{"id":61209,"date":"2023-07-01T10:53:00","date_gmt":"2023-07-01T14:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insidethevatican.com\/?p=61209"},"modified":"2023-07-14T11:03:10","modified_gmt":"2023-07-14T15:03:10","slug":"the-place-of-christ-in-higher-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/insidethevatican.com\/magazine\/the-place-of-christ-in-higher-education\/","title":{"rendered":"The Place of Christ in Higher Education"},"content":{"rendered":"
An interview with Cardinal Newman Society president Patrick Reilly<\/h4>\n
By ITV staff<\/strong><\/p>\n
Countless Catholic families have faced the same dilemma over the past few decades: where can their children attend college and not have their faith opposed, ridiculed or worse \u2014 lost?<\/p>\n
The Catholic colleges and universities mom and dad once attended are now \u201cCatholic\u201d in name only, usually as dedicated to progressive moral values and intellectual trends as virtually every secular school. Kids don\u2019t often grasp the most vital criteria to use in their college search. Parents tear their hair out trying to assess which schools will foster both a robust intellectual formation and a strong faith.<\/p>\n
But there is a lighthouse beaming across the darkness: Since 2007, the Newman Guide has been the \u201cgo-to\u201d resource for Catholic families who are trying to meet this ongoing challenge. Patrick Reilly<\/b>, president of The Cardinal Newman Society (now also celebrating its 30th anniversary), producer of the Newman Guide to Catholic education, spoke recently with Inside the Vatican about the Newman Society\u2019s mission of renewing the Church through the renewal of Catholic education.<\/p>\n\n
Patrick Reilly, president of The Cardinal Newman Society, producer of the Newman Guide to Catholic education<\/p><\/div>\n
What was the impetus for starting the Cardinal Newman Society back in 1993?<\/b><\/p>\n
Patrick Reilly<\/i>: I found outright dissent and moral corruption at the Jesuit university I attended in the late 1980s. As editor of the student newspaper, I started writing about it and have never stopped advocating for the reform of Catholic education, which to me seems the most important means of renewing the Church in America. I often tell the story of a priest at my college, who advised me to \u201cstop chasing the horses 20 years after the barn doors were opened.\u201d He meant that the decline of fidelity and excellence in Catholic education, begun in the 1960s, could not be reversed.<\/p>\n
But God can do anything, and now we\u2019re celebrating our 30th anniversary and the great renewal of faithful Catholic education that is underway. Our Newman Guide is helping families find those schools, colleges, and graduate programs that are fully devoted to their Catholic mission, and these are growing in size, number, and reputation.<\/p>\n
What exactly is the Newman Guide and how does it work?<\/b><\/p>\n
Patrick Reilly<\/i>: The Newman Guide is an online compendium identifying faithful Catholic colleges and universities (at this writing, 24) \u2014 and, starting this year, faithful Catholic elementary and high schools, and also graduate programs. It is found on our website, cardinalnewmansociety.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n