission, might spend time asking how they can support the Catholic intellectual and personal formation of these students.
My good friend Steve Minnis, president of Benedictine College, is here with us tonight. Benedictine has formed a partnership with the St. Lawrence Catholic Center to support Humanitas, a program of intellectual formation for freshman and sophomores at the University of Kansas. The University of Mary, under the leadership of Msgr. Shea, offers accredited courses at the University of Arizona.
In the Diocese of Lincoln, in partnership with our college seminary, we’ve begun the Newman Institute for Catholic Thought and Culture, which will offer accredited courses in the humanities to undergraduates at the University of Nebraska.
These partnerships and projects are not easy. They require an investment of time and financial resources. But they are evangelical, they have life-long impact on students, and they bring the mission of Catholic universities to students most in need of the Gospel. Graduates of these programs have a Catholic foundation, through which to understand their education in areas you might not offer: engineering, technology, biomedical sciences, etc.
Each of you has opportunities to serve and reach students who might never attend Cardinal Newman Society colleges. And in so doing, you’ll be instrumental in forming the network of “well-educated laity” who will build a culture of life.
My third point is that the Church needs you, even when she doesn’t realize it.
Newman bears witness to the challenges and difficulties an institution can face when the hierarchy does not understand or support its mission. He carried the feelings of mutual distrust, disappointment, and disenchantment with the local hierarchy—especially his bishop, Cardinal Cullen.
Many of the institutions represented in this room bear battle scars from difficult relationships with bishops or dioceses that have not always understood your mission. Many of you are, for understandable reasons, wary of collaboration with the local Church. But fidelity to the Gospel requires service to the universal Church and to the particular Church in which you operate. The Lord is calling you to serve the Church in precisely the places in which you are located.
And as a bishop, I can tell you that the Church, and the bishops in the United States especially, increasingly have an understanding and appreciation for what it is that you are doing.
I am 60 years old, and I’ve been a bishop for almost 8 years. There was a time when I could call myself a young bishop—but increasingly, those days have passed me by!
In dioceses across the country, bishops younger than me, with an even greater appreciation for your mission, are being entrusted with important leadership positions. And the Lord, truly, is calling you to foster and cultivate relationships with them. Ex Corde Ecclessiae calls every Catholic college to “be in close communion with the local Church and in particular with the diocesan bishops of the region or nation in which it is located.”
Newman reminds us of the importance of fostering this communion. Of course, many of you are wondering how to go about this. And some of you have better ideas than I do. But I can tell you that bishops everywhere are concerned with the ongoing formation of their priests, teachers, and lay collaborators. And bishops are eager to find partners in advocating for the faith in the public square. And of course, bishops are concerned with fostering vocations. And finally, I can tell you something that you’ll identify with—most bishops are trying to fulfill their responsibilities while recognizing the reality that there never seems to enough money to get things done!
I’m being sincere when I say that your bishops are in need of the work that you’re doing. And I’m sincere when I say that many of you will experience real and authentic openness to communion and collaboration.
The question for you to consider is what service you can offer to the needs of the particular Church. Can you foster an interest in vocations to the diocesan priesthood, among your students and among other young men? Can you offer training and educational opportunities for diocesan priests, teachers, and leaders? Can you develop authentically Catholic schools of education? Can your accounting and finance faculty offer workshops on parish management and finance for pastors? Can you be a voice for the richness of the Church’s life in your own dioceses?
In the face of ever-greater secularization, bishops are searching for partners. And they’re eager for help. Now, more than ever, the imperative of communion with the local Church is critical to your success, and to the success of the Church’s mission.
Providence is guiding your work, dear brothers and sisters, even in the face of trials and difficulties. Providence is leading even when you cannot see the outcome. You can be at the forefront of continued renaissance in faithful Catholic higher education. You can be of great service to the particular Church. And you can be, and will be, blessed abundantly by the Father for your fidelity and generosity to the Gospel.
Thank you for your good work. May almighty God bless you, +
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
A case challenging a Blaine Amendment in Missouri’s state constitution will go before the U.S. Supreme Court this year, the Court announced last week, to decide if the state can rely on the discriminatory, historically anti-Catholic, constitutional provision in its denial of a grant to a Christian preschool meant to aid in resurfacing the playground with recycled tires.
“No state can define religious neutrality as treating religious organizations worse than everyone else,” said Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) Senior Counsel David Cortman in a statement about the Court’s decision to hear the case, Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia v. Pauley, during its January 15 conference.
“That isn’t neutrality; it’s a hostility to religion that violates the First Amendment,” he continued. “That’s the primary issue that the Supreme Court will address. In this case, the state should not have excluded this preschool from the recycled tire program simply because a church operates the school.”
ADF is representing Trinity Lutheran Church Learning Center in the case. In 2012, Trinity Lutheran applied to Missouri’s Playground Scrap Tire Surface Material Grant Program, which provided funds to schools to resurface playgrounds with the recycled tires, making them safer for children.
Although Trinity Lutheran’s rankings in the application process were high enough to earn the grant, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources denied funding to the preschool because of a section of the state constitution prohibiting government aid to religious institutions, known as a Blaine Amendment.
Blaine Amendments, named for former Speaker of the House and U.S. Secretary of State James G. Blaine, are provisions currently found in 37 state constitutions prohibiting the use of taxpayer funds at “sectarian” schools. After Blaine’s failed attempt to amend the U.S. Constitution with the proposal in 1875, versions of the amendment were “added to state constitutions in order to enforce the nativist bigotry of the day” against Catholics, according to The Beckett Fund for Religious Liberty.
State officials cited the Blaine Amendment in Article 1, Section 7 of the Missouri constitution:
Public aid for religious purposes — preferences and discriminations on religious grounds. — That no money shall ever be taken from the public treasury, directly or indirectly, in aid of any church, sect or denomination of religion, or in aid of any priest, preacher, minister or teacher thereof, as such; and that no preference shall be given to nor any discrimination made against any church, sect or creed of religion, or any form of religious faith or worship.
While the case focuses on a Lutheran preschool, Eric Rassbach, an attorney with The Becket Fund, which filed an amicus brief in the case, told The Cardinal Newman Society that the Supreme Court’s decision “absolutely could have an impact for Catholic schools.”
Rassbach explained that the Missouri state government’s argument could be implemented to mean “that religious entities would not be able to contract with the state. It would mean that religious entities would get no grants, even for completely secular purposes like playground safety.”
If the Supreme Court upheld the state’s argument, “It would be open season on Catholic institutions,” he said.
ADF Senior Legal Counsel Jordan Lorence argued that the state of Missouri’s reasoning was tantamount to saying, “We’re not going to allow the Jewish synagogue to hook up to the sewer system,” or, “We’ll send the police to investigate any burglary unless it’s at the Buddhist monastery.”
“These are just normal, regular governmental services that are available to everybody, and they single out the religious users and say, ‘You cannot participate because of this really extreme and abstract notion of separation of church and state that’s in our constitution,’” he said. “And we’re hoping that the United States Supreme Court will rule in this case that you can’t have such an extreme regime of benefit program under the First Amendment.”
ADF argued in their petition to the Court: “No public benefit could be further removed from the state’s antiestablishment concerns than a grant for safe rubber playground surfaces that serve no religious function or purpose.”
“Children’s safety is just as important on church daycare playgrounds as it is on other daycare playgrounds,” said ADF Senior Counsel Erik Stanley. “Missouri and every state should understand that the U.S. Constitution prohibits religious hostility, which is what Missouri exhibited when it denied Trinity Lutheran’s scrap tire grant application. This case has huge implications for state constitutional provisions across the nation that treat religious Americans and organizations as inferiors solely because of their religious identity.”
Also at issue is the 8th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decision last year denying relief for Trinity Lutheran by invoking the Supreme Court’s 2004 decision in Locke v. Davey. In the Locke decision, the Supreme Court held that the state of Washington could deny scholarship funds for the purpose of pursing a degree in devotional theology.
“There is a gap in the constitutional protections between the free exercise of religion and the federal establishment clause,” said Lorence. “There’s some no man’s land legally where a state could, the Supreme Court said in Locke v. Davey back in 2004, single out religious groups and exclude them. … You could study religion but couldn’t study to be a pastor.”
Lorance called the 8th Circuit’s decision “Locke v. Davey gone wild,” and said the Supreme Court’s decision to hear the Trinity Lutheran case is “a good sign” they’re going to rein in the decision.
The Becket Fund’s Rassbach agreed that the Supreme Court is likely to grant a favorable ruling in the Trinity Lutheran case. “I think they’re going to say that the First Amendment and the Fourteenth Amendment don’t allow governments, federal or state, to discriminate against religious institutions merely because they’re religious.”
As the Newman Society previously reported, a challenge to Colorado’s Blaine Amendment is currently awaiting review by the U.S. Supreme Court. In that case, petitioners are challenging a Colorado Supreme Court ruling that blocked scholarship funds to hundreds of families in Douglas County, Colo., who were supposed to be able to use the scholarship to attend a private schools of their choice, regardless of a school’s religious identity. The decision to hear that case will be considered during the Court’s February 19 conference.
The Newman Society also reported last month on families in Montana being denied scholarship funds through a new state school choice program for wanting to send students to private religious schools. The state lawmaker who drafted the legislation for the new program said it was “carefully crafted” to allow funding of private religious schools, but the state, relying on the Blaine Amendment language in the state constitution, will not allow the funds to be used at religious schools.
https://cardinalnewmansociety.org/wp-content/uploads/joshua-sukoff-5DDYHjk_KMU-unsplash-scaled.jpg17072560Cardinal Newman Society Staffhttps://cardinalnewmansociety.org/wp-content/uploads/CNS-logo-2C-450-tag2.pngCardinal Newman Society Staff2016-01-20 15:32:292020-07-02 16:09:01SCOTUS Agrees to Hear Missouri Blaine Amendment Case
Half of all four-year, residential Catholic colleges in the U.S. are within five miles of Planned Parenthood facilities, a study by The Cardinal Newman Society has found. Catholic pro-life leaders warn that the close proximity of these Planned Parenthood centers threatens the well-being of students and the culture of Catholic campuses.
Planned Parenthood is, by its mission, directly opposed to Catholic values on sexuality, artificial contraception and abortion. Many of its centers perform abortions and distribute contraceptives.
In its review of 188 four-year, residential Catholic colleges in the U.S., The Cardinal Newman Society found that 92, or 49 percent, are within five miles of a Planned Parenthood facility. Of these, 13 are within one mile or less, 37 are within 1.1-3 miles and 42 are within 3.1-5 miles (see tables below).
“Catholic colleges didn’t invite this situation, but they can respond by demonstrating genuine concern for their students and fighting Planned Parenthood’s attempts to lure students to their centers,” said Patrick Reilly, president of The Cardinal Newman Society.
“It’s important that Catholic colleges help pregnant students with counseling and referrals,” Reilly said. “But it’s also very important that they promote a campus culture that assumes and promotes chastity, educate students about sexual morality and the problems with contraception and sterilization, and dissuade students from entering Planned Parenthood centers by informing them about Planned Parenthood’s dreadful practices.”
In interviews with the Newman Society, Catholic pro-life leaders also stressed the need for college administrators to warn students about the dangerous influence of Planned Parenthood, America’s largest abortion business, and work to build a pro-life culture on campus.
“With so many abortion clinics near Catholic colleges, pregnant women may be even more tempted or pressured by others to seek abortions,” said Deirde McQuade, assistant director for pro-life communications for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Pro-Life Secretariat. “These colleges especially need to build a life-affirming culture and support network — one that both promotes chastity and welcomes life with creative solutions for students, staff and faculty alike.”
Father Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, said the presence of a Planned Parenthood business so close to campus is “a threat to the lives of the children carried in the wombs of pregnant students, and a threat to the health of any student who purchases Planned Parenthood services.”
“Moreover,” he said, “it poses a near occasion of sin, since Planned Parenthood markets evil and sells death, as well as promotes a perverted view of human sexuality.”
American Life League Vice President Jim Sedlak agreed, arguing “a Planned Parenthood facility so close to Catholic campuses poses a real threat to the sexual morality of life on campus.”
Government statistics show Planned Parenthood relies on the college-age demographic for its abortion and contraception business. About one-third of all abortions in the U.S. occur among women aged 20-24, and another 13.5 percent occur at younger ages, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In 2012, Students for Life of America (SFLA) reported that 79 percent of Planned Parenthood businesses are located in zip codes that are within five miles of a college campus. But students don’t seem to be fully informed about what these centers do: an SFLA survey the same year found that 59 percent of college-aged respondents did not know that Planned Parenthood commits abortions.
“Planned Parenthood preys off young girls in crisis, locating right near our high schools and college campuses, telling them abortion is their only real option in their moment of desperation,” warned SFLA.
Catholic Colleges Within Five Miles of Planned Parenthood Facilities. [Click to Enlarge]
Proximate Danger
Having already identified numerous links between Planned Parenthood and Catholic colleges, published in the August 2015 report A More Scandalous Relationship: Catholic Colleges and Planned Parenthood, the Newman Society decided to research the threat posed by Planned Parenthood clinics near Catholic college campuses.
The location of Planned Parenthood facilities was identified by entering the zip codes of four-year, residential Catholic colleges in the search function at PlannedParenthood.org. The distances between these facilities and college campuses was verified using the mapping function at Google Maps and recording the estimated driving distances. Because driving distance is almost always longer than walking distance or a straight-line measure, the actual distances between the Planned Parenthood offices and campuses is likely shorter than what is reported here.
Results were divided into three categories of distances from the college campus to the nearest Planned Parenthood facility: one mile or less, more than one mile and up to three miles and more than three miles and up to five miles.
The Newman Society found that Loyola University Chicago is the Catholic college closest to a Planned Parenthood facility, which is located right across the street from the University’s Lakeshore campus. Several reviews of this Planned Parenthood on the website Yelp reveal how the clinic impacts students and compromises the University’s Catholic policies.
“The proximity of this Planned Parenthood to Loyola’s Lakeshore campus is wonderful for those of us that go to a school that refuses to give birth control,” stated one review from Tracy K. Another review by Tom A. noted, “Since I go to a Catholic school and can’t get free condoms, it’s nice being able to cross the street and get them for 25 cents.”
“When I was a student at Loyola my best option for birth control was this Planned Parenthood,” wrote a former student, Virginia T.
The Newman Society reached out to Loyola University Chicago and its pro-life advocacy group for comment on whether students are properly informed or warned against patronizing the nearby Planned Parenthood, but no response was received by time of publication.
At some other Catholic colleges with nearby facilities, Planned Parenthood has attempted to exert influence over the colleges’ pro-life decisions.
In February 2015, the University of Scranton — which has a Planned Parenthood facility only about half a mile from campus — announced that it would end its immoral employee insurance coverage for abortions, including in cases of rape, incest and when the mother’s life is compromised. University President Father Kevin Quinn, S.J., faced immediate backlash from Planned Parenthood, which accused him of “cruel indifference.” However, Fr. Quinn courageously insisted that covering abortion in any situation was not in line with the University’s “Catholic and Jesuit mission.”
Back in September 2014, an unofficial student group, “Students for Sex and Gender Equality and Safety,” sought to change Fordham University’s policy prohibiting the distribution of birth control on campus. A January 2015 rally on the streets of Manhattan was reportedly joined by representatives from the Planned Parenthood center located about 3.5 miles from Fordham’s Manhattan campus and four miles from its Bronx campus. Also, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America headquarters is located just a mile and a half from Fordham at Lincoln Center.
In 2007, Duquesne University’s president, Dr. Charles Dougherty, directed a campus-based radio station to stop running advertisements for Planned Parenthood. In response, Planned Parenthood — which has a facility located less than a mile from Duquesne’s campus — launched a public relations effort pressuring Dougherty to reverse his decision.
Providing Student Assistance
Some Catholic colleges with nearby Planned Parenthood facilities sponsor health centers with access to pro-life counseling and resources.
Saint Louis University (SLU), for example, is located 1.2 miles from a Planned Parenthood facility, and its student health center “does not offer contraception,” Nikki Kuhlman, a senior at SLU and chair of the Pregnant and Parenting Student Assistance, told the Newman Society. If students come to the health center needing pregnancy assistance, they are “referred to a nearby Catholic hospital for procedures that extend beyond the reach of the campus clinic, especially prenatal care.” Additionally, the University’s “Pregnancy Resources” website lists several pro-life pregnancy centers.
The Pregnant and Parenting Student Assistance Committee was started at SLU in 2008. “We have a university endowment that lets us offer financial assistance to students who have children or find themselves pregnant,” Kuhlman explained. “We’re also working hard to help SLU become a more parent-friendly environment. There are multiple nursing suites across campus, we partnered with the bookstore to offer free textbook rentals to some parents, and we brought a Feminists for Life Pregnancy Resource Forum to campus in 2014.”
Other colleges strive to ensure a Catholic campus culture that embraces chastity while openly opposing the practices of Planned Parenthood. At Newman Guide-recommended John Paul the Great Catholic University (“JP Catholic”) in Escondido, Calif., the administration and office of student life take great pains to ensure the campus’ pro-life culture.
JP Catholic has a Planned Parenthood “within about two blocks” of campus, Julia Carrano, dean of students at the University, told the Newman Society. Although the facility does not perform surgical abortions, the abortion drug RU-486 is prescribed there, and Carrano explained that the administration provides talks and training sessions for students on contraceptives and abortifacients.
“Students have wondered why we protest outside this local clinic, as opposed to the larger one in San Diego which performs [surgical] abortions,” said Carrano. “So we have explained to them that prescribing RU-486 is still providing early-term abortions.” Moreover, by focusing on the nearby Planned Parenthood facility, Carrano stressed that the students are being encouraged to “make an impact in their local community.”
“This clinic is right next to their grocery store,” Carrano explained. “We want our students to be present and to encounter people who are suffering in their local community. That’s what will make a difference.”
The University also brings in medical professionals and doctors to talk to students about women’s health, abortion and contraception. All incoming freshmen and transfer students are required to take a class called “Intellectual Life and Virtue,” which has a special focus on the Corporal Works of Mercy. The class requires students to complete service projects, one of which involves praying outside the local Planned Parenthood. And every Saturday, students come together to pray the Rosary outside of the facility.
JP Catholic also has several unique student-led initiatives focused on promoting the pro-life message. One of the University’s households, the ΖΩΗ Life House, adopted as its mission: “To protect the sanctity of life by raising awareness of the true pro-life mission, and promoting alternative options to abortion and contraception.” Additionally, the household has a stated commitment of opposing the local Planned Parenthood, and to that end, they host monthly street corner protests.
“Colleges have an opportunity to help students really commit to the pro-life message, not just as something handed down to them by their parents,” said Carrano. “These young people will be future leaders in our health communities, our businesses — we have the opportunity to form their minds and their understanding.”
Life-Affirming Practices
“A Planned Parenthood abortion mill poses a threat to its entire community, both in the fact that babies are killed there and the general moral corruption that spreads into the community that allows it to operate,” said Father Shenan Boquet, president of Human Life International. “The Catholic university has a special obligation to oppose this evil in their communities through prayerful and peaceful witness at the clinic, and through educating the surrounding community about what happens there.
“It is an imperative of both social justice and basic Catholic moral doctrine that the Catholic institution oppose Planned Parenthood at every turn, that they speak the truth in love, leaving no impression that the abortion business is welcome in their community,” he added.
But it’s also important to keep in mind that “no one model fits all colleges,” the USCCB’s McQuade pointed out, adding that different colleges will benefit from incorporating different pro-life practices, depending on availability and resources.
Working to affirm life creatively “will look different on different campuses and institutions. The most important element is that Catholic colleges have a well-informed network that can offer tangible resources and aid in crisis pregnancy situations,” said McQuade.
McQuade noted that the Jubilee Year of Mercy presents “a beautiful opportunity to promote new, life-affirming practices” on campuses. She suggested options such as “designated housing for parenting students” and “academic flexibility and part-time student options built into degree programs.”
https://cardinalnewmansociety.org/wp-content/uploads/Planned_Parenthood_in_Houston_Texas_2010.jpg15362048Kim Scharfenbergerhttps://cardinalnewmansociety.org/wp-content/uploads/CNS-logo-2C-450-tag2.pngKim Scharfenberger2016-01-19 17:59:302020-05-26 15:14:14SPECIAL REPORT: Planned Parenthood Offices Located Near Half of Catholic Colleges, Alarming Pro-Life Leaders
In an interview last night on EWTN News Nightly, Cardinal Newman Society President Patrick Reilly called attention to the anti-Catholic Blaine Amendments found in many state constitutions that threaten religious freedom and school choice by blocking funds to families who want to send their children to religious schools.
Reilly said it’s “extremely important” for supporters of faithful Catholic education to focus on repealing the Blaine Amendments right now “especially with the push for school choice, and certainly with the secularization in the country.” He noted that in some states “these Blaine Amendments have been used to block any sort of public support that might eventually go to Catholic schools,” such as vouchers and tax credits.
During the interview, Reilly also pointed out that Blaine Amendments “grew out of one of the worst periods of American history.”
“During the 1800s there was a lot of anti-Catholicism, and President Ulysses S. Grant was actually the one who proposed a constitutional amendment that would prevent states from using any funding to support Catholic schools, so it was very much directed at Catholic education,” he said.
Blaine Amendments are named for former Speaker of the House and U.S. Secretary of State James G. Blaine who, following Grant’s lead, attempted to amend the U.S. Constitution to prohibit the use of taxpayer funds at “sectarian” schools in 1875 while he was Speaker. The federal amendment failed, but versions of the amendment were “added to state constitutions in order to enforce the nativist bigotry of the day” against Catholics, according to The Beckett Fund for Religious Liberty, and are currently found in 37 state constitutions.
As the Newman Society reported last week, it’s possible that the U.S. Supreme Court could overturn all state Blaine Amendments if the Court takes a case out of Colorado challenging a Colorado Supreme Court ruling that blocked scholarship funds to families based on Blaine Amendment language in the state Constitution.
The scholarship program was passed unanimously in March 2011 by the Douglas County School District Board of Education, but was almost immediately enjoined following legal challenges by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and several local organizations. The program awarded scholarships to approximately 500 students in Douglas County, Colo., who were supposed to be able to use the scholarship to attend a private schools of their choice, regardless of a school’s religious identity.
Three petitions were submitted in October 2015 asking the U.S. Supreme Court to decide on the constitutionality of Colorado’s Blaine Amendment and the school choice scholarship program in the state. The case “will hopefully be going to the Supreme Court,” said Reilly. The decision of the Supreme Court to hear the case could come as early as January after it reconvenes from winter recess on January 11, 2016.
The Newman Society also reported this week on families in Montana being denied scholarship funds through a new state school choice program for wanting to send students to private religious schools. The state lawmaker who drafted the legislation for the new program said it was “carefully crafted” to allow funding of private religious schools, but the state, relying on the Blaine Amendment language in the state Constitution, will not allow the funds to be used at religious schools.
Patrick Reilly’s full interview begins at 13:53:
https://cardinalnewmansociety.org/wp-content/uploads/1htojwdvewe-1024x682-1.jpg6821024Cardinal Newman Society Staffhttps://cardinalnewmansociety.org/wp-content/uploads/CNS-logo-2C-450-tag2.pngCardinal Newman Society Staff2015-12-30 16:05:512020-07-02 16:23:04School Choice Threatened by Anti-Catholic Blaine Amendments
While Catholic school scores continue to dominate public school scores on the National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP), it is the internal trends of these scores that tell an interesting story. Grade 8 Catholic school math scores have seen a decline since 2009 after an almost decade trend of gains. Fourth grade math scores showed a steady decline in the differential between public and Catholic school scores from 2000 to 2013 with a rebound, finally, in 2015. NAEP is “the largest nationally representative and continuing assessment of what America’s students know and can do in various subject areas”. It serves as a common metric for states and stays essentially the same from year to year.
Introduction
On October 30, the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA) published an article stating in its lead paragraph that “Catholic school scores continue to trend higher than public school scores overall by up to 20 percentage points.” Highlighting the fact that Catholic schools “marry rigorous academics, faith formation and Catholic identity,” the article details the major comparisons between 4th and 8th grade math and reading scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).
That’s great news. But while Catholic schools might still be outpacing the public schools in overall average NAEP scores, fluctuations and the continued decline in 8th grade math scores since 2009 warrant further study, especially in terms of the effects of the Common Core standards in many Catholic schools and instructional shifts required to implement the standards.
Scores for public school 8th grade students in both reading and mathematics showed a decrease this year, but so did Catholic school NAEP scores. In both 8th grade math and reading, Catholic student scores dipped by 2 points. On the other hand, 4th grade reading scores increased by 2 points and 4th grade math by one point.
8th Grade Math and Reading Scores Decline
Looking closely at the average math scores for 8th grade Catholic school students (see Table 1) reveals a decrease in the average score for Catholic students since 2009. Catholic schools had enjoyed a run of an average 2 additional points per year, but in 2011 we saw a slide of 2 points that held steady in 2013 then declined again in 2015. With the NAEP acting as the steady barometer of U.S. student abilities, not having been significantly changed since the early 1990s, we need to ask what’s happening in Catholic schools to cause the lower test scores.
Catholic school NAEP scores for 8th grade mathematics have outdistanced public school scores by an average 12-point spread since 1996, but when one examines the Catholic scores closely, the average increase per test drops from 2.4 (1996–2009) to -1.3 (2011–2015). Calculating the trend for the full administration of the tests,16 Catholic schools saw a 1.11 per-test increase from 1996–2015. Yet we have a 2-point drop in 2015.
The 2015 reading score for 8th grade Catholic school students has also declined. While it still represents a 20-point advantage above public school scores, this internal decline is worth noting, because it is out of the expected trend for 2015. The average point increase from 1998 to 2013 was .06 points, so one would not expect a 2-point reduction.
The difference in scores between 4th grade Catholic school and public school students (Table 2) remains substantial in reading, with Catholic scores averaging 16 points higher than scores for public school students. The Catholic reading score increased a promising 2 points after some stagnation since 2009.
What is interesting is this year’s reversal of a trend showing a steady decline in the difference between Catholic and public school student 4th grade math scores since 2000. In 2015 the differential increased 2 points, after decreasing in every assessment from 2003 to 2013. The Catholic school average score increased one point this year.
One factor to consider with regard to math scores is the traditional pace in Catholic schools to move students toward Algebra I in 8th grade. Catholic school data is not available when drilling down to compare scores of students who took Algebra I versus a basic math course in 8th grade, but it is possible to review the trends of public versus private schools as a whole, of which Catholic schools are a part.
With data available for 2007 to 2013,17 one can see that private school scores outdistance public schools in both 8th grade math and Algebra I (Tables 3 and 4). It is also evident that students who took Algebra I as 8th graders scored better on the NAEP than students who took 8th grade math, especially since NAEP Algebra questions comprise almost a third (29 percent) of the math test.31 With some progressions toward delaying Algebra 1 until high school, Catholic schools would be wise not to follow this delayed progression, should these NAEP scores and entrance to STEM colleges be a concern.
Table 3: Average Scale Scores for mathematics, Grade 8 by percent enrolled in 8th-grade mathematics
Note: Private school data was not reported for 2015, and no separate Catholic school data is available.
Effects of Common Core
Has anything changed in Catholic schools to bring about these trends? Certainly, the implementation of Common Core math and English language standards by more than 100 dioceses is the largest single change, but instructional shifts intended to implement the standards should also be reviewed along with other possible factors.
Some Catholic school systems may be using these instructional shifts — such as cognitively guided math instruction, close reading, and the shift between information and fictional texts as recommended by the publisher — and not the standards themselves.
Catholic school systems that participated in NAEP testing (not all Catholic school systems participate) might review the changes they have made since 2009 in both math and reading to begin to pinpoint areas for further inquiry. By doing this review, a great service would be provided to the other diocesan systems.
States such as Maryland and cities like New York are themselves taking on this internal review task since, according to the data, “Not a single state had an increase in 8th grade math scores,” and, “Twenty-two states had declines in 8th grade math.”56
Some have suggested that the drop in NAEP math scores has to do with the misalignment of the NAEP with the Common Core Standards, but a recently released report (Oct. 2015) commissioned by the NAEP Validity Studies Panel, Study of the Alignment of the 2015 NAEP Mathematics items at Grades 4 and 8 to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), touts that the NAEP mathematics framework was developed to account for all the major curricula across the country (p. iii) and that the alignment in 8th grade math is “strong” and 4th grade is “reasonable.” Nevertheless, the report also suggests that perhaps now is the time for a major review of the framework in light of the Common Core Standards.
Standards and Testing
Catholic school educators cannot rest on their laurels and assume they will always outscore public schools, especially if they slavishly follow public school patterns and standards. Parents in Catholic schools expect outstanding scores. This is not unreasonable, since students who come from supportive, involved, and tuition-paying families are expected to score higher on standardized tests. The academic setting lends to higher scores and demands higher standards.
Catholic schools should ensure that their standards have been created and specifically tailored to not only demand excellence, but also to promote deep, creative, and precise thinking as well as developing within students a sense of wonder about mathematical relationships and critical, convergent thinking in literature. A re-evaluation, especially of the 8th grade math curriculum, along with the instructional approaches advocated by publishers and others, is recommended and long overdue.
Standardized tests should also be chosen to align with the instructional approaches and content standards used in Catholic schools. Working with private assessment companies is extremely important now to ensure a valid assessment of student learning, as well as longitudinal data to evaluate student academic growth and compare against NAEP results.
https://cardinalnewmansociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Catholic-Education-Report-Web-Header-845-x-321-px-01.png13383521Dr. Denise Donohue Ed.D.https://cardinalnewmansociety.org/wp-content/uploads/CNS-logo-2C-450-tag2.pngDr. Denise Donohue Ed.D.2015-12-20 18:13:002020-05-26 15:15:03NAEP Scores Suggest Some Concerns for Catholic Schools
Recent statements by Common Core co-author David Coleman about Catholic education have led to a lot of confusion. What’s this about a Common Core advocate urging Catholic educators to have the “moxie” to preserve their incredible heritage and not to worry about changes to standardized tests?
I’ll try to explain. Despite Coleman’s support for the Common Core — which I firmly believe to be inadequate and even harmful to Catholic schools — what he said is good for Catholic families.
Last month, my colleagues and I were dismayed to learn that Coleman, a chief author of the Common Core State Standards, will keynote the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA) convention in March. The Cardinal Newman Society has raised serious concerns about the Common Core’s impact on Catholic identity and related changes that detract from Catholic schools’ time-proven curricula and methods. The choice of Coleman as keynote speaker suggests support for the Common Core, when what we most need is a frank conversation among Catholic educators and parents about the Common Core and its unsuitability to Catholic education.
In addition, Coleman is president of The College Board, the nonprofit testing company that sponsors the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and Advanced Placement (AP) tests — and is currently revising them to align to the Common Core. That has caused angst among Catholic families and educators, who wonder if students in non-Common Core schools and homeschools will do poorly on the SAT and have difficulty getting accepted to good colleges.
But when we looked closely at Coleman’s record, we saw some interesting things. For instance, he has a fondness for good literature — precisely what we fear the Common Core might diminish in Catholic school reading curricula — and he studied “classical educational philosophy” at Cambridge University, according to his online biography.
Moreover, last year he penned an outstanding piece for National Review Online, defending the religious freedom of Wheaton College, an evangelical Christian college, and extolling the benefits of a religious liberal arts education. The non-Christian scholar noted that he had been to Wheaton to participate in a conference on the great Christian apologist, C.S. Lewis, and his methods of literary criticism.
This was intriguing. What if the co-author of the Common Core, which was designed for low-performing public schools, would go on record praising the benefits of a truly Catholic, liberal arts education — and even the movement toward more classical education? Could an advocate for the Common Core in public schools appreciate the differences and even the superiority of a Catholic education that rejects the Common Core’s utilitarian emphasis and holds steadfast to its Catholic identity and traditional curricula and teaching methods?
And furthermore, what if the College Board president could assure Catholics that students will continue to do well on the revised SAT and AP exams, even if they have a traditional Catholic education, focused on the liberal arts and not in any way compromised or caught up in the race to become more like public schools? This would, in effect, dispel one of the key arguments for adopting the Common Core simply so that students can “keep up” with the changes to standardized tests.
In essence, Coleman said exactly what we anticipated in his interview released Monday. On the one hand, he still clearly supports the Common Core, which we believe would compromise the traditional methods, curricula and mission of Catholic schools. He argued that the Standards had been misinterpreted and do not necessarily conflict with Catholic education: “The vulgar implementation of anything can have a reductive and destructive effect,” he said. With regard to the Standards’ push for more reading of “informational texts,” Coleman didn’t think that the emphasis necessarily means that schools will assign fewer classics of literature — a point on which we continue to disagree.
But what Coleman did say is this, quite emphatically: don’t compromise what Catholic schools do well. On that bedrock principle, we seem to agree entirely. If anything — whether the Common Core or another “reform,” changing social mores, threats against religious freedom or another influence — pressures Catholic schools to compromise their mission and abandon the core liberal arts focus of traditional Catholic education, then we should simply refuse to do so.
“My desire to celebrate, and name and specify some of the beauties and distinctive values of a religious education are precisely to avoid a leveling quality where you forget that there are special gifts that can be lost without attention,” Coleman said.
He urged educators in the classical and Catholic liberal arts tradition to “have more moxie” and “be proud” of their approach to education.
“Don’t be in a defensive crouch. I say that to every group I talk to of religious educators,” he said. “I say, share what you do that is beautiful and distinctive. Don’t just defend your right to exist. Be proud of what you have to offer, which is different.”
Regarding the College Board’s exams, Coleman doesn’t think that students getting a traditional, Catholic liberal arts education — or even a classical-style education focused on the Trivium of grammar, logic and rhetoric — need to be worried about getting lower scores on the SAT and AP tests. He said that Catholic families should “rest assured” that students will continue to do very well on the tests.
“As president of The College Board, it is my conviction that a child excellently trained in traditional liberal arts will do superbly on relevant sections of the SAT and other aspects of Advanced Placement work,” he told us. We’ll know in time whether that’s true, but I guessed it to be true even before Coleman said it. A student who has a good, non-Common Core education should be able to think through these tests. Some extra preparation may be helpful to get used to the Common Core-style questions, but hasn’t SAT prep always been a boost to students’ scores?
Ultimately, Coleman’s interview suggests just one more reason why Catholic educators should not be so eager to rush into the Common Core madness. Many parents, teacher unions and state leaders have turned against the Common Core after just a few years in the public schools. There’s been no boost to national test scores. Catholic educators who may be inclined toward the Common Core should acknowledge the warning signs and take their time, observe how the Common Core plays out, and then decide whether there are certain elements in the Standards that may be worth preserving — and in the meantime, protect what we already have.
Catholic education is good. In earlier times, it was better. The renewal of Catholic education doesn’t need the Common Core — we just need some “more moxie” to defend and celebrate what makes our schools strong.
https://cardinalnewmansociety.org/wp-content/uploads/abc-books-chalk-chalkboard-265076-scaled.jpg17142560Patrick Reillyhttps://cardinalnewmansociety.org/wp-content/uploads/CNS-logo-2C-450-tag2.pngPatrick Reilly2015-12-17 20:58:002020-05-26 15:15:30The Incredible Shrinking Case for Common Core
New Dorm Visitation Study Reveals Need for Reform
/in Student Formation Commentary, Student Residences/by Adam WilsonIn a hyper-sexual society, once-traditional morals have eroded even in our Catholic institutions—and especially on many Catholic college campuses. Research shows that the pervasive “hook up” culture on the typical American campus is found even at many Catholic colleges, a fact that will not surprise most Crisis readers.
Given the documented consequences of the Sexual Revolution, it’s long past time that Catholic colleges take the lead on campus reform, creating cultures that reinforce the expectation of chastity. Solutions are by no means simple, as the casual sex scene has become an accepted norm of college life—even seemingly acceptable to many Catholic parents who would never allow such behavior in their homes. But while there’s no quick fix, Catholic colleges can at least start to address the problem by observing the residence life policies of those few faithful Catholic institutions and their other Christian counterparts that promote a culture of chastity.
Good solutions often begin with good data, so The Cardinal Newman Society has published a review of the dorm visitation policies at 191 residential Catholic college campuses in the United States. Our report, Visitation Policies at U.S. Catholic Colleges, is a factual overview of policies that regulate student visits to those campus residences that function, at least in large part, as student bedrooms.
Continue reading at this link at Crisis Magazine…
Visitation Policies at U.S. Catholic Colleges
/in Student Formation Research and Analysis, Student Residences/by Adam WilsonIntroduction
This report presents the results from a Cardinal Newman Society study of the visitation policies in student residences at residential Catholic colleges, not including seminaries, in the United States.1 Data used in the report was collected during the summer of 2015.
The report primarily evaluates visitation hours—the times during which colleges permit students of the opposite sex to be present in student bedrooms (including single-room residences) on campus. The report also presents information on other residence life policies that regulate the interaction between male and female students in campus residences. The report considers the policies of Catholic institutions and then compares policies of select Catholic and other Christian colleges.
In the first part of the report, it is found that the vast majority of Catholic colleges have residence life policies that permit students of the opposite sex to visit each other in bedrooms until early morning hours, behind closed doors. More than one quarter of the Catholic colleges permit students to stay overnight in an opposite-sex bedroom at least one night a week. Very few Catholic colleges prohibit opposite-sex visitation entirely. About a third of Catholic colleges have policies that explicitly forbid sexual intimacy in campus residences. The report also explores additional policies that regulate student behavior during visitation times, including open-door rules.
In the second part of the study, a sample of Catholic and other Christian colleges was selected in order to compare visitation policies. The selected non-Catholic Christian colleges have substantially more limited opposite-sex visitation hours than their Catholic counterparts and are stricter about prohibiting sexual intimacy in residences. Many of the selected Catholic institutions are ambiguous in their policies regarding sexual intimacy.
Methodology
For the first part of this report, the researcher attempted to review policies regarding opposite-sex visitation at all residential Catholic colleges in the United States. Policies were identified for 191 Catholic colleges, but no policies were found for three Catholic colleges.2 Another ten Catholic colleges were nonresidential and therefore not included in the study.3 The visitation hours for all Catholic colleges are included in Appendix A at the end of this report.
For the second part of the report, the researcher compared a sample of 40 Catholic colleges affiliated with the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities (ACCU) and 40 non-Catholic Christian colleges affiliated with the Council of Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU). For a rough parity between samples, they include only institutions that were rated in the U.S. News & World Report Best College Rankings and Lists in 2015.4 For both Catholic and other Christian institutions, six were selected from the U.S. News “National Universities Rankings,” six from the “National Liberal Arts Colleges Rankings,” four from each of the four “Regional Universities Rankings,” and three from each of the four “Regional Colleges Rankings.” The highest-ranked Catholic and other Christian colleges in each category were selected; however, some were excluded and replaced by other colleges, because no visitation information could be found. The samples do not allow for a strictly equivalent comparison, but nevertheless they are of interest because of their similarities in secular rankings and yet substantial differences with regard to visitation policies. The visitation hours for the sample of Catholic and other Christian colleges are included in Appendix B at the end of this report.
Information included in this report was collected during the summer of 2015 from various resources posted online by the colleges. Information was also collected through direct communication with some of the colleges by email and phone when there was insufficient data online. Online sources include, but are not limited to, student handbooks, student life or residence life handbooks, community standards pages and residence life information pages. The most recent official college documents which could be found at the time of the study were used.
Some institutions have stricter policies for freshmen than for other students. There is also variation in the visitation hours among different residences at some colleges. In such instances, the most relaxed hours for undergraduate students were recorded. Some institutions that set specific hours for visitation were reported to have open visitation due to the fact that they permit overnight opposite-sex visitation under certain circumstances. And some institutions that prohibit overnight opposite-sex visitation do not provide any time limits to visitation. These instances were reported as open visitation.
The report focuses on visitation hours for traditional campus residences. Some colleges have more relaxed visitation hours for students in campus apartments, houses, and townhomes with the rationale that such living arrangements include areas for visitors that are not bedrooms. Because the emphasis of this report is on bedroom visitation, the policies for such residences were generally not used for analysis in the first part of the report.
Similarly, some colleges that do not permit opposite-sex visitation do allow for common area visitation in residence halls. Such common area hours were not taken into consideration in this report, which is focused on bedroom visitation. The exception to this rule is when common area hours are set by a college, but the decision on visitation hour limits for bedrooms is left up to students. In these cases, the report uses the common area hours to determine the latest visitation hours in the bedrooms. These instances are not considered to have “open” visitation due to the fact that common area hours were always found to be more relaxed or equal to bedroom hours.
Institutions that rarely permit opposite-sex visitation during special open house events under close supervision are reported here as not allowing visitation.
The main categories of visitation hours utilized in this report are “Weekday Nights” (Monday through Thursday) and “Weekend Nights” (Friday and Saturday). Some colleges have opposite-sex visitation hours on only certain days of the week, but these are recorded as a college’s weekday or weekend policy, as appropriate. If the hours vary, the latest hour is recorded.
In the section considering policies on sexual intimacy in the first part of this report, only those policies that explicitly prohibit sexual activity were quantified. Other policies not recorded include those prohibiting cohabitation and overnight visits of the opposite sex, but without explicitly proscribing sexual intimacy. As the purview of this report is to gather specific visitation hours and definite rules regarding sexual intimacy, those policies not explicitly forbidding sexual intimacy were not considered in the analysis.
The charts in this report round down visitation end times to the closest hour.
The researcher took care to ensure accuracy and completeness of the information recorded but acknowledges the possibility of some mistakes or omissions given the amount of data involved in the research. If any errors are found or reported, they will be corrected in the online version of this report.
Catholic College and University Visitation Policies
Overview
Overall, 182 (95 percent) of the 190 residential Catholic colleges studied permit opposite-sex visitation at some time during the week. Of these, only a handful have open-door policies. About one-third of the colleges have policies expressly prohibiting sexual intimacy in student residences.
Weekend Night Visitation
Fifty-four Catholic colleges (28 percent) have “open” hours on weekend nights (Friday and Saturday), meaning that opposite-sex students can stay in student bedrooms without time limits. Forty-nine (26 percent) permit visitation without time limits on both weekend and weekday nights. Some colleges (39 or 21 percent) do not set any hour limits to visitation on weekends; nine of these (5 percent) leave it up to students to determine, meaning that students are free to establish with their roommates—by means of a residence contract or other agreement—the hours during which opposite-sex guests are permitted. And some (13 or 7 percent) have unlimited opposite-sex visitation for only some students, usually upper-classmen or seniors. All of these instances5 are defined as “open” visitation for this report.6
There are a few examples of open visitation that should be mentioned. Edgewood College specifies a policy that permits “Weekend Opposite Sex/Intimate Partner Visitation Hours.” Edgewood states, “All students are eligible to have 24-hour weekend visitation of guests. Visitation hours in which members of the opposite sex and same-sex intimate partners are permitted are: Weekend visitation hours begin 8:00 a.m. Friday and run through 11:00 p.m. Sunday.”7
A few colleges were considered to have open visitation in light of exceptions made to other standard policies. Examples include La Salle University, which sets opposite-sex visitation hours on weekends. However, La Salle permits overnight visitation in some residence halls “in recognition of such residences’ structural designs and the possibility of legitimate needs for group study,” although it is discouraged.8 The College of New Rochelle sets opposite-sex visitation limits for all students, but says, “The only exception in Angela Hall is that seniors or those over age 23 may have overnight guests of the opposite sex.”9 Similarly, St. Mary’s College in Indiana, which is an all-female college, has visitation hour limits and permits only female overnight guests, with the exception of “Regina South Tower, where male guests may stay over night.”10 Regina South Tower is a residence hall for senior students with one-, two-, three-, and four-bedroom residences. And Seton Hall University sets hours for visitation, but also states that students “can co-host with someone of the opposite gender if you wish to host someone of the opposite gender. Your co-host and guest must remain with you at all times.”11
Eight colleges (5 percent) do not permit any opposite-sex visitation in student residences on weekends.
Of the remaining colleges, the median latest visitation hour is 2:00 a.m. Nearly half of the Catholic colleges studied (91 or 48 percent) end weekend visitation in the 2:00 a.m. hour. A few have later hours: two (1 percent) end visitation at 4:00 a.m., while nine (5 percent) end visitation in the 3:00 a.m. hour. Fourteen colleges (7 percent) end visitation in the 1:00 a.m. hour, 10 (5 percent) end visitation at midnight, one (.5 percent) ends visitation at 11:00 p.m., and another (.5 percent) ends visitation at 10:00 p.m.
A few Catholic colleges begin weekend visitation hours in the late afternoon or evening instead of the morning as is typical, thereby reducing the total number of hours in which opposite-sex visitation is permitted. For example, Ave Maria University12 permits visitation between 6:00 p.m. and 12:00 a.m. on weekend nights, and the Franciscan University of Steubenville13 permits visitation between 7:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. on weekend nights. As noted below, both colleges also have “open-door” policies during visitation hours.
Weekday Night Visitation
Forty-nine Catholic colleges (26 percent) were found to have open visitation hours on weekday nights (Monday through Thursday). Ten (5 percent) do not permit any opposite-sex visitation in student residences on weekday nights.
Of the remaining Catholic colleges, the median latest visitation hour is midnight. Seventy-one of the colleges (37 percent) have visitation hours ending in the 12:00 a.m. hour, 22 (12 percent) in the 1:00 a.m. hour, 23 (12 percent) at 2:00 a.m., and two (1 percent) in the 3:00 a.m. hour. Some colleges end visitation hours before midnight, with nine (5 percent) ending at 11:00 p.m., three (2 percent) ending at 10:00 p.m., and one (.5 percent) ending at 9:00 p.m.
Of the 190 Catholic colleges studied for this report, five (3 percent) have some form of an open-door policy together with visitation hours. Such policies require that doors remain fully or partly open when members of the opposite sex are present in student residences.
For example, the University of Dallas14 and St. Gregory’s University15 stipulate that the bolts on doors must remain open, thus preventing locked doors and total privacy. Ave Maria University requires that doors be “propped open.”16 The Franciscan University of Steubenville requires residence doors to be “open.”17 And St. Martin’s University requires doors to be open only during the last few hours of visitation each night.18
Open-door policies coincide with relatively limited visitation hours at Ave Maria University, the Franciscan University of Steubenville, and the University of Dallas. The visitation hours at St. Gregory’s University and St. Martin’s University are about on par with most other Catholic colleges.
Policies on Sexual Intimacy and Other Behavior in Residences
About one third of the Catholic colleges (60 or 32 percent) were found to have some form of a policy explicitly prohibiting sexual intimacy on campus. Some colleges (40 or 21 percent) make clear that sexual intimacy is reserved for marriage. Some (52 or 27 percent) mention Catholic teaching or Catholic identity language while prohibiting sexual intimacy. Thirteen (7 percent) prohibit “overnight visits” or “cohabitation” for the purpose of sexual activity, but do not specify that sexual intimacy is also forbidden at other times of the day. Eight (4 percent) prohibit sexual “overnight visits” or “cohabitation” while also mentioning Catholic teaching or Catholic identity language in support of the policy, but do not specify that sexual intimacy is also forbidden at other times of the day.
Of the eight Catholic colleges that prohibit opposite-sex visitation in residences, half of them—Aquinas College in Tennessee, Christendom College, Northeast Catholic College, and John Paul the Great Catholic University—also have policies explicitly prohibiting sexual intimacy. For those that do not explicitly prohibit sexual intimacy, the point may be moot as opposite-sex visitation is already forbidden.
Overview
The second part of this report is based on a comparison of the visitation policies at 40 members of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities (ACCU) and 40 members and affiliates of the Council of Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) that are included in U.S. News and World Report’s 2015 Best College Rankings and Lists. See the “Methodology” section on page 2 for details on how the colleges were selected.
The comparison is interesting, because although most Christian sects share similar beliefs about the immorality of sexual activity outside of marriage, the CCCU colleges studied have more limited visitation hours than the Catholic colleges. Many of the Catholic colleges do not set limits on how late students of the opposite sex may visit student bedrooms, while none of the CCCU colleges was found to have open visiting hours. The most common latest time that the Catholic colleges permit opposite-sex visitation is 2:00 a.m.; the most common latest time among the CCCU colleges is midnight.
Many of the CCCU colleges and one of the Catholic colleges have other policies in place related to opposite-sex visitation. These include open-door and open-bolt policies and lights-on rules. Whereas most colleges in both sets have at least some coed residence halls for students, more than half the Catholic colleges and just five of the CCCU colleges offer only coed halls without single-sex options.
Policies, teachings, and regulations related to sexual intimacy on campus were compared between the CCCU and Catholic colleges. A greater number of the CCCU institutions studied have some sort of a statement that forbids premarital sexual intimacy. Colleges of both types that prohibit sex on campus make reference to their mission and/or identity to support the policy. Many Catholic colleges reference “cohabitation” or overnight visits in their policies regulating student behavior in the residences, but often the terms are used ambiguously and do not explicitly prohibit sexual intimacy in student residences. Some do include Catholic teaching and prohibitions on sexual intimacy in their language.
Weekend Night Visitation
Among the 40 Catholic colleges studied, 11 (28 percent) have open visitation hours in primary campus residence halls on weekend nights (Friday and Saturday). Two (5 percent) end their weekend visitation hours in the 3 a.m. hour, more than half (21 or 53 percent) end at 2:00 a.m., two (5 percent) end in the 1:00 a.m. hour, two (5 percent) end at midnight, and just two (5 percent) allow no opposite-sex visitation on weekend nights.
By contrast, none of the 40 CCCU colleges studied has open visitation hours on weekend nights. Two (5 percent) end their hours at 2:00 a.m., one quarter (10 or 25 percent) end at 1:00 a.m., 14 (35 percent) end at midnight, six (15 percent) conclude in the 11:00 p.m. hour, and one (3 percent) ends visitation in the 10:00 p.m. hour. Seven of the CCCU colleges (18 percent) allow no opposite-sex visitation on weekend nights.
Weekday Night Visitation
Among the Catholic colleges, 11 (28 percent) have open visitation hours on weekday nights (Monday through Thursday). One college ends its visitation hours at 3:30 a.m. on weekday nights, four (10 percent) end at 2:00 a.m., six (15 percent) end in the 1:00 a.m. hour, 15 (38 percent) end at midnight, and one ends at 11:00 p.m. Two (5 percent) do not allow opposite-sex visitation hours on weekday nights.
For the CCCU colleges, none of the institutions studied have open visitation hours on weekday nights. One CCCU college (3 percent) ends weekday night visitation hours at 2:00 a.m., another (3 percent) ends at 1:00 a.m., seven (18 percent) end in the 12:00 a.m. hour, eight (20 percent) end in the 11:00 p.m. hour, and 15 (38 percent) end in the 10:00 p.m. hour. Eight CCCU colleges (20 percent) do not allow opposite-sex visitation on weekday nights.
Ten of the Catholic colleges (25 percent) have open visitation hours on Sunday nights. One Catholic college (3 percent) ends visitation hours in the 3:00 a.m. hour, four (10 percent) end at 2:00 a.m., six (15 percent) end at 1:00 a.m., 15 (38 percent) end at midnight, one (3 percent) ends at 11:00 p.m., and one (3 percent) ends at 8:00 p.m. Two of the Catholic colleges (5 percent) do not permit opposite-sex visitation on Sunday nights.
One of the CCCU colleges studied (3 percent) ends visitation hours on Sunday nights at 2:00 a.m., another (3 percent) ends at 1:00 a.m., nine (23 percent) end in the 12:00 a.m. hour, six (15 percent) end in the 11:00 p.m. hour, eight (20 percent) end in the 10:00 p.m. hour, two (5 percent) end at 9:00 p.m., two (5 percent) end at 8:00 p.m., and two (5 percent) end at 5:00 p.m. Nine of the CCCU colleges (23 percent) do not allow opposite-sex visitation hours on Sunday nights, and none have open visitation hours.
A few of the institutions studied were also found to have stricter visitation hour rules for first-year students, including three Catholic colleges (8 percent) and one CCCU college (3 percent).
Among the Catholic colleges, Loyola University New Orleans gives first-year students a visitation period ending at midnight seven days a week prior to completing their “Roommate Agreement” form. Upper-class students do not have such a restriction.19
At Villanova University, first-year students are limited to midnight on weekday nights and 2:00 a.m. on weekend nights, but upperclassmen have open visitation seven days a week.20
Similarly, Wheeling Jesuit University ends first-year student visitation at midnight on weekday nights and 2:00 a.m. on weekend nights, but grants upperclassmen a 2:00 a.m. limit on weekday nights and 24-hour visitation on weekends. Wheeling Jesuit gives several exceptions that can be made to its upperclassmen weekday visitation policy, so the University is listed as “open” in Appendix B of the report.21
Messiah College, a CCCU member, limits both first-year and upper-class students to visitation ending at 10:00 p.m. on Sunday, 10:00 p.m. on Wednesday and 1:00 a.m. on weekend nights. Messiah grants upperclassmen an additional night of visitation on Monday until 10:00 p.m.22
Students Set Visitation Hours
Another way some (4 or 10 percent) of the Catholic colleges address opposite-sex visitation on campus is by allowing students in the same rooms, floors, or wings in residence halls to decide on their own visitation hours. None of the CCCU colleges in the study allow this.
For the purposes of this study, colleges that allow students to set their own hours are considered to have open visitation policies when there is no limit set for them. Where students are permitted to set their own hours within a college-established limit, the latest end hour is reported.
A residence life official at Santa Clara University told us, “Standard policy is that students and their roommate(s) set their own visiting hours in the residence halls, and the University doesn’t have gender-specific restrictions.”
Loyola University New Orleans permits upperclassmen to have open visiting hours, but it limits first-year students to visiting hours ending at midnight until they “have completed and reviewed their Roommate Agreement with a Residential Life staff member.”23
The College of St. Benedict in Collegeville, Minn., has typical visitation hours until midnight on weekday nights and until 2:00 a.m. on weekend nights. However, it “expects” that roommates “determine what hours you wish to host” visitors of the opposite sex.24 Villanova also permits freshmen to set visiting hours by means of roommate living agreements, as long as they are within the pre-set limits imposed by the University.
Typically, colleges require students to respect the wishes of their roommates when bringing visitors into the residence. For instance, both St. Francis College in New York and Stonehill College have open visitation. Stonehill stipulates, “Whether during the day or overnight, guests are only permitted to be in that individual residence hall room with the consent of a resident’s roommate(s).”25 And St. Francis College says, “In consideration to the rights of roommates and other residents, there are limits to the duration and frequency of such visits. A resident may have only one overnight guest at any given time.”26
Visitation in Campus Apartments, Townhomes, and Houses
Some universities offer students alternative residence options in apartments, townhomes, and houses on campus. These options are more prevalent at the 40 CCCU colleges than at the 40 Catholic colleges studied. Apartments, townhomes, and houses on campus are typically reserved for upper-class students. In general, visitation hours were found to be more relaxed in these types of living arrangements.
Only three of the Catholic colleges studied offer students on-campus living options in apartments, townhomes, and/or houses. Two (5 percent) end opposite-sex visiting hours at 2:00 a.m., and one (3 percent) has open visiting hours.
At the CCCU colleges, 14 offer campus residential options in apartments, townhomes, and/or houses. On weekend nights, one (3 percent) has completely open visitation hours, three (8 percent) end their hours at 2:00 a.m., five (13 percent) end at 1:00 a.m., two (5 percent) end at midnight, and three (8 percent) end at 11:00 p.m. On weekday nights, one (3 percent) has open hours, two (5 percent) end at 2:00 a.m., one (3 percent) ends at 1:00 a.m., four (10 percent) end at midnight, and six (15 percent) end at 11:00 p.m. On Sunday nights, one (3 percent) has open hours, two (5 percent) end at 2:00 a.m., one (3 percent) ends at 1:00 a.m., five (13 percent) end at midnight, and four (10 percent) end at 11:00 p.m.
Open-Door/Open-Bolt Policies
Only one of the Catholic colleges (3 percent) was found to have an open-door or open-bolt policy for opposite-sex visitation. By contrast, more than half (21 or 53 percent) of the CCCU colleges have open-door or open-bolt policies. Appendix C lists the colleges with this policy.
Lights-On Policy
Eleven of the CCCU colleges studied (28 percent) have lights-on policies. Most of the institutions that implement this policy do so in addition to an open-door rule. Typically, the lights in a student bedroom are required to be left at least partially on, so that the occupants present during opposite-sex visitation are visible from outside the room.
None of the 40 Catholic colleges studied implements this policy.
Single-Sex Residences
Eight of the Catholic colleges (20 percent) and 13 of the CCCU colleges (33 percent) studied have only single-sex residence halls on campus. Eight Catholic colleges (20 percent) and 17 CCCU colleges (43 percent) have both single-sex and coed halls on campus. Twenty-one Catholic colleges (53 percent) and five CCCU colleges (13 percent) have only coed residences.27
For both Catholic and CCCU colleges with only single-sex residences, it was found that they have roughly the same kind of opposite-sex visitation policies as the rest of the institutions studied. Even when considering together institutions with only single-sex residences and those with both single-sex and coed residences, there is still no noteworthy difference in average visitation hours when compared to all institutions.
Several of the institutions studied have varying forms of prohibitions on sexual intimacy. Some colleges specify that they prohibit pre-marital sex, and some identify specific forms of sexual intimacy that are prohibited. Others say instead that “cohabitation” is against college policy. Only the colleges that specifically disallow sexual intimacy were considered by this study to have a sexual intimacy prohibition in place. Aside from assessing prohibitions on sexual intimacy, this section of the report is based on general observations and is not quantified.
Eleven of the Catholic colleges studied (28 percent) provide some sort of official statement that sexual intimacy is reserved for marriage and/or is inappropriate among students. Thirty of the CCCU colleges (75 percent) have such language in place.
Catholic examples include:
CCCU institutions that make reference to their missions or values while advancing policies regarding sexual intimacy include:
Many of the CCCU colleges studied go beyond only specifying that sexual intimacy should be reserved for marriage and also include language prohibiting other forms of sexual activity and related practices. For example, The Master’s College cites several Scripture verses, states that sexual intimacy is reserved for marriage, and includes the language, “Any form of sexual immorality such as pornography, fornication, adultery, homosexuality, bisexual conduct, is sinful and outside of God’s design for sexual intimacy (Lev 18:1-30; Romans 1:18-29).”37
Dordt College has a similar policy and says, “the college firmly holds to the biblical teaching that premarital intercourse is forbidden. Further, behavior (e.g. nudity, lying in bed together) that encourages such intimacy will not be tolerated by the college.”38
Messiah College, under its section on Scriptural Guidelines, mentions that “we are to avoid such sinful practices as… sexual intercourse outside of marriage, homosexual behavior, and sexually exploitative or abusive behavior.”39
Some of the other CCCU colleges studied prohibit premarital sexual intimacy without mentioning their religious mission in the same context. For instance, Biola University states, “Any behavior that is considered compromising, sexually inappropriate, or causes others in the community to be uncomfortable is prohibited.”40
Trevecca Nazarene University states that students are not allowed to engage “in acts of sexual immorality, such as premarital and extramarital relations.”41 Malone University stipulates, “Sex should be exclusively reserved for the marriage relationship, understood as a legal, lifelong commitment between a husband and wife.”42 And Pepperdine University prohibits “Sexual activity outside a marriage between husband and wife including, but not limited to, premarital, extramarital or homosexual conduct.”43
Nearly all of the colleges studied were found to have specific sections for policy regarding sexual misconduct in their student handbooks. While none of the 40 Catholic colleges studied were found to prohibit premarital sex as a part of their sexual misconduct policies, several of the CCCU colleges studied do. Taylor University states as part of its sexual misconduct policy, “Remaining sexually pure is God’s plan for our lives. The following [sexual misconduct] guidelines are intended to provide direction when dealing with students who are sexually involved outside of the marriage relationship.”44 Calvin College also states under its sexual misconduct policy that “premarital intercourse is in conflict with Biblical teaching,” and those “engaging in such conduct face disciplinary action including parent/guardian notification, or suspension.”45 While not mentioning sexual misconduct per se in the same context, Wheaton College specifies, “Intimate sexual expression outside the biblical boundary of marriage may increase the risk of miscommunication about consent.”46
Many of the Catholic colleges studied prohibit “cohabitation” or overnight visits by members of the opposite sex, rather than specifically prohibiting all premarital sexual relations among students. Overall, there is much variance among Catholic colleges in the ways they use the term cohabitation and describe overnight visitation policies.
For instance, some Catholic colleges stipulate that visitors of the opposite sex are not permitted overnight, but they do not explicitly prohibit sexual activities at other times of the day. The College of the Holy Cross says, “Guests are not permitted to stay overnight in the same room with a member of the opposite sex.”47 Seattle University specifies, “Given the values of Seattle University, cohabitation is not permitted in University residence halls or apartments. Only guests of the same gender as their resident hosts are permitted to stay overnight in the residence halls, provided that the guest is not in an amorous relationship with the resident host.”48 Saint John’s University in Minnesota also stipulates, “Guests of the opposite sex are not permitted to stay overnight in any student residence.”49
Some Catholic colleges, without making direct mention of sexual activities, do not define the term cohabitation, or they use it broadly to mean any visitor who is not the primary resident staying in a campus residence for an extended period of time. For example, Stonehill College says, “reflective of Catholic values and moral teaching, Stonehill encourages relationships between young adults that foster physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being and, as such, the College does not permit cohabitation.”50 Wheeling Jesuit University has a broad policy which defines cohabitation as “the consistent presence of a guest who spends a day/night or longer period of time in a student’s residence hall room.” Wheeling Jesuit stipulates that “Visitors of the same or opposite gender found to be a consistent presence… will be considered to be engaged in cohabitation, and the host and student(s) involved will be subject to conduct review through the Office of Residence Life and Student Conduct.”51 And Bellarmine University states that “Cohabitation exists when a person who is not assigned to a particular residence hall room or apartment uses that room or apartment as if he or she were living there.”52
A couple Catholic colleges have policies that specifically prohibit overnight sexual encounters, but they do not include language prohibiting sexual relations at other times. Georgetown University defines cohabitation as “overnight visits with a sexual partner” and says it is “incompatible both with the Catholic character of the University and with the rights of the roommates.”53 Creighton University stipulates, “Overnight visits with a sexual partner is incompatible both with the Catholic nature of the University and with the rights of the roommate and is strictly prohibited.” It defines cohabitation as “living together outside of marriage in an intimate relationship.”54
A few of the Catholic colleges studied have very loose or practically nonexistent policies regarding sexual relations among students. Rockhurst University, which has open visitation, stipulates that “Guests may not stay for more than two consecutive nights (48 hours) unless permission is obtained from the Resident Director.”55 A residence life administrator from St. Francis College stated, “Currently there is no policy specifically prohibiting sexual activity in the residence halls. However, any activities taking place in a room must have the consent of all residents of the room including their roommates.”
Appendices
Appendix A – Visitation Hour End Times at Catholic Colleges and Universities
Nights
Coed Residences
Nights
Nights
Nights
Appendix C – Comparison of Open-Door, Open-Bolt, and Lights-On Policies at Sample of Catholic and CCCU Colleges
Discriminatory Blaine Amendment Used Against Education Savings Accounts in Nevada
/in Blog/by Cardinal Newman Society StaffNot long after Nevada created the nation’s first nearly universal education savings account (ESA) program for students last year, two lawsuits were filed to block the program that relied on discriminatory, historically anti-Catholic, provisions in the state constitution. Now the program is on hold following an injunction issued this month by a Nevada district court in one of the cases.
Carson City, Nev., District Judge James Wilson ruled on January 11 that the program “would cause irreparable harm to students in Nevada” by taking public funds out of the current public school system structure to create a “non-uniform system of schools.”
The case, Lopez v. Schwartz, was filed by the Education Law Center (ELC) in September on behalf of several parents. ELC argued that the program violated several provisions of the Nevada constitution, including Article 11, Section 2, which states in part that “any school district which shall allow instruction of a sectarian character therein may be deprived of its proportion of the interest of the public school fund.”
“Article 11, Section 2 suffers from the same anti-Catholic taint that plagues the Blaine Amendment,” argued the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty in an amicus brief. The brief noted: “First, it was passed during a time of sweeping anti-Catholic sentiment and with an intent to remove Catholic influence on public schools, and second, it prohibits ‘sectarian’ influences on schools while leaving unharmed ‘generic’ religious practices in public schools.”
The groundbreaking ESA program, passed into law last summer, creates an account for students in which the state deposits an amount equal to 90 percent of the average amount spent by the state per student during that school year ($5,100 for the 2015-16 school year), or 100 percent for students with a disability or with a household income less than 185 percent of the federal poverty level ($5,700 for the 2015-16 school year).
Funds can be used for a variety of educational expenses, such as private school tuition (including religious schools), tuition at eligible higher education institutions, distance education, curriculum, tutoring, exam fees, transportation and specialized services or therapies for students with a disability.
To be eligible for the program, students must attend a Nevada public or charter school for at least 100 uninterrupted school days immediately prior to submitting an application. The first round of funding to the over 3,500 students who applied for the ESAs was scheduled to be sent out February 1.
Wilson ultimately concluded that plaintiffs “failed to carry their burden of proof” that the ESA program violated Article 11, Section 2, but said the program did violate Article 11, Sections 6.1 and 6.2, and “irreparable harm will result if an injunction is not entered.”
Nevada Attorney General Adam Paul Laxalt appealed Wilson’s decision to the Nevada Supreme Court: “My Office is working diligently so that parents can enjoy the genuine educational choice envisioned by lawmakers this past legislative session, and remains focused on resolving the matter as quickly as possible to provide families with the certainty they deserve. A ruling from the state Supreme Court will do just that.”
The ACLU of Nevada and Americans United for Separation of Church and State filed a separate lawsuit, Duncan v. Nevada, against the ESA program back in August. In addition to relying on Article 11, Section 2, the lawsuit also argues that the ESA program violates Nevada’s Blaine Amendment found in Article 11, Section 10 of the state constitution: “No public funds of any kind or character whatever, State, County or Municipal, shall be used for sectarian purpose.”
“The education savings account law passed this last legislative session tears down the wall separating church and state erected in Nevada’s constitution,” Tod Story, executive director for the ACLU of Nevada, said at the time.
“To claim that the ESA Program funds ‘sectarian’ purposes is simply a modern spin on the same discrimination that birthed the Blaine Amendments,” the Becket Fund argued in their amicus brief in the case.
Blaine Amendments, named for former Speaker of the House and U.S. Secretary of State James G. Blaine, are provisions currently found in 37 state constitutions prohibiting the use of taxpayer funds at “sectarian” schools. After Blaine’s failed attempt to amend the U.S. Constitution with the proposal in 1875, versions of the amendment were “added to state constitutions in order to enforce the nativist bigotry of the day” against Catholics, according to The Beckett Fund for Religious Liberty. The provisions are now being interpreted to discriminate against non-Catholics as well.
“Activist groups are treating religious schools and the students who choose to attend them like second-class citizens,” said Diana Verm, legal counsel of the Becket Fund. “It is deplorable to see a discriminatory 19th century law being used to prevent children from access to quality education simply because the school may have religious ties.”
The lawsuit brought by the ACLU of Nevada and Americans United for Separation of Church and State is still awaiting a decision by the district court in Clark County, Nev., but the ACLU voiced support for Wilson’s decision in the Lopez case.
“The ACLU of Nevada is still diligently pursuing a permanent remedy to stop this unconstitutional voucher program,” said Amy Rose, legal director of the ACLU of Nevada. “We are pleased to see that another court recognizes that this program runs afoul of the Nevada Constitution.”
Laxalt, who is also defending the ESA program in the Duncan case, stated last week that the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to hear a case challenging Missouri’s Blaine Amendment was a good sign for Nevada.
“My Office is encouraged by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision that will be of crucial significance in our defense of Nevada’s Educational Savings Accounts,” he said. “The program is currently being challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separation of Church and State, who are asking state courts to twist the Nevada Constitution in ways never imagined, much less intended by our framers, barring parents and private schools with religious affiliations from participating in this important statewide program.
“Nevada’s Constitution does not require religious discrimination,” he continued, “and we are hopeful our nation’s highest Court will confirm that the U.S. Constitution does not allow that either.”
As The Cardinal Newman Society reported last week, a case challenging a discriminatory Blaine Amendment in Missouri’s state constitution will go before the U.S. Supreme Court this year to decide if the state can rely on the historically anti-Catholic constitutional provision in its denial of a grant to a Christian preschool meant to aid in resurfacing the playground with recycled tires.
The U.S. Supreme Court will also make a decision on February 19 to hear a case challenging Colorado’s Blaine Amendment. The Newman Society reported in December that petitioners are challenging a Colorado Supreme Court ruling that blocked scholarship funds to hundreds of families in Douglas County, Colo., who were supposed to be able to use the scholarship to attend a private school of their choice, regardless of a school’s religious identity.
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 you. This is an esteemed, august, and distinguished group, and I’m very humbled that you’ve invited me to offer a few remarks to you this evening.
I have been asked to speak to you about celebrating Catholic identity in the context of your universities and colleges. And in some ways, I feel ill equipped for that task—your institutions already represent some of the most Catholic places in our country—places where Catholic culture, intellectual life, and sacramental life flourishes in beautiful ways.
I am a graduate of a large, land-grant public university. (Rock Chalk Jayhawk!) And my diocese, the Diocese of Lincoln, does not have a Catholic university. But I do hope that I can offer a few thoughts that might be helpful to you in the important work you undertake.
I’d like to talk for a few moments about the Catholic University of Ireland, the university founded by my spiritual patron, Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman.
Most of you know that Newman is probably the most famous English convert to the faith, a prolific writer and thinker, and most of you are very familiar with Newman’s Idea of a University. In fact, most of your institutions probably draw wisdom and guidance from Newman’s work. But you might not be as familiar with Newman’s term as the founding president of the Catholic University of Ireland. And the story might be instructive for you today.
In 1852, Newman was asked by the bishops of Ireland to be the founding rector of the Catholic University of Ireland.
He didn’t want the job. The Catholic University of Ireland was founded to compete with the anti-Catholic Queen’s University of Ireland, which forbade theology and undermined the Church’s mission. But Newman wasn’t sure the Irish bishops really understood what a Catholic university should be. He took the job, and began in 1854, only after the Holy Father asked him personally.
His first biographer, William Philip Ward, says that “the story of the next three or four years is a long drawn-out history of apparent failure.”
Newman clashed with the Irish bishops—especially Cardinal Cullen, the Archbishop of Dublin. Newman’s vision was a well-educated laity, formed in the humanities, as described in Idea of a University, which he developed as he began the project. But he felt the bishops wanted to found a sort of pre-seminary, whose sole focus would be training for future priests. They clashed over faculty appointments, curriculum, and authority. Newman felt that their promises were often broken. The bishops refused to allow him to accredit the college, which he thought it guaranteed its failure.
Newman’s work in Ireland, says Ward, “made no difference, and wasted his time.”
The clashes between Cardinal Cullen and Newman put the university in dire straits. Its enrollment was too low, its funding was unclear, and its episcopal leadership, at least from Newman’s perspective, expected him to “pick up the crumbs.”
In October of 1858, these frustrations came to a head. Cardinal Cullen had failed to approve Newman’s appointment of a vice-rector. A dean had been appointed without Newman’s approval. It was clear that he had been sidelined. In November, after a period of reflection, Newman tendered his resignation
The bishops of Ireland felt he had failed. Newman felt, in some ways, they had failed him. Some felt that he had failed the Holy Father. The faculty felt that his departure would lead to the University’s demise. And, in fact, the Catholic University of Ireland lasted only 50 years before it was absorbed in to the secular university it had originally sought to defeat.
Newman’s time in Ireland might be seen as a spectacular failure. But Newman believed that the Lord had called him there for a purpose, and had used his service there to further the Kingdom. He had honed and articulated a vision for education—and a vision for the Church—while he was in Ireland. He was now passionate about well-formed and active Catholic laity. And he believed the Lord had wanted that vision, and would use it.
He wrote to a friend. Resignation, he said, “does not prove that what I have written and planned will not take effect some time and somewhere, because it does not at once. For twenty years my book on the Arians was not heard of …
My Oxford University Sermons, preached out as long ago as seventeen years, are now attracting attention at Oxford. When I am gone something may come of what I have done at Dublin. And since I hope I did what I did not for the sake of man, not for the sake of the Irish hierarchy, not even for the Pope’s praise, but for the sake of God’s Church and God’s glory, I have nothing to regret and nothing to desire different from what is.”
The path of Providence, as he had seen before, had been dimly lit. But he believed that for all his failure, the Lord would use his work for great and beautiful good.
I want to make three points about Newman’s experience at the Catholic University of Ireland, and about your role in contemporary Catholic education.
The first point is that Providence is utilizing your faithfulness even when you cannot see it. Many of your colleges and universities are in precarious and difficult situations today. Many of you face real and clear threats because of your fidelity to the Gospel. For some of you, it is no exaggeration to say that your survival is at stake, in the face of threats to religious freedom. And some of you may wonder why the Lord is calling you to persevere in a culture so hostile to your mission and ministry. But, dear brothers and sisters, Providence is utilizing your faithfulness.
Whether your colleges are able to weather the storms, or whether you’re capsized by the winds of persecution, the Lord is utilizing your work, and calling you to faithfulness. Newman’s university did not survive. But the work that came out of his time there—especially Idea of a University—laid the groundwork for faithful and dynamic Catholic university education across the globe. The so-called “failure” of the Catholic University of Ireland was the catalyst for the good work that you’re now doing.
Newman wrote: “God has created me to do Him some definite service; He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission—I never may know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. Somehow I am necessary for His purposes….a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall do good, I shall do His work.”
God has created and called your institutions to do some definite service. And in the tribulations that many of you face, you may not see what the purpose is. None of us see clearly the movement and intentions of the Holy Spirit.
But Providence lays the groundwork of the Lord’s will over time. And your work—whether blessed with worldly success or not—is guided by the hand of Providence. And the Church thanks you for your fidelity.
My second point is that our contemporary situation requires new and creative approaches to the mission of orthodox and dynamic Catholic higher education.
The Catholic University of Ireland, as Newman envisioned it, was a new approach to Catholic higher education. The idea of founding a university whose principal mission was the formation of a “well-educated laity,” seemed novel. To us, with the benefit of hindsight, the mission and methodology seems obvious. But consider that the bishops of Ireland had such difficulty envisioning the primacy of the liberal arts, and the role of lay faculty and administrators. At the time, Newman’s thoughts were considered revolutionary, and maybe even subversive.
We need a continued renaissance in our approaches to Catholic higher education. As an example, I should mention that some estimate 90% of American Catholic college students attend public universities. Some of them are poor, or new to this country, or the first in a family to attend college. Some of them are disinterested or poorly formed in the faith. Some of them are studying in programs that small colleges and universities cannot offer. And you know, far better than I, that their education and formation is not only bereft of a Catholic character, it is often hostile to the truths of the Gospel.
Catholic colleges and universities, if they are true to their mission, might spend time asking how they can support the Catholic intellectual and personal formation of these students.
My good friend Steve Minnis, president of Benedictine College, is here with us tonight. Benedictine has formed a partnership with the St. Lawrence Catholic Center to support Humanitas, a program of intellectual formation for freshman and sophomores at the University of Kansas. The University of Mary, under the leadership of Msgr. Shea, offers accredited courses at the University of Arizona.
In the Diocese of Lincoln, in partnership with our college seminary, we’ve begun the Newman Institute for Catholic Thought and Culture, which will offer accredited courses in the humanities to undergraduates at the University of Nebraska.
These partnerships and projects are not easy. They require an investment of time and financial resources. But they are evangelical, they have life-long impact on students, and they bring the mission of Catholic universities to students most in need of the Gospel. Graduates of these programs have a Catholic foundation, through which to understand their education in areas you might not offer: engineering, technology, biomedical sciences, etc.
Each of you has opportunities to serve and reach students who might never attend Cardinal Newman Society colleges. And in so doing, you’ll be instrumental in forming the network of “well-educated laity” who will build a culture of life.
My third point is that the Church needs you, even when she doesn’t realize it.
Newman bears witness to the challenges and difficulties an institution can face when the hierarchy does not understand or support its mission. He carried the feelings of mutual distrust, disappointment, and disenchantment with the local hierarchy—especially his bishop, Cardinal Cullen.
Many of the institutions represented in this room bear battle scars from difficult relationships with bishops or dioceses that have not always understood your mission. Many of you are, for understandable reasons, wary of collaboration with the local Church. But fidelity to the Gospel requires service to the universal Church and to the particular Church in which you operate. The Lord is calling you to serve the Church in precisely the places in which you are located.
And as a bishop, I can tell you that the Church, and the bishops in the United States especially, increasingly have an understanding and appreciation for what it is that you are doing.
I am 60 years old, and I’ve been a bishop for almost 8 years. There was a time when I could call myself a young bishop—but increasingly, those days have passed me by!
In dioceses across the country, bishops younger than me, with an even greater appreciation for your mission, are being entrusted with important leadership positions. And the Lord, truly, is calling you to foster and cultivate relationships with them. Ex Corde Ecclessiae calls every Catholic college to “be in close communion with the local Church and in particular with the diocesan bishops of the region or nation in which it is located.”
Newman reminds us of the importance of fostering this communion. Of course, many of you are wondering how to go about this. And some of you have better ideas than I do. But I can tell you that bishops everywhere are concerned with the ongoing formation of their priests, teachers, and lay collaborators. And bishops are eager to find partners in advocating for the faith in the public square. And of course, bishops are concerned with fostering vocations. And finally, I can tell you something that you’ll identify with—most bishops are trying to fulfill their responsibilities while recognizing the reality that there never seems to enough money to get things done!
I’m being sincere when I say that your bishops are in need of the work that you’re doing. And I’m sincere when I say that many of you will experience real and authentic openness to communion and collaboration.
The question for you to consider is what service you can offer to the needs of the particular Church. Can you foster an interest in vocations to the diocesan priesthood, among your students and among other young men? Can you offer training and educational opportunities for diocesan priests, teachers, and leaders? Can you develop authentically Catholic schools of education? Can your accounting and finance faculty offer workshops on parish management and finance for pastors? Can you be a voice for the richness of the Church’s life in your own dioceses?
In the face of ever-greater secularization, bishops are searching for partners. And they’re eager for help. Now, more than ever, the imperative of communion with the local Church is critical to your success, and to the success of the Church’s mission.
Providence is guiding your work, dear brothers and sisters, even in the face of trials and difficulties. Providence is leading even when you cannot see the outcome. You can be at the forefront of continued renaissance in faithful Catholic higher education. You can be of great service to the particular Church. And you can be, and will be, blessed abundantly by the Father for your fidelity and generosity to the Gospel.
Thank you for your good work. May almighty God bless you, +
SCOTUS Agrees to Hear Missouri Blaine Amendment Case
/in Blog/by Cardinal Newman Society StaffA case challenging a Blaine Amendment in Missouri’s state constitution will go before the U.S. Supreme Court this year, the Court announced last week, to decide if the state can rely on the discriminatory, historically anti-Catholic, constitutional provision in its denial of a grant to a Christian preschool meant to aid in resurfacing the playground with recycled tires.
“No state can define religious neutrality as treating religious organizations worse than everyone else,” said Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) Senior Counsel David Cortman in a statement about the Court’s decision to hear the case, Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia v. Pauley, during its January 15 conference.
“That isn’t neutrality; it’s a hostility to religion that violates the First Amendment,” he continued. “That’s the primary issue that the Supreme Court will address. In this case, the state should not have excluded this preschool from the recycled tire program simply because a church operates the school.”
ADF is representing Trinity Lutheran Church Learning Center in the case. In 2012, Trinity Lutheran applied to Missouri’s Playground Scrap Tire Surface Material Grant Program, which provided funds to schools to resurface playgrounds with the recycled tires, making them safer for children.
Although Trinity Lutheran’s rankings in the application process were high enough to earn the grant, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources denied funding to the preschool because of a section of the state constitution prohibiting government aid to religious institutions, known as a Blaine Amendment.
Blaine Amendments, named for former Speaker of the House and U.S. Secretary of State James G. Blaine, are provisions currently found in 37 state constitutions prohibiting the use of taxpayer funds at “sectarian” schools. After Blaine’s failed attempt to amend the U.S. Constitution with the proposal in 1875, versions of the amendment were “added to state constitutions in order to enforce the nativist bigotry of the day” against Catholics, according to The Beckett Fund for Religious Liberty.
State officials cited the Blaine Amendment in Article 1, Section 7 of the Missouri constitution:
While the case focuses on a Lutheran preschool, Eric Rassbach, an attorney with The Becket Fund, which filed an amicus brief in the case, told The Cardinal Newman Society that the Supreme Court’s decision “absolutely could have an impact for Catholic schools.”
Rassbach explained that the Missouri state government’s argument could be implemented to mean “that religious entities would not be able to contract with the state. It would mean that religious entities would get no grants, even for completely secular purposes like playground safety.”
If the Supreme Court upheld the state’s argument, “It would be open season on Catholic institutions,” he said.
ADF Senior Legal Counsel Jordan Lorence argued that the state of Missouri’s reasoning was tantamount to saying, “We’re not going to allow the Jewish synagogue to hook up to the sewer system,” or, “We’ll send the police to investigate any burglary unless it’s at the Buddhist monastery.”
“These are just normal, regular governmental services that are available to everybody, and they single out the religious users and say, ‘You cannot participate because of this really extreme and abstract notion of separation of church and state that’s in our constitution,’” he said. “And we’re hoping that the United States Supreme Court will rule in this case that you can’t have such an extreme regime of benefit program under the First Amendment.”
ADF argued in their petition to the Court: “No public benefit could be further removed from the state’s antiestablishment concerns than a grant for safe rubber playground surfaces that serve no religious function or purpose.”
“Children’s safety is just as important on church daycare playgrounds as it is on other daycare playgrounds,” said ADF Senior Counsel Erik Stanley. “Missouri and every state should understand that the U.S. Constitution prohibits religious hostility, which is what Missouri exhibited when it denied Trinity Lutheran’s scrap tire grant application. This case has huge implications for state constitutional provisions across the nation that treat religious Americans and organizations as inferiors solely because of their religious identity.”
Also at issue is the 8th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decision last year denying relief for Trinity Lutheran by invoking the Supreme Court’s 2004 decision in Locke v. Davey. In the Locke decision, the Supreme Court held that the state of Washington could deny scholarship funds for the purpose of pursing a degree in devotional theology.
“There is a gap in the constitutional protections between the free exercise of religion and the federal establishment clause,” said Lorence. “There’s some no man’s land legally where a state could, the Supreme Court said in Locke v. Davey back in 2004, single out religious groups and exclude them. … You could study religion but couldn’t study to be a pastor.”
Lorance called the 8th Circuit’s decision “Locke v. Davey gone wild,” and said the Supreme Court’s decision to hear the Trinity Lutheran case is “a good sign” they’re going to rein in the decision.
The Becket Fund’s Rassbach agreed that the Supreme Court is likely to grant a favorable ruling in the Trinity Lutheran case. “I think they’re going to say that the First Amendment and the Fourteenth Amendment don’t allow governments, federal or state, to discriminate against religious institutions merely because they’re religious.”
As the Newman Society previously reported, a challenge to Colorado’s Blaine Amendment is currently awaiting review by the U.S. Supreme Court. In that case, petitioners are challenging a Colorado Supreme Court ruling that blocked scholarship funds to hundreds of families in Douglas County, Colo., who were supposed to be able to use the scholarship to attend a private schools of their choice, regardless of a school’s religious identity. The decision to hear that case will be considered during the Court’s February 19 conference.
The Newman Society also reported last month on families in Montana being denied scholarship funds through a new state school choice program for wanting to send students to private religious schools. The state lawmaker who drafted the legislation for the new program said it was “carefully crafted” to allow funding of private religious schools, but the state, relying on the Blaine Amendment language in the state constitution, will not allow the funds to be used at religious schools.
SPECIAL REPORT: Planned Parenthood Offices Located Near Half of Catholic Colleges, Alarming Pro-Life Leaders
/in Student Formation Counseling and Health Services, Research and Analysis/by Kim ScharfenbergerHalf of all four-year, residential Catholic colleges in the U.S. are within five miles of Planned Parenthood facilities, a study by The Cardinal Newman Society has found. Catholic pro-life leaders warn that the close proximity of these Planned Parenthood centers threatens the well-being of students and the culture of Catholic campuses.
Planned Parenthood is, by its mission, directly opposed to Catholic values on sexuality, artificial contraception and abortion. Many of its centers perform abortions and distribute contraceptives.
In its review of 188 four-year, residential Catholic colleges in the U.S., The Cardinal Newman Society found that 92, or 49 percent, are within five miles of a Planned Parenthood facility. Of these, 13 are within one mile or less, 37 are within 1.1-3 miles and 42 are within 3.1-5 miles (see tables below).
“Catholic colleges didn’t invite this situation, but they can respond by demonstrating genuine concern for their students and fighting Planned Parenthood’s attempts to lure students to their centers,” said Patrick Reilly, president of The Cardinal Newman Society.
“It’s important that Catholic colleges help pregnant students with counseling and referrals,” Reilly said. “But it’s also very important that they promote a campus culture that assumes and promotes chastity, educate students about sexual morality and the problems with contraception and sterilization, and dissuade students from entering Planned Parenthood centers by informing them about Planned Parenthood’s dreadful practices.”
In interviews with the Newman Society, Catholic pro-life leaders also stressed the need for college administrators to warn students about the dangerous influence of Planned Parenthood, America’s largest abortion business, and work to build a pro-life culture on campus.
“With so many abortion clinics near Catholic colleges, pregnant women may be even more tempted or pressured by others to seek abortions,” said Deirde McQuade, assistant director for pro-life communications for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Pro-Life Secretariat. “These colleges especially need to build a life-affirming culture and support network — one that both promotes chastity and welcomes life with creative solutions for students, staff and faculty alike.”
Father Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, said the presence of a Planned Parenthood business so close to campus is “a threat to the lives of the children carried in the wombs of pregnant students, and a threat to the health of any student who purchases Planned Parenthood services.”
“Moreover,” he said, “it poses a near occasion of sin, since Planned Parenthood markets evil and sells death, as well as promotes a perverted view of human sexuality.”
American Life League Vice President Jim Sedlak agreed, arguing “a Planned Parenthood facility so close to Catholic campuses poses a real threat to the sexual morality of life on campus.”
Government statistics show Planned Parenthood relies on the college-age demographic for its abortion and contraception business. About one-third of all abortions in the U.S. occur among women aged 20-24, and another 13.5 percent occur at younger ages, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In 2012, Students for Life of America (SFLA) reported that 79 percent of Planned Parenthood businesses are located in zip codes that are within five miles of a college campus. But students don’t seem to be fully informed about what these centers do: an SFLA survey the same year found that 59 percent of college-aged respondents did not know that Planned Parenthood commits abortions.
“Planned Parenthood preys off young girls in crisis, locating right near our high schools and college campuses, telling them abortion is their only real option in their moment of desperation,” warned SFLA.
Catholic Colleges Within Five Miles of Planned Parenthood Facilities. [Click to Enlarge]
Proximate Danger
Having already identified numerous links between Planned Parenthood and Catholic colleges, published in the August 2015 report A More Scandalous Relationship: Catholic Colleges and Planned Parenthood, the Newman Society decided to research the threat posed by Planned Parenthood clinics near Catholic college campuses.
The location of Planned Parenthood facilities was identified by entering the zip codes of four-year, residential Catholic colleges in the search function at PlannedParenthood.org. The distances between these facilities and college campuses was verified using the mapping function at Google Maps and recording the estimated driving distances. Because driving distance is almost always longer than walking distance or a straight-line measure, the actual distances between the Planned Parenthood offices and campuses is likely shorter than what is reported here.
Results were divided into three categories of distances from the college campus to the nearest Planned Parenthood facility: one mile or less, more than one mile and up to three miles and more than three miles and up to five miles.
The Newman Society found that Loyola University Chicago is the Catholic college closest to a Planned Parenthood facility, which is located right across the street from the University’s Lakeshore campus. Several reviews of this Planned Parenthood on the website Yelp reveal how the clinic impacts students and compromises the University’s Catholic policies.
“The proximity of this Planned Parenthood to Loyola’s Lakeshore campus is wonderful for those of us that go to a school that refuses to give birth control,” stated one review from Tracy K. Another review by Tom A. noted, “Since I go to a Catholic school and can’t get free condoms, it’s nice being able to cross the street and get them for 25 cents.”
“When I was a student at Loyola my best option for birth control was this Planned Parenthood,” wrote a former student, Virginia T.
The Newman Society reached out to Loyola University Chicago and its pro-life advocacy group for comment on whether students are properly informed or warned against patronizing the nearby Planned Parenthood, but no response was received by time of publication.
At some other Catholic colleges with nearby facilities, Planned Parenthood has attempted to exert influence over the colleges’ pro-life decisions.
In February 2015, the University of Scranton — which has a Planned Parenthood facility only about half a mile from campus — announced that it would end its immoral employee insurance coverage for abortions, including in cases of rape, incest and when the mother’s life is compromised. University President Father Kevin Quinn, S.J., faced immediate backlash from Planned Parenthood, which accused him of “cruel indifference.” However, Fr. Quinn courageously insisted that covering abortion in any situation was not in line with the University’s “Catholic and Jesuit mission.”
Back in September 2014, an unofficial student group, “Students for Sex and Gender Equality and Safety,” sought to change Fordham University’s policy prohibiting the distribution of birth control on campus. A January 2015 rally on the streets of Manhattan was reportedly joined by representatives from the Planned Parenthood center located about 3.5 miles from Fordham’s Manhattan campus and four miles from its Bronx campus. Also, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America headquarters is located just a mile and a half from Fordham at Lincoln Center.
In 2007, Duquesne University’s president, Dr. Charles Dougherty, directed a campus-based radio station to stop running advertisements for Planned Parenthood. In response, Planned Parenthood — which has a facility located less than a mile from Duquesne’s campus — launched a public relations effort pressuring Dougherty to reverse his decision.
Providing Student Assistance
Some Catholic colleges with nearby Planned Parenthood facilities sponsor health centers with access to pro-life counseling and resources.
Saint Louis University (SLU), for example, is located 1.2 miles from a Planned Parenthood facility, and its student health center “does not offer contraception,” Nikki Kuhlman, a senior at SLU and chair of the Pregnant and Parenting Student Assistance, told the Newman Society. If students come to the health center needing pregnancy assistance, they are “referred to a nearby Catholic hospital for procedures that extend beyond the reach of the campus clinic, especially prenatal care.” Additionally, the University’s “Pregnancy Resources” website lists several pro-life pregnancy centers.
The Pregnant and Parenting Student Assistance Committee was started at SLU in 2008. “We have a university endowment that lets us offer financial assistance to students who have children or find themselves pregnant,” Kuhlman explained. “We’re also working hard to help SLU become a more parent-friendly environment. There are multiple nursing suites across campus, we partnered with the bookstore to offer free textbook rentals to some parents, and we brought a Feminists for Life Pregnancy Resource Forum to campus in 2014.”
Other colleges strive to ensure a Catholic campus culture that embraces chastity while openly opposing the practices of Planned Parenthood. At Newman Guide-recommended John Paul the Great Catholic University (“JP Catholic”) in Escondido, Calif., the administration and office of student life take great pains to ensure the campus’ pro-life culture.
JP Catholic has a Planned Parenthood “within about two blocks” of campus, Julia Carrano, dean of students at the University, told the Newman Society. Although the facility does not perform surgical abortions, the abortion drug RU-486 is prescribed there, and Carrano explained that the administration provides talks and training sessions for students on contraceptives and abortifacients.
“Students have wondered why we protest outside this local clinic, as opposed to the larger one in San Diego which performs [surgical] abortions,” said Carrano. “So we have explained to them that prescribing RU-486 is still providing early-term abortions.” Moreover, by focusing on the nearby Planned Parenthood facility, Carrano stressed that the students are being encouraged to “make an impact in their local community.”
“This clinic is right next to their grocery store,” Carrano explained. “We want our students to be present and to encounter people who are suffering in their local community. That’s what will make a difference.”
The University also brings in medical professionals and doctors to talk to students about women’s health, abortion and contraception. All incoming freshmen and transfer students are required to take a class called “Intellectual Life and Virtue,” which has a special focus on the Corporal Works of Mercy. The class requires students to complete service projects, one of which involves praying outside the local Planned Parenthood. And every Saturday, students come together to pray the Rosary outside of the facility.
JP Catholic also has several unique student-led initiatives focused on promoting the pro-life message. One of the University’s households, the ΖΩΗ Life House, adopted as its mission: “To protect the sanctity of life by raising awareness of the true pro-life mission, and promoting alternative options to abortion and contraception.” Additionally, the household has a stated commitment of opposing the local Planned Parenthood, and to that end, they host monthly street corner protests.
“Colleges have an opportunity to help students really commit to the pro-life message, not just as something handed down to them by their parents,” said Carrano. “These young people will be future leaders in our health communities, our businesses — we have the opportunity to form their minds and their understanding.”
Life-Affirming Practices
“A Planned Parenthood abortion mill poses a threat to its entire community, both in the fact that babies are killed there and the general moral corruption that spreads into the community that allows it to operate,” said Father Shenan Boquet, president of Human Life International. “The Catholic university has a special obligation to oppose this evil in their communities through prayerful and peaceful witness at the clinic, and through educating the surrounding community about what happens there.
“It is an imperative of both social justice and basic Catholic moral doctrine that the Catholic institution oppose Planned Parenthood at every turn, that they speak the truth in love, leaving no impression that the abortion business is welcome in their community,” he added.
But it’s also important to keep in mind that “no one model fits all colleges,” the USCCB’s McQuade pointed out, adding that different colleges will benefit from incorporating different pro-life practices, depending on availability and resources.
Working to affirm life creatively “will look different on different campuses and institutions. The most important element is that Catholic colleges have a well-informed network that can offer tangible resources and aid in crisis pregnancy situations,” said McQuade.
McQuade noted that the Jubilee Year of Mercy presents “a beautiful opportunity to promote new, life-affirming practices” on campuses. She suggested options such as “designated housing for parenting students” and “academic flexibility and part-time student options built into degree programs.”
CNS Joins Amicus Brief Opposing HHS Contraceptive Mandate – Zubik v Burwell, U.S. Supreme Court
/in Blog Amicus Briefs, Public Policy and Legal (General)/by Cardinal Newman Society StaffClick here to read.
School Choice Threatened by Anti-Catholic Blaine Amendments
/in Blog/by Cardinal Newman Society StaffIn an interview last night on EWTN News Nightly, Cardinal Newman Society President Patrick Reilly called attention to the anti-Catholic Blaine Amendments found in many state constitutions that threaten religious freedom and school choice by blocking funds to families who want to send their children to religious schools.
Reilly said it’s “extremely important” for supporters of faithful Catholic education to focus on repealing the Blaine Amendments right now “especially with the push for school choice, and certainly with the secularization in the country.” He noted that in some states “these Blaine Amendments have been used to block any sort of public support that might eventually go to Catholic schools,” such as vouchers and tax credits.
During the interview, Reilly also pointed out that Blaine Amendments “grew out of one of the worst periods of American history.”
“During the 1800s there was a lot of anti-Catholicism, and President Ulysses S. Grant was actually the one who proposed a constitutional amendment that would prevent states from using any funding to support Catholic schools, so it was very much directed at Catholic education,” he said.
Blaine Amendments are named for former Speaker of the House and U.S. Secretary of State James G. Blaine who, following Grant’s lead, attempted to amend the U.S. Constitution to prohibit the use of taxpayer funds at “sectarian” schools in 1875 while he was Speaker. The federal amendment failed, but versions of the amendment were “added to state constitutions in order to enforce the nativist bigotry of the day” against Catholics, according to The Beckett Fund for Religious Liberty, and are currently found in 37 state constitutions.
As the Newman Society reported last week, it’s possible that the U.S. Supreme Court could overturn all state Blaine Amendments if the Court takes a case out of Colorado challenging a Colorado Supreme Court ruling that blocked scholarship funds to families based on Blaine Amendment language in the state Constitution.
The scholarship program was passed unanimously in March 2011 by the Douglas County School District Board of Education, but was almost immediately enjoined following legal challenges by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and several local organizations. The program awarded scholarships to approximately 500 students in Douglas County, Colo., who were supposed to be able to use the scholarship to attend a private schools of their choice, regardless of a school’s religious identity.
Three petitions were submitted in October 2015 asking the U.S. Supreme Court to decide on the constitutionality of Colorado’s Blaine Amendment and the school choice scholarship program in the state. The case “will hopefully be going to the Supreme Court,” said Reilly. The decision of the Supreme Court to hear the case could come as early as January after it reconvenes from winter recess on January 11, 2016.
The Newman Society also reported this week on families in Montana being denied scholarship funds through a new state school choice program for wanting to send students to private religious schools. The state lawmaker who drafted the legislation for the new program said it was “carefully crafted” to allow funding of private religious schools, but the state, relying on the Blaine Amendment language in the state Constitution, will not allow the funds to be used at religious schools.
Patrick Reilly’s full interview begins at 13:53:
NAEP Scores Suggest Some Concerns for Catholic Schools
/in Academics Common Core, Research and Analysis/by Dr. Denise Donohue Ed.D.Summary
While Catholic school scores continue to dominate public school scores on the National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP), it is the internal trends of these scores that tell an interesting story. Grade 8 Catholic school math scores have seen a decline since 2009 after an almost decade trend of gains. Fourth grade math scores showed a steady decline in the differential between public and Catholic school scores from 2000 to 2013 with a rebound, finally, in 2015. NAEP is “the largest nationally representative and continuing assessment of what America’s students know and can do in various subject areas”. It serves as a common metric for states and stays essentially the same from year to year.
Introduction
On October 30, the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA) published an article stating in its lead paragraph that “Catholic school scores continue to trend higher than public school scores overall by up to 20 percentage points.” Highlighting the fact that Catholic schools “marry rigorous academics, faith formation and Catholic identity,” the article details the major comparisons between 4th and 8th grade math and reading scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).
That’s great news. But while Catholic schools might still be outpacing the public schools in overall average NAEP scores, fluctuations and the continued decline in 8th grade math scores since 2009 warrant further study, especially in terms of the effects of the Common Core standards in many Catholic schools and instructional shifts required to implement the standards.
Scores for public school 8th grade students in both reading and mathematics showed a decrease this year, but so did Catholic school NAEP scores. In both 8th grade math and reading, Catholic student scores dipped by 2 points. On the other hand, 4th grade reading scores increased by 2 points and 4th grade math by one point.
8th Grade Math and Reading Scores Decline
Looking closely at the average math scores for 8th grade Catholic school students (see Table 1) reveals a decrease in the average score for Catholic students since 2009. Catholic schools had enjoyed a run of an average 2 additional points per year, but in 2011 we saw a slide of 2 points that held steady in 2013 then declined again in 2015. With the NAEP acting as the steady barometer of U.S. student abilities, not having been significantly changed since the early 1990s, we need to ask what’s happening in Catholic schools to cause the lower test scores.
Catholic school NAEP scores for 8th grade mathematics have outdistanced public school scores by an average 12-point spread since 1996, but when one examines the Catholic scores closely, the average increase per test drops from 2.4 (1996–2009) to -1.3 (2011–2015). Calculating the trend for the full administration of the tests,16 Catholic schools saw a 1.11 per-test increase from 1996–2015. Yet we have a 2-point drop in 2015.
The 2015 reading score for 8th grade Catholic school students has also declined. While it still represents a 20-point advantage above public school scores, this internal decline is worth noting, because it is out of the expected trend for 2015. The average point increase from 1998 to 2013 was .06 points, so one would not expect a 2-point reduction.
Table 1: 2015 NAEP (2013) – 8th Grade
Sources:
http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/naepdata/report.aspx?app=NDE&p=2-MAT-2-20153%2c20133%2c20113%2c20093%2c20073%2c20053%2c20033%2c20003%2c20002%2c19963%2c19962%2c19922%2c19902-MRPCM-SCHTYPE-NT-MN_MN-Y_J-0-0-5
http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/naepdata/report.aspx?app=NDE&p=2-RED-2-20153%2c20133%2c20113%2c20093%2c20073%2c20053%2c20033%2c20023%2c20003%2c20002%2c19983%2c19982%2c19942%2c19922-RRPCM-SCHTYPE-NT-MN_MN-Y_J-0-0-5
4th Grade Math and Reading Score Trends
The difference in scores between 4th grade Catholic school and public school students (Table 2) remains substantial in reading, with Catholic scores averaging 16 points higher than scores for public school students. The Catholic reading score increased a promising 2 points after some stagnation since 2009.
What is interesting is this year’s reversal of a trend showing a steady decline in the difference between Catholic and public school student 4th grade math scores since 2000. In 2015 the differential increased 2 points, after decreasing in every assessment from 2003 to 2013. The Catholic school average score increased one point this year.
Table 2: 2015 NAEP (2013) – 4th Grade
Sources:
http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/naepdata/report.aspx?app=NDE&p=1-MAT-2-20153%2c20133%2c20113%2c20093%2c20073%2c20053%2c20033%2c20003%2c20002%2c19963%2c19962%2c19922%2c19902-MRPCM-SCHTYPE-NT-MN_MN-Y_J-0-0-5
http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/naepdata/report.aspx?app=NDE&p=1-RED-2-20153%2c20133%2c20113%2c20093%2c20073%2c20053%2c20033%2c20023%2c20003%2c20002%2c19983%2c19982%2c19942%2c19922-RRPCM-SCHTYPE-NT-MN_MN-Y_J-0-0-5
Changes to 8th Grade Math
One factor to consider with regard to math scores is the traditional pace in Catholic schools to move students toward Algebra I in 8th grade. Catholic school data is not available when drilling down to compare scores of students who took Algebra I versus a basic math course in 8th grade, but it is possible to review the trends of public versus private schools as a whole, of which Catholic schools are a part.
With data available for 2007 to 2013,17 one can see that private school scores outdistance public schools in both 8th grade math and Algebra I (Tables 3 and 4). It is also evident that students who took Algebra I as 8th graders scored better on the NAEP than students who took 8th grade math, especially since NAEP Algebra questions comprise almost a third (29 percent) of the math test.31 With some progressions toward delaying Algebra 1 until high school, Catholic schools would be wise not to follow this delayed progression, should these NAEP scores and entrance to STEM colleges be a concern.
Table 3: Average Scale Scores for mathematics,
Grade 8 by percent enrolled in 8th-grade mathematics
Source: http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/naepdata/report.aspx
Note: Private school data was not reported for 2015 and no separate Catholic school data is available.
Table 4: Average Scale Scores for mathematics,
Grade 8 by percent enrolled in Algebra I (1 year course)
Source: http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/naepdata/report.aspx
Note: Private school data was not reported for 2015, and no separate Catholic school data is available.
Effects of Common Core
Has anything changed in Catholic schools to bring about these trends? Certainly, the implementation of Common Core math and English language standards by more than 100 dioceses is the largest single change, but instructional shifts intended to implement the standards should also be reviewed along with other possible factors.
Some Catholic school systems may be using these instructional shifts — such as cognitively guided math instruction, close reading, and the shift between information and fictional texts as recommended by the publisher — and not the standards themselves.
Catholic school systems that participated in NAEP testing (not all Catholic school systems participate) might review the changes they have made since 2009 in both math and reading to begin to pinpoint areas for further inquiry. By doing this review, a great service would be provided to the other diocesan systems.
States such as Maryland and cities like New York are themselves taking on this internal review task since, according to the data, “Not a single state had an increase in 8th grade math scores,” and, “Twenty-two states had declines in 8th grade math.”56
Some have suggested that the drop in NAEP math scores has to do with the misalignment of the NAEP with the Common Core Standards, but a recently released report (Oct. 2015) commissioned by the NAEP Validity Studies Panel, Study of the Alignment of the 2015 NAEP Mathematics items at Grades 4 and 8 to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), touts that the NAEP mathematics framework was developed to account for all the major curricula across the country (p. iii) and that the alignment in 8th grade math is “strong” and 4th grade is “reasonable.” Nevertheless, the report also suggests that perhaps now is the time for a major review of the framework in light of the Common Core Standards.
Standards and Testing
Catholic school educators cannot rest on their laurels and assume they will always outscore public schools, especially if they slavishly follow public school patterns and standards. Parents in Catholic schools expect outstanding scores. This is not unreasonable, since students who come from supportive, involved, and tuition-paying families are expected to score higher on standardized tests. The academic setting lends to higher scores and demands higher standards.
Catholic schools should ensure that their standards have been created and specifically tailored to not only demand excellence, but also to promote deep, creative, and precise thinking as well as developing within students a sense of wonder about mathematical relationships and critical, convergent thinking in literature. A re-evaluation, especially of the 8th grade math curriculum, along with the instructional approaches advocated by publishers and others, is recommended and long overdue.
Standardized tests should also be chosen to align with the instructional approaches and content standards used in Catholic schools. Working with private assessment companies is extremely important now to ensure a valid assessment of student learning, as well as longitudinal data to evaluate student academic growth and compare against NAEP results.
The Incredible Shrinking Case for Common Core
/in Blog Latest, PR Register Column/by Patrick ReillyRecent statements by Common Core co-author David Coleman about Catholic education have led to a lot of confusion. What’s this about a Common Core advocate urging Catholic educators to have the “moxie” to preserve their incredible heritage and not to worry about changes to standardized tests?
I’ll try to explain. Despite Coleman’s support for the Common Core — which I firmly believe to be inadequate and even harmful to Catholic schools — what he said is good for Catholic families.
Last month, my colleagues and I were dismayed to learn that Coleman, a chief author of the Common Core State Standards, will keynote the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA) convention in March. The Cardinal Newman Society has raised serious concerns about the Common Core’s impact on Catholic identity and related changes that detract from Catholic schools’ time-proven curricula and methods. The choice of Coleman as keynote speaker suggests support for the Common Core, when what we most need is a frank conversation among Catholic educators and parents about the Common Core and its unsuitability to Catholic education.
In addition, Coleman is president of The College Board, the nonprofit testing company that sponsors the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and Advanced Placement (AP) tests — and is currently revising them to align to the Common Core. That has caused angst among Catholic families and educators, who wonder if students in non-Common Core schools and homeschools will do poorly on the SAT and have difficulty getting accepted to good colleges.
But when we looked closely at Coleman’s record, we saw some interesting things. For instance, he has a fondness for good literature — precisely what we fear the Common Core might diminish in Catholic school reading curricula — and he studied “classical educational philosophy” at Cambridge University, according to his online biography.
Moreover, last year he penned an outstanding piece for National Review Online, defending the religious freedom of Wheaton College, an evangelical Christian college, and extolling the benefits of a religious liberal arts education. The non-Christian scholar noted that he had been to Wheaton to participate in a conference on the great Christian apologist, C.S. Lewis, and his methods of literary criticism.
This was intriguing. What if the co-author of the Common Core, which was designed for low-performing public schools, would go on record praising the benefits of a truly Catholic, liberal arts education — and even the movement toward more classical education? Could an advocate for the Common Core in public schools appreciate the differences and even the superiority of a Catholic education that rejects the Common Core’s utilitarian emphasis and holds steadfast to its Catholic identity and traditional curricula and teaching methods?
And furthermore, what if the College Board president could assure Catholics that students will continue to do well on the revised SAT and AP exams, even if they have a traditional Catholic education, focused on the liberal arts and not in any way compromised or caught up in the race to become more like public schools? This would, in effect, dispel one of the key arguments for adopting the Common Core simply so that students can “keep up” with the changes to standardized tests.
In essence, Coleman said exactly what we anticipated in his interview released Monday. On the one hand, he still clearly supports the Common Core, which we believe would compromise the traditional methods, curricula and mission of Catholic schools. He argued that the Standards had been misinterpreted and do not necessarily conflict with Catholic education: “The vulgar implementation of anything can have a reductive and destructive effect,” he said. With regard to the Standards’ push for more reading of “informational texts,” Coleman didn’t think that the emphasis necessarily means that schools will assign fewer classics of literature — a point on which we continue to disagree.
But what Coleman did say is this, quite emphatically: don’t compromise what Catholic schools do well. On that bedrock principle, we seem to agree entirely. If anything — whether the Common Core or another “reform,” changing social mores, threats against religious freedom or another influence — pressures Catholic schools to compromise their mission and abandon the core liberal arts focus of traditional Catholic education, then we should simply refuse to do so.
“My desire to celebrate, and name and specify some of the beauties and distinctive values of a religious education are precisely to avoid a leveling quality where you forget that there are special gifts that can be lost without attention,” Coleman said.
He urged educators in the classical and Catholic liberal arts tradition to “have more moxie” and “be proud” of their approach to education.
“Don’t be in a defensive crouch. I say that to every group I talk to of religious educators,” he said. “I say, share what you do that is beautiful and distinctive. Don’t just defend your right to exist. Be proud of what you have to offer, which is different.”
Regarding the College Board’s exams, Coleman doesn’t think that students getting a traditional, Catholic liberal arts education — or even a classical-style education focused on the Trivium of grammar, logic and rhetoric — need to be worried about getting lower scores on the SAT and AP tests. He said that Catholic families should “rest assured” that students will continue to do very well on the tests.
“As president of The College Board, it is my conviction that a child excellently trained in traditional liberal arts will do superbly on relevant sections of the SAT and other aspects of Advanced Placement work,” he told us. We’ll know in time whether that’s true, but I guessed it to be true even before Coleman said it. A student who has a good, non-Common Core education should be able to think through these tests. Some extra preparation may be helpful to get used to the Common Core-style questions, but hasn’t SAT prep always been a boost to students’ scores?
Ultimately, Coleman’s interview suggests just one more reason why Catholic educators should not be so eager to rush into the Common Core madness. Many parents, teacher unions and state leaders have turned against the Common Core after just a few years in the public schools. There’s been no boost to national test scores. Catholic educators who may be inclined toward the Common Core should acknowledge the warning signs and take their time, observe how the Common Core plays out, and then decide whether there are certain elements in the Standards that may be worth preserving — and in the meantime, protect what we already have.
Catholic education is good. In earlier times, it was better. The renewal of Catholic education doesn’t need the Common Core — we just need some “more moxie” to defend and celebrate what makes our schools strong.
This article was originally published by National Catholic Register and is reprinted with permission.